S4 Blog

Thats a wrap

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:04:00 +0000

Well Gentle reader (Hi Mom!) it is time to simply say that the Blog experiment is officially on hiatus. Useful at times, but frankly easier to just talk on the phone to most folks.

Suzy and I can now be found on Facebook for day to day socializing of the one-sentence nature.

Best.

Stephen

Waiting for another Flight

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:09:00 +0000

Hello again from Ottawa Gentle Reader,

Having just completed a two day whirlwind trip to "HQ" of the Canada Council, I am once again killing some time in the Ottawa Airport. At this point I am in the new Maple Leaf Lounge here and it is very pleasant.

YOW is in the midst of significant renovations. Once upon a time I heard a comedian describe this place as "the Ottawa International Airport and drive in Lube Shop". Having come through here a few times in the last year while they were still using some of the old facility, one can kind of see where that description came from. It was a smallish, darkish, modest sort of place. The new facility is quite nice - the only strange bit is that it appears to have in excess of 25 gates, all in one long straight line. Seems like not the most efficient way to design something, but I suppose they did not ask my opinion.

Really, once you have been in a modern airport you have pretty much seen what there is to see. The same shops here as in Calgary, or Vancouver, or Edmonton or Regina. When I was traveling last summer I actually found myself in the Vancouver airport and had a strange sense of Deja Vu, convinced I was in Toronto.

Otherwise all is well, and the minor illnesses to which the family has been subject recently seem to be quietly disintegrating in the light of spring...

Best

Stephen

President Obama?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:35:00 +0000

Greetings Gentle Reader,

I would highly recommend that you take half an hour or so to listen to Barak Obama's speech that can be found below, or at this link.

Now I am not American, but lets face the fact that the leadership choices of the USA have ripple effects across the globe, and particularly here in Canada since our nations are so interconnected. If you at all know me or follow this blog you know that I would probably fall into the Democrat party if I were a US resident.

The thing that I find so fascinating about this speech, is that by all reports Mr Obama wrote the thing himself. Given the past 7.5 years of bumbling, semi-literate speech-reading by Mr Bush Jr, it is a breath of fresh air that there might be someone in the wings who not only can deliver a speech, but can write one that is as thoughtful, levelheaded and frankly moving as this one.

I hope our neighbours to the south recognize this.

Edit: A few days later I saw the Daily Show response to this speech. Also worth watching... the last line is cut off: "...spoke to americans about race as though they were adults".

Best

Steve

Post Election Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:26:00 +0000

Greetings Gentle Reader,

It is now the night after the night before, and if you had not heard the Conservative party swept to another landslide election victory in Alberta yesterday. Check out this map to get a feel for just how much of a sweep it was.

Now, for a slightly leftist guy like myself, this is a bit of a drag, but I think it is fair to say that even if the Alberta Liberal party had swept to power there would be no appreciable change in my life for several years. My feeling is that the momentum of 36+ years of conservative government has permeated Alberta such that a new government would have a heck of a time making any significant or impactful changes in one term in office.

Having said all that - I am a bit surprised at the pundits on the radio today who were going on about how this is an endorsement of Ed Stelmach's leadership. I can't say that I agree. Mr Stelmach seems like a good guy - likeable, smart, hard working, honest - all the things we might want in a leader. Regardless of Ed's good features, I can't say that his leadership (as in Public Face) is that great. He can take a great story and turn it into a sleeper news conference. Not much charisma or inspiration one might say. The exact opposite of say, Churchill.

Now the opposition parties are much the same in my view. The NDP were running around doing what they do best - fighting the good fight for social justice and all, but Brian Mason was just invisible for the most part. Kevin Taft of the Liberals was a bit more visible in Edmonton, but my few conversations with Calgarians leads me to believe that they could not pick him out of a lineup. Keep in mind here that I rather like Taft in general and think that he might have made a good premier, but my point is that none of the leaders in general did a decent job of showing any visible, inspiring leadership during the campaign.

