Happy New Year

And so ends another year, just one of many now, and they seem to be passing with much greater speed. Although 2008 is now in the history books, it created some memorable moments and witnessed some milestones:

- I became a grandfather again
- I relocated our small business to smaller quarters in response to the shrinking economy
- I opened my home office (not entirely sure this is going to work, I am so used to going into the office in the morning)
- I lost my best pub buddy, golf buddy and diving buddy to Toronto
- I was very fortunate to make a new friend who likes English football as much as I do (even if he does support the wrong club)
- I purchased my new camera, which I think will become a new and satisfying hobby for me, if I can ever learn how to properly use it (is anyone out there able to help me here?)
- I have few friends (by choice, I think), but the ones I do have are fantastic and precious
- I have learned to be more patient, less critical, and can still laugh at myself
- I have become closer to my family
- I am in a great relationship with a fantastic lady
- I started this blog, and have "met" some interesting and accomplished people through it

And finally, I am looking forward to 2009. No resolutions, just a general promise to try harder.

Happy New Year to all. May it bring you everything you wish for, as well as a few pleasant surprises along the way.

Merry Christmas

Well, the day fast approaches, and I look forward to two weeks away from the office. Time to spend with family and friends, eating too much, laughing just enough, and sleeping whenever I want. The shopping is done, the baking yet to begin (I will post some photos and recipes once I get started, in a day or so), and the football is all planned for the TV. So, I take this opportunity to wish one and all a very Merry Christmas. Be happy and be safe. May 2009 bring you everything you wish for.

White Christmas

Ok, it may be a little early to get excited, but Vancouver had a snowfall! It happens so rarely that everyone gets excited, or they get depressed, or angry, apprehensive even, but they get involved!

I grew up on the Prairies, and loved the winter. Loved the cold and the ice and the snow. I can take it or leave it now, leave it mostly, but it is beautiful when it first falls.




It means I don't have to water the flowers, or trim their growth. They do seem a bit surprised and somewhat pissed though! And another thing, how am I to use my Grillzebo? It did not keep the snow off my BBQ! Snow is much more creative than mere rain, it finds its' way into every little nook and cranny.




Oh well, off to do some shopping for my Christmas provisions. Need to think about baking my sausage rolls, molasses cookies, and whatever else fancy may decree. I do love a white Christmas though. Time to get out and enjoy.

Trainspotting

My business sometimes takes me into the Fraser Valley, about 25 miles inland from Vancouver, where I have some of my furniture manufactured for clients. I have taken to bringing my camera with me wherever I go now, so when I drove out yesterday I was encouraged by a thick bank of fog and the rising sun. (I was driving east at around 7:30 am).

Near my suppliers facility, there is a river and a train bridge. I thought I might camp out there for a few minutes in the hope that I could catch a train passing over, and get a couple of shots. No such luck - no train. But the bridge could not escape.

When I was taking photos I heard some muffled banging and had to scamper out of the "no go" zone I was in. I had visions of being tossed about by burly Railroad Police, of being trussed up and transported to some secure area while they checked my camera and my heritage (just to be sure I was not some disturbed terrorist). No such luck!

All I found was a sport fisherman getting ready to enjoy a morning on the water. I wish I could have accompanied him for short while.

Steveston Harbor - Another Foot!

Steveston Harbor is one of the tourist spots in the Lower Mainland, and lies just south of the City of Vancouver. It is popular due to its proximity to the ocean, the fact that you can buy seafood directly from the fishing boats, and it has a reputation for good fish and chips.

Until recently DBM and her hubby lived only a short bike ride away from this little gem of a community.

All in all, Steveston had any number of bragging points, but now, it will soon become notorious. As of this morning, another foot has washed ashore. This time on the shores of the Fraser River here in Steveston! The mystery continues. Where will it all end? Will it end?




I suspect that the discovery of another sneakered appendage will not adversely affect the tourist trade in this little community. People have long memories for things such as good fish and chips, but short memories for the more unpleasant things our society can sometimes throw at us.

