Acca Dacca

Tonight, we see one of the most influential rock bands of our time.

AC/DC will be playing at the Winnipeg stadium, to around 45,000 people.
This will be the biggest rock show that I've been to in a long time.

I waited in line for over an hour yesterday, just to buy some AC/DC gear. God knows the lineups will be brutal today, even though they opened at 11 a.m.

So, I'm ready to rock, and watch Angus melt my face off.

The only thing I'm missing is the mullet.

Mid Summer update

It has been unseasonably cool here. We have broken records for 8, going on 9 consecutive months of cooler than normal weather.

My days off are spent with Ellery, and we would normally be at the park, or trying out her new inflatable pool, but the crappy weather has limited us to the odd park visit.

This kid is beginning to love to climb things. It started at the playground, rushing up and down to keep up with the bigger kids. E tries to socialize with the kids that she meets, but most just stand there like duds. I guess they're a mirror image of the parents, because the parents don't have much personality either.
Here's an example - Ellery walked up to a little girl wearing Dora shoes. She pointed to the shoes and said "Dora!". The older girl, probably around 5, curled up her arms just as a kid does to avoid a dog, and looked the other way. She didn't even acknowledge Ellery's presence.
I guess Ellery intimidates kids too.

My Bombers are slowly gaining ground. We now have a new Quarterback in camp, and if he can get the Offence going, we will have a well rounded team, as our special teams and Defense has been kicking some serious ass.

I made it out for our annual fishing trip with the father in law.
The weather was cold and rainy ALL WEEK, but we toughed it out, and still managed to catch lots of fish.
As we would sit around the cabin each night, usually over drinks, I would just sit back and listen to our conversations. I thought of what another person would think of our topics, and language.
This was male bonding at it's best. Lot's of cussing, belching, passing gas, and laughing.
Listening to my father in law and his childhood best friend hurdle insults at each other was quite entertaining. I felt as though I was a part of the crew once those insults were directed at me.

It was fun to hear a lot of their stories from when they were younger.


So, with two final weeks of holidays approaching, this signals the end of our summer months.
I look forward to the Fall, taking walks in the cool evening air, and NFL football.

My daughter - the Intimidator....

It's funny watching people's reactions to my 14 month old daughter.
As we are weaving our way through the isles of a grocery store, or deking the clothes racks in other stores, Ellery is constantly on the lookout.

She has a radar for those who fear babies.
She'll stare them down, often craning her neck just to peer past my shoulder.

As the person nervously makes eye contact, Ellery slowly raises her hand and gives them the cutest wave ever. Of course, to these people scared shitless, this wave looks like the way a Great White toys with their next meal by bumping into them before devouring them.

Some people try to play it off like they don't see her. I'll watch as eye contact is clearly made, then the person will quickly dart their eyes in another direction. When Ellery says "hi" in her sweet little voice, to me it's cute. To others, it sounds like a Lioness' roar....

At Safeway today, an older man actually fell out of line after the Intimidator said hi.
I laughed and rolled my eyes, and as we were walking away, Ellery gave him the biggest smile and waved goodbye to him. She was toying with the weak.

It's not mine.....I swear.

Today, I received a "Glow" magazine in the mail.

Advertised as "Canada's beauty and fashion magazine", this is a publication I've never paged through.
This mag was addressed to me, not Ali, so I'm confused.
Who has my name on a mailing list, and more importantly, did my neighbours see?

Watch what you say

Everybody has read one story or another about a person posting something on their blog site, their F.acebook account, or saying something in an e-mail that has come back to haunt them.

I'll give you two examples of idiots that I work with (or near).

The first girl has about as poor of a work ethic as you'll ever see. She's constantly calling in "sick" after a night of binge drinking.
When she actually does show up, she has to lay down and sleep for 3 hours of her 8 hour shift because she's "sick" again, or there's a "family emergency" requiring her to leave early.

A while back, one of her family members was having a social. Of course, this girl followed suit, and quickly called in "sick". A few hours later, her F.acebook status says "Uncle's party tonight. I need a date, ha ha ha!".

Not only is that stupid, it's also a slap in the face of all of her other co-workers that were working that day (me), leaving them short for their entire 12 hour shift.
Apparently, she got reprimanded for this, and I say it's about friggin' time.


The second example features another associate of mine, complaining about her fellow co-workers and peers - on F.acebook. I guess she forgot that half of her friends were on F.acebook, and she was quickly let go from her job. I don't know all of the details, but it must have been some pretty heavy shit to actually lose your job over.

So, ladies and gents, watch your P's and Q's.

