Irene went in to the hospital today for her second hip replacement surgery (left hip this time).  Everything seems to have gone well: she was in pre-op at 8:00 am, entered the surgical ward around 9:30, surgery around 10:00 am done by about noon, out of post op by around 2:00 pm. 

I wasn’t able to see her at all from 9:30 am until about 2:00 pm, and her surgeon wasn’t around to talk to me.  However, Irene seems fine, although basically she was sleeping the whole time I was with her.  I got home about 30 minutes ago.  I felt kind of bad leaving, but the cats need to be fed.  And stupid as it sounds, I was starting to feel pretty zonked by about 4:00 pm- I was becoming jeleaous of Irene’s comfy bed and her snores

I’ll be going back to the hospital tomorrow to visit.  Irene should be home by Thursday, assuming things go as per plan.  Thanks to everyone for all the kind thoughts you have relayed!

In the “my God, I can’t believe he took pictures of that…” department, I give you…pictures of my office cleanup!

For the protection of the squeamish, I’ve put the pictures behind a break.  Click “Read the rest…” to see them…if you dare!

Read the rest of this entry »

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I’m cleaning up my office.  Stage 2 was supposed to be “re-do the wiring”, but that became “stage 3″ when I decided I needed to add a new filing cabinet and a few other things to help organize. 

Stage 3 took place today: this site was down for a while as a result.  Rewiring always causes mixed feeling for me.  On the one hand, I derive some satisfaction from turning a gordian knot of cables into some sort of organized, hopefully neat configuration.  On the other hand is the near-certainty that, within mere days of making everything organized, I’ll have to fix something and tear apart the cable routing in frustration.

One “happy surprise” of this cable re-structuring was coming up with a new/safer way to situate my network router.  For years now, both the router and my ADSL modem have been attached to the second desk in my room.  But that was becoming a problem, primarily since the area behind the second desk had become a favorite play area for the kittens.   What happened was this…

• I wanted to replace an aging (plastic) file cabinet with a sturdier metal one.  The cabinet I bought on sale had a funky little “shelf” on top, ostensibly to put your printer on, and under which you could then store paper.  Since my printer is happy where it is I had no real intent of using this stand.  But I thought perhaps my router and modem could go under it….but I like having that gear “bolted down” to prevent certain felines from deciding it looks better on the floor.  So, I set that idea aside and continued reorganizing
• wanted to remove the computer shelf on my desk, which has been irritating me for years since it inhibits access to my computer.  Instead, I would put my computer on a wheeled computer stand
• The computer shelf thus removed left me with two large laminated “chunks” of particle board.  I had no idea what to use this for…wait a sec.  That one chunk looks sorta the same size as the funky shelf on the cabinet…would it slide underneath?  Yes!  Perfectly, with less than a millimetre on either side.  Of course, it is nearly inconceivable that the router and ADSL modem would bolt onto the board and slide underneath the shelf…
• Good gravy, it fits!

I have to assume that this nearly miraculous series of events is a re-balancing of my techno-karma after my recent series of Vista problems.  Either that, or it is a sign of the impending apocalypse.  Either way, my network is back up and running, and my cabling looks elegant for the moment.

Irene is going in for her second hip surgery next week.  I’ll be working from home for a while as she recovers and gets mobile.  In preparation for this, I’m taking *this* week off to re-organize my office and take care of a few other things around the house to make things ready for Robo-Irene.

I’ve let my office go, basically stacking junk on top of junk for over a year.  To get things under control is a major project, and starts with (incredibly) making things even messier.  First I need to sort and discard things in order to make space to achieve some organization.  One of my objectives is to clear a space for a new “game console desk” I want to set up.  I have this idea it would be neat to have a monitor and an Xbox 360 in my office for gaming.  Another objective is to make my work space a bit more functional: the layout of