Justification

I haven't had a lot of time to play on my iMac much but today I had a few extra minutes and I learned how to create ringtones for my iPhone. I didn't even know it, but I had Garageband. The only reason I found out was because I was checking out my sister-in-law's macbook and saw that she had it. Anyway, you can use Garageband to create ringtones and its so fucking easy. Since all I ever do is surf the web and use iTunes on my Mac I was never really impressed with the OS or the applications. I mean, they're okay and all but nothing spectacular like they make it seem in the commercials. Then I learned how to create a ringtone in about 3 minutes and made my first one in about 10. I didn't even read a tutorial or anything, the application was just that easy to use. Now, after learning how to do just one thing on my extra expensive beautiful computer, I LOVE it. I love it because it's just so damn beautiful in it's simplicity.

Yearbook Pictures

You have to check out this site, it's so freakin hilarious.

Wish List

Top 5 Things I Want in the Next 6 Months:

1. finish painting the house
2. baseboards
3. kids that sleep through the night
4. a few days of snowboarding
5. a hobby

Productivity

So about 2 weeks ago we opened a brand new hospital out in the valley. Very fancy schmancy kind of place. The first brand new hospital (not just a new building) in 30 years in the province. I'm not even sure this is true but that's what I heard. Anyway, I was supposed to be out there on Thursday and Friday for support but since the project team felt everything was going so well, we all decided that we could stand down and end support a little early. w00t! For me, that meant that I didn't have to leave home at 6:30 in the fucking morning to get to work and I could instead just drag my ass out of bed at 7:45am and go to the office at 8:30. The problem though, was that I had planned on being out at the hospital for two days so I didn't have anything to work on and with this part of the project being done, there was really nothing for me to start. Don't tell anyone, but I was very unproductive the past couple of days. Don't you just love how I tell you to keep something a secret in my open-to-the-public blog? Anyway, let's just say I did a lot of nothing for 2 days.

Closure

Every once in a while I go back and read what I've previously posted. Maybe I'll read what was going on in 2005 or maybe what I was thinking 6 months ago. I mostly do this because I'm a pretty self-absorbed bastard but I also like to try and tie up any loose ends. The problem, however, is that I never actually tie up the loose ends I just leave them hanging like the tassles on those jackets from the 1960's, 70's, and 80's. Well this time will be different. This time I'm going to admit that I'm never going to tie up those loose ends and just remain a self-absorbed bastard. I bet you thought I was going to say I was going to clean it all up, huh? Sucker...

Pet Peeves

I really hate when I buy a coffee from Tim Horton's and the opening in the lid is right where the seam of the cup is.
I also hate when someone gives you money and they just lay it down on the counter instead of putting it in my hand.  Conversely, I hate seeing customers throw money on the counter.

Who Said That Level 8

"The human torch was denied a bank loan."

Long Weekend

Happy Labour Day. Up here in Canada it's Labour Day, not to be mistaken with the U.S. version known as "Labor Day".

My nanny called in sick today so I'm alone with the kids again. They're pretty easy nowadays but I would like a break. I don't need a whole day off or anything, but a day at the spa would be nice. Wait, no that's lame. I want to go golfing. No wait, I don't golf. Just a day to finish painting my kitchen is all I ask for.

Job Security

I painted the kitchen yesterday. It was a pain in the ass. I had to remove all the cabinet doors so I could properly paint the bit just above them. Then I broke one of the hinges so I can't put one of the damn doors back on until I go back to Ikea and buy another one. The good news is that the kitchen looks great, the bad news is that I won't be able to paint the nook until Monday (maybe) and the rest of the house until never. I have one extra day off every 5 weeks and I can only do 1 room/day (I'm not a f@#$ing professional painter or anything). So this paint job will take me at least 35 weeks to complete. Nice.

Aside from painting, my goal is to actually write something here at least 10x/month. I'm no math wizard or anything but that's averaging about one post every 3 days. We'll see how it goes...

This Week

I was supposed to paint the house this week. So far, all we've done is kinda pick out some colours and I prepped some of the mouldings that I'll be painting. Painting this place is gonna be a huge pain in the ass. I have nothing else to say about that. Pain. In. The. Ass. PITA.

We bought a new sofa (aka couch, aka chesterfield) and dining room chairs. The chairs are really nice and the lady at the store gave us a half-decent price because we bought the sofa too. The sofa is pretty fucking big. It'll fit in the room but I think it's a bit too big. It'll definitely be the focus of the room. My TV room seems to be getting smaller and smaller with my big TV and now this giant sofa. Anyway, the sofa is custom made with nice fabric, nice stuffing, nice legs, nice size. It's super deep so when you sit on it you disappear and it's super long so when you lie down you don't touch the armrests. Of all the people I know I don't know a single person that is too tall for this sofa. You could probably fit two filipinos lengthwise and maybe even 3 vietnamese girls.

Still Don't Think I Need it

A few posts ago, I was saying that I didn't think I needed a GPS. Well I got one anyway cuz I could and I've been using it non-stop the past couple weeks. It's been great for giving me directions to anywhere I'm going. The problem is that I haven't gone anywhere I haven't already been. Let's see, it gave me directions to my mom's house, to the hospital, downtown, Richmond, etc... The thing is, if I'm going somewhere I've never been, I just look it up on a map before I go. Then I figure out the best way to get there and where to turn and all that. Why would I ever leave the house to go somewhere I've never been without any kind of planning? Even though my TomTom has been fun to use, I'm still not convinced that I need it yet. I'm sure something will come up and I will be forever in debt to this TomTom dude and his CompanyCompany but it hasn't happened yet.

Brush With Fame

I know this guy who's an actor. His wife is a really good friend of Celia's (one of my favourite of her friends). Anyway, last night we went out for his birthday. Of course, there were some of his friends there who are also actors/actresses a.k.a. "celebrities" as well as producers. No one super super famous famous but some that you might recognize (I had to look them up on IMDB.com). Anyway, we were having a drink with a couple of them and I was, like, asking for their autographs and taking pictures while they were rolling their eyes. Just kidding, it was all very normal and nothing special. The funny part was when they started talking about being at an awards show and meeting other stars as if they ran into these people at Safeway or something.

I had a patient once that told me he did voice acting in various animated series. I had to admit I had no idea who he was but I knew the shows he was on. He was the nicest patient ever. Except for that one cop I had as a patient. There was this other cop that had the hottest visitors. All these women would come in to visit and it took everything I had to not stop and drool. Wow, this paragraph was totally unfocused. When I was in Grade 9 I had this teacher that made us write just for the sake of writing. It didn't even need to make sense - she just wanted us to fill notebooks with writing. Kinda like this paragraph.

I'm Taking More Coffee Breaks

There's always people you like working with and people you don't. I don't want to talk shit about anyone but let's just say that there are some people that I would just call stupid. Maybe not book-stupid, but commonsense-stupid. I realize that my grammar and punctuation and all that crap isn't perfect but at least most of the time I can write in full sentences and I have enough brains to re-read what I've written before sending it out. As you can tell, I've had a few rough days at the office...

