Monday, April 16, 2007

Here we go again. End of regulation, 1-1. My only plea is that it ends quickly, because dang, I really want to stay up and watch, but my patience for a long and drawn-out affair is low.

By the way, the crying episode I left off last week's blog with ended up being a bit more of an ordeal than I thought it might be. Turned out to be a two-hour battle to get the boy to go back to sleep. Eventually, we had to let him cry in his crib, because it was getting way too late, and he just wasn't calming down. Not a lot of fun, especially with Friday morning being an early one for me. I don't even really know what sparked the fun and games; seems like maybe the initial impetus for waking up was the teeth, and then he was just awake. I do feel bad for him at times like those, but the sympathy level is low at 12:30 in the morning.

Anyway. Another lovely weekend is in the books--the second-last one of our time here (I'm not counting grad weekend, due to the insanity that it will be). It's crazy to think that I have one more class session left on Wednesday, and then I'll actually be receiving my BA. Amazing. If only I could just write this stupid 15-page paper that's due, I'll be really happy. It's going to be a long week.

The weather has been nice this weekend, so the majority of the family-related time has been outside, frolicking in the early spring sunshine and giving the boy adequate exposure to the great outdoors (which never seems to be enough). Just this evening, we spent about an hour at the park, just hanging out. He likes the swings and the slide; in fact, it's sometimes hard to get away because he'll just go down that slide for hours if we'd let him. The problem, of course, is that going down the slide requires parental accompaniment. Although we're still young, we don't necessarily feel it after ascending the slide carrying the boy six times.

Other than that, "remarkably average" would be an adequate description. Friday was the usual--school all fargin' day. You can tell it's the end of the semester by the amount of empty desks in my classes. Pretty rude, if you ask me, especially when your peers are presenting. It's like those people who'd leave the piano recital after their kid had played, and not have the courtesy to stay around and listen to everyone else's kid, even though we had to listen to their kid. Don't get my mom started on that one. Anyway, got through it fine.

Friday night was hockey (and, of course, Slurpees), which started earlier than I thought and took me by surprise, throwing off the rest of my evening and generally causing me to mope. Not that the game could have brought me out of mopage, what with the brutal effort and all. Strange night, really, that just sort of floated away into nothingness.

Saturday was a bit different. In the afternoon, we took a broad-reaching walk through the town, culminating in picking up my grad invitations and meeting a guy who I have a group paper to write with. I spent some time at school on Saturday afternoon, working on said paper, and then went to one of the restaurants in town for dinner. Nice meal, made even nicer by the fact that we didn't have to wash the dishes.

Saturday night saw some Grey's Anatomy and one of the two episodes of 24 I need to catch up on. Man, is that show getting more and more inane and soap opera-ish as the season progresses, or what? I'm sorry, but a guy cutting his arm off and a surprsing plot twist in the last 5 minutes of the show does not make for compelling television. I know, you've all seen last week's, so you know what happens. I'm just saying that it was disappointing, as it has been for the majority of the season. I guess when you start off with a nuclear bomb, there's norwhere to go but down.

Grey's, you'll be happy to know, is at least twice as good as it was last year, and I couldn't picture how it could have gotten better. Simply amazing. Especially after 24. In fact, we liked the first one so much that we stayed up late, despite the little voices in our heads telling us not to, to watch a second one. It backfired, unfortunately, as we saw a repeat of the boy's Thursday night's performance--waking up to cry. Fortunately, this time he was a little less panicked, and it only took an hour to calm him.

Hey, would you look at that--7 minutes in and we score. Beauty. You know, as a Vancouver hockey fan for my whole life, I have to say that it's really nice to finally see this team snatch victory from the jaws of defeat instead of vice-versa. Finally, we have a goalie who can keep us in it long enough to get our heads out of our rear ends. And might I also say that I'm glad we have Brent Sopel back, if for no other reason than the fact that we were missing a guy who would make ill-advised cross-ice passes at inopportune times. With his addition, our lineup is complete, I think.

Back to the overarching narrative, if I may. Today (Sunday) saw our very last trip to Red Deer (I hope, at least) in our time here. We had to pick up a few crucial things at the SuperStore (for example, diapers), and also grab some gluten-free lasagne noodles for later on in the week at Safeway. Off we went, then, skipping church like the heathens we are to shop for food.

Nothing too exciting to report about the trip. We like the Chapters in Red Deer because (a) it's got a Starbucks attached, and (b) it's got a kids' section with a whole train set and all sorts of other things, so mom and dad can drink their coffee beverages while the boy plays. Good times.

It's always interesting driving now that it's spring, because the local wildlife has come out of wherever it goes in the winter, and now darts across the road at the worst times. I am, of course, talking about prairie dogs. Cute, yet entirely stupid, standing in the middle of the road as you approach at 100 km/h, only running out of the way at the very last minute, usually under your wheels. Haven't managed to kill one yet, but the day will come, I know. And my wife will cry. Funny little guys to watch, though, as long as you don't have to swerve out of their way.

Anyway. Came home, unloaded the car, and took a quick nap while mom and boy played. Then it was dinner, and a trip to the park, as I mentioned above. When we got home, it was already past the boy's bedtime, so we skipped his usual bath and went straight to the evening bottle. That turned out to be a mistake; apparently, the bath cues him that it's bedtime, and without it, he doesn't seem to register that it's a good time to go to sleep. An hour of in-crib crying ensued, but we're determined not to teach him that crying equals parental intervention, especially after two-of-three nights requiring it. Life's lessons are tough to learn (and tough to teach, as we're learning), but they're necessary.

That brings us to right about now, as I sit at the computer and contemplate my plan for the coming week. I have this strange feeling that I'm not going to be much of a pleasure to be around for the first half, but the second half should be fine. Think positively, right? About a 15-page paper? Not likely.

Anyway (again). Time to hit the sack so that the day gets off to a good start tomorrow. Thanks again for stopping by, and I'll see you as we go through the week.