(How often do you use the letter Q anyway?)

I finally surprised her

As I was searching the Internet a few weeks back, I noticed that one of Ali's favorite bands was stopping in our city as part of a cross Canada tour.
I quickly looked at my schedule, and to no surprise, saw that I was working - again.
So far, I've worked during my birthday, Ali's birthday, our anniversary, so why not this day too?

After talking a co-worker of mine into making a switch, I got the day off. Now all I had to do was make sure Ali didn't find out about this evening.
I hired my cousin to watch Ellery for the night. Ali and I made our way out the door. She was asking me the whole time about where we were going.

"Are we going to the cheap theatre?"

"Nope."

"Ah, we're going to the IMAX aren't we?"

"No, it's better."

As we parked the car in a rather sketchy part of town, Ali was getting more nervous by the minute. She kept telling me that she was feeling sick to her stomach.

We walked around the corner, and there by the front doors was the band's van and their little trailer with the words "Said the Whale" on the side.

Ali let out an excited squeal, usually reserved for Christmas time, or good birthday presents.

That alone was good enough for me. Everything worked out exactly as I planned it.

It was a good night of music, and local beer. We have to do it again soon.

As a matter of fact, I think I'll take her to another concert on Monday. This is her belated birthday present, and I think she'll quite enjoy this one too.

Canada day, and the rules that apply

Today is Canada's birthday. Millions of Canadians show their pride by wearing red and white, and waving tiny Canadian flags about.

This day also holds special meaning to the hundreds of thousands of immigrant Canadians.
They leave their respective war torn countries, or poverty to find a new life for their families here in a peaceful country. Most of them, anyway.

We have an increasing number of immigrants here in Manitoba. I cannot even begin to fathom the shit that they saw from a very early age, be it from rape or starvation, to watching their own family members being slaughtered right in front of them.
Some of these youths find the transition to Canadian life hard. I put the blame on the Government for not giving these people a proper orientation to our laws, and the way things work here.

Young kids end up on the streets, forming gangs, and committing crimes. Sometimes it's just a "kids being kids" attitude from the law enforcement, and just like every other child under the age of 16, the criminal youth justice act protects them from any kind of true punishment.....

Here's the part that I don't fully understand. If these kids are coming from a violent country, why wouldn't they be the first ones in line to protest violence, rather than pick up a machete and hack some other kid's arm just to get their MP3 player?
Again, the law steps in and protects them by saying "They come from a violent country. It's all they know..."
Really? So there's nothing wrong with that? We can all just say "I didn't know we weren't supposed to shoot that grocery clerk in the face. It's all I know".

I love being a Canadian. I love this country more than any other place in the world, but our government really has to grow some balls.

The Canadian deported one violent immigrant, after numerous assaults and robberies, citing that he had no chance of rehabbing.
Maybe if they put the fear of sending people back to the hell that they came from, they would behave like human beings after all.

So, happy Canada day to the many people who truly appreciate and deserve a better life here. Just give that bad ass kid a kick in the ass for me, and tell them to smarten up. Then apologize, because that's what Canadians do...

Care for a drink?

It bugs me when people under the age of 30 drink wine.
To me, wine seems like a sophisticated drink. Most people under that age are not sophisticated.

I hate when people say "We just sat around, drank some good wine, and chilled."
First, how the hell can they know the difference between a good wine and a bad one?
Second, do they think that they're in that "artsy" group that actually hangs out, just to drink wine?

Some of my co-workers drink wine. Never mind the fact that when we have a social gathering, they drink enough wine to kill a horse, and end up puking it all up in the neighbor's yard. Remember, they enjoy a fine Merlot. It doesn't burn the esophagus as much when it's spewing out at 100 miles per hour out of every orifice in your upper body...

Then there's the people that drink wine with pizza. Pizza is made to be had with beer, not wine.
Imagine the messy table with napkins, opened pizza boxes, chicken wings - then a fucking wine glass beside it. That's so wrong.

I've tried different wines. I've had white, red, blush, whatever. It should be made to drink in the house, out of sight from your buddies, and please don't try to bring that shit to my next Superbowl party. I'm not serving chilled pheasant in a glass, escargot, or your grandparents.

Wine is for 30+. Remember that.

A late night conversation

As we were lying in bed last night, I was just about to drift off into a nice deep sleep, when this takes place;

Ali : I feel like watching "Return to Oz"

me : What the hell is that?

Ali : You know, the sequel to Wizard of Oz?

me : Oh, yeah.

-Pause for a second -

me : I wonder if Toto is still alive...