I Am In Love

This is the 3rd time I've fallen in love like this. The first time was not too long after graduating from college, again about 6 years ago, and now today. I opened my eyes and looked and I knew this was something special. Bright, sharp, clear, 47" diagonal, 16:9 aspect ration, 1080p resolution... my new TV brings tears to my eyes. I brought it home today and set it up. Regular TV is just regular TV but then I turned on my XBox360 and played Call of Duty 4. It took me a while just to get used to the size of the screen and how nice and bright everything was. I have to admit that it isn't the best TV for games but it's still better than my old TV. I haven't even hooked up my DVD player yet. I'm excited for when I finally get around to doing that. Then when I hook up my surround sound, I think I'll need some time alone.

Why do women seem to not care about TVs? They spend just as much time watching it as guys do. Seriously ladies, when you see my TV you'll be so excited you'll slide off your chair. When I told my beautiful wife that I was buying a new TV her only response was "which one?" Guys, I know you're jealous now.

Weather Update: Still Hotter than Hell

This weather is killing me.  Don't get me wrong, I love the sun and the hot weather.  It reminds me of being in the Philippines except with better air, less people, better english, less traffic, less poverty, and cleaner water.  Other than that, it reminds me of being in the Philippines.  The problem is my house.  It's much cooler than my old house but it's still pretty hot.  Our air conditioner is on 20 hours a day but it's only good for one room (our bedroom).  I'm just getting tired of hanging out in there.  The other day I brought it down to the TV room, which is smaller than our bedroom, and cranked the a/c.  That room was a freakin' refrigerator!  It was so nice until I started to shiver a bit.  Then I brought it back up to the bedroom but carrying it up the stairs made me sweat again.  

My parents bought a little wading pool for the twins and yesterday we put about 5 inches of water in it and let them splash around a bit.  It was already 7pm so it was starting to cool off but even though the water was cold, they had a blast!  Amelia was shivering but didn't want to come out and Lucas just kept crawling back and forth and splashing everything.  It's so fun to see them play like this.  

Anyway, just felt like babbling a bit.  I'm trying to post more often but I'm obviously not doing too well.  I'll try harder...

How Do I Know You?

I don't spend as much time on Facebook as I used to. I've pretty much maxed out on friends (I seriously don't know any more people) and I don't like all those stupid applications that you can add to your profile. All I ever do now is check for mail, see if anyone has posted new pictures, and... well actually that's about it. I like to look through people's pictures. I'm not a weirdo stalker or anything (or am I?) but by looking at all the pictures I feel like I'm actually part of my friends' lives, sharing their experiences and adventures with them - even those friends that live in Saskatchewan or California or Taiwan. Okay, I'm a bit weird like that, but isn't that the whole point of posting pics anyway? Another I do when I have a bit of time is browse through people's friend lists. Maybe they've added someone new that I know or maybe I met some of their friends at a party recently. One time, I was looking through someone's friend list and I saw a name that looked familiar but I couldn't remember if it was from elementary school in Regina, junior high in Winnipeg or high school here in BC. Does that mean I'm old now?

Just Because It's Free, Doesn't Mean You Need it

Do I really need a GPS unit? I usually just drive around the lower mainland and if I know I'm going somewhere I'm unfamiliar with, I'll check out google maps beforehand. I always thought a GPS was for one of those drivers that gets lost all the time or can't read a map. But then again, I have some friends that are generally pretty competent drivers and they say their GPS is great and they love it. Is it something that will just distract me? Maybe Celia needs it. Maybe neither of us need it. Here's the thing: I don't often get lost, I usually just drive in the lower mainland/fraser valley, I don't travel much, and I have google maps on my blackberry. If the GPS is free, should I get it anyway?

Finally!

The other day we were cleaning up the closet. The twins were playing around all the stuff we had, basically making more of a mess than what was already there. All of a sudden, Lucas stands up and takes a few steps. What the...? No prompting, no encouragment, no nothing. He just got up on his own and walked a bit. Woohoo! Since then, he's been doing this regularly. He still prefers to crawl - I guess because he's pretty fast at it - but he'll try to stand up on his own and walk a bit. It's pretty cute to see him standing there unaided. I think Amelia noticed too because when he's standing she runs up to him as if she's thinking "finally, we can play!"

Time to Kill

I have some vacation time at the end of August but I'm not going anywhere. I plan on painting my house. Anyone want to help?

I Have a Headache

About a month ago a friend of mine started complaining of headaches. She said she was convinced it was a tumour but all joked around about it. Seriously, how many people do you know have had brain tumours? Anyway, things got a bit worse and she went to the hospital and as it turned out, she had a brain tumour. She had surgery and is still in the hospital recovering. We talked to her today and she's doing okay but she is obviously very scared and nervous about the long-term outcomes. Without getting into any kind of detail, she's been having some problems that would prevent her from working and her daily activities would have to be restricted. We told her that it was brain surgery and the recovery would last longer than a couple of weeks and would definitely involve a lot of rehab and patience. I mean, surgery on your leg can take months to recover from so you can't expect to fully recover in the first few days after someone has been digging into your brain. Anyway, we tried to be positive but we were all pretty scared too. What if our girl never came back to "normal"? Anyway, pray for her please. She's a very sweet girl and my friend.

I Guess it's True

There are 2 other guys named Oliver in my office - more than any other place I've been.  I guess nerds are named Oliver.

Circus of the Sun

Last weekend we went to see Cirque du Soleil. Holy crap. That's all I really have to say. Those people are frickin amazing. I like jugglers. Don't ask why, I just like to see people juggle. The jugglers at Cirque were awesome. Anyway, the show was like an orgasm for the eyes. I don't think my eyes have had that much fun ever.

Movie Review

I haven't done a movie review in a long time. Probably because I haven't seen a movie in a long time. I actually have 2 reviews.

Sex and the City with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattral, Kirstin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon

How come the only one that shows nudity is the lesbian?


Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr., and Gwyneth Paltrow

I was never a big fan of the comic but the movie fuckin' rocked. All this movie needed was some naked chicks (not lesbians).

Brings Back Old Times

This past week I've gotten almost no sleep because the twins are sick. First they were throwing up, now they have stuffed up noses and coughs and they're probably both feeling pretty lousy. It's like when they were newborns, we're getting up every 2-3 hours during the night. I'm so tired at work I can't even concentrate on anything and I'm falling asleep at my desk by 2pm. Yeah yeah, you're probably wondering why the hell am I on my computer blogging when I could be getting some sleep. Because I feel like it, smartass.

Now for the Other One.

It has begun. This evening, Lucas looked up at us and threw up. I knew it would happen. I was warned that when one twin gets sick, the other will get it too. Amelia just got better and now Lucas is puking all over the place. Poor guy. I hope it only lasts 24hrs like Amelia. He didn't even complain, he just puked and sat there while we cleaned him up. Then he went back to sleep like nothing happened.

