January 30 th.

The first gardening post of 2006.

Not sure what the weather is like where you are but here in Toronto, we are running at around 9 degrees Celsius (that's 48 degrees Fahrenheit) in February (average temp should be between -3 and -12 C) but this is causing my Peony's to grow. They've already broken ground level and are tiny red shoots. I was worried and thought I should put some mulch on them to protect them from the freeze we are support to get in a few days. I went to Angelo's Garden Centre and asked how to protect the shoots. Not to worry, best thing for them is to leave them alone, as the heat created by the mulch would promote growth (which I don't want), that they are very hardy plants that should survive to spring and that what I want to do is keep the cool as it will slow the growth spurt they are having.
Can't wait for gardening to begin, got my first issue of Canadian Gardening

January 26 th.

Today is the day for being tagged .. Journal of life tagged me with this meme, so since I've done it once today I figured why not do it again!

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Antique Stripper
2. Security Guard
3. Radio Tech
4. Inside and Outside Sales

Four movies you would watch over and over again:
1. Sound of Music
2. White Christmas
3. Star Wars
4. The General

Four places you have lived:
1. Bracebridge, ON
2. Barrie, ON
3. Malton, ON
4. Toronto, ON

Four T.V. shows you love to watch:(I almost never get to watch, but this is what I would watch if I could)
1. Lost
2. ER
3. Battlestar Galactica
4. Andromeda

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Jamaica
2. Georgian Bay
3. Vancouver
4. a carribean cruise

Four web-sites I visit daily:
1. Drudge Report
2. Toronto Star
3. Hotmail Gmail
4. For Better or For Worse

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Salad (Greens)
2. Pasta
3. Steak
4. Homemade barbeque pizza

Four places I’d rather be right now:
1. on a cruise around the world
2. Bora Bora
3. Tasmania
4. London, UK

Four victims for this meme: See Below .. 4 of you pick

I have been tagged .. by rjl .. 5 weird things about me. What could be weird about me, I'm perfect aren't I.

1. I have never watched a scary movie in full. At age six I walked out of my own birthday party (at the Bracebridge cinema), I had taken my friends to see The Time Machine. I walked out on Jaws left my older sister and walked around the streets of Barrie, I walked out on Alien, left my date in the theater. Wife and her girl friends think it's hilarious. Big strong guy getting scared at movies.

2. I’m 42 and still enjoy watching Saturday morning cartoons. They aren’t as good at they were in the 70’s. ie space ghost, land of the giants etc.

3. I have more allergies than you can think of, but I never had problems till I quit smoking.

4. I never read the instructions on a package. I like to think I can figure out how something goes together on my own.

5. My left eyebrow, eyelash and the skin on the left side of my face is turning white (I have dark brown hair, luckily I have pale white skin). I awoke one morning two years ago to discover I was losing pigment. I kind of standout in a crowd.

I tag

Assorted Nonsense...
Aurora Walking Vacation...
musings of middle age...
a day in the life of a terrible mother...
Its a Monkey...
Journal of Life...

January 24 th.

I am going to whine and complain.

Parents, lets compare schedules. Wife and I register the kids in a lot of activities. I start work at between 8 and 8:30 and I get off work at 5 pm. I want to show you my weekly schedule.

Sunday
9am Snowboarding lessons for Eldest 1hr
10:30 am House League hockey practice for Middle 1hr
2 pm (every second sunday) Confirmation classes for Eldest 1 1/2 hrs
2:30 pm Ski lessons Youngest 2 hrs

Monday
8:30 pm Select team hockey practice Eldest 1 hr
8:30 pm TaiKwonDo Eldest and Me (will be able to make it once hockey is over) 1 hr

Tuesday
6pm Drum lessons Eldest 1 hr
6 pm Slyvan learning Middle 2 hrs
7 pm TaiKwonDo Eldest and me (I will be able to make it in feb, once we stop Slyvan 1 1/2 hrs

Wednesday
6 pm Dance class Youngest 1/2 hr
6:30 pm Dance class Middle 1 hr
8:30 pm TaiKwonDo Eldest and Me 1 1/2 hrs

Thursday
6:30 pm Gymnastics lessons Youngest 1hr
8 pm TaiKwonDo Eldest and Me 1 hr

Friday
6:30 pm Goalie class Middle 1 hr
7:30 pm TaiKwonDo Eldest and Me (I will be able to make it once hockey ends) 1 hr

Saturday
7:30 am Tyke house league hockey Youngest
11:30 or 12:30 Atom house league hockey game Middle
4:20 or 5:20 Bantam house league hockey game Eldest

On top of this Eldest has at least one Select hockey game a week, usually between 8 and 10 pm. We also have to fit homework in here. Wife can't get the kids to anything as she works out in the west end and doesn't get home till 7:30 pm.

I'm whinning, I know, but I'm tired. Thank god this ends in March.

Addendum January 25 th. 11:21 am, I know Wife and I are very lucky and that there are a lot of people who are a hell of a lot worse off then wife and I are. But I am allowed to whine sometimes (not a lot but sometimes).

January 23 rd.

All I want to say today is make sure you go out and VOTE. This is our civil responsiblity. If you don't vote you don't have a right to complain about the party in power. So if your going to bitch about the party in power, be they Liberals/Conservatives/NDP/Green .. Vote.

May the best party win, and not screw up our country any further.

Thursday January 19 th.

We seem to forget that the Canadian election is not the centre of the world. 1 Canadain was killed this week and 3 others injured.

From the Toronto Star, Jan 16/2006
Glyn Berry, Canada's senior diplomat in southern Afghanistan, died in the attack. The 59-year-old was political director of the 250-member provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar city.

