All Hallows Eve

Our pumpkins (left to right): Mr. Incredible, Mr. Mean, and Mr. Burton


Clark Kent
Clark Ken turning into Superman

Clark Ken turning into Superman, again

As promissed

Okay, click on the photo below, for recent pictures. Press the slideshow button to see them all easily.

Enjoy!

Recent Photos of mostly Jacob

PS: Today is Jacob's 3 1/2 year birthday.

Happy birthday, JOSH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH

Katherine's celebrity look-a-like

Fred Penner

Well, it was a very busy weekend! We had originally planned on going to Toronto, but because that didn't work out for various reasons, Jacob was able to attend his very first drama class at the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama (http://www.ossd.com/). That was kinda neat, because both Katherine and I spent a lot of time at that school when we were younger. After his drama class, we walked around the shops on Richmond Road in Westboro. It was a very nice day all in all.

Today, we went to see Fred Penner! We all had a great time, and Jacob even got one of his CD's autographed.

It was a nice weekend all in all.

PS: I've decided to split up my giant post outline; one post per topic.. Some may be very long, and some may be very short, but there you go. Well, to cross the first item off my list, it's been a long time since my last post. Unit next time!

PPS: What's with no one updating their blog lately?

could you do me a favour?

Could you allow anonymous posting to your blog? I miss posting comments. Thanks!

Talk about love!!

And a weird dedication to my blog...

happy belated birthday

To David...

...

I hate blogger

Yesterday I saw that Blogger has a new "beta" blog that I could try out. Always wanting to be on the cutting edge of Google-dom, I jumped on the bandwagon... probably not reading enough of the fine print, so, yes it's 100% my fault... BUT!..

Fast forward to this morning, and I was trying to comment on a blog (Elizabeth's actually), and I got a message that I can't post comments on any blog that's not in the beta program. And I can't find out how to back out of the beta program (not that I've looked very hard at the moment).

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

To whet your whistle

Here is the outline of what is coming up in my next post. Yes, I'm a dork -- and yes, I write outlines to my blog postings.

(subject to change)

Long time since last post
Katherine's Grandma
Nanny
Dad - no news is bad news?
Josh - coming to Ottawa
Work - busy while boss away
Janet & Steve's wedding
Myspace - connecting w/old friends
Jess
Cards
old friends
what is success?
Family
Mom
Jay & Chris
Lee & Jen
Murals
Camping
Cottage hunt
Car payments
House savings
House hunt
Katherine's Job hunt -- worth it for 2006?
Potty Training

Stay tuned!!!

And now for something completel different

a post. tomorrow.

Monobrow

"Without proper maintenance, anyone can get stuck with a monobrow, which is when two eyebrows join together in a holy union of oneness. While the monobrow is pretty much shunned in North America, in some cultures it is as sacred as a cow. No longer willing to cower in shame, monobrowed people from all over have created a union (of people, in addition to eyebrows) on the Internet." --CHECK IT OUT--

Commencement

Tomorrow, Katherine is going to be graduating from College after two years of hard work and late nights. I am very proud of her -- she gave up so much so that she could go back to school! It will all be worth it after she gets that special piece of paper tomorrow. If you have some time, take a minute and send Katherine a congratulatory e-mail. She can be reached at Katherine@PRvillage.org

Here's another post.

Today was a wonderful day in the city of Ottawa. It was sunny and warm and dry... and I was stuck inside. Oh well, at least I've got a monstrous window to enjoy the view.

This afternoon we stopped at the garden centre of our local grocery store, and picked up a few flowers for Katherine to put in her pots. They look nice. There's one pot on each side of the stairs leading to the front door. How cute.

Okay, I promised a picture, so here's one of Katherine, Jacob and I taken only a few minutes ago. Yes, it's only 7:00. And yes, I'm already in my pajamas. Have a nice night everyone.

PS: Last night at about 10:30, I filled up the gas tank for 83.9 cents a litre. This morning it as 96.3 cents a litre. That is dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

The strike is over

Okay, the strike is over.  I will start posting regularly again I’ve decided.  

