Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Well...we made it to TO. It was rather uneventful, the weather was accomodating and we made good time on the highway. TO isn't much better than Ottawa snow/ice wise. I brought my laptop with me to try and get some work done while I'm here, but i had quite a time with it before we left. I was getting some very scary looking unix screens coming up when I tried to boot...I soent most of the evening before we left and most of the morning yesterday trying all my Mac tricks to get the thing working again. I was able to boot it up in safe mode and backed up everything to the server. Yesterday morning the thing did boot up all by itself ( an Xmas miracle?) and I managed to download an OS update...that seemed to do the trick (for now). Its still a little funky, but seems to be stable. I suppose I'll be upgrading sooner than I thought. Oh well, I was going to buy a nice new digital camera...but i suppose that'll have to wait a bit longer.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
To the brother in the Volvo, who gave me the international signal for "slow down, speed trap ahead" (flash hi-beams)on Maitland, many thanks and very best xmas wishes to you. I will be "donating" the 100 bucks I would have spent on a speeding ticket to a local pub in your honor.
Monday, December 20, 2004
To my more southern based visitors....
That doesn't include the wind chill (-46 ish).
Think again about coming home for xmas. It was so cold this morning... I saw a rainbow, in a clear blue sky; I'm not sure about the physics of that, but its a first for me. A colleague had a tire freeze and split. The only people out this morning were the smokers...they must be the hardiest Canadians of all.
In other non-events...you have to type my name all the way to the "v" for it to come up in Google Suggest. Damn you Kevin Bacon.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
This is this year's. You should be getting yours soon...I saw a pile on the dining room table this morning. If you odn't get one, then you are obviously on the B list. All you need to do is drop a line (eeeeeemail)and you can be sure to get on the list for next year's xmas wonder.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Every year I endeavor to design our xmas card early and every year I leave it to the last possible moment...or more accurately...too late. Most folks get our card sometime after xmas. This concerns me because I put a lot of effort into them and imagine that the recipients are much more organized than we are and wisk away their cards away the day after the big event...we usually have then hanging around for a few months. I was surprised by one from our former neighbors last week and admired their ability to get it out early...only to realize that we've had it on display (albeit not prominently) since last year. So here is one of the dud elements from this years version.
Elaine called me today to say that that Emmett can distinguish his left and right hands...she was pretty excited by this clear example of brilliance. I asked her if she used a more scientific method (ie asking him more than once) to be sure that he could distinguish the two...a pause on the phone and I hear in the background "Em, which is your right hand?" and then clear disappointment..."Ah..Kev, cya later"
Monday, December 06, 2004
So I had the whole weekend to myself...since Lainer had taken the kids to TO for the weekend. I can safely say...aside from the folks at Home Depot and the pizza guy, I didn't speak to anyone for two whole days. This hermit like state was really a result of me trying to get some things done around the house without any kids underfoot. The main task was to install a very pimpy shower system. It certainly wasn't so easy as screwing it to the wall...considering its mass, it needs to be mounted to something very solid. Needless to say, I had to tear the wall apart to ensure their was adequate blocking for the mount; which meant removing some tile, and drywall, and putting it all back. The result of a days work was a bathroom that looked exactly like it did 12 hours before. Of course, mounting the shower head was easy as pie. The next thing was replacing the faucet with a new Grohe version that plays nice with the shower. I thought that this was going to be the easy part...which of course it wasn't. Several trips to the hardware store finally ended in victory. I had the inaugural shower this morning...and it was sweet.
Monday, November 29, 2004
After my musings on my JH neighbor's, I've been thinking a lot about what I believe in. Don't worry, this isn't going to be some kind a breathless preaching. I've always considered my self a bit of an "objectivist"...at least in thought...certainly not in actions these days. Its funny that my recent thinking about this epistemological view have crossed paths with a movie I've been desperately trying to download lately..."The Incredibles". (I'd go see it, but getting out for a movie is next to impossible these days). Then I ran across this article. Maybe their reading too much into it...when you talk about superheros, inevitably you cross paths with the Ayan Rand crowd...regardless, I thought it was interesting.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
So I find out the other day that my neighbor's are Jehovah Witnesses. I had my suspicions; since they seemed to do things that I have witnessed in other very devoted people (ie. getting very dressed up on a Saturday morning, people with bibles coming and going from the house). The reason I'm mentioning this, is that these are the first JH'ers that I've met as people and neighbor's first, rather than zealots knocking on my front door. It certainly changes the perspective. They are very good people, who obviously are good parents and certainly have gone out of their way to be friendly with us. This whole skewed perspective made me do a little more research on their church...in order to find out a bit more about what makes them tick. Despite the obviously polarized opinions on the Internet, the JH movement is certainly interesting. I've always had a respect for people who are of a strong faith...and the JH'ers certainly meet that criteria. In the past I've been dismissive of the group, based on what I've gleaned from rumors and hearsay. But I have to admit that I have a new respect for these folks and the intensity of their devotion. I will certainly not be so childish as to hide and pretend to not be home the next time they come to the door...but don't get me wrong, I'm still an heathen in their eyes and will likely remain so.
Oh yeah...and I caught one of the squirrels. One more to go.
Monday, November 22, 2004
So what does a designer do at 3:00 in the morning when he can't sleep because he has squirrels in the attic? Well...he works on his dream house. So yeah...squirrels in the attic. The bastards came back...well, not so much came back, as some new ones moved into the crib. I pretty much killed every one of them this summer...but some new ones have found the sweet attic and moved in...of course, if I had patched the holes, this wouldn't be a problem. So here I am patiently waiting for them to fall for the temptation of the trap...and you know I will catch them...its just a matter of time. Meanwhile I'm working on the house...the imaginary squirrel proof house. This is it so far without a second floor and railings to keep the kids from falling into the basement.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
I was sitting in the doctor's office the other day (hypertension issues) waiting for my turn...this was the first time that the waiting room was pretty busy. It was interesting to see the type of patients that my doctors has. I have to admit that most of them were pretty "lowrent"...but this was just an observation based on a superficial assessment. They were very chatty with each other, but it didn't appear that they knew each other outside of this setting. The conversation centered around their knowledge of various flu shot conspiracies...one young woman was adamant that they were dangerous and would inevitably make you sick...another ( and I couldn't believe what I was hearing) said that the government wants to inject you with a mind altering substance. I wanted to chime in that if they had any idea how disorganized the provincial governement is, they would know that our overlords could never organize such a clever medical experiment. Most of these folks looked very ill; and one had a gaping wound on her neck only slightly covered by a bandage taped to her chin. I got to thinking that my ailment was pretty insignificant compared to these folks...and was likely more of a result of an affluent lifestyle.
Anyway...I don't really have a point...this was the most interesting thing I've done in the last few days
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
hee hee...
now don't say you didn't get the memo.
Speaking of which...what up with the brother who was driving down the Vanier Parkway in a late model sedan absolutely blasting "Stairway to Heaven". You're doing nothing for Canada's "progressive nation" image.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
It was a nice day until we turned off the main road and headed to the cottage. I should have taken a hint from the snow I saw by the side of the road. The dirt roads were a slushy mess. Since it was too early in the season for plowing, they were reduced to two ruts. Lets just say it was a white knuckle drive. Thankfully i had the forsight to get up early and put on the snow tires...I was second guessing myself on the way up...but they were worth their weight in gold for that last 10 kilometers.
Monday, November 01, 2004
What did you expect on the day after Halloween...
Friday, October 22, 2004
I can't believe Elaine has gotten ahead of me by two posts. I usually have to shame her into updating her page.
