The end is nigh

I have seen the future, and it sucks! The euphoria of Christmas has already passed, and now the reality of life is creeping back. My wife is up from home to visit Toronto and get a look at the housing here. She also had an interview at work. The interview went well. She was offered the job. Starting date is two weeks hence. Three months, six months, that could be do-able - considering that notices would be required; a house would need to be sold, packing and moving would need to be arranged. But two weeks?

Did I mention that "affordable" housing in the Toronto area requires far more than our combined family income? It's all so depressing.

This pessimism might be partly caused by an incident at work. We arrived together, yesterday morning, after a week's holiday. When I got to my desk, and saw that my computer was gone, I realized the place had been burglarized for the second time in a month! The first time, I had been lucky - my computer, and all my hard work, had been spared. I think that the installation of security measures gave all of us - the boss and myself included - a false sense of security. While I had initiated a practice of "centralized" storage for my work, I had only been backing up current work - the "critical" files (after all, unless the process is automated, backing up EVERYTHING on your computer on a daily basis is just too tedious and space consuming).

Long story short... I lost a host of stuff that had taken me weeks to accumulate, but was no longer on my current radar. Since it hadn't been deployed yet, my "local" copy was the only one in existence. And now, all that stuff is gone. Considering I had just finished a very demanding assignment in record time, the sting of losing even a portion of that labour took the joy out of the fact that 95% of my work had been saved.

I felt so sorry for my boss yesterday. When I told him the bad news about my loss, I detected a "I wish you had backed up EVERYTHING" look on his face. He reserved most of his scorn for the poor representative from the security firm - the one that installed all the high-tech security gear after the first break-in.

I think things will change early in the year. We'll probably get steel bars on the windows - or better anchors for the computers. During this break-in, anything that was anchored with high-strength steel chains was left in place. My computer was gone, one of two that had been installed without the chain.

I'll try to put all this out of my mind as my wife and I spend New Year's Eve and following day together. Though it may feel like the end of the world, I guess it's really just the end to a very troubling year. Here's hoping next year will be better.

The presents have been opened and set aside. In a few minutes, the Christmas brunch will begin.

I have to say that today's Christmas has been the most joyous to date. Having all the children together, laughing at gag gifts, smiling with the anticipation of opening presents... having our granddaughter help with the delivery and unwrapping of gifts... and having the wrong people open the wrong gifts (that's what happens when two people at the party have the same name!)... all contributed to a wonderful experience.

There were many moments worth mentioning, and to do so would mean I'd forget some. I have to mention one... my daughter's engagement to her soul-mate. They'll make a wonderful couple, and I wish them well.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas morning, and we're waiting for the rest of the family to arrive so we can open presents. It's a Christmas tradition that our children, as well as some of my wife's family come to our home for Christmas morning breakfast and gift-opening. This year, with us being in a smaller house, the Christmas brunch will be a challenge. Hopefully, we'll be able to find enough room to set up the dining table in the living room.

Before leaving Toronto, I had decided to buy one last gift (a PC video game) that could be shared by my wife and son. I purchased it, but then thought that my wife might not approve (our standards for violence in games is more strict than many parents). So, I gave her a call. Thank goodness I did. Turns out that not only did she approve, but she had the same idea, and had herself bought the very same game at the last minute!

With so many PC games on the market, and our general disdain for the genre, what are the odds that my wife and I would have bought the same one?

Even money!

Shades of "The Contender"

I enjoyed the movie "The Contender", but thought the meat of the movie could have been summed up in a 1 hour TV drama. Not that the movie seemed overly long - just that the punchline was drawn out over more time than was required. But this post isn't about the movie. It's about one line from the dialogue "Not guilty, but responsible".

It seems Exxon Mobil is "not guilty, but responsible" for screwing Alabama taxpayers out of royalty money for wells drilled on state property. In overturning a conviction, the state Supreme Court ruled that the trial judge shouldn't have allowed jurors to see "internal documents" of Exxon corporation that essentially pointed to their guilt.

There may be a second trial, and hopefully, the government will find a way to find the company guilty WITHOUT the damning internal evidence.

Honey, I'm done!

How ironic that the only person in my family that doesn't read my blog is my wife. She got turned off blogs during the not-too-distant blog wars, and hasn't been back. Not that she doesn't find out what's on the blog - she simply learns it second-hand from her daughters or from in-laws.

