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.
4.16.2007
4.13.2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Friday the 13th? This close to the end of a semester? Oh boy.
Why I can't wait to go home, reason 492: in BC, spring run-off does not result in tap water that resembles the consistency, smell, and taste of a mud puddle. Admittedly, my knowledge of the nuances of mud puddle flavours is quite low, but I can imagine well enough what it would be like to drink from one.
Even the mightly Brita is powerless to stop all the odour (although it's doing a remarkably good job, but we just got a new one tonight). I'm comforted to know that it's apparently worse than it should be, but then again, that's not really any comfort at all.
Hey, how about that hockey game last night/this morning? No, I didn't stay up to watch it all; my level of desire to invest several extra hours into a hockey game, even in the playoffs, is limited to one period of overtime. That's when I turned it off. Good thing I didn't stay for the second OT, because by then, I would've invested so much time in it that I would have been obliged to stay awake until the game ended. Which would have been 1:30 our time. Good thing I'm only one time zone away, or I'd be really screwed.
A nice day today, he says, switching topics faster than Mitt Romney changes his mind. Sorry; best I could come up with, and admittedly not all that pertinent to the Canadian audience. But still, a zinger, no?
Anyway. Beautiful sunny weather--the kind that makes me almost forget that last week at this time, it was snowing like a mofo. Oh wait, there's still a bunch of it on the ground to remind me of winter's ever-present death grip on this prairie landscape. Seriously, enough already.
The comforting thing (and yes, a little bit scary) is that in exactly three weeks, I'll be sitting on my couch in Langley, hopefully watching some playoff hockey on a TV that doesn't look like a prairie weather pattern (is that a better simile? Not sure if the witty simile processor is tuned this evening). In the words of Worf, that will be glorious.
And if you're wondering where that one came from, I saw a picture of a Klingon tonight, ergo Star Trek analogy. That, and I know how much my wife hates Star Trek, and mentioning it in the house is verboten. But you, my friends, you accept me for who I am, and allow the occasional Star Trek reference in this otherwise high-brow forum.
Anyway. Other than dirty water and sunny weather, it was a remarkably ordinary day. Which is just amazing, actually. I intentionally took a sabbath today, knowing that I'm right back into it tomorrow, and until next Wednesday when the last project is handed in. Oh, then there's that one pesky final exam, but I'm not concerned. Considering the midterm took me all of 10 minutes to complete, the final won't be much more intensive. Famous last words.
To sum up: went to school this morning for a quick meeting, then back home. The boy was sleeping (he woke up quite a bit earlier than usual, which meant he was tired earlier than usual), so I took the time to organize all the various pieces of paper that had accumulated over the past week when I wasn't able to do anything about them. Lunch (hot dogs, if you must know), then some play time with the boy. He still loves it outside, so that's where we went. He has a piece of a broom handle that he loves to play with. Not sure exactly what he's doing with it, but it's fun for him. Took the time to clean out the car, too, which felt good.
After play time, the boy and wife wandered off (purposefully) to play group, in which time I did a small amount of school work--just enough to spare me the inevitable guilt if the day is completely deprived of said work. They got home, and it was back outside for the boy again, for a little bit of daddy time. It was great, until he face-planted into a snowbank. Perhaps I'm just an extra cruel parent, but man, was that ever funny. Yes, he was upset, as you would be. He had so much momentum going forward that when he hit, his legs left the ground, and, for one horrible moment, all of his body weight pressed his face further down into the snow. It's terrible, but I'm laughing just thinking about it. It wasn't funny for him, though, and much consolation was required. Which of course, only mommy can really do.
Dinner was early tonight (pasta, for those keeping tabs of my carb/calorie intake, which I assure you is not me), and then a quick bath for the boy. Again, bathtime was shorted by a mishap--this time he managed to slip while sitting down and fall (backwards, fortunately) into the water. Again, much consolation from mom was required, but to be honest, we were glad to get him out of the bath, because we're not quite sure exactly how clean one can get in water that murky.
Put the boy to bed, went to the grocery store to get some more Tylenol for him (his teeth are really bothering him, although none of them are finding it important enough to actually break the gumline and show themselves. That's what, three months now with no new teeth? It's getting a bit ridiculous, if you ask me, but you didn't, so disregard), and then it was Battlestar Galactica, and now blogging before bed. BSG continues to be excellent in season two, you'll be happy to know. The directing is amazing, the storylines are more compelling, and the actors seem to have taken things up a notch this season, too. And hey, it's filmed in BC, so I get to see green grass and trees with leaves and such.
Oh, the boy just awoke with a fit of crying--likely the teeth, as the Tylenol we gave him before bed will have worn off by now. Good thing I went and got some more.
With that, it's time to go to bed, as the alarm rings at the early hour again tomorrow. I'm also going to see if wife requires any husband-related help with the boy, even though she is the more able consoler. We shall see.
