Feeding - Who knew it could be such an adventure.

To add to the continuous adventure that is known as fatherhood. I've hit another milestone. My son has decided that eating is a waste of his waking hours, and that when its time to feed, he needs to look everywhere else. This in turns prevents us from giving him his bottle. If we happen to try and hold his head straight to feed him, what a mistake. He becomes supersonic.

So as it stands, we are still trying to find a solution to this problem. its been 3 days and counting. Let me tell you something, during the daytime hours, its not so bad, but at 2am when he decides to do this, it tests your patience like i could have never imagined.

Sleep

It's been a while since my last post, and well it can easily be blamed on a lack of sleep. I haven't been getting much sleep lately since the birth of my son. He doesn't yet seem to understand the correspondence between dark outside, and time to sleep. I know, i know, he is just a baby.

But last night, something marvelous happened. He slept. From about 9pm to about 3:45 this morning, he slept. Straight through, no waking up. It is impressive how much your mood can change with a few hours sleep in you.

I only hope it was not a fluke, and this will become routine. only time will tell.

Surviving the first week

Well i guess i have survived my first week back to work after three and a half weeks paternity leave.

I have been tired, and apparently as a side effect, my tolerance of bullshit has diminished. Unlike some people i don't really get cranky, or irritable when i get tired, i tend to call people on the bull. So if someone is making something up, i will call them on it. Which isn't really a good thing, because as i have learnt, some people have skin as thick as Saran wrap.

Anyways, Zachary seems to be getting close to being on a schedule, so sleeping should improve in the coming weeks.

Cleaning up your Debian/Ubuntu installation

As like many people running Debian or Ubuntu Linux installation, i tend to try out a lot of software. Since its easy to install, and remove ( if you don't like it ) . But what happens when you do this, you end up with a lot of orphan packages. Orphan packages are all those dependency libraries that get installed with a chosen software. ( Note this isn't limited to Linux. Windows installs files and doesn't necessarily remove them all upon uninstall ).

I saw this article that shows a quick and simple way of cleaning up said orphaned libraries. http://www.arsgeek.com/?p=708 . This article shows two simple ways of "cleaning up" your installation of files that aren't in use.

MSFirefox released

For all you Microsoft fans out there, who were not satisfied with IE, and for all you FireFox fans who wanted Microsoft to improve IE. well it is here at last. Microsoft has just released its own version of Microsoft released improved FireFox .

some of the improvements:
Simplified user experience
Amazing marginal manipulation
Instant search box
Tabbed browsing
Dynamic security protection
Third party opt-in
Security status bar
Googling filter
Delete browsing history
Address bar protection
Parental controls

For those of you who have read this far. THIS IS A HOAX.

If you take a look at the download page, you will notice that the requirements don't look like anything Microsoft would write.
for example:
Hardware:
Quad core CPU 4.6GHz processor or higher (For the loading of Hotmail.com)
Peripherals:
Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse, or any compatible Microsoft device. (Otherwise all hyperlinks will be disabled)
Software:
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 (For exceptional Spyware Protection)

First day back

Well today was my first day back to work after the birth of Zachary.

I must honestly say, I would have preferred to stay home. Apart from the obvious reasons, spending time with my wife and son, it just seemed like I couldn't get my head above water today. Everything I tried to do, there was always something more. First was the emails, I have 1674 unread emails when I opened my computer this morning. Next was the never ending meetings that ensued. I have spent a total of 6 of 8 hours on the phone, or in meetings with various people in the organization.

I think the worst part about going back to work, is that I am now away from the house from 6:45 am to 6pm. In the life of a new parent, it means I may see my son for a total of about 1 hour awake....Extremely not interesting.

The newest arrival

Introducing at 8lbs 14ounces measuring 20", Zachary Thomas Voet.( pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/cheng.voet ), my son, born October 18th 2006.

I have been away from my computer for some time now, due to trying to find a routine with the new baby. It has been pretty hectic around here, trying to find a routine that fits. Zachary is not sleeping much at night, an hour here, if we are lucky maybe 2 hours in a row.

I can honestly say, I haven't really missed the computer that much.

The most adorable thing, was what we were most afraid of. It's how our dog was going to react to a new baby. He is a very large dog, and is very intimidating. But the best possible scenario played out. Mason, is very protective of Zachary. Whenever Zachary cries, the dog goes to inspect, if we are trying to burp the baby, and he is crying, Mason will come and put his head between our hand and the baby, basically trying to say "Don't hurt the baby!". And as you can see from some of the pictures, the dog is very happy to be near the baby, and to watch over him.

anyways, that's all for now.

Readying for baby

This past weekend, my wife and I finally decided to finish off some of the final things for the upcoming baby.

Making sure the hospital bag is ready.
Installing the child seat base in the car. These new seats are much more complicated then they used to be. Especially with new laws, and restrictions.