Well, I just want to announce that I've completed my Christmas shopping. That's right, there won't be any late-night trips to the 7-11 for last minute gifts. And I won't have to go back to Wal-Mart on Tuesday either. I found another retailer that was better stocked.

As always, I discussed most of my gift ideas with my wife ahead of time (if there's anything worse than not being surprised by what's under the tree, it's being disappointed by what's under the tree). Still, I managed to find a couple of unexpected gems that will be a true surprise (hopefully a pleasant one).

And, to keep the secret for as long as possible, I've even decided to do my wrapping before I travel home. So, the gifts will be ready for the tree the minute I reach the house.

No more hints here. After all, I wouldn't want my wife to find out!

The community welcomes Ezra

In a ceremony fit for a king, young Ezra was welcomed into the community. The hundred or so onlookers was the most people I had ever seen gathered for a bris. My father (Ezra's great-grandfather) had a beaming smile on his face that was indescribable. My only regret was that I was unable to capture the moment on digital film, being that the ceremony was held on the Sabbath in a strictly orthodox synagogue.

Ezra's father took time in a beautiful speech to explain in detail the reasons for bestowing this name on his first-born son. All in all, I'm glad I decided to spend the weekend in Toronto so that I could attend the ceremony.

Lately, there's been a lot of talk in the news and in blogs about the multi-billion dollar judgement (reduced to only $28M - the nerve of some judges) against Philip Morris. Discussions have been pro and con, with some people comparing the ludicrous nature of the suit to a similar suit brought by someone who claimed McDonald's food caused his obesity.

Well, all that is peanuts compared to the suit I've been considering. I've got a beef with Wal-Mart. To be fair, Wal-Mart is a cool store. The old people who greet you seem to be a lot more fulfilled than many seniors I see elsewhere, and they have some really cool stuff at reasonable prices. But lately, their ads, specifically their Christmas ads, have caused me irreparable damage and emotional distress.

These ads play on the emotions of procrastinating Christmas shoppers like me, offering the promise that last-minute trips to the store will result in the successful acquisition of whatever I'm looking for. Though I realize it's a bit early to start my Christmas shopping, I was nevertheless intrigued with the thought of fully-stocked shelves, pleasant seniors, and eager sales people waiting to serve me.

So this morning, I ventured into a Wal-Mart nearby where I work. I was running early for a change, and had some time to kill. The store was pretty empty, and I had no trouble finding the correct department. And there were several clerks available, practically throwing themselves at my feet. I knew exactly what I wanted, and asked for it by name.

"Sorry, we're sold out" came the immediate and knowing response. So confident was the tone of voice, I had no doubt that a shelf-by-shelf search would prove fruitless. I was fuming as I left the store. I thought of the millions in damages I would be able to rightly claim.

And then, it hit me! What was I thinking! I'm shopping too early!

I'll check again on Tuesday.

I hate when that happens

I fell asleep on the couch last night in front of the TV. At 2:30AM, I woke up, groggy, to a very noisy infomercial. Normally, this would not be too annoying. I'd just turn off the TV and sleep some more. But today, I felt badly, because, after all, I'm living in someone's basement and (though I don't have to try particularly hard) have not been doing anything that could be considered annoying.

Anyway, after turning off the TV and heading off to bed, I couldn't fall back asleep. As I lay there, tossing and turning, I realized that I had not yet read my email this evening. With a new grand-nephew on the scene, and my parents having arrived in the city tonight, I thought there might be a message waiting for me. My cell phone (the only phone I've had since arriving in Toronto) was low on juice. For all I knew, it could have run down it's charge while I lay sleeping, making contact by phone an impossibility. So, I got out of bed to read my email.

That was over two hours ago... and I haven't read my email yet! Instead, I've read blogs - lots of blogs, not just the ones on my daily reading list. For whatever reason, the people whose blogs I read had interesting links, or comments from interesting people, and I found myself wandering around heretofore unvisited reaches of cyberspace.

About 10 minutes ago, I finally realized that I was starting to feel sleepy, and headed off to bed - only to realize that I still hadn't read my email!

So, I got up again, and wrote this blog entry. And now, it's time to read my email and go to bed.

I promise.

We've all had dreams so vivid, so real, that we almost can't tell they were dreams. Sometimes, my "dreams" are so vivid, they become part of my reality - part of my recollections. And it's only when someone tells me that my recollections are inaccurate do I realize they must have been dreams. But I don't let go of them easily, preferring to believe that my recollections are correct, and the "other person" has merely forgotten.