I recently bought a racing seat for my little car. This is the real deal, made in Italy and officially certified for racing from some sanctioning body or an other.. After living with it or a week or two, I have to admit that its a really unpleasent beast. It makes it very tough to get in and out of the car...and nearly impossible with the hard top on. Its pretty uncomfortable...in that it really grabs you by the butt and presses uncomfortably into your sides. It forces you into an upright position not unlike a NASCAR driver...which makes a tight car feel even tighter. But wholy moly! It sure holds on to you in the curves...I've found myself going way too fast in corners (to the point where the car drifts a bit). I have to readjust my "seat of the pants" meter...I usually relied on my knees banging into the side of the door to judge how fast I'm going. This seat takes it to a whole different level.
And it looks hella cool.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Hey.
Well I finally got a letter from the OAA confirming that they have issued a Certificate of Practice in my name. Phew (well...It won't be real until I have it in my sweaty palm). Those of you that have been following this ordeal for the last 7 months will know how much this grief has caused me and, by association, Lainer. Although this is a good thing, the repercussions of the delay and associated expenses have forced me to take on other, non-architectural design work. I hooked up with a local software company to provide some fairly intense user experience guidance. Because of this committment, I have been working long crazy hours to stay on top of everything. I'm not complaining...I'd rather be busy with design work than not...its just such a huge difference from the life of leisure I led during the summer. So be it. As the weather starts to get less pleasent, I suppose staying busy will be a good thing.
Friday, October 08, 2004
After lainer's little ordeal yesterday, its nice to be a visitor rather than a patient in Emergency. You can observe a lot of misery in the space of a 3 hour wait. That and, a lot of people really hurting themselves. It makes me want to take the largest, safest vehicle possible to work today; driving as slow as possible and wearing my helmet. I have to admit, with the exception of one crackhead white trash chick, everyone was very patient and generally good natured despite the wait and various conditions.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
I couldn't stop watching this.
Who says there is nothing good on the web.
Monday, September 27, 2004
Hmmm...this is good.
I'm not one to generally care about these types of things (I think charity begins at home), but this is well done.
Back at it...
The short holiday from the kids (see Lainer's blog) was less than that. Considering the hours I've been keeping, I really only had a few hours to myself...and those I used to try and get some things done that are impossible with kids underfoot. I flew to TO on Saturday to hook up with Lainer...I must say flying from Ottawa's new airport, to TO's new airport is quite refreshing. I use to despise landing at Pearson...as long as I've been traveling that place has been under construction...it was quite nice to walk thru without detours, scaffolding or geenrally getting lost. For what its worth, the gate I landed at is bigger than the whole Ottawa airport.
Most notable TO experience...$450 bucks dropped at Banana Republic.
Friday, September 24, 2004
This is interesting...
I supposed sneaking out to the car at lunch for 40 winks is not nearly as metropolitan.
Looks like the grief with the OAA is finally over (famous last words). The lawyers have come to terms and looks like Kevin Deevey Architect is back in business.
Thank $%#@$ god!
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Yesterday was the big New Edinburg garage sale. It was a spectacular day for it, with tons of people out and about. I was planning to set some things out, but found that when I went into the basement there wasn't much that would qualify as garage sale stuff...it was an effort...but I did manage to identify some things that were just taking up space. I put it all out and most of it sold before 10:30. So. I'm a $100 bucks richer, and cleaned out part of the basement.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Phew. I've been crazy busy lately. I've picked up some tech work to offset some the legal fees I'll be encountering with my struggle with the OAA. So doing that full time and trying to carry on the architecture work part-time has made for some long days. Despite all this, my wicked great lawyer is making some pretty good inroads and it all looks promising.
On the weekend we decided to head out to Almonte to check out the fair. Well, the fair turned out to be two chip wagons and some tired horses. So we did a driveby and headed for "downtown" Almonte to find a bite to eat. We spotted the "Superior Diner". This joints been there for 40 years, and thats the first and last time they invested on the interior design. Despite the worn out decor, we had a lovely greasy spoon lunch and tried to blend in with the locals. I blew my cover when I ordered a Heineken...domestic beers only.
Monday, September 06, 2004
Sorry for the lack of posts recently. It's been an immensily busy week.
I've been spending my free time and evenings putting together an affedavit for my upcoming hearing with the OAA. Lets just say the last "A" stands for something completly different than "architect" for me now...and it ends in "holes".
Despite my utter contempt for Harley culture...I find myself strangely attracted to this bike.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Hmmm....I'm not sure if I like it.
Withthe previous imac, I really didn't like it. But at least it was bold and they took a risk with the design. This one seems a little drab. I supppose folks are going to think of some inventive ways of using it...its small profile makes it very friendly to "install" in tight spots. I'm sure we'll see one a tuner car before too long.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Last night we went to the festival of lights here in our own Stanley Park. Other than a much neeed distraction for the kids, it was a surprisingly nice commercial free evening in the community. The idea is that you bring a lantern of some sort and walk around a base of activities...like jugglers, dancers and various other performers. This was an installation on the baseball diamond that was quite nice...amazing what you can do with paper bags and tea lights.
On other things...after wasting 70 bucks at Sears...Lainer did a much better job at home.
Monday, August 23, 2004
Gone fishin'
Looks like a nice week up here, so don't expect too much.
Thursday, August 19, 2004
So I was at Loblaws yesterday trying to swing a deal on some padio chairs. I got them to knock another 10% of the already half price deal. Sweet, I said and I'll take them right now. We go over to the cash and proceed to check out. By some fluke of technological oversight, the "service representative" wasn't able to simply take 10% off the price. She was told by some supervisor over the phone to do it manualy first..ie take 10% off the marked price and punch that in. Well, out comes the calculator...hmmm I wonder. She plugs away at it for a while, obviously not sure what she was doing. Then she pushes it to the other "service representative" who was helping me and says "here you do it". He, of course says "no way...I'm no good at math". I, in frustration at this little show casually mention that 10% of 49.95 is 4.99 ( or 5.00 if your rounding things out). The same thing happens when we get to the ottoman...off the top of my head I say 10% of 24.95 is 2.49 ( you know the rounding out part by now). This all being said...I'm a little shocked by how incapable this kids were. I'm not sure if this little "move the decimal over trick" is a sign of intelligence or just experience...but the fact that these twenty somethings are either not smart enough or simply don't have the life experience is a little disconcerning. Don't get me wrong...I love these crazy youngsters...I just wonder what's displacing all the things that are clearly neccesary for modern living in their youthful heads.
And yes...I was tempted to knock another 50% off the price...
The selling price of the house across the street...somewhere between 550K and 600K. A lttle silly...considering the house is worth at most $400K...meaning the empty lot is $200K. Thats nutty.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
So its seems a 400K bid on a modest two storey house is laughable.
Looks like we weren't even in the running. So be it. If you'd have asked me 5 years ago if I'd be spending that kind of bling on a house I'd have freaked.
I'm just afraid of what's going to appear on that property now.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Crazy day!
We found out today that our neighbour across the street is accepting offers for their property. Being completly unprepared...we rushed around here at lunch trying to figure out what we could afford to pay, financing, ect. The owner isn't at home, so we've been sitting around tag teaming our watch on the property...finally we decided just to write down our offer and tape it to the front door. We're definitly low balling, but I think we might be a sentimental favourite...so the waiting begins.
My buddy Scott just moved to Ft. Myers Florida last week...this is an image of hurrican Charley that he sent me...priceless. Thankfully, it turned at the last minute and damage was minimal. He said next time, he's hightailing it out of there.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
egghead.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Made some small changes to the main pages of my site...all due to my ongoing struggle with the OAA. I woke up paranoid that they would actually have the sense to google me...and the webpages would be incriminating. I had a look at the reports for my site and I was surprise to see that some of my very old, unlinked pages are still getting a lot of hits. This one seems to be especially popular...while my old wine club site plays runner up.
