The Organization

Starting running again. Fell off the running wagon a couple of months ago. And it has shown in my weight! Shot up to (over) 200 for the first time in, well, possibly since ever. Not so good.

But, am now taking steps to reduce this ridiculous load i’m now carrying around. Running and eating less. Really, its not that hard, its just easier to forget about it.

Also, i’ve been working on a project over at http://www.aplacetocallourown.com, its an art project, involving procedurally generated scenes and has (will have) social aspects to it too.

Did a film with the family on Sunday. Conor, Rory, Ciara and myself headed out to see "G-Force"! Rory lasted under 30 minutes, although i think the endless ad’s and previews over did it for him. Conor enjoyed the film, and picked it, so that was good. However, unlike some other kids films i’ve watched lately, this one… Well, it sucked donkey balls. I mean, really really bad. I was hoping that we were going to see the latest Ice Age instalment, which i probably would have gotten some enjoyment out of, but this… Not so much.

Was also building the cover for the sandbox in the back. Some of the local cats or racoons have taken to using it as a dumping zone. Rotten things – i’d stew them up for dinner if i could catch them… Anyway, the pieces of the lid are all cut and have had a first coat of stain applied. Have to do the second coat tonight. Then another level of wood around the box, to raise it up a bit, and then attaching the hinges! I have no idea when i’m going to get time to do all this before we start our official summer holidays…

Going to the Zoo on Thursday. I’m hoping for good weather, no rain or thunderstorms! Cool, cloudy is fine, just no rain…

Ok, that’s the quick update. More whenever…

We had a big thunderstorm a bit over a week ago which knocked out our ADSL modem, rendering us internet-less. I called up my friendly ISP (Toronto FreeNet, if you are looking) to find out what I should buy to replace my old Alcatel modem. I then headed off to College Street to pickup the new modem. Once there, however, I was told that they didn’t have the exact model in stock, but this other model is just the same, and the same price, so give it a try. Fine. I take it home, where it doesn’t work. Never trust a sales person to know what they are talking about. Giving them a call back to let them know that I was a might upset about this, then informed me that it wouldn’t be until later in the week that they could get the model I actually wanted. Later in the week being Thursday.

So, iI finally get the model I actually wanted in the first place, and it doesn’t work.

Anger.

I then figure I should just try to get a replacement for the original Alcatel modem, which I knew worked. Managing to find one on Craigslist, I try to get it right away. No luck, have to wait till Saturday evening.

Frustration.

Ok, Saturday evening, I’ve got the modem, and set everything up and… Failure.

Depression.

Taking some time on Sunday to pull out all my old networking bits and pieces, I discover that not only did the modem get pooched during the lightning storm, but the Airport Extreme did too. I finally manage to reconnect to the internet, now having two working ADSL modems, using some of the many bits of leftover networking gear I have in the basement. Today I picked up a new Airport Extreme and spent a couple of hours configuring the network (getting it to work with the 2 AP Express’ we have too).

I then discover that the network switch in the basement also got fried. Luckily, i have an old 4 port hub that I can use, so that was a quick fix.

We are now back online, with the network setup in the house working and everything hunky-dory. Took a week of waiting for components, and about 8 hours of futzing to figure out what was broke, and then the setup of the new bits.

What a massive pain in the ass.

Conor lost his second bottom front tooth, so he is now quite gap-toothed! Luckily, this second loss was much less traumatic then the first, so it went much easier on him, and us!

School is almost over for the year. I can’t believe that he will be in grade 1 next year. Full day’s for him. Crazy. I do a "where did the time go", but then i’ll start to sound like some old-guy whining away about how fast time goes, and we don’t want that.

I got my vasectomy done on Friday. Things are still a bit sore, but the procedure itself was pretty painless. That didn’t stop me from being on full-freak-out-nervous levels however. But it is done, and that’s one chore i can permanently cross off my list!

Here are some photos of the boys, because i know, really, all anyone wants to see is them.

Cha Cha Cha!

Conor opening some presents on his birthday

Action man!

Rory in a smart looking outfit.

Bath hair.

Peek-a-boo!