Have a wonderful weekend, all. I'll see you back here again on Monday.
Why I can't wait to go home, reason 492: in BC, spring run-off does not result in tap water that resembles the consistency, smell, and taste of a mud puddle. Admittedly, my knowledge of the nuances of mud puddle flavours is quite low, but I can imagine well enough what it would be like to drink from one.
Even the mightly Brita is powerless to stop all the odour (although it's doing a remarkably good job, but we just got a new one tonight). I'm comforted to know that it's apparently worse than it should be, but then again, that's not really any comfort at all.
Hey, how about that hockey game last night/this morning? No, I didn't stay up to watch it all; my level of desire to invest several extra hours into a hockey game, even in the playoffs, is limited to one period of overtime. That's when I turned it off. Good thing I didn't stay for the second OT, because by then, I would've invested so much time in it that I would have been obliged to stay awake until the game ended. Which would have been 1:30 our time. Good thing I'm only one time zone away, or I'd be really screwed.
A nice day today, he says, switching topics faster than Mitt Romney changes his mind. Sorry; best I could come up with, and admittedly not all that pertinent to the Canadian audience. But still, a zinger, no?
Anyway. Beautiful sunny weather--the kind that makes me almost forget that last week at this time, it was snowing like a mofo. Oh wait, there's still a bunch of it on the ground to remind me of winter's ever-present death grip on this prairie landscape. Seriously, enough already.
The comforting thing (and yes, a little bit scary) is that in exactly three weeks, I'll be sitting on my couch in Langley, hopefully watching some playoff hockey on a TV that doesn't look like a prairie weather pattern (is that a better simile? Not sure if the witty simile processor is tuned this evening). In the words of Worf, that will be glorious.
And if you're wondering where that one came from, I saw a picture of a Klingon tonight, ergo Star Trek analogy. That, and I know how much my wife hates Star Trek, and mentioning it in the house is verboten. But you, my friends, you accept me for who I am, and allow the occasional Star Trek reference in this otherwise high-brow forum.
Anyway. Other than dirty water and sunny weather, it was a remarkably ordinary day. Which is just amazing, actually. I intentionally took a sabbath today, knowing that I'm right back into it tomorrow, and until next Wednesday when the last project is handed in. Oh, then there's that one pesky final exam, but I'm not concerned. Considering the midterm took me all of 10 minutes to complete, the final won't be much more intensive. Famous last words.
To sum up: went to school this morning for a quick meeting, then back home. The boy was sleeping (he woke up quite a bit earlier than usual, which meant he was tired earlier than usual), so I took the time to organize all the various pieces of paper that had accumulated over the past week when I wasn't able to do anything about them. Lunch (hot dogs, if you must know), then some play time with the boy. He still loves it outside, so that's where we went. He has a piece of a broom handle that he loves to play with. Not sure exactly what he's doing with it, but it's fun for him. Took the time to clean out the car, too, which felt good.
After play time, the boy and wife wandered off (purposefully) to play group, in which time I did a small amount of school work--just enough to spare me the inevitable guilt if the day is completely deprived of said work. They got home, and it was back outside for the boy again, for a little bit of daddy time. It was great, until he face-planted into a snowbank. Perhaps I'm just an extra cruel parent, but man, was that ever funny. Yes, he was upset, as you would be. He had so much momentum going forward that when he hit, his legs left the ground, and, for one horrible moment, all of his body weight pressed his face further down into the snow. It's terrible, but I'm laughing just thinking about it. It wasn't funny for him, though, and much consolation was required. Which of course, only mommy can really do.
Dinner was early tonight (pasta, for those keeping tabs of my carb/calorie intake, which I assure you is not me), and then a quick bath for the boy. Again, bathtime was shorted by a mishap--this time he managed to slip while sitting down and fall (backwards, fortunately) into the water. Again, much consolation from mom was required, but to be honest, we were glad to get him out of the bath, because we're not quite sure exactly how clean one can get in water that murky.
Put the boy to bed, went to the grocery store to get some more Tylenol for him (his teeth are really bothering him, although none of them are finding it important enough to actually break the gumline and show themselves. That's what, three months now with no new teeth? It's getting a bit ridiculous, if you ask me, but you didn't, so disregard), and then it was Battlestar Galactica, and now blogging before bed. BSG continues to be excellent in season two, you'll be happy to know. The directing is amazing, the storylines are more compelling, and the actors seem to have taken things up a notch this season, too. And hey, it's filmed in BC, so I get to see green grass and trees with leaves and such.
Oh, the boy just awoke with a fit of crying--likely the teeth, as the Tylenol we gave him before bed will have worn off by now. Good thing I went and got some more.
