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It is Robyn’s birthday today.  My sisters got together and ordered a Yard Card for her to be plastered all over the lawn.  Yep, a lawn full of pink flamingos, weird cardboard faces and a sign that says, a little birdie told us Robyn was 30.  

Naturally, Riley was set loose on the herd of unsuspecting flamingos.  From what I hear, she referred to them as doggies…I wonder if that hurt the birds feelings?

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So, here I sit, in a server room of a school in Barrie watching as Windows 2008 Small Business Server installs Windows.  While the progress bar slowely (VERY SLOWELY) moves from left to right there isnt much I can do.  So…why not do something that I havent done in a long long time.  Update this bloody website. 

Admitedly I havent found myself with a lot of time to write here.  I suppose there are a number of reasons.  My co-worker Neil is no longer my co-worker and he is now working with his own business.  So, I have more to do at work so during work updates are non existent.  My hours are from 6AM to 2:30PM so I am in bed at 8PM now, so, updates in the evening dont exist anymore.  And the rest of my time is dedicated to picking up Riley, making dinner and playing.  The website is further down the list of priorities these days.  I suppose as long as the only thing I am neglecting is my website, this is actually a good news situation.

Riley is over 1 year old now.  She is more fun than ever.  She has an addictive laugh (at least I think so).  She is ticklish like her father which is both good and bad (sorry about your future in tickle fights kid).  She plays great both with me and on her own when the time comes that I need to leave her in the living room so I can make dinner.  She sleeps through the night (mostly).  She gives a lot of hugs and kisses both on command and just out of the blue. 

She shows a lot of imagination.  I like that.  Tonight I was watching her quietly when she wasnt looking.  She was playing with her new little people garage.  It is a three storey unit that has a twirling ramp that sends cars down from the top floor to the bottom in spinny fashion.  I watched as she took the pink three wheeler and sent it down the ramp again and again, took a little people tow truck driver, set him in the waiting space, brought up the tow truck, put him in it and sent him down.  This sequence of events repeated themselves over and over.  It was very methodical and imaginative and I found myself standing there completely jealous of her. 

Why do we need to work?  When will the Star Trek way arrive?  In Startrek, they no longer work for personal gain.  Rather everyone is equal and works to better themselves or something like that.  In short however, people just have fun and enjoy themselves and have the right to do as much  or as little as they choose.  Sounds good to me.  That and having a big spaceship to ride in.

Riley is fun.  I love to play with her.  Makes me feel like a kid again.  There is nothing quite like the feeling of having her get all excited when you get home or pick her up that makes any sort of crappy day disappear. 

Yep, Jealous.

This past Sunday morning I woke up with the little girl.  We went downstairs, got her milk together, played with some toys and at 7:30AM turned on the TV to watch some cartoons.  We have decided that Saturday and Sunday morning cartoons are a right of passage for little kids so she should have access to that kind of fun. 

When you turn on the rogers cable box, it turns to Channel 1 by default.  This is a channel operated by Rogers and they call it their Preview Channel.  Turns out on Sunday morning they were previewing some new station, that station was playing a movie called Margaret’s Museum.  By perfect coincidence, at 7:29AM when I turned on the TV, very nude Helena Bonham Carter is taking a shower, with a very exposed nude man coming up behind her.  They quickly enter into a sexual encounter, and they get it on 80’s style.  Usually this would be a neat experience for me, however, as a fairly new parent with my daughter in my arms, the first thing that occured to me was that every kid getting up on Sunday morning to turn on their TV to watch cartoons got an advanced look at the birds and the bees courtesy of Rogers Communications.   Really?  At 7:30AM?

So, with that in mind, I contacted Rogers to see if they had any opinion on the subject.   In a nutshell, their response was to put parental controls on the channels that I dont want my kids to watch.  It’s not their issue, but it is being sent somewhere magical for review where those reviewing it will never issue their decision to me on the subject.  (They actually told me no one would follow up with me on their findings or results, but it has been escalated).  I have known people in call centres, thats code for, “no one has seen this but me, and you should go away now”.

So I wonder, am I becoming one of those fruitcakes that wants everything censored?  I hope not, actually I am pretty sure I am not, but I suppose perhaps with the more dramatic stuff when it comes to my own kids?  It’s hard to tell.   She is young and wouldnt have known it from a kids show or a action movie so no harm done at this point.   What happens to the parent who’s kid is older and spends the day asking questions…perhaps it is a good way to start and open converstation? 

I guess I am just pissed at how little Rogers cared about this.  Although, perhaps I should just be pissed at how much I am surprised at how little they cared. 

After the sex scene, they showed infomercials for the rest of the morning and then kids cartoons a little later on that day.  

On another note, it has been a bloody long time since I posted here, I actually forgot about the site for a while.  I am back now, not too fond of the colours and layout so that deserves some correction, but other than that.  Expect more, more often.