Statistically, 8 out of 10 people have their car seat installed improperly.

oh well....at least the big day is coming up very very soon.

I'm getting very anxious to meet our new child.

Exercise, and the pain that follows.

Well, Saturday night was my first hockey game of the season. As usual, today, I am in more pain than I appreciate. I am re-discovering muscles that have been in hibernation for the better part of 6 months.

Its not like I don't do anything in the summer. I bike a lot, walk even more, and have been busy working around my house. But today, I feel like I have been a couch potato for the past few years.

Its mostly quads, hamstrings, and back. But also the hip flexor muscles. ( The muscles responsible for lifting your legs.

Oh well, it will be better next time. At least it was a fun game.

What is this world coming to. 11 year old sexually assaulted by 20 people

Now I don't know how many of you have heard about this, but when I saw, I was mortified. 20 people and an 11 year old girl. Among those 20, was a 40 year old who admitted having sex with her. Why is this man not in prison for pedophilia?

And to the rest of them, what has happened to reason, common sense, and decency. Has this world lost all integrity and decency it had. When does it become all right to have sex with an 11 year old. Even if she claimed she wanted it, for crying out loud, SHE IS 11.

anyways, this is why if/when I have a daughter, I'm going put a sign around her neck saying, anyone who touches this girl, will be fed to my dog. ( for those who have seen the pictures, you know what I am talking about. )

Filter emails using comments in your email address

Well I just learnt about this this morning. It appears that GMail, as well as some others ( FastMail ), have supported this feature for sometime, and that it is part of the "Internet Standard". You can add a "+" sign to your email for example thisemail+blogger@gmail.com and this is a valid address. You can then create a filter ( in gmail its called a label ) to screen said emails. This is a nice to have feature when filling out online forms, to which you don't really care for the emails they send you.

Although I imagine that spammers will figure out this and start removing everything between the "+" and the "@" symbols.

Still its a nice to know.

And I thought Jerry Spring was bad

I found this morning on a forum I frequently check, posted by my buddy Trace. I honestly thought that Jerry Springer was a wild show, until I saw this. Talkshow euro style( For some reason it only works with internet explorer).

Now I don't know if its just that I am old fashioned or what, but shouldn't someone have stopped the guy pounding on that girl. I believe that people fight, and that in most instances ( unless its completely one way ) you should let them fight it out, get it out of their systems, and move on. ( like they do in hockey, the refs let them fight, as long as its one on one, and no one goes down. ). But that guy was just laying into her.

Creepy

Well, a good friend on mine, cyberfreak, just me the creepiest thing I have seen in a while. This is up there on the creepy scale along with some of my sister's friends.

This thing, is actually an article . For those of you to lazy to actually read the article, here is the summary. Tom Cruise( I can't stand this guy ) and Katie Holmes, have decided to bronze baby Suri's first dump, and auction it off on eBay.

What is wrong with these people, or even worse the people who are actually bidding on this. The only reason I would consider this, is to use said poop, to create a genetically targeted poison, that would kill Tom Cruise. Other than that, who wants this around anyways.

thanks Dom for the distraction of the day.

Corn Roast ( Epluchette )

Well this week-end was my dad's annual corn roast ( or for those of you from Quebec, une épluchette de blé d'inde ).

As usual i was on fire duty, meaning it was my responsibility to keep the fire going hot enough to boil the water in the giant pot. ( it really is a big pot, we usually fit about 3 - 4 dozen corn at a time in it ) Which means, again this year, i have successfully cinged most of the hair on my forarms, and got a sunburn on my back.

If it wasn't my dad, there is no way i would be doing this stuff. Most of the time, my sister ends up inviting her friends, who manage to successfully creep the fuck out of me.

Just a wonderful day of the year.

Yahoo's new set design

Well I don't know how many of you have seen Yahoo's new site design. But it's not to bad. They are going for a full homepage type of feeling ( like MSN does ). Its a very "busy" page, but the look is clean and sharp. But in my opinion, the absolute best part, is what happens when you click on the "!" exclamation point in the logo on the home page. ( Speakers required ).

Have fun and enjoy.

The cure for mother in-laws

I don't know if this is as common as everyone talks about. But a lot of people in my surroundings seem to agree. Most in-laws, mother-in-laws in particular, just seem to cause grief to everyone around them. If its not resenting/disliking you, its that they try to control/meddle in your affairs when there is no reason.

I saw this article yesterday, but didn't have time to write about it, but after certain incidents that happened, I could not refrain. They seem to have found a CURE that will solve these problems. At the same time I think all mankind could benefit from this, by slipping some of it to various political leaders, without mentioning any names.

happy reading.