Poor Baby

My poor little girl is sick. Yesterday evening she suddenly threw up her entire dinner. I haven't seen her throw up that much ever. Then, the whole night she couldn't hold anything down. She threw up anything she tried to eat or drink. This morning I stopped trying to feed her and she was down to just breast milk and a bit of water. She's so lethargic and grumpy now. So far, she's been able to take some pedialyte and breast milk and keep it down but hopefully she makes it through the night without puking. She must be starving. Lucas has been so helpful too. He hasn't been very needy while Amelia has been sick so he's been playing on his own while I've been looking after Amelia. What a good boy. All this happening with my girl and I've got a crappy crappy cold too. I've been coughing like crazy, my nose is all plugged up (and yet runny at the same time), and I just feel crappy all over. This weekend isn't going to be a good one.

Lucas Walking Update:
still not walking.

My eLife is Now my iLife

I don't know if I mentioned it already (I guess I could just read my own blog), but I us a Mac. iMac 24" 3.06GHz 4GB RAM nVidia 8800GTS. Ya, you heard me. I switched to Apple. Okay, not 100%, I'm actually typing on our Windows PC right now, but that's because we fight over the mac all the time. I have one word for it: itsfuckingawesome. iTunes was always kinda cool but once you use iPhoto with it, it gets better. I haven't even had a chance to play with the other stuff because yet because I'm still playing with iPhoto. For all you people that are now saying, "well I still need to use MS Word and Excel for work," - get with the program, you can do that with a mac and no one would know. Anyway, just so you know, a 24" monitor is fucking huge. My first computer used to have a 15" CRT monitor that took up half the desk and... sorry, I'm not really going anywhere with this, I just wanted to reminisce about how far we've come. 24 fucking inches!! Jeebus, that's big. (that's what she said. hehe).

Okay anyway, just to get even more entrenched into the Window-less world, we both got iPhones. Don't ask where we got them, just know that we now own the coolest phone in the world. Don't try to tell me your phone is just as good because it won't work, I'm in love with my phone. It's like having the newest phone and the newest iPod all in one. Wait, that's exactly what it is.

About 2 more hours and then it's happy bday to me. Last Thursday I told my boss I would be calling in sick. I think it's just so damn considerate of me to give 5 days notice on my sick days, don't you think?

Happy Birthday

I just want to say Happy Birthday to my wife. It's her first birthday as a married woman and hopefully it is a good one. Unfortunately, we can't go out and really celebrate like we used to but that's what we knew when we had our kids. Personally, I'm don't think I'm missing anything. I like staying home with the kids.

There once was a woman named Celia.
She was mom to Lucas and Amelia.
She bought a new house,
and said to the mouse,
"don't touch my kids or i'll killya."

I Miss

I miss:

• Sleeping at 1am and staying in bed until 11am.
• Playing video games all afternoon.
• Sleeping all night long.
• Going out for dinner and sitting in the restaurant for 3 hours.
• Saying, "let's go to the pub after work!"
• Going to movies.
• Having a day off and doing all the things that I needed to get done.

A couple of days ago a friend of mine told me she was pregnant. Congratulations to her! I'll tell you who it is later. I don't know who still reads this, but you probably don't know her.

Baby Story

Now that my major project at work is done, now that we've moved into our new home, now that the renovations are almost done, now that the kids' birthday is past, now that the wedding has come and gone, and now that Celia is back to work I wonder what I'm going to do with all my time. Actually, now that Amelia is walking and Lucas is right behind her, all my "free" time is spent watching the kids. It's okay though because they're more fun now than they have ever been. They play, they talk in their baby language, and they get into all kinds of trouble. Just one story:

Usually in the mornings, they play while Celia and I take about 20 minutes trying to wake up. We can usually hear them banging away in the hallway but one morning they were awfully quiet. I got up and hunted them down and found them standing beside the toilet having a grand old time splashing away. I had to fish out one of their little stuffed animals and we had to wash both of them up right then and there. Gross.

It Had to be You

One of the things that Celia convinced me to do for our wedding is to take dance lessons. I wasn't sure I wanted to but she really really wanted to so I said "fine, we'll do it." Anyway, it turned out to be a tonne of fun. We found this dance school called Dancing for Dessert and our instructor, Magda, was awesome. She choreographed a whole routine for us (not too difficult seeing as we had to learn it without knowing how to foxtrot) and taught us the whole thing in 7 lessons. When it came to performing at the wedding, it wasn't perfect and some may say it wasn't even well done, but who cares. We had a blast doing it and for me, it was one of the most memorable parts of the night.

All Done

The day was a big success for us. The ceremony started a bit late but other than that, it went off without a hitch. The kids were so cute. Amelia walked down the aisle (with help) and Lucas was super cute in his little tuxedo. Celia looked incredible. We took some pictures after downtown and hopefully they turned out good too. It was freezing cold but we're all stars so we toughed it out and finished the shoot. The reception went well too. It's funny, I was nervous about the ceremony but I held it together and after that I was feeling a lot better but still a little stressed about our first dance. Our DJ started the song in the wrong spot but that's kinda our fault for not telling him about it in advance. We messed up a few parts of the dance but we were able to improvise a bit and finish it with a little style. Very fun stuff - we plan on taking more dance lessons. Anyone want to join us? I had a few drinks so I was a bit tipsy but not drunk. Well, I had enough to drink that I was giving away drink tickets like they were free but now that I'm sober and looking at our bar bill, I'm regretting it a bit. Just a bit though because I had a really good time and I hope everyone else did too.

The Big Day

We've waited a long time for this. It was supposed to happen last year but the twins were born a bit early and changed our plans. In 2 days I'm finally getting married. It went from a very very small ceremony with next to no reception to a very big reception and back to a decent sized one. The past couple days have been stressful for me because I'm a real last minute kind of guy and there's a lot of work to do. It's pretty much finished now (it better be if I'm blogging) and tomorrow I just have to print and fold but I think we'll have some help with that... We'll see though. Anyway, the next time I post I'll be a married man. All you ladies that are now thinking you've missed out on a good thing, well don't you worry. It's not that good and you're not missing anything. Ask around, I'm not lying.

Anyway, thanks to anyone and everyone that helped out and special thanks to anyone that has helped look after my children while I've had to work on wedding plans.

What Did You Expect?

"Medical marijuana users are on the hook for more than $500,000 in unpaid bills for government-certified weed... Newly disclosed statistics show that Health Canada has sent final notices - and sometimes dispatched a collection agency as well - to 462 registered users since government marijuana first became available in 2003." - Dan Beeby, THE CANADIAN PRESS

I'm all for alternative drug therapies and this is no exception. If it works, it works, right? But seriously, what did you expect from a bunch of pot-smokers? I remember commercials a few years back about a couple of dead-end guys that lived at their parents' house and didn't have jobs because they just sat around and smoked dope all day. And now you "sell" legalized marijuana and expect them to pay for it? This is the funniest thing I've seen in a while.

