Christmas cheer for all

Christmas is an interesting time. Fascinating really. You have people rushing around, doing this, getting that, wondering if they have everything, and those are the people who do their shopping online! As for the malls, that can get to be a bit more of a zoo. I went out to the mall today to get some last minute Christmas shopping done, and the crowd wasn't quite what I imagined it would be. Then again, I went to Millwoods Town Center, not West Edmonton Mall or Kingsway. I'm not that crazy. I found what I needed and then some. I was rather proud of myself that I found a gift all by myself. Now, I'm just wondering how this gift will be received, and if it proves that I really don't know people as well as I thought. I've done some pretty bad gifts in the past, but this one I gave it a bit more thought, and it felt right.

I was listening to The Bear and I caught the end of the song. The song was actually over, but the announcer was talking about the song, and the album it was from. I was a little surprised when he said that it was a Christmas song, and further surprised when he said it was from We Wish You a Metal Christmas and a Headbanging New Year. Not exactly music that stirs the soul and makes you dream about sugarplums, but it's still a pretty good disc if you're into the harder music scene. I happened to know that Duff is into that kind of thing, or at least he used to be, and I thought that he would enjoy it. Not exactly the best music to play around kids, but the music was not recorded with that in mind. That or people who let their kids listen to Metal, they have different ideas about what's good for a child to listen to. I have heard of some kids who play Rock Band, and know all the words to Nirvana songs. That's a little freaky, but that's just me.

Turns out my fear about getting ousted was unfounded. People were just getting a little flustered with the amount of work that has piled up on ourselves, and it was starting to show on everyone. Plus taking meds made things a little bit easier to deal with.

We had a wonderful gift exchange, and also received some good news about one of the salesperson's newest addition to his family! Olivia Noella. Cute little girl, eight lbs, 22". I guessed wrong, and therefore did not win the baby pool. Doesn't really matter though, because the money from the pool went to the new daddy, because the person who won thought that he could use the money more than anyone else. AND IT'S TRUE. When you first start off, it's good to have some extra cash to cover costs like diapers and formula (unless she breastfeeds, unlike Rini), but after the first couple months, or weeks, the thing you need more than anything is SLEEP. That's hard to wrap.

But the presents I got in the gift exchange at work were quite easy to wrap, except for one. The metal sign which reads, "NO TRESPASSING: Violators will be shot, and survivors will be shot again;" easy to wrap. The magnet attached to it reading, "Come over to the Dark Side... we have cookies!" Easy to wrap. The little plastic trash can with the blinking lights and three pads of note paper and the stress ball. Easy to wrap. The bookmark with the Chinese (Japanese) character for faith and the beautiful pen set, both were easy to wrap. Even the wine set, that was easy to wrap too. But the one gift that I was really looking forward to, that I'm not even sure if you can call a gift, was very hard to wrap. In fact, it's a gift you get all year long. I got a raise! I was hoping for a bonus, but I'll take a raise just as steadily!

Merry Christmas, and the best of the season to everyone! Double for anyone who read this!

This is what happens when you don't take your meds

I'm starting to wonder just how much I enjoy my job right now.
Before, it was simple enough, and I was in a groove. Now, I'm never
sure what's going on. I don't have much of a plan of what I'm going
to do in the day, because most of the time, I can never get to it.
There is always something that grabs my time, and by the end of the
day, what I had planned to do remains undone, along with a number of
other things.

I'm going to sound a little emo here, but I was also a bit depressed,
and I really didn't want to be at work anymore. I was even told to do
something directly, and I didn't do it, because I felt that I had
something more important to do. Never mind that I had chased down
accounts all morning, the fact that I had not resolved all the
accounts and there were still a very large amount outstanding
remained. Effort is good, but at the end of the day, we need results.
If results are not there, then the day was a waste.

Or so it seems. The message I got was, "You are not doing your job,
and if you don't do it, then someone else will have to do it." What I
heard had a lot more expletives. I tend to do that when I'm
frustrated with myself. I also almost crashed the car a couple times
too because I was driving a little recklessly because I was so angry
with myself.

Then Caitlin reminded me of something I forgot. Meds. Haven't taken
them for over two weeks now, and it's starting to show. I might have
to switch to more than once a week. If it helps me focus, then it
will be worth it in the end.

It's hard to be a responsible father with an orange braclet on the fourth floor.

Phones and Phunnies

It's kind of odd that today, I spent close to two hours on the phone. First conversation was with my Grandma, and I haven't talked to her for some time, plus I needed to thank her for paying for our AMA membership. It was nice to catch up, and I also found that talking to her educated me a little about my family history. I know that dad has handled most of the things on his side, and I have taken responsibility for most of mom's side, but it was still interesting to hear the stories from Grandma first hand.