Gameshows

I don't know how everyone feels about gameshows, but I for one, am getting fed up of all these shows that are out there. From survivor, to big brother, to treasure hunters, enough is enough. I happened to stumble upon a game show from Japan last week. This I would watch. The problem with our ( North American, especially American ) shows is that there is no real consequence. If perhaps, people were actually made to suffer for their indiscretions, that would be worth watching.

This show is something along the lines, of contestants having to recite a tongue twister. When their fail ( and most do ) they must suffer for it.

take a look if you get a chance.

Peter Pan....What more can I say.

For those of you who have never heard of Randy Constan, he is a living breathing, delusional Peter Pan.

I was first introduced to Randy ( at least to his website ) a few years ago, by a very good friend, and former colleague who has the gift to find abstract stuff on the web. (see more of his weirdness by visiting

http://www.cyberutopie.comCyberUtopie.com

).

Randy, has been providing us with laughs for as long as we have known about his site. The idea of some 50 years actually going around like voluntarily without being committed is just impressive.



for more information about Randy visit PixyLand

This has to be the stupidest thing i have seen in a long time

A buddy of mine sent me this and i just had to share. This has to be the cheeziest thing that has ever been made. i think....i don't know what to think after seing this.

Corporate Objectives

Well last night was my first Corporate Meeting with the new company. For those of you who don't know what a Corporate Meeting is, its basically an attempt at brainwashing, to convince the employees, that the company is the best, don't look anywhere else because everything is perfect, and they will fix anything wrong with your job.

Well one of the points last night really stuck in my head. They have as an objective, to increase the employee base in Montreal, by 300% in the next 3 years. This by itself is a very ambitious goal. They say ( only to convince the existing employees, and new prospects ) that they only hire the best of the best.

The problem is not the goal, or the fact they only want to hire qualified staff. The problem I see is that their interview process is the longest I have ever seen, or even ever heard of. I know a few people who came in and were interviewed 8 to 9 times before an offer was made. It wouldn't be so bad, if there were few jobs available in the area, and the company had the opportunity to take that much time, but anyone who works in the Montreal area knows that the companies around here can't find enough staff. So why in anyone's right mind, put themselves through 9 interviews for an ok company ( the company is good, not excellent, but good ) when they can get the same offer from another company with much less hassle. Anyone who is remotely good, and can speak both official languages, doesn't need to go through the hoops to get hired here.

anyways, that's my ranting for now.

Booting up windows in 2012

I saw this article this morning. I just had to share.

Link

Most people know me as a Linux fan, so this was all the funnier for me. The scary part of it all, I honestly believe that Microsoft will try to reach this level.

Corporate outing.

Well this Saturday was our corporate outing for the summer. They went with their traditional outing, a day at "La Ronde". We had the choice of two packages, admission plus lunch, or admission to the site and to the fireworks display.

I must admit, I have never been on site for the fireworks display, and it is quite a spectacular show. We showed up late to the site, around 7:30, since we weren't planning on doing any of the rides, for a multitude of reasons, mainly that my wife is 6 1/2 months pregnant, and isn't allowed to do any of the rides. But the display, was well worth walking around the moisture laden air.

I also wanted to talk about corporate outings. I haven't worked for hundreds of companies, so my basis for comparison is limited. But I must say, this outing was a thousand times better than any outing another of my employers was. First this outing was a family one ( meaning you could bring, wife and kids if you had any ) second it was actually something people wanted to do, and third the company actually spent some money on this, because they know in the end, a happy employee is a loyal and dedicated employee. For comparison, my previous employer, we used to have corporate picnics. No guest, only employees, and used to do some lame activity ( i.e. ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of people who have ZERO co-ordination and even less athletic abilities.

Unless I am mistaken, the whole point of a corporate outing like these, are that your employees get to interact at a more personal level. When its employees only, people just end of talking about the job anyways. So why bother. Just make the people work on a Saturday, they will have the same opinion of the company, but at least the company will benefit from the extra day of work.

that's it for now. ( I can't wait to compare the Christmas party )

Neighbours

When you buy a house, you should not only be allowed to see information about the house, but you should allowed to interview the neighbours and see what kind of people live around you. You can find a wide range of neighbours, good, bad, and worse.

I can honestly say I am pretty lucky with the neigbours we have. The couple next door is really nice. The guy has once again ( he did it last year ) offered to trim part of the hedge ( the part that I share with him ). I would trim that side without hesitation, but my issue is that its 12 feet tall and I don't have enough ladders to build my own scaffold like he does. Last night, while we were cleaning out the garage, he happened to be in his driveway, and asked us if it was alright if he came to trim the hedge on the week-end. I'm like, its my hedge, your offering to come and trim it for me, of course its alright, I'll make sure everything is ok for it.

