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We're farting around with the good ol' dilbert mission statement generator on this lovely Friday evening.....

Mom and Babe were home on Thursday afternoon, as both received a clean bill of health from the crew up at VGH. Although the care up there was great (thanks to all on the 3rd floor!), Justine really wanted to come home as soon as possible. So, with infant-seat re-installed in truck, we got Wolfe home safely.

I have pictures from the digital camera, and a few from the cam on my new phone, and am just now getting some of them onto the home network.

Hey, it looks like I need a new category for Wolfe on the blog here - after all, if Charlotte has *her* own category....!

So far he has been quite a good boy here....his internal systems seem to be working quite nicely. He nurses, he poops, he sleeps, he wakes, and sometimes he even cries! Not often though, he has been fairly quiet, and peaceful.....whew! Charlotte now has to wait her turn when it comes to nursing....and that, she is having to get used to....

In a delivery that one of the attending nurses described as "precipitous", our new baby boy arrived in a real hurry this morning at 0310 AM. Unlike Charlotte's arduous labour and delivery episode in 2005, our 8 lb. 6 oz. boy wanted to get out into the outside world really fast, and did so after only 11 minutes of pushing. Mom, Dad, and baby are all doing very well this morning......more updates to come here, via twitter, and over on Justine's blog....when Justine returns to blogging that is.....

Ok, so today's main event was going up to the turf farm to get 33 rolls of turf sod to put down in the yard. By the "real" end of the day, this is the scene we had in the back yard.

Oh wait, also had to go to the recycle depot and drop off all the plastics, and some no-longer-used electronics. And, just for another surprise, we had to take the dog to the vet because he was suffering from a couple of issues this morning. First, he was barfing all night, and then this morning, some sort of bump on his chest that was bleeding. Nice. Oh yeah, Mom and Bev stopped by as well for a quick visit before they left town. Busy day.

The turf project went pretty well. I made 2 trips up to the turf farm on Blenkinsop to get the sod, and Lance installed it in the yard. So nice to have a clean scene out there....

I've been at it again - networking water through the yard. This time, we're aiming to roll out some turf in the back yard, and I wanted to lay in the pipes and sprinkler-heads before the turf goes down.

So, the project rolls out in fairly simple phases : design, plan, acquire resources, execute, test, close-out. On this project, I did the design last night. I finalized the plan this morning. I went out to see the guys at Westech Irrigation around noon to get the parts I needed. They're awesome. I went to the Full-Service counter, and went over the plan with the one of irrigation consultants on site. He gave it the OK stamp, and helped me shop for all the parts. Awesome. I came home to execute the installation of all the tubing and sprinklers, and was done by 1700. Good stuff.

Luckily I've done this type of thing before, so my past project experience in this area was a true asset. As I ran the system test, I slugged back a frosty, bottled beverage, and thought about drafting the project close-out report. Things look good so far......

..on each of the last 2 June 13, we have been on a return road-trip from Tofino. Not this year, though. I did take the day off work, and do an irrigation project in the back yard. Pictures to follow...and Little C helped Daddy with the pipes and tools.....good girl!

I have some electronic items that I was planning to take over to Breakdown Recycle to get rid of. Turns out they're no longer listed in the phone book. and their number is out of service. Bummer. Guess I'll have to consult the Encorp Pacific (Canada) - Electronics Recycling in BC web page for another solution.

I told Justine I would link to her blog at apprenticemom.com, if she got 10 posts. Ta Da! So, she is blogging lots about diapers and knitting these days, but there is lots more than that! Check it out!

I just told her that she was a top-tier blogger because she was blogging on the LAMP-stack. Huh?! Yah. Her blog is powered by Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, all the cool stuff that she has no idea about. She is also indexed in Google already! Yay!

Just got back from Mom's....she wants me to have all of Dad's records. Mostly 33 RPM...mebee a few 45 RPM if I dig around a bit more up there. Lots of good stuff from the 60's I can spin. Will do.