Friday, August 06, 2004
All it takes is a few hours of having the kids around to make realize that working from the dinning room table is not a sustainable solution. I've been planning a "toolshed" for the rear yard for a few months now. I suppose now is the time to get cracking on it. Attached for your viewing pleasure.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Looks like the worst is over and we're all on the mend.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
51 Ivy is now officially a biohazard zone.
I succumbed to horrible chills and nausea last night, with Elaine following soon thereafter. Lets say that sleep was not on the agenda. I was shifting between uncontrolable shivering to ghastly overheated sweating. This bug is a monster. Lainer took Maddy to the well baby clinic, and the nurse was pretty convinced that she has it too...only her superior baby genes fed by the nectar of the gods known as breastfeeding have mitigated her symptoms. I'm hearing that a bunch of other people have dealt with this bug...why the hell hasn't the government called a state of emergency!
If you hear of anyone who has this bug...stay away!
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Oi...the grief continues.
Em seems to be better, but now Maddy is running a fever...and I'm not feeling all too hot.
Hang in there Lainer...you're our only hope.
Gratuitous boyish Em photo
Sunday, August 01, 2004
Well, the long weekend has been a bit of a bust around here. Emmett started throwing up around noon on Friday, and was running a very high fever. Em's not one to casually vomit (as some kids do)...so we knew this was something serious. Friday night was a restless one and Saturday was spent dealling with a fussy toddler. But it looks like we're over the hump, this morning he had some milk for the first time since Thursday.
I have a line on a very interesting contract in Florida...just in time for the fall and hopefully into the winter...fingers crossed.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
I have a guilty pleasure when it comes to the internet...I love reading about guys who have special projects; like building cars from scratch in their garage.
If I weren't married, and still working in High Tech; I'd probably be a lot like this guy.
I think he's a little over the top with his toys...it appears he doesn't even think twice about dropping 10K on a motorcycle...only to strip it apart. Aside from that, you have to admire the fact that he has designed and is building his own sports car.
Monday, July 26, 2004
Well...we're back to the routine around here. Its been three whole weeks with Em out of daycare (holidays), and he just went back today. THANK GOD! Daycare is the most fabulous thing in the whole world. I'll admit its been a fun three weeks, and I think Em made a lot of progress in terms of his development and socializing, but I've fallen way behind in my work. The narrow windows of opportunity to get work done with him around are much too narrow, and I often opted to take a nap instead. Today was a glorious day of uninterupted work.
On other things...I posed as a hairstylist today in order to buy a hair shaver. (Elaine has been cutting my hair for the last 3 years...with a crappy $20 dollar shaver I bought at the Bay). The only place that sells good quality ones around here, only sells to those in the industry. So I had to put on my best gay hairstylist clothes and sashayed into the store. I did my research and "pranced" in asking for the "Wahl Sterling". They did scrutinize me a bit, but I remembered the words of Bill Gates; " Fake it till you make it". This is it baby .
Monday, July 19, 2004
Gone fishin'...again.
I'll post from the cottage if anything worthy comes up.
Friday, July 16, 2004
Were back in town...for a bit anyway.
Here's some of what you were missing.
Yeah...thats Em sweeping the dirt...don't ask.
These were taken during the 15 minutes that it was actually sunny out.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
still fishin...
Even a half nice day at the cottage is still a pretty good day.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Gone fishin'.
Later...
Friday, July 09, 2004
The Ivy Street Smirkfest.
Maddy is smirking because she knows she's in the 95th percentile in terms of weight and height, and is off the charts in terms of head size.
Em is smirking because that's what he does best.
As for this interesting piece of public design...I would use it.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
What I did to my brother's motorcycle at the cottage....
And how it looks now...
The images are stills from the video camera...I forgot to bring the other camera. The beauty about dirt bikes is that they are wonderfully simple machines. I swaped out the old tires on the bike for the new knobbies in no time. All I needed was a monkey wrench and hammer.
Here's a shot of me and Em in the canoe...those are genuine dvComposites paddles.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Is it bad karma to exchange a 10th wedding anniversary gift? 
I traded the watch shown previously for this one. Same make, just a different style.
Monday, June 28, 2004
What could have been another 180.
The grief I've been getting lately from my professional association has beaten me down pretty badly, to the point where I've been second guessing my decision to make a go of this whole "being an architect" thing. So...it was a pleasent surprise a few weeks ago when a company I've been doing design work for (ie. not architecture related), made me a very attractive and generous offer to join them as a full time employee. This wouldn't have ben the first time I bailed on architecture and followed the bling. I hummed and hawed, spoke with many whose opinion I value, counter-offered to test the resolve of the company and generally enjoyed being wanted. But ultimatly I stood by my decision to make a go of this vision...so here I am optimistically aiming to make a 1/4 of the salary, continuing to battle the OAA and working from my dining room table. At least I love what I do.
On other things,
Those mystery flowers were from Josef Straus
Em has taken to saying "I love Daddy"...which I love beyond belief.
If you can't remember the url to this page...just go to my main page and login using "guest" and "blog".
I've spent a whole lot of time at this website...www.fixedgeargallery.com/
Thursday, June 24, 2004
This is for Lainer's benefit...she's in TO and can't see the nice flowers that arrived today.
I'm not sure why this preview image doesn't work
Its been a while since I've used the video camera...we've been meaning to capture some of Em's words before he gets older and actually starts speaking correctly. Here's the low bandwith and the high bandwidth versions.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
My tenth anniversary wedding gift from Lainer...
Pimpy yet elegant. I suppose every boy needs to grow up and wear a man's watch. That time has come for me. Funny thing is...I bought her a watch too.
On other things...I watched former president Clinton on Oprah yesterday. Despite the annoying focus on the whole Lewinski issue, he was very thoughtful and eloquent. I still prefer John Travolta's depiction of him, but I was impressed enough to order his new book...all 950 pages of it. I suppose that will be my summer reading at the cottage this year.
Monday, June 21, 2004
Hmm...for the record, we have not moved to Kanata, Barrhaven or Orleans.
I ran in to Ron this weekend and he mentioned that the rumours of my relocation to the 'burbs is rampant. It was an April fools joke people! Anyone who knows me, knows that the suburbs would kill me. I'm not joking...it would literally kill me. Let's not get started on the brainmelting commute to just get out/in of this wasteland...but the rampant minivans, soccer teams, angst ridden teens, self righteous homeowners...who never leave their two story, 4000 sq. ft., vinyl clad, views to nothing but your neighbours vinyl clad monster home, monster homes...would honestly kill me. It would be a slow and spiralling death of depression, liquor induced liver failure and certain obesesity. My neighbours would hate me. They would hate my non-conforming yellow sports sedan, my choice of a Mac, the fact that I didn't name my daughter Tiffany. I don't like the Olive Garden, or any other of the branded pseudo- enterdining type eating establishments that somehow populate the periphery of the burbs. I simply hate the blandness of it all...the similar silver/green/black affordable american sedans, the Eddie Bauer khakies, the golden retrievers, the occasional Harley owned by a self labelled "rebel" who pretends to hate the burbs while indulging in everything that it offers.
It would all kill me.
On other things...here's a snapshot of my dumbass neighbours "greenhouse in the sky". As much as I hate my neighbour...It gives me a reason to stay on my quirky street.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Hey...I'm sitting at the Second Cup by my house. This is going to be my second favorite place to work. This whole wireless thing is pretty cool. I know...its sooooo last week, but this is the first time I actually used the wireless functionality outside of the house. THe only reason I'm here is that Elaine wanted to keep Em home to meet a friend of her's...needless to say, Em's presence in the morning is not condusive to productive work.
In other news...the Lexus logo on the back of our car was pilfered by some punk ass kid the other night. I suppose this was inevitable, all things considered, we've been pretty lucky in terms of vandalism. I suppose I'll never chuckle now when I see a Mercedes or Bimmer with missing logo. Anyways...$30 later and a little elbow grease its ripe for the plucking again.