Then you get the neighbour across the street. They, aren't really bad neighbours, but they are a little weird. First their dog is CONSTANTLY barking, I would love nothing more than to introduce him to my dog, and that would be the end of it. The last time my dog saw their dog, he was in my yard, and Mason tried to eat him. Mason was yanking at his chain trying to get at the dog ( we tie him up with chain strong enough to tow a car, since he has broken every "dog" chain we ever used on him). Next, they leave their dog loose running around the street, and when you bring it back to them, they are like "ok, sure", and don't really give a care.

All this to say, that I have pretty good neighbours, but I have heard some horrors stories told to me by friends ( that includes you Dom ) that make me think, that before buying a house, you should get to meet these people, to find out whether you are going to get along, or show up on the 6 o'clock news, for multiple homicide.

Movie Review : Superman Returns

Last night my wife and I went out to see the new Superman movie : Superman Returns. Overall I really liked the movie. It contains a good mix of action and story to make it worth seeing. One thing I appreciated about the movie, it is not a regurgitation of the previous movies, it actually had some new material.

The cast was acceptable, the new Superman (Brandon Routh) did a good job playing both Clark Kent and Superman. Kevin Spacey, portrayed and excellent Lex Luthor. My disappointment was with the choice for Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). She was not bad, I just had trouble believing her. I had an easier time believing in her character when she played the stuck up priss in Remember the Titans.

I would rate this movie and 8/10. It is a good movie, but by no means a movie that will use for comparison 10 years from now. It is what it is. A good sequel.

Website update

Well last night, I took about an hour, and updated my web page. It was really overdue. I am not finished, but did add some pictures, and some text.

What can I say, I was bored, there was nothing on TV, didn't feel like watching a movie, my wife was asleep, it was raining and it was only 9pm.

so take a look if you want, I will try to update other sections in the coming days/weeks/months ( depending on many factors ).

Renovations

The joy of renovating. This can be every homeowners joy, or dread. This all depends on whether the renovation is by choice of by need.

We started the renovations on what will become the nursery. They aren't major renovations, new moldings, new paint and some decorations. After stripping the moldings, I made a discovery. These "New" windows that were installed recently ( before we purchased the house ) were poorly installed. There is no Vapor barrier installed around the window, hence the condensation problem we have been having. I spent the day Sunday forearm deep in pink insulating wool.

The paint stripping is coming along, we have one full wall done. You may be asking why are we stripping the paint, well the previous idiot "oops, I meant to say owner" painting a coat of Latex paint, directly on top of the coat of Oil paint. Which means, that the latex in certain parts just peels off like seran wrap ( once you get a corner up, a sheet pulls up ).

What I am not looking forward to now is that, this was the window with the least visual problems. I am not looking forward to seeing the other window frames.

Hockey season has come to an end.

Well last night was game 7 of final round for Lord Stanley's Cup. It was a battle to the end, but Edmonton came up short. The game finished 3-1 ( 2-1 if you omit the empty net goal ).

It has been now 13 full years since the cup has been to its rightful home, CANADA. This is now 2 consecutive years, that a Canadian team has come within 1 game of bringing the cup home, last year was the Calgary Flames, and this year the Oilers, who were seated 8th at the end of the regular season. I firmly believe that it would have been a completely different series had Rolosen not been injured in game 1. I am not saying that Edmonton would have won for sure, just that the dynamic of the game would have been different. Rolosen had more confidence in the net, and in his puck handling abilities.

Oh well there is always next year.

There is one thing I would like to say to Pete Karmanos Jr.( who happens to also be the owner of the company I presently work for ) take care of Cam Ward, he is THE ONLY reason that Carolina won the cup. I am not saying that the rest of the team played poorly, they just didn't play exceptionnally. Maybe if they didn't have Ward, they would have stepped up their game, maybe not. There is no way to be sure.

Landscaping

Well this being the first nice week-end in the last month or so, it was designated landscaping week-end. This is because 3 weeks ago, we purchased the stones to redo the retaining wall in front of our house, and it hasn't stopped raining since that day.

Redoing a retaining wall is not as simple or easy a task as most people think, especially on an uneven ground.

Its now monday morning, and i am burnt, and exhausted. I can barely move, from the digging, moving of dirt, packing, and laying of stones.

The good news is that we are almost finished. We have 2 of the three layers done and glued. We have one more row to go, with some other minor details.

I sincerly enjoy working with my hands, but wonder sometimes, how people do this for a living when the temperature is what it was this week-end. I had to stop for 2 hours each day between 11:30 and 1:30, it was too hot for me to do manual labor. I would feel drained after a few minutes.

But looking at the wall now, it was worth the effort. The garden looks better, the front yard and overall the house looks better. I will post pictures when we are done.

Google's newest gadget

This is a more technical post that I am used to posting on this blog, but hey, I work in software development. It was bound to happen at sometime, right?!