Bow Your Head

Last Tuesday, April 8, 2008 my tita Nene passed away. She's not my real aunt by blood or anything but she might as well have been. She struggled with cancer for a long time and now she is finally free. Some people ask me if I was close to her and although I didn't see her a lot, I still think I saw her a lot. She was a one of those cool aunts that you liked to run into at the mall or enjoyed talking to at family parties. She was important enough to me that she would have been one of the principal sponsors for my wedding. I grew up with her around (I have a picture of her at my 3rd or 4th bday party - I'm sure she was at the earlier ones too) and last fall she was still able to come over to my house and help Celia with the twins when I had to go back to work, and I'm so glad that she was able to make to my twins' first birthday. It was hard to see her at the end because she was always so strong and independent and at the hospital she was so weak and thin. I'm sure she was suffering towards the end so I'm happy that she doesn't have to suffer any more. People always ask what her daughter is going to do now. I don't really know, but I'm pretty sure that tita Nene taught her to be strong and smart so I'm sure she'll be okay.

In honour of my tita Rose/Nene, let us all bow our heads and say a prayer. She'll be missed by many. I'll make sure my kids know who she was.

So... Tired...

I always knew I wouldn't post as much once the kids were born, but now I'm just being negligent. Sometimes, I won't post for almost a month! Anyway,

Complete:
I just finished a major major project at work that I've been working on for the past year and a bit,
Celia's mom arrived (yay!),
started my marriage leave/vacation (double yay!),
kitchen renovation has begun,
new bed is bought and being delivered this afternoon,
3rd bedroom set up and ready for guests,
watched the 2nd half of Knocked Up (Review: funny shit, man. funny shit.),
got my new blackberry at work so now I don't look like a grandpa trying to look hip with a 1992 model blackberry, and
we finally got carpet on the stairs and closet so at least all the carpeting is finished.


Pending:
finalize the guest list,
finish the giveaways,
make the placecards,
learn our first dance,
pick up tuxes,
arrange rehearsal dinner,
figure out seating arrangements, and
come up with $2,341,532,786,456.56.

I think the worst part of all this is that my XBox360 got the Ring of Death hardware failure so I had to ship it back to Micro$oft for them to repair. Okay, they paid for the shipping, but now I don't have an xbox for, like, 4 weeks.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Let's see what's happened in the past 2 weeks:

After the kids' birthday, packed up the house like madmen (and madwomen - mostly madwomen), met with the lawyers, realtors, etc etc

Took possession of the new home on Saturday, March 15. On Monday and Tuesday we tore up the old carpets, ripped out some tile, removed all the baseboards, and basically stripped it down to the walls and floorboards.

New floor was being installed Thursday and Friday, carpet guys came on Friday, movers came Friday afternoon. We had to wait until at least part of the floor was done before we could move anything in. The flooring guy worked until 10pm, the movers worked until 11pm, we were up until 2am. Slept at my parents' house because new house was a wreck.

Saturday, March 22 I gave away the keys to my first home. It was a little sad to see it empty again. Kinda like when I first moved in except I felt like I broke up with it and was walking away.

Easter Monday (today): we've been living upstairs for the past 2 days because it is the only part of the house that is clean and livable. Downstairs still needs some of the floor finished, it needs to be cleaned and organized, and we still have to unpack all our kitchen stuff. I can't find anything right now.

How the hell did we accumulate so much stuff in such a short period of time? When I first moved out of my parents' house, I had maybe 3 carloads (small car too) of stuff. Now I have 2 large moving trucks worth of stuff. Oh well. So far, I'm liking the new home.

Happy Birthday!

Today is the twins' birthday. I can't believe it's been a year already. Last year at this time I was standing over their isolettes staring down at the smallest babies I've ever seen, amazed that I was a dad. The days leading up to that were crazy and scary but after it all I ended up with two beautiful babies. I remembering worrying about if they were going to survive. I remember seeing Lucas cry when he was first born and I remember the nurses whisking Amelia away to the NICU before we could even see her. I remember Celia telling me, "go check on Amelia" because she still had to go to the recovery room after surgery. I remember driving back and forth to the hospital every day for 2 months, I remember getting a phone call at 2am telling us that Lucas had an infection and was getting intubated, I remember Celia calling me at work crying that Amelia had to be transferred to the children's hospital because she might need surgery, and I especially remember getting the phone call telling us that the twins would be coming home the next day. The past year has been a blur but it was the most exciting blur of my life. Today I came home from work and Amelia had just woken up from a nap and I got to say Happy Birthday to my daughter and see her flash me that great big 2-tooth smile. Happy Birthday to Lucas and Amelia.

In honour of this special occassion, I have a limerick:

There once were two babies born early,
One was boyish, the other girly.
The grew up and laughed,
And learned by their own craft.
And taught me to never worry prematurely.

Moving

So we finally sold our home and found another one. It's a bigger townhouse just down the street from where we are now. There's some work we need to do to it like change the carpet, paint the walls, etc but it's quite nice. We got it cheap too. Well, not cheap cheap, but cheap. I'll do some before and after pictures someday.

You Can't Handle The Truth Part 7

I purposely leave things out so I can fix it in front of people and be the hero. 

Immortality

I read an article in a magazine about how being a mother changes a woman forever. Let me tell you about what happens to you when you're a father. You can't go snowboarding anymore, you can't play on your Xbox whenever you want, you can't go out drinking with your buddies, you can't buy new electronics for yourself, and you can't go out and watch movies whenever you want. However, you can look at your son and imagine all the fun things you'll be able to do as he grows up, you can smile as your beautiful daughter looks up at you and flashes that one-tooth smile, you can watch your kids crawl around and show you how curious they are and how fascinating the world is, and you hold your kids knowing that a little bit of you just became immortal. So, although I really, really want to play Halo3 online, my son's smile is enough to pull me away and play peek-a-boo instead.

Use the Right Tool for The Job

I decided that i wouldn't post videos here and i'm not going to post on my facebook profile anymore. I'm going to use my youtube account instead. See the twins in action there.

YouTube

Sit Back and Relax

So anyway, back to my vacation. After being in the city for a few days, we headed to Plantation Bay in Cebu. It's resort that is just incredible. If you're ever in the Phils and you need a nice, relaxing place to go, check it out. It was so nice but unfortunately, the kids liked to go to bed at 7-ish so our evenings were spent in the room. Not so bad because the room was really nice and room service wasn't too shabby. One of the things I really liked about this place was the phone had a button on it labelled "Butler". When you pressed this, someone would answer and you could get them to do anything for you. Sterilize the baby bottles, pick up our laundry, shoot the neighbours, ... anything.

The wedding was in Cebu as well and it was really nice. Because it was officiated by the archbishop and it was on a sunday, everyone from the mass just before stayed to see if the wedding was a celebrity. So my soon-to-be-sister-in-law was a Celebrity for the day.

Busy

We're busy. I don't mean the-house-is-a-mess-and-the-kids-are-fussy-and-won't-sleep-and-we-don't-have-time-to-cook kind of busy, I mean in the next 4 months we're putting our house back on the market and we have to find a new home, we're planning our kids' first birthday in March, and our wedding is in April. Just to give you a little perspective of the stress I'm currently experiencing: we just got back from the most expensive vacation of my life, Celia is still not back to work, we bought a new van last summer, I took 2 months of parental leave at half my usual income, and we all know how much baby supplies cost. And damnit, have you seen Celia's ring? I seem to think I'm rich. My secret is that I sell my body fluids to various banks around the Lower Mainland. I use different names so I can donate twice without anyone knowing.