I don’t really have that much to write about at the moment though, so this is going to be a very boring post.  Sorry.  (image placeholder) Check out www.PRvillage.org for Katherine’s new website – very exciting.

Well, that’s about it for now.  Pretty anticlimactic, eh?

Keepin' busy

< deleted for now>

Just for the heck of it

I've now opened an e-Store for everything Jacob. Please don't buy anything.. it's just for fun.

Check it out!

Rube Goldberg

Not only is he the stone faced guy from Dead Like Me, there are also cool contraptions named after him. Take a look..

Have you ever...

Thanks, Gen(evieve). Feel free to post your own responses in the comments.

This is for your entire life, including today:
Have you ever...
(x) Smoked a cigarette
( ) Crashed a friend's car
( ) Stolen a car
(x) Been in love
(x) Been dumped
( ) Shoplifted
( ) Been fired
(x) Been in a fist fight
( ) Snuck out of your parent's house
(x) Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
( ) Been arrested
( ) Gone on a blind date
(x) Lied to a friend
(x) Skipped school
(x) Seen someone die
(x) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
(x) Been on a plane
( ) Purposely set a part of yourself on fire
(x) Eaten sushi
(x) Been skiing
(x) Met someone from the Internet
(x) Been to a concert
(x) Taken painkillers
(x) Love someone or miss someone right now
(x) Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by
(x) Made a snow angel
(x) Had a tea party
(x) Flown a kite
(x) Built a sand castle
(x) Gone puddle jumping
(x) Played dress up
(x) Jumped into a pile of leaves
(x) Gone sledding
(x) Cheated while playing a game – if the game “cheat” counts
(x) Been lonely
(x) Fallen asleep at work/school
(x) Used a fake ID
(x) Watched the sun set
(x) felt an earthquake
(x) Slept beneath the stars
(x) Been tickled
( ) Been robbed
(x) Been misunderstood
(x) Pet a reindeer/goat/kangaroo
(x) Won a contest
( ) Run a red light/stop sign
( ) Been suspended from school
(x) Been in a car crash
( ) Had braces
(x) Felt like an outcast/third person
( ) Eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
(x) Had déjà vu
(x) Danced in the moonlight
(x) Witnessed a crime
( ) Questioned your heart
( ) Been obsessed with post-it notes
(x) Squished mud through your bare feet
(x) Been lost
( ) Been on the opposite side of the country
( ) Been on the opposite side of the
( ) Swam in the ocean
( ) Felt like dying
( ) Cried yourself to sleep
(x) Played cops and robbers
(x) Recently colored with crayons
(x) Sang karaoke
(x) Paid for a meal with only coins
( ) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) Made prank phone calls
(x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x) Danced in the rain
( ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(x) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(x) Watched the sun rise with someone you care about -- it was awesome!!
(x) Blown bubbles
(x) Made a bonfire on the beach
(x) Crashed a party
(x) Gone roller-skating
(x) Had a wish come true
(x) jumped off a bridge

I'm thinking of changing my template

But I'm not sure if I should... what does everyone think? Is this template getting old?

Another week, another Monday

Well, the weekend is over, and what a busy weekend it was. Saturday was spent helping out friends Steve and Janet move into their new home. It was actually very easy as most of the boxes had been moved throughout the week.

Sunday was a lazy day, really. We walked over to the local Tim Horton’s, and had a nice breakfast. Later on in the day, we raked up some leaves. It sounds very simple, but it was very nice, and we all had a good time.

I did a few hours of work late last night (always the procrastinator), and was up early to continue my work. Needless to say, I'm a bit tired at the moment -- I think I'll go to bed early tonight.

Well, until tomorrow (or later). Goodnight!!

PS: Next week at this time, Lee, Jen and the kids will be in Ottawa. They'll be visiting from beautiful Nova Scotia. The week after that, we'll be in Montreal staying at a four star hotel for $75, thanks to Priceline. Also that same week, Shelley, Chris, and their unborn baby will be visiting from busy Toronto.

pps: spell checker is not working again. I' not sure why as the cookies are enabled. Sorry.

The UN-real Michael Jackson

The UN-real Michael Jackson. Check it out. It's funny.

I'm tired

So here is a link about yawning.