English Bay

Fall in Vancouver is splendid. The weather is mild, if somewhat wet, and the colors are vivid and warm. We rarely get snow, and most of the foliage is year round (pine, cedars etc.), so we never seem to turn brown, and even the lawns are green all year. In fact, they are usually greener in the winter than they are during the summer months. Anyway, one of the nicest areas is English Bay, in the downtown west end. The beaches, the walks, Stanley Park and the salt water. A great place to live and to come home to.

It can sometimes get a bit depressing, with it being dark when you head off to work, and dark when you sit down to dinner. But, with the new office, English Bay is only four blocks away, and on a sunny day, within an easy walk, even for someone such as myself. I think I will spend more time here over the next month or so.

Granddaughter Niobi

I have just received a new batch of photographs of my new granddaughter. I'm not certain where I read the opinion that all newborn babies look like Winston Churchill, but I think Niobi certainly had an alarming resemblance to the past Prime Minister, at least for the first two weeks of her life. Things seem to have settled down a bit now, and she is definitely becoming a beautiful little bundle. At any rate, here she is.



I do hope the little fists unclench at some point, as little girls are supposed to be sweet and cuddly are they not? She does look confident though! Bring it on!

Grandad Again!

A pleasant surprise when I arose this morning to catch my Premier League football matches; I had received a text message from my eldest son to let me know that I was a grandad again. His second daughter, Niobi Jean was born at 4:44 am October 4th. Seven pounds seven ounces, and 20.5" long (why do they measure length?).

I hope to have pictures soon, but will wait for a while before I introduce Niobi to this blog. As darling as newborns are, and such a joy to welcome into the family, they do tend to look a bit wrinkled when they begin life. I think she would appreciate having the time to smooth herself out a bit. Anyway, everyone is happy and healthy, and I can welcome grandchild number five.

Politicians

The federal election is underway, and many of our aspiring politicians seem hell bent on racing into oblivion. Two New Democrats Party candidates (this is our federal Socialist Party) here in BC have had to drop out of the race because of videos showing them smoking pot. One did it whilst driving the Sea to Sky highway between Vancouver and Whistler (apparently he was also dropping a tab or two of LSD at the same time). A dangerous route even when totally sober.




A Conservative cabinet minister joked about the "death of a thousand cuts, a thousand cold cuts". Unfortunately, this was on the heals of the 17th death from listeriosis, blamed on a bacteria to be found in processed meats. Bad as it sounds, the man was (and still is) the Minister of Agriculture. Go figure.

The Liberal Party is captained by a man (university professor) who cannot speak English very well. They even use voice overs on his TV ads, although they do let him say something at the end of each one that contains the word Canada - I can't understand the rest.

There seems to be a wonderful prospect for fun in the upcoming Leaders Debate on the TV. We will have a Conservative leader pushing for greater tax cuts, promoting a balanced budget over jobs, and building more prisons to house all of the dregs of society he wants to put behind bars. (I do seem to remember a lady PM somewhere who steered much the same course). We have a Liberal leader no one can understand, pushing a Green Party agenda with a carbon tax nobody wants; a Green Party leader that seems to want to be a Liberal, pushing a socialist agenda; a Separatist leader (Bloc de Quebecois) who only wants one thing (guess what?), and who speaks much better English than the Liberal leader; and an NDP leader who can't see the issues for all the smoke left behind by his fast departing candidates.

I can hardly wait. I know this is similar to what happens to our neighbour to the south (they still speak of pit bulls, pigs and lipstick), but does this happen in any other civilized country? I wonder.

Shopping for a Washer

I am one of those people who firmly believe that all machines are designed to perform a function, and that they have no business doing anything BUT what they were designed to do. That they should do it properly. That they should do it when asked, and that they should keep doing it until I want them to stop.

