Category: Uncategorized

So many new terms coming out of the mouths of the youths these days. I find myself falling further and further down the slang terminology wormhole, having to look up new things almost monthly. Alot of it just seems to be a new/shorter way to say old words, or to act like it has just been discovered. Whatever. Do your thang, fam. Lit. Bet. Word. I guess once you hit that unknown language skid, and you slide on out of the commonly used words of the community but cling wildly to your own lexicon you start to “feel” a lot older than you really are. I’m a pop culture guy, I thought I was with it, but I couldn’t pick most of the new musical artists out of a line up. I should wear an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. Chuckle if you understood that reference.

Today is Taekwondo belt testing day. Going to leave here shortly to drive across town to watch my oldest kick her patterns in the business and move up the chain one half belt. In all sincerity I hope we reach the next full colour belt by May. Then we can pause for the summer & swimming, to pick it back up in September if she wants.

Happy sunny & cold Saturday. We did the Wonderland winter experience last evening while it was 10°C. Lots of lovely lights. We didn’t skate, but rode some kid rides and walked around looking at all the lovely lights. Fun time.

Now we look long and hard into the deep recesses of a new year ahead of blog posts. I should probably make a list of topics I’d like to cover over the next 364 days. Would make things a little easier, and probably add some dynamism to the average post here. Always good to have a plan in place for some things. I have the habit for writing – yes. But not of planning out what to say. Not like a full on outline for each post, but maybe a list of things I’d like to discuss in the coming year. Maybe one planned post per week. Is 52 planned posts too much, after doing none? Should I scale that back to just 24/12? Only one or two per month? That sounds more reasonable to me. I’ll see how it feels to execute come January. I like the looseness of my blogging. It isn’t a revenue stream so i don’t want to make it a chore to do. It’s an outlet not a side hustle. This ain’t no paying gig, you feel me? Ya dig? Bet.

Closer than ever to the big day! We are inside the last 10 days until Christmas. I’d love some snow for the day itself. Makes the lights look that much nicer when all the cords are hidden. Plus you get all that light scatter & sparkle from the snow which makes it feel all twinkley. Love it.

Yesterday’s post was a long one, with lots of photos. Jet Pack had a bit of an issue with it. It was my annual year in review, and a description of my reading challenge for 2023. Still not exactly a long article by any means. A 5 minute read at most. Simple.

Happy Friday. Ciao Bella!

Recently had a notice that we have some needles to make up with the kiddos. Funny that. Every time the kids have gone to see their pediatrician we make a point to ask if they need any and the answer has consistently been no. But now between the two of them we are down by four. Very strange in deed. So off we go today to have them updated in their little booklets. I would have preferred Monday for this, as today is the longest after school extra curriculars day for us. Could end up being an ugly scheduling mishap on my part. Or not. Hard to tell if a sore arm will really up end their day that badly. We’ll have to wait and see. I called the school before it had even opened to leave a message. Not sure why it didn’t click through to the attendance call service but I’m sure they’ll call me at 9:00am because no one checked the messages. Oh well.

Tomorrow is the official two year anniversary of my writing campaign. I have an image prepped for my post. Not a big deal. Must have lost track as I miss counted the number of books I read entirely & partially. I did more than I thought. Good news I guess. Now that Christmas is just around the corner I wonder if sitting down to watch Oppenheimer will make me more likely to finish the American Prometheus book? Possibly? That’s for tomorrow me to ponder aloud.

It is Wednesday, Hump Day, middle of the week day. I think my largest client has shut down for the holidays, or had many of the marketing staff take off on vacation. So I’m going to make the edits I was asked for yesterday evening and then I will wait for their return to proceed any further. Sounds about right to me. Happy day.

Here’s the crafting/wrapping station I set up for myself in the basement this year to help me get through our Christmas presents. It helped me out by not having to hunch over on the couch, or sit awkwardly on my bed to wrap gifts. I had a steady, and sturdy surface to cut paper on, and lots of room to spread out too. I had my labels/tags set off to one side. All of my tape gathered at arms length. And room for my scissors, straight edge & pens. Besides the Bluetooth speaker blasting out tunes and a cold bevy in my hands, it was a very serious matter. I really wanted to enjoy wrapping this year instead of feeling like a rushed, frantic chore. I leaned in, and I leaned in hard. Few distractions to be found except for breaking out into song while I worked. 10/10 do recommend. 5 stars. Worth the drive to Acton, such as it were. Nod if you get the reference.

As the year starts to finally wind down for the holiday break I still have things I’d like to accomplish before we ramp up again in the new year. Some short spurts of accounting, completing & transferring the last batch of retail projects for a large client of mine to their preferred print supplier, and starting my last full report of 2023 all before Christmas day (if I can) or at least by New Year’s Eve at the latest.

