Thursday, July 30, 2009

Aaah... 70's Memories

Like my friend Clueless in Cowtown, I'm following the blog Plaid Stallions. Its basically about 70's toys and kids culture. Woooow. I remember this stuff. Strongly..

Two items to point out in this one picture alone:

We have my partner's Sesame Street like this one, AND my parents still have my Adventure People Safari set (our girls play with it at their place).

B.






Monday, July 27, 2009

My Luck is Turning!!!

This was in my inbox this morning: Yaaay!


Dear Winner,

This is to inform you that you have won the sum of 500,000 GBP
in the British Online Sweepstake Promo held on 20th of July 2009.
You are to contact the events manager with Your Ticket Number
05-08-10-18-20-46-{43}. To further the claims of your prize, you
are also advise to fill and submit the form below to the events
manager.

Full Names:
Address:
Sex:
Age:
Occupation:
Tel / Mobile / Fax #
Nationality:
Country Of Residence:

Contact: Mr. Evans Martins
E-mail: account_unit03@kimo.com
Telephone:(+ 44) 704 5747 360

Congratulations once again.

Yours faithfully,
Mr. Key Jefferson
Online Coordinator


-----------------------------------------

Last Post...

Just for the record, my last post was about work. For the record, I've made my decision (to stay put) and moved on (hopefully).

B.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Decisions...

This morning I finally figured out how to describe what it is I’ve been feeling lately. It’s something close to feeling like I’ve been running through mud whenever I try to make a decision about my life. It’s hard to move. It’s hard to actually get to the point where I make a decision.

Please don’t think that this means I’m suffering, or hurting or depressed. I’m fine; I just feel like it’s really difficult to make decisions of great consequence. That’s not to say that it isn’t upsetting. There have been a few decisions lately (mostly in my professional life) that I’ve really agonized over. It’s never reached the point of paralysis but sometimes it feels pretty darn close. Sometimes I wonder if it would make it to that point if I didn’t have other people depending on me. I’m not sure which fork in the road to take on this as a problem. On the right, I need to "man up" and just get on with it, stop reflecting and just decide on things. The left fork involves taking a serious, reflective look at why I get myself into these twists, turns, and quandaries.

Realistically I know I need to do both. Fear of making a wrong decision, a REALLY wrong decision, has to be a part of this.

I’ll write some more about this later.

B.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Facebook breaches Canadian privacy law: commissioner

Facebook breaches Canadian privacy law: commissioner

Shared via AddThis

Soccer Update July 16, 2009

I couldn't be any any happier with our U-6 team this year. We won on Tuesday, not that we keep score ;-)

We've seen a sharp increase with the amount of passing and cooperative play among the players. The days of a player throwing the ball in from the sides and only throwing it far enough that he or she (yes, I once saw a girl do this, not just boys) can be the one to kick it down field after its thrown.

Super Girl (our daughter, age 5.5) has yet to score a goal but does get into the paly regualrly. She's still timid a lot of the time, but we're working on that. She is palying well and I let her know that often.

Action Girl (8.5 years) regularly gets a goal and seems to be on a strong team this year. She is liking soccer very much, although still perhaps seocnd to figure skating (which she is NOT doing over the summer). In August, after soccer finishes she is off to five days at a local children's camp, ALL ON HER OWN. We'll manage, but it is a big step.

B.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Futurama News


Link from an Entertainment Weekly article:
Six years after getting axed by Fox, Futurama is being resurrected on Comedy Central.
A spokesperson for 20th Century Fox Television confirms that the cable net has ordered 26 new episodes of Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's late, great animated series to air beginning in 2010. The studio cites Futurama's "blockbuster" performance on DVD and in reruns on Comedy Central as the reason for its rebirth.
Hmmm... sound familiar?

"When we brought back Family Guy several years ago, everyone said that it was a once in a lifetime thing -- that canceled series stay canceled and cannot be revived," 20th Century Fox TV Chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden said in a joint statement. "But Futurama was another series that fans simply demanded we bring back, and we couldn’t have been happier when Matt and David agreed that there were many more stories yet to tell."
Adds Groening: "We’re thrilled Futurama is coming back. We now have only 25,766 episodes to make before we catch up with Bender and Fry in the year 3000."
I have a hunch Groening isn't the only one doing a happy dance. (That's your cue to start filling up the comments section.)

Futurama is one of the funniest comedies on TV. This is good news for anyone who appreciates well-written TV. We can watch Futurama episodes over and over again and still laugh, a lot.
B.

Monday, June 08, 2009

End of a Playhouse

As any of you who ever visited our house know, the log playhouse in our backyard came with the house and was a pretty distinctive feature of our yard.  No more, faithful readers...  Playhouse no more...

Here's what it looked like:

Does it look like it was leaning to you?  Here’s a different angle:

Maybe this will help:

With my father-in-law’s help, chainsaw, maul, and pick up truck, we tore down what had become a potential  hazard and eyesore.  Once the supporting poles started to rot, the whole structure has been doomed.  The truth be told, the three hours of quality time with a 15 pound maul was the healthiest morning I’ve had in a while.  :-)

 

There’s only another truckload of debris left.  While doing real work, its not cool to stand there with a camera.  It gets in the way of the 15 pound maul.  That said, I snapped a new pic with my new (crappy) phone:

 

Good bye old friend.

B.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Tiananmen Square Memories


An event twenty years ago tomorrow shaped my view of the world. The ill-named People’s Liberation Army massacred an indeterminate number of student protesters.

I’ll skip the long-winded reflections about why they were protesting and the change that they so desperately wanted to see. What sticks with me is that people my age or a little older believed in some of the same things I did and they were slaughtered for it. Their government chose to protect itself rather than them. This has been the single biggest reason I think as much as I do about the role of government in a society. It’s either for itself or for the betterment of its citizens. The rule of law helps, but it’s really one or the other when you get down to the essence of society.

Incidentally, June 1989 was also the month I graduated from high school. This event, live in my living room, added to my whole coming of age experience. It didn’t ruin the month, but it was a sobering aspect of the whole time for many of us.

B.

The Bravest Thing I've Ever Watched

Twenty Years Ago...

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Last Tiananmen 'hooligan' freed [from the BBC]

Last Tiananmen 'hooligan' freed

China has reportedly freed the last activist still jailed for "hooliganism" relating to the Tiananmen Square democracy movement of 1989. Liu Zhihua was freed in January, but news of his release has only now been confirmed, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a US-based pressure group.

Mr Liu had been jailed for life for leading a strike at a factory.
His reported release comes two weeks before the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen protests.
The events on June 1989 are still considered a highly sensitive topic by China's Communist authorities, and the anniversary is unlikely to be publicly marked in mainland China.
Inciting crowds Mr Liu was one of several workers who were given long jail sentences for organising industrial strikes.

According to Dui Hua, he was accused of inciting crowds with anti-government speeches.
The strikes were linked to weeks of student-led pro-democracy protests in the spring of 1989.
Six weeks into the protests, tanks and troops were sent in. Hundreds - possibly thousands - of people are believed to have been killed, but the government has never allowed for a full accounting of the events.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/8057624.stmPublished: 2009/05/19 12:57:29 GMT© BBC MMIX