Good night, everyone.

And another thing

We also rented the movie "Everything Is Illuminated". We chose it purely based on the cover. That's right, we judged a DVD from it's cover. This time, we judged right. If you're ever looking for a movie to rent, I would suggest this one.

Another day, another post

Well, the weekend is almost over, and tomorrow is back to work. It's been quite a nice weekend all in all. Saturday, we went to the car show with my mom, Jason, and Christine, and then we all had lunch together at the Elephant & Castle. At the car show, Jay and Chris had their picture taken with Jacob. For your viewing pleasure, I have uploaded it here. There were lots and lots of nice cars, but we didn't decide on one. I don't think I'm really in the car buying mood...

Today (Sunday), we put Jacob's car seat in Steve's car, and we all piled in and set off for the sugar bush. Jacob was a bit apprehensive at the time, but he was talking about it for the rest of the day. He especially liked the old horse named Blue who was moon blind. Attached to the sugar bush is a cabin where you can have an all you can eat pancake breakfast that includes pancakes, eggs, sausage (if you're into that sort of thing), coffee, juice, and of course maple syrup from the sugar bush. The food is made by The Lonestar, so it was good.

Later on this afternoon, we went and bought Jacob a few pairs of shoes for the spring. He was so impressed by the first pair of shoes he tried on that he cried when I suggested that he try another pair. So, since he loved them so much, we decided to get them. You'll be able to see him coming a mile away because of the giant NIKE written across the top; this definitely would not have been my choice in shoe. I must admit that he's very good at taking them on and of, though. We also got another pair for him that are a bit larger, but they're very nice, they will fit in a few months. Or maybe more.

Well that was the weekend. Tomorrow is the beginning of a brand new week. Enjoy everybody!

PS: I finally got the spell checker to work. I had cookies blocked.

Happy Saturday

Happy Saturday, everyone.

To keep up with my daily posts, here is a wonderful picture of a firefox... my guess is that it's probably PhotoShopped.

Have a nice evening, everyone!

The answer

Here's the answer to a question that Katherine just asked me. I'm posting it in an effort to keep up with my daily posts. I seem to be doing okay, really.

Question: What two mammals lay eggs?
Answer (from Yahoo! Answers):

Well, we knew one at least -- we remember learning in school about that odd creature called the platypus (no, it's not a "platymapus"). But we set out to see if there were any more. As it turns out, there are two other egg-laying mammals: the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) and the long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijnii).

Also known as spiny anteaters, these prickly creatures are native to Australia and New Guinea. After mating, the female echidna lays a single egg in a small pouch on her body. The egg hatches after about 10 days, and the young echidna remains in the pouch for about 2-3 months before mom kicks it out (those spikes get painful).

The platypus and the echidna are the only living examples of monotremes, or egg-laying mammals. Although mammalian in most respects, adult monotremes are toothless and share some similarities with birds or reptiles in some aspects of their anatomy. It's believed that mammals evolved from reptiles, and monotremes represent an early offshoot of mammals, retaining some of the characteristics of their reptilian ancestors.

On another note, tomorrow we're going to the car show with my mom. She got some free tickets from her work. Jacob should love it.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Did I ever tell you...

...that I have a camera built into the frame of my laptop? Well, I do. And only a few seconds ago, in very poor light, I took a picture of myself making a funny face. How do you like that?

Anyways, not much has happened since yesterday (one of the perils of posting every day!). Last night, Katherine and I went to Bayshore, and she bought a skirt that she'd been wanting for a while (about two days, really), and I got a pair of pants, some cheap underwear, and some socks.

Jason was telling me about someone he works with that traded in his 2000 Kia for $5000. It kina got me thinking that I might want to trade in my Kia sometime soon. I've got a 2003, but once the warranty runs out at 100,000KM's it won't be worth very much -- even for a trade in. Hey, maybe by tomorrow, I'll be posting about going car shopping over the weekend.

Actually, this weekend we're going to see my mom (who we didn't see last weekend because she was working). We'll also be going to the sugar bush on Sunday for a pancake breakfast with Janet and Steve. Woo hoo! Let's hope the weather stays nice for the entire weekend.