Than I talked with Morgan for the better part of forty five minutes.
It was great to talk trash with a guy for once. It's nice to talk to
your spouse, but when you freely call your friends idiots and they
know you speak in jest, it feels great! Sad thing is we're both on
the same boat. In dire need to talk to another guy! You can only
take so much of baby and wife before you have to do something
masculine like trap someone in an outhouse by roping it shut, tipping
it over, and setting it on fire. Barring the actual performance of
such an atrocity, you can talk about it to some degree with someone.

Another thing I've been doing lately, as I avoid household chores, is
watching videos from thatguywiththeglasses.com. Screamingly funny,
although it does take a certain type of person to understand the
humour and not be offended by it. Utards would definitely hate it and
visit with their priesthood authority after seeing some of the videos.
In reference to Hellboy II:The Golden Army, the bum said, "I don't
think I saw this movie. I think I was having a crack fantasy."

If you don't think that's funny, then a) you never saw the movie nor
the first one, or b) you don't plan on seeing the movie nor the
previous one.

Me? I'm going to laugh myself to sleep now.

How NOT to start a car in the dead of winter

I discovered that there is a proper way to operate a block heater. It involves a cord that is plugged into the block heater cord, and a functioning power circuit for the extension cord to connect to!

The first I discovered when we went out to the car around 1pm, with the intention of gettig some Christmas shopping done. How Foolish! The car was a frozen solid block of steel! Hence I tried the connection, which was not in place, and Caitlin and Rini and I all went to the park while Elene charged. When we returned, we found her UNPLUGGED. Now I understand that the car consumes a substantial amount of power when connected to the block heater, but know this, IF THE CAR IS TO FUNCTION IN TEMPERATURES OF MINUS HELL FROZEN OVER, IT NEEDS TO BE PLUGGED IN!

After this brief frustation, I used my super heated breath, at a temperature 60 degrees Celcius warmer than the air surrounding us, to melt the snow and ice that was in the plug, and connected it with all my might.

I return an hour later, just to see if this is working at all, and the engine refused to turn over. In fact it refused to do pretty much any thing aside from a dull 'Ruh ruh ruh ruh ruh,' which sounded awfully pathetic.

With the wisdom that it requires at least two hours for the engine to be sufficiently warm to function in the temperature, I returned to my humble basement abode to warm my tingling fingertips and everything else that was starting to freeze. More time passes, and we inform some of our friends that we will not be attending their Christmas party, and I go out into the frigid cold to attempt to bring Elene out of the frozen prison that has encased her. Alas, I am met with failure yet again.

At this point, I notice that there has been no change whatsoever in the sound of the engine each time I have tried the ignition. I would have though that three or four hours would be plenty of time to toastify the block and fluids inside. I inspect the cord, and everything seems fine. Nevertheless, I switch out the cord, with the hope that this new cord will function slightly better.

I then call the home of the other party we were hoping to attend tonight, and inform them that I was cancelling my RSVP. A bit of a bother, since I was hoping to get in touch with some people that I haven't seen in litterally years, but such is the arrangement, that it was not to be.

I have heard this said by others and myself, "Always listen to your wife." Caitlin asked me if I had checked the circuit breaker, or maybe she told me there was no way that we were going to make the party because we would have had to turn around and come home when we got there. One or the other. In any case, I checked the breaker next, and sure enough, there was a trip. With a flick of the switch, I headed back out to check on the car and the motion detector light that was on the same circuit. Wouldn't you know, I killed two birds with one stone. I don't know if Elene will start now, but I do know that the light is now operational.

What did we learn? My neighbour doesn't quite understand how a block heater works and it is possible to trip a breaker using a block heater.

Most wonderful time...

For a beer! I need to get me some Allen & Wright to have in a frosted
mug. Mmmm...

I mention this because one of my co-workers went to West Ed on Dec 6,
first saturday in december, hoping to do some Christmas shopping.
Once he saw the crowds, he and his buddies decided to go to Hooters
and drink some beer. Then they braved the mall again, only to turn
around, go back to Hooters and drink more beer. After they had
quaffed their beverages, they decided to pick up and leave, hit a
liqour store, and go home. Now that is a holiday tale, no?

