You love your kids, but sometimes you want to strangle them

Wife and I amassed a huge album collection when we were young and when we first got married, ranging from Ashford and Simpson (hers) to Dead Kennedys (mine). I've never had time to mix these albums to CD, like I used to make cassettes. So I've finally gotten everything I need together to do it. An ok Sound Card, MS Plus! to bring the analog audio in and convert it, a two channel editing program so I can cut and mix the songs, I fixed our Dual 505-2 turntable (the rubber drive belt had disintegrated), wires to link the old stereo system (Dual turntable, Dual Cassette and Sherwood PreAmp, EQ and Receiver) to the computer.

Well tonight when we got home from me driving Oldest and Middle to Drum lessons and Sylvan, I decided instead of sitting on my ass and watching TV, I would transfer a album. I got out David Bowie's "Hunky Dory", I was getting out the disc cleaner and noticed and bunch of albums on the table. "Oldest", I called out, "Did you leave these albums out, put them away when you done!" "Yes Dad" is all I got. I then put the album on the turn table, lower the arm, and watch in horror as the cartridge is dragged across the album. "Oldest, did you do anything to the turn table?" "No Dad", "Oldest what happened?" After about 20 questions (I was no longer the calm loving father that I try to be, I was the raging maniac audio file who was ready to kill someone for screwing with his system.) Oldest admitted to trying to putting a album on, his cousin, same age, was over and pushed oldest out of the way (likely story) saying he knew what to do and began to fiddle with the turn table. Not only did they break the stylus, damaged the cartridge ( a Dual DN 65E - anyone know where I can buy one of these?), they also scratched the hell out of Iggy Pop's "Blah Blah Blah". Have you ever wanted to kill your kid? Once I find somewhere in Toronto that sells the cartridge I need, he is buying it. No matter the cost.

To help me calm down and give me a dose of rock, wife and I watched RockStar:INXS tonight ...
- J.D. rocked with Elvis's "Suspicious Mind", but he really has screwed up in the last week because of his attitude and I think he is in big trouble with INXS.
- Suzie did a really good job with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", but I don't think she deserved the comments that INXS gave her. I think she got compliments because she nailed the Farriss brothers interpretation of the new song they recorded earlier this week.
- Mig did "Live and Let Die", but nothing to right home about.. he seemed to enjoy himself.
- Ty did "You Can't Always Get What You Want", he did a good job of making the song his own, I didn't hear the Stones I heard Ty. (does that make sense to you)
- Jordis did "Imagine" by John Lennon, I will buy this one. Wife didn't like it. I love hearing Jordis but the only problem is she doesn't seem to have a range in her voice, she can't hit the high notes. This must make her kind of limiting to write vocals for.
- Marty did a awesome job of "Wish You Were Here", by Pink Floyd (song was written about absent band member Sid Barrett), no screaming, just a soulful heartfelt song that made me want to cry, Marty should get the encore, he deserves it.

Please read... There once was and still is a reason for the CBC

For everyone who is trashing the Corpse, oh! Sorry I meant the CBC .. Please read this article from the Globe & Mail by Knowlton Nash, on why the CBC was founded and why it should still be relevant to Canadians. Hey, I may trash the place sometimes, but working in its creative atmosphere was one of the most enjoyable jobs I've ever had (and I've had a few, have to stop killing companies that I work for).

The US gov't is finally going after Pat Robertson .. if only they could put a muzzle on the guy. But its odd that Bush is being so quite.

These just make me mad .. why were they ever let out in the first place. The canadian or maybe provinical justice systems just doesn't seem to work.

Disturbing

Ok, today is one of those days that everything I want to say is being said by someone else.

Last Amazon has a incredible piece of writing on her page. I wouldn't want to try and say it better, even though I'm Whitey. Wife and I were talking about something very similar last night. People have to stand up for themselves and help themselves out of the problems they have, no one else can do it for you, they have to stop playing the race card when things don't go their way.(hell even Ty on RockStar:INXS has played the race card on TV) Look I know I don't suffer from racial profiling, but if you look at the number of traffic tickets I have you'll see that the police don't like my type. I get speeding tickets for going 10Km over. What I'm trying to say is that if the cops pulled me over because a tall, dark haired, white male with one white eyebrow was being being investigated for rape, murder or pedophilia, I wouldn't mind. Crap I would hope they would look for everyone like me and stop and question them, as long as they are polite and don't hit me, go right ahead. Your not invading my privacy, you could be saving someones life. This violence has to stop, I live just south of the Jane/Finch its a good area that I like to call home but these shootings are two close for comfort. People have to care about what's happening to make it stop.

On a lighter side, Ding dong bell Jessica is gone. Jessica got voted off of RockStar:INXS last night, thank god. She should have been gone weeks ago but each time she was is in the bottom three she sang so well she saved her ass. J.D. has to smarten up or he will be gone just because he's acting like a asshole. I think in the end it will be down to Marty and Mig. Who knows, many more weeks of entertainment to come.

And on a final note .. this gives me the creeps, I found while looking for information about Ontario...Amalgamation of Canada and the United States of America

$600 Bunny

I've been saving up for something serious. I wanted to write more about the Devils Lake project, but hey North Dakota just opened the gates and are letting it flow into the Sheyenne River, nice international relationships. So I was going to write about guns coming over the US border, but hey the Washington Times says that there are fewer getting into Canada this year. So I thought maybe the Liberal Scandal or the horrible jet crash is Cyprus. But no, these are to serious for me and I have to tell you about my $600 bunny.