Friday, June 11, 2004
Well...the squirrel quota has been met, and there doesn't appear to be any infiltrators in the attic any longer. So, I suppose the war is over.
Today is the first day that Emmett stays home on Fridays, since he'll be going to daycare 4 days rather than 5 days a week. We'll see how this works out...I may have to back up my office and work at the Second Cup today.
Recent pix of Maddy attached.
Monday, June 07, 2004
Emmett and Maddy will soon learn that there is a down side to having both parents as Architects. They spent an otherwise lovely weekend being dragged around to various Ottawa landmarks. This was part of "Doors Open Ottawa", an event that I have meant to take in for several years now. Given that we're pretty much house bound...or at least city bound for the next few weeks, this seemed like the perfect chance to get out and lookyloo at some buildings. The following is a list of the buildings we were able to visit:
Dominion Chalmers United Church
The Temporary Library of Parliament (The Bank of Nova Scotia on Sparks)
The Conference Center (The old train station)
The Westboro Masonic Temple
The Cordon Blue School
The Heritage Canada Building on Blackburn
The Supreme Court.
The only one I missed, that I really wanted to see was the New Edinburg Canoe Club. Oh well maybe next year.
The most interesting was probaby the Cordon Blue School in the former old O'Brian Mansion in Sandy Hill.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Not much going on here.
I was reading on Lisa Whiteman's site about an interesting question she was asked. Essentially it was along the lines of : " What is one thing you know a lot about that nobody ever asks you about". For me it would be " The symbolic references in Masonic architecture". I suppose anyone who has done a thesis will pretty much list it. But I think this would be an interesting conversation starter at a party...the question that is, not my answer.
I spent Monday measuring a house for a new client. There is nothing nicer than being outdoors on a lovely early summer day and getting paid for it. I have to think back to the less nice "field work" days in the business...like hanging in a bucket on a crane measuring a stone tower in -30C.
Sunday, May 30, 2004
You gotta feel for this guy.
He's in a pretty bad way. But you have to question his skill and ability if he can't move beyond his menial position in the industry. I know I racked up some serious loans, but I was able to pretty much clear them up in the requisite 10 years. I was paying more than $300 a month for those 10 years. It was pretty tough in the early years, when that kind of bling was a very good car payment. Towards the end, when I was making big coin at Corel, it seemed liked a trivial amount.
The guy is right though...you'll never make it big when your working for the man. You eventually have to go it alone (hopefully not on the backs of other interns) to make a decent living at it.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Okay...enough about the squirrels. Looks like the deed is done.
Here's a shot of Em with his friend Mao-ze (thats not the way to spell it...but thats how it sounds). It strikes me as a quintessential childhood shot. Stiffly posed, grinning smiles that only kids can do. A favour to pesky adults, if only to get the picture taking over with and get back to the fun. 
Oh...my problems with the OAA aren't over. Looks like more hair pulling and frustration ahead.
Monday, May 24, 2004
It was carnage today. Three unlucky squirrels met their ends today. It seems they were all part of the same posse. They just stood around while the first one was trapped, and then they came back one by one to meet a similar fate.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
The first victim of the war is an unlucky grey squirrel.
It was "dispatched" yesterday in a manner that I will not share in this polite company. This is the tally so far, one grey squirrel, two starlings (released as non-combatants), and most interestingly...a grey that was caught but was able to escape due to my inattention with the locking mechanism on the trap. Lets just say he was seconds away from gruesome demise. I moved the trap from the roof to the garden and have been getting a lot of nibbles and several escapes. I watched one black squirrel set off the trap but was able to back out because his tail kept the door open. This has only increased my resolve.
Friday, May 21, 2004
So it begins.
War has been declared on the squirrels here. I feel a little sorry for them. When I declare war; squirrels die. Three squirrels lost their lives during the last declaration. Today the troops were mobilized. Intelligence was completed (googled- "squirrels in the attic"). I identified the proven techniques and no expense was spared on training and equipment (#2 breakfast meal at McDonalds & a Havaheart 1030 animal trap on sale at Lee Valley). Reconnaissance was performed and the aforementioned equipment was deployed. Fair warning was given (pot shots from the pellet gun) and the stand- off begins. I figure the $40 bucks I spent on the trap will require the lives of at least 10 squirrels. I don't have that many on the premises, but I supose I can just set up the trap in the yard a catch opportunistic squirrels hoping to cash in on the lowered rodent density in this area.
Stay tuned.
The war will blogged.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Since were pretty much lousy with kids around here...why not another kid picture.
It took me the better part of an hour to track down an old pix of Em...but it makes for an interesting comparison. As far as I'm concerned, all babies look alike. 
Congrads to Berit and Sean for their new arrival...Gavin! 5lbs 4 ounces.
Friday, May 14, 2004
This just in from Hong Kong...Maddie's middle name is going to be "Mei". I kinda like the ring of "Maddie Mei", a little mix of two cultures and country music at the same time.
Thats all for now...things are strangely calm around here.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
I took my motorcycle to go workout yesterday, and ran out of gas!
I've been riding bikes since I was 14 and I've never run out of gas. This was particularly inconvinient given the hectic schedules around here. Walked back home, get gas can, load up everyone in the car, get gas (99 cents for preminum!!!), drive to bike in rush hour, get it going, go back home and do everything that needs to get done, only an hour later. Lainer and I didn't eat supper till 10 pm last night.
I picked up a nail in the truck last week on the way to the dump, and destroyed a tire. So if bad things come in threes, I'm just going to sit around the house and wait for the last bit of bad luck.
Maddy is fine...but a very sleepy baby. This would normally be a blessing, but it makes it a real challenge trying to feed her.
Monday, May 10, 2004
The meeting of the siblings.
We seemed to have survived the weekend with two kids, so I think we'll be able to manage this. We even fit in a road trip to Dairy Queen last night without any major disasters, so all is good.
Friday, May 07, 2004
Here you go. 
Madeline Deevey (a girl !!!!)
8 lbs exactly
born on due date...exactly
1:55 this morning
3 1/2 hours of labour
everyone is at home.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Looks like tonight...
I thought for sure last night was the night. Lainy was having mild contractions among other signs of imminent labour. But nothing this morning. Today is the due date...so we'll see what's in store for us. Orsen Wells was born today.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Well...some good news...no not the baby yet.
I've been grudgingly plugging away at this architecture practice thing for a few months now with a bit of a weight above my head. It goes like this. I have a license to practice architecture, but in order to actually build anything in this province, you also need a "Certificate of Practice". Usually the C of P is a formality and just a matter of filling out some forms, but in my case, my professional association decided to invoke a clause that allowed them to arbitrarily refuse my application based on the fact that I've haven't held a C of P in the last 5 years. Without it, I'm pretty much limited to working for another architect. The registrar at the association requested some proof that I've done something architectural during my sabbatical in order to justify the application. This is a bit of a trick question, since your not supposed to have done anything on your own. You guessed it, in my haste I mentioned and embellished a few things that I thought would help my case. This of course set about a whole set of things that further delayed my ultimate goal. Letters were sent, accusations flew, retractions were made. I started to consider contingencies, and was planning for the worst scenario.
So I called the association today to inquire about the complaint against me and was told that the whole ordeal should be over in a few months. This, of course was a bit depressing. Then I called another department and inquired about my application assuming that it had been suspended due to the other actions against me. They tell me that the certificate is in the process of being issued! So despite a few tense weeks, it looks like its all good.
Friday, April 30, 2004
Nothing yet.
