A jamming party

Okay, I know this was a few days ago, but I figure it's time to talk about it.  (i.e., i have some time to kill)

 

So it's Wednesday (or was), and we were ready to host the party.  I had gone out to buy the last few items for the party.  We needed some (dipping) pretzels, mix, cups and plates, cheese...  People were told to come by anytime after 7, but we figured most weren't going to be there until after the piping gig at the Gardens, which would be like 8 or so.  Doug wasn't even going to come by with his food until 7ish.

 

6:30 the first arrives.  And this is a funny story.  Mandy's been having a 'fun' time with the Future Shop recently, and ... well, without getting into it all, I'll just say he was supposed to come to our house at 5... so when the door buzzed for 6:30 I figured it was the FS guy... so I buzz the person in and say "MANDY, FS GUY'S HERE" so she rushes over and it turns out it's Mark.  Which is kinda funny, 'cuz Mark USED to work for FS.  And we knew he was coming to the party, just we didn't expect him... ah, it was funny.

 

After that, people slowly start to come in... Doug brings his laundry basket (of food).  He did a great job too!  2 kinds of sushi, wings, nuts and bolts, and some sort of mini bruschetta thingies.  yummm...

 

Pretty soon the whole party's in full swing.  Something like 23 people apparently.  We really had 'em all crammed in.

• Me


• Mandy


• Doug


• Mark


• Kelly


• Kristine


• Greg


• Justin


• Karen


• Rayanne


• Robin


• Lindsay


• Brian


• Brandy


• Eilidh


• Trish


• Christopher


• Cindy


• Kris


• Kate


• Ann


• Scott


• Jarron


• Rory

So a far amount of us just all bunched in together.  It was a godo time... a few bottle caps placed in precarious places.  A little perturbing that there was some plotting against my personal property.  That's very off-putting to be honest.  Especialy when my wife was asked to be recruited.  Anyways, I'll try not to dwell on it.

What I will dwell on is the total lack of the dress code.  We had said this was to be a Christmas themed party.  It was my idea to put the attire on the bill.  I had even gone out and picked up a sweater, some boxers and a tie, plus I had some stupid elf hats from earlier.  I think only Mandy wore something.  There were some talk of socks and maybe a green or red shirt spattered into the crowd, but that's about it.

All in all, it was still a good night.  I printed some Christmas cards with Trish's reindeer pose.  The food was a big hit, and it got pretty noisy... nothing loud, just the typical cocktail party din of voices.  I'll have to go and put some pics online at some point.  Didn't take too many, but enough.  There's a video of it... maybe I'll start that youtube account yet.

later

(now onto the New Year's preparation)

CHRISTMAS

OH, man, how I love Christmas time.  Nothing to do but sleep in and stuff.  And this year, not being in retail REALLY helped with me being able to enjoy it truly.  In fact I had all my shopping done WAY early.

Plus there's been like a ton of parties.  My staff party, Mandy's staff party, Trish's party, Heather's party, and we're even having a party on Wednesday.  Then there's Jarron's new year's party, and Ray's holding a Hawaiian themed one as well.

And there's been tons of food so far.  And even more to come.  I feel like a bear just getting to hibernate.  Doesn't help that I really am sleeping like 11 hours a night.  I love being able to sleep in.  Don't know how I'll adjust to going back to work.

So, how was your Christmas?

After watching movies for a couple of days in class I was ready to be gone.  Too bad Trish had her party during the week, so I couldn't cut loose, or stay late.  At Heather's we enjoyed ourselves, I had brought Icewine, and Heather can't apparently tell the difference between it and rye.  And I got to plant a few bottle caps in her house (I hope that wasn't Cassius' stocking I put it in).  Let's see if she finds them all.  There was at least... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8... we'll go with 8 bottle caps.  It was a good night, I got to say "do it" a bunch of times, and I think we invented new hand signals... or at least reinforced a few we had already made up.

What else new is there?  We went to see the all-time Christmas classic "Rocky Balboa".  It's no "Snakes on a Plane" but it was surprisingly not horrible.

That was when Chris gave us his gift.  And then we went the next day to exchange gifts with Mandy's family.

The next day was Christmas and Mandy didn't believe I had really gotten her a guitar. But she seems to like it.  And it was then that we found out that Christ had given us some sausage... I hope it's still ok after being under the tree for almost 24 hours.    Thanks Chris!

I got a new watch and a new crib board, and a great new Toolbox.  But it isn't about what I got, it's more about who I got to spend my time with.  And I really enjoyed spending time with my family and friends.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody

 

Now, to clean this place up while Mandy's gone off to find the Boxing Day deals.  Party's only a day away now, are you ready?

MUFFIN PUPPET

Right, how can i forget?

 

I have a new nickname...  After watching THE BEST EPISODE of The Office, I watched Scrubs.  Andthere was a muffin that told people to do something.  He did this buy saying "do it... DO IT!"  Turns out the muffin was a puppet...

 

and because I apparently say that alot, Eilidh has concurred that "muffin puppet" should be my new nickname.

 

or, as mandy says "MP"

 

I can live with MP

 

-ryan (aka "MP")

Let's see if I can't get you caught up

So where to begin?

Let's start with the weekend.  Eilidh had finished her exams and decided it was time to celebrate.  So we went to T&A's.  Which was fortuitous as Peter was having his staff party there as well.  Which was funny, 'cuz when we got there, one of his staff was just falling all over the place.  Not exactly cool, but she's 65.

So how did the rest of the night go?  Well when you cram as many people into my Aztek as you can (thanks Mandy for driving), things have got to get better.  Well, Trever had a humongous amount of cleavage that night.  Enough that stopped Pete mid sentence to throw coins and cherries in there.  It led to a lot of "inappropriate touching" (new sign language).  It was a great night.  I mean when you get to watch Xmen at Deb's until 4am, how could it not!?

 

What else... Shopping is officially now done.  I'd like to talk about it, but there are people who may read this who it would affect.

 

Staff party at the Country Club was good last night.  Unlike Mandy's staff party, this one had really good food.  We really enjoyed ourselves. 

 

Then I had to do the banking thing, and track how much in debt I was.  The odd thing was I found a charge from Sears for like $3... and I haven't shopped there in forever.  So I had to talk with Mandy for a while and she didn't know either.  So, this led to a call to TD... and the guy figured it might be some sort of fraud thing, so I should go and get a new card and redo all this banking stuf.  I said I would, and it was at that point I realized what it was (parts from the arts dept).  So I realize I'm now getting old... I'll apologize now people!

 

What next?  Trish's party.  We had a nice time.  Trish had Rum balls and peanut butter balls, and wine jelly...  I brought Cadbury chocolates.  And Brandy force fed them to me, so who can argue with that!

 

Well that's about it... my calss is still annoying.  I made one kid write his test in class... he pouted forever about it.  Should be good to read his test now.  Without the EA to give him answers should affect his mark.

 

Just 2 more days of watching movies until the christmas Break... and with my shopping done, and no retail job to force me to work... I can just sleep and sleep and sleep... should be awesome.  I may not write for a while.  I have 1 more party this week, 1 social next, our party after that, and then 2 New Year's parties.  Wish me luck.

Man, my class is getting on my nerves...

So, yeah, as much as I'm enjoying sitting back this past week while my student teacher takes on the class... I'm really finding them annoying.  Nobody's paying attention.  Even the kid in the 90s is doing the "oh really?" thing (imagine a really sarcastic voice).

Today, i had to kick out a student (again) and sent him to the office.  He comes back 30minutes later only to start a fight with another kid... just brutal.  One kid came back today after "I didn't feel like coming to school"-syndrome and expects to get all caught up and fix any zeroes.  Too bad... so sad.

 

I just find them so annoying.

 

Know what else I find annoying?  Registering pipebands.  Man, you would think it was pretty easy.  No way... and the worst part is we're up in the middle of nowhere here in terms of 'regions' or 'zoning', so we're pretty much screwed.  As soon as you ask one association their immediate reply is "why?"  And that's IF I get a reply from them.  Just brutal.

 

But at least some of the competition set is coming through now... we're meeting with Graham before band to give it a try and see what can happen.  Wish me luck.

 

ps - 6 school days until vacation.

Hospitals are nothing like they show on Scrubs

So I guess I should explain my last MSN name before I get more inquiries.  I had named it soemthign along the lines "birthday surgery", and when I woke up this morning I had like 4 messages asking if I was ok, or if I needed anything...

