Happy New Year!

Well, we just got home from our bus trip up to New Brunswick and boy is the cat happy to see us!

It was nice getting to meet more of my wife's family, and we got to enjoy snow while we were there.... not much mind you, but we did get snow.
By the way, I'm not to be held responsible for the snow that seems to have followed us home!

I have a couple of days off just after the new year, between installing new software, I'll see about getting the Christmas photos up on my website.

1 Week Left!!!!

Well, one week left till the big day.... at least for most of us.

As the commercial industry braces for the big crunch of shoppers cramming the stores with last minute shopping, I'm pretty much sitting back in the comfort that - what shopping I did this year - is all done... the last of it was ordered today and will be shipping out.

It actually doesn't feel much like Christmas to me this year.... our snow has all melted, we don't have any decorations set up here at home yet, and cause of my night job, I haven't gone to stores much this year... having gotten most of my gifts online.
We did help my parents get their live tree on Saturday, and mom's started decorating her home. When my dad gets back from BC this week, it'll be a mad rush to get the rest of the house decorated for the holiday.
I guess the reason we haven't bothered decorating the apartment is that we won't be here much for the holiday... with spending Christmas day at mom's, and then going to New Brunswick to spend time with my wife's side of the family till New Year, there's not much reason to set up decorations here. At least I'm playing my Christmas tune collection as I compose my blogs.

Most of us are sitting here wondering if we're going to have a white Christmas this year. While the temperature is dropping to it's norm (just below freezing) for this time of year, they're announcing a clear week - meaning no snow in the immediate forecast.

Oh well, at least i got the shot in last week when we DID have snow on the ground. It's all gone now... You know, I don't ask much from Winter, I just want a white Christmas.. the rest of the season can do whatever it wants..

Merry Christmas to all my online friends and family, may this season find you in good spirits.

First Snow Fall

For the past couple of weeks now, I've been boasting to my online friends that winter has so far missed the Maritimes.

Well, this picture of our back lot as of 5:30pm would seem to indicate otherwise. Now lets see if the snow will stick around for more than a day.

It's not a pretty picture, I'll see if I can take a more scenic shot tonight or tomorrow morning as I head out for work in a few hours.

Kids are so cute: A a couple of hours after this picture, the plow came by and cleared the back parking lot. He suddenly exclaimed: "Oh no, they broke it! It's all gone!" It had us in stitches, it was so precious!

Photo Gallery Catchup.

Ok, I've started catching up with my photo gallery on my website.
I've got the fall pictures in.... working in reverse as there were fewer fall pictures that summer pictures to deal with. ;o)

For those who've visited my picture gallery before, I have reworked the layout a bit - which I think helps for consistency as well as makes it a little more attractive. With the gallery rework done, I'll have more time for summer photo pages. As it's almost 6 am, I'll start work on the summer photos tomorrow. Here's a teaser from the fall pictures.

Falling back into my blog

Ever get those times when you want to do someting, but somehow keep putting it off a little bit every day?... Well that's what happened to my blog.

So.. where to start with all this?

Well, it's fall (I'll try and get some beautiful picture up soon), and the kids are back in school. We've taken on taking care of a couple of our neighbours before and after school - so I'm starting to hear Dad a lot more often!

I hope to finally get caught up with my summer photos by Hallowe'en... well, hopefully before then, but I'm being realistic.

I finally kicked my Puzzle Pirates addiction, but I'm still spending most of my time playing computer games - hence the delays in my website. I also haven't started up my gaming groups this fall. Mainly cause - outside of the wife - no-one's asking me if I'm kicking the campaign back into gear or not. Honestly, I probably won't be GMing again unless I get more than one request. It's not that I don't enjoy it, it's just a lot of work for too few people.

I'll be offering some other gaming options to a select few people - mainly my kids - soon. So, for my kids, I'll have the first issue up soon, just need to finish setting it up. :)

Beach fun.