A man claiming to be a spokesman for the Taliban said the insurgent group that once ran Afghanistan had taken responsibility for the attack. Witnesses reported at least two Afghan citizens were also killed and 10 more were injured.

The three injured soldiers — Pte. William Edward Salikin, Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey and Master Cpl. Paul Franklin — were based in Edmonton. Bailey and Franklin are from that city, while Salikin is from Grand Forks, B.C.

Now I'm not a fan of war, and I am certainly not a fan of Bush's war in Iraq, but Canada has made a commitment to sending troops to Afganistan to remove the Taliban and as Canadians we have to support our own. You may not agree with war or killing, but when Canadian diplomats and soldiers are killed or injured we have to stand behind and honour what they are doing. You and I sure as hell aren't over there, we are sitting safe here at home. We can pontificate all we want, but we are here (safe and sound) and have no right to judge or forget them. If you disagree with us being there, disagree with our governments policies, VOTE, the party in power out, but support and help the people who are sent.

I rambled enough today, forget the election for a few minutes, say a prayer, to whichever god you believe in, for the men that are hurt, so that they can get better and for Glyn Berry and his family.

January 12 th.

On my drive in this morning I was thinking about how we are supposed to select our governments and MP’s, and how they are supposed to represent us in the House of Commons.

What is supposed to happen is we select someone who shares our ideals and views. They go to parliament hill and vote on bills with the knowledge that they are voting for us and what the people in their riding want to see happen.

When you really think about it, they either don’t or are not allowed to represent us. Unless they are chosen for caucus, they are back benchers who have no say in policy and have to pull the party line or be punished. If they are chosen for caucus, they do help define the country and what will happen during their parties’ tenure as the government, but they still have to pull the party line.

Who defines the “Party Line”… the Prime Minister with his caucus (Hopefully, but I have strong doubts on this), a behind the scenes cabinet of Party elite? A powerful hidden group of individuals who really run the party that is in power, therefore really running our country (paranoia, I know I have no proof). You and I as citizens of Canada?

Look, the above is speculation, but what really happens is we are not represented by the individuals we vote for in our ridings. We are represented by the Party/Leader/Caucus/masked hidden scary people(just joking), and hopefully that Party (be it Liberal/Conservative/NDP/Green) represents your beliefs. This is not always so, but we make do.

These are the men and women that we elect to represent us.

PS. Toronto Tory’s comment is true. When the conservatives get into power, look for Dryden to pull a “Stronach” and cross the floor. If only John Tory was the leader of the National Conservative Party and not the Ontario Conservative Party.

If wishes were fishes we wouldn’t go hungry.

January 11 th.

I am frustrated. It looks like we will have a Conservative/Reform gov't. Only two weeks out from the vote and the NDP is saying they can work with Harper. Unfortunately I feel they are putting blinders on. This is a party that was begun by Preston Manning and his cronies, run by Stockwell Day and now in the hands of Harper (who is an anomaly .. we know nothing about him).
My vote will not be a deciding vote; it’s more like a vote to shore up a broken dam. We need to make sure we don't have a Conservative/Reform majority. Do you vote Liberal or NDP .. in my riding it is hard to choose. It has always been a Liberal riding, and if history repeats it will stay Liberal. I don't believe that the Conservative Party will be the best for Canada and I don't want to see a majority gov't again for a very long time so I have to decide which is the best way to swing my vote.

January 5 th.

I get upset at a lot of things. Elections, Guns, violence, companies or governments taking advantage of their positions.. etc... But what pisses me off the most are those creatures that take advantage of children.

Two stories caught my attention today. The Star has a piece about a Canadian that got three years for attempting to sexually molest a minor after meeting her through the internet and them traveling to her home in the states to have sex. He also has been accused of molesting another girl.
The other story is from Vermont were a judge has given one of these sickos a 60 day sentence for repeatedly raping a child over 4 years. Can anyone else see something wrong here? Why aren't the sentences longer ..? Can’t these things just be put away? Can't we just be rid of them? You can't fix them, you can't heal them ... this is like saying we will fix you from being heterosexual. They are a perversion and we can't let them prey on our children.

I know, now I will get some right wing hack hitting me with notes saying vote conservative and we will put them in jail for longer. Not an answer!, unfortunately I don't have one.

I'm left wing Liberal or right wing NDP .. even I'm not sure ... I know I don't want a Conservative majority government, but I also want someone to put in place laws that will take control of these creatures and limit their rights in our society. My MP voted against a law that would increase the legal age of consensual sex. Why?

Just to make sure everyone understands this is not a rant against gays ... this is a rant against either straight/gay male/female attacks on children. I define children as anyone under 17. Maybe it’s just because I'm a father of three, or that I know people who were molested as children and I've seen what it has done to their lives. This is a evil we have to get rid of.. not party politics, not lying politicians, terrorism or tariffs. This is something we have to take care of now.. it can’t be shoved to the 2nd page of a newspaper. But how do we stop the abuse?

Anyway this is a rant and a ramble. I guess I should just stop rambling.

January 4th.

Okay .. I'm a prick, a heel, a horrible father.

I did not trust my own son. Eldest had a Chapters gift card on his dresser, it was they same "look" as the one we gave him to give his teacher, it was the same value. This made me think that Eldest had removed it from the card from his teacher and keep it for himself. I asked who had given him the card, he said he was not sure, that it had been in a unsigned envelope. I did not confront Eldest .. I went to Chapters and asked if they could tell me when and where the card had been purchased. a)it was not purchased at the same store where I had bought the gift card for his teacher, b) it was bought in Barrie c)my mother must have bought it.

I am a heel, a cretin, a horrible father for not trusting my son. I will never let him know this, I will slip the card back into his room with out him knowing. It makes me feel so good that I can trust my son. God I'm a horrible father.