It all started about a year ago in the spring of 2004 not long after Easter, I discouvered a rabbit eating my flowers. Not a wild rabbit but a young domestic rabbit that someone had tired of and let go in the park behind us.

At first a neighbour had asked for it, but their grandkids soon tried of it. Well my kids wanted it, "Dad Mom we will feed it", "Dad Mom we will clean its cage", "Dad Mom, Please let us keep it". Against our better judgement we let the kids keep it, now I wish we handn't.

We built a cage for the rabbit, I thought we had read up on rabbit care (little did I know), we learned how to feed it and care for it. All has been good for a year now until this week.

Wife and I went shopping on Saturday morning, we put the rabbit outside on the porch like we always do.
He seemed fine at the time. Later in the day when wife and I got home, she noticed that he didn't look good, in fact he looked like he was in pain. We grabbed him and took him to the vet clinic near us. After a look at him and a check up we were told that he was in serious condition and that he would need x-rays and would have to stay over and that it would be a $500 deposit. WTF, Wife and I discussed it, both of us had to think for a bit (this was a free rabbit remember) but we decided we were reponsible for him and that we would have to care for him. So we told the vet to go ahead.

Later that night we received a call from the vet, saying that we were very lucky that we had brought him in when we did. He had build up calcium in his bladder to the point where he could barely pee, and when he did it had burnt his genitals so bad he couldn't shit. He also had maggots (very young maggots) in his butt. He did not need surgery (thank God) and we could pick him up the next day.

We now have a very unhappy rabbit with a bucket on its head, we have to clean its butt twice a day, spread ointment on his butt, give it two kinds of medication and change his diet from a easy to find pellet to harder to find grasses and pellets. The final bill came to $612.00, for a rabbit. What we will do for our pets.

Living in the City has its problems.

Not that light pollution is on scale with Guns / Gangs / Drugs / Murder / Enviromental Pollution / Traffic Jams and the out right crowding that cities have, but because I live in Toronto I won't be able to see the Perseids tonight. In my opinion, that's a shame. My kids are up at the cottage .. They will be able to lie on the dock and see the Milky Way, the Perseids and maybe even the Northen Lights. What better gift to give to a child, then to get them to understand that they a part of a greater thing then just their little world of streets and friends.

So if you live outside of TO, can lie on your back on your lawn/beach/rock or hill and stare at the sky .. Make sure your outside at 11pm EST so that you can see the start of the Perseid Meteor Shower.

Found this interesting piece on the history of the Perseids at http://comets.amsmeteors.org/

WTF Suzie in bottom 3, are you crazy

Suzie was in the bottom three, INXS sent her off the stage fairly quickly, they let her know that they liked her performance. That left Brandon and Jessica. I was wrong, Brandon is gone, he would of stayed but he forgot the words. Sad but true, Jessica did okay, but Brandon was better but he screwed up and forgot the words to (crap, I can't remember the name) was it "Don't Lose Your Head"
Wife and I talked about it, we figure because they gave a sneak peek at the #'s on Wednesday night, and people saw Deanna was in the bottom three people started to vote for her which drew votes away from Suzie. They also did something interesting, they had the people with the five lowest votes stand up and then had the bottom three come to the stage, is this a way to let the audience see who is not getting votes ..
I think one of the reasons I like this show is that it has non of the nastiness of American/Canadian Idol. No judges being pricks, good honest criticism and when INXS makes their decision, it seems that they regret having to. Also, hell I like to see Brooke Burkes legs.

Still Watching

Its sad but true, even though I've missed two weeks of the show (no TV reception at cottage), I'm still watching RockStar:INXS.
Last nights show was a good one, Susie did a arrangement (with J.D.'s help) of REM "Losing my Religion", it was great, I know its good enough to keep her out of the bottom three for this week.
Ty did a awesome performance of Bob Marleys "No Woman No Cry", for once it seemed that he cared about the song instead of acting like he did. In the shows that I've seen it was always like he was going on stage and performing a character instead of being a musician and trying to get his song across to him audience.
Jordis had a hard night, Layla even though it is a simple song carries a lot of emotions. Jordis for some reason just couldn't pull it off, her voice squeaked, she couldn't hit or keep notes and she just seemed uncomfortable singing it. Half way through the song you could see that even she realized that she didn't hit the mark.
Missed most of J.D.s cover of Seal’s Crazy, Wife and I were talking to the kids at the cottage (we left them there with there Grandparents and Cousins). All I can say is that he has to loose the vibrating arm, its to much like Eddy Vedder or Van Morrison. He just wasn't visually appealing to watch.
Mig did a cover of Free's "All Right Now", awesome, Wife thinks he will win, says he fits the band. Not sure about that.
Marty rocked, no better word for it, he did a unplugged version of Mr. Brightside by the Killers. He will be the one asked to do a encore tonight. You could tell that INXS loved him.
Deanna, covering the Dobbie Brothers "Long Train Runnin' " was Deanna.. She belted the song out again .. What a wondrous voice, but can she do a soft song, she hasn't shown this yet.
Two of the final three tonight will be Brandon (is a southern rocker and has never belonged on the show) or Jessica (who murdered Nirvana's "Come as you are"), not sure who the last of the three will be, either Deanna or Jordis I think (not that it matters yet) .. Either Brandon or Jessica will go tonight. Hopefully Jessica, she just doesn't have it, looks great but just isn't "IT"

I want to go back on vacation

Well I'm back but I don't want to be. Two weeks on sun, fun and relaxation just can't be good for you, I just can't get myself in gear today. I have to figure some way to win a lottery so I can go on a permanent vacation.