 

So le tme clarify:  MY DAD had the birthday surgery (actually the day after his birthday).

 

He was suposed to get one of those spinal taps (heh... still have to see that movie) but instead they gave him general anesthesia.  When we picked him up from the hospital he looked groggy.  And was walking VERY gingerly.  But we got him home and set him up on the couch to relax.  I figured I could head home at that point.

 

About 1 hour later or so I get a phone call from my mom saying "your dad's passed out and I can't wake him."  I seriously thought I was going to get a speeding ticket getting to my parent's house!  When I got there he was laying on the ground, eyes barely open (but thankfully he was awake).  We let him lay on the ground for some time so he could regain his strength.  He had had a hernia repair operation so his abdominal muscles were just sore.  even getting him to sit up caused him to flex those muscles and just brought horrible pain. [i had gotten him a birthday card, and in it, i said "i hope this doesn't mean you can't carry the canoe next summer!"]

 

Finally we were able to get him into the pullout couch in the back room.  By this time he was needing to just retch and the pain was huge and he just kept shivering.  We wanted to give him something for his nausea but we weren't sure if we could, so mom called the Telehealth number and they said "GET HIM TO A HOSPITAL NOW - WE'RE CALLING YOU AN AMBULANCE!"

 

So we followed dad in to the hospital and spent over 5 hours there just ... waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting.  Slowly dad started to look better.  They had soem gravol in teh IV and he got a T3 just before we left.  So by the time we were leaving he was JUST starting to talk with some real volume.  Oh, and the doctors decided he should stay the night.

 

Staying at a hospital is hard.  Especially all the waiting.  I was going stir crazy.  I had to walk around.  And i was hungry.  SO i journeyed off for an ATM.  Found one that was broken (yet it still made sounds), then finally found one that worked, but printed nothing... it gave me the money and then said "PLEASE WAIT" for at least 10 minutes.  Eventually I went to the Tim Horton's to get something to eat (I'm dying for a chunky chicken salad sandwhich)... only to find out it's a Robin's.  Not being used to Robin's menu I couldn't find their sandwhiches and so I just get a muffin.  That's when i see the sandwhich menu on the FAR side of the counter.  grr... When I get back mom mentions she hadn't had any supper either so I offer to go back and get her something.  I go back and order a HAM, TURKEY & BACON sub.  Now it doesn't say anything about "OR" so I assumed it was all 3.  Nope... when we got back to the room, it only had bacon.  So I'm guessing the little 8 year old who made it is just that dumb.

 

The funny part of the evening was when I called mandy and told her where I was she said "oh, and go see Nanny... she's there too"  So I was able to drop in and see her nanny for a bit.  She had been there since 10am.  (it was roughly 7pm  when we got there).  I also ran into Regan in the waiting room.  So the whole event turned a bit social here and there.

 

So my evening I decided was nothing like an episode of Scrubs.  I got to see a severely drunk teen... an orderly who recognized me from grade school (don't remember her tho') and a nurse who recognized me from highschool (tho' i only barely knew her brother).  weird.

 

Dad should be coming home soon... I should be ready in case they need me.  Mom woke me up finally by 10 and she said dad was better and was eating, so he was about ready to come home.  I was barely awake and said "if you NEED me I'll go" and mom said she didn't need me, so she went on her own.  I feel horrible about that.  I shoulda gone.  Oh, well...

 

l8r all...

birthday surgery / AGM / stolen donuts / AST over / I've got a student teacher...

So how the past has been... I haven't updated in a while.

 

What have you missed? 

 

Well, the AST is finally over with.    And to be honest I'm kinda sad.  For those few kids who actually got something out of it, they made it worth while.  Some of the others...  well here's an example.

For the last day I decided to buy the kids donuts.    I brought the tray out from the car and as I was bringing it out, some other kids saw it ... one of which is in my science class... and he's annoying.  I've kicked him out of the AST class.  Anyways, he starts trailing me asking for his donut.  Then when there's a fraction of a second I'm not 'aware' he jumps and grabs the box and RUNS.  I mean... really, who would do soemthing like that?  I was easily able to intercept him, and I backed him against the wall [not THREW HIM INTO THE LOCKERS as some of the kids have said and told him that he had crossed a line he should not have crossed, and to 'get the hell out of my sight'  I was PISSED. 

But it's over with now, so ... i don't have to worry anymore about it.  I've filled all the final paper work... all there is now is to get paid.  Hopefully it's a reasonable sum... and not $10/hr like Nick was saying... that would suck. 

 

So, after the last day of the ASTS, the next day in class my new student teacher starts teachign.  And none too soon, as I was running out of the info for which I knew about weather (really, I know nothing about air fronts).  And he did a really good job.  A good way of engaging the kids and then trying to throw a few different things at them.  A little lesson, a work sheet, another little lesson, then some drawing ... it was good.  So it should be very interesting how the class goes for the next few days for him.

 

The extra hard part is there's a ton of drama going on right now.  This girl's been crying non-stop for like 4 days now.  And all her friends are rallying around her, and it's tricky.  Nobody want sto fill me in [and really i probably DON"T want to know], which means I can't do anything.  But at the same time I'm letting them kinda slide... "we need to go to the office" "can we go to the bathroom with her"... so we tend to miss a bunch of them fromt he class for a bunch of time.... and now I'm feeling like the uncaring bastard because I want to put an end to it 'cuz it's interfering with the class.

 

And now... the AGM... well, as it happens I get re-voted as co-PM with Rory.  Other than that not much was really accomplished... it was a typical AGM.   Everybody has an opinion, ... and nobody's really aligns with anybody else's.  So... it's just sort of frustrating sitting there during it.  I did a crossword. 

But there's still a good possibility of next year being a good piping year.  February's a go... May might be as well.  A new form of celtic bash might be unveiled and the St. Patty's day bash as always is in the works.

 

The last thing I'll mention is that today [officially yesterday] is my dad's birthday.    He's getting old... in fact for his birthday he's having surgery.  Well it's not really for his birthdya, it's the day after.  I didn't geet him his birthday gift 'cuz i thought it'd be better to get him the gift in the hospital...   but then again I'm not even sure if he's gonna be in the hospital long.  Maybe I can call or something.  [i'm a great son]

why my name is mud

Why I am my wife's bitch...

-by Ryan Moore

 

So, if you've noticed my MSN name lately, it's "MUD."  And this is not some sort of acronym or anything.  I'm literally mud right now in the eyes of my wife.  You've heard the expression "man, my name is mud unless I get those reports done on time."  That pretty much sums it up.  Let me try to explain the how and the why of it.

 

So Friday Jarron really wanted to get together and have a 'get together,' something relaxed, and what not as he was dog sitting this weekend.  I made plans to get there around 9, I even msg'd Jarron to see what time he wanted people over.  Regan calls around 8pm to say "get over here soon and we can start partyign it up."  That's when I see the msg Jarron sent back "we're goign to go party PA style."  Apparently "PA style" means going bar to bar.

 

So when I get to Jarron's we settle on taking a cab to the first bar (Mad House) and hang out there for a bit.  Seeing as we didn't really run into people we knew, we headed off from there to Lot 66 (which was a cold walk I'll tell you).  Apparently Stef (Regan's friend) knew the manager of the bar.  There was a birthday party going on there, and therew as this big card where pepole signed.  Jarron had to sign it.  At this point, Brandy and Eilidh met up with us and joined in the foray about PA side.

The 3rd bar was going to be Wiseguys, but it looked more like a club... and there was a line up, so we passed it by.  Kept heading on and ended up at T&A's.  I really like this place.  Always a good atmosphere, and never TOO crazy.  We met up with Karen, Julie and Kari.  Kari asked me to go talk to Mr. Caccamo about the "hallowe'en penis victim" for her.  I don't know if I really should... but it sounds fun.  After that we decided to move along to the last bar of the night (Jack's).

 

Jack's wasn't all that exciting (except for 2 rounds of foosball).  After that we decided to head on out... walking up the street Brandy was having trouble walking, so I carried her for a bit (she didn't like that).  Not sure what to do now, we decided to go on into Wiseguys (there was no lineup anymore).  This wasn't a great idea... i don't like clubs.  I don't dance, and I'm never dressed properly.  Not that I care what the skanks in those bars think anymore... just you feel out of place.  Plus, I ran into an ex-student of mine... very awkward.  Well, what was more awkward was Brandy getting really smashed and throwing up on the floor.  Less awkward was getting Eilidh to watch the lesbians behind us on the dance floor and get her to tell me when they make out so I can look.  heh  - tho' I think it was probably awkward for E to do so.