We've gone from being completely unprepared for Em's birth, to being over prepared and standing around in anticipation for #2.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
I just started working on an interesting house from the sixties. It was designed by the very important Canadian architect Hart Massey. In doing some preliminary research and rifling thru reams of drawings, I came across this sketch by the architect for one of the chimney caps. I only share it because of its wonderful whimsy. Clearly the designer saw some other inspiration in his sketch and wanted to doodle. This one sketch cemented a bond for me with the architect and allowed me to see his work in a whole new light...I suppose it added a little humanity to otherwise sterile contract drawings. 
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Birthday picture.
I'm the one in the red hoodie.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Here's Em helping me with one of the spare pipes for the new bike. Its a shame these things are hidden under the seat of the bike, they're quite a piece of work. 
I took the bike in for the safety check and things pretty much ground to a halt at the motorcycle shop. Everyone had to gather around and talk bikes. The old guys had to talk about their pageant days racing 2 strokes. the young guys want to know about speed and wheelies. Cigarettes were smoked and bulls*&t was swapped. What should have been 15 minutes was a fun couple of hours on a sunny day. It made it worth the 8 hour drive on a Saturday and the countless emails.
Thanks to all for the b-day wishes. I spent most of the day trying to draw while watching my new CSI dvd(3rd season) on the other screen of the computer.
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Well...I've got the new bike and traded the old, it was sad seeing it go, but I'm quite pleased with this new TZR. Its an amazingly simple looking bike, with no frills and luxuries. I haven't taken it off the truck yet, but should have it on the road later this week.
As Lainer mentioned, the new washer and dryer are in place and working fine. It was recommended by the fine folks at Universal Appliances that we put down a padio stone under the units to help deaden the vibrations when its in its spin cycle. I have to admit that the padio stone does nothing for the decor, but goes a long way in keeping things from vibrating apart.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
For those of you following "The Apprentice", here's an interesting expose. I've been watching it on and off, I like the challenges set up for the contestants; but I really dislike the contestants themselves. They are the kind of people that I learned to really dislike in my previous employment. That aside, this article pretty much blows the lid off the apparent "reality" of this genre.
BTW. The new washer and dryer are in place and all is well.
Monday, April 12, 2004
Here's a sneak peak at the new pixelslap site. I only have the front page done, but you get a special preview of the new Kevin Deevey logo. Should have the site up and running by the end of the week.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Well...looks like the room is all done. Phew.
In other news...I've been hot and heavy in negotiations to aquire an interesting motorcycle. Essentially I'll be trading my RZ for this new one. The bike is a tzr2503MA. This was a very rare street legal bike patterned after the factory race bike in 1989. So rare in fact that it was never for sale in Canada...this is what you'd call a grey market bike, meaning one that was imported to North America and registered. What makes it unique is the innovative engine configuration. They turned the engine around in the frame so that it essentially faces backwards. If you know twin's, usually the exhaust exits the front of the bike and snakes around to the back. In this case the carbs are in the front, and the exhaust exits the rear of the engine, working its way almost straight out the back of the bike under the seat. They only built it for 2 years and then jumped to the V-twin configuration. Thats probably more than you want to know...I find it interesting. I'll probably know better today whether this is going to happen or not. 
Monday, April 05, 2004
Here is a sneak peak at the room progress.
Still need to do a second coat and the trim needs its top coat. The baseboats need to be sanded and repainted...but this is pretty much it. Stay tuned for the washer and dryer installation.
Friday, April 02, 2004
APRIL FOOLS.
I thought this one was pretty lame, and not much different from when my brother hijaacked my blog. Nevertheless, I fooled some of you. I've been out to Kanata three times this week visiting consultants and potential new clients. Driving around to kill some time (and getting lost); I'm horrified by what the place has become. The Kanata Centrum, apparently an oasis for big box stores, is truly an inhuman and hostile environment for anything but cars. I can see why kids out there are swarming and getting into fights. I suppose if you want a large single home, this is the best place to go, and you learn to live with the urban blight...and wax nostolgic for quaint main streets. I can honestly say that my observations of the folks at Tim Horton's (decaf you know), and Harvey's; is that these are unhappy and robotic settlers.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Well...here's the big news. We're moving to Kanata. Thats right! 
After months of soul searching and my increasing aggravation with the state of this old house, we decided to give in to the allour of the burbs and buy ourselves a big ol' house. The last few weeks of working on the nursery have only increased my resolve that this is a good decision. The old place has been nothing but making repairs over repairs, and with the new baby on the way...its just something that is not sustainable. We spent the last weekend driving around looking for a place and happenned across this one. Its been on the market for a while so the price is right. Given the value of our house, we can sell and pretty much buy this one without a mortgage. Of course it mean's selling the Miata, but I haven't been driving it much anyway. At least I'll be able to keep the motorcycle. I can't wait to get into that sweet double garage...I'll finally be able to have a decent woodworking shop again. If you know anyone interested in moving into a well used house in the 'Burg, send them my way.
Monday, March 29, 2004
Before....the "before" falls off the bottom of this page (opps...looks like it did), I thought I'd give a quick look at the state of the room. This is the newly trimmed window. It's a little more elaborate than the others on the second floor, but is consistant with the main floor ones. 
As for lainer's rant...let me give you the glass is half full perspective. Anything that makes architecture glamourous and pimpy is okay in my book. So Brad Pitt wants to intern with Frank Gehry...godbless, he can join the ranks of all the other kids who work for free in his office just to put the credentials on their CV. Maybe he'll raise the bar on cool in the profession and distract the public eye from an otherwise staid, waspy and archaic membership. (apologies to all my cool, hip and trendy architect friends who read this)
Friday, March 26, 2004
In springtime, a young man's fancy turns to...Bluetooth Wireless Technology. 
This is Em trying out my new wireless cellphone headset. The phone I bought has Bluetooth built in, I bought it because my laptop is similarly enabled, making sychronizing info on both platforms as easy as can be. The headset is another ebay find that I picked up for less than half of the retail cost. Yes...now I'm one of those guys walking around town seemingly talking to himself. I can leave my phone in my bag or in my pocket and still get calls...it works up to 30m away. I tried it in the gym the other day, I left my phone in the change room and just used the headset while I was on the treadmill. The only annoyance is the blinking green light on the headset...people get very distracted by it when they're talking to you.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
I wasn't relishing the thought of sanding the newly taped drywall in the nursery. This is a task that I can bear for an hour, but the four walls and ceiling of this room are at least 3 hours of backbreaking work. That being said, I decided to rent a drywall sander. Well kids...I can't believe I haven't used one of these sooner. Its essentially a disk sander that is attached to a vaccum. An hour later I was done, and best of all...no dust. If I could only get back the hours I spent in the past sanding drywall. 
Monday, March 22, 2004
I had a short glimpse into the very wealthy this weekend. Lainer and I went to look at a pimpy washer and dryer (Asko...they look like this and this ). The owners house is lovely mansion in the new village of Rockliffe. I couldn't help but envy their crib. Not only did they have stunning home, but it was tastefully outfitted in a manner that I could quite enjoy. I came away feeling a little envious and glum. But I was quickly reminded about counting your blessings, I have a lot to be thankful for and my mood turned around right away. Despite the chaos and frenzy in this house, I love every bit of it and wouldn't trade it for anything (...well maybe a heated garage would be nice). Oh...and we bought the washer and dryer.
Thursday, March 18, 2004
So...the drywall is in the house, but not without some considerable effort. Nine sheets of 12' drywall can be quite a challenge. Firstly, the truck has a seven foot bed. You do the math. needless to say, a significant part of the load was hanging off the back. The weight was no problem for the truck, in fact, it didn't seem to drive any different. But everytime I hit a bump on the road, it would set off the free end of the load into a flopping frenzy...which would only stop in time for the next bump in the road. I know...I sound like the kind of driver I'm always complaining about; but its different when its me. Anyways, I made it home without any major scenes, and I'm still recovering from unloading the truck. Its going to be a drywall frenzy this weekend.
