Friday, February 27, 2009

Student Of The Month!

Garrett was named the Tribes Student Of The Month today and honoured in an assembly before the entire school today (along with winners from the other classes). I'd have pictures to show you, but as usual, Garrett got stagefright. He's the most exuberant guy around 99% of the time but put him in front of a crowd and he breaks down in tears.

Poor fella. He did get a celebratory hot chocolate afterwards though. It's just a shame I couldn't have any shots of him in front of the school. I wonder if he would have been fine if he hadn't seen me (or had known about the award).

Oh well. There's always next time!

RUtR Winner's Circle Update #6

Brock: 1 Timmies: 8

11.1% win rate. Sigh.

Grr... I thought at least one of my many cups of coffee today would garner a winner, but noooo...

Thursday, February 26, 2009

RUtR Winner's Circle Update #5

Brock: 1 Timmies: 4

Winning percentage is now at 20%. Sigh.

In other news, I was up at 3:45 or some such ungodly hour this morning hugging the toilet in the ensuite and trying not to die. Then Kara woke up and was screaming like a banshee. A tiny, garlic-filled banshee. I think our babysitter gave her something with garlic in it and it really didn't agree with her.

At least the vampires stayed away.

Thankfully the kids were in a pretty good mood after the obligatory freak-out at bedtime (my mom called it the arsenic hour... how apropos...) and all is well in the house of Wager. I got a big burst of energy around 7 or so tonight but I'm tired now. That's what getting up at 3:45am will do to you!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

RUtR Winner's Circle Update #4

Brock: 1 Timmies: 3

Grr. 25% win rate now. At least it started out nicely.

I think I'm getting what the kids had. My tummy has been dancing the watuzi all day so I decided to come home around 1:30 just to see if it'll pass. Stupid flu.

I'll leave you with this funny video to encapsulate my mental state...

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

RUtR Winner's Circle Update #3

Brock: 1 Timmies: 2

My win percentage has dropped to 33.3% Grr. I should have just stuck with that first coffee and guaranteed myself a 100% winning streak.

By the way, Kara's still sick and tired... or at least tired. Who wants to place bets on who will get sick next: Julie or me?

Monday, February 23, 2009

RUtR Winner's Circle Update #2

Brock: 1 Tims: 1

I used my free coffee tonight to get an X-Large coffee and all I saw were the cursed S.V.P.

Oh well. 50% win rate is pretty good this early in the contest. Last year had a pretty high return on investment, as did the year earlier. We'll see how this year goes.

BLARF Pt. 2

Well, whatever Garrett had on the weekend is making the rounds. Kara was boo-bopping around at the Early Years Center this morning but near the end of our stay there, she was climbing up on my lap and laying her head on my shoulder. That wasn't like her at all, so I figured she was just tired.

She ended up sleeping for a good 2 1/2 hours this afternoon, which was a vast increase in nap time from her usual NOTHING. When she came downstairs, she just sat on my lap for a bit while I was playing Noby Noby Boy which culminated in her spewing her lunch all over the footstool in the living room.

Sigh. I got her cleaned up and she sat in her high chair for a good hour while we watched Kung Fu Panda but the glass of ginger ale I gave her came right back up. Looks like someone isn't going to be eating any quiche for supper!

Of course, this now begs the question as to when either Julie or myself will get this bug. The onset is so sudden it's hard to gauge when it's coming until too late.

And can someone explain to me why toddler puke smells just like cottage cheese? Gack...

RUtR Winner's Circle Update #1

One coffee purchased - One coffee won!

That's not a bad way to start the contest. There were quite a few winners at the EYC this morning. I believe the tally was 3 coffees and a muffin so far, plus my winning cup. Not too shabby.

This Is The Day That The Tim Has Made!

Like the swallows returning to Capistrano or the leaves turning colour in the fall, so too does another annual tradition sneak up and enthrall the population of our fair country.

Yes friends and family members, today is the day.

