Falling in Love All Over Again

When I bought my iMac I went all out and upgraded all the things I thought I wanted.  Bigger screen, faster CPU, more memory, wireless mouse, wireless keyboard.  I love my iMac.  Not because it is that much better than a regular old PC, but because this thing is frickin beautiful.  Anyway, when I unpacked the wireless keyboard, I noticed it wasn't a full keyboard.  It was more like a laptop keyboard.  "Hmm, I don't like this,"  I thought.  I thought I would give it a try anyway.  After a few months I kinda got used to it but then after a few more months I decided I didn't like it anymore and wanted a normal keyboard.  Since I like the design of the Apple keyboards, I went to the Apple store and bought a regular, wired keyboard.  I'm loving it and my iMac is better than ever.

Stuck

Let's say you're at the mall and you decide that before you go home you're going to pick up some food from the food court and eat it at home.  So now you're on your way out and realize that the drive home in traffic will take 30 minutes and you really have to pee.  You go to the public washroom at the mall and now you have a dilemma.  What do you do with your food?  Are you going to hold it with one hand while you pee?  Put it on the wet countertop around the corner, unsupervised?  Rest it on top of the urinal?

Etiquette

Is it bad form to answer the phone if you're sitting on the toilet?  When you're at home, the caller probably wouldn't know anyway but what if you're using a stall in a public washroom?  Should you be in there doing your thing and talking on the phone?

Addicted

I recently came home with Gears of War 2.  If you don't know what that is, it's like crack except it's a video game on the XBox360.  You can't get enough of it, you can't stop playing it, and nothing else seems to matter while you're playing it.  It's a good thing the kids haven't been injured while we neglect them to play this game.  Social services frowns on that, I hear.  Just kidding.  About the neglect, not the frowning.  They really do frown on that.  Anyway, Celia and I have been playing this whenever the kids are asleep regardless of the number of dishes piling up in the sink.  Seriously, this game is great.  Not for children though as it is very violent with coarse language.  I'm waiting for nudity, but I have a feeling it just won't happen in this game.

The New Age

Every year I say I'm going to start my Christmas shopping early and every year I do the exact opposite.  This year, however, we actually took care of a few gifts thus fulfilling the prophecy that the twins shall make me do things I don't usually do.  

Game Reviews

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on XBox360

This game was so good I cried.

Fallout 3 on XBox360

I'm still playing it but it's so good I'm crying.

XBox360 review

I've had my XBox360 for a little over a year now and I am now on my third machine.  I've had to send it in for "repairs" twice.  I'm actually kinda glad that instead of just fixing mine, they sent me a new one.  I'm really not too happy that I've had to send it in twice.  That's just stupid.  Other than that, I like my console.

Fresh Blood

So I hear there's something going on with the US government today.  Just kidding, I know that there's a new president.  How do you avoid hearing about this?  Anyway, I hope this new president does something positive for his country.

Shiny and New

There's a new Wal-Mart down in South Surrey I think it's on 24th and King George-ish. This is a nice Wal-Mart - big, clean, not too busy on weekdays. But whatever you do, don't go there on a weeknight because that's when I'll be going and I don't want it to get busy.

It's Like Cheating

Usually being home alone with the kids isn't a problem anymore. I don't get all stressed out thinking about it. It's kinda fun now because I can take them out and do stuff with them now that they're a bit older. Sometimes, however, when they're really tired but can't sleep and they're all grumpy and they cry over every little thing, I take them out for a drive. Throw them in the van, drive around and blam-o! in a few kilometers they're sound asleep. I know it's not great for the environment and gas is expensive but screw all that, I need to not go crazy. Driving them around works better than anything. Then I bring them in, plop them in bed, and we're all happy.

Say What?

Today my parents officially moved out of my house. They moved into a condo not too far from here. It's kinda nice but I wouldn't buy there cuz I'm not really a fan of the layout. I'm sure they'll be happier there. It was getting a bit crowded here. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind them being here, but I think it was too crowded for them.

I can park my van in the garage for the first time. It took forever to clean the damn thing out but there's enough space to park my van comfortably. Maybe before Christmas I'll be able to park two cars in there.

I hung my TV. I bought a wall mount kit online. It doesn't do anything fancy like twist and turn but it does allow for a slight downward tilt for those people who like to hang their TV's too high. It was damn near impossible to screw the 12 foot screws into the wall stud but I'm a pretty strong guy so I persevered and found better tools. Celia didn't want to help me hang the TV so I picked it up myself. If you're thinking it's a little 28" TV, screw you. It's 47" muthafucka! Still, it was pretty light. The first TV I bought was a 32" CRT that weighed 175lbs.

Movie Reviews

Wow, I haven't done a movie review in a long time. Today, I have 3 for you.

Semi-Pro with Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson

Meh.


Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Kristen Bell and Jason Segel and Mila Kunis

Kristen Bell is on my Top Ten list. She is hot in a bikini. Oh, I kinda liked the movie too. Mila Kunis was looking good too.


Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story with John C. Reilly and Jenna Fischer

This was funny shit.

Now We Have to Start All Over

Last month we bought a new sofa and some dining room chairs. We really liked the ones we ordered and we've been patiently waiting for them. They were supposed to come some time at the end of this month because they were being custom made. We found out last night that Yaletown Sofa went bankrupt and the owner has disappeared. Great. So now we have to call the credit card company and get our damn money back and then find a new sofa and dining room chairs. Sonuva...

Moving In

So it looks like my parents will be with us for a while. I don't really mind because they're hardly ever home. I feel bad for them though because every time they have to go to their house to get something, the restoration crew has ripped out another wall or moved out more furniture. I can tell that they are both pretty exhausted emotionally as well as physically. They haven't even fully recovered from the jet lag. One little positive thing is that today I cleaned up the garage so they could store some of their stuff in it. There's so much space I could've parked a car in there. The restoration guy said he thought it would about 4-5 months before they'll be able to move back in to their house. The insurance people said they would pay for a place to live but for now we have houseguests.

Indoor Pool

I picked up my parents from the airport today. They like to go on vacation about twice/year now that they don't have to support their kids anymore. Anyway, they were gone for about 2 weeks and when I drove them home we opened the front door to some very strange sensations. First thing I noticed was the sound, "hmm, sounds like the shower is on upstairs. i wonder what the hell is going on." Then I noticed the temperature, "it's really warm in here and pretty humid too." Then I noticed the floor, "strange that the floor is covered in water." A water pipe broke in the upstairs bathroom and flooded the whole fucking house. The kitchen, which is directly below the bathroom was totally destroyed and the ceiling panels were drooping from the water. They have laminate floors, *ahem* they had laminate floors but they got all warped, and the carpet was soaked. The walls were obviously soaked and pretty much everything was ruined. The whole fucking house is practically ruined and will have to be gutted before anyone can live there again. They're staying with us tonight and for however long they need to I guess. I can't imagine coming home to that. I think I would cry or go crazy.

Woe is Me

One time my aunt said to me, "my kids are only a year apart so it's like having twins.  Not exactly, but its like having twins."  I have 3 words for that.  No. It's. Not.

Good for Me

Even though I can't carry on a normal conversation anymore, I'm quite proud that I've been able to blog so much this past month. It is, of course, complete garbage and not really all that interesting but it's not supposed to be an exercise in quality, but rather quantity. And seriously, when has this ever been interesting? I write in my blog for the sake of writing. It's not like I do it to pick up chicks or to prove that I'm cool.

I Dream of Going Back to Normal

Ever since the twins were born I haven't been able to carry on a decent conversation with another adult. I don't know if it's the lack of sleep over the past 18 months or if it's from watching too much Treehouse but whenever I find myself talking to another grown up I can't seem to concentrate on what we're talking about, my eyes can't focus, and I totally don't hear everything that the other person says. It's like I suddenly don't know how to talk to people anymore. I'm really really hoping that when I start getting regular sleep this will all correct itself.

I Want HD

A friend of mine from work said she was watching some movies on BluRay and she said the high definition really made the CGI stuff look really fake. Is this true? I imagine that new movies will correct this but if I watch Spiderman in 1080p will it look stupid? Anyway, I'm thinking about buying a BluRay player. I know, I know - get a PS3 because it's cheaper and you get a cool game console too. Even though I would love to have a PS3, I actually want to stay away from it because I don't need 2 consoles. I don't play that much. I haven't done any research on BluRay yet but what's the difference between a $500 machine and a $299 machine?

Information Age

I really like technology. It's not so much the whole geeky, computer nerd, staring-in-front-of-a-monitor kinda thing, its more about learning new ways to do something. Sure, carrying a little calendar around works just as well as a PDA and do you really need cell phone? Twenty years ago they were only for the elite. And come on, does your computer really save you any time? Anyway, I was reading this letter to the editor in my nursing magazine and someone made a comment about using computers in patient care scenarios and how they may not be improving patient care and all that jazz. Although it may not directly improve how well a nurse gives you an injection or inserts that foley, it does become an incredible source of information that was never available before. Let's say you're driving out to Kelowna and as you pass by Hope you need to stop off at the hospital because you suddenly feel dizzy and weak. Would you want the doctors and nurses to be treating based on what they know of you from that particular visit (ie, no info other than what you tell them or what they ask), or would you want them to have information on your medical record so that decisions on your treatment/care is based on your history? Maybe for you it doesn't make a huge difference but for anyone that arrives unable to speak or has a complicated medical history, this could be difference between life or death. Make your own decision but I know what I'd want.

Congrats

Congratulations to VJ and Michelle on the birth of their 3rd daughter!