Woopsie

From Captains Quarters comes The Irish Job. What happend? Somebody stole 450 kegs from the Guinness plant. They simply drove up and took a trailer loaded ready for delivery.

Funniest part is this:

Well, the joke's on them. Only 180 kegs of it were Guinness stout. The rest of the kegs held Carlsberg and -- the horror! -- Budweiser. One can imagine the disappointment when the trailer gets unhitched and inspected.

You can imagine how pissed the thief must be.

On a personal note. I first found CQ during the Gomery commission. It was publishing key testimony while the media ban was under way. If you want a great view of Republican views check out CQ.

[UPDATE] Best comment line heard? "Where's Burt Reynolds? And are they filming Smokey and the Bandit 4?"

Quote of the Day 38

BigE at bed time

"I know all your tricks Dada"

Then as I entered the room a minute later somebody was hiding under the blankets when they popped out and shouted

"BOO!"

"See Dada I have more tricks"

The Nappy

It was a late night for BigE on Friday so we were looking for a nappy on Saturday. After some initial complaining I thought I had BigE sold on the idea. He ran upstairs ahead of me and did his usual hiding schtick. This time it was under the bed.

I searched for a little bit. Then upon "finding him" I said come on back on to the top of the bed. To which BigE replied

"It's comfy down here. I'll have my nappy here, under my bed"

After some 15 minutes of shenanigans I read the riot act to BigE and told him if he wasn't asleep within another 15 minutes he had to go back on top of the bed. 45 minutes later all was quiet. So I snuck into his room and caught this:



Yup, that's his bed over him. He'd dragged everything down to the floor to use.

BigE Dancing

Well this video pretty much speaks for itself.



Amazing what happens when I'm normally not around.

Hike!

We were watching a bunch of football on Sunday. Sadly the Broncos went down to da Bears in OT. When Benson got hurt I thought that was the end of that. I mean Rex Grossman leading a comeback. Pfuuhhhhh.

Anways, for about 45 minutes BigE was running the loop around the kitchen and family room. Every time he entered the family room he tried to throw me the ball on the run. By the end he was getting pretty good. You just can't start them young enough.

Anyways after a bit he started running in and trying to do something resembling a hike, but while running. Then he stopped and started hiking the ball to me. Then I caught this 4 second clip.




At least the Green won the Grey Cup in the later game.

The Snowman

No Smokey here. Just our first snowman of the year. We took advantage of the first snowfall this week to build a snowman. Things went ok. Didn't pack the snow down enough on the first two balls used for the base. So they cracked like eggs.



But after a little persistence we had a snowman.

How Much do you Love Momma?

Who knew that Momma was out in front by that much. Just the other day Momma asked BigE who much he loved Momma. This much she said as she held out her arms.

BigE "As big as the house"

Momma "How much do you love Dada?"

BigE "As big as the garage"

So for devilment I decided to ask the same question this morning. Momma was working so it was just BigE and I snuggling in bed. I stretch my arms out and ask how much do you love Momma?

BigE "As big as this bed" (A Queen)

Dadda "And Daddy?"

BigE "As much as my bed" (A Twin)

I think it's time to start buying some love :-p

BigE's Remembrance Day

For Remembrance Day BigE colored a page for Remembrance day. They asked the kids what peace means to them. They put them together and gave each family a night with the book. This week we got to see it.

It's a little hard to see because of the binding of the book. It reads "Peace is building with the blocks together"



By the way that is a self picture.

The one thing I remember BigE telling me that he saw a Daddy movie. After asking him what that meant; it turned out that it was not a cartoon. About a guy who "got killed"

Little sponges.

Broken IPOD

From NY Times Tech blog comes Turning Nonworking Gizmos Into Money which is a small update on What to do with that old IPOD.

This was about the guy who started BuyMyBrokeniPod.com (and has renamed it http://www.buymytronics.com/)

Bossy Bussey

Momma "Don't be so bossy! BigE"

BigE "I'm BigE Bussey. That's why I'm so bossy!"

Computer Cleanup

Over at LifeHacker.com (one of those tips, tricks, life guide type sites) comes A Meaty Thanksgiving Download. While for the American Turkey Day I will definitely be putting that onto my USB key to bring home for Christmas.

It's handful of apps (17MB download in total) with tools to clean up that computer that your less than handy relative has bloated up with virus, IE bho's, or whatever mess.

Of course this is good for any time of the year!

The Snow has Arrived

and I'm not sure who's more excited Arnie or BigE.

BigE wasn't having any snuggle time this morning. "It snowed!", "It SNOWED!". Ever since we were putting up those Christmas lights, before it snowed and got cold, BigE has been asking when it will snow.

Well last night he got his wish. Today we wore our snowsuit to school. It wasn't really cold but it was wet sticky snow.

