Trying out the medical system

We dealt with the first high fever of my daughter's young life this week.  She had a low grade fever Sunday and Monday and spiked up to 40 degrees celsius tuesday night.  So off we went to the hospital in the middle of the night.  Nothing says welcome to the medical system like a rectal thermometer at 3:30 in the morning.  Then they told me to put my clothes back on and put the child on the table.  :-)  She's still cranky but better than she was. 

2 pony-tails!

Who me?

This child gets more stuffed animals from that rest home than any other child I have ever met.

That's it grandma, use the ear submission hold I taught you. Bunny never talks back anymore.

They promised me a pony ... I'm still waiting.

[Fwd: RII &“What would Descartes subscribe to?”]

<http://www.43folders.com/2005/12/05/cogito-ergo-tara/>

--
Sean Edwards
seanje@telus.net

Climing the slide.

Caught mid-sentence. This happens a lot now.

Playing Sims 2 on the playstation. Get em young, train them well.

Kelowna - Playground outside the front door - very useful - indoor pool another 20 feet

View from the back deck in our vacation condo in Kelowna.

For once, sit, stay, smile worked better with my wife then it did with the child.

:-)

If mommy asked I was never here and this never happened.

I yanked his jersey over his head and laid into him. He tried to turtle but I was too strong. Bet that's the last time he tries to eat my animal crackers. The daycare workers said I could come out of the corner when I was six. That sounds like a long time...

One more bear and I could call myself Goldilocks.

Obi wan Kenobi has nothing on me...

6, carry the 9, plus the square root of 74

Aye, captain that is land ahead

Not quite sure what's going on

It's not paranonia if they really are watching you

New fall coat

We went to the park on Saturday to see our friends play ultimate. He also had a new nikon 6mp SLR with a telephoto. Hilarity ensues.

My Wonderful Wife

My wife through her persistence managed to exchange my dead Palm for a
brand new one at London Drugs. Kudos to them for excellent customer
service and kudos to my wife for her hard work. Going a week without
the Palm really made me realize how much information I store in that
device and how often (20+ times a day) I go to refer to it. My wife is
so smart. :-)

On the folly of technology

My shiny portable brain suffered a stroke last night. We had a nice dinner with my wife at a charming Indian restaurant in Maple Ridge. We laughed, we cried, we updated the to do list in a few quick strokes of the stylus. I came home, tucked my portable brain safely into its cubbyhole and wished it good night.  This morning it was cold and unresponsive.  Rigor mortis had set in. Soft resets, hard resets, direct power line hookups, nothing worked.  Darkness had fallen over the land.  ... Editor's note: A little over the top but we prefer not to use profanity in blog posts particularly when discussing certain companies that only offer a 90 day warranty on consumer items costing multiple hundreds of dollars.  5 months of operation followed by a sudden death is unacceptable.  I am now cutting and pasting templated forms to index cards to make a Hipster PDA.  I need to stop typing.  I am getting spots in front of my eyes as my blood pressure rises when I consider this situation.

S.

I dream of puppies

I walk into my daughter's room this afternoon to wake her from her
overly long nap. I walk up to the bed, she stirs, rubs her eyes and
blurts out without prompting, "I dream puppies."

I am not brainwashing her, honest. :-)

Normally, the answer to the question of what do the puppies look like is
"pink...and blue". I see a future for her in modern art.

The sights and scenes in Gaza Strip immediately after the Israeli troop pullback Monday, Sept 12, filled Israel’s defense leaders with dread. Total loss of control was manifested by the Palestinian Authority and the Egyptian border police, who stood by as tens of thousands of Palestinians indulged in a wild orgy of destruction, burning, looting and hurling themselves back and forth across the Gazan-Egyptian border unchecked.

Long months of painstaking negotiations with Egypt, the Palestinians and the United States for coordination on post-evacuation security were trampled underfoot. IDF sources estimated Tuesday night, Sept 13, that in two days, about 20,000 Palestinians had flocked into Egyptian Sinai from the Gaza Strip – most intending to stay there - and 3,000 Palestinians had crossed into the Gaza Strip.

Not a single Palestinian security officer was visible on the horizon. Egyptian border police, deployed under a binding protocol with Israel to block the border to unauthorized traffic, obligingly helped infiltrators clamber over the wall marking the frontier.

Hey Summer Breathers

We won the Wednesday night SPIRIT award for the last trimester. The VUL is very spirit orientated so we get a fantastic prize...a 19L KEG OF BEER!

I guess all those dirty limericks, songs and games paied off..not to mention our player of the game beer award and friendly competitive attitude. Stay tuned for a future e-mail regarding Heavy Breathing and friends party so we can enjoy our prize.

I've included VUL's announcement of our prize below for your interest

Steve

As trimester spirit award winners, you are awarded the fabled **pony of R&B beer**. Cherish it. Treat it like your own. Drink it while it's cold. (if you want it for this week, call them - blame me, they'll probably do you the favour).

A daily Starbucks purchase has become a ritual in our family. I tried to fight it. I tried to resist. I tried not to become another one of those suburbanites who spends upwards of $100 a month on designer caffeine. That plan died on the vine the day that Kimi and I attempted to replace our Venti lattes with a couple strong cups of drip coffee. Four hours later, we were parked in the Starbucks drive-thru, holding our aching heads in our hands.