Which brings me to the real point. Why do the pundits and call in shows call this an endorsement of leadership?? What I saw yesterday was Alberta voters 'running home' to the PC party because that is all they have known for 36 years. With no reason to vote for a party leader, the electorate that bothered to show up voted for their local candidate, or for the party they have known for the majority of their adult life in power. Hardly a surprise that the PC party is in - but hardly an endorsement of Stelmach in my view.

In the absence of visible, inspirational, motivational leadership, only 2 out of 5 voters showed up to the polls in the first place, and only 1 of them voted PC. 50% of the popular vote won 70+ of 83 seats. Welcome to politics in Alberta.

Best,

Steve

Tired and Want to go home

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:59:00 +0000

Hello Gentle Reader,

It is once again time to embark on a trip from Ottawa to Edmonton. This is perhaps the least fun part of working for the Canada Council, in that the flight schedules do not help one make a timely trip from Ottawa to Edmonton. At 4pm on a Thursday, all I want to do is go home. I am booked on the direct flight at 8pm, and there is no point in changing to something not direct for the pleasure of spending more time in the air to get home later...

Oh well: That is what the Maple Leaf Lounge and a DVD playing computer are for.

In the meantime this little application will actually help you clean your computer screen via the web.

Best,

Steve

Internet speedtest results

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:36:00 +0000

Speedtest results:

In comparison to a few weeks ago, seems pretty much the same... glad I was not convinced to pay more for the upgraded service.

Steve

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 07:42:00 +0000

Greetings gentle reader,

I called Telus yestereday and discussed my DSL internet connection, its price, and apparent lack of any connection to the advertised deals they are offering. After a small amount of information discussion, we have been upgraded to some sort of bundle deal with the phone, long distance and 'better' DSL internet. All this for what will amount to less money per month than our average bills last year.

In the interests of transparency, I am posting here a couple of speed tests done tonight, and will do the same when we have been upgraded to the 'High Speed Enhanced" service. I am very curious to see if it is actually better...

Seems to peak out at about 1.3 Mbs DL and 0.5 Mbs UL, and all things considered is pretty consistent with distance (even to the Faroe Islands in the last example below).

Happy New Year.

Stephen

One year in the making

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:20:00 +0000

Hello Gentle Readers,

It has been almost a year now since we started this little Blogging/communications experiment, and so far so good. We are way ahead of the once-every-six-months web update that we had before. There are lots of things going on here, so this will be a random sort of update post...

Christmas Concert: The boy partook of the concert at his school (two shows, both packed) and did quite well. It was very much a 'christmas' concert, with none of the religious imagery spared. This was all fine. the interesting sideline was that he picked up a very concise version of the Christmas Story (Mary, Joseph, no-room-at-the-inn etc..) which led to him asking me if I remembered it happening. I said it happened so long ago that no one remembers it happening. Once we got that concept figured out he asked me if it was true, or just a story (it is worth pointing out at this juncture that we spent a lot of time working that out in relationship to TV watching). I told him I did not know for sure, but that lots of people think it is true. He said he thought it was true, so we left it at that.

The Girl will be entering daycare for at least one day a week in January. This is a prelude to Suzy heading back to work sometime in the foreseeable future. If that happens sooner-rather-than-later we might very well get caught in a daycare squeeze, as spaces are scarce these days around here, but we will work that out when we have to.

Suzy has been working at Eddie Bauer Clothing for the Christmas rush season - mostly for the staff discount. So far so good, but she is realizing again that retail is pretty hard work, even at a pretty decent place like Eddie Bauer.

Working for the Canada Council is going pretty well. We had a December 1 deadline that had me snowed under about 200 phone messages in one week, and then the phone just stopped ringing entirely. Frankly it is nice to have some time to breathe, but at the same time that means that there will be many many applications forthcoming and lots of work to do between now and spring to get the money out the door.

The Mac is working very well. In the words of Ferris Bueller: "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up." I have yet to feel like I need to use Windows at home, and in most things it actually functions better overall. We have started using Skype for Videoconferencing, it works well between Macs and PCs so if you are interested please email for our screen name and contact information. The only downside is that the keyboard that it ships with is very minimalist and not very good for the Carpals. I much prefer my profoundly ergonomic keyboard that I have at work.