Arnie was also excited to see the snow. At first I thought that excitement had to do with the 60 second pee he took. No really. But after that there was glimpses of Silly Saint. It took a few loud scoldings to calm him down. He did get to go for a couple of rolls in the snow though. I wasn't being completely heartless. But you did know he had surgery right?

The one end result of all this is Dada realizes he has to finish clearing out the garage. Enough of this parking outside business.

What Time is It?

We were doing a little work on the time the other day. So we made a clock to play with. BigE was doing a pretty good job with the time. He's starting to get the hourly thing. I don't know how we're going to get that 1 can mean 1 or 5 thing just yet.



The arms are held on by an arm of a paper clip. I folded it in half with a pair of needle nose pliers.

Where are you Hiding?

I was in the kitchen and turn my back. I heard the call "come find me". When I turn around, this is what I saw:



Geez I wonder wear he could be?

A Painted Birthday Party

BigE had a Birthday today with his buddy No. Last seen in Trip to Miller's with No. Well today was No's birthday. There was make your own pizzas, crafts, and face painting.

The kids had about 20 minutes of hard-core activity. They found the longest stretch to the house to take on. What the house really needed was a loop. Of course the whole time dada cringed as they slid on their knees. Darn that looked painful.

Then the kids got to make their own pizzas. BigE went for the classic cheese pizza, while all the other kids are adding Parmesan and pepperoni. I thought he was going to be the only kid with a clean pizza. But then came the topper. One little girl wanted just dough. kind of a flat bread, that wasn't really flat or bread. The one surprising fact was a Bige didn't want any party cake. Like we are going to force him.

the best part was probably the face painting. Once bige realized that the PO to wash off, and it wasn't permanent, he was pretty excited. He even managed to be first in line. He chose to be a cheetah.



I must say the paint held up pretty good all day. He was even concerned on going to bed to make sure that the jammies didn't smudge. We will have to see how much paint ends upon the pillow in the morning.

At the end of the party. The loop bag contained more jungle themed fun. Not only did they get stickers, binoculars, and an animal shaped noisemaker, but they also got sunglasses. And Bige likes funny sunglasses:

Arnie's Surgery II

As mentioned in Update on Arnie he had surgery to repair or his torn cruciate. However, after some weeks it has not healed correctly. That resulted in meeting a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy or TPLO for short.

This was a more invasive surgery that required screws and a plate to fix his joint. he home tonight and were trying to keep him quiet. Poor bugger every time he goes there he gets his legs shaved. Click here for someone's experience on tplo.

My Fun New Software

okay it's getting late butI can't wait to post this. I am writing this with my fancy new software. It's its Dragon Naturally Speaking standard 9.0. Yes that's right, voice recognition software. And it seems pretty kick ass. While software can seem to keep up with my speech. I keep stopping, and watching it process I'm saying.

I've worked my way through the training package that came with the software. It seems to work pretty well. I only had to make a couple of minor adjustments.

Everything I have typed has been dictated through the headset.
Man is a lot of fun. But my poor little Celeron and M Laptop is working hard to keep up. I can't have too many processes running running, or else things them to slow down a little. Then again maybe I have to stop watching the status window as it process is what I'm saying.

For software with little training, on my peculiar voice, I think it's done pretty well.

This bit I typed to the dictation box. Which is a little tool, as well as you do enter text into a weird programs that are not fully supported by the software. I can't say the name, because that seems to trigger some keyword on the menu. But you can talk into the dictation box and when you're ready. You say the word transfer.

So far it's done pretty good. Until it's fully trained up have to remember to speak clearly and have a controlled pace. When I do that. It seems to do much better. Now I am starting to speed up in my speech. It seems to be keeping up if I don't keep looking back for it. I just need to remember when to say period or comma ( I had to type those words by hand).

just to reiterate, I am running on a Celeron m laptop with 768 MB of RAM. It's pretty neat how it knew to turn megabytes into MB. I have a couple of applications open. I have Firefox, Thunderbird, and iTunes all running right now. But that is about all my little laptop can handle. I would say any computer bought in the last two years should run the software pretty well.

Although have to admit, I don't think I've been a completely give up on the keyboard just yet. Some of the editing can get a little tedious through voice commands. but I don't think, at least for this version of the product, that that is the purpose of the software. At least know when I get Momma trained upon the software. She should have no excuses not to read up some blog posts.

Jeepers look at the length of this post. Maybe this dictation thing is not going to pay off. It's not like I'm getting paid by the word. Anyways, good night.

Oh and one more thing. Some of the advanced versions of the software let you do some powerful macros. The standard version only let you record a simple macros that don't contain any special punctuation. The nice thing here is that I can type "http://theBusseyFamily.ca" by saying just the letters t, b, and f.