Interesting in what we saw at 7:30AM Sunday? Here’s a few images I found of the scene.

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Wow, where has the time gone? Thinking back over the last year I can remember a lot of things that happened that seem like they just happened yesterday.

I remember at the beginning of November 09, before Riley was born. Robyn was out of the house and I was home alone watching a movie at an abnormally loud volume. I was eating peanuts and just sitting relaxing. I remember this moment because I recall thinking, pretty soon, I wont be able to do this anymore, pretty soon, nothing will ever be quiet in the house ever again.  I was kind of wrong about this actually. Riley has been great to us. It is true that I havent watched a moving at a rediculous volume level since she was born, but really, thats not a bad thing. I can barely hear as it is, I dont need to be trashing my ear drums more than I already have.  And, the reality is, she isnt the terror that I expected. I guess when we first started preparing for her arrival I had images of constant crying, screaming, yelling (and that was just me). I suppose I may have had the odd vision of neverending pandamonium. Dont get me wrong, I was excited, but also a little nervous about how it was all going to go down. Who knew it would turn out like it did.

Over the last year while Riley has been around we have had a great time, I have enjoyed every night reading story after story to her, I have played like I never played before when I was a kid! (I think).  And every day during the week when I come home, I get to experience her squeals of excitement as I walk in the door.   It seems like just a few days ago we caught the video of her first roll, then came her pulling herself up onto the couch one day like she had done it for months, yesterday I watched her walk down the hall with her walker thing.  Remembering her first solid(ish) food experience, remembering being nervous the first time she jammed a cherrio into her mouth, the first time she said Mama, then Ball, then Hi, THEN dada.  Just this past weekend she cleaned out her first pumpkin for Halloween.  Oh, and halloween itself just happened, dresed up like a little monkey. Overall it has been an amazing experience that I wouldnt trade for anything! 

Pretty soon we will be celebrating her 1st birthday.   She will get to dig into her first cake and we will get to watch her tear open presents.  THen comes Christmas and then she will be 20 years old and moving out, or at least thats what I figure the timeline is going to feel like 20 years from now.

My friend Steve is about to have his first baby!  All I have to say is, enjoy it.  As slow as the days seem to go on their own, the year passes by before you realize what has happened. 

I love you Riley!

So, a few weeks ago it finally happened. I had the frame of mind change necessary to change how I eat. For over a year, I have been trying here and there to clean up my crap food eating habits. In each attempt I wasnt really into it and it failed within a day or two. I was a strong supporter of Tim Hortons, and those pre-packaged ice cream cones from the gas station everytime I filled up too. Chips were good. On top of that I would over fill myself at dinner, eating what I call, American size portions of food. Too much! But, it has been three weeks now and I feel so much better. Just cutting Tim’s out of my diet has made a huge impact. I am down nearly 10lbs now and I have made the transition to the gym! Every day at lunch I go with my co-worker Dave to a local community center gym. I have really only just started getting back into shape, but I feel better than I have in a long time.

So, on that note, here is a little clip from Arnold! I have to admit, I dont think I feel the same way about working out as he does, but it is interesting nevertheless…lol Viewer discretion advised…Crazy Arnold! I wonder if he feels the same way about his duties as governor?

I have my own opinions on Chrysler.  On one hand the company I work for has contracts with Chrysler which in turn provides income necessary to keep me employed, so, in that respect Chrysler is good for me.  However, on the other hand I recently went through dealing with Chrysler directly as a result of the Jeep that we owned, which provided direct first hand insight as to why Chrysler is truely the anus of automotive manufacturers in our current economy.

Chrysler used to be great.  In the muscle car era Chrysler ruled.  If I grew up in the 60s and 70s I would not have hesitated to buy a Mopar!  Then the 80s came which was populated by K-cars and minivans,  The 90s were ok and the 2000’s represented some of the nicest looking piles of junk put on the roads.  If somehow we could combine the reliability and customer service of Honda with the designers at Chrysler in the early parts of the 2000’s, Chrysler would have never had to declare bankruptcy.  But, instead they are buildt on some really great visually stimulating designs wrapped around junk supported by no one reliable.

Well, a news report just released should make you very nervous if you are the recent new owner of, or someone considering buying a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.  Seems a number of workers at the plant were using their 30 minute lunch breaks as an opportunity to go out on a get hammered and stoned session.  The head dude at Chrysler says that this behaviour would not impact the quality of the vehicles.  I tend to agree! 

Have a watch:

Four years ago we purchased a new home from Baywood Homes.  Everything was great, they treated us well, and for the most part the construction quality of the home was excellent.   Along the way they made a number of mistakes, one being communication.  People would come into our home without notification, leave messes, leave unfinished repairs, etc.  One time they came and dug up the curbs in front of our house without notification and they blocked cars in the driveway.  Most of time any issues are met with corrective action and the problem goes away quietly.