Still have to do laundry, lunches, bathing & hair washing/drying/de tangling. Dishes, vacuum and mop the floors, shovel snow, and grocery shopping in between all that too. Same as always. No breaks on Domestic Duties just because it’s winter break! That shit is never ending. I look forward to my kids being old enough to make their own lunches, sort out their clothes, and outer wear depending on the weather, and do their own laundry. Also, pick up a few chores of their own, like sweeping, vacuuming the floors, mopping, cleaning sinks & toilets, as well as the tub. Putting groceries away. Filling, running and emptying the dishwasher. Clearing off the snow in the mornings, and maybe even cutting the grass! Give pops a break! Ha. At this point I would settle for them just not being total slobs. Children. So messy.

I needed to nap during the day this weekend. I believe Saturday’s nap was due to being out late on Friday night. And yesterday’s was a mix of back pain from doing the tires, and the outdoor family gathering to wish great grandma a Merry Christmas at the long term care home she’s in. She had a good day. Was lucid, happy even. Not moaning in pain, nor looking like death warmed up. Recognized a few of us. Smiled and clapped along to some Carol’s the grand kids sang. She’ll be 96 early in the new year.

Trying to keep on top of things and remain productive. If I can get some of these presents wrapped today I will be a happy man. I wish things came in more regular shaped packaging. I’m fine with cubes, cones, and rectangular prisms. But all the asymmetrical compound curves and lumps make for challenging wrapping. Thanks. I hate it.

Back to Monday. I gotta run the dishwasher after I finish my breakfast. Laundry will go on after that. Lots to do. Best get at it. Ciao Bella.

I pride myself on being easy to work with, but I’m no push over. Unless that is, you are specifically paying me to produce 100% only what you ask for, colour scheme, jargon and all. Then I’ll take the pay cheque and will give you only what you’ve asked for. I don’t need to fight every battle going on out there. You signed off on what you want? You got it. Happy to help. You want to collaborate & get my input? Well then, that’s a whole different ball game. Let’s tussle for the sake of the finished product. Either way, I’m pretty easy going, with a can do attitude. Sounds fun right? Yeah.

Lazy Sunday is here. We have a family date to celebrate great grandma at Parkview retirement care home. I think we’ll gather outside the front room windows, and we’ll sing Christmas carols through the glass, waving cards and hand made drawings from the grandchildren. She’s almost 96, with worsening dementia and other such related ailments. So could be the last one, so best make an afternoon of it! There was talk of a rented room, but one other wing is on lock down with a SARS2 COVID-19 out break. So may be best to stay outside – again. C’est la vie.

Other wise not much else going on. I plan to start wrapping gifts tomorrow. I have a spare rigid table I’m going to bring in, so that I can set up a station to work properly. Scissors, straight edge, table, chair, music, box full of brand new tape dispensers, 60 plus meters of wrapping paper, self sticking tags, and I’m all set to go. Beats trying to wrap on the couch or floor, or on my bed. I’ll tell you that much. If I ever win the lottery (hard to do as I don’t play) I’d love to expand our house to include a proper laundry room with space to fold, iron & sort after washing/drying, but also a proper crafting room where I could wrap gifts with a good amount of table space at the ready. I’d do other things, bit I’m talking about wrapping gifts right now. Doesn’t have to feel like a study hall sized cavernous room, but one that fits at least one, if not two 4x8ft tables, and a few wheelie carts, paint easels, and the like would be awesome. Give it a picture window with a view, and a sound system and TV, and it’s the place to be for crafting! Booyah! Add some racks, drawers, and closets for raw materials and it would take a stick of dynamite to get my kids out of there and off to school!

Did I mention I did more snow tires yesterday? Guess who’s back, back again? My back pain! Yes, you guessed it. Tweaked it again when it wasn’t entirely 100% to begin with. Do I regret it? No, not really. Saved a little more than $100.00 doing the tire swaps myself. And spent 2.5 hours in total doing it. The weather was reasonable both days, so no numb or frozen fingers. I have the impact wrench, jack, jack stands, wheel chocks, breaker bar, and torque wrench to do it all properly anyway. I have an air compressor to level the tires out too. So win-win, as far as I am concerned. I get why people have those hydraulic lifts though. Way nicer to move the work to you, than move down to where the work is. Save your back a lot of unnecessary bending. Do I think that I am mechanically inclined enough to warrant one should I ever win a Mega Millions Lottery? No. Not really. It might make me try, certainly. But you need to know what you’re doing to try doing breaks, or anything along those lines. I can change bulbs, tires, fluids, and do an oil change, and replace a few filters. That’s it. An old school style pit in the garage would be cool, but they were classified as too dangerous to build new. You’d have to find a place that all ready had one. Grandfathered in sort of a thing. Plus you need some specific brake repair tools for the calipers, pins, springs etc… I’m sure I don’t have those. And they are probably all make specific between the big car companies. Also – from what I understand from our mechanic the design of the 2016 GMC Terrain brakes & rotors are a mess with hardly any room for fingers, tools and such. Doesn’t sound like a project I’d care to take on.