UPDATE: I left most of the errors in so you can get a sense of how it did.

The Magical Medicine

Today we banged our chin on the coffee table. With the tears streaming down his face somebody was really sad. Once I opened the freezer door the crying stopped in about 3 seconds.



Here he is propped up by pillows on the coach starting to feeling better.

Small blessings for injuries that can be made all better by the popsicle.

There's Hope Yet

There's hope for Momma's left side if she managed to put this together

Two Courses Down

First there was one. Now there is two done.

This one was even squishier then the last. But there's nothing like a nice 60 page hand in to add some impressive weight to a mountain ... of well something. 10 pages about the group done by the group. Then each person does 6 pages about them plus one or two on the evaluation on the other group members.

That leaves somewhere between 20 and 300 courses to go.

Coffee is Good for You

From the Daily Telegraph Drinking coffee 'is good for the heart'

One to three cups of coffee a day may protect people from heart disease and strokes, according to research which contradicts numerous studies that have suggested that coffee is bad for you

And really the truth behind all this consumption stuff and how to live your life:

Dr Sarah Jarvis, a fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners said: "This is a message about moderation. Too much exercise, too much coffee or too much alcohol are bad. In moderation they are beneficial."

The Rink makes it's Return

Well I decided to get a jump on the weather and season by setting up the hockey rink early. With Arnie on leash walking until further notice I don't have to worry about a doggie ripping the plastic.



As you can see I've decided to go with a larger and thicker tarp. Rather then my ususal cheap vapour barrier from the home fixer upper store I went with two 20'x28' tarps. So what your looking at is about 38'x28'. (38 is two 20's with a one [UPDATE] and a half [END_UPDATE] foot overlap).

Also new this year I'm not wrapping the tarp up over the boards. What would in effect create a little pool. This year I'm trying it flat on the ground. The boards are only there to give it structure and stop the puck.

I was going to wait till next weekend when the temperature is expected to drop but I thought I had time today. Plus I can use the expected highs of 10+'c this week to hammer in a couple of support stakes. According to www.theweathernetwork.com I'm looking at some upcoming cooler weather.



Oh and why no pic of the finished product with the boards on? Because my tired old cordless drill died. I had to charge it up for another three hours after turning maybe 30 screws. Moral of the story kids? Always get dual battery packs.

Taking the Luggage out to the Airplane

For some unknown reason BigE was interested in the conveyor belt that takes the luggage out to the plane. In his mid it goes right from check-in to the bottom of the plane. He does also know about those little luggage cars.

So a couple of hours latter I see BigE loading things onto the couch. What's up? I'm taking the luggage out to the airplane.


Today we were back at it. This time it was covered. Maybe it was raining at the airport.

BigE was a Babysittin' Friday

We had BigC over for a few hours and BigE was only too happy to play with him. We had a little time for play. As usual every new house is a world of new toys to a kid. BigC was roaming around trying out the new toys



We then sat down for a little Pizza supper. BigC was pretty full and BigE didn't like those vegatables that had infested his cheese pizza.

So we were off for a tubby:


Finally we had a little bed time snack


BigE was a little disappointed to wake up and find BigC gone. He wanted him to sleep over for the whole night. I said sure but your getting up with him when he wakes up early!

Quote of the Day 37

We're building a fort with the Lincoln Logs when we added the fort look-out peice.

BigE "Look we made a treehouse! TreehouseTV.com!"

Dada: "Waha?!?"

BigE: "TreehouseTV.com that's what they say on the TV at the end of a show."

What they pick up is wild sometimes.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today was Daddy's birthday, Big E was really excited. We baked daddy's cake and then iced it. Big E was a little dissapointed that we wern't having a party for daddy. I guess I'll have to remember that for next year.



Big E certainly likes to eat what he bakes (like daddy). He told Daddy where to cut the cake and here is a shot of how big a peice it was.



Oh, this is Big E's second hunk of cake. Needless to say Big E was feeling "a little excited" after all that sugar.

Just a pic

No really, just a pic. Here was BigE this morning all smiles as I tried to guess the next letter in the alphabet. Tough quiz I know. But we were at the "E" and so it was very fun:

Skinny Santa

OK I can't let this pass. Not only is it a pill of **** but it continues my theory that after the smokers they're coming for the fat people.

Santa told to slim down for Christmas to 'set a good example'

"Bluewater's Santa Boot Camp is getting Santa in shape and setting a good example to children who idolise him.

"He will still be the same lovable jolly man, but will be fitter and healthier."

Doesn't Santa already stand for goodness? Presents for good little boys and girls.