I guess the City of Barrie is ready to assume the roads in our sub-division.  So, an inspector comes around and marks where the city properties are insufficient quality to take on.  The developer then has to come in and do repairs to City standards.   So, on a Monday, a construction crew shows up and tears up the curbs in front of our houses again.  But this time, they decide to be sloppy and not only take the curbs out, they cut the driveways back over a foot to install wooden forms for the concrete (They didnt cut the driveways last time).

This is where Baywood shines as a disaster.  Baywood denies involvement, the City of Barrie reps we speak to can find no record of the work.  The construction crew doesnt even know who they are doing the work on behalf of.  (contractor of contractor of contractor…).   It takes me days to find out who knows anything.  Our usual rep, Kenya Pallotta, at Baywood is on holidays.  She is nice and usually takes care of anything, but in her absense no one knows anything.  I have brief email exchanges with Franco at Baywood which doesnt really get me anywhere.   Finally I get the name of the inspector at the City of Barrie, Allan Gilchrist.  I contact him, doesnt seem to impressed to be dealing with me but seems to be interested enough to listen to the issue.   He says he will look into it.  I contact Alex Nuttal, city councellor looking for votes even, no response.  No one cares it seems.

Finally Kenya returns and I get a response outlining that it was Baywood, but another division of Baywood called Baywood Development.   They keep the two companies separate.  They hired a company called EMC to do the work, EMC hired Magsin Concrete.  They showed, did a great job on the curbing.  But, the asphalt was another story.  They poured a bunch of asphalt into the hole, moved it about with a rake and then ran over it twice with a tamper.  They went about 4 inches beyond the edge of hte driveway on each side, left grooves and marks all throughout the job and then didnt clean up after themselves.

So, we get a letter in the mail last week.  The letter apologized for hte lack of notification, inconvenience and poor workmanship.  It stated that the issue is going to be repaired immediatley and we cna expect a crew during the week of September 13-17.  Well, today is September 17, and I dont need to post any updated pictures, as the old ones are still as relivant as the new ones would be.  Nothing was done, no one showed.  Ugh

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The one cause I can always see fit to support is the Sick Kids foundation.  I am a part of their “Miracle Club” where they withdrawl money each month from my account.  Anyone who asks me to support Sick Kids will get a donation.  I have a friend, Dave, who had a child in Sick Kids a long time ago and today that little guy is as healthy as can be.  More recently a friend who we met by the coincidence of being blessed with little girls around the same time had the unthinkable happen to them.  Her little girl Kristen was born with Congenital Heart Defects.  She had holes in her heart.  A sweet little girl with the wildest hair that you have ever seen on a kid had to endure the first number of months of her life being fed through a tube in her nose. 

She had to have open heart surgury to repair her heart.   I find myself a bit emotional at the thought of my little Riley having to go through something like this.  I cannot even begin to think of what little Kristen’s parents went through in the months leading up to the surgery and in the months afterwards.  I sometimes hear people complaining: they complain about people around them, about stuff that goes on in their lives, they feel like life has given them a raw deal.  Nothing compares to what this family has gone through.  Puts things into perspective.

Today Kristen is a happy little girl and one of Riley’s close little friends.  I watched them play in the pool not long ago in their swimming lessons.  They know each other and seem to get excited when they see each other (providing there isnt another shiney little toy in the near proximity of course). 

Jamie, Kristen’s mother is doing a walk-a-thon for the Sick Kids foundation.  The money donated to this cause goes directly to the department and people in Sick Kids that helped Kristen pull through to become a healthy smiling crazy hair little girl! 

Please sponsor her for this cause by going to this link:  http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=2726763

This is her message: 

I am taking part in a walk-a-thon in Whitby September 26th, 2010 to help raise money for Sick Kids and the Labatt Family Heart Centre.  This is where Kristen spent her time to have her heart repaired.  The funds will be going directly to 4D (the ward that Kristen was on 3 times) and also for the Cardiac Critical Care Unit (where Kristen spent 2 days post Open Heart Surgery).  It is a truly amazing place, with amazing staff.  We are very lucky to have such a place so close to home.  And, we are very lucky to have such a strong little girl, who fought so hard!  And now you’d never even know how sick she was by looking at her!! 
Thank you so much for your support!! 
 
♥ Jamie and Kristen ♥

Her Father wrote some letters to Kristen.  With permission I am posting them here.  Click on each one to read them, but beware that even the most stone hearted people out there are going to find themselves being emotional with what they are about to read.  At the end there is a current picture of Kristen, notice the lack of a tube and the big smile (and crazy hair!).  Good luck Jamie!

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