Dean said something pretty profound today

It's been awesome to be able to spend time with the little guy sharing the Star Wars series together.

We're at the part where I've decided to 'flashback' and see the prequels.  This jump in the timeline has Dean a little confused, as such his interest is waning and he's full of questions.  Normal questions, like when's Vader going to get here?  Some are a little convoluted, that he forgets that Anakin turns into Vader, so asks when Obi turns into Vader.

I expected as much.  But he has a lot of questions.

Which is why the one that kinda struck me today didn't really register until just now.

"Daddy, when are you going to be done school?"   I answered that I was done school and we went over what 'graduation' is, and how many grades I completed.

We talked about how school teaches you things and you get to learn.

Then he asked "what do you do after school?  Where do you go to learn?"  And I explained I go to work now.

Without missing a beat he said "that's like school, you get to learn things and use them...".  I patted his head and told him it was time for sleep.

But really, he's so right.  Maybe it's something I did today at/about work, or the fact that I'm trying to get +Android Coliseum off the ground (did I mention www.androidcoliseum.com ?) that I'm realizing that I'm always learning.  Always gathering new bits of information to tack together into something called wisdom... looking for ways to apply it.

Pretty smart kid if you ask me.

Despite his choice of apparel sometime (you can't see the flippers he's wearing on his feet there).

Another full week [65/94]

Dang... rains one day and it causes me to dip below 70%

But another full week has passed me by.  Crazy how fast it goes.  Really.  I kept meaning to write every day in here about each of the items as it occurs, but it's just been that busy.

I really don't want this to be my 'weekly recap' with peppering of my AiC articles.  Ah, well.  Sorry. :(

Facebook woes [22/32]

Ugh, I've just about had it with Facebook.

Ironic as today was a day that I helped out on a workshop on how to do it for business.

Saw a plethora of businesses today (not at the workshop though) who masquerade as a profile, add it just irked me.

Then the app is just annoying me... A lot! It's not my phone...
Speaking of my phone, I finally couldn't take it anymore and wanted on the phone about how terrible the reception had been lately.  Of course they kept saying they're working on it, but that's about it ... Well I did get a 25% off until they are supposed to be done, which is October.

That's right, they said to essentially grin and beer it until October.  Horrific.  It's been two years and they still haven't done one ounce if improvement... If anything they've gone backward.

So, yeah, Facebook sucks... My cell provider sucks...
And I haven't been able to bike this week yet (will probably not be able to bike tomorrow, and can't on Friday, so the whole week is a write off).

May Long Weekend "Stay-cation" [22/30]

Had a great after business and then a hectic scrambling for our newsletter... Which made me forget that I had a lunch meeting when I biked, so I had a good lunch biking excursion.

Ended the week subbing at Hammarskjold... not sure if I should count that against my score or not... ah, well, left it in.

So all that much in a week meant I really was looking forward to the stay-cation this weekend, we were staying at the Victoria Inn (fitting no?) with Karen and Justin (and their kids).

A good time was had... Dean even got to share his new love of Peter Pan with Alexis (after having to get the front desk guy take forever to install the replacement as the one we had wouldn't work).

photo is us hanging out by the poolside eating some Eat Local pizza (with brownies) ... Hope times

well that just sucks [14/21]

It's going to rain for the next 3 days... there goes my ratio.

------------------------

On the plus side, had a great event on the weekend... 2 actually:

1. our 18th Annual Business Awards:  www.tbchamber.ca/awards
2. Folklore Festival performance:  even got to be interviewed by Shaw to talk about our upcoming centennial... AND it was Finlay's first performance with the band.  He was really anxious!

Let's get you caught up [6/11]

So I figured this was going to be a write off week for biking, but I did fit in 2!  Yay.


The work aspect of catching you up...
...hectic work on getting the programme, and certificates all in order; plus, having to still try to wrangle in all the nominees to attend the event.  So it's been a wee bit stressful.


Oh, and it was After Business this week, which meant a little more hectic-ness thrown in for good measure.  This After Biz drama was that the tables weren't delivered on time, and when they got there, there was just one guy struggling to get them off the truck, and then into the building, fumbling to fit one in the elevator at a time (we needed 20).


So, John and I rolled up our sleeves and sweated it out to get it done.


As for piping...
we found a really good deal on some used chanters that I can buy as backup / for students.  So finalized that, and have the cheque ready to send out.


Rory took all the odds and sods from the back room and went to his Father in Law's to try to put some repair work on them.  Got us 4 sets in all (1 good, 2 not so bad and 1 franken-pipe).  We put together the set for Charne, and are just waiting on bag covers now.