Well, until tomorrow (maybe!).

ps: I still can't ge the spell cheker to work. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I downloaded the Internet Explorer 7 beta.

Whoa! Two for two

That's right. Two days in a row, and I’m posting to my blog! I’m not sure why, but I've been so busy at work, that I haven’t really had much interest in computers once I'm not at work. For example, I haven't looked at Celebdaq in weeks.

Anyways... Jacob is getting ready for bed, and I'm typing here. Once he's asleep, Katherine and I are going to go to the mall to buy her a skirt, and a pair of pants for me(living with the in-laws has its advantages!).

Wow, this is a boring post... but at least it's a post. Type to you tomorrow.

Link of the day: Gadsby. A story of 50,000 words -- without using the letter E.

PS: the spell checker is not working, so I apologize in advance...

It's been a long time

Wow! It's been a long time since I've posted to this blog. I am not raly sure why, though. I think I've been too busy with life (And American Idol).

Tonight we went to Jay and Chris' house for dinner. Our first bbq of the season to celibrate spring. We also booked a camp site at Sharbot late for August. Cool.

Well, I am going to try to post a lot more often again, and fall into a regular pattern of posting on a semi-daily basis.

Cow curling

For now, here's a fun link...

Woo-hoo!

Here I am sitting in my living room waiting for The Office to come on TV. What? Sitting in my living room? How can I be doing that? Well, I now have wireless internet -- on an amazing Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi. Dual core, 2 gigs of ram, and an ATI radeon x1600 video card, built in camera. IN short -- awesome. Now maybe I won't have to go in to work at 3:00 so often anymore. At least, I hope so...

This is weird

Not only do they talk that way, but they also write that way. This is a link to the Scottish parliamentary website. It's REAL!

I hope your afternoon is going great!

Here's my favoriite quote from the site. They are talking about what the Scottish parliament can do...: "Issues sic as defence, employment law, genetics, immigration, international affairs, pensions an social security is kent as reservit maitters an is dealt wi by the Unitit Kingdom Pairlament in London. The Scottish Pairlament can debate reservit maitters but canna mak laws on them."

Funny they didn't mention grammar, eh?

Another early morning post

Good morning everyone! It's about 5:30 on Friday morning, and I woke up about half an hour before the alarm clock. Instead of going to watch TV or read the newspaper, I figured I would post something here, as it's been a while since I've done that.

At the moment, we are all recovering from colds, but it looks like we should be okay for the weekend. I'm glad, because if the temperature co-operates, I'd like to take Jacob to Winterlude tomorrow -- hopefully I'll remember the camera.

Not a whole heck of a lot else is going on, to be honest. Things are very quiet.

Oh, that embarrassing video of Jacob seems to be very popular as there have been over 500 page views of the video since it was uploaded.

Well, that's it for now everyone. Have a wonderful day, and check back here early next week for video from the weekend!

Supoerbowl commercials

Even if you don't like football, everyone loves Superbowl commercials (right?). In case you missed them yesterday, Google Video has thoughtfully collected them here so that you can watch them at your leisure. Enjoy.

A blackmail video

Okay, so I'm sure that Jacob is going to be very embarrassed by this video if his future wife were to one day see it, but he probably won't even meet her for many years to come. So I'll have to save this for her for when we first meet. Enjoy.

Jacinda and Hilary Duff

Last night was the Hilary Duff concert in Halifax. The picture below is of my neice Jacinda and Ms. Duff (who looks very different in person, I must say).

Wow Jacinda! You must have had a night that you'll remember for a long time to come!!!!

And now for his internet debut..

Here is Jacob Solomon singing his ABC's. The bad camera angle is thanks to me. The video hosting is thanks to Google.



... and here is is singing Mary Had a Little Lamb...



More video to follow... once I film it, that is :)

Another video

I have not yet had the time to upload any video, but, here is an amazing clip that I found on Google video.

And now for something completely different...

...A test of Google Video. Enjoy this weird Hamster video. Don't worry, it's weird, but I can't imagine anyone being offended by it!

If this video works, I am going to investigate how to upload my OWN video to Google (of Jacob of course), and post it on the Blog. Let the fun times begin!