 

After we took Brandy out of the bar (just ahead of the bouncers) we decided to cab it back to Jarron's.  At Jarron's we took care of Brandy and put her into a bed, then played a few games of pool.  That always is fun... nto that I ever get good at pool... just it's fun.  Especially when you unexpectedly make the shot you wanted to.  After a few games Jarron convinced me to take a few minutes rest on his couch.  Probably a good idea not to drive so tired at 5am or so.

 

Now this is where I become mud...

 

I wake up at about 6:40... I wasn't sure o fth etime as Jarron's clocks that I saw didn't quite agree with each other.  Then I looked for my phone: it had an alarm to wake me at the proper time, plus it could tell me the appropriate time, and let me know if my wife had called.  It took me a while to find it... had to find Jarron's phone so that I could call it and locate it.  Turns out that the clocks were accurate.  So I called home.  I had promised Mandy I would be home for 6:30 so she could get to work on time.  No answer at home, so I just DRIVE.  Drive much faster than I should have.  I'm home by 7:15.  She has already left.  I decide to call her work... decide against it... I dont' want to get her in trouble by making personal calls etc... She leaves me a txt msg on my phone "...your extremely PISSED OFF wife..." so I decide not to call her work.  That would only exacerbate the problem.

 

So I sorta put it off for a while.  I had some other work to do for the day... and just didn't call her.  Figured that I would be the last person she wanted to talk to.  Turns out that that wasn't a good idea.  She was concerned... wanted to make sure I wasn't dead from last night or something.  So now I'm doubly in trouble.  [can't win for losing, eh?]

 

Later on in the day after we are on talking terms, she mentions a craft fair.  I wasn't quite sure where she was going with this, but then mentions "oh, you're coming... after all, you are my bitch now!"

 

So there you have it... I have become my wife's bitch.  I think it's starting to lessen... but despite how angry she was with me, the worse is how I feel myself.  I really hate to let people down.  I can't wait until I can make that time machine and go back in time and fix these stupid mistakes I keep making.

 

I've thought about trying to buy my way out of it, but that usually makes things 2x as worse as it was before.  So I need to do something else... any suggestions?

 

one more thing

Just to keep those of you informed of my reading habits.  I'm now on Book 4 of "The Wheel of Time"

A lazy sunday ending with HILARITY

So, what to do this Sunday? 

 

I woke up pretty late this morning due to the fact that the Bowater party ended MUCH later than I had anticipated.  I figured it woudl have been just a short event.  Not so.  It went to 1am,  and I felt bad before going [start of a headache] and we ended up at a table where we didn't know anybody.  Not that it was a bad event, just I wasn't in the right frame o fmind to start, and... well, I felt guilty for feeling bad there.  We gave Greg and Nancy a ride to it, so we couldn't just leave when we wanted to... I'd feel bad dragging Greg away from his only retirement party.  But eventually we did get to go, and I slept... and slept.

 

In the morning (11am or so) I wake up and decide "I NEED TO DO WORK"... and proceeded to stare at the computer screen  in a battle of wills, fighting the surge of uninspiration I had all weekend.  Marking was done, and the scanning for the site was previously finished, so all I had to do was come up with an idea for a lab on acceleration.  Not an easy task... especially when I have a sort of writer's block for science going.  It was either come up with that idea, or come up with an idea for the AST.  I still haven't come up with an idea for AST yet - any suggestions?    I figure I might do some more conversions.  Maybe rate conversions ($CDN/L ~ $US/gallon, km/h ~ m/s)... there you go .  It took me all day to come up with the idea, and nothing, and now just a few seconds and I've got 2 good ideas!  Neato ... weird how the brain works.

 

Oh, that brings me to another point... I had suggested to me that I watch the movie "WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW?" saying it was a great science movie.  *pbbbth* [thumbs down]  Horrible new age crap propaganda.  Turns out it was hosted by this chick who claims to be channeling a spirit from Atlantis.  Ick.

 

This however leads into the topic of what I ended the day with.  Mandy suggested that if she were to get out early enough from work we could go to see a movie.  A few calls and the gang's in to see "BORAT"   Man, that was sooo funny.  I felt... my brain felt like it was rubbed raw, but in a good way.  Some of the jokes were just so... out there.  And I don't mean like "KRAMER" out there, but wow.  Really, is it that funny to make fun of Jews, and the whole American culture and stuff.  Apparently so.  I laughed soo hard at it.  I don't want to speak of it, just in case people have not seen it yet, but my god, I could watch it again and again.

 

What else to say?  Mandy and I didn't make it to her Nanny's for brunch, she had some work to do, and I sorta slept in.  Tho', we did end up with a chocolate cake still.

 

It is Ray's birthday today... well officially 1hr06min ago it ended, but still.  Happy bday Ray.

 

Got an awkward phone call from Kristie today.    She meant to dial another Ryan, but got me instead... I'm sorry it was so awkward Kristie.  I hope sometime soon it won't be so awkward any more.  Not quite sure how to proceed still.

 

Plans for the Christmas Party are still underway, so keep watching.  My idea of the 'theme' is working out it seems.  Doug's stoked to cook, and Mandy's ready to bake.  The theme will be 'unbearable Christmas" [I just made that name up].  Essentially you are to come either dressed like Santa with the stupid hat or soemthing like that, bad Christmas ties, or horrible Christmas sweaters.  That way everybody will kinda look the same.  It should be fun.  Muppets will be viewed [a Knauff tradition].

 

Well, that's about all I can think of.  Gotta sleep now... tomorrow's another day... ugh!

 

[ps, the "..." are actually called "ellipsis" - you got to love Wikipedia]

My blog as of late... has been lacking

I really must apologize... as of late, I really ahven't been keeping up this blog too well.  The entries that do make it in, are short, lacking in any sort of wit and are downright... boring!

 

I'm sorry.  I really must try to rectify this.  I'd like to say that it has been because I am busy, but really... I only teach one class.  How busy can that be?  Plus I have weekends off these days so even more so I'm care-free.

 

Who knows why it seems I'm so busy.  I know I've been sleeping oddly lately, and that could be a good attribution.  (is that a word?)

Some say I should go get myself checked out, 'cuz it can't be healthy i'm this tired all the time.  But meh, i'll slow down when I'm dead ... right?

 

So, what has been going on lately?  ...

Not much (probably the REAL reason I haven't been too good on updating this blog).

 

I'm jealous of Jarron, who's recently purchased a new 5D.

I'm jealous of Rory and Rain who are putting together their new home.

 

My parents have just started the reno on their kitchen, and I was helping out with that.  Poor dad... can't eat his morning oatmeal 'cuz they sold their stove.  Just going to have to wait a few weeks until you get your new one.  The new kitchen will be intersting to see... maybe i WILL want to inherit that house after all... heh

 

The class is starting to shape up a little... tho' I'm still feeling like i"m JUST ahead of the game.  Each day I get home and I just look through Bob's old book and take what he has done.  The after school tutoring is starting to be a pain in the ass.  I mean the class has pared down to just a few kiddies, some of which want to be there... but the paperwork and the whole beauracracy (sp?) is just getting on my nerves.  I mean having to do 29 hand-written reports assessing kids that I spend maybe 2 hours a week with... some who don't even show up... that's insane.  And thanks goes to Nick for telling me that it might well turn out to be like $10/hr only in the end.  Man, just shoot me now.

 

The bash was a great success!  Numbers were up... hopefully it shows itself to be a great profit turner!

 

Now... well now I'm leaving the apt to go to Mandy's dad's retirement dinner.  We're both unsure of:

A) do people's kids actually go to these things [i.e. is it just going to be me and Mandy and a bunch of Bowater employees we don't know... all looking at us like "why are you here?"]

B) what to wear.  [is it formal... or not... or what?]

C) how long it will be [i would like to do other things tonight... go see BORAT or something]

 

Dang... now i really want to go see BORAT. 

 

Hopefully the next update will be "BORAT --- GREATEST MOVIE IN NATION!"

 

later all...

-ry

 

ps = do I do the "..." too much?  what do they call that?  an ellipse or something?

CELTIC BASH X (the final carouse?)

So, the bash was awesome.  Really the whole night was just perfect.