I've always wanted Dad's records. And Dad's old stereo. He had this Sansui receiver/amplifier. Ever since he got his new stereo, I wanted the old one as a hand-me-down. You know, because I was a student and needed an amp for my pad. I could "borrow" it. Nope - he told me I couldn't have it. I guess because he was really attached to the unit. And so was I. Because I grew up listening to records on it. Oh well - I ended up getting a unit like it down at the Value Village for like $40. And part of the left-channel was hosed. Didn't matter. Played lots of tunes on it. The back-light glowed green, and it had this sweet tuner with a heavy knob that rolled really nice. That treated me right - until the back-light burnt out, and I had a bit more trouble tuning in my preferred FM-band stations. No biggee.

Somewhere along the way, I secured a number of the albums - I must not have advised my Dad that I was taking them down to my place to spin them. Some of my favourites from his collection. Some of the Beatles albums that I wanted - but not all of them. This turned out to be quite a shame, because Dad had some of his records stored downstairs in the rumpus room, behind the bar, next to the bar's beer fridge. Somehow, my folks had a fridge accident a few years ago, and it caused a small flood around the back of the bar. Ended up soaking the jackets of a bunch of the albums. Like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. And the so-called "White Album". And the Magical Mystery Tour. The jackets, formerly in used-condition, are now in a sad condition of being soaked, dried, and mildewed. I've checked out a couple of the platters, and I think I can save them, as long as I clean them properly. I'll talk to Guy about that. Luckily, other titles have been at my place for a while; Abbey Road, Revolver, Let it Be. They're OK.

Let it Be.

Mom chose that track to play at the Service in April. Yes, Dad liked that track. And here we were, approx. 450 folks on that day, listening to this track, over the glorious sound system that had been installed in the church. It was to be surrounded by, immersed in, and enveloped in the sound. I recall feeling like I was cloaked in song, feeling in a state of suspended emotion. It's a track I've heard so many times - and played on vinyl at my place. My Dad's vinyl.

Turns out that in recent months, Reg had taken quite a liking to the film Across the Universe. She keeps telling me he watched it 10 times over the winter. I'll need to see this film.

I've got the records now. And I imagine my Mom will soon be cleaning out the rumpus room, and want to get rid of that old Sansui receiver/amplifier. I'll gladly take it, even though the FM-tuner section is fried. My Dad doesn't need it now.

Interesting news on CBC's iconic Hockey Night in Canada theme song. Could be time for a new tune....

Had to order 5 yards of lawn blend from Macnutts this weekend. We're doing yard renovation this spring, and are eye-balling some grassy spots that we want to build. We've been doing some work to clean-up and beautify both the front and back yards. So far, Lance has been working the back, and I have been doing the front. Rehabilitation you could call it. Since the construction crew left, things have been a little rough around the property, and now is the time to turn things around.

So, you might remember the last time we hauled in a pile from Macnutts....it was the 20 yards of top soil for the front-yard rehab at Stewart Ave. This time they sent a dump truck that was not quite as big. A bit of a bummer for the delivery trucker in that he went all the way to Stewart Ave. first because of a failure in address management at their HQ. A bit of an identity attribute management problem, yes. No probs though, as he soon found out that his real destination was to James Bay.....

As you can see hear, Lance is putting his back into it, and one can appreciate the scale of what 5 yards looks like. Quite a do-able job for 2 dudes in one day....

Ok, warm up your Flash player, and check out the Sun Microsystems identityhero game. See if you can rescue the identity-imperiled enterprise!

Thought I would like to this great Cubic Yard Calculators, that also includes a "soil settling" factor in the calculation. Good stuff.

A bit of stuff going on in the village of Cowichan Bay! right now....

I'm gonna list my old ride for sale. It's a 1980 Ford Granada Ghia, 2-door coupe. 250 6-cylinder. Runs great. Well-maintained. I just don't need it anymore, and this car still has many miles left in it.

Here is a link to the GMV registry and the 1980 registrants. Here is the link to the pricing guide.