That is all for now. All good wishes for safe holiday travels.

Best,

Steve

Future Leader of the NDP?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 04:10:00 +0000

Greetings Gentle Reader.

The Boy and Girl went on their first joint 'Trick or Treat' this year. Good fun was had by all, particularly the girl who reveled in the attention and the costuming. Seems terribly female-like to her Dad... signs of things to come? Particularly cute was the moment when a door-opener asked her what she was (she was wearing a mouse costume) and she gleefully replied that she was "TWO!"

The Boy is showing signs of being a social democrat. I have posted this photo so you can get a feel for his Turtle costume, and I am not suggesting that his political leanings are relfected in his desire to hide in his shell. He quit the trick or treating adventure with his buddy after both of them were no longer able to carry the huge bags of treats that they had amassed over the course of about an hour. These boys are both 5, and not small for their age either. The haul was embarassingly large, and the Boy is not a gorger - more of a saver - so Suzy and I were concerned that this candy was going to last until Easter.

We casually brought up the idea that there were people who did not get treats, and we were very lucky to have what we have. Perhaps (we said not thinking it would stick) we could think about giving away some of the candy that we had to someone who did not. Much to our stunned surprise this five-year-old ran with the idea. This afternoon he methodically went through his stash, put about half of it in a plastic shopping bag which we delivered to Roberston Wesley United Church to be distributed as they see fit.

Possibly a future NDP supporter? Works for me if that is where it goes. All the more surprising in that we are slightly left leaning in our own socio-political views, but can not think of a time when we were terribly vocal about it such that the Boy might have picked it up.

Best,

Steve

Made on A Mac

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:53:00 +0000

Greetings Gentle Reader(s)...

Well, we have taken the plunge and bought a Mac!

The longer story is that the Boy is now 5 years old, and he and one of his buddies were playing in the basement when a toy was launched into the back of our old home build Athalon WinXP box. At this point the story gets a bit fuzzy, and being 5 they don't tell it very well, but the upshot is that they went to retrieve said toy and fiddled with the wiring behind the computer. Now it won't boot, regardless of my physical dis-assembling and re-assembling of the thing. Suzy was getting anxious about accessing her email and such... thus we now have an iMac.

Friends of mine might be stunned to realize that I have made this switch - I have been a IBM-clone user since approximately 1984 - but frankly I am not sure that there is any good argument for buying a Windows machine anymore. This iMac beats them all hands down, even on price when you start comparing component for component.

After researching and fuming and trying out Linux on an old laptop, I finally came to the conclusion that the iMac is currently the best bit of consumer-grade hardware available. The Apple architecture is so nice (you should see this thing.. go to www.apple.com/imac) and I can set it up to dual boot to Win XP if I need it to. For that matter I can set up a partition to boot to Linux also. The further upshot is that I have avoided Windows Vista entirely. The few experiences I have had with Vista, along with the reviews of associates made me wary, and I was annoyed at not being able to buy a Windows machine without Vista.

I suppose I could have geeked out and bought more components to rebuild my old machine, but when push came to shove I needed something that worked out of the box, and with a minimum of fuss, the iMac appears to have done that.

I will get back to you in a few months when we have finished paying for it... perhaps the bloom will be off the rose by that point, but something tells me I am going to like this thing.

Best,

Steve

Returning from Ottawa (again)

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:17:00 +0000

Hello again Gentle Reader

It is fascinating how things parallel. My last posting was months ago while I was enroute from Ottawa to Edmonton... Just like now! The nice folks at Westjet in Ottawa have gotten me into their lounge where there is free internet to be used, and for the first time in weeks and weeks I have a few moments to post an update. Between family vacations, job interviews and miscellaneous projects, the blog has been neglected... on the other hand we are still ahead of the previous average of every 6 months!

For those of you who may not have heard, I have switched jobs. I am now working for the Canada Council for the Arts, and will be commuting to Ottawa on a moderately regular basis. This is a very cool opportunity for me professionally, but is going to be an interesting exercise in keeping some kind of work/life balance.