 

To start it off on Saturday we got to the Coliseum and the girls had done an AMAZING job on the posters they were making.  Really it was way more than we needed.  I wish I had brought some sort of camera for it all. 

 

In fact I didn't bring ANYTHING.  We had Mike get his camcorder to video everything.

 

Rory, Dyland & I had to go play at the Mall, in hopes that we could promote the event some more.  Turns out that before we went we were up to 600+ people.  So, really it wasn't that necessary.  But it was kinda neat playing through the mall for Santa Claus!

 

We did some quick sound checks ... we had a new stage... well, not new, just BIGGER.  So we lined us all up on stage and did soem tuning and run throughs.  Nothing severe, just to get a feel of what we were getting outselves into.  Rory adn I were starting to get concerned about some of the tuning problems.  Hrmm... hope it jus tfixes itself.

 

By the time we got back to the Coliseum, it was starting to get busy, but we realized the other bands were starting to tune up, so we didn't have much chance to do so.  So by the time we had to get ready, it was just the fastest tuning we had ever done.  Then it was out we go.  It was the fastest few minutes I had ever done.  And it was HOT.  [i need to renew my objection to the uniform if anybody in teh band reads this].  Hot and it was BRIGHT.  I couldn't see anybody in the crowd.  But it really sounded amazing.  It was great.  Then we did a quick uniform change to get ready for set #2.  Which went JUST as fast as the first.  But it was nice... we sounded good.  The tuning really did 'come in'.  We sounded TIGHT.  IT was great.  Nothing but compliments the entire night from everybody.  I have the video footage from mike on it.  Maybe I'll start that youtube account and post some video soon.

 

Then the Dust Rhinos were on.  man they are a truly great band.  I mean they played WHITE STRIPES... U2... PETER GABRIEL... and it was all so seamless, like it was THEIR SONGS.  In between their sets we played our quartet (with 6 pipers).  It was not going to be easy as Steve came in a little... 'under the weather'  And he was a little off in his playing.  Besides that we played great!  Especially DYLAN... Dylan had a little groupie ring just shouting for him.

 

After the night was over, it was time to clean up and head for the after-party.  The Dust Rhinos said they really enjoyed their show, and they were asking US about next year.  That's cool.  Theey were talking about coming to the after party, but luckily they didn't... it was pretty low key anyways.

 

Overall the event was great, and I would like to thank those that came out.  Guys, we really appreciate it.  The rumour was there might have been 900 people there.  Now the question is:  should there be an 11?  The dust rhinos thought there should be... many people in the band thought there should be [funny how mostly it was the peeople who didn't do all too much for it].. or do we scrap and do something different.  Rely on St. Patty's day gig and do a mini-concert or something after.  It's tough to say whether we really might be able to make enough money from other events.  ...

 

what do you think people?  let us know!

 

J&K's wedding

So the day started out with me getting up fairly early for a Saturday morning.  I got up early enough 'cuz I missed out on going to Nick's shag.

Mandy said we should start the day out right by having a good breakfast.  So we got up ready to go to Fat Cat's.  MMMmmm... except Mandy had forgotten a few things so we started getting worried we were gonna get her to her appointment late.  Turns out her purse was already in the car, and the greasy food doesn't take too long to get out.  So we ended up with enough time... no worries.  Then it's time for me to head of to Justin's.

Justin's house was fun.  We had Jean (the photographer) come on by and snap a few of us getting ready.  We all got to joke about the pink, Mike got to watch some Toy Story and we all had a few laughs with our friend before he ended single-hood.

We then headed off to the church where we waited for the whole show to start.  Mean while Mike, Mark and I got to practice our 'ushering skills.'  Been a while since I'd done that, but I think I did a good job.

The wedding itself... felt like it flew by.  Reminded me of my own day.  I guess I was so caught up in the signal Justin taught Doug and I so taht we don't get given communion.  But we never got a chance to give teh big X.  After a few more moments, Justin was proclaimed a married man.

Then we got to see the fun bus they got for us ... something to ride around in style with.  A HAPPY TIME TOURS bus.  It was pretty cool.  Pretty posh.  We took the bus to a small mansion near the old hospital.  That was pretty neat.  Jean had some real fun, trying to get some 'ol timey' looking photos of the wedding party.  I like the one where we were playing poker at this really old looking table.  I really enjoyed getting to ham it up.  I think that's what weddings are for... just to realize what fun you can have with those around you.

After the photos, it was time to head to the reception at teh Slovak.  There, it was my job (yay... somethign to do) to tell people where they sit.  At least I thought it was my job.  Turns out I was told wrong, as Mandy was saying it was one of the girls' jobs.  It's ok... I got to be near the candies.

The rest of the reception was good... plenty of good food, there was an AWESOME speech by Karen's brother.  Really, Derek, it was good!  The slideshows were also good!

By this time in the evening I had started to sit down for a few, and well... teh week started to catch up with me, and I must admit I was on the verge of falling asleep.  I guess it seemed pretty antisocial of me, but... it was a long week.  A long week that ended well... and as Justin said to Parker "this begins Act II."  So too, after a long week, do we start the next one... for Justin & Karen & Parker, the next week is a pretty big one, the start of a family.  For others (like me) it's just another busy week with plenty of work to do... but as Robert Jordan says "the wheel of time continues to turn... there is neither a beginning nor an end to the turn of the wheel... but this it is a beginning."

 

Much luck J&K with your new life.  Much happiness in your union!

-ry

Congratulations J&K

Not much time right now to really make an entry right now, but I just wanted to put this out there before it's tacky-late.

 

Congratulations go out to Justin and Karen ... married yesterday!  Happy family today!

 

I was glad to be a part of their special day.

 

Pictures to come.

the past 5 days...

I thought it had been forever since I last wrote in here.  But according to the previous posting, only 5 days.

 

What has happened?  Not much.  I'm starting to bog down.  I'm getting a little behind in my work.  ANd this weekend's not going to help much either.  It's my good friend Justin's wedding on Saturday ... so I'm going to be 'occupied' for a few days there.

 

Got the tux yesterday... it's friggin' pink.  Not pink as in "salmon" or "... whatever else they mght try to pass off as manly"... but pink... as in "you're Mr. Pink, 'cuz you look like a faggot"   Sigh...  I mean I guess this is retribution for making him wear a kilt at my wedding.  Fair is fair.  Apparently it's going to match the ladies' dresses.  So I'll match my wife.  That should be good I guess.

 

It'll be a good weekend, and no offence Jay, just I can't wait until it's going to be done.  I've got report cards to finish up, which means i shoudl catch up on my marking... which is not a problem.  Except for the fact that kids AREN'T handing things in... grrggh.  Oh, well... I just need to relax.

 

Then the weekend after that is Celtic Bash!  [you all have your tickets right?]  So that means the week is shot, as I'll be doing tons of rehearsals and extra practices and whatnot.  So I'll be poooped.  When does it end?

 

apparently Dec. 23... then I get 2 weeks off.  Followed by like 4 more weeks.

Then I've got to find another job.

hrmmm

 

a little help?

BASH BASH BASH

People... seriously now.. the bash is less than 3 weeks away, almost 2 weeks now..

have you bought a ticket?  There's no excuse not to.  We have a 94 year tradition going ... help keep this pipeband up and running for many more.

 

How my class is going

So I've taken a page from the VP... give 'em something simple so they can feel some success...

 

So I did stuff like crosswords and word-searches and its seemed to work with some of them.  After a hefty talk from the VP to a bunch of them a few have really settled down.  The class isn't perfect yet, but it's now at least manageable.

 

Talking to a few of the kids they now are realizing that NOT HANDING stuff in really hurts your mark.  I've been giving them constant updates on what their marks are and some are starting to get smoe of it in.  One kid went from like 40 - 72, another went from 35 - 51, another from 27 - 54.  Like it's totally possible they're seeing now.  It's pretty good.

 

The vp says we'll do good cop / bad cop for a while.  I'll be just showering them with "LOOK WHAT YOU CAN DO... OH YOU"RE DOING SO GREAT!" (only when necessary obviously) and he'll be the hammer of Thor.

 

We'll see how that works out.  But with 19 kids, it's going pretty good.  The average has shifted to ~55% now.  Only a few are failing, and then only  by a little.  One kid who hasn't handed anything AT ALL in is the only millstone around the neck fo the average.  But a call home today should help that.

 

... what's that?  light at the end of the tunnel?