No whammy's... No whammy's... STOP!

Hello everybody! Just thought I would say hello as I have not posted since Canada's gone blue.

If you're interested, here are the official election results for Ottawa Center:



Oh, and here's the latest news that leads me to believe that Canada may very well be going down the tubes.

More one the subject not to be spoken about..

If you're still undecided about who to vote for on Monday, you may want to take a look at http://www.saplin.com/elections2006/index.php. It's a site which asks for your opinion on a variety of issues, and tells you which party you are most aligned with.

Also, Katherine asked me to post a link to her blog: http://katherineinottawa.blogspot.com/.

A powerful case of why we should not vote for the Conservative Party

Thanks Kurt for forwarding me this article written by Sinclair Stevens. It's taken from http://bloc-harper.com/blocharper/demise.htm, and reprinted below without permission.

You may want to take a look at bloc-harper.com if you find the article below interesting.

It is sad to witness the demise of Canada, one of the greatest nations in the
world.

The Leader’s Debate demonstrates the problem. Prime Minister Paul Martin does not have it in him to project himself as a Leader able to save Canada.

Opposition Leader, Stephen Harper is just that - an opposition
mentality.

He has spent most of his two years as Leader harassing the Government on various allegations of wrong doing. Harper does not stand for Canada First, he stands for Canada second - behind the Provinces. His plans for a “new federalism” in Canada are well documented but they were not debated last evening nor have they been explained in the media.

Since confederation our Leaders in Ottawa have put Canada First. Sir John A. Macdonald’s “National Policy” and his building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, not only put Canada first, it made Canada a reality.

At that time there was no Alberta. Oil and gas resources were not a factor.

Two world wars allowed Canadians to demonstrate they were willing to fight for our country and our democracy.

Canada’s prosperity into the 1990’s made us one of the richest countries in the world right up there with the U.S.A.

But in the last fifteen years the average Canadian’s earnings, which were fourth highest in the world, have now fallen to 17th. Our per capita revenue which equaled U.S. per person revenue is now $7,200.00 behind.

With a Prosperity Canada programme we could catch up to the U.S. level again. Every man, woman and child would earn that extra $7,200.00 a year and all levels of government would have an extra $80 Billion per year to pay down our National Debt or to spend on public services.

What went wrong?

A thing called separatism.

First in Quebec the Bloc Québécois was started by ex federal politicians and then in the West another group of politicians formed built a party around “Western Alienation”.

The Bloc was driven by a sense of Nationalism for Quebec while the Western movement was money driven. Of the two, money (some call it greed) has proven to be a stronger force in the West than Nationalism in Quebec.

Separatism or as it was called sovereignty association with Canada never received a 51% vote in Quebec.

It was always claimed they could only be a sovereign nation if Canada agreed. They of course could not control the Government of Canada. Yet a constitutional change was needed.

In the West, however, the Calgary School, which included Stephen Harper, saw a different opportunity.

They realized if they could take control of the federal government they could then, through down sourcing of federal activities to the provinces, and the transferring of tax revenue capabilities to the Provinces they would have de facto separation without constitutional change or the need for a referendum. It could also be called sovereignty association if they left with Canada some role for them to play such as foreign affairs, defence, international trade negotiations and maintaining a central money system.

Virtually
everything else would be handled provincially with say ten different provincial health plans, welfare programmes, educational activities and resource management.

In 1995, Mr. Harper then an M.P. and unity critic in the Reform Party under Preston Manning called their plan New Confederation or New Federalism. The 20 point plan was published at the Reform Party’s Headquarters
in Calgary.

Now Mr. Harper calls it “open federalism” and he slyly had it slipped into the Conservative Policy document agreed to in Montreal last
March.

This Policy paper actually endorses the Council of the Federation; set up on December 5th, 2003, by Provincial Premiers, to lobby the federal government.

The dollar effect of Mr. Harper’s scheme would be monumental.

In 2004, Alberta’s GDP per capita was over 144% of the National average. Prince Edward Island is 72% while Ontario the second highest
province was 103%.