Yesterday Google released its newest gadget for developpers. Have you ever wanted to create interactive web sites like GMail, Google Calendar, etc. But you know have lots to time to learn all the different browser quirks ( what works in IE, but not Firefox, etc). Well Google just relesaed Google Web Toolkit.

This toolkit allows you to write an application in Java, using Standard Object Oriented programming, using the Google library of widgets. Compiling a Google Web Toolkit project does not generate Class files like ordinary Java programs, instead in generates Javascript and Html code for your web application.

Take a look at some of the demos and see some of the possibilities.

Hockey season

Well its been a while since my last post.

First lets talk about hockey, i have seen team after team go down. First the habs ( of which i was there to watch ). It was an amazing game, but they just couldn't keep up. The goaltending was OUTSTANDING, but the rest of the team, was content in playing good hockey. The goal scorers simply did not show up during the series. But you have to hand it to Cam Ward. Extraordinary performance.

then we have the Ottawa senators, who had an exemplary season, and then died off in the playoffs. Now I can't say its all Ray Emry's fault, because its not. He is a second string goaltender who played really well, for a second string goaltender. When you lose games like 7-6, etc. There is something wrong.

My only interest in the rest of the playoffs, is to hope that Edmonton makes it all the way, and to keep an eye on the team who's owner is also my boss.

Better luck next year.

The Habs' last chance

Well it has come to this, Montreal is down 3-2 in the series, with game 6 coming back to Montreal. With the way our hockey pool was setup, this is the game I have tickets for. I would love to be there and see them win this game to take it back to Carolina and win. But before they can do that, there are a few things they need to do.

First, the offense needs to wake up and start shooting on goal, not NEAR the goal. If the puck does go towards the net, it can't go in. They also need to step up the offense, and play like they want to win.

The next, and I think the most important part, they need to stay out of the penalty box. These penalties are killing them. Friday night, while penalty killing Stahl scored. Last night while they were down 2-1, with 2:36 left, Bonk takes a STUPID penalty.

Come on guys, do you honestly believe you have SUPERSTARS that can score more goals while penalty killing? WAKE UP.

anyways, I can't wait to see the atmosphere tomorrow night.

does the Florida sun cause brain damage?

Now this is not a post complaining about Florida as much as it is about hockey.

The point i want to convey, is that i think being in Tampa, has caused serious brain damage to one of the leagues good players. Vincent Lecavalier. Don't get me wrong he is still a very good player, i just don't think he still has all the brain cells he left montreal with. Otherwise, he would have realized that the smart thing to do is not to try and pick a fight with a giant.

The incident i am referring to occured during game 3 of the Ottawa Tampa playoff series. Near the end of the game, 2:17 left in the 3rd period to be exact, all hell broke loose. Chris Neil, was being Chris Neil, and set into motion an unavoidable effect, a full out brawl. Some of the matchups were evenly matched, Pratt vs. Heatley, Verada and whoever was hitting him from behind, but the matchup that gets me is when Lecavalier thought it smart to take on Big Chara.

For those of you who saw this, it was an impressive thing. Chara threw 2 lefts at Lecavalier's head, then threw him to the ground, and held his fist ready to kill him. But Chara held back, he knew he won, and didn't see it necessary to injure Lecavalier. Lecavalier is by no means a small or weak player, he is in my opinion one of the toughest players out there, I remember him going toe to toe with Inginla a few years ago in one of the best hockey fights i have seen. But he was simply outsized against Chara.

You knew it right away, when Lecavalier hit the ground and rushed to cover his head for protection.

This is my reasoning, why the Tampa sun is causing brain damage to our great Canadian hockey players.

Nervous moments

Yesterday, my wife had her second doctor's appointment for the pregnancy. Normally just a routine check-up. Nothing to worry about right.

Well when the doctor went to check for the baby's heartbeat, we were waiting to hear it , nothing came. So she started moving the microphone around, and still nothing. After almost a minute of this, my wife and I looked at each other, just ready to flip out, but all of a sudden the doctor found it.

Here she is trying to explain to us that it depens where the baby is hidding, I didn't hear a word she said. I was just so relieved to hear the heart beat. This kid isn't even born yet, and its already trying to give me a heart attack.

Movie Review: Brokeback Mountain

Ok. This week-end my wife and I decided to see what all the hype was about. We rented Brokeback Mountain. We had both heard great things about this movie, and nothing bad.

After having watched the movie, I wonder what was so spectacular about this movie. The movie wasn't bad or anything like that, just seemed to me like it lacked something. Both actors played the roles well. I actually believed they were both gay. The cowboy part was a little harder to believe, but still.

It's not that I disliked the movie or anything, I guess I just couldn't get into it. I have to rank it no higher than 6/10. Like I said, it wasn't a bad movie, just slow to develop, and leaves you expecting more than is actually coming.

The new cycling season

Well spring is here once again. I once again begin my summertime hobby, cycling.