Further lessons about Ottawa to follow up on the last posting:
1) They roll up the sidewalks after 6pm in Downtown Ottawa. Good luck finding anything open.
2) Bridgehead coffee (Ottawa's answer to Starbuck's) is pretty good, and they have free WiFi
3) Air travel between Edmonton and Ottawa is not very efficient. The lines to Vancouver or Calgary are better.
4) The Westjet lounge at YOW is not bad if you have more than an hour to kill... anything less and the $10 is probably not worth it.

Best,
Stephen

Things I learned in Ottawa

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:01:00 +0000

Hello Gentle Reader(s)

The usual gaps between posts, but I am currently filling time at Pearson Airport in Toronto (Terminal 1), so thought I would send some random thoughts out to the ether.

Things I learned on this business trip to Ottawa:

1) The Parliament Buildings are pretty neat to look at.
2) Capital Hill isn't much of a hill - more like the top of a river valley.
3) The Parliament Buildings tour is free, but it is worth what you pay for it.
4) The Library of Parliament is a spectacular room
5) Going to watch a House of Commons debate involving 8 MPs is dull
6) The Rideau Canal is kind of interesting. The Ottawa Locks that lead from the river to the Canal are very interesting.
7) Apart from the obvious tourist-y stuff, Ottawa is not that interesting
8) The Canada Council for the Arts has a great meeting room - first time I ever had to turn on a microphone for my involvement in a discussion
9) There are a bunch of very clever, articulate folks who work for arts funding agencies from around the country
10) Simultaneous Translation/Interpretation sounds like a great idea, but doesn't work terribly well in practice when discussing subtle and potentially controversial topics.
11) My French is adequate to some things, but not for discussing subtle and potentially controversial topics. (No wonder Canadians don't understand each other in a national context sometimes!)
12) Air Canada has invested in some Embraer (see here also) Aircraft that are pretty swanky... Bombardier might be the local option, but these things beat out the Canadian Regional Jets hands down.
13) Don't ever pay a 'non refundable' rate at a hotel when travelling on business...

Best,

Steve

Lovely little animated video

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 03 May 2007 04:47:00 +0000

Greetings gentle reader (there may actually only be one of you).

Today I bring you a wonderful short film from the world of YouTube. I am not sure whether this should be an uplifting commentary on the rewards that come from striving for your goals, or a depressing view along the lines of "be careful what you ask for". The key for me is in the sound effect right at the end. Be sure to have your sound or headphones on.

Steve

EDIT: due to a complaint about coding, here is the link to the video direct:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs

Punctuation Substitution

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 03:45:00 +0000

Hello Gentle Reader

A short note today to forward to you a fun little video:
http://www.zefrank.com/punc/

In my professional life I am tempted to use this substitution regularly.

Steve

Easter

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 04:27:00 +0000

Hello again, Gentle Reader,

It is now Easter Sunday, and we are looking forward to another day 'off'. By 'off' I mean "not part of our regular routine", as the last few days have definitely not been 'off'.

Suzy and I performed on Saturday as part of the Festival City Winds advanced band, with the feature piece being Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. A big bite for a community band, and it went reasonably well. A few minor moments that probably went un-noticed by the majority of the folks in attendance. The Pianist was marvelous, and the piano was thankfully in tune at the beginning of the performance... it was not voiced well for the dress rehearsal earlier in the day and someone obviously gave it a quick tune up, but by the end of the piece it seemed to be going out again. (anyone from Concordia College read my blog?? perhaps this is something to look into).

On Sunday AM I joined the FCW brass ensemble to play at church. This is nominally how the band helps defray the costs of the rehearsal space, so I am happy to do it. Even better, it was my first full show on the Euphonium where I had to read bass clef for everything. Admittedly the music was not overly hard, but it was a good challenge for me to have to actually read in bass clef rather than fake it.

The Girl and I went swimming this afternoon. I used to do this regularly with the boy but she has been missing out on that kind of fun with Dad, so it was high time to do it. She really got a kick out of it, so I am sure we will go again.

Back to the grind on Tuesday, so we will make the best of our one more day 'off'.

