Christmas

We were off doing the Family Christmas run the last 10 days or so. We had the chance on the 22nd to visit a good friend who is battling for the second time, the fight against leukemia. Her attitude and faith are incredible!

We then spend time with Cara's family, including a joint birthday celebration for her and her youngest sister. We did the murder mystery supper. The meal was awesome, and the mystery was a lot of fun. There were some awkward moments, such as when my mother-in-law was apparently nibbling on Shannon's husbands ear, or when my wife was apparently having an affair with the exact same person(soap opera anyone?!). But it was still a fun experience, and was a good time to be goofy and enjoy everyone's company.

Cara's middle sister and her husband have a 2 year old. She is a delight, and having a kid around for Christmas brings a freshness and excitement to everyone, so it was fun to watch her enjoying everything. She is a happy, boundless energy bundle of joy.

Then on Boxing day down to Calgary for a visit with my family. That was nice. Also got to take in Murray Hatfield's Magic and Miracles magic show. A decent show, and anytime I can see decent live magic, it is worth it.

(Picture of young girl playing DDR)
The theme for my gifts this year seemed to focus on reading, I got a bunch of books, love that. Also got another DDR dance pad(if you don't know what DDR is, you are missing out on a fun aspect of life- it is a game where the screen scrolls with a pattern of arrows you have to follow by stepping on the dance pad in the right pattern. I have no dance ability, but it is a fun activity and good exercise.)

There were other gifts, and I feel blessed by family and friends who gave thoughtful and practical gifts.

The only downer out of the trip has been yet another visit to Calgary where I have been unable to connect with the Vietnamese church I pastored a number of years ago. I miss that group so much. A part of my heart still remains there, special times with special people.

The New Year is gonna be an interesting adventure, hopefully by the end of it we will be gifted with at least a referral picture of our daughter to be, but it isn't gonna be boring until then either.

Upcoming adventures will include KungFu Randy: The adventure begins(I will be trying to start some sort of martial arts classes this year) and Cerebral Randy-I am working on trying to get some writing done and published.

Happy New Year to all and to all happy blog surfing!

Plurals

Thanks Mum for a fun forward :)

Ode to Plurals


We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.

If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a
recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
in which your house can burn up as it burns
down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out,
and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop, why is Mother not Mop?

LID 19

Number 19 is here!

Yesterday I got my final Twinrex shot, she hit a muscle, so moving my arm today keeps me alert ;) !

Todd won survivor, and we find out that Denise keeps the mullet type hair style because she needs it short for kitchen work, but still wants to be girlie for her hubby, good on her, most hubbies like long hair. I was blessed to have my wife grow hers out over the last year, and has just recently gone back to a shorter version, to make it more manageable, but it is a blessing when the little ladies do these simple things for their simple men. :)

We are doing a joint Bday party for Cara and her youngest sister, a murder mystery night. I am excited, should be a blast. I am the bodyguard of the deceased, Cara is the newly widowed lady... I hope I didn't do it, I love playing detective(I set up a detective agency and hired myself out when I was younger...did pretty good $$ wise at it too :) ). The sleuthing skills may be a bit rusty, but we will see.

Looking forward to seeing family during the holiday time... Merry Christmas to all. Celebrate Jesus!

down to 4

So survivor China is down to 4, and PEE GEE is gone. She was a scrapper, that is for sure. Right now I am hoping Denise pulls an upset, she has tried to stay on track with her alliances but we will see. This Sunday, the results :)

I was also delighted last night to see a new Office episode, as well as a new Smallville. Did the writers strike finish and I missed the news???

I haven't gotten around to making that trick yet, but thought I would post a picture of it from the manuscript I bought.



Not much else to report, I don't have reptile wars and salamander attacks, or interesting stuff like that happening in my world, but Tuininga Treasures blog(link on the side), is my favorite blog read these days, so thanks Janet for bringing a smile to my face as I read about your daily adventures :)

Anyone got a bunch of umbrellas to donate to me, heh :)

well....