Well, I still haven't gotten my pictures off my camera yet.... good thing the memory card holds about 5 rolls of film... ;o)

These past couple of days we got the chance to enjoy some nice weather - something that seems to be getting rare this summer.
The UV index climbed to 8 on Tuesday! A bit scarry, but with generous use of sunblock and spending most of your time in the water, the heat was tollerable. The ocean's still pretty cold right now, so we decided for a change of pace and explored one of Nova Scotia's many lakes. Out around Head of Chezzetcook there's this little lake off the highway close to the Elephant B&B. For those who know how to find it, it's this quaint little beach with a platform at a comfortable swimming distance. It also has a lifeguard, so it's not overrun with unwanted people.
It wasn't suppose to rain that night, but around 1:30am a thunderstorm rolled in and poured on us all - while we were camping out in tents! We were ok, but the 2 in the smaller dome tent ended up getting a bit wet, so it wasn't a restful night for some... I myself couldn't sleep till the rain ended, cause I was worried that our new tent would leak..

Wednesday we went back to the lake, and on the way home to my parents, stopped at a friend's place along Porter's Lake and took a dip there. The water was so nice, we didn't want to get out, but the kids were complaining about being hungry, so we went back home and had chicken on the BBQ. With my dad being away most of this summer, I've been doing a lot of cooking at my parents' place... I don't mind - with my night job I don't get the chance to cook as much as I used to at home, so it's good doing something to help Mom.

Couldn't bike to work today.. it's rained most of the day, the roads are wet, and it was still a fairly heavy mist when I got out to grab the bus... With no mud guards and no proper rain gear for cycling, I would have gotten soaked trying to get to work! I just hope the morning crew isn't late so I can get home in a timely manner in the morning...

Summer is Happenin'!

Wow! What a busy summer so far!

Class let out at the end of June, and since then it's been a wirlwind series of events:

1) Canada Day! What a gorgeous day for Canada's birthday - we're still a young country at 138!
The day was packed with fun an adventure... First there was a pancake breakfast at Alderney Landing. 2 pancakes weren't very filling, but we still had a lot to do that day, it was off to more adventures. A quick hop across the harbour on the ferry and we were on the Halifax Waterfront. Where the HMCS Halifax was docked not far away and open for tours. Of course the lower decks were off limmits, but it was still neat being on the ship and seeing the bridge, weapon systems and such. Then we hiked up the hill to the Citadel, which was open for free for the day. There was a long boring open ceremony, some cake and we took the chance to tour some of the Citadel's exhibits while we had the chance. We walked down to the Commons (an open park beside Citadel Hill) and had some lunch before heading home.
After a short nap, we went down to watch the fireworks - which I must say - were better than most I've seen in the couple of years since I lived in this city. After the fireworks, it was off to work...

2) July 4th: While a holliday for those in the US, it was a big day for us as well. My kids flew in from Winnipeg! We had a great time at Steak-n-Stein for supper, then a they were off to my Mom's while I got a quick 2 hour nap in before work... I'd spent the morning getting my bike 'mostly' fixed (the derailer's still giving me trouble), so I hadn't gotten much sleep that day.

3) July 5th: The cycling adventure! Chip and I cycled from our place in Dartmouth, out to Mom's place in Porter's Lake. While it's only about 35km away, cause the Trans-Canada Trail mostly follows the coastline, the over-all trip is more like a 50km ride. The trail is overall enjoyable... sections of the trail, either due to weather or lack of funds, aren't as nicely maintained as others. We were originally hoping to take the trailer out on the trail and bike out to Mom's place. But between barricades, partially washed out causeways (leaving only narrow clear trail), to rough trail, to trails barely more than that made from a truck or atv, to soft sand/lumber road... I don't think the trailer will make it. The trip took us about 8 hours to do... seeing as my son can't bike as fast as I do. Over all we enjoyed the trip.. there are some absolutely gorgeous sights to see, great rest stops to admire, and it is so peacefull. We had light fog for most of our trip, which actually was kind of nice.. when the fog finally burned off the heat was horrible! Good thing it was only for the last hour and a half of our journey.

4) July 6th: We took a trip down to Mosquidoboit to the railway museum, they have a few interesting artifacts. We took a short walk down the trail there, till we arrived at an old iron railbridge. My Mom's older dog was getting tired, so we headed back... admiring the wild rose bushes, scenery and munching on a few wild strawberries on the way. The kids had a lot of fun, my daughter really loves the peacefullness and beauty of Nova Scotia... so much different than the prairie town she lives in. We enjoyed some ice cream before heading home, the weather proved to be uncooperative for some fun on the beach.