Back in the PI

When we finally arrived in the Philippines, I was quickly reminded of the extreme poverty there. As we drove from the airport to the house where we were staying, I pointed out to Celia all the homes that looked like they were made with scrap pieces of wood and metal sheets, the garbage on the the streets and the pollution in the air. I guess I've been there a few times now so I've gotten used to seeing it and I know what to expect when we drive through the city but pointing it out to Celia made me notice how bad it is. It almost made me feel guilty for living in a clean city with clean water and for having money to go on vacation and staying at 5-star resorts. Almost. I'm glad my parents decided to take the chance and move to Canada 30+ years ago.

Anyway, the city was... the city. We visited with some family and went shopping for fabric for the bridesmaids dresses. The fabric was ridiculously cheap - like less than half of what we would pay here. Then we bought fresh popped chicharon and now Celia is addicted to it and wants someone to import it so she can get it fresh again. I can feel my arteries hardening already.

Depart Vancouver, Arrive Taipei

I'm not entirely sure how we even managed to organize this trip. We were packing right up until the last minute and we somehow did it while trying to watch out for the twins. Amelia was crawling around and climbing into the suitcases and Lucas was just crying because he was bored. We left the house at around 9pm and when we got to the airport to check in, Celia realized that we had forgotten the kids' passports in the filing cabinet. My dad and I drove home to pick up the passports and then back to the airport. Finally, at about 0030hrs, our plane took off and we were headed for Taipei.

If you've never been there, Taipei is a lot like Vancouver except with more chinese people. Seriously, even more. It's very nice and very clean. When I saw the tower, Taipei 101, the first thing I thought was "I thought it would be taller." It's kind of a cool looking building though - like a bunch of take out boxes all stacked together. While we were in Taipei, we met up with a few of Celia's old friends. The funny thing is that when I met some of her old friends in Vancouver, they didn't speak english, but the friends that I met in Taipei all spoke english. Anyway, we just hung out and shopped a bit (didn't buy anything), visited relatives, etc etc.

Home At Last!

There's so much I could say about our trip. So many stories, so many people, so much fun. I have to say though, that this trip was the most tiring and the busiest trip I've ever had. We had 3 times the usual amount of luggage and the twins have gotten quite heavy to carry around.

I don't know where to start. This will definitely come up as several different posts but here was our itinerary so you get an idea of my "vacation".

Dec 24 - depart Vancouver
Dec 25 - arrive Taipei
Dec 26 - high-speed train to Pingtung (about an hour on this train. Did I tell you this is the fastest fucking train I've ever seen?)
Dec 29 - 2 hour car ride to Taichung
Dec 30 - 2 hour car ride to Taipei
Jan 1 - depart Taipei, arrive Manila/Marikina
Jan 4 - Cebu
Jan 6 - Eva's Wedding @ Shangri-La Mactan
Jan 7 - Boracay (we took a little turboprop plane to Caticlan - the smallest plane I've ever been in. scary if you don't like to fly. I don't like to fly)
Jan 10 - back to Marikina
Jan 11 - 2 hours Manila-Taipei, 4hr layover, 10 hours Taipei-Vancouver

Whew! For almost the entire trip, we carried the twins (no carseats, no strollers) and we had a lot of luggage for their stuff.

Details to come...

Spoiled

Well, the flight wasn't so bad. Flying business class is fucking awesome. I never really thought economy was that bad but now that I've gone business, economy is so... for the masses. They had a little bassinet for each of the kids, they gave us tonnes of toys, and they even asked other passengers to switch seats so that we could all be together (that's another story). When your meal comes, they give you a tablecloth and they bring out your tray individually instead of on a cart, and when you recline your seat, it really reclines - I'm not talking just a couple of inches, I mean you go down to at least 45 degrees and the footrest comes up and the pillows are even bigger. Since Celia has decided to fly home with me instead of staying longer, we'll be upgrading to business class for our flight home. Sweet.

Leaving

We leave tonight for Taiwan. 13 hours on a plane with the babies. Wish us luck...

9 Months Later...

Well, the twins are now 9 months old and I still have no idea what I'm doing. I'm pretty good at faking it though so we get by. I was looking at some old pictures of them and it reminded me of all the stuff we had to go through last spring. I look at pictures of Lucas with his feeding tube sticking out of his nose and Amelia with an IV in her scalp and it almost brings me to tears to think of the daily trips to the hospital, commuting to the children's hospital in the city, and the calls in the middle of the night from the NICU nurses. I've had friends say that it was quite a rollercoaster, but they have no idea how crazy the ride really was. I know Celia doesn't like to look at the old pictures because it was such a hard time for us, but I like to see them to remind myself how far the kids have come. Every day I come home from work and see them smile and all I want to do is pick them up and hold them. It takes everything I have to not hug them too tight or to not kiss them until they're practically crying for me to leave them alone.

Yawn

Last week I said we put Lucas through boot camp. Well, its been a week now and I have to say that Celia and I have never gotten so much sleep since we brought the babies home from the hospital. Last night Lucas slept from 8pm until 3am, ate, and slept until 6am. We went to bed around 10 so we got 5 hours of continuous, uninterrupted sleep. Earlier this week, we got almost 7 hours! I don't have a favourite between the two of them or anything, but I now have a new favourite.

Update

My kids are so damn cute. No, there's no story to go with this, I'm just saying they're pretty damn cute.

Every Once in a While...

I say to myself, "Holy shit, I have twins."

Boot Camp

Over the past couple of months Lucas has gotten into the habit of sleeping in the same bed as us. Not too bad considering we have a King Size bed but for some reason I'm still sleeping right on the edge. The real problem is that he has also gotten into the habit of snacking throughout the night. He wakes up every 2 hours again to have a snack. He won't go back to sleep unless I get up and rock him for 30 minutes or unless he goes on the boob for 5 minutes. Which solution do you think we choose at 3 in the morning? So, last Thursday we decided enough was enough and he was going to learn to sleep through the night and learn not to snack. For the past 2 nights we've been letting him cry himself back to sleep. The first night, he cried for an hour and then passed out. Celia thought it was hilarious that when he was crying he was kicking me nonstop (we had to let him cry in our bed so that he wouldn't wake up Amelia in the other room). The second night he cried for about half an hour in his crib and slept quite well through the night. I'm hoping that a couple more nights of this and he'll be sleeping all night in his crib. I'm actually kind of excited at the idea of him not waking me 3 or 4 times.

Alone Again - w00t!

We're going to Taiwan and the Philippines this Christmas. We leave on the 24th and return on January 11th. Well, I return on the 11th and Celia returns on the 13th. Someone stupid asked me "couldn't you get seats on the same plane?" Seriously. She just wants to stay a couple of extra days with her family and she'll fly back with her sister a couple days after me. If things really work out the way she wants, she'll convince her mom to fly back with her after the chinese new year. If that happens, it means I'll be home alone - no Celia, no twins - for close to a month. It's time for a sexy party!