That the best thing that I could think of for the moment. Since I
was sick yesterday, work piled up a bit and I stayed late. I'll
probably stay late again in order to try to catch up with the workload
we have before the end of the year. Only nine working days left!
Actually, it's more like eight because we all know that Dec 24 and Dec
31 are going to be short days. It still beats the workload I had last
year, and I don't have to worry about people stealing hundreds of
dollars worth of merchendise.

Time for bed.

Power shift

We've had Elene, our 1986 Hyundai Excel, in our family for close to a year now, and it has taken me a while to get used to her. She has a standard transmission, so that was a chore to learn. However, last Friday, one of my co-workers told me something about a standard transmission that I knew previously, but had forgotten. This was the simple matter of how to do a power shift or proper shift. The clutch is only used to drop the car into first gear, and from first to second. After that, you don't need the clutch to change gears, and you're better off not using the clutch. That being said, that reminds me of 'Little Miss Sunshine,' where a repairman tells them the exact same thing that I just wrote! This is because their clutch burns out, and they have to push the vehicle to get some speed, then the dad puts the car into third, turns on the ignition, and then everyone jumps into the van. Rather funny to watch actually!

But in the past few days, I have been trying to power shift. Sometimes to lesser success. Caitlin has become rather irritated with my endevour, and it reminds me of when I was attempting to master a certain maneuver in Super Mario Bros. My siblings would get annoyed with me as I tried again and again, telling me that I could just jump over the obstacle instead of trying to slide under it. I kept trying and trying, and eventually I was able to pull it off quite easily. I think the only purpose of that was a lesson in perseverance. Then again, I learned lessons in adversity while on my mission, and while training for the triathlons I ran back in 2002. Getting my engineering degree, despite the fact that I was diagnosed with a mental disorder, was another matter of perseverance. And now, I'm a daddy. Father. Papa... I like daddy best. Maybe dad, but father sounds a bit austere.

Like any type of new lesson, it requires hard work, and sticking at it. Of course it does help if you get pointers from people who know what the heck they are doing! If it wasn't for Eric's bit on how he was very slow on the clutch when he was on hills, I probably never would have figured out how to do a smooth start. I'm still slow on the clutch release on the start, but it works better if you go slower than faster. The car likes you better for it. As for power shifting, I think it would be a little bit easier if the car had a tachometer. As it is, and how it's always been, I have to listen to the engine to know when it's time to shift. The speedometer helps too, but for the more part, I have to listen to the engine to know when she's ready to climb to another gear. On a bicycle, it's easy to know when the gear you're in is the proper one, or if you have to shift higher or lower. You're legs tend to communicate rather well with your brain. But with a car, you don't quite have that kind of connection. It's more of a sensation of how fast you're going, and you need to be able to sense that you've plateaued. The only way to go faster is if you gear up. When you're slowing down, you need to be able to sense if the engine is working to hard, and you need to gear down to prevent the engine from blowing itself apart. Listening to the engine is a big part of it, especially without the tach, but it's also a certain bit of driver intuition. I'm still working on that.

I have a feeling that parenting is going to be a lot like that as well. When I'm in neighbourhoods, you have to go a little bit slower, and by so doing, there's not much point to bring her higher than third. On the thoroughfare roads, I can pop her into fourth, and she motors along well. On the highway, she needs fifth, or else we are not going to get very far very quickly. Pulling into the alley, she needs to be in second to accommodate for the low speed. There will be times when Rini needs to take things slow, so she can get used to things, and then she can jump into the higher gears. But I can't control this little girl like I can a car. She's going to grow up, live her own life, and I hope that I'll still have a part in it. It might not be a very big part, but I'll still be there.

Somewhere.

As long as I remember that my wife is still the most important person in my life, aside from God, I'm sure I'll do well. Next to my own family, she's the only person I've spent this much time with, and been this honest with. I do look forward to spending the rest of my life and beyond with her, but we will have to go through numerous changes as time goes by.

I just started reading "The Celestial City," by Chad Daybell, the second book in a series of five that follows the story of three couples in the final days. Call me a sucker for doomsday stories, but this one has a different tone to it. The author has a disclaimer at the beginning of both books stressing that this is a work of fiction. Although he does use some parts from scriptures and prophecies, the books are still works of fiction, and should not be treated as any type of prophetic diction. It still makes you question what is really important in your life. It makes you wonder, if you were told to leave immediately with minimal amounts of food and clothing, and flee for your life, would you do it? Would you get on board the ark? Would you help build an ark in a time of plenty? Would you build a food storage against the storms to come? At what point do you draw the line in the sand of morality? Would you kill someone in defense, or pleasure? If you were part of an ethnic cleansing, how would you feel if you were the hunter? Or the hunted?