Notice that I refer to them as "they", and not "it"? The reason is, "they" are too complicated. I do not understand them. I don't know how they work, why they work, and then when they don't, I start looking for someone to help me make them work again. I certainly cannot do it myself.

And so, when the washer started leaking, I started casting about for someone to help. Problem is, in order to fix the complicated machinery of today, you need a professional, and they do not come cheap. So, rather than sink more cash into an aging washer that likely had seen it's last load of unmentionables, I decided to simply buy a new one. This time though, I had a choice (well, not really, as Ms Cortes would not likely agree to the model I thought might work best). So, simplicity eliminated, I decided to go for the most complicated piece of machinery I could find, in the hope that the less I understood it, the better it would work.

Time will tell I guess. It gets delivered on Tuesday. I hope they hook it up. Two hoses and a plug may be more than I can handle.

A New Election

Well, here we go again. Not only are we inundated with the election coverage south of the border, we now have a federal election called in Canada.

In the US, the Presidential contest seems to be never-ending; a long drawn out process of finding the best candidate for each party, and then a quick slide into character assassination. Television ads that attack rather than promote. Negative campaigning, as opposed to laying out your policies and then winning or losing based on ideas and ideals. I wonder if the Canadian election will slide down this slippery slope as well? Time will tell.

And time will tell quickly, as the campaign is over on October 14th. We may not always do it right, but at least we do it quickly. So quick in fact, that DBM and Mr. DBM will miss it. Somehow I doubt that this will cause them to lose any sleep. They will also miss all of the municipal elections while they are gone, but thankfully, will return in time for the Provincial election in the early spring. Can't have them missing all the fun!

I am not sure I shall enjoy any of it. Time will tell, and hopefully the politicians will produce a laugh or two for us all. They seem to have a natural ability to do just that.

The Irreversible process of aging, and the articulated arm ......

I have heard it said that the human body begins its' decline sometime around its' 25th birthday. Been there, done that (been there twice, actually).

I can attest to the fact that the process begins at some point, as I can notice one or two changes in my appearance. Some body parts are shrinking, some are expanding. Some have gone missing and are subject to an ongoing search and rescue mission I have undertaken ..... as an example, I have not seen my feet in a number of months, and am beginning to wonder if maybe they haven't turned up on a British Columbia beach somewhere. This afternoon I am off to my local hardware store to purchase a mirror with an articulating arm so that I can check to make sure all my bits and pieces are still attached!

But I digress ..... back to the aging process. I know it has begun, but what I cannot say with certainty, is when it started, or when I first noticed. I wonder if others noticed before it became apparent to me? I can't remember ..... this is another symptom of aging, or so I am told.

I wonder if this aging process is a gradual breakdown, or does it become exponentially faster as you move up in years? And why would you have to hit breakneck speed just when your bones turn a bit brittle, and the joints don't swivel, the eyes begin to go, and your judgement starts to falter? This is when you need all your physical prowess and mental faculties just to remain on your feet! No, it does not seem fair, but it can still be fun. We can turn the process of aging into a game, twist the negatives around to one's benefit, and have a bit of a laugh along the way.

I used to get annoyed at grocery clerks who rang up my sale, took one look at my white hair (it started to go white after my 16th birthday), and inquired "would you like some help out to the car?" Last time through I said "That would be nice" and a strapping young fellow carried my loaf of French Bread and six bananas out to the truck for me. I had a chuckle, he had a chuckle, and so did almost everyone else in the parking lot! I must admit that I won't do it again though.

Perhaps I will get someone to carry my articulating mirror out to the truck for me. If I can only be sure that I will remember where I parked it......

My First Attempt

I am notoriously inept at things like this. I am not least bit mechanically inclined, to the point where I simply turn off the computer if it does not do what I want it to, being fully confident that such actions will "teach it a lesson" and improve it's cooperation the next time round. Rarely works though, but it is still my last resort.

At any rate, after many hours of playing, saving, deleting, and much muttering and wringing of hands, this is it. I finally got it up!

We will see how it goes, in which direction, and for how long.