Movie night recap - Thumbsuckers sucks thumbs

 

So a bit of cabin fever set in on me yesterday, so I asked if people wanted to get out and do something.

Brandi was up for anything.  Trish and Eilidh were going to the Keg.  Seeing as they were going BEFORE Mandy got home, I figured she'd be pissed if I went to the Keg without her, I bowed out of that.  So, Brandi and I went to Chapter's with her and picked up a book "why do men have nipples" only 'cuz the next book looked even better "why do men fall asleep after sex."  Brandi picked up [and I'm totally jealous of] "The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" and "Crap Jobs"

 

After that the girls said they'd call us after the Keg and see if we wanted to do anything.  I suggested movie at my place.  I invited a few people over and the girls brought "THUMBSUCKERS" which was a really... well awful is too harsh, but it was nowhere near good.

 

Then again it was hard to really watch the movie when everybody was over by that time.  Doug and Trish were bugging each other, Rory was breaking candles and Mandy was on her way to getting giddy.

 

I wish I had taken some pictures.  All in all it was a good night.  Haven't really had a good hang out at our apartment in a while.  Definitely need to do more.

3rd installment of the Ye Ol' Boys Club

It was a good night really.  I must say I do enjoy hanging out during YOB night.  If for nothing else than for a bunch of guys to just hang out.  It's not often that it's entirely all men.  Usually, somebody's wife, or girlfriend comes along.  Not that there's anythign wrong with that, just it's nice to know that FOR SURE it's a night set aside for men to do men things.

 

The samples were all good... the food was even better [my god Mags, you can cook!].  I enjoyed the games as well.  I won my money back in teh crib tourney, but unfortunately it prevented me from playing in the poker round.

 

The other cool thing was that it was 99.9% all teachers... actually 88%, but who`s counting.  So you can all relate to each other when you tell `work` stories.  Plus being colleagues you can throw some of your problems out there and see how others are dealing ... like really fun networking almost.  heh.

 

THe only downside to the night was the fact that everybody left so early.  I understand WHY we had to put it on a Friday night [hard scheduling for like 15+ guys], but it meant that everybody had things to do on Saturday morning.  So it ended up being just me and Jarron

 

It's always down to me and him.. and Eilidh, after nights out.  So this being Boy's night out, there was no Eilidh present.  However this didn't prevent us from giving her a ring around 2am.  Luckily she had only been asleep for an hour.    Not much really happened during the 47minute phone call, except for a new hand signal (imagine placing your hand flat out, bent at the wrist like a cobra or something and then `sliding` it away - just like the `good to go`from the commercial) - this is now means `Bailidh`  As in Eilidh is bailing (not coming)... pretty clever ehÉ  hrmmm (do you see a question mark... why can`t i do a question mark... I`m sure I`ve done one before - i hate when stuff like that happens...)

 

anyways... can`t wait until the next one.  Good job Jarron for putting it all together

 

I'm going to get fired apparently

So, I get asked to cover Jarron's class today and well, it's basically the same kids I deal with in the afternoon.  And some of them were none too pleased to be seeing me for 2x in a day.  One girl in particular started in right away on me.  Essentially I had to send her to the office with a "if this is the way you are going to behave, it'll be better that you weren't here.  Go to the office."

 

The story was starting to spread around the school... "such-n-such is yelling at the VP to get Mr. Moore fired!"  Meh... 

 

The little 'such-n-such' started walking around the school where I'd see her and shout "Mr. Moore sucks!... you're gonna get fired!"

 

I then went and visited with the VP and we talked about the girl in question.  Mentioned about what she had said etc... saying "it's been said, and it's hard to UNsay.  So we'll have to nip this in the butt."

 

She even hung around the After School Tutorial and tried taunting me.

 

Not that it bothers me... not at all really.  I mean she's a little brat who hates it when things don't go her way.  No coping skills whatsoever obviously.  So I can't really get upset over it.  What bugs me was how she was lying around after school and such.  Makes me think that they're looking for my car.  I overheard a few of them talking about "gate night" and if they knew where i lived, they'd get my house... or my car.

 

So that kinda wories me... a little.  Not that I've ever had anything done to my car [tho' I have had 3 punctures now on my tire]... just now and again I feel like something could be pulled, and it's going to be a huge inconvenience for me.  Not that it'll be real damage, ro anything hurtful etc..., just annoying.

 

So, I guess the best thing I can do is just sit around here and await my inevitable pink slip that she's going to get me.

THE HIP ARE COMING!!!!

Awesome!  Finally they've announced that the Hip will be heading to Thunder Bay.

 

This is gonna be great.  I gota pick up my titckets... well I have to buy them first.  How many people want to come with me?  Eilidh's already asked i pick hers up.

 

Now's the debate, do I buy for seats, or stand up or the standing room like I had last time?  I mean I don't care really... just wahtever I guess.

 

Another sunday brunch

So here it is, Sunday... and we're hosting family brunch at our place again.  I really enjoy it actually.  It's nice and relaxed.  Just mandy tends to stress a little over it tho'..

 

So, Sunday... next, I've got to get ready for the week.  I have nothing planned for class tomorrow... I should do a quiz... and I have a quick lesson on what can control the rates of reaction.  Thank goodness I know this stuff down pat, that I don't really need to prepare [except for a quick handout or something].

 

It also means I should get something together for my after school math session tomorrow.  Hmm, what should I do?  I'm thinking of maybe something along the lines of just BEDMAS operations or something.  That'd be easy enough I guess.  I've got a few kids who don't even have a math class this semester so I've got to find something to keep them busy for the hour.  the other thing is I've got 19 kisd there... it's HUGE!  Waay too much I think, but that's just me.

 

Well, less than a month before the Celtic Bash ... who's buying a ticket?  I really have to start being pushier.

 

Catch ya later...

Did I tell you easy... or did I say easy?

Yeah, so I got the job!  I'm an after school tutor!  I'm going to go have to meet with the lady tomorrow to figure out exactly what that means.  What I see it means is that on Mondays and Wednesdays I'm not getting home until 5:30pm... ugh.  Oh, well.  Such is life.

 

Wish me luck.

 

Oh, and tomorrow I think I'm going to have to bring my camcorder into class.  Those bastard kids were just ANGELS when the princpal sat in the class room the other day... so I'm going ot have to find some way to 'catch them in the act'

 

-ry

easiest interview yet...

So, I had my interview today.  I went down to the Board Office and the person said what time my interview was they said "Sibley Room, just go to the secretary and she'll point you in teh right direction!"  Well, when I got there, there was no secretary there, so I wandered around a bit, and eventually somebody pointed out which room it was.  After a while of waiting, the secretary comes back and tells me that I'm in the wrong place (but really politely tho') and that they had moved it and I was to go to another area.  Ok... so a little frazzled I guess.  But undaunted none-the-less.

 

Then, it's now 5min pastthe time of the interview and the 2nd person is already coming in and waiting.  Hrmm... am I in the right place?  Finally I'm let in.  I'm a little nervous due to the few complications.  But, the interviewer is a principal I get along with [or got along with, she transferred to the Board Office after her school closed] and we joke and talk for a bit.  Then she says "the interview should be approximately 30minutes"  I've NEVER used up the whole 30 minutes for the interview, and rarely 15!  So now I'm nervous.

 

But, really the interview was easy!  I had never cake-walked one like that before.  I had some good answers, some solid points ... missed one of the resource things, but meh...

 

So we'll see what happens... I could be the new after-school tutor!  Whatever that means... I guess I should have asked what the job entails!

 

 

Bayfield!!

Yay... Bayfield is the BEST trip our band does all year 'round.  Couldn't wait.  Especially after the driving situations were re-arranged so that I take my vehicle.  I guess it's a sign of my age, that I prefer to have my own stuff around me at all times and not have to depend on others.  Oh, well.

 

So, the way down, Jarron and Trish had a little system to say when they were full enough to stop to go make a pit-stop.  Throughout the trip all you heard was "I'm at 6!"  "oooh, 8.5"  The scale was from 1-10, where 1 was "mm.. I'm comfy" and 10 was "oh man... you've got seconds until... nm!  aaaah"  Now, if you see the pictures, Trish maintains that the mess was a 'spillage of beer' issue and not due to the fact that at one point "(we) made (her) pee against a tree!"  [picture your best trish drunk saying "THEY MADE ME PEE AGAINST A TREE!"]