What else is new. Hm. Thinking, thinking. Nothing else comes to mind. I could always day dream about the lottery and the upgrades I’d make to the house & property. I could waste hours doing that. I think I’ll grab my spare folding table and get prepped for tomorrow’s wrapping extravaganza. Ciao Bella!

Got the test secured for next Saturday. Fees all paid up, and my eldest is actually practicing unprompted in preparation for her exam. They have punch combos, kicking combos and two patterns to do for the test. Plus a sparring session and a board breaking feat of strength to perform. Should be a whole lot of fun. I believe that had we started a week or two sooner she would be testing for her green belt now and not the stripe. But I’m proud of her for advancing by one belt nonetheless.  Progress is progress. We aren’t here to judge our own progress against others. That path lies madness. I’m just glad she is trying hard, and sticking with it for atleast 2 or 3 nights per week every week, thus far. Made the expense more palatable knowing she is following through on it.

Here we are – again. Saturday morning. One child slept in, the other awake since just before dawn. I was out late so I didn’t wake up until 8:00am. Have been getting private pattern #1 & #2 lessons off of my eldest daughter. It’s a whole lot of twisting, punching, kicking, and arm movements all while paying attention to the height of punches, blocks, and kicks, and the direction your feet are facing for any one movement.

I’m thinking I should swap over my wife’s winter tires today. I just don’t know if she has to go, or be anywhere earlier today. I’m going to need atleast an hour, maybe more to swap them all out. Hm.

Yeah turns out about 75 minutes to swap them all over, torque them down to the appropriate 140 ft lbs, and then check the air pressure on all four tires is my magic number. Needed a little ugga-dugga help from my impact wrench that can bust out 1150 ft lbs of nut busting power. Otherwise I could back off all but two lug nuts myself unaided. Having the tool to take the nuts 90% of the way both off and on helped to save my wrists. Always good to save my wrists. It did drizzle briefly twice over the course of those 75 minutes, but being nearly 10°C it wasn’t much of an issue. My 3 ton jack didn’t have any issues with my wife’s GMC terrain. I should probably buy a second wheel chock though. My one truck sized chock works well, but the vehicles to rock a fair bit when you give the wrenches the beans.

Not going to say I told you so, but my back aches worse this time around, because it wasn’t 100% healed after I did my own tires the first time, and I’ve gone and tweaked it again from an unpleasant starting point. Get the Voltaren! Rub down on aisle three! I need a hot tub and a masseuse. Gag! Thanks – I hate it.

And it all comes down to the choice of Beef, Chicken or Pork. It’s all based off of a Turkish Kebab anyway so I don’t know I even bothered to look into it, other than it bothered me they were all so similar but played off as entirely different regional dishes. Po-tay-to, Poe-tah-tow.

In other news today is Friday, and I’m busy, busy, busy working away on paid projects. Good times. I’m fairly certain the next few weeks will be pretty quiet. I do know one report is coming, but with no expectation to be completed before the new year. I may just get it done anyway as I hate to let a project languish. Focus, finish, and move on! Otherwise I will be wrapping presents from now until Christmas Eve by the looks of things. I got some absolutely massive rolls of paper for wrapping gifts, and I’m super excited to get them done & off my mind.

Have a great weekend. Ciao Bella.

It’s like clock work, you can set your watch to it. Bend over slightly more than usual – back ache. Lift more than you regularly would – back ache. Sleep funny or twist a bit while slipping on wet tile – back ache. Gotta love getting older. I think this proves I need to actively exercise & strengthen my back gradually over time. Or build a gantry that I can move around my garage so I don’t have to lift as much stuff as I get older. Either way I need to do something meaningful or this ache issue of mine will not go away for more than a few weeks at a time inbetween my doing something slightly out of the ordinary. Ounce prevention, pound of cure scenario. You catch my drift yeah? Yeah.

Thursday. Big day yesterday. My eldest turned nine! Nine, can you believe it? Where did the last few years go. 2020-2023 all seems to run together. Not sure if that’s because I am now in my forties, or because every single day felt mostly the same. Be it week day, weekend, holiday, school day, lock down, open up, summer, fall, spring, winter it didn’t much matter. I do recall putting a lot of emphasis on whether we had sunny blue sky weather or dull dreary grayness. But there she is. Getting taller month to month, moving up in school. Taking on cool new hobbies. Love it.

I have no plans for the weekend, so I’m sure there is something afoot. I just know it. Oh well. That is weekend me’s problem. Ciao Bella.