With that, it's time to go to bed, as the alarm rings at the early hour again tomorrow. I'm also going to see if wife requires any husband-related help with the boy, even though she is the more able consoler. We shall see.
Have a wonderful weekend, all. I'll see you back here again on Monday.
4.12.2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
2nd intermission; 3-2 for the good guys. Hopefully it ends well, but as a cynical Canucks fan, I'm nervous. But I can feel the spirit of '94 a-flowin'. And yes, I do have a playoff prediction: Canucks win the cup. How's that?
What a day. What a week, actually. I feel like I haven't actually had the chance to stop and breathe since this time last week. But this wave is over, and there's just enough time to catch my breath before the next one hits next Wednesday. The good news is that next week's assignments are the last I'll ever have to do at the undergrad level. Woot.
To expand on what I briefly touched upon in Tuesday's entry, the weekend was good, but not great. After a long and exhausting trip into BC on Friday (following a day in Calgary on Thursday), we found our way to the house we were staying at. Friday night passed, and Saturday was taken up with a meeting in the morning, and a self-guided tour of Armstrong in the afternoon, as well as a brief tour of the church building. Sunday, of course, was church day--we went to both services, which was quite a bit of church--then over to someone's house for lunch. Brief rest in the afternoon, which we used to pack, and then back for another dinner, this time with the pastor and his wife and the children's director and her husband. Then it was home, sleep, and a very early wake-up call the next morning. Drove back on Monday and arrived at 3:00, after which we promptly collapsed.
Unfortunately for everyone, it became pretty apparent very early on that this church was not a fit for us. In fact, we pretty much knew within the first five minutes of our Saturday meeting. In retrospect, we should have acknolwedged this and come straight home--it would have saved me a lot of stress yesterday and today--but we stayed. In the end, they emailed me and told me that they wouldn't be pursuing me anymore, which was a very mutual feeling. Although I'm a little cheesed about the whole email aspect of it (it's sort of like breaking up with your girlfriend over the phone; same results, just not the best method), we're fine with that.
Of course, it's still disappointing. We thought that we'd had a pretty good thing there, but it was not to be. Despite that, we're still optimistic. If going away for the weekend taught us one thing, it's that we need to be back in the Lower Mainland. We thought it would be good enough to just be back in BC, but we were wrong. In fact, being that close to home only made us more homesick, not less. It's a little bit tougher to make a go of it in the Lower Mainland, but to us, it's worth having our families close by. So we carry on, moving forward, and now looking for opportunities that will present themselves close to home. God has a plan.
With that, it's time to watch the third period. I'll be back after it's done with some pictures.
Later. Well, that third period pretty much showed everything that's wrong with being a Canucks fan. When the chips are down, when it matters the most, when it's all on the line and winners rise to the task, we choke. How much of that period was played in the Canucks' end? Too much, I'm afraid. This team can't seem to figure out how to go for the jugular and really shut an opponent down. Instead, they sit back and wait, apparently for the other guys to tie it up.
The unfortunate part is now I'm at an impasse. It's 10:35, and I'm really tired, but the game is going into OT. Unfortunately, the boy doesn't know this, and will still wake up at the same time in the morning. The decision is whether to sacrifice more much-needed sleep for the sake of the first game of the first round of the playoffs. Tough call, you might be surprised to find out.
Anyway. Back to the Armstrong story. Like I said, there were some good things about our trip. Besides coming to the understaning of where we're supposed to be next (at least geographically), we also got to spend some time away from the freakin' April snow here in Three Hills and hang out in the best place on earth. When we left here on Friday morning, it was cold, windy, and snowing. By the time we got to Armstrong, we were stripping off layers left and right--and not just because the ones we were wearing were covered with infant throw-up--and we had to make an emergency trip to the Fields store in town (yes, there's one there, just like here in Three Hills; in fact, the towns were remarkably similar, which was also a deciding factor for us) to buy some cooler clothes.
Besides that, the place we were staying at was amazing. It was outside of town on a farm, with an absolutely stunning view...
There were also some large ruminants for the boy to stare at, including recently-born calves...
In fact, we had this guy living in the field right next door to the guest house we were in...
And hey, we even got to see some more of the local wildlife...
Anyway. Like I said, even though things didn't pan out, we still think it was a valuable weekend, and we don't regret it at all. Okay, at about 12:00 last night, I was regretting it a little bit, but I'm over it.
In other news. Today was a crazy school day for me. The aforementioned mega-paper was finished last night and edited in my 8:00 class; chapel next; a presentation, book report, smaller two-page paper, and one other assignment due in my next class; another presentation and 12-page group paper due in third class; and handing in the mammoth 16-pager in the final class. Fortunately, that's the big day done. Next week, I've got two more papers due, and a couple of other small things, but I'm not as stressed about those as I was about these ones. In fact, I might even be able to unpack my suitcase tomorrow. That would be nice.