Great day to go to the beach this past Saturday. Nana came down in the morning, and headed out with Charlotte and I to catch the start of the Swiftsure sailing race. Not as fast a start as last year, but definitely so nice to see all the boats out. We strolled from Ogden Point almost down to Clover Point before turning around, and heading back down to the beach near Holland Point. Lots of fun gathering treasures, and goodies.

We then strolled down Government St., where Charlotte fell asleep in the stroller. We made a quick stop over at the James Bay Market before heading into the village to grab lunch at the Bistro. Charlotte woke up to join us, and we had quite a yummy lunch with excellent coffees. MMmmmmmm. Walked back down to the breakwater, and returned to beaching. Luckily the tide was nice and low, revealing a lot of beach to play on, and share with others. Nice tidal pool action, too. Bombed in a remote twitter update from the beach - nice feature.

Got back home for a serious round of sidewalk-chalking, then Nana went home. We got cleaned up, then went over to Dave and Ann's for dindins....!

I have decided to get into twitter, at twitter.com/coremania.

Was reading this article in IT Business on time management. Some good ideas focused at those in a sysadmin role, where interruptions typically rule the day.

Interesting article in the Vancouver Sun weekend before last. The lead story, in fact - on the popularity of baby names in British Columbia. The Sun has put together an online baby name database, that shows how popular names have been over time, based on Vital Statistics data.

Long weekend was nice. Nana came down to spend Saturday morning with us in James Bay. We all walked down to James Bay Market, and ended up buying plants and flowers - very nice. Charlotte managed to scoop a free sample of homemade soap, from a very generous and helpful vendor that could see Charlotte about to run into some trouble - because Daddy was hauling her away from a bead and trinket vendor. *WHAAAAAAA!*

Anyhoo, Saturday afternoon, Mommy had a rest, and Charlotte and Daddy went to the beach down off Dallas Road near Holland Point. Fun in the Sun! Charlotte and I took our shoes off and splashed around in the water a little bit. It was just so darn much fun to be out there in shorts and in the sun, on the beach! Could that have been summer?!!? That 1 hour?! Hope not - need more sun....

On Sunday after homemade pancakes, Lance and I went to dump some yard-waste at Ellice Recycle. Then a great stop at Victoria Car Wash to get the truck scrubbed. Nobody in line when we got there, a nice bonus.

Took Charlotte out for a stroll to Beacon Hill Park in the PM, to see the visiting bands play in the band-shell. She fell asleep on our way into the park, so we strolled around the park for a bit while she napped. Ended up back at the band-shell to catch the last 30 mins of the show, courtesy of the kids from Davis, California. In the photo here, Charlotte is checking out the drum gear. Great time in the park. Again, we had some sun, and it was a very festive atmosphere, with lots of folks, young and old, enjoying the music. A very summer-time type of scene, and I hope we have more of these in the weeks ahead.

Speaking of music, we have Charlotte enrolled in the Music Together program down at the Conservatory, and she displayed for us her drumming talents in the class last week. Daddy also has a small set of bongo drums that she likes to tap on. Hmmm....wonder if this means we hook her up with a kit at some point - so fun for Daddy too!

On a lighter note, I was recently interviewed for an article in the Ring, a UVic newspaper. Here's a link to the article that came out at the start of April.

Kind of having trouble picking things back up online here again. Don't really know where to start with an update. April sped by, punctuated by a series of ups and downs. Lots of downs. It really hits me when I go home and spend time there, hanging out with Mom.

Last Monday night I drove up there after dinner, a drizzly and grey sunset drive over the Malahat. The sun came out as I neared Cobble Hill, making the rest of the drive a little more pleasant. Mom and I went for a walk around the neighbourhood, checked the mailbox, then went home for a glass of wine, and sat together in the dining area off the kitchen to review the latest round of sympathy cards to arrive. A great number arrived at home over the month. We stayed up past 2 AM that night, talking about all sorts of things, which was good. In the past, Dad wouldn't usually join us in these late-night gab sessions, preferring instead to hit the sack well before us. So, on this evening, it was not unusual for Dad's chair to sit empty at the table. However, the house now has such a tangible feeling of emptiness to it.