 

That first night was as it always is... a fun night, but very little people stay up for the full night.  Seeing as we played at like 9am or something just as silly.  It was a rough performance.  My pipes had changed alot apparently and the bridles on the drones were waaay up and it was just sucking wind.  I made it through [of course], but if it had been any longer I mighta been in trouble.

 

After playing you went your merry way... some went shopping, some (like me) went sleeping.  The past week was pretty horrendous.  Not many hours of sleep!  So I slept nearly until the time we had to play at the Rittenhouse.  Same ol' show... this time it came with a guy who opened beer bottles with a lighter!  Pretty cool!  Then we paraded down teh street with the Queen of the Applefest and then played on the beach for the boat show [I was none-too-impressed to play for that as it was getting colder out and the wind was picking up... so all my sweat was just freezing].

 

Another walk up the hill and we had a great dinner (as always) and then we relaxed again until it was time to do some "barnstorming."  On the way down the hill Annie did a little 'trip/skip' thing and commented something to the effect of how she was going to just fall flat on her face at some point.  At which point, I joked "that'll learn ya for not coming out to band!"  And what happens when we're playing in teh Rum-Line?  Anne decides to jump in for one dance and rolls her ankle. [apparently it was so swollen when she got home that they couldn't tell by the first x-ray if it was broken].  Man I feel like a heel (pun intended... heh )

 

So as Rory takes her back to the school, it's up to me to maintain order and I had us play at the Pavillion and then head on out.  Well, I set them free, they could do what they wanted.  Me, I headed back to the Rum-Line with a few people.  We ended up playing almost the rest of the night.  It was kidn of nice to NOT play the 4 4/4s and Balmoral over and over again.

 

The parade the next day was pretty neat.  There was this huge bear costume that took 2 people to man.  It was pretty cool.  Parade was par for the course and then we headed back as quick as possible to the school so we could beat the crowd out of the city.

 

All in all it was a good trip... with the exception of Pete's speeding ticket (~$211) and Brian's (~$287).  Ouch guys!

 

So, see the pics!

...can I handle this? ...do people have confidence in me?

So, the other day I get 3 more kids shot into my class.  Probably 3 of the worst of the other class thrown into my class.  Instantly it was a bit harder o manage these kids.  Just as I was starting to get into a 'rhythm' it was only made harder.  Plus another kid finally came back, and she was none-so-fun.  Sister of a kid I taught last year... and he was rough, and all I heard was his younger sis was worse. She is!

 

So, my chair then decides that fter they've moved them in, I should go and meet with him and the guidance counsellor to talk about them.  Turns out that meeting was a veiled attempt to say "Ryan, these must be tough, we understand, and nlet's stop sending 'em to the office!"  I know I had to send a few to the office, but really... they're THAT BAD.  I can't send one of them to another room, like they suggest, they'll just disappear.  They want me to send them to the guidance room, but the one time I've tried he wasn't there.  So, my job has been made harder by throwing more kids in there, and then telling me to NOT send them to the office if they're bad.  Just grin and bear it I guess.

 

I've been super tired lately.  As soon as Friday hits I'm just falling on the bed.  I slept like 6 hours after I got home the other day.  Not good.  And this is just one class.  Then again, the vp did say that this is a class you'd run into like once every 10 years.  ick.

 

Look out people... pipeband comin' at ya

Okay, so I've been on a huge pipeband kick lately.  Just finished the book.  That was a late night with Rory on Sunday.

 

Just designed up the banner (not so late a night with Ror on Tuesday night).

 

Jarron did an awesome job on the Celtic Bash poster.

 

NOV. 18 - you all better be there!!!

 

Did a pipng gig the other day (and did it awesomely - thanks Ror).

 

Bayfield is NEXT weekend.

 

This should be good!

 

Now, jsut have to last that long.  The class is having it's ups and downs.  Today was a not so good day.  Kinda got along with some of them, and one kid has become a new problem, one that I didn't anticipate.  Grr... Never easy is it?!?

 

So, lesson I wish to impart today:

COME TO THE BASH ON NOVEMBER 18... help out the pipeband.

Conflicting research...

So... as much as a scientist I am, I'm very conflicted in what I should show to class tomorrow.

 

For years, we've heard that DDT is harmful to society.  And then comes along my hero, Dr. Joe Schwarz, and he opens my eyes to the real research on the issue.  Sure there is some research that shows there CAN be some harmful effects, but in the comparison to other stuff it's not the monster it's made out to be.  There's even one professor who tries to stress this fact by EATING a spoonful of DDT in his lectures.

 

So what should it be... for years and years all the textbook list it as doom and gloom.  So is it wrong to show it in a different light.

 

So it's a bit of an issue, for which one I should do... or do I put it in both lights?  I'm sure that's the proper thing to do.

 

I should also have the activity for the BIOACCUMULATION thing planned out.  I think it's going to involve me throwing stuff at the students as I 'spray DDT" on them.  heh

 

what would you do in this situation... besides laugh?

Okay, so here's the setup:

 

  Monday, my first day, I meet this one student... we'll call her Li'l-Miss-Wacked-Out (LMWO).  She comes in late for class and says that she already has the assignment done, but it was for another class, and is it alright to just use that one.  I say sure, just make sure it's relevant to this assignment.  She assures me it is and proceeds to sleep in class for some time.  Every now and again I'll accidentally "trip" over her chair to wake her, or yell "LMWO, you're drooling on the keyboard!" to keep her conscious.  It sorta works.

 

  Tuesday, I don't see her.

 

  Today (wednesday), part way through the class she looks at me with a total disbelief look and... well I can't do LMWO word-for-word, but here's the gist:

"Who are you?  I don't remember you!  I apparently came in late to this class 2 days ago, but I don't remember.  Apparently I was drunk or something, from what people are telling me.  But I did find this sheet in my binder [it's a sheet describing the assignment she was to be doing], what is it?  What does it mean?  I don't remember anything!"

 

So... how do you keep from laughing?  I just nodded now and again through the ~5 min explanation/mind recovery exercise and when I had the opportunity I deked out and had to answer another question.  Man... I nearly lost it while she's trying to explain.  The only problem was that she had the total look of seriousness... the look as if she REALLY didn't remember anything, and was hoping she hadn't killed anybody.  Pretty freaky...

 

Who said teaching can become blase?

10 Applieds... again... more energy than ever.

So, settling into the school (again), teachign grade 10s (again), Applieds (again), science (oooh, that's new!)

 

I get going on the first day, ready to teach, when they tell me they were supposed to be working on a poster in the computer lab.  So, i acquiesce and let them go there.  It turns out that oly a  few needed time, the rest were playing games.  So I decide to haul them back to the room.  I guess because there was only a few minutes left in class [25min] almost half decided not to come back.  It's ok... I understand...

 

Anyways, it was a good day, for a first day.

 

Today... wow... i sent 3 out to the office, another to the hall and I counted 15 swears from another kid.  This is also the same kid who asked would a hunter's gun be an abiotic factor... anyways, you had to be there.  OOoh, he also asked what a linear line was.  At first I thought he was going to get me on the whole "technically a line is linear, so you don't have to say linear" but he legitimately didn't know.  Ouch.  It's gonna be a long semester I think.

 

What do you think of my office?  I got the key for the science room and just plunked my stuff in the first spot I could.  A table that was almost bare.  And I spread myself all over it... heh.  Now, to do something about the computer in that room... it's pretty awful.  Old, won't use my usb key... and apparently my password isn't working.  Grr...

I am a scientist... and a science teacher

So... like the song says "I am a scientist, i seek to understand things..." I too am a scientist.

 

And, as of today, I am a science teacher again as well.

 

That LTO I was kinda worried about not getting at PACI?  I have it!  Sweet eh?  *whew*

I tell you, tho', I do NOT interview well.  I'm getting better so that I don't ramble, but the nerves are hard to control for me.  It was pretty gross.  But I did ok.  I felt like throwing up after the interview tho', really, I was feeling pretty ill... maybe it was my breakfast [little as it was] or something else, but I had to take a few minutes and go home, 'just in case.'  Then I went to PTC.

 

Yeah, so I found out at 1:30 that I start on Monday teaching.  So I went in at 3:30 and met with Andrew [he's definitely got my vote in the upcoming election now] and the previous teacher.  Turns out it's a pretty rough class.  19 apparently right now... may be more soon enough he said.  But a few really rough kids in terms of classroom management.  And then I was handed a TON of books to start planning.  Should be easy enough.  The first chapter will be nice to get out of the way tho' ... biology.  Ick.