It's Rrrrrrrroll Up The Rrrrrim time! WOOOOO!

I didn't think it would be possible to have MORE coffee in my system, but we're about to push the boundaries, folks! Now to figure out where I left my Rim Roller.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

He's Gonna Be Ok!

Garrett seems to have survived his encounter with the Acton Ebola strain just fine. He was back to his old self today, though he didn't eat a lot and I think he still threw up a bit in the morning while I was at work. That said, the fever broke sometime overnight and he was being as lippy as usual.

And we'll probably be able to save Kara's hand. The rest of her, we're not so sure about, but her hand will be fine :) She was 'playing' with Garrett's Gameboy tonight before bed and ended up clonking him in the middle of the forehead with it. Garrett was not amused.

Sigh... Kids these days.

Friday, February 20, 2009

BLARF!

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. I was really busy all week with work and today was, well, fun isn't quite the word I'd use to describe it.

Kara burnt her knuckles on the fireplace this past Monday (Happy Family Day!) but they've scabbed over nicely and aside from a bit of owies shortly after the fact, she has been toodling around as per normal. They still look gross though, and that's coming from me.

Garrett came down with something fierce today. He was perfectly fine this morning while we were out at the Early Years Center but after we got home, he started complaining about his head hurting. He had a bit of soup for lunch and then proceeded to puke it all over our (free) green chair. Sigh. He slept most of the afternoon but was gung-ho and ready to head to Swiss Chalet for supper. We went and he ate a bit and nothing came back up, which was nice.

I think the Gravol and Tylenol that he had during the afternoon/evening did a number on him though. He had some really crazy bug-eyes going during dinner and after we got home, he pretty much crashed and went right to sleep by 7pm.

Sigh. I hope he gets over it fast and that the rest of us don't get it. Poor kid.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy V-Day To All

I was going to get Julie a nice set of relics for Valentine's day, but instead I surprised her with a dozen roses delivered whilst I was out of town.

I also took Garrett to see Coraline. My lord, what a gorgeous movie that is. We saw it on the 3D screen in Guelph and I can't imagine seeing it in plain-old 2D.

Garrett loved it, though he did say it was too scary at the end. That said, he also said he loved it BECAUSE it was too scary.

That Wasn't So Bad...

Well, I managed to survive the most expensive day, EVER.

The cost to replace my alternator? ~$330.

It was interesting too. When I got the manifold replaced, it was a $45 part that required about $400 worth of time to install. The alternator, on the other hand, only cost about $90 labour but was the unit itself cost $200 or so (plus taxes).

The cost of the electrician? Only about $150, possibly a bit less.

The guy came by around 1pm and was done by 3pm, so that wasn't too bad. Turns out that it wasn't the aluminum wiring coming unspooled in the walls. There was a junction box downstairs in the basement that had a morrette that hadn't been tightened properly which caused some arcing.

It was kind of funny how we figured out where the problem was. After pulling most of the plugs in the kitchen out of the walls to test for power flow, he finally gave up in his search for the problem, leaned against the counter in the kitchen and stomped his foot in frustration, which caused the lights to go on. I remembered that the last time the lights came back on by themselves was when Kara went charging through the kitchen the weekend prior, which sent me scrambling downstairs to find that junction box in the ceiling directly below where the electrician was standing.

Thankfully we found the problem before a fire started!

We also got a few other wonky electrical things fixed while the electrician was here yesterday, so all in all, it was worth the $150.

Oh, and I can claim that as a home renovation. I can't claim the $25K we spent on the basement, but I can claim the $150 I spent on electrical work... stupid government...

Thursday, February 12, 2009

This Is Going To Be One Expensive Week...

And the hits just keep on coming.

On Tuesday, I dropped $600 to get my car's manifold replaced. Hooray, I thought.

This afternoon, I went out for a little drive and the battery light started flashing and then just stayed on. I knew this was a bad sign, so I took it into the shop right away. Turns out that the alternator is going too. Sigh.