Shopping

Today we decided to go stroll outside with the kids. It was nice and sunny, not too cold, and the kids were nicely bundled up in their stroller. We decided that Robson St. would be a nice place to walk around, do a little shopping etc etc. Driving to Vancouver was uneventful - hwy 1 wasn't too busy (only took us 20min to get to science world), chinatown wasn't too crowded, all roads leading to downtown weren't busy at all, and then... Oh shit. Just as we got to the point of no return, we turned the radio on to find out what was going on and today was the Santa Parade. It took us 20 minutes to get to a place where we could turn around (no thanks to the assholes who won't let you merge) and another 10 minutes to get out of downtown.

So then we decided the W4th would be a nice place to go. Holy crap, it took us another half and hour to get there because of all the construction and traffic. We finally got there and we looked around and just... strolled.

stupidest store entrance: Baby's World has a giant, and I mean a Giant, step to get into the store. I guess if you have a baby in a stroller they don't want you to go in.

best baby sleeper slogans: "My dad can kick your dad's ass," "Bitch better have my bottle," and "All dad wanted was a blowjob."

Weekly

We've been really good at going to church every week. A couple of weeks ago the kids were sick so we didn't go but other than that, we've gone almost every week since summer. I haven't gone this regularly since high school.

Angels Falling from the Sky

Last week I told Celia that we should lower the mattress in Amelia's crib.  She's crawling around in it, craning her neck to see over the rail, and pulling at the bumper pads trying to stand.  Up until now, she hasn't been able to pull herself up into a standing position unless she had a little help.  This morning, however, Celia heard a "thump" from the room and when she went in there, Amelia was on the floor in front of the crib.  Apparently, she pulled herself up and climbed over rail and fell.  She seems okay, but we'll be taking her to the doc to get her checked out.

Paparazzi

I mentioned this before, but me and my family are celebrities. People watch us as we walk by and as I pass I can hear them talking about the twins and how lucky we are and all that jazz. At first it was kinda cool being the superstar in the mall, then it was a little annoying because people stopped us all the time, and now its just a super pain in the ass. I was walking with my stroller and there was this lady that was smiling at me and the babies and looked at me like she wanted to talk to me and ask questions about the baby. I just gave her a polite smile, turned my eyes forward, and kept on walking. I do this a lot now. I don't bother to speak to my fans because it's very tiring. Maybe I'm not appreciating the people that got me here, but sometimes I just need time for myself. I can totally understand what the Olsen twins are going through.

World Wide Twins

We got the kids their passports the other day. Finally. Well, we sent in the applications anyway. We mailed it in during the summer but it was returned because the pictures weren't good enough. This time, we made sure the pics were okay and we waited in line for 2 hours with the babies to get the applications in.

I Need to Win the Lottery

The trouble with having a job is that you have to be somewhere every day for a specified amount of time. I guess its optional but after some time you won't have a job anymore and then after a little more time you won't have a home either. Then your wife leaves you because you're a bum and then The Man comes and takes away your children. If you don't believe me, check out Britney's blog. Anyway, my point is simply that I have to be out of the house every day for 8 hours. it really sucks because I come home and Celia says, "Amelia learned how to crawl today." or "Lucas can sit up by himself now." I was home all summer so I got to see them roll over for the first time and I was there for them when they had to have their immunization shots. Now I feel like I'm missing it all.

Thank God for Little Girls

Don't get me wrong, I love both my children the same. After saying that, I also have to say this: if it wasn't for Amelia, I think I would go crazy. Lucas is not the kind of baby that falls asleep on his own. It is always a struggle to get him to sleep - and then a continuing battle throughout the night. If we didn't have twins, and our only child was Lucas, I'd go nuts. I know that you're probably thinking twins is harder than having just one (and it probably is, believe me) but without Amelia to even me out, I'd go crazy. My little angel is saving my sanity.

Crappy

I guess it's not crappy that I now have a home again. For a while I didn't think I had a home because I thought my house was sold and we hadn't found a new one yet. Our buyer fell through and now we have to start over. We made an offer on a new place that we really like but now we have to wait until our house is sold. I'm kinda bummed out about the whole thing but hey, whatever. At least our realtor has been great to us. If you need one, let me know and I'll hook you up.

Who Said That? Level 7

This one is easy and hard at the same time. Remember: movie and the character/actor that said the quote.

"Do you know how I know you're gay? Because you are holding each other ever so gently."

You Can't Handle the Truth Part 7

If you ever hear me talking trash about you, don't be offended or think I'm picking on you, because I'm not.  I make fun of everyone equally.  I'm very non-judgemental that way. 

Memories

I've been at my house for about 5 years.  It was a time in my life where change happened often and happened quickly.  A few very memorable events (breaking my wrist - showering, cooking, washing dishes: all very difficult with a cast) and a few not-so-memorable events (you don't want to know).  A lot happened here and it was a stage in my life that I'll never forget.  But, as life goes on, we must move from one stage to the next.  I think we'll be selling our home very soon and making new memories in a new home.  Like I've said before, I find it a little sad that my kids will never know their first home.  Sad because it meant so much to me but to them, not even worth a footnote. 

What's Been Going On

It's been a while. Needless to say, I've been a little busy. I'm back to work now and every day I rush home to help with the kids. When I walk in the door I pick one of them up and hug them so tight. I'm only out of the house for 8 hours and they look at me like I'm some weirdo stranger. Makes me want to quit my job. Anyway, here's a quick update:

We're selling our house. Hopefully we get what we're asking but compared to what I paid for it 5 years ago, anything even close would be a shitload of money. Then again, it would have to be a shitload of money to make a dent in the asking price of a new home nowadays.

Work sucks. Too much to do and I'm still not back in the swing of things.

I bought an XBox360. When I first said I wanted one, Celia said "No way, you won't have time to play it anyway." Well 9 months later, I ended up buying one and guess what: Celia plays it more than me.

I'll write more this week. Promise...

The End

Dear Summer,

I'm really glad we were able to spend some time together. I will truly cherish the past two months and will never forget the warm evenings and the sunny mornings and long walks my family took during our time with you. With all these memories, it makes it difficult for me to say goodbye. I'm sure it must be hard for you as well, but always remember that we'll have more time together next year. Please take care always and I look forward to seeing your sunny face next time. Until then, goodbye.

love,
Oliver

It Was a Long Weekend

This past weekend, we had some guests. Two of Celia's aunts, 5 of her cousins, her sister, and 3 friends all came into town to visit her (us) and the babies. It was a fun weekend, but very tiring. We had some stay with us so the babies stayed in our room with us. We got up at 8am, took the kids out to visit with the visitors at around 2pm, then didn't get home until 11pm. They were long days for the kids and very long days for us. The nice part was that everyone else wanted to hold the babies so Celia and I didn't have to carry them all the time. Actually, I felt like I barely carried Lucas for 2 days. It's a nice break because he's starting to get a little heavy. Anyway, they were all a fun bunch and they're all going to the Philippines this winter for Eva's wedding. It'll be a fun time.