 

But, hey, I've got a job!!

 

Thank you:

1. Andrew, Susan and Paul during the interview


2. Jarron for putting the bug in Susan and Andrew's ears


3. anybody who had wished me luck

Now, ... on with the rest of the story.

 

[oh... so I'm working at PTC and PACI... both start with P, and 2nd letter is a C... weird]

Tough break Rory / Rain... I hate Henry Templeman

Yeah, so, Rory and Rain have been really looking for a house.  And finally an opportunity came up where both Rory and rain agreed upon a good house they liked.  (quite rare for rory...).  It was a 'not bad' deal for the price.  It was a good area.  It was a bank repo, and they knew it was listed for more than it had sold for, so how could they NOT put in an offer.

For the next few days they waited in anticipation to hear if the offer was accepted.  The deal was closing at 5pm on Friday.  Friday 5:30 they find out that they had been rejected for their offer.  But somethign smelled funny.  The final offer, the winning bidder, came at 4:59pm and it had not gone through the seller, but straight to the bank.  Hmm... that doesn't seem right.

 

As it's unfolding, not much is known, except that HENRY TEMPLEMAN had circumvented the code of ethics they have and gone through shadier channels to outbid Rory and Rain by a meagre amount, and waited until the last moment to offer so there could be no chance to call in and inquire.  Apparently he had violated some of their own rules in doing so.  Unfortunately their in a weird predicament where it's a matter of "well there's nothing we CAN do?"

 

Sure there is!  There always is!  PEOPLE:  pass it along that Henry Templeman is the slimiest dirtbag there is!  He actually really is (I've dealt with him a few times, and he's not a pleasant person).  I'm urging them to go to the Better Business Bureau and if necessary seek out legal recourse.  This cannot stand.  Makes me sick.

 

On, other news... nothing much has been going on.

• The tune book is carrying on, and should meet deadline.  Just trying to 'jazz' it up a bit.  But you know me, I'm not very artistic at all, so I'm at a real loss of what to do.


• I have an interview Friday at PACI for that 1 LTO period of science - wish me luck!  Waiting to hear about the JUMP START thing.  I applied for this due to a forward Jarron had sent me that the Board was looking to do the after school tutoring thing again.  I figure IF things work out, it will be an awesome semester:

1. Mornings at PTC


2. A period of science in the afternoon


3. After school tutoring.

I mean essentially 3 part time jobs that are pretty ... well, easy.  What more could you ask for?  I don't want to get my hopes up too much, because it's just too good to be true.

Favourite ad

So, as of late, there's been this great ad on tv:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It_0XzPVHaU&eurl=

 

truly, it is an awesome ad.    I just love the accent, and people "in the know" have told me that it's pretty well spot-on for the true dialect (I've seen some reports say that it's approximately St. John dialect... but anyways).

 

Now, watching the ad, in of itself, makes it great... what makes it my favourite ad to date is the fact how easily you slip into the dialect yourself just watching it.

 

Example:

The other night playing cards at Jarron's place (until 4am I might add - and I won btw) we discussed the ad, and all laughed at the funniness of it.  Next thing you know, everything we were saying had that accent.

"well, ye gots ta put doon 5 there, eh, ta see da flop, i tells ya what"

Okay, accents are hard to do in text, but you get the drift - essentially we had become makeshift Newfs for the night.  It was FUN.

 

Try it sometime!  Watch the ad a few times and throw yer own oot there, eh?

-ry

The New 2006 Tune Book

Ok, so I put myself under the gun this time...  I really have nobody to blame but me.  A few people at band had asked if we were going to do reprints of the tune book I made a few years back.  Some copies have either disappeared, or become tattered that a new one is necessary.  Plus, it's been a project I wanted to do in the back of my brain for a while. 

 

See, last time I did the book, I wasn't quite sure what I was doing.  It took me some time, and I think I figured it out.  I thought that if I were to do it again, I would know exactly what to do for each.  Now here's the rub... last time I used Quark Express... seemed fine, but lately I've grown very fond of all the Adobe products.  Adobe came out with InDesign which is supposed to surpass Quark for what it can do.  I looked at it and it looked VERY similar.  So out goes Quark, in comes InDesign.  Well, turns out that they are not EXACTLY the same, and being that it was 3 years since I did the book last year, I've forgot everything.

 

So for the past few weeks I've been trying to learn how to do EVERYTHING with InDesign.  I know I could probably make it simple, and nobody would know the difference, but for myself, I have to try to learn this. I have to prove to myself that I CAN still learn thigns and turn out a good product.  Hopefully people will see that I did a good job.  Now, if only I could figure out this Table of Content automatization thing that'd be awesome!.

 

Already I've made a few improvements over last version:

1. Tunes are rotated to be 'landscaped' so that each tune is larger on the page
   this took a few days because I had to redo each tune in BWW so that it would be landscaped, and then I had to PDF the print of it.


2. The tunes themselves will be better resolution
   if you look at the last version, the round notes are really pixelated, this year i outputted the print to a PDF file which is higher quality than i did last year (export to low-res BMP).


3. Using master sheets effectively
   this is helping me get better at positioning the page numbers.  Last version some of the corners of the pages where I put page numbers was wrong.  By using master sheets it'll determine automatically which corner to use


4. Using the 'book' more effectively
   this really helps maintain the appropriate page number and order.  when i did it last time i had to design each page... figure out where it came in teh book and put in the page number... that led to some problems throughout the project.  Now, most of it is automated.


5. No more calendar


6. no exercises
   we'll see... if i can keep the number of pages down, then we can keep it in... what i'd really like is to have some new execises in there, some of the john cairns' ones.  those are good!


7. less preamble

What I'dstill love to figure out is a way to automate all the tune names into an index at the back... but even doing the basic ToC at teh front is causing me all sorts of hell... grr.

Well... why am I writing this?  'cuz I'm going stark raving mad!

I've been up since ... well fairly late actually this Saturday, but none the less... ever since I was up I have been working on this book.  Sure I've taken breaks to wash dishes, dust, organize shelves, and whatnot... but I'm going stir crazy!  This is my one way to take a break.  I hope you enjoyed it!

And hey... btw - nobody ever writes comments in here?  I'm sure some people check this out... let me know... converse people!  I promise I won't flame you!

the title page showing here is just a sample... tho' it may become the real thing if noboy suggests any different

only one LTO

So, the school season is officially underway.  They posted the LTOs necessary for this semester.  Now the fun thing is they get posted, but only at the schools.  Ok, so if you're a guy like me looking for jobs you're NOT going to be IN the schools.  But that is the only place they get put.  So you have to go to the school, just walk on in the staff room and find the bulletin board, and then go and find the LTO posting and then beg somebody for a photocopy number if you want to take it home.  [I imagine just taking the ONLY posting on the board would be rude to the rest of the people out there].

 

Anyways, so I get to Westgate and just write the info down... here's the posting:

 

• Science 10 Applied
  pd 4
  P.A.C.I.

so... 1 posting... that's it.  Luckily it's at PACI.  Hopefully that'll be in my favour.  Or else I'm gonna have to get my cards ready.  I got a bunch of the magnets ready to go.  30 more to use up if i need it.

The LAST WEEKEND of summer. [the kbf]

So, it was the last weekend coming up... nothing planned.  Just the prospect of back to work and busy lives.  What to do?

 

Well, sitting at coffee I suggested we should go camping at Kakabeka Falls... turns out that just suggesting it was taken that we'd really do it.  So I totally forgot about it and when I got home from work on Friday I told Mandy, so she went and called and made the bookings before we even knew how many people were coming.  But we figured it out eventually.

 

Saturday I spent part of the day gathring what stuff I needed for camping:

• new cooking pots for camping


• camping chair


• spare tent


• etc...

After Mandy got off work we headed to A&P for some camping food and the Buck store for some stuff to do (cards, checkers... which we never used) and made the trek to the "KBF."  When we got there Trever and Eilidh had beat us there, but had gone for a walk.  They had left us a note, but we never saw it.  In the mean time we set up the tent.  When Trever and Eilidh got back we set up their tent... man it was HUGE.  As she put it "you coul do cartwheels in there"  Which I guess is ok, seeing as it was Trish's birthday and all, she should get the biggest tent.