One such recollection was of an afternoon TV program that featured beautiful young women that were competing to be the "best". I only have two specific recollections of this program...

1) This was a low-budget program, and the judges had been sitting at a standard bingo-hall style table. The camera, facing the judges, had a view not only of their upper torsos, but also of their legs under the table. One of the female contestants was so overtly sexual that a couple of the males judging the contest got boners on-camera. During a hastily called commercial break, the producers of the show added a table cloth to the table.

2) As a 15-year old, I was fascinated with this program. It was very suggestive, probably crossing the border of what could be shown on daytime TV. During the final moments of one particularly exciting competition, I remember a news bulletin cutting in - announcing hostilities and the beginning of a war in Israel.

On and off for the past 20 years or so, I would remember this program and try to figure out what it was called, but no-one seemed to know what I was talking about when I tried to describe it. I couldn't remember anything about the show except for what I said above - so it's not like I was being helpful in spurring anyones' recollections.

Last night, on IMDB.COM, I was looking up the acting credits for Karen Valentine - a regular on Room 222. You guessed it... unbeknownst to me, she had been associated with this "mystery program", and it appeared in her credits. As soon as I saw the name, and saw that this show was on the air during the "Six Day War" in June, 1967, I realized that my recollection was true.

P.S. Looking at the credits for this program, I noticed that a couple of the male game hosts were replaced in June 1967. Could this have been fallout from the incident above?

First Baby Picture

He's bundled, he's sleeping, and he's cute. Here's the first picture of the little tyke, being held by my sister (a new grandma).

The picture is 120K, so it might take a while to load on dial up modems

I found this link at Brian's site. You'll have to visit Brian to find where he got it.

It's a boy!

I became a great uncle at 8:52PM last night. Next Saturday, I'll be at the bris, and will see my parents (who are coming home from Phoenix for the occasion). Though they won't be here for long, I'll still get the opportunity to show them my new apartment.

If you haven't already seen this one making the rounds, check out a new entry in Comic Relief.

And now, she's gone! My wife is on her way to Union Station, and her train is due to leave at 4:00PM. The next time I see her, I'll be in Windsor for Christmas.

Such a glorious weekend. Our trip to the museum was really enjoyable, although we were told immediately upon entry that we could not use the camera. That's OK. I intend to post some of the pictures provided in our tour guide. I only hope Laurie emails a few good ones (the scanner is back in Windsor). In addition to that adventure, it's possible I spotted a couple of shoplifters on our subway trip back to the suburbs after our museum trip. There was a young woman who removed a brand new coat (all store tags still on) from a garment bag, then put her own old coat into the bag. Then, while she sat fidgeting in her seat, I noticed a wig in her purse. It was a completely different colour and style than that of the waist-length blonde hair she was sporting. She was traveling on the subway with a companion - perhaps her mother.

I used my camera to take a picture of them, and I showed it to them. Then, I asked for an email address to which I could forward the file once it was downloaded into our home computer. As a bonus, they got off the same subway stop as us, and they proceeded to the same parking lot. And their car was parked less than 20 feet from mine! So now, I have a picture, email address, and licence plate number. If they are shoplifters, their ass is grass!

Last night, Laurie attended my company Christmas party, where my coworkers got their first chance to see her. The meal was fabulous (and I found out later that it wasn't "luck" that no disallowed food made it onto my plate - the company-owner's wife had been aware of my special dietary requirements and had personally supervised the delivery of meal plates), and the companionship felt warm and natural. This is truly a great goup of people I work with.

Although the boss didn't have the opportunity to talk with Laurie directly, he'll get that opportunity later this month when Laurie is here again.

Earlier today, Laurie got an opportunity to visit the church she would be attending after moving to Toronto. And afterward, we stopped for a short time to investigate a new housing development that would be within our budget. Then, my sister joined us for lunch before I took Laurie to the subway station. We had a great time, and now I'm already looking forward to my visit to Windsor.

But now, I'm tired, and have an overwhelming urge to take a nap...

Good morning! All is well with the world. My wife is here in Toronto!

Today, we visit the exclusive Lord of the Rings museum exhibit. She's such a fan, I hope they allow us to use our digital camera. If so, you'll see pictures.

Tonight, we go to the company Christmas party, where it's expected my wife will be interviewed for an available position. I'm so excited!

More later.