Monday, March 15, 2004
The window is in. It still needs to be trimmed and painted, but I'll wait for more reasonable weather. I was expecting a weekends work on this (it is my first window after all), but it only took a half day and two trips to Home Depot. As much as I like the look of old windows, the efficiency and quality of new windows is pretty nice. I can't believe how quiet things are now in this room.
Saturday, March 13, 2004
I'd like to go on record right now to say that I love my Macintosh Powerbook. I was a little leary about the usefulness or even the stability of OSX. I'd been using a similar sized iBook at my previous employer and found it to be adequate, but not a life altering experience as Macs had been in the past. With the new computer, and the addition of the airport card, the thing has been the model of stability and usefulness. More importantly, it has never crashed...not even once in the month of continuous use. It plays very nice with the other computers on the network here, even though they are Windows machines. I've been so pleased with it that I splurged on a sweet new bag for it. The only time I go back to the Dell is to verify conversions, web pages or on occasion to take advantage of its bigger screen for Photoshop work (that will change when I get my LCD moniter with my tax return). For the first time in a long time I feel that the Mac is a true uncompromised alternative to Windows. Don't get me started on virus's...I get them in my mailbox, but those sad little exe's just sit there not quite knowing what happened to them. That being said (knock on wood), something will probably go wrong with the thing this weekend...but so far so good.
Thursday, March 11, 2004
Took the day off yesterday...mostly due to exhaustion. Sat down and did some real money making work. What you see below is the result of the last few days of work...pretty much the empty shell of a room. Today...time to start putting it back together. 
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Well...the ceiling was a bit of a chore. The insulation that I thought was going to be harmless cellulose, turned out to be be very itchy mineral wool. And the mess...good lord the mess. Thankfully insulation is rather light. Nice day to go to the dump though. I think us weekday dump visitors are a special breed. Unlike the weekend "do it yourself" guys, anyone at the dump on a weekday is either unemployed or a real workin' man. Thankfully you don't have to say which camp you're in when you pull up. Its nice when they say "hi Kev...more stuff to dump" when you show up at the scale...or maybe thats just pathetic. Its an unwritten rule to help other weekday dumpers if they have a particularly unwieldy bit of trash. No need to ask...its just expected.
Monday, March 08, 2004
Well...we're on day 3 of the nursery renovations here. An unbelievable amount of crap has been moved out of the room...into storage. We have now officially outgrown our house, based on the fact that we have rented additional storage space. Three of four walls have been stripped to bare studs. The remaining wall and ceiling are slated for tomorrow. Two trips to the dump today. The walls are an amazing palimpsest. The archeology of the walls indicates that this room has always been a kids room in some form or another based largely on the variety of obviously kid themed wallpaper.
Friday, March 05, 2004
Looks like Ottawa is finally going to be graced with a Banana Republic. For the longest time, Ottawa has been a pathetic place to try and find cool, reasonably priced work clothes for men ( not that it mattered much at my last place of employ...in fact they considered BR for gay guys only...see what I had to deal with!). So now that I work at home and been pretty much wearing my PJ's for the bulk of the day, I don't really have a need for cool, reasonably priced work clothes. So...too little too late.
And lastly, I finally got started on the nursery...can you believe it?!?! Only 7 weeks till delivery.
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
More of the same...
On other matters, looks like Em has warmed up to his "big boy bed". Yesterday, he actually wanted to sleep in it. Last night was a little more challenging, he started in the crib and then around midnight, wanted to switch to the BBB.
Monday, March 01, 2004
So...the City had a little family event yesterday; basically they assembled all their cool big machines and allowed kids to pretty much have free reign over them. On display were various fire trucks, snow removal machines, police cars and ambulances. We figured Em would go postal over these things (he'll go nuts when we pass a place where he once saw a fire truck...even though there may be none present). So...despite being a little afraid of the machines close up...what's his favourite truck...the city bus of course.
Sunday, February 29, 2004
I was reminded this morning of an amazing TV show Lainer and I caught in New York. It's called "Band Reunited" on VH1. Its another reality show that essentially involves a host who is clearly enamoured with 80's music, who goes around trying to convince former 80's bands to get back together for just one show. The episode we watched was about "Flock of Seaguls". It was a very funny and somewhat like watching an imminent train wreck. As an aside, the famous Flock of Seaguls hairstyle was a result of a poorly done "Ziggy Stardust" upswept do, with the front section having collapsed forward after some backstage hijinx. Anyway, most of the 80's stars that are confronted by the host are usually taken aback, refuse outright and chase him off...but he is persistant and usually convinces them to reunite. The only reason I bring this up, is that I came accross a quote from Morrissey about this show and the possibility that he may be confronted sometime soon; he responded "I've been waiting for them from the top of the stairs with a high powered rifle". If you know anything about the Smiths, this seems very appropriate. If the Smiths ever do get back together, I'll have to leave civilization permanently.
Saturday, February 28, 2004
So...here it is; 
I was expecting something a little more celebratory...maybe a few balloons or a personal note from the bank president. Nope this is it. I never thought I'd see the day when I paid off the house, it just seemed like too much money and too far away.
Monday, February 23, 2004
So far this self-employment thing isn't too bad. I've been talking to former collegues who seem to be finding work in other technology companies, and the competitive side of me starts to get a little jealous. And then...it takes me about 2 minutes to realize that going back to the corporate world is really something I don't want to do. This immediatly calms me down and I feel good once again about my decisions. I wonder how long this pseudo-envy will last? The other night Lainer was surprised to see me hunched over my drawing board after we put the monkey to bed...her comment was something to the effect that; "you're putting in some late hours on this job", and it struck me that I was doing it because I wanted to and was genuinely excited by the prospect of working out the design. I've had a few other epiphanies like this over the last few weeks, the best being the realization that I haven't had a migrane since I got notice.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
It's a little unnerving to see how popular Rod Stewart is in this town. I noticed this morning that he has a second show now...assuming that the first one is sold out. Obviously the Boomer crowd that is paying and obviously clamouring for this act, has something to do with its high demand. The same demographic, I'm sure is responsible for the Stones mania that we witnessed last year and I will also accuse them of the death of X-FM. I have no beef with the musical taste of the boomers, what does concern me is the obvious Hulk-like power they wield over market trends and consumer availability. If you want to know why kids are downloading music by the gigs, its because they don't have any other viable choice to listen to their preferred music. In Ottawa, there is no radio station targeted to youth in the late teens and twenties. Clearly, this insignificant market (in buying power only...not in size) is not a viable target for the media chains to address. I think this is a bit foolish and more than a little shortsighted, since these "echo-boomers", the children of the boomers, are going to become a powerful demographic and one that will be completly disinfranchised from conventional media sources. I predict that as the current audience dies off, or changes its priorities, the media franchises will make a rapid adjustment to the new emerging echo boomers, only to find that they're not waiting around to be catered to...they have created their own media paradigm and; even worse, manage it themselves.
I don't know why I bring this up...I suppose I love those crazy young kids and their nutty new music and it seems that opportunity is knocking.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
After being all proud about my web server, it seems that the link I posted is returning an error. Can somebody email me and confirm whether or not that link in the previous post actually works? I can see it, but I'm behind the firewall.
Saturday, February 14, 2004
We now have our own enterprise web server at 51 Ivy. Likely the only one on the block...take that Mr. Jones. For those of you who need to visualize where a web page is hosted...this one is in my laundry room. It wasn't easy getting here mind you, between the service provider and setting up the IIS (yeah...its a windows server), its taken a few weeks. But the geek factor is huge...I can't wait to show it to my IT savy neighbours.
Friday, February 13, 2004
So our daycare provider is out with the flu...meaning yesterday and today have been completly (or will be) unproductive in terms of work. Well...thats not completly true, since I just shifted the times I actually do the work (naps, after he goes to bed, etc). Its a real challenge to try and take business calls when your immersed in a frenzy of kids at the Children's Museum. 