The rest of the night consisted of getting the fire ready ... apparnelty you really do have to get tons omre wood than you think.  We had bought 4 bags of wood and it was not enough.  We spent the rest of the night doing some 'foraging'  Foraging is a Canadian word for stealing wood from whereever you see it.  For Jarron this meant a 200lb log dragged down the road.  Oh, and a note:  200lb logs don't really burn all too well.  Next time, bring a saw.

When I finall crashed Mandy was just freezing.  I don't get it... it was chilly, bt not freeing last night.  So, it was an uncomfortable sleep on that tiny twin mattress.  Chris slept very well in his wall to wall mattressed tent, and Jarron enjoyed his Bivy sack.  In the morning I woke up... usually a good sign.  But I slept in.  Usually I can't sleep past 8 when I camp... I woke up at 10!  Breakfast consisted of muffins... yum!

After a bit people decided to go for a walk.  Mandy and I decided to opt out as she was to go to a Union picnic.  So when they left, we went and packed up and headed for home.  Not before I had left Trish some birthday presents.

Turns out, that what we had left for, Mandy's picnic, was for Monday... not Sunday... oh, well... at least she got to go camping.

Nothing left now but to get ready for work... yayayayayayay!
-ry

Readying for school

Well, what does readying for school mean?

 

It means usually, new toys!  Heh... just kidding.  Tho', I did make the annual trek to Staples to pick up some supplies:

 

• Magnetic business card stock
  now, i can stick my regular business card on this piece of fridge decoration and hopefully make my name more visible!... hopefully


• Ink
  what better stuff to print out my business carsd with?


• Blank DVDs
  ok, they were just a good deal

Then I went over to F-shop and scooped up on their 'deal'  They had a 2GB Kingston USB drive for $39.99.  Awesome!  It was $80 off on sale, putting it to $69.99 and then there was a $30 mail in rebate.  So that's no hard luck either.  Pretty sweet buy.

Yeah, so school's getting under way and I'm readying for the deluge of calls... not.  I probably won't be called for some time, so I better get my cards ready to fly.  Unless a miracle happens and there's actually a job for me.  In the mean time I'll be at PTC for a while yet.  At least that first week of school.

Oh, speaking of my job at PTC... I have pics today to show you all... ooooh... check the photos section!

-ry

Boy's canoe trip '06

Day 1
We started out the trip very early in the AM.  Rory dropped by about 6:30 to pick me up.  I hurried with my gear outside to meet him.  I had most things ready because I had to get them out of the car as Mandy went to work earlier than this.  We drove out to get some breakfast and meet Todd at his place to put the canoe on.  Turns out, neither of us knew where Todd lives, so luckily Rory has a phone book in the car.  We look him up and show up at his house.  After some walking about and knocking we call, and it turns out he was still sleeping.  After a little more time passes Jarron and Regan show up and we're off.  We drive very far (2 hours) before we stop to get some gas just past the French River put in on Quetico.  It is there that Rory finds out that nobody packed a life jacket for him.  So he rents one from the outfitter that also happens to run the gas station.

That settled we head on for Beaverhouse.  It's a small road.  Very scary when it's only one lane and you see somebody come up against you.  When we finally reach the end of the raod we realize that the map Todd has is stupid.  It looks like the road should almost reach the put in spot, but the red road is connected to the red portage of 600+m.  So it's easily confused.  So we put in after a bit of a jaunt, only to take another 600m portage minutes later.  Followed by another portage.  So in approximately 2 hours, we've done more portaging that paddling.  That doesn't seem right... at least to me.  We keep paddling on, despite the on and off rain.  Oh, did I mention that we're wet?  And in my haste in the morning, I didn't bring anythign close to water resistant, just a big hoodie, which is DRENCHED.  Yuck.  I hate that.

As it's over-cast all day it's hard to tell what time it is, and what we feel is about 6-7ish we find a camp that Todd rates at 1 star and make the decision to set up shop there.  It's not bad actually.  Regan sets up a nice bunch of tarps which we start hanging the wet gear on, and a fire is started.  Logs are cut up with Todd's handy folding saw and tents are set out.  Dinner is an easy sausage roasted over the fire with wraps.  You know, wraps ARE the perfect food.  The rest of the night is pretty fun as we entertain each other with stories and salamanders.  It's about this time I realize that I've lost one of my leggings for my pants.  Probably on some portage way back...

 

Day 2
The morning finds Regan getting the coffee, Rory complaining about me becoming the new Graham for snoring and Jarron raving about his bivy sack.  We set out for another day.  We make it to Sue Falls and take a break to climb the pretty dry falls.  But still it was very neat.  We also found some pictographs.  The one we found looked like some red splotches - more like red dots spray painted in.  Oh, and Todd caught a bunch of snags.  We leave that bay and head across to find the 1km portage.  Ouch that hurt!  We figure it would work out best if some people run with packs all the way across while some only do half track and drop and go back for more, while the people who did the whole thing go back to the half way pack to pick up the dropped packs and head back.  It worked out pretty good actually.  I just remember having to count the steps.  It was 624 from the halfway point to the end.  Math always helps me block out anything I don't like.  THe next few km of paddling was ok until the wind gusted up out of nowhere and it was, as Regan calls it, our 'near death experience.'  The paddling wasn't helping us as we were literally going backwards.  Waves crashing over the bow we decided to hit the closest bay and wait it out.  It was kinda spooky the amount of power in the wind.  We waited for a while before we headed out again.  Freak storm as there was perfect blue skies all around before, then this big black one, then blue skies again.  Then we hit Macalpine creek.  How can anything with my ancestral name be so gross?  It was mostly lining the canoe down knee deep muck.  I was afraid i was going to step out and lose my shoe in it.  Very gross!  Somehow princess sally [i.e. Rory] found a way to stay in teh canoe and keep his shoes dry.  My socks will never get clean... ever.  A few more hours of paddling finds us getting pretty dark and no camp site.  We find the first one we can see as the light is starting to fail and the 2nd canoe [rory and jarron] is now WAAY behind.  Turns out that the 18ft canoe is WAAAY faster than the 15ft.  That and Rory and Jarron are really tired.  We camp on a 1 star camp [it's not as nice as the last one, and the last one gets upgraded to a 2 star... maybe 1.5].  But there was tons of firewood on it, just had to cut up the fallen down trees - thanks again to Todd's saw.  We have a great little meal - rice and veggies in a wrap with cheese - and head to bed.  Regan and Jarron both decide to sleep outside.  Most of th enight is spent contemplating which star is which, as it is "MARS DAY" we try to find mars.  Apparently you still can't see it with the naked eye, but we try.

 

Day 3
This mornign starts out like any of the others, drying out wet clothes on the rocks, readyign the packs and me breaking Regan's line.  (sorry regan, i owe you one jiggly looking hook thingie)  As we head out, Todd and I decide to go looking for the pictographs that Jarron and Rory saw yesterday "oh, yeah, they're awesome, clear as day."  Although, we can't find them.  We paddle along a bit more trying to look for some of the others.  I did some some red splotch, so we'll say I saw one.  We let the other canoe get pretty far ahead before we start to catch up.  We paddle pass one lake with a TON of loons on it.  It was like a loon convention.  Regan counted 23 of 'em.  Naturally, Todd had to throw in a line where they were, because that must mean fish.  Nothing.  It was a terrible trip for fishing in general.  Mostly bass, but nothing worth keeping.  We see plenty of nice beach areas out on Quetico lake, but there's no time to stop and visit them.  Just make a mental note for another time.  We find the only real portage of this day and since it's barely 100m we just cruise over it to the other side and relax.  It's a bit of a falls so Rory and Todd cast in from the boat, Regan casts from the rocks and Jarron and I sit in the falls themselves.  Very relaxing.  And the cool thing is that like 5m after my sausage gotch are DRY!  Make fun of that!  We start paddling on again and it looks like we enjoyed lunch a little too much as the wind's started to pick up. We paddle across to find an island to take a little shelter before heading out across more of Beaverhouse.  We finally make in the mouth towards the original put in and it takes us a while to find the place where it all started.  It looks so different from this angle.  We eventually switch sides of this stream locate it.  Some park rangers have left their HUGE aluminum canoe across the landing, so Regan just gives it a chuck to the side.  After that it was some humping of packs across to the truck and then head home.  NO INJURIES [except when Regan fell with the kayak - that looked like it could hurt Regan, and almost broke Todd's clavical]

 

Total trip length:  56km [give or take]