5) July 7th: I left Chip at my parents' so he could spend time with his siblings.. I just hope they don't drive Mom crazy... It was a beautiful day for a ride back to the city along the trail. I got to see much more of the view without the fog, but the ride home was a lot hotter... I went through most of my water. Cause of the heat, I didn't spend too much time sightseeing or taking pictures. I did get a couple of nice shots... took a couple of 'lunch breaks' along the route at some of the more scenic locations. In all it only took 5 hours on my own, but with the amount of cycling I do each day, I can push myself farther and faster than I can the kids, so I was doing some really good time on some of the nicer sections of trail. I didn't want to take my time, cause I'm working tonight, and wanted to catch a bit of napping time and rest before cycling to work. Hopefully my knees will forgive me for all the work I've put them through this week. ;o)

Once I'm done downloading pictures from my camera, I'll see about putting one or two here.. or you can always see pictures of my adventures on my website - which is linked on the left.

Hope you're all having a wonderful summer so far!

Family Cycling Adventures

After all the rain we've had (nearly 2 weeks straight), we finally had some beautiful weather this weekend!

So we took the opportunity for the whole family to go cycling - to see what the local Trans-Canada Trails had to offer. With the Oceanview Trail, we can go all the way to my parents' place while mostly staying off the roads.

We first tried to go along to Easter Passage to start at the beginning of the trail there. Let me tell you, if you ever plan to cycle in Dartmouth, don't take Pleasant St - it is not a pleasant ride! The road has constant traffic, including a lot of large trucks, and it's poorly maintained. There are no bike lanes, so it's either take a risk with traffic, of hopscotch from one side of the road to the other trying to follow the alternating sidewalk.
When we finally made it to the trail, it was smooth sailing, and we made much better time on the trail. Most of the TransCanada Trail is a mix of parkland and multi-use trails following old railroad beds. So the going is rather flat, with little incline... Some parts of the trail are better maintained than others, and where possible they do warn you when you move from maintained trails to rough trails still under construction.

In the end we finally made it to the Salt Marshes, but turned back due to the hot sun, no sunscreen, we pretty much depleted most of our water and liquids, and most of us were getting pretty tired. To alternate our route, we decided to head up Bissett Rd on our way back, and the trip home was significantly more enjoyable, despite being tired and thirsty. We finally made it back to Cole Harbour, and eventually back home, after 6 hours we were tired, thirsty, sunburnt, but over all satisfied that we took the trip. Chip managed to do all the cycling on his own, so it looks like we'll be putting the funds that we were going to put into a 3rd wheel into camping gear instead. We definately found a new family outing experience. Soon as we all have time off, we'll probably head out again - though we won't be making it all the way out to my parent's place till we can devote a day to each trip.

Bike Week

Are you doing your bike for the environment?

During Environment Week (June 4 to 10, 2006), join your fellow Canadians in proving that sustainable modes of transportation work!

It's times like these that I love the fact that I don't have a car. Outiside of my regular commuter travel on the - not always convenient, but still effective - transit system we have here in HRM. Now that it's nice out, cycling is being largely promoted as the most efficient mode of transportation to get around the city.
It's not for the faint of heart. The hills here make for a good workout - particularly if your heading across the harbour. Now only if it would stop raining so much so that I can actually benefit from it!

The thing I love the most about Bike Week is that the ferry, and busses bearing bike racks, are free for commuters. If you need to get across fast - then take a break and let transit get you part of the way!

Spring has sprung!

Well the good weather is finally here!
This Sunday I was out at my parents' place, it was so beautiful with the sun out, that we spent the afternoon with the neighbour out on the deck while our kids played together in the new sandbox my dad set up.

Our first BBQ of the season wasn't fancy fair: Hamburgers and Hot Dogs, but is was a testament that the good weather is now with us! :o)

Though the trees are still budding, the grass is already green and needs cutting. Flowers are in full bloom, and the air smells fresh! I love this time of year! Despite the rainy days - like Saturday's downpour, this is truely the month of rebirth.

Easter and Healing

Well, Easter has come and gone, as most people are coming down from their sugar highs, figured I'd drop a post.