With that, the puck drops on the OT period, and I'm off to watch, or maybe fall asleep. Hopefully it'll end quickly, and hopefully the result will be the right one. I guess you'll find out when you come back tomorrow. See you then.
What a day. What a week, actually. I feel like I haven't actually had the chance to stop and breathe since this time last week. But this wave is over, and there's just enough time to catch my breath before the next one hits next Wednesday. The good news is that next week's assignments are the last I'll ever have to do at the undergrad level. Woot.
To expand on what I briefly touched upon in Tuesday's entry, the weekend was good, but not great. After a long and exhausting trip into BC on Friday (following a day in Calgary on Thursday), we found our way to the house we were staying at. Friday night passed, and Saturday was taken up with a meeting in the morning, and a self-guided tour of Armstrong in the afternoon, as well as a brief tour of the church building. Sunday, of course, was church day--we went to both services, which was quite a bit of church--then over to someone's house for lunch. Brief rest in the afternoon, which we used to pack, and then back for another dinner, this time with the pastor and his wife and the children's director and her husband. Then it was home, sleep, and a very early wake-up call the next morning. Drove back on Monday and arrived at 3:00, after which we promptly collapsed.
Unfortunately for everyone, it became pretty apparent very early on that this church was not a fit for us. In fact, we pretty much knew within the first five minutes of our Saturday meeting. In retrospect, we should have acknolwedged this and come straight home--it would have saved me a lot of stress yesterday and today--but we stayed. In the end, they emailed me and told me that they wouldn't be pursuing me anymore, which was a very mutual feeling. Although I'm a little cheesed about the whole email aspect of it (it's sort of like breaking up with your girlfriend over the phone; same results, just not the best method), we're fine with that.
Of course, it's still disappointing. We thought that we'd had a pretty good thing there, but it was not to be. Despite that, we're still optimistic. If going away for the weekend taught us one thing, it's that we need to be back in the Lower Mainland. We thought it would be good enough to just be back in BC, but we were wrong. In fact, being that close to home only made us more homesick, not less. It's a little bit tougher to make a go of it in the Lower Mainland, but to us, it's worth having our families close by. So we carry on, moving forward, and now looking for opportunities that will present themselves close to home. God has a plan.
With that, it's time to watch the third period. I'll be back after it's done with some pictures.
Later. Well, that third period pretty much showed everything that's wrong with being a Canucks fan. When the chips are down, when it matters the most, when it's all on the line and winners rise to the task, we choke. How much of that period was played in the Canucks' end? Too much, I'm afraid. This team can't seem to figure out how to go for the jugular and really shut an opponent down. Instead, they sit back and wait, apparently for the other guys to tie it up.
The unfortunate part is now I'm at an impasse. It's 10:35, and I'm really tired, but the game is going into OT. Unfortunately, the boy doesn't know this, and will still wake up at the same time in the morning. The decision is whether to sacrifice more much-needed sleep for the sake of the first game of the first round of the playoffs. Tough call, you might be surprised to find out.
Anyway. Back to the Armstrong story. Like I said, there were some good things about our trip. Besides coming to the understaning of where we're supposed to be next (at least geographically), we also got to spend some time away from the freakin' April snow here in Three Hills and hang out in the best place on earth. When we left here on Friday morning, it was cold, windy, and snowing. By the time we got to Armstrong, we were stripping off layers left and right--and not just because the ones we were wearing were covered with infant throw-up--and we had to make an emergency trip to the Fields store in town (yes, there's one there, just like here in Three Hills; in fact, the towns were remarkably similar, which was also a deciding factor for us) to buy some cooler clothes.
Besides that, the place we were staying at was amazing. It was outside of town on a farm, with an absolutely stunning view...
There were also some large ruminants for the boy to stare at, including recently-born calves...
In fact, we had this guy living in the field right next door to the guest house we were in...
And hey, we even got to see some more of the local wildlife...
Anyway. Like I said, even though things didn't pan out, we still think it was a valuable weekend, and we don't regret it at all. Okay, at about 12:00 last night, I was regretting it a little bit, but I'm over it.In other news. Today was a crazy school day for me. The aforementioned mega-paper was finished last night and edited in my 8:00 class; chapel next; a presentation, book report, smaller two-page paper, and one other assignment due in my next class; another presentation and 12-page group paper due in third class; and handing in the mammoth 16-pager in the final class. Fortunately, that's the big day done. Next week, I've got two more papers due, and a couple of other small things, but I'm not as stressed about those as I was about these ones. In fact, I might even be able to unpack my suitcase tomorrow. That would be nice.
With that, the puck drops on the OT period, and I'm off to watch, or maybe fall asleep. Hopefully it'll end quickly, and hopefully the result will be the right one. I guess you'll find out when you come back tomorrow. See you then.
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