BTW...the CM is a very good way to wear out a toddler. And believe me, that's a very important bit of imformation when you have an energetic child and you're trying to conserve some energy for a late night of work.
Monday, February 09, 2004
Saturday was the first Dad and son trip to the public swimming pool. Being that I want to ensure that Em is a proficient swimmer and perhaps even competitive, this was the first in a series of trips to get Em used to the idea of the pool and to start to get comfortable in the water. I get to the wave pool, and its pretty crazy with kids already, but unfazed, I pay my money and head to the family changerooms. I get Em down to his diaper and he decides that swimming is not something he's very interested in at the moment. Not wanting to push him for fear of the possible swimming pool trauma's he may suffer later in life, I get him dressed again and we head back to the lobby. I figure todays trip might be limited to looking thru the window and seeing all the fun everyone else is having. About a half hour of kid craziness in the pool changes Em's mind and he decides that he wants to go swimming. Back to the change room, this time we have success and we make it to the pool. Em has a blast splashing around...and I'm beat from all the carrying, changing and fussing...all I can do is lay down in the 6" bathwater of the kiddy pool. I suppose it'll be a while before were doing laps together.
Friday, February 06, 2004
Well yesterday was the first real day of self-employed work. I had no other distractions other than the work itself. Its been pretty easy the last few days finding things that need getting done other than the work; set up the computer, install software, clean the kitchen, go for a swim...starting a practice is a lot of work. Anyway...it was a blast. I can't believe I get to draw all day long. As I said...love what you do. I'll admit the work is more intense than my previous management job, but certainly way more satisfying.
On other news, looks like Heather at Dooce has finally dropped the bomb, welcome Leta to the world.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Phew...a challenging 24 hours.
First...I've been killing myself trying to get DSL hooked up here, lets just say the customer service at Cyberus is less than stellar. Then the phone dies here on Sunday night. Try starting a business from home without a phone...its like tieing your shoes with one hand. I was trying to track some software that I need urgently, only to find my Visa card was rejected. Call Visa (on my cell), to find out the software guy was using the wrong date. Call him back to make the correction and plead to get the software underway ASAP. Try to coordinate with the phone repair guy. Given that I can't really get any work done...decide to do some home repairs...in the midst of wiring a switch for the furnace...at the most critical phase...the phone repair guy shows up, FedEx delivers the software, Cyberus, tells me the DSL is ready. When it rains it pours.
I'm going to have a nap now.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Needless to say, we went back to Norma's for Breakfast on Sunday...but not before having a workout in the fancy smancy gym...they call it Gravity...and based on the elevator ride to the basement...its somewhere near the center of the earth...where gravity has some other presence. 
The picture shows one of the parting gifts they give you at Norma's...candied orange slices...a very nice detail.
Sunday's agenda was pretty much focused on hitting the Whitney Museum. If you're not familiar with it, it houses a collection of very fine American modern paintings and sculpture. The building itself is no slouch...designed by Marcel Breuer and sits quite nicely on the upper east side (think Park Avenue apartments). Of course the place was packed...given the day, but the experience was well worth it. The John Currin exhibition, although superficially boring, was very intriguing once you give it the time and follow the narrative growth of the work. Another that I found interesting was Lucas Samaras...who pretty much took pictures of himself for his whole life...but it was amazing to see how his work changed with the changes in technology. The other picture is my museum sticker stuck in the middle of my Swiss Army shirt logo...I thought it was very clever, given the surroundings, but others didn't seem to think so.
On the way out, we had to stop at the New York Fauchon...to pick up Jam and Cookies for home. The jam is so beloved by Lainey, that she begged Alex to bring some home from Paris a few years ago...and remains grateful ever since. Noew where stocked up on two more jars...and only need to find some bread that is Fauchon worthy. Sore feet and fatigue conspired to send us back to the hotel for a nap and a movie. We watched "Lost in Tanslation", which is a wonderful movie and should win every friggin' award out there.
Our dinner reservations were at the lovely db Bistro Modern. This is a lovely French bistro that appears to be all the rage. We cabbed it over and plunked ourselves down. I can't remember what Elaine ordered to start, and I just skipped it to the entree. I ordered their famous burger...at $29 bucks this is no ordinary burger. Its a combination of ground ribs, foie gras and truffles on a parmasan bun, served with fries. It was pretty much the anthesis of the sushi the night before, being all fat and rich. I can't recall what Elaine had, but it was a scallopy deal that she said was excellent. All in all the place was a two thumbs up.
Thants pretty much it for our trip, we spent the morning on Monday, goofing around on 5th Ave, hitting the various pimpy shops. Elaine jsut had to get something at Tiffany's and I was eager to check out the Banana Republic.
There you go kids...the flight back was uneventful, and Emmett was a model child at the babysitters, and was full of hugs when we got back.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
As promised...the weekend recap.
A frantic rush to get Emmett to his babysitter and rush hour drive to the airport had us a little tense.
The flight was delayed...of course. But the wait was tolerable given the pleasent new terminal. Between the bar and the free drinks on the flight (due to the delay), lets just say I was feeling pretty good by the time we landed. The cab ride into the city was short and quick and we arrived at our hotel safe and sound. Lainy set us up at the "Le Parker Meridian", a pimpy hotel in midtown. We scored a very nice room on the 36th floor that faced Central Park. The photos below show the lovely view...the Essex House is an even more pimpy hotel the sits right on the Park...I just like seeing the sign in reverse. 
Dinner #1 was at a Greek place just around the corner from the hotel. Considering the major cold, it was nice to skip out quickly and land in this cosy place. Molyvos is considered an institution in midtown and is a big hit with the theater crowd. We both had the moussaka, which was delicious and unlike any we've had before. We wrapped up the first night checking out the hotel and planned for the next few days.
I think the photo's of the room speak for themselves. Very nice and modern, with subtle design touches to appeal to us architects. Its clear that this was not always a pimpy hotel, but the updates and renovations are nice and certainly a rest from the usual drab, "this could be anywhere", styling of most hotels.
The next morning was breakfast at Norma's, which happenned to be right in the hotel. Norma's has been voted the best breakfast place in NYC. Even the locals eat here. As with any american meal, the portions are huge. I had a savoury srambled eggs and bacon quesadila, while Lainey had the crazy waffles. Delicious. A lovely atmosphere, amazing service and very creative dishes...takes breakfast to a whole new level.
The first thing on the agenda was to visit H&M, the scandinavian clothing chain that has caused a sensation in NYC. We hit the one just below Times Square, since it has maternity stuff for Elaine. I didn't find anything I liked, but we dropped a bomb on Em. Given the cold, we did most of our travelling by subway...it didn't take too long to get sense of the system and we were soon experts at making our way around. We bought the daily pass, that lets you ride unlimited for 24 hours. From there, we had an appointement at Whitney Boin Jewellers. We were on an errand for a friend and were just curious about the studio. Elaine's engagement ring is a knockoff of WB's signature design. The studio is in NOHO, in a very cool bohemian part of town. The studio, turned out the be the designers apartment, which was cool and weird at the same time...you would expect such a famous designer to have more impressive digs...but the humbleness of it all was a pleasent surprise.
Given the great sunshine, we took a walk around this part of town and slowly made our way to SOHO in our quest to visit the Apple Store. SOHO is supposed to be bohemian, but has gotten somewhat commercialized in the last few years, with scores of chains taking over the more modest speciality stores...most of these have been pushed over to NOHO. But since this was an eating and shopping weekend...what the hell!