Alberta is running a surplus at the rate of over 12 Billion dollars per year which would be equivalent to over 140 Billion in
Ottawa.

Alberta has no debt. Canada has over $500 Billion.

Oil and gas revenue flowing into the Alberta Treasury is over $15 Billion per year. That is almost $5,000.00 for every man, woman and child in the province.

In Canada, Ontario is the main purchaser of Alberta’s energy. Every time we fill our car gas tank we send dollars to the Alberta Treasury.

Harper’s open federalism would make it clear.

Resource revenue flows one way into Alberta’s Treasury. Ottawa would not be able to tax any of it for the benefit of Canadians in other provinces.

Question? Why would Mr. Martin not challenge Mr. Harper with these facts?

Answer. He is not a political leader who can handle provincial politicians.

And this is a game politicians are playing at the provincial level.

It started in Quebec with the separatist government claiming they had a fiscal imbalance with the federal government.

Other provinces through their politicians followed suit including Liberal Premier McGuinty in Ontario.

That meant if Martin attacked Harper on his open federalism he would be opposing Liberal Premiers in the two most populist provinces, Quebec and Ontario, who had supported the Council of the Federation.

Unfortunately Martin was already living with the Ad Scam problem so he felt trapped.

Too bad for Canada.

All he could do was hope Harper would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

So far it has not happened.

Harper has said “24 hours a day I think strategy”. Martin on the other hand has said - “I don’t touch strategy”.

On that basis there is no contest.

Harper is an ideologue on a mission.

He took over the leadership of the Alliance Party.

He convinced Peter MacKay, the Progressive Conservative Party Leader to merge Canada’s oldest federal party, the Party of Sir John A. Macdonald, with his weak, heavily in debt Alliance Party.

Then over three days Canada’s future shifted.

On December 5th, 2003, the Premiers formed The Council of the Federation.

On December 6th, 2003, in a rigged vote the P.C.’s appeared to support the Alliance take over.

And on December 7th, 2003, Messrs. Harper and MacKay persuaded Mr. Kingsley the CEO to eliminate the Progressive Conservative Party and register the Conservative Party of Canada. This action has been found by two courts to have been unlawful and a violation of the Canada Elections Act.

Now as a result, Mr. Harper may succeed in his dream of reducing Canada to a shell hovering over 10 pigmy states.


Hon. Sinclair Stevens.

SMS/ap

Here are some picture I took this evening

Images are by Jeremy. Text is by Katherine.

So, anybody who knows Jake knows he likes his chocolate anyway he can get it. With this method, he extends his hands to reach his little dirty fingers into the chocolate sauce meant for dipping fruit into.

Later on this evening, Grandma showed Jake that a bunny lives in her hands and shows him how it goes to bed.

And Jake gets entirely too excited when taking his picture that he cant wait for the flash to go off before he runs to the camera to check out the shot.

This is the face Jacob makes when we ask him to smile for the camera. When we ask him to make a real smile, he insists that this is his real smile.

Numbers are awesome. And so is Katherine. She's beautiful.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Some personal messages:
Avi - Jen says that your e-mail address is wrong.
Michael - your parents blog doesn't work.. did they change the address?

Have a nice night everyone!

A serious Jacob...

...with a pumpkin

Text to speech is awesome

It's been over a week since my last post, and I don't really have that much to post about. Things have been very quiet over the past little while. I think it may be the dust settling from the busy end of the year.

Well, it looks like this blog may be helping me stay more in contact with my family and friends after all. I've heard from a few family members lately (because of the Blog?) that I haven't heard from in a very long time. It was very nice to see your post Avi, and I can't wait to see you at pesach. It was also very nice to talk to you Amanda, and I can't wait to see you either-- whether you make it to Ottawa, or we make it over there. Today, we also received a letter from My aunt and uncle on my fathers side. I haven't spoken to them almost since Katherine and I got married. It was good to have an update on how everyone is doing. The next time Katherine and I make it to Montreal, it would be nice to plan a visit.

Well, as I said, I don't really have much. I do, however, have two very cool links that I found. Both of them are text to speech websites, so if you don't like that sort of thing, you can ignore the links below.

Let them sing it for you
Loquendo