Does anyone actually read this ramble? It would be nice to know who the audience is and what they want to read. Feel free to click on the "comments" link directly below and let me know who you are...

Steve

Juno Award Wrapup

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 05:00:00 +0000

Hello Gentle Reader,

The Juno Awards are now in the books for another year, and I must admit that I had a pretty good time. The City of Saskatoon did a great job of hosting the event, and the stage show itself was pretty good. From what I saw from Halifax last year, this was -way- better. Overall decent scripting, great stage effects, and some very good acts. As usual it was way too loud, but that is why I own earplugs. Years of playing the trumpet in small rooms and listening to other people play various instruments at close quarters means that I am sensitive to volume.

Most of the weekend events were actually well controlled in terms of volume, which was nice. The whole show on Saturday night, and the Songwriter's circle this afternoon were both easy to listen to, loud enough and well balanced. The highlight of the songwriter's circle for me was Kellylee Evans. This woman can really sing and was a nice change from the singer/songwriter/country-folk style even if they were really good too.

The other interesting thing was that the number of real celebrity stars (read here: will attract screaming fans and require security) is actually quite small. Out of the hundreds of musicians that were in town, there were perhaps ten or fifteen that actually attracted the big attention, and the rest did their thing, performed (or not), but could generally wander around un-molested by the polite Canadian crowds. A prime example was that we had to wait for a while after the show on Sunday to catch a shuttle bus back into town (whoever decided to put the Arena way outside Saskatoon was crazy), and while we were waiting for the crowd to thin out I looked over and saw Juno-nominee (and multiple performer this weekend) Susan Aglukark talking on her cell phone, waiting in the foyer looking for her ride home.

The Calgary event is now only a year away and there is a significant amount of work to be done to prepare.

The downside here is that it is now late on Sunday night, and the only flight I could book out is at 6am. The Saskatoon airport is apparently not used to this kind of traffic and they are asking for passengers to arrive 2 hours ahead of time... that is not going to happen in my case but it will be early nonetheless. No update for a few days.

Steve

Juno Awards Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 03:04:00 +0000

Hello Gentle Reader,
I have arrived in Saskatchewan to partake of the Juno Awards, Canada's premier music event... some might say the Canadian answer to the Grammys. I would not be one of those folks.

I have had a few jabs at me over the last week about getting to go to the Junos, and I will freely admit that going to this sort of event and getting paid for it as part of your job is very cool. The downside is that I am getting paid for it and it is part of my job and therefore I have required duties and can not (over-) indulge in the free booze at the receptions.

I will update tomorrow, but today's big event was the Chairman's Reception and Opening Reception. A fascinating cross section of the rich and powerful and famous, then the rest of us. I did see Tom Jackson, had my picture taken with Lorne Calvert (the Premier of Saskatchewan) and am pretty sure that some of the cast of "Corner Gas" showed up.

Update: Saturday. Took the backstage tour this AM, including seeing some of the dress rehearsal for the Sunday show. A ridiculous amount of effort has gone into this, and it looks like it might come off very well. The photo op. today was in the E-talk lounge with Ben Mulroney. Me and about 20 other folks, so I am not sure if anyone will actually be able to see my face in the crowd. The City of Saskatoon has gone crazy for this event, and they are dong a great job of it... too bad the city isn't very nice to look at.

Saturday Evening was the dinner/gala, where 32 of the awards were handed out amidst the hubub of 1200 people having dinner. Highlights included an old Classmate of ours, Leila Gilday winning Aboriginal Recording of the year, Kent Sangster from Edmonton nominated in the Contemporary Jazz category, and The McDades winning for best Folk Album. Overall ok, but I am getting tired of schmoozing... only a couple of more official events to attend (with the same gang to schmooze with).

Steve

Finished bathroom

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 06:22:00 +0000

Quick update:
The nice folks at the DIY Cabinet Warehouse in Edmonton gave me good service and managed to fix the cabinet that was not up to scratch. I have managed to get them installed in the bathroom and the mess cleaned up just in time for the family to return. Thank Goodness. I am glad that I had the chance to watch some professionals do it in our old kitchen before I tackled this little project. Even over less than 6 feet the floor was not level...