I took out my nipple ring for the first time in 4664 days today. I had to get a chest x-ray and the technician asked it be removed. I didn't even know that I could get it out. I feel positively unbalanced. I have been wearing that piece of jewelery since I was 19 years old. It's been through my undergrad, my MA, trips to europe and latin america, various girlfriends and my now wife and many incredulous conversations.

You have to remember the cultural context of 1992 to understand the gesture somewhat. In Maple Ridge when I walked out with a steel ring in my chest to teach the first waterfit class of the new year with 50+ women there were some interesting reactions. This just wasn't done. Multiple earrings were still strange and body piercing was a long way from the main stream.

I got it done upstairs in Mac Leathers when it used to be on Granville by a somewhat sadistic burly piercier. My middle class illusions were shattered when he asked if I wanted the sharp needle or the dull one. The sharp one consisting of 8 gauge wire sharpened on a grindstone. I was also somewhat disturbed to discover that the freezing went on the end of the wire - something about horses and barns came to mind. After viewing, the clamp, pierce, and jewlery insertion my friend Jon suddenly lost his appetite for body piercing. Each to their own. Apparently my face matched my white shirt.

The silver has worn off and somehow it represents the lessons I"ve learned over the years. Shaped and molded by experience. Symbols are a powerful trigger to memory.

My beautiful wife with my daughter.

Playing peek-a-boo under the kitchen table.

We went to Saltspring Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to stay with family and catch up. We played cards, picked apples and plums from the trees and fresh tomatoes from the garden. Felicity followed the cat around and got to kiss it several times amongts adomitions of gentle, gentle. I am not sure if we were talking to her or the cat. We made music with family and reconnected around the minutiae of everyday life, kids, houses, bills, and food. As well, Felicity got to go on a big boat and run up the front with her hair streaming and chortle.

And the odds of me getting a girly girl who just loves high heeled shoes?

Now lean into that, girl. This ain't no namby pamby state sponsored orphanage. It's time to earn your keep. And none of that 'please sir, can I have some more.'

Apparently it is only against the law if you tape the box shut.

I look like my dad, yes I do. (Not that we keep track of these things) :-)

mmmm....doughnut

In between temper tantrums at the PNE

Katrina satelline pics - new orleans satellite pics - damage analysis

5 Reasons not to use linux

http://www.linux-watch.com.nyud.net:8090/news/NS8124627492.html
--
Sean Edwards
seanje@telus.net

It is terrifying what nature can do. By Monday night New Orleans may no longer exist.

Waiting for the bus. Better get used to it kid the way gas prices are going.

Arriving at the PNE after our bus ride.

Oblibatory arms length photo. I so need a photographic assistant.

We got up early in the morning and had breakfast and then got ready to go to the PNE to see the puppies. In toddler terms this means we get up at seven and leave the house at 9. We took the bus to PNE which she found overwhelming to begin with but then grew to like it. Super Dogs was a combination of feelings. Excitement about the puppies but the loud music and lights going on and off led to several incidents of "Daddy, Big Hug" and burying her face in my shoulder until it felt safe again. After the show we got to pet several dogs which was quite exciting. Picture shows the Super Dog running track.

Waiting for the Super Dogs to start.

A mostly unsuccessful attempt at lunch.

We had ice cream of course and Dad had another bag of God's ambrosia, sugar covered mini-doughnuts still hot from the boiling oil. Mmmm...down home goodness.

At the barn we saw one really big horse and lots of other horses, cows, a pig, several ducks, several llamas, bad tempered bunnies and lots of kids groooming animals.

Thanks Breathers

Dearest Breathers...well, it was only fitting that since we beat
ourselves so many times this summer that our final game would be against
ourselves as the Defending Champions showed themselves to be the Chumps
they are by not showing up, leaving us to have a mighty competitive
scrimmage, with fouls called, line calls, and more. Quite the fun way to
end the season I would say..especially since my team won the scrimmage.

Thank you Breathers for a great Summer Season. It was easy to organize
with everyone giving plenty of notice about absences and ,best of all,
it was mighty fun all season long. Even Wade cracked a smile or two. We
won nearly as many games as we lost, always had great turnouts for team
dinners, and finished near the top in spirit.

Let's wish Miranda all the best in Victoria, Nadine lots of sun for her
wedding, and Carey much luck in his weekly poker games at
the retirement home in his hopefully temporary retirement from ulty. I'm
hoping those incriminating photos we have of Min and Carey can lure them
both back next summer.

Thanks to those of you who joined us for the first time, those who came
for another round, and those of you who leave us for now but will
hopefully join us again one day. Thanks especially to Cap'n Steve. He
might not have won many tosses but his awesome spirit and dedication to
bringing the best beer, ciders, and hot dogs each week helped make this
a great summer season.

See all of you hopefully next summer, and I will be seeing most of you
in just a few short weeks for fall season!! Don't forget..first
practice on Wed. Aug. 31st!

But it's not fall yet.

Enjoy the rest of the summer sunshine Breathers,

Mark

On the swing

Uncle Bryce and niece

We went to the park with our friend yesterday and tried to throw ourselves off the various pieces of playground equipment.

3 steps left and turn, 3 steps right and turn, flip hat and kick, 3 steps left, 3 steps right...

Camera at arms length.

Hopefully she doesn't get my nose...

Blue Hat!

Hats!