Night Shift

When the kids were first born, I always told myself not to get used to any kind of pattern because they'll just change anyway. Of course, after 6 months, I've come to rely on patterns. Big freakin' mistake. For a little while, Amelia was sleeping through the night. 6 or 7 hours easy. Lucas was still waking up every 3-4 hours, but that was okay. One kid at night is easy. The past week, Amelia has decided that she would like to wake up at least twice/night again. This comes just in time for me to go back to work. Yay. Last night, she woke up at 4am wanting to play. Laughing and smiling, she tried her best to wake up mommy and/or daddy. At least Lucas slept through it all.

You Can't Handle the Truth Part 6

I get jealous when I see people with just one baby pushing him/her around in a really cool stroller. Double strollers just don't come in all the cool models that the single strollers do.

This Old House

So we decided to list our home. It should be available in a couple of weeks with an open house at the end of september. We're just tired of all the stairs and we want something a little bigger. This place was fine for just me and okay for the two of us, but for the 4 of us, it's just too small. I hope we sell it quick and find a new home quick. If we can't find anything to move into, we'll squat at my parents' house for a while.

When I first bought this place and moved in, I was quite proud of myself that I did it on my own. I was Mr. Responsible and bought a home rather than blow all my money on useless junk. This is my first home and has some sentimental value because of that. It kind of makes me sad to think my children will never remember their first home. Oh well, they'll create a lot more meaningful memories for me than this old house.

I'm an Addict

Yesterday my head almost exploded. I felt like someone had a pump attached to my head and kept trying to inflate it. I swear I almost had a stroke. Waking up in the middle of the night was torture and this morning I still had a headache. It finally dawned on me what the problem was. I didn't have my daily coffee yesterday. See, I have a problem. I'm addicted to caffeine. I need a cup of coffee every day or I go through withdrawal. No, seriously, I'm not joking about this. I get a really bad headache if I skip my daily coffee. I need a new coffeemaker so I can program it at night and have it ready in the morning.

Good news/Bad news

Good news: Amelia can now roll over onto her stomach.
Bad news: I have to keep a very close eye on her because she hasn't figured out how to roll back onto her back.
See it here.

Good news: I'm back to work soon so we won't be so broke anymore.
Bad news: I'm back to work soon.

Good news: We're going to the Philippines and Taiwan this Christmas.
Bad news: Expensive and traveling with infants.

Good news: We're getting a nanny.
Bad news: Who's gonna pay for this?

Our Friends

In honour of their new life together, I'm posting a video of Annalee and Noel dancing. If anyone else wants one, send me pictures of your face.

Dancing Maniacs

Chill Out

sheesh, relax everyone. I'm not saying raising one child is easy, I'm just saying that if we only had one at least we could take turns. As it is now, there are times when neither of us can cook, neither of us can eat, and neither of us can clean up (if we really wanted to but our house was a mess even with no kids). I don't care if you have one child, twins, 4 children, whatever - we have 2 and we're exhausted.

More Visitors

More of Celia's relatives are coming to visit at the end of the month. This is always a good news/bad news kind of thing.

Bad news: the kids end up being up way past their bedtime and they're difficult to settle all night.

Good news: we get a tonne of good shit. Seriously, it's better than Christmas and both our birthdays combined.

It's nice to meet her family though. Some of them I've already met so it'll be fun to see them again. I'm glad I'll still be on vacation.

Carry Me

When we used to take the kids out, we'd use the stroller. This worked okay sometimes, but it was always kind of iffy whether or not they'd stay in the stroller. If they got too fussy, we'd pick them up so they wouldn't scream at us. Then we'd end up carrying the kids and pushing an empty stroller. Stupid and a pain in the ass. Then we started using the baby carriers and everything changed. The kids loved being in the carriers, they never cried (unless they were hungry) and it always left us with 2 free hands. Since we switched to the carriers, we go out all the time. We've been to almost every mall in the lower mainland and run errands and all kinds of stuff without stressing out over the stroller. Lately, we only use the stroller when we take the kids out for a walk in the neighbourhood. Maybe we should have gotten an offroad stroller after all...

New Project

Now that we're confident the babies are okay and the baptism is done, we've started planning our wedding. Wedding planning is boring. I'd go to Vegas if I could. If you're a close friend of ours, expect an invitation.

Nowadays

Yesterday the twins turned 5 months old. "5 months? They're so small!" Yeah, stfu. When people ask me how old they are, I usually tell them they're about 3 months (their corrected age). It just stops all the questions and comments about their size so I can get on with my day. I can't believe it's already been 5 months. I was watching a video of Amelia when she was still in the hospital. She was crying and it was a tiny little cry, barely audible over all the beeps and bongs and bells in the NICU. It was definitely Amelia's cry though. Nowadays, I kinda wish her cry was that quiet again! I tell ya, when she doesn't get her milk fast enough she lets you know she's not happy. She also lets the neighbours know. I swear the neighbours must think we're abusing them because they cry so loud (we're not, btw).

What have we been up to? We spend a lot of time finding places to go and things to do during the day. We like to take the kids out to see the world. The world as in the different malls around the lower mainland. We're considering moving into a bigger townhouse. Why not a house? Neither of us want to mow the lawn or worry about exterior maintenance. We have a hard enough time with the interior. Maybe when the kids are bigger we'll move into a house.

Movie Reviews

Beerfest with Paul Soter & Erik Stolhanske

Reminds me of all those drunken nights in my younger, wilder days. Wait, I was never wild but I did get drunk a few times. Ahh, good times, good times.


Reno 911!:Miami with Thomas Lennon & a bunch of other yahoos

Funny shit man, funny shit.


Blades of Glory with Will Ferrel & Jon Heder

Hahaha.

I'm Loving It

Man, I hope McDonald's doesn't sue me. I really like their fries.

Big hint that you and your friends are parents:

When you drive up to your buddy's house and all the guys come out to check out your sweet new minivan.


Anyway, a couple weeks ago Celia and I took the ultimate step into parenting in the suburbs: we bought a minivan. Her car just wasn't big enough to carry all our crap, plus the babies and us. We needed something bigger and it had to be nice. Introducing our third baby: the Odyssey.

We're Celebrities

When you're in the mall with your kids, how often do you get stopped by a complete stranger to ask you about your children? Once? Twice? We get stopped at least 4 times per hour that we're in a public place. "Are they twins?" "You're so lucky!" "That's so cute." "Are they identical?" and so on... I imagine that Steve and Lisa are the only ones (that I can think of) that would truly understand what I'm talking about. It's kind of flattering, but when we're in a hurry I just want to say "yes they're twins, no not identical, it's one boy and one girl. bye." and keep on walking. Everything takes longer now - walking through the mall, going through a grocery store checkout, ordering at restaurants - because we have to acknowledge our newfound celebrity status as parents of twins.