Next step: counter top. Wonder how expensive that will be?

For addictive, stupid waste of time and Javascript, check out the Flying Hamster Game, complete with Wagner soundtrack.

Steve

Beatbox Flute

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:36:00 +0000

Hello Gentle Reader,

It has been a fair space of time since my last update (that sounds vaguely catholic/confessional - nevermind). Things are as usual unreasonably busy. In the past few weeks I have been to Winnipeg and Calgary, and Suzanne and the Kids have headed to Lethbridge to visit the grandparents (and great-grandparents).

Taking advantage of the absence of the children, I have been doing some home-improvement work. This sort of thing invariably takes twice as long as you expect, and this particular project would appear to be no different. I was most dissapointed to discover that the "Kitchencraft" cabinetry that we ordered several weeks ago was not up to standard. One of the three pieces was not assembled very well and will be going back. Needless to say this is going to put the job of having a working bathroom back a couple of weeks at least...

Winnipeg: Cold. I was there for the "New Music Forum" in conjunction with the WSO New Music Festival. The Headline the day that I went (from CBC online) was "Winnpeg Drivers happy: Parking Meters Frozen". No Kidding. I took a ceremonial walk from my hotel to the corner of Portage and Main and can testify that it is a miserably cold and windy part of the world. Good thing my hotel was only a few steps away and I could run back. Now I grew up in Alberta, and live in Edmonton, but this was just unreasonable. There was something about the way the wind swirled around the bank buildings there that made it seem like the wind was coming in your face and at your back at the same time...

In Calgary I had the great pleasure of seeing Famous Puppet Death Scenes by Old Trout Puppet Workshop. Great fun, and on tour so you should try and check it out if it comes near you.

For your entertainment I have embeded a video below... a neat juxtaposition of classical flute technique, jazz interpretation, an 80's television theme, and some late-20th century urban beat-box vocal technique, as well as some very cool harmonics/polyphonic singing. This sort of thing is what gets guys like this famous for a while on You Tube, but he seems to have his stuff together enough that it would not surprise me if he has an actual musical career somewhere.

I am sure this just annoys anyone who is into flute technique or beatbox voice performance. Don't miss the "Axel-F" quote about halfway through.

Best
Steve.

Nerdy in the extreme

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:03:00 +0000

Nerdy in the extreme and whiter than sour cream...
It is getting about time for another "Cast of Characters" posting to round out the fourth of S4. However gentle reader you are not going to read it today.

I will spare you the standard 'busy' line... frankly there is not much to report.

In lieu of actually posting an update (by the way we are all fine) I am pointing you towards this video from Weird Al. He has always been clever in my opinion, but it seems he is only getting better. Of course, you really have to listen to the Lyrics. I either am the person he describes, or I know him all to well. I rather suspect that my dad recognizes him too.

You might understand my outright laughter when I heard this for the first time when you realize that while studying Jazz at Grant MacEwan College my nickname was "white guy"... If you have a hard time understanding the lyrics you can find them printed here.

Hope you enjoy:

<
Steve

Busy times

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 02:37:00 +0000

Well, gentle reader, it has been a while since our last posting. Things are very busy around here with the return to school for the Boy and the return to work for his Dad. January is a very busy time at my work with most of us on the road serving the Citizens of Alberta. Suzanne and I are back to Band Practice weekly, and are looking forward to performing George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the band at Easter time.

I had the pleasure of visiting Medicine Hat for the first time in a long time this week. Last time I was there was on Youth Orchestra tour in about 1993. It is winter, which generally means cold and dark in Alberta; nonetheless I had a good experience. As part of my work duties I had a very interesting tour of some of the Historic Clay District. Turns out that Medicine Hat was a centre for Pottery and brick making 100 years ago, and they still make bricks there today. The confluence of easy transportation and plentiful natural gas along with suitable clay in the general area made it a perfect location for that kind of industry. Turns out they were so prolific in their production that you have likely used some of their stoneware or fine china if you have lived in North America at all... restaurants, hotels, trains, cooking supply places: you name it. I recommend the tour if you get a chance next time you are in Medicine Hat Alberta.