Hopefully this won't cost a fortune and I won't have to repair anything else on the car for a while...

Unfortunately, my expenses don't stop there. The other week, the power went off in our front hallway (and the microwave plug too). I had hoped that it would just be a matter of flicking a breaker but nooo... none of the breakers had tripped.

I tried flicking them all but nothing happened to fix the problem. The next day, out of the blue, the lights all came back on. I thought that would be it, but alas. On Monday or Tuesday this week, the power went out again and never came back on. So I called an electrician and when I told him what happened and where I lived, he said, "Sounds like an aluminum wiring problem."

I REALLY hope that means it's a simple fix... Or that he takes Visa...

Why couldn't all of these problems have happened after I'd paid off more of the line of credit... or at least not all happen in the same bloody week?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Blowing A Gasket

I took my car in for a check-up yesterday as the guys at the oil change place said there were a few things that needed checking by a real mechanic.

Am I ever glad I did. The strange noises and jerky movements I've experienced in the car lately weren't a result of too much spicy chili. It turns out that one of the gaskets was either blown or on the verge of blowing and the manifold has to be replaced.

Alas, the cost for the labour, parts and the inspection yesterday will come to about $600. On the upside, if I kept driving it the way it was, they said I'd end up blowing even more expensive parts of my engine out. It's sad when $600 is the cheap, preventative option...

Since I don't have a car to use today, I'm spending it cleaning out the boxes of stuff I've brought back from the storage unit over the past few weeks. Tomorrow is BIG GARBAGE DAY in Acton so I'd best get as much out as possible. I'm documenting the treasures I've unearthed in a thread over on Colony Of Gamers, if you're interested :)

Saturday, February 07, 2009

At Least Close The Drapes

This is the conversation we had on the way home from Brantford today.

Garrett: "When can I be naked?"

Us: "When you're having a bath or getting changed."

Garrett: "When can I be naked during the day?"

Us: "Never."

Garrett: "When I'm 32 I can be naked all day."

Us: "Um... Wha?!"

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Yoga, Iga,Wega

Yesterday, whilst out and about unloading the storage unit and moving things into my basement, I ended up popping into the local video store to see if they happened to have a particular $9 game that I was looking for. They didn't, but what they did have was a Wii Fit for sale. Knowing how hard it is to find these things in the wild, I bit the bullet and grabbed it.

Here's the thing. It's actually a very good piece of hardware AND software. I thought it would be this gimmicky thing that would gather dust but I have to say, this is the first 'game' that I've brought into the house where I've been the person to use it the least.

Garrett absolutely LOVES the thing. The software is very easy to use as you just lean or run on the pad and while he's still getting a feel for it, it's a great thing to use indoors when the weather is crappy and he needs to burn off some energy.

The funniest thing is that his favourite part is the yoga. He was doing the poses on the box before I even got it open. Check out his Tree pose:



The real clincher on the thing was when I went out with Garrett for an hour or so yesterday and came home to find that Julie had used it for most of the time while we were out.

Julie...
Played a video game...
Willingly.

I believe that is one of the signs of the apocalypse right there.

Heck, she also used it again tonight with nary a prompt from me.

Of everyone here, I've used the thing the least, and that just strikes me as wrong. I need to use it some more so that I can unlock the more advanced skiing courses. It really does feel like you're skiing once you get a feel for it. I did horribly the first run down the mountain but once I let myself sort of fall into the right posture and use the muscles I use when I ski, it just felt right and I was able to do the slalom almost perfectly.

Now to try to turn my big fat Mii into a skinny me!

Having Fun In Bed

This is an absolutely amazing music video using naught but bedsheets, a very pretty actress and a very nifty song.

It's also a pretty accurate approximation of what it's like to be in the same bed as Garrett except for the fact that he swings his arms a lot more and you're a lot more likely to wake up with a bloody nose.