I usually enjoy Easter. The chocolate, the excited kids, the Easter Egg Hunts... Just brings out the kid in you!
Well, with my recent surgery and having to work the entired of the weekend on the mend, I can't say I really enjoyed it much this year. I'm feeling better now, still hurts to use the washroom, but over all life is slowly returning to normal.

The wife got a new desk for her birthday, soon as I'm better we need to finish repositioning all the furniture to make room for it all. Well, they do say that Spring is a time for renewal, moving things around is one way to get a new feeling out of the old appartment.

I joined a second forum game on Dumpshock, think I'm getting addicted to play-by-post! I've even suggested it to my online live group as we've been having scheduling issues lately. It's hard enough planing for a live game, even harder when your players are scattered over 8 time zones!
Some of them are on the fence about the issue, I'll have to see if they come around.

Long time no Post

I know I haven't posted for awhile and for that I appologize...
Not like it has been a very busy time, just things keep coming up and I never get around to dropping a note - seeing as there's not much to say. ;)

Well, lately - outside of work - Role-Playing Games have really taken up most of my time. Between my D&D campaign, my Shadowrun campaign and now Dumpshock play-by-post gaming, I'm keeping my imagination flowing.

Recently I had the unfortunate discovery of having a kidney stone, it was only 4mm in size, but it hurt like hell! They removed it a week after and now I think the recovery process is more painful than the problem was! But it seems to be slowly getting better.. not bad considering I had my urinal tract assulted about 24 hours ago.

Well, I'm off to the Dumpshock boards, I'll keep you posted how it goes.

Moving into March Break

As March Break nears, I'm sure many parents are busy sorting out what to do with their munchkins for the week... after all, not all of us can take a week off like our kids - though I bet some of us wish we could!

As for me, I've been working extra hours with the rash of sicknesses that's been roaming around. I even lost 2 days of work last week myself when I lost my voice to a throat infection. Fortunately I'm never sick for long, must mean I have a strong constitution, and I'm back to work filling in for those who can't be here. Inconsistant days off means I've fallen behind in my web development alot since the New Year, and I'm striving to get time/energy to get the backlog caught up.

For the geeks out there, I've been pondering the concept of setting up Wikis for my gaming sites, so that my players can help fill in the gaps in gear, skills, feats, etc. that I haven't had time to put in... Two RPGs are a lot of work to keep up gaming resources for... particularly when one of them is a world that's no longer actively in print. Unfortunately not everyone can have access to these resources, for copyright reasons, I can only share it with the gaming groups...
My only issues so far as Wikis go is:
a) most of them are designed for Linux, and I just don't have a spare box kicking around that I can devote to a stand-alone server at this time.
b) wikis don't offer a great deal of style options, and those who have seen my website projects can attest that I love tweaking page layouts with custom colours and fonts... though I am seing increased support for various CSS configuations, so it might just be a matter of heavily tweaking the style sheets to my needs.

Oh well, till I get a dedicated box, most of these issues are a moot point I suppose.

Hope you're enjoying some good weather where you are, and for you students out there: Happy March Break!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Though it's been a mild winter, Valentine's Day was white here in the Maritimes.
It was a beautiful crisp day to spend time with the one you love, and warm enough to enjoy a short walk outside.

I hope you all had a wonderful day!

The Big White Yo-Yo

Nature can't decide whether we're suppose to have Winter or not....
After several weeks of unseasonably warm weather, Winter seems to have decided that it's hasn't given us a fair chance yet.... as the storm hit us Tuesday night we experienced the season in all it's not-so-wonderful splender: High Winds, blowing snow, blizzard conditions - and to top it all off - every school and social group closed for most of the day Wednesday. When I checked the HRM School Board's web site at 4am, they had already annouced every school in the metro area would be closed. The first Snow Day of the year, and man were the kids excited!

According to the weather bureau, we're suppose to get more of the white stuff this weekend... we'll see whether that materializes or not...we've had our fair share of false alarms this year.

Where did winter go?

Shortly after Christmas, it started getting warmer... what snow we did get, as I mentioned in my previous post didn't last long. Outside of a few chunks of hardened snowpiles, the snow is pretty much all gone!

Today temperatures rose to 10ºC, outside of a little freezing rain to make things slippery, one barely needed gloves. After 12 years of living in the near arctic winters of Winnipeg, this is surely a big change for me! No snow in January?! Now that's something that's amazing in my experiences.