I also got to fix up Murray's pipes again as there was a bit of a leak.  Dang, those are nice pipes.  If anybody is still looking for some suggestions on a present for me... I just heard Donald MacPherson's pipes are now up for sale.


Anything else?
Just got the Zeemote in for review from Tom.  Not a bad 'gadget', we'll see ... might do a Hangout with it tonight.  Which reminds me, I need to formalize up my review of the Blu Studio 5.3".  


Well, like I said, I said 'stuff it' to the execs meeting on Thursday and biked to work anyways.  That was a bit cold and slippery after that sleet we had earlier this week.  And then for Friday, even though I had said that I couldn't on Fridays because of Dean's daycare, we just dropped him off earlier and then I drove home to get the bike and make my way into work


That helps keep me above the half-way mark of biking.

Need to slow down and regroup [94/120]

Okay, that depressed me - I've dipped below 80% officially.
Ouch.  Next week I know I can't do 3 days [so that'll make it 96/125]


Anyways... needing to regroup.  Holy smokes.

Teaching... or the absence thereof

Just went for a quick pop into the mall for a mid-afternoon break and I ran into a past student of mine.
Immediately she recognized me, and said hello.  We caught up a bit and I asked her what she was doing etc...

But what really caught me was that she did say that she enjoyed my class and how I made the subject matter relevant and easy to understand.

*sigh*

This is just after I had learned that I wasn't a successful candidate for a teaching position.  It's really sad, to have these anecdotal evidences of how proficient I am in a job, yet cannot fully realize that option.

How to deal with that?  I dunno... it was a real kick when she said before I walked away "at least you're still teaching", and it was hard not to walk back and have that long discussion about teaching and the "profession".

Another week in the books [82/98]

So this week started off cold.  Man it was cold. Not freezing, but frigid.  It was 4°C when I biked to work - and that was a bit hard on the hands.  Luckily it would warm up throughout the day and I'd be fine going home.

Let's recount what happened this week:

Work?  Not much - busy as all can be with the Newsletters combining into one big massive headache [which culminated in me leaving early Thursday].  We announced the NOVAs.  Not much else, at least nothing that I should really say.

Home? We steam cleaned... that's not fun.  Means having to move EVERYTHING and if you know me, I'm nothing but wires and connectivity... plus my little bit of OCD gets all in a flitter if I have to move things about.

Band? started back up this week with our Open House.  I was able to get on ShawTV and CBC Radio for an interview for it.  That was neat.  Plus the CJ came by for a photo shoot.  Things are a-movin'.

It's been a pretty hectic week, despite how I've written very little.  I guess that's a sign of the busy-ness.  I've even wrote less this week for the blog than I usually do [androidincanada.ca blog that is].

Really starting to wonder how much longer I'll be able to keep up the biking -- tho' today was amazingly warm - just gets chilly in the morning.  Plus as my schedule heats up I'll have more out of office stuff to get to, so less opportunity to bike.  At least I got a high of 84% before the day I missed this week.

Shorter weeks are the busiest [69/84]

So you know how those 4 day weeks tend to be the busiest? Well the last email day week I had was all that much more jam packed.

It really wasn't that bad, just the sense that I had already missed a day and knowing I'd be missing Friday... And to top it off Thursday was our golf tournament, so that's almost a write off... And Wednesday was the full day of our focus groups.

Each day was really packed and was really positive. So I'm not complaining.

What the topper is that the weekend entails our first ever "Moore family reunion". That is a bit of a mixed bag. Could be a good thing, could be a stressful thing.... (I'm writing this pretty much halfway through the weekend, and it's been a bit of both thus far). That will be a blog post unto itself.

It's been a week? [38/49]

Just realized it had been a week since I last posted on here.  Figure I should post 'cuz I like to keep track of my biking at least, and tomorrow I might not be able to [going to go and meet the new p2p and/or it'll rain]

Had a great last after business, good food - and it's nice to have it off the shoulders for a while.

Finished up our busier season of some gigs.  Got eaten alive at the Relay For Life.  Next year we'll be re-evaluating how we're going to do that gig.  Too often it feels as though they are trying to 'fit us in' and do us a favour by letting us play.  Well, we'll talk next year.

Had a nice father's day [oh and birthday].  My mom had a huge dinner for us.  Those oreo truffles were really good.  [and to top it off our favourite German chocolate fairy dropped off more chocolate - I'll donate these to you mom]

Other than that... not much on the major horizon - which is good.  I have the Canadian Celtic Celebration this weekend I should finish working on my curriculum for it [probably way over thinking it as my handout so far is 26 pages].