We stumbled across XLarge ( the Beastie Boys store), strangely enough, all they had were small sizes. We hit a few more interesting places and finally visited the Apple Store. It was interesting, but crazy crowded. We had a look around and started making plans for dinner. We called around trying to get reservations but gave up and planned for dinner on Sunday night...figuring we'll try an wing it for this night. A little more shopping (t-shit for me at French Connection and another cool shirt at the Swiss Army Store) and we headed back to the hotel. We had a little rest and decided that we would try to get into Nobu Next Door, a restaurant adjacent to Nobu in Tribeca. Nobu requires reservations weeks in advance, but the later doesn't accept them...you just show up and wait. In our case the wait was about 45 minutes, but they let you split and and call you on your cell when your table is ready. We waited in a dive bar next door and had a great time watching the Senators kick Ranger butt.
When our table was finally ready, we were pretty hungy. Nobu has an interesting fusion asian menu. You oder bits of things to make a meal. The bill can add up pretty fast, but the dishes are spectacular. I went for some Miso soupr to start and ordered vegetable tempura and some california rolls. I also ordered a tune sushi. Lainer went with a salad to start and we shared most of my order. There was plenty to eat and everything was astoudingly great.
We hightailed it back to the hotel and had a great night sleep.
I have to go back to work now...I'll finish this tomorrow.
Monday, January 26, 2004
We're back.
Man it was cold in the Big Apple!
Fun was had by all...more pictures to follow and details of our exploits. For now, be satisfied with kev putting on his best subway face...pretty lame considering this was pimpy uptown and and my biggest concern was tripping over some giddy tourists.
Friday, January 23, 2004
Hey...I'm all about freedom of the press. I still harbour some concern about the corporate influence on our media, but consider myself intelligent enough to take our local and national papers with a grain of salt and to look to more international sources for a more balanced and thoughtful perspective. Given this, I think 12 pages of coverage on the recent RCMP investigation into the Citizen is a little self serving and excessive. Just because the news source is the object of an apparent injustice doesn't allow them to hijaack the forum.
Speaking of police state, we're leaving for NYC this evening for a long weekend...we will not be visiting the WTC site.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Okay...24hrs and everything changes. Turns out the laptop is useful. I looked into upgrading my software and its cheaper than I expected. Workwise, I just signed a decent size contract for a commercial building, so looks like I'll have something to do for the next few months.
All is good. Now if the weather could moderate a bit...
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
We survived Em's first terrible two's babysitting evening. I spent the last few days expecting the worst, only to find out that he was a perfect angel. I only expected the worst, because he was a terror yesterday morning, blessing us with the worst fit I've ever seen. The next step is to see how he does over the weekend, while we're in NYC.
The laptop is good, but unfortunatly, it doesn't allow booting into OS9, which is one of my needs. I can understand why Apple would do this, but it is truely a pain in the A%^. I may have to sell it...or upgrade my software....which is another few $$ that I don't want to spend.
Friday, January 16, 2004
The laptop is sweet. Its even smaller than my iBook if you can believe that.
So -23 sans windchill yesterday...yawn! Its funny that were getting used to this crazy cold...at least some of us are. The furnace is pretty much running non-stop here and its still cold in the kitchen. But its brutally warm on the second floor...to the point where I pretty much run around in shorts and a t-shirt...till I need to go downstairs, then I need to put on pants and a sweater...lets just say that the trips up and down the stairs are well considered.
Since I have time on my hands, I posted something for sale on ebay, an old bike wheel I bought last year. It has 3 more days to go and the price is already over what I paid for it originally...time to get rid of more crap in the basement!
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
I bought a laptop on ebay yesterday! I need a new laptop to do my CAD work, since I'll have to return my current one to my former employer. The one I bought was a really good price relative to a new one; and even better the seller was local. So I get to pick it up tommorrow. This is the link to Apple's site for the one I bought. Its always nice to get new gadgets.
Monday, January 12, 2004
Week number two.
Today was the first day of serious re-employment work, versus the just plain goofing off I was doing last week. I did take the luxury of going to the gym this morning, and made a quick pitstop at the Home Depot, had lunch and finally sat down to do some work...can you believe its already 2:00. Where does the day go? I actually spent most of my time trying to get my High Speed Service switched from Sympatico to Cyberus. This has proven to be quite the ordeal, Cyberus can't connect to my phone line while Sympatico is on it, and Sympatico can't say when they'll release the line so that Cyberus can connect...most of my time is spent trying to lock down dates. Its a good thing I have the time to monkey with this.
To lighten up the mood around here, how about a goofy picture of Em...I swear he does this on purpose to crack us up...he even posed for the camera
Sunday, January 11, 2004
The flowers that took over the house.
Lainey calls this the hotel lobby arrangement, unfortunatly, its consuming most of the space in the dining room, and sucking up most of the oxygen. I find myself turning sideways everytime I walk by them for fear of unleashing a mailstrom of pollen. 
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Cold enough for ya?!
Friday, January 09, 2004
So Lainey and I went to Beckta for lunch yesterday (it was her birthday). If you don't know, this is "the" place right now. I have to admit that I'm the fussy one in the relationship when it comes to these kinds of places, I expect great food and an interesting environment. In Lainey's case, great food is enough. I have to say that Beckta is my new favourite restaurant, displacing Juniper. The food is incredible, the service is attentive and genuine. The wine list could be called adventurous; eschewing standards for probably much better, lesser known wines. Of course, this was just lunch, so it remains to seen how they handle dinner...something we're finding it harder and harder to pull off. For the record I had BBQ'ed baby back ribs and hand cut fries with shallot mayo. It was delicious.
On other news, the paddles that I had ready for certification, turned out to be slightly non-conforming, so I have to start new ones. This would have driven me crazy a few weeks ago, but the luxury of time have actually allowed me to look forward to making these news ones. Off to the basement.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
My brother has a blog...I could'nt be more proud.
Now maybe he'll stop trying to hack this one.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Another day in the life of the underemployed.
Mostly paperwork today...correspondance, forms for the paddle business, emails, website tweaks, etc. Went for a noon swim which was quite nice, but I'm still sore from yesterday's workout. Sushi for lunch...no fat...baby! Had an interesting discussion with an 88 year old man in the line at the Ministry of Transportation. He was amazingly lucid and lively. We jumped from french to english like it was nothing. He was returning some plates and getting new ones for his new car. Man I hope I'm still driving when I'm 88.
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Boy...not working is hard work.
The first two days have been a somewhat uneasy experience. Its hard to get out of the "need to work" mode and just try to sit back and enjoy some free time. That being said, I've been very busy with my leisure time. Going to the gym this morning was a strange experience, particularly since it was the Ottawa U facility. I couldn't help but think that people were scrutinizing me...a middle aged, grey haired, somewhat world beaten soul at the gym at 9 am. That being said, it was probably the first leisurely, unhurried and satisfying workout I've had since probably in years. I watched "Ghost World" today; the ultimate decadence, watching a movie in the middle of the afternoon. Very enjoyable and maybe even inspiring.
Now back to the paddles...
Monday, January 05, 2004
The soup nazi is real, and lisa has pictures to prove it!!!I think a road trip to New York is in order.
Sunday, January 04, 2004
So...a new year marks the beginning of a new start for this site. Given my ample time off in the coming weeks, you should expect a few more posts than usual. I suppose they'll be mostly about the productive use of my time off...or lack thereof.
While I was in TO, I took the opportunity to do some swimming in the local pools. Richmond hill has some very nice facilities. One of the things you need to know about serious recreational swimming is the pecking order. The swimming lanes are usually divided into slow, medium and fast. These are relative terms, since it depends on the caliber of the people in the pool on any day. Well, it seems I raised the bar at the Bayview Hills pool last week. The regulars ( of the fast lane) were a little perturbed when the lifeguard had to downgrade them to the medium lane, when I did a few laps. Obviously an ego bost for me, but an unfortunate trump for the "regulars". Felt pretty good for a guy who has only been swimming seriously for the last year.
Resolutions to follow...
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