What to post....well been a slower week at work so I have been able to customize all the curriculum we will need until the summer, it is a big "sit and the computer and get square eyes" type thing done. YAHOO, that is an early Christmas gift to me!

The snow is falling and I have to start wrapping my brain around summer camp planning, UGH, crazy!!!

Looking forward to my day off tomorrow, I am hoping for a good time of reading yet again(life is too exciting/insane, my time off needs to be low key okay ;) ).

Had fun surfing through youtube and watching videos on some favorite songs...Daughtry- Home, Lifehouse- Everything, Casting Crowns... there are some very well done fan videos, time well wasted.

I have also enjoyed youtube for finding videos on magicians and contact juggling, helps get the creative juices flowing.

I may take some time tomorrow to work on a new illusion. The effect is I step into a small packing box, have the lid closed and then 15-20 broom sticks are impaled all over the box...and somehow I emerge unhurt. It looks cheap to build with good impact, so I will post some pics if/when I get it together.

I need to commit to some form of exercise before the New Year. I am pretty sure it will be some sort of martial arts, but I have to get off my butt and do some research on what our city offers and what is affordable.

Is this post random enough...heh welcome to my brain these days :)

ginger cookies are good, yummy, thanks Cara. :)

Survivor tonite, finale on Sunday...

Wish the writers strike would get settled. I need a new Office fix..

Craving for some mundane,routine days, boring to post about, but would be nice to experience.

CCAA update- dec 14

Well almost a week done, from the 8th to 14th... so it will take them into Jan 2008 to finish off dec 2005. Congrats to the families who have their referrals, a wonderful Christmas present!

Yesterday followup

Yesterday was awesome! I didn't bother asking Cara about getting me a slurpee, I ended up with gingerbread cookies instead, a nice alternative! Spent the whole day on the coach, reading, relaxing, it was great! Read through a couple of big trade paperbacks(compilations of comic books stories for those of you not in the loop).

Cara has her special little friend over and Cara and Miss I had a grand time making cookies, I watched and thought, one day that will be our Julia there, that will be cool!

Heroes finale was more of a cliff hanger than I thought it would be, well done. Bring on Survivor Thursday :)

The mediation prep went well we will see how Saturday goes.

Back to the grind and time to punch out a bunch of stuff this week at work and get a bunch of loose ends tied up! *puts head down and just gives 'er*

Cold days, fun stuff

Winter is here, blowing snow, windchill factors, and the white stuff has arrived.
Last week was a really intense week with lots of work done(3 family counselling situations, sermon presentation, meetings, plus my nomral Kids ministry stuff), so I am giving myself a gift and actually taking time off(time earned)to chill...err WRONG word...RELAX, that is better word choice...

For me that mean curling up with a good book, either comic book or novel, todays choice-comic books. Even with the cold weather a slurpee usually goes well in this situation, but I am just not sure I want to get out of my jammies to go...perhaps I can convince my wife to go get it for me... hmmmm :)

I am hoping this little break rewards me with my body actually not getting sick, it has been giving me a couple subtle signs that a cold is wanting to take hold. I really don't want to go there. I HATE being sick. I just want to be left alone when I get sick. One, I don't want to spread the germs anywhere else, second, my male self suffiency gene kicks in and I am hard pressed to accept any help to get better, except for back rubs, back rubs are ALWAYS acceptable, anytime, anywhere!!!

Heroes finale should be on the tube tonite, that will be fun. The only perceived downer on this day is that I have to prepare some stuff for a conflict resolution event for Saturday, and have to talk through some of those details tonight, so I have to think about it sometime today. Oh well, whatever :) .

On the pet front, some great friends of ours are getting a Beagle for their family for Christmas, so I am looking forward to some puppy interaction. Sorry Janet, you can keep your cat :) LOL.

Congrats to the Septmember LID folks who just recently made it through the review room. In the next week or so I suspect we will see how many days of matching the CCAA got through this month. Got no expectations this time, I hope it is at least a weeks worth... we will see.