CONSUMER ALERT: while it is not our general modus operandi to go around criticizing the good merchants in our lives, in this case we must make an exception. Last week we indulged in a "President's Choice - Il Forno" frozen pizza - specifically the "All Dressed" version. Frankly if that was all dressed I have a hard time imagining it naked. The picture on the box was a luscious looking pizza with dripping, colourful toppings. What came out of the box was a thin crusted hunk of frozen dough with a few pathetic bits of pizza-like acoutrements scattered around. We dressed the all-but naked pizza with significant additions from our own fridge at which point it was edible. In our opinion: don't bother.

Best
S. and S.

Cast of Characters Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 03:01:00 +0000

Greetings Gentle Reader,

In the ongoing attempt to show but not show the full cast, here is "The Girl". She is a bit more than one now, and very different from her brother in many ways. It would be fair to say that while the Boy is timid, she is outgoing... vigorous even. Strong willed and fearless might be another set of appropriate words. The future is full of excitement for our family as this one grows up I am sure.

The Boy has only recently come to the conclusion that he has to share his toys with his sister, and this has promoted a bit of peace in our house. She had discovered that while her brother was larger, she had sharp teeth and was willing to use them to promote her point of view.

Favorite Food: you name it and she will usually eat it, but has recently shown preference for pasta, beans and toast. A Carb Addict? Favorite video entertainment: none yet, although will stop for a moment to watch the Teletubbies.

Best, Steve

Cast of Characters Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 02:55:00 +0000

Hello again Gentle Reader.

At this point it is probably worth introducing another cast member, however we are still having debates and paranoia about publishing photos and identifiers of our children on the Internet. If you have any thoughts about this please leave a comment to let me know.

"The Boy" is now a bit more than 4, quiet, verbally smart, and overall pretty calm. He is pretty timid for the most part, and interestingly enough has been since he was little. I don't know if other parents have found this, but I was amazed at how individual my kids were. They have had their own personalities since birth... I am sure the "nurture" part comes in as they grow up, but there is an amazing amount of "nature" going on here. Favorite food: hard to tell day to day, but has definite opinions about it. Favorite video entertainment: currently "Backyardigans Mission to Mars" and "The Grinch".

Best,
Steve

Beard Removal (Steve)

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:18:00 +0000

Greetings Gentle Reader,
The image on the left is a before shot of me this morning. One of the things I have actually missed in the past few years was the occasional hot-towel shave. It is quite a luxurious indulgence at a downtown hair place here in Edmonton (Shameless Plug for Capitol Hairstylists) ... probably similar to a spa treatment, but I have never been to a spa so couldn't say for sure.

Thus, when the urge to remove my beard came upon me, it was an obvious choice to go have a professional take care of it. I highly recommend it, once in a while for a bit of male-pampering.

The image on the right is the after shot: seems I have dropped about 10 years in the past two hours. My son was a bit traumatized by the whole thing, but suprisingly enough my daughter who has never seen me without a beard was not phased at all.

A bit sensitive, and a bit chilly. Guess I will have to get back into the shave routine.

Best, Steve

{EDIT)
p.s. a few hours later I was asked for ID at the Liquor Store. Ha! Guess I was wrong and I must have dropped 15 years!

Family Travel

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 21:12:00 +0000

Well Gentle Reader,
We are now enroute home from our Holiday travels, and have finally noticed that our little fuel-efficient car is getting cramped for these cross country trips... It does not help that we seem to be returning home with more stuff than we brought, but that is the nature of children's toys and Xmas.

Hopefully you all had a great holiday, and can have some more relaxing time with family before returning to the grind.

It turns out I am a soy latte... fill some time and check out the link below:

You Are a Soy Latte

At your best, you are: free spirited, down to earth, and relaxed

At your worst, you are: dogmatic and picky

You drink coffee when: you need a pick me up, and green tea isn't cutting it

Your caffeine addiction level: medium

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

All the best
Steve