So, news from the home front. Conor has lost his first baby tooth. This was quite a traumatic event for him. He didn’t want anyone to know, or to go to school. He didn’t even want me to tell Ciara when she came home! I’m hoping that with this first one out of the way, the next will be easier for him. We will see.

We also had the Annette Fun Fair. We were lucky with the weather, which held off the rain, and gave us a sunny, cool Saturday. I volunteered to work in the food area, and ended up flipping burgers and hot-dogs. The only negative was that the grill was not big enough to keep up with demand for burgers. Next year, bigger grill! But, while i don’t have the definitive numbers, it seems like we did better then last year, so way to go Annette PS community!

Both Rory and Conor are sick today. Rory was feverish yesterday, and while better, still not 100%. Conor is doing ok, but better to keep him home then infect everyone else. Although I’m not sure what good it will do – these things come and go like wildfire!

Oh yes, we ordered and received the sand for the sand box! Unfortunately, I ordered way too much. Two cubic yards of sand might not sound like much, but boy, is it ever! Luckily, craigslist came to the rescue. People will come for anything if its free. So, the left-over sand has been carted away, the sandbox is full up, and everything is peachy. Excellent.

I can’t believe it is the end of May already. Only one month left of school for Conor. Then next year, grade one, full time. Crazy.

Still a (hopefully) full summer of fun to go though!

Over the weekend we set out to (finally) build a sandbox for the boys. We found this  how-to, and thought it was simple enough that even we could do it. And we did.

However, the time listed for this project is 4 hours. Let me tell you, it took us a lot longer then 4 hours! Saturday we got all the required bits and pieces that we would need. Sunday was the start of the construction. First we had to dig out a lot of dirt. I have much more respect for "The Great Escape" guys now – its hard to get rid of dirt! Anyway, getting stuff dug out enough took the most time. We then put down the first layer of wood, levelled and squared it. That was about it for Saturday. Sunday we put the other 2 layers on top and screwed them down. Also put in the Landscape Fabric. The first 2 layers are pressure treated 4x4s, the top is cedar. Nicer for looks, and less chemical seepage into young bums sitting on the box!

Now we just need to actually get some sand for the sandbox. Since its going to take something like 50 bags of sand, I’ve been looking for bulk sand. I found out that you buy it by the cubic yard. Crazy. We need about 1 tonne of sand, which is about two and quarter cubic yards.

More pictures to come once we get the sand into it!

Ready to go!

The start of lots of digging.

Conor helping out with the digging.

Finding a place to put the darn sand.

Are we deep enough yet?

Conor and Rory helping out. Watch that Mallet!

End of day Saturday.

Finished by noon Sunday. All we need is sand!

Oh man. I just wanted to buy some software, you know? I go to the Adobe online store to get the flash CS4 upgrade. Fill out the form. So far, all is good. Click the ‘process order’ button.

It is at this point that things start going wrong.

The little popup window telling me that i should wait and not press the ‘back’ button seems to be staying up for a long time. I can see that there is data being pushed back and forth, but the window is just staying there.

5 minutes later, yep still there.

20 minutes later, yep still there.

At this point i figure i should call Adobe and find out what is going on. So, off to automated phone hell. I finally get somebody on the line. They have a speech impediment. Now, i’m all for having people with physical and mental difficulties take part in society – jobs, etc – but, well, when it involves talking to the public, perhaps your employees should be able to speak in a recognizable fashion?

After painfully working out that this person couldn’t help me, they transferred me off to another section of the adobe phone hell. Where i waited 20 minutes for an operator.

Once talking to this guy, he couldn’t help me either, so off to another section of hell.

Not such a long wait this time, but this sales guy only does boxes. Can’t help with the digital download that i’d ordered. His suggestion? Go to Best Buy. He also confirmed that my online order had not been processed.

So, once off the phone with these jokers, i start phoning around town, trying to find a physical copy of the Flash CS4 Pro upgrade. After about 10 minutes of fruitless phoning, i get an email from Adobe. Ah, its the confirmation of my online order. You know, the one they said didn’t go through.

Anyway, it kind of ends well, in that i’ve got the software now, but the stress and pain the assness that this all was sooo wasn’t worth it.

And the worst part – i could have totally gotten the software with way less pain via BitTorrent.