Ali : What?!?

me : You know, the dog....

Ali : That movie was made in, like 1935....

me : So, no? It still could be.

Ali : (Laughs) You're a loser. Good night.

I love bedtime.

Hanging out at the park

This weekend brought the nicest weather we've seen yet. Two full days of nothing but sunshine and warm weather hovering around the 25-27 degree mark!

The family and I spent two separate days at Assiniboine park. It's nice to see so many people out with their pets/kids/friends, hanging out enjoying the weekend.

On that note, we're going to buy Ellery a wading pool for the yard. I might have to buy one big enough for me to fit in it too.

Welcome here, Summer. It's nice to have you here.

SO you think I'll admit this?!?!

One of my guilty pleasures lately is the show "So You Think You Can Dance".
This show features an audition from amateur dancers across America. The list is narrowed down to 20, then they whittle the list down to one winner.

Ali has watched this show from the beginning, and I find myself watching with her more often than not. Plus, the side stories form some dancers are enough to make you want to cry.
You know, the 17 year old girl who had no money growing up, so her dad worked the job in the factory, then washed dishes at night to put her through dance class, just so he could end up getting cancer, and on his death bed, requesting that she enter this competition only to be the dark horse and America's favorite little orphan, then lose in the finals? Yeah. That good.

Plus, this show also demonstrates to me how out of shape I am, and that I never have a chance of being as physically gifted as these young kids.

I mean, I'm so great, there's nobody smarter/more handsome/awesome than me. I'm the best at everything that I do. ;)

Today marks the dawn of a new era. This will begin a new tradition of me and Ellery (and hopefully more kids) attending Blue Bomber training camp and home games.

I've got our matching jerseys laid out ready to go. It has been a long, painful off season.

Get ready to join the Blue Revolution. Ellery and I are on board. Are you?

I'm Frankenstein!!!

I'm addicted to surgery. ;)
Yesterday, I went in to have a chronic ingrown toenail removed.
It wasn't the entire nail, but just a wedge on the medial (outside) edge.

I thought the Doctor would be able to do it in the safe confines of his clinic, but it was actually considered a day surgery.

Working in a hospital, I get used to all kinds of different smells. However, once I walked into the operating room, an overwhelming stench of Formaldehyde filled the air. It was actually the chemical called Phenol, which they use to cauterize the nail bed after the nail is removed, and the smell quickly took me back to high school science class, dissecting the frogs and piglets....

I found myself getting nervous. As I lay on the table, the nurse asked if I was worried. My high blood pressure was a dead give away. I felt calm, but I guess my body didn't know what to expect.
I found that I was actually less nervous about my back surgery years ago. I guess that it was the point of me being awake while somebody sliced away at my body that bothered me.

This all helped me re-enforce the importance of keeping my patients as calm and reassured as possible before their surgeries. I think it is easy for nurses to forget that these people have worries and concerns about their upcoming procedures.

After the initial small sting of the freezing, the nail was lopped off, and I was on my merry way. Now I have a week off with Ellery, and rookie training camp starts tomorrow!

I should plan surgery every year at this time.

We've got rednecks!!

Last week, we had some new neighbors move in.
They live in the three bedroom apartment across from us, and from my count, I see 7 of them

Let me paint the picture;

The dad is about 45, wears Harley Davidson T-shirts with the sleeves ripped off, camo pants, a Nascar hat, and of course he has the redneck goatee.

The mom is dressed like she's straight from the 80's with puffy hair, and tight black jeans on.

The angry 15 year old son is full of angst, as evidenced by his huge screaming fit at both parents this evening. Of course, they patched things up with a family cigarette break on the balcony.....

There are two younger daughters around 12 and 9, and two other boys probably around 6 and 8.

I think Ali jinxed the block when she said how nice and safe our area was. Now we have our own version of Dog the Bounty Hunter just outside our window.

Ellery's first words will now be "Get me a damn beer, woman!"

Happy 1st birthday to mini-me

Today marks Ellery's first birthday.
At this time last year, we were making our way to the hospital, where we would spend the next 12 hours eagerly awaiting her arrival.

Our little girl has been the best thing that has happened to us. She has made me more patient, more caring, more sensitive and more aware of my surroundings.


It makes me warm and fuzzy whenever somebody says that she looks just like me.
It must be a good thing if everyone says she's sooooo cute, right?

Everyday with her is an adventure. She makes new sounds, new faces, new words, and I never thought that a 1 year old could have such an attitude when she doesn't get her way!

Happy birthday E. Daddy and mommy love you more than the world.