It's frightening to think about, and a lot of people don't think about it, because they prefer to not imagine the horror attributed to the decisions, or the circumstances that would require such choices to be made. I am quite sure that there are a number of people who think the doom sayers are full of it, but there will come a day when you will stand before your maker to account for what you did in your life. I call him Jesus Christ. You can call him Buddha, or Jehovah, or Yahweh, or whatever name you like, but there will come a day when you will realize that Jesus is the Christ. At that point, you may still not choose to accept him, and I am quite sure he will not pressure you otherwise. We all have our agency to choose to be who we will be, and by making that choice, we also choose the consequences. If you push something, it will push back, Newton's third law.

Perhaps I've said too much.

I'm going to sleep now. I have work tomorrow.

Slippery slope

I was hoping that I would be able to edit the letter that I wrote to
my brother-in-law, and then head off to bed, but using iPaq for
writing leaves some things to be desired. First off, I couldn't get
the whole thing on one page. Something about the way that gmail works
with iPaq. At least it works, of else I would have quite the time
posting these entries. Sure I could do it from the rig. but something
about writing in bed is so much more comfortable. Besides, that means
that I can snuggle while I write, and that's always better for Caitlin
and myself. Happy Wife, Happy Life. Words to live by.

In any case, I wrote about Rini's first sledding adventure, but the
second adventure was a bit crazier, and not quite as ideal... First
off, we got a new sled. If anyone has seen my facebook status, you
would know what I think of it. Needless to say, I don't really want
to hang onto it, because it pulls to the right, is really hard to
control, and it threw me every time I went on a run. It threw Rini
too, and she wasn't prepared for it! She got her first facewash, and
I can't say that I was happy about that. Neither was she. After that
incident, she was ready to go home, and announced that with vigor.

Maybe we could live with just the crazy carpet, but I would like to
have a sled that all three of us could go on a run with. There is a
wooden folding sled I saw at Zellers, and it was about $40. I could
put that on the Christmas wish list.

The other fun thing is the fact that life has got a bit more fun at
work. The three month mark has passed, and that means two things.
Evaluation! and RAISE! HIGH WOOTAGE! I don't know when that will
kick in, but for the moment, I'll just have to see on Monday.

I'm off to play some online cash cab!

Done

November is done, and so is NaNoWriMo. What a month. I was quite
confident that I was going to write 50k this year, and despite some
setbacks, and writer's block, I actually succeeded. It was really
crazy that last little bit after I crossed 45k. That last 5k was like
a 'writer's high' you could say, because I didn't think that the story
was coming to an end, in fact it was only the beginning. I had just
gotten into the characters, and the original story line was still
there, but it had spawned into something else entirely. Characters
that I had never thought of popped up and guided the story in a way I
never considered. And the fact that Caitlin was able to write with me
this year was fabulous. Rini had her way of helping us too, but most
of the writing we did when she was asleep. Yes, I had a LOT of late
nights. And I had quite a few naps when I got home bone tired from
work!

The funny thing is that when I was heading off to work on Monday, 1
Dec 2008, the first official day after NaNoWriMo 2008, I was feeling a
little down because it was over for another year. Then 'Good
Riddance' by Green Day started playing on the radio. It was the first
time in recent memory that I cried when I heard a song on the radio.
Everyone usually gushes at the chorus, "It's something unpredictable/
but in the end it's right/ I hope you had the time of your life," but
for me, one of the versus struck a chord. "Another turning point, a
fork stuck in the road/ Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where
to go/ So make the best of this test and don't ask why/ It's not a
question, but a lesson learned in time."

Writing and parenting seem to have one thing in common. The only way
you can truly learn how to do it, is to do it. There is no equal
substitute for experience, and that's something I learned from doing
NaNoWriMo. Last year, I enjoyed writing, although I really had no
idea what I was writing, and I really mangled my original idea like I
couldn't believe. The story that I've read I have not been able to
read over again, at least not in one sitting. I've heard some parts
here and there, but that's the long and short of it. The story itself
is ridiculous, and not very coherent.

I'm not going to send my 2008 work off to a publisher right away, but
at least it's something that I'm a bit more proud of. I may revisit
it later, and try to finish it up. Until that time, I'm going to get
ready for the Christmas Party on Friday. Caitlin and I are going to
be singing "Once in Royal David's City" and we've been asked if we
could perform another song. I just now got the idea of a 12 days of
Christmas song, somehow tied into parenting. I'll have to mention it
to Caitlin and see if she'll help me with the writing.

Or maybe I'll do it tomorrow once I've had some sleep!