Movie Review

Transformers with Shia LaBeouf & Megan Fox

I remember growing up in Regina and my friend Patrick had a million transformers. He had almost all of them. We would play for hours with these things then go back to my house and play for hours with my GI Joes. I always liked the Autobots because I liked that they turned into cars instead of guns and planes and stuff. Not too long ago, I downloaded the entire Transformers cartoon series including the original animated movie. Totally legally, of course. Anyway, the only thing I didn't like about the new movie was that the character's faces were hard to see. Too alien.

Mini-Milestone

The other night the twins had a breakthrough. They slept in a crib instead of in our beds. It was incredible. I was able to stretch out and not worry about squashing one of them. Maybe we'll be able to get them to sleep in their cribs a little more so mommy and daddy can get some better sleep.

Stupid Question

Here's the stupidest thing I hear all the time:

"Oh how cute, are they twins?"
"yes, one boy, one girl."
"Oh that's perfect. Are they identical?"

What the fuck? "Are they identical?" If you're thinking "what's wrong with that?" then you should maybe look up the definition of "identical". Then tell me how a male and a female can be identical. "Oh but they can look alike." Yes, they can look alike, but does that mean they're identical? No! When people ask me this I want to send them to the corner to think about what they've said.

I Like DVDs

Movies That Will be Seen on DVD Because Theaters Are Out of the Question:

Spiderman 3
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers
Everything else that is released between now and 2018.

Updates

I'm really quite angry with myself for not keeping my blog more current. However, because I have twins at home, I'm a little busy so quit your complaining and be glad that I haven't completely abandoned my blog all together (like some...). Anyway, here's a quick update:

Mother-in-law left last week so we've been alone with the babies. Tiring, but rewarding in it's own way.

I'm on parental leave now. I don't have to go back to work until after Labour Day. That's Labor Day to you americans. Anyway, I get to spend the entire summer with my family. Take that, sucker!

Celia's Acura has gone the way of the Pinto. It's been replaced with a minivan. The other day we got a 2007 Honda Odyssey EX-L. As far as minivans go, it's pretty freakin sweet. It's so much more convenient and we have way more space now for all the junk we have to carry.

We've decided that we will be going to the Philippines this winter. We'll make a stop in Taiwan so all of her relatives can meet the twins and then spend the rest of our holidays in the Phils. Her sister's wedding will also be in the Philippines so it should be a pretty fun trip. Hopefully the twins will be up for it.

I don't have a blackberry all summer so if you only have that phone number, you'll have to hunt down my personal number. Or just email me at home. Actually, facebook works too.

If you live somewhere where you're not allowed to intall an airconditioner or you want to be able to cool just one room at a time, get yourself a good portable air conditioner. We got one. It fucking rocks.

Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend...

I didn't watch the whole show or anything. Actually, I barely watched it at all, but there was a lot of talk about it amongst people I know. The Pussycat Dolls show, I thought, was pretty blah. Who should have won? Melissa R was a favourite but Asia won. Apparently, Asia won but isn't really part of the Pussycat Dolls. I don't remember the details of the first prize, but I guess it wasn't to fully join the group because Asia isn't in the pictures of the group and she didn't perform with the group recently. So now there is some controversy over whether of not Asia is really part of the group. I don't mind because I always thought Asia was ugly. I hear the other pussycat dolls didn't like her either. Where did I hear all this? I'm really good friends with a few of the pusscats and they told me.

Bedtime

I learned something this evening. The twins don't like to sleep with us in our bed, they just like to sleep in our bed. Yeah, whether we're there or not, they don't care, they just like our bed better than their own. Man, if it meant getting a full night's sleep, I'd curl up into their crib in a second. I knew we had a freakin sweet mattress.

Movie Reviews

Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz with Simon Pegg & Nick Frost

Not exactly oscar material but pretty fucking hilarious.

No Other Way

You know when you watch TV and movies and when one of the characters has a baby and the dad says "all my priorities changed as soon as I found out we were pregnant.". It was a little different for me.  At first, I couldn't help but worry about all the work I had to do around the time the babies were to be born.  Then, starting  after they were born, I started to worry more and more about missing time with my kids.  It's taken a while for me, but I think its starting to finally sink in - and I mean REALLY sink in - that I'm a father.  Not just a father, but instantly a father of 2 children.  The other day I was watching them sleep and thought "holy crap, I have 2 kids".  My brother and his wife have one (I'm hoping they have at least one more) and when they come over I always think "where's the other one?". I can't even imagine having only one baby now.  And I can't wait to start my parental leave, I feel like I'm not helping raise my children. 

Mom 2

The greatest thing about having your mother-in-law live with you is that it's like living at home again.  Celia's mom cooks for us, cleans, and  helps look after the babies.  I feel like I won the lottery.  I honestly can't think of anything that has been more valuable to us over the past 3 months than having Celia's mom here with us.  Unfortunately, she'll be going home at the end of the month and we'll be on our own.  Oh well, I guess its time to be our own family at last. 

Progress

The twins are both 8lbs11oz. Doesn't sound like much but to me that's huge.

Tired and Grumpy

I can totally understand why new parents disappear for a few months and suddenly reappear with a little crawling baby. It is such a pain the @$$ to get the kids ready and out the frickin door. Then, when you're out you have to worry about them eating and having to change their diapers. The mall isn't exactly the best place to be doing these things. I mean, it can be done but sometimes its a real pain. We were at Oakridge for, like, 4 hours today - 1 hour of shopping and 3 hours of feeding, diaper changing, eating. Seems like such a waste of a day but I guess the other option is to stay at home and do all the same things. I guess Celia's just sick of the house. It's always difficult when you're with people and they are just taking their sweet ass time while you're sitting there trying to soothe 2 crying babies. Then they leave their bags hanging off the handles of the double-stroller so that when you're pushing it through a store the bags are catching on things and knocking things over. As if it wasn't wide enough. So they stick it in the little storage basket under the seat (which, by the way, is very nice in my stroller) but you can't access the basket when the seats are fully reclined which they have to be with newborns so now if they want their bag you have to remove the baby, raise the seat, remove bag, recline seat, settle baby back in the aforementioned seat, and then pray that the baby doesn't start crying again. Just carry your own damn bag like you would if there wasn't a stroller. Anyway, none of these things would normally bother me, I was just having a bad day.

Milestone

I'm approaching 10,000 hits. I can't believe it. It took 2 years to get this far but who cares if no one really cares what I have to say? I'm at 10,000!! If you visit the page and you are #10,000 let me know and I'll write you a limerick.

Long Live Z

I'm quite disappointed.  Sixteen years ago I started listening to this new radion station that played dance music.  At the time, the only other "good" station was LG73 but it was AM and sounded crappy.  Since 1991, Z95.3 has always been the first station that I programmed into my stereo.  I always woke up to it, I usually drove while listening to it, and sometimes went to sleep listening to it (not that it was boring, it was just 3am and I was drunk).  As of a few days ago, Z95.3 is gone and has been replaced with 95Crave.  So far I'm unimpressed. 

In honour of this sad event, I have a special "Who Said That?"  Double points if you get this one right.

"Zed's dead, baby.  Zed's dead."

I've Waited a Long Time for This

It started 10 years ago and it's finally coming back, better than ever.

Starcraft 2