Tonight, I'm doing the usual Saturday eve routine. Much of the world is still the same - but so much of it is now tainted with a loss of spirit. I've got Randy's Vinyl Tap on CBC, and am cleaning up the kitchen. We just got Charlotte out of the (bubble) bath and she is now off to have story-time. Randy has just covered some songs that hit #1 and #2 on the Billboard charts in the early 70's. I'm thinking that Dad must have been listening to these same tracks back then, when at work then at Safeway in North Van. I know that my Dad always liked to have pop music on the radio at work at our store. I want to call him up and ask him if he used to listen to tunes at work back then. Just aq simple thing to do - to phone him up - like so many times before. I thought we'd have a Spring and Summer to hang out. More years, more opportunities. But I can't phone him up. I remember the last phone call I had with my Dad. But I don't want to write about that now.

We held Dad's memorial service this past Tuesday in Duncan. It was a very well-attended event, with over 400 people coming to share with us in their thoughts of Reggie. The church was full, and the service was very nice. Our good friend Naomi played the piano during the proceedings, and Norm Sowden led us through some thoughts and prayers. Bill Keserich shared with us some great recollections of Reggie during their long friendship. Grant and I spoke about Dad, and that was hard for both of us to do. Uncle Peter shared his memories, and cousin Scott also spoke briefly. Larry G. also made it up to the podium to share some of his favourite memories.

The tea reception following was very nice, and allowed many of us to shed a few more tears. Many old friends, customers, and familiar faces were there to share their thoughts with each other, and us.

Flowers, food, cards, and letters continue to arrive at the house in Cowichan Bay. Many people have phoned and left their thoughts.

One of Dad's old colleagues found this picture of Reg, and sent it on to us yesterday. Thanks, Clive. Reg loved to go fishing, and Clive took this shot of Reg hooking a salmon while they were both out in the boat off Schooner Cove near Nanoose sometime around 1984.

It is with great sadness that I publish the news of my Dad's unexpected passing, this past Monday, March 31/2008. We are having a very rough week, of course. For now, I will simply post a link to the online obituary and guestbook.

We will be holding a celebration of Reg's life this upcoming Tuesday, April 8th, 2 PM, in Duncan at the Duncan Christian Reformed Church.

Ok, so I get this message from my bank, inviting me to experience the convenience of mobile-banking, from my web-enabled mobile device. They provide me a link, which ends in a top-level domain I have never seen, .mobi.

This strikes me as rather absurd. Why should a link to some content, geared to the small screen, be hosted by my bank (which already has a domain name), at some entirely new domain name? .mobi just sounds stupid, and just confuses matters greatly, does it not? I already know how to do online banking, so why should it be any different when I connect from my web-enabled mobile device ? Why should I have to remember some other stupid-sounding domain name? Surely the web-developers putting together such small-screen apps will use what techniques we already have on the web for such things as content negotiation, capability-discovery, and content-delivery ?

So, I couldn't help but google up a search on "tld mobi". I was relieved to find in the top 10 result-set, this paper from Tim Berners-Lee. Evidently, he thought this was stupid as well, in 2004. Unfortunately, his arguments must not have been listened to, as we now have .mobi in common use.

Looking at the Wikipedia entry for .mobi, it would appear that a vast group of corporate entities in the mobile space are backing this new TLD. I guess they just couldn't resist trying to carve out some of their "own" real-estate on the Web.....

sigh

Been back at keeping a journal (hard-copy) in recent weeks. My inner voice needs to get out, so have been keeping that up at night. I have a journal I like, and have been keeping it infrequently over the last couple of years. It has been fun in that I have also been using it as a bit of a scrapbook, adding pictures, photos, etc. I know there is a scrapbooking craze going on out there, and I'm only participating in a very small way.

I've found that I like to write in the living room. With my journal on the coffee table. It's peaceful in there, and not too much else to distract - I can't journal in the office with the computer on. I get sucked in to the screen, and start spinning around with too much other stuff there....