I have Minocqua coming up, which should be a great treat for us.  4 parades in one day will help the coffers out a lot, meaning we won't have to do as many.  Rory wants to go a day early to go shopping, but I just realized I said I'd play a wedding.  Hmm... go shopping, or earn some cash.  I do want that eeePad.

38/49 = 77%

Wow, crazy wind [28/35]

Yay, a  landmark - crossed the 80% mark!!

Yoiks, debated about driving today as I had that workshop on how to use SmartBoards.  [Had I known how little that would have been worth it, I wouldn't have gone; but good to see fellow piper Kathleen there]

Anyways, it was semi-raining in the morning and I dreaded going - but I went.  Gotta keep up the ratio.  And it wasn't bad at all.  Not that cold, most of the rain was finished, so just some puddles to clear.

But, by the time I went to the workshop it was just GREAT.  Nice biking weather.  Just took it nice and leisurely and still got there with plenty of time to spare.

When I got out, however, that's a whole other ball game.  VERY strong SW wind.  Which sucks when essentially I have to go SOUTH, then WEST.  It was unbelievably strong.  You know all that rain we had this morning?  Couldn't tell because the wind kept sweeping all the dirt and stuff into my eyes and mouth.  I had to keep it in very low gear to be able to make any headway.

Luckily it was only roughly half the distance to home, but it took me almost 2x as long.  I have never been that sweaty.

Weird part was that while biking I saw a firetruck.  Didn't think much of it.  Driving home with Dean later and it looked like the fire was at the Lakehead Board... then when we got to the house we saw a water bomber fly over head - and it was pretty low.  So we went a bit beyond our house to see what we could see... 4 blocks up and we couldn't see nearly anything for the smoke.

Turns out that a chip pile at Bowater had caught flame.  Crazy.

Well, all in all - an interesting day.  Missed getting wet in the morning - pretty productive during the day - nice bike to a workshop - didn't have to work at a workshop (nor learn really) - sweaty hard bike ride - crazy smoke - and to top it all off Dean is getting some stomach bug and threw up all over me.  [still can't get the smell out of my nostrils]

this is my life

pretty awesome!

[oh and sitting here just watching my youtube page waiting to see if the unlisted videos I posted for the competition get another view (meaning somebody's watched it to adjudicate)].

Been quiet - 26/33

Been unusually quiet a new late. I'll chalk it up to my cold.
See Dean started to show signs of a cold, and of course when he leaves town is when I get it.

It has been exceptionally cold the past few mornings. That couldn't have helped.

So I called in sick to work yesterday, felt bad about it as it feels like I call in a lot; then I remembered that I haven't called in once since the start of my new job. And that's been over 4 months now.

Not too bad.

So I'm at 26/33 so far. Still should go and figure out if I've lost any weight.

Also playing a lot more as I'm readying for this competition recording. Did 30 recordings of the hornpipe jig already.

Oh man I ache

Oh man do I ever. This is a tale of an out of shape dude with a hectic schedule and an attempt to get healthier.

So it's not secret that I'm out if shape. Officially I'm about 40 lbs away from my ideal bmi, but really 20 from where I used to feel "in shape". The last time I really felt great was when I was biking to work, so I figured with my new job (did I blog that I had a new job get?) being so much closer to home that it was time I bought a bike.

Sure I had a bike already. I had lent it to a friend for their riding, as I wasn't using it, but the last time I took it into get some tune up the store owner suggested it might be cheaper to throw it away.

Anyhow, I was determined to get a new one. I went to one shop and although I was sticker-shocked I still wanted to see what was available. Nobody came out to see what it was in was looking for. Eventually somebody came out from the back, but even still waiting nothing to me. No sale for you.

Undaunted, I did another Internet search and found that another shop nearby actually had some decently priced rides; so I motored on down to the shop and we chatted and he put one on reserve for next to test ride the next day. Great customer service! And a great price (always like it when a store understands your budget and doesn't scoff at it).

So I go to great bike. The next day I timed my ride to work. 18 minutes. I planned out the morning and was really ready. But it rained. So I decided to wait.

Here I is Thursday and I've ridden 3 day in the row now. Feeling beat. Exhausted... generally tired. I knew it'd be a while before I would be into it, but today it was like -5C when I met the house. You can really feel that temperature difference.

By playing at band tonight felt great. However,  sweated like to dog. But not looking forward to biking tomorrow (forecast of -8C). I may drive. But hey 3/5 ain't back for the first week.