The first couple of rides of the year are always the worst, sore muscle, pain from the bicycle seat. But after the first couple of rides, is peace and quite for some serious exercise. Last night I went for my second ride of the season, about 15km. The first ride, last wednesday was about 22km. Its not a bad start, but i am hoping by the end of may to be going 2 maybe 3 times a week for 25 km or ( about an hour ). Its good exercise, keeps you healthy.

Although i seriously need to get my bike checked. I think the shifter is loose, because the chain makes a weird noise when i cruize.

Car Review: Toyota Yaris RS 2006

As some of you may know, I purchased a new Toyota Yaris back at the end of February. My old car, and Oldsmobile Alero was starting to cause more headaches than I was willing to put up with. I know this is a much smaller car that my old one, but that is what we wanted, something small for day to day travelling.

Now that we have had the car for a little while, and had a first real road test, we drove to Toronto and back this week-end. I am pleasantly impressed with the car. First, the fuel economy is very nice, about 7.46 l/100km(highway) (42.22 mpg for all the imperial people out there). Which I might add feels nice on the wallet compared to the Alero.

Second thing that I was happy with, the seats offer just enough support for those long trips. I was initially afraid that they would be uncomfortable, as I used to drive a Mazda 323, and it was painful to drive on long trips (+ 3 hours). The seats offer enough support all around, although I truly belive that anyone with a broader frame than mine would find it uncomfortable and have the shoulders hunched in. The seats are of a sporty type, and therefor quite rigid offering a stiff support, but at the same time not offering much room for expansion.

The two issues that I do have with the car, and one you have to expect in small cars, it gets pushed around alot on open highway. Wind gusts, drafts caused by trucks have a tendancy to push the car around. The second issue I have is about the noise. It seems very noisy inside when drive, its not from the tires, but from the wind. You have a constant whistling noise around the car the minute the speedometer reaches 120km/h.

But overall I am very satisfied with the car, it has enough "guts" to easily get you around slow moving vehicles, or for quick passing. It also has a nice feel about it while cruising at reasonable speeds.

I would definitely recommend this car, for anyone in the market for a compact car for everyday use. I may change my opinion once the baby comes along (as space may become an issue).

Dog training with a choke chain

As some of you know ( those that know me, or that have previously read my blog ) I have a very large dog. He now weighs, at just under 9 months, 80lbs. At last week's obedience lesson, the trainer brought in another dog, to serve as distraction.

Well it worked, my dog could think of nothing else then trying to go and see the other dog. He spent the first couple of minutes tring to pull me to go see this dog. Thankfully that I was the one holding the leash and not my wife, as he was trying my patience and my strength. The trainer immediately suggested using a choke chain for future training. Several people had previously suggested this approach, and we were reluctant until that incident. This week-end we went out and bought our first choker.

This thing is massive ( as it goes by the size of the neck on your dog ). Last night we had our first opportunity to try walking the dog with the chain. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. He still trys to pull, but the minute he realizes that the chain gets tighter around his neck he stops. My wife, with a little practice, was able to restrain him, without getting yanked around.

I do believe that I sold. For large breeds that tend to pull, I think the choke chain is the way to go.

I don't know if there is any set rule, but I guess you need to measure the strength versus delicateness of their windpipe in deciding whether a choke chain is appropriate.

Tonight is our next lesson with the trainer, i can't wait to see if it makes a difference when another dog is in close proximity.

Movie Review: A History of Violence

I watched this movie last night on DVD. I had wanted to see it in the theatres, but got busy and missed my opportunity. Before seeing the movie, I didn't have much of an impression, as I had only seen one preview, that of a mild mannered man working in a small diner type restaurant, who is faced with unavoidable violence, and comes out on top.

Now that I saw the movie, all 96 minutes of it, I am left with the impression, that they could have rolled an extra 5 minutes to actually give this movie an ending.

( warning the following section reveals parts of the movie )
The movie starts out pretty good, and then builds up some suspense, while leaving nothing to the imagination ( from the sex scenes, the drugs, or the bloody violence ). But at the end when all the bad guys are blown to pieces, he just walks back into his house, stands there for a while. His daughter, after a few awkward moments, sets him a place at the table. He takes a seat, and then yet again another awkward silence, his son offers him, what looks to be meatloaf, without anything being said. The whole time you are expecting either someone to say, leave, or to welcome him home, but nothing. The clincher, after what seems like an eternity, he and his wife lock eyes, and the movie ends.
(end revealing section)

It wasn't a bad movie, but I must say I was left wanting.

The miracle of life

This past friday ( March 31st ) my wife and I had our first appointment with the Obstetrician. My wife is currently 10 weeks pregnant. We had a chance to hear the heart beat, as well as get a first look of the baby with the ultrasound. It was a very REAL moment. It kinda shakes the reality into, and what a reality it is.