Heck let's modify Santa to teach all kinds of things. Perhaps we should have Santa:

• greet kids on the exersize bike while having a health shake


• show the importance of the environment by buying carbon offsets for his world wide jaunt on Christmas night


• maybe even have a hybrid sled


• show social justice by giving bad kids gifts too!


• Finally taking action by sacking those evil anti-red nose reindeer that made Rudolph's workplace a hell

Oh look behind Santa, there's a half naked underweight body in underwear on that GAP Ad. That's ok, they're skinny so they're good idols for kids.

shhesshhh!

Quoteof the Day 36

Poor BigE isn't feeling great. He's lying on the coach watching TV. He hears that I'm going to make Banana bread so he wants to help. I get the bowls ready to mix the wet and dry ingredients. So I call out to BigE who comes running out to help, takes three stirs, and then hears the intro tune to the Backyardigans.

He jumps down and as he's running to the family room ....

BigE: "There, call out to me when you need me to help"

BigE: "Call out to me AFTER THE BACKYARDIGANS when you need me to help OK Dada"

What can you say but OK?!?

I Am So Smart - S M R T

Conscious that the Birthday party planners for BigE's friend from school clearly weren't NFL fans and I quote

The win, in perhaps the NFL's biggest regular-season game ever, keeps the Patriots (9-0) on course for the NFL's first unbeaten season since Miami did it in 1972 and gives them the first tiebreaker over Indianapolis (7-1) in the AFC playoffs.

I decided to record the game so that I could watch it. I figured by removing the commercials and half time I could be live in the fourth quarter.

This is where I figured I was so SMART

Now that may not mean much if your not into football but if you are then that means that we had a sneak peak at the AFC final early (which will undoubtedly be better then the Super Bowl). I.e a good game.

So I get home and the game is started. I decide to mow the lawn that one last time so that seeing how I had (a) daylight, (b) had moved the rink boards out back, and (c) Momma was up to play with BigE.

So now I was 90 minutes behind the game. But I was still so SMART.

As I watched the first quarter I was using the PVR's 30 second skip forward to just watch the plays. For you old VCR types out there that means I push the fast foward button once and it automatically goes ahead 30 seconds and then resumes playing. Technology has gone far in the last 20 years.

So in the matter of 45 minutes I'm in the 3rd quarter. But then it's snuggle time for BigE. No big deal I'm recording the show. Although the fourth quarter is live now and must be nearly done. But I dear not look in case I see the score.

I'm SOOO SMART.

I get back to the show, watch the Patriots drive for a TD and get within 3 when the recording stops. WTF!?!? The PVR stopped after the alloted 3 hour game time. Mean while the game had finished in real time about 5 minutes ago. Ughhhh

So I had to go to the web to find the score. To find out I missed another score with 3 minutes to go. I missed Indy losing at home. (Which to a Broncos fan is fun).

Al because I was so SMRT!

Slack on Posting

You betch ya!

Why am I doing it now? Because I'm procrastinating writing on a paper due for a course. I don't like cleaning so I'm doing this.

Gymnastics are a Hit

I almost wrote 'hot' but then I thought you might get the wrong idea. BigE had a birthday party at a local gymnastics club. Once kid in his class attends. So they had a couple of the teenage coaches take them around the facility (think giant padded ware house) using different pieces of the equipment.

Of course we showed up on time and they had just started. BigE immediately attached to my leg. He was having no part. Granted most of the kids were strangers but he knew two. So I talked to him. I threatened to take him home if he didn't go out there. Finally I walked him out onto the mat. We were participating or leaving. One or the other.

Just as we go out it's time to leave the first mat and head to the other side. So we walk along. The only other kid requiring a parent was, maybe, two. On the way we get to walk over the padded trampoline style flooring for a big o-ring setup. That bouncy floor get's the boy's attention.

The we listen as the coach describes this course of two trampolines, some o-rings and finally a springboard-trampoline-vaulting horse. Well that got somebody interested. Instantly he was confident on off bouncing for all he was worth. I didn't really see him again for 40 minutes as they moved around the gym; only once they came back to the original spot.

All that jumping trampoline time probably was only outdone by the call "What do you want to drink? Coke, Sprite, or Orange crush? A Show of hands for Coke?" BAM the little boy's hand went up. I was like you don't even know what Coke is? Why don't you have Orange crush, its like fizzy orange drink.

NOPE. Two sips of his coke later "I LIKE COKE!" No sh*t I whisper to myself. That plus 10 handfuls of party mix and a big piece of cake made the party fun. He was even looking out the window, which overlooked the gym, for our coaches hoping to go back on the floor.

Then again maybe BigE thinks those treats are all part of Gymnastics. "Hey if I go to gymnastics I'll get this every week!"

Follow the Trail

I look over from the kitchen and see something a little odd. Then I realize we have our own version of the golden brick road.