It always surprises me when I put pen to paper, and let the momentum of the thoughts just carry themselves out. A little while ago I wrote something that I was not expecting....just in the phrasing that came out....and I had to stop and ask myself where that came from. It was like the thought was there, in a few pieces scattered around in space....and the effort to write forced the fragments to come together....and not like puzzle pieces - it wasn't perfect....but just gelled enough to stick together.

Good writing is hard. One also has to be well-read. I'm reading the Lost Coast, by Tim Bowling right now. It is about "salmon, memory, and the death of wild culture". It is the story of the decline of the Pacific salmon on this coast. I just got out of Chapter 2, and it was a great read - the childhood recollections of the author on a trip out on his father's fishing boat off Ladner. I actually took my highliter to the text and scored select passages that I thought were particularly well-crafted. A great read......just how does one get to write that well ? I've heard it all comes down to practice - lots of writing, and lots of reading......doing lots of reading on the bus lately, so that's good. I can't write there....too bumpy.... C:-)

I see last year, I was talking about our tiny one, and all the new words she was coming up with. Well, we've come a long way.....Charlotte has a lot to say about many things....and is quite clear about what she wants. Except when she is screaming. We try to convince her that screaming will get her nowhere, and that it would be better to use her words. However, we're in the twos still, and there has been a lot of NO NO NO, and NOT NOT NOT, and NAYO NAYO NAYO (a combination of NAY and NO) and screaming about whatever. GRRRRRRRR. The screaming drives everyone up the wall of course, so we're all managing the outbursts one way or another.

Haven't been too busy with the digital camera lately, but did have it out a few weekends ago. Charlotte likes to go into the front office and "see stuff"...like the mouse, and the phone, and whatever else looks fun. For some reason the mouse is always fun to grab and press....

You'll note she's dressed in pink here....she's going through some sort of pink phase with the clothes, in that most attire has to be pink. The routine with getting dressed in the morning is usually quite exhausting, and quite a chore. First there is the general resistance to getting dressed at all. Then there is trying to come up with something that she wants to wear. Then there is the struggle to get dressed. Then there is probably going to be a wardrobe change shortly thereafter. After a bunch of screaming. *sigh* I gather these are the simply the typical joys of parenting. It used to be a lot easier to get her dressed and out the door. No longer. Especially after a chorus of thrice-repeated "Mommy DO it, Mommy DO it, Mommy DO it!!!!". *sigh*

Always interesting what people borrow from your web site. I think this is Vietnamese, but I can't be sure.....what they have done is rip off a picture of the plum tree in our back yard at Stewart Ave. I can't read the page, so not sure what the attraction was....other than it was a darn nice picture of the blossoms that come out in the spring on that tree....

Looks like the annual coffee prize bonanza is upon us once again at Tim's. Perhaps I will exceed last year's winnings. I see Tim has posted a graphical howto page, on how to roll a rim.....

A bit of news on the CRD Blue Box program, that may soon allow plastic bags. That would be cool, and very convenient, to have an expanded curb-side pickup for things like plastic bags.

We've been taking advantage of the local recycling depot operated by Pacific Mobile Depot. They bring their depot into James Bay on the 2nd Saturday of every month, and man do they take a lot of different plastic stuff! And foam stuff. And electronic stuff. We are diverting what seems like quite a lot of volume using their service. Highly recommended.

Been doing a lot more streaming audio lately, since exploring the channels in my Ubuntu streamtuner. Right now, on this beautiful sunny day, I am locked in to SmoothLounge.com. Oh yeah baby...so smoooooooooth....

Justine ordered up Oscar a new dog bed online, and it just arrived! He took to it quite readily, and is enjoying using it. He likes to stretch out on it, roll around on it, rub the top of his head on it, and roll his face in it. BOY oh BOY - what a great new bed. As you can see, it takes up the width of the hallway. It was inside his den under the stairs, and apparently the bed is so large it fills up the floor of his den!