Its not an easy feeling to explain, but man, what a moment in time. Your just sitting there watching the doctor take out what looks like a portable kareoke machine, and then all of a sudden, you can hear a "extremely rapid" heartbeat. Now at first you could think that a fast heart beat is a problem, then you remember that smaller beings have a faster heart rate.

Now I like to think i have good eyesight, but when she showed us the picture on the ultrasound, i couldn't make out what was what. I guess they must train these doctors to recognized certain formations, because at the size the baby is now, I can't tell up from down. ( for those of you who are interested, I will try to post the picture of the ultrasound online this week ).

stay tuned for play by play of future appointments

Hockey, the good, the bad, the ugly

As some of you may know I am a hockey fan. I have season tickets for the Montreal Canadian ( shared in a group ). I am not so much a fan of the home team, as of the sport. But at this week-ends match, I had quite an experience. The game was Montreal vs. rival Toronto, both fighting for a playoff spot. So as you can imagine, their were alot of emotions on the ice, as well as in the stands.

First things first, when we got to the game, just as the anthem was finishing, i thought i walked into the wrong arena. The leaf jersey's outnumbered the canadiens jersey's 2 to 1. Second, I was impressed to see how involved the Toronto fans were. They were cheering on their team right up until half way into the second ( at a score of 4-1 ). Until that moment, you couldn't even tell there were canadien fans in the stands, as Toronto had been out-cheering throughout the whole game. It was at this point i realized alot of montreal people aren't satisfied with cheering on their team, they feel the need to insult the opposing crowd. Now this baffles me, having your team win ( and by quite a margin as the game finished 6-2 ) isn't good enough, you find it necessary to insult the other fans. Personnaly to see my team win, should be a moment of pride, and to stand tall, not crawl around in the gutters with personal insults to the other fans. As they say around here "ya du monde qui savent pas vive!"

Another point i wish to make, and this is directly towards the staff of the Montreal Bell Center. YOU ARE A BUNCH OF HYPOCRITES! Now that i have said it, let me explain why. Early during the match ( like 10 minutes into the first period ) a couple of security guards ( if you can call them that ) came into section 430, and had were having what seemed to be a heated discussion with some toronto fans. After a couple of minutes i see the guards leaving with a Toronto flag on a broomstick. The explanation that I overheard was for security reasons they don't allow any sticks in the stands. Now i can agree to this, as it can be dangerous, but at least be fair, because no later than 20 seconds after this moment, did they show 3 people on the "jumbotron" waving full sized canadiens flags on broomsticks. These three people appeared no fewer than 4 times on the screens, and at least until midway through the third period. Now can someone explain to me, why they confiscated the Toronto flag and not the Canadiens one, is it because of a) We are in Montreal, not Toronto ( which if you ask me is a lot of crap,as they are allowed to cheer on their team if they want ) or b)because we were in the upper deck, and the canadiens flags were in the more expensive seats, and they figure that since they paid more, they should be allowed to get away with more?

What do you do when you run out of things to blame......

Ok, this I am not a religious person. I have nothing against any religion, so long as they respect that some people don't agree with their beliefs.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I have to share something that I found totally hilarious. While I was browsing news stories yesterday, I came across this article and just had to share it. The thought of it had me rolling around on the floor.

If fascinates me that people can think we, as a race, can pollute, consume resources, boost our food with steroids without having consequences, and then blame something (in this particular case, GOD) for punishing us, and for what, because some politicians are trying to legalize homosexual marriages.

This is a subject that I am very adamant about (the wasting of our resources, not homosexual marriages, which I have no problem with), and can go on for hours discussing, but I will spare you that.

My point today is simply that it baffles me to think that people, as in society not individuals, would rather blame some higher power than to look in their own backyards. Its a wonder this type of disease hasn't surfaced sooner, with the way we inject steroids, vitamins, etc into the food we eat, that the viruses are also getting stronger.

Sneaky GMail

Well after reading a few articles today during my lunch hour, it would seem that GMail is not exactly what most thought it to be.

All this news chatter about GMail was caused because of a subpoena that is requiring Google to turn over all the emails from a certain Gmail account. In the subpoena, it clearly states, not just the email from the inbox, sent items, and that, but also the deleted emails.

It would seem that google doesn't actually delete anything even when you do. Everything is stored on their servers, ready and available for their browsing and data mining needs.

Now i firmly believe that if you send documents electronically, the sole responsibility for their security is your own, either encrypt the data, don't send it, or don't complain. But the fact that Google never deletes my mail is causing me to think a little more about what i want to send to my Gmail account.

I doubt i will change my habits, but this fact definitely falls into the "You learn something new everyday" category.

for anyone wanting more information about what Gmail does and does not do i suggest a quick read.

http://www.gmail-is-too-creepy.com/

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/03/17/1548216.shtml

just my 2 cents

Obedience Lessons

Ok, so we started obedience training for our dog on tuesday.

I realized that he definitely needed some training, when he started pulling my wife around at the end of his leash. I don't have a problem walking him, as i out weigh him by over 100lbs, and am still much stronger than him, so i hadn't noticed so much that he has a tendency to pull on his leash. But after my wife telling me, that he dragged her around, sirens started going off in my head.

So Tuesday night he trek out to the middle of nowhere ( thats half between here and somewhere, for the lay person, St-Jacques-le-mineur), to see this woman, who we got a great recommendation for, especially for large breed dogs ( or small horses, however you choose to describe my dog ). So we get there, and i half expect to see the the female equivalent of an ogre, and there stands this little woman. I say ok, lets give this a try anyways, what can we lose, a couple of kilometers of driving through the middle of nowhere. So we start the "lesson" and she is asking us what she will teach us (because at some point she is teaching the owners how to behave around the dog so he listens to you). Then she starts the demonstration, she starts yanking on his leash ( not hard, just quick and sharp ) and low an behold, after a couple of minutes he is actually not pulling on the leash. Halleluhiah. So we each give it a try, and we start yanking as soon as he is not walking where he should be, and he starts listening ( walking next to us, and not pulling ).

She then throws the explanation at us, you shouldn't have to use force to train your dog, simple quick movements to bring him back to what you want him doing, and he will learn. It seems the more strengh you use to train your dog the stronger he becomes, and the more he will be able to fight you.

They should really have had a booklet of what not to do when you own a BIG dog. These aren't problems most owners face, as i can't really see a mop dog ( thats what i call a dog that could pass for a mop if only you shoved a broom handle up their backside ) yanking around a person weighing in over 100lbs. But for a big dog, these little tricks can really make the difference.

I can't wait to see whats in store for the next lesson.

A tribute to "Boom Boom"

This Saturday I was in the stands for the sold out attendance at the Montreal Bell Center, for the Montreal vs. Rangers hockey game. In itself is a good night, but we were treated to a once in a lifetime experience, a tribute to the life of one of Hockey's greatest players.

Now I am not a religious zealot when it comes to Hockey, however certain events merit a time to reflect. Many of today's fans, consider some of the young "all-stars" to be the greatest thing to come into hockey ( Sydney Crosby, Ilya Kovalchuck and many more come to mind ). Don't get me wrong, these players are very good at what they do, play the game. But few players in today's league have what it takes to evolve the game of hockey.

Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion earned his nickname by becoming the founding father of what is known as the modern day slapshot. Many people just assumed that such things have been around since the dawn of hockey, just like helmets, or goalie masks. It is players like him, that forced the game to evolve into what we see today. And this is the reason, why in my opinion "Boom Boom" joins a short list of players who have helped make the game what it is today. This list includes such names as Maurice "The Rocket" Richard, Bobby Orr, Jacques Plante, Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Roy, Ken Dryden, Gordie Howe, Mario Lemieux, and few more.

I do have one thing I would like to clarify. I heard many whispering while I was in the crowd, of why would his family be there when he died that very morning in his sleep. I agree that this may seem strange to some people, but I believe his son said it best, " It's what he (Boom Boom) would have wanted." To anyone who has ever met any of the "true greats" of hockey, can tell in an instant, that their love of this game goes beyond comprehension. I was once lucky enough when I was just a kid playing the game to meet some of these greats ( Henri Richard, Boom Boom, and a few more ) who were playing in an old-timers game at the Maurice Richard area ( where I was playing in a tournament.) Someone that surprised me, was they seemed to be more enthusiastic to be around the game of hockey, than anyone in that tournament. It is for this reason, that I want to thank to Geoffrion family (and everyone else who was there for the event ) for paying the proper respects to one of the best hockey ambassadors we could ever want.

Maybe these are just the ramblings of a hockey fan, but I was honored to be part of the crowd for this event and will not soon forget it.

My dumb dog

My wife and I purchased a dog, around september. He was such a cute little thing. Reasonable well behaved, and healthy. We knew he would be a big dog, but that reality is only starting to sink in now.

He is a cross-breed between a husky and a bull mastif. At just under 8 months now, he weighs in at about 70lbs. But that fact isn't what brought me to reality this morning. I did my usual routine, got up, let him out, fed him. Once he ate, i tied him up to his chain to go and have my shower. As i am going upstairs i look out the window and see the end of his chain, but no dog ( now all this is less than 5 minutes. ) I go back down stairs, to see him sitting on the gallery, with the chain hanging from his coller. Now this is the second time in two days ( scratch that, 12 hours ) that he has broken his chain. This chain is the size on my finger, made especially for dogs.

I now need to go and find something industrial strength, to attempt to keep him tied up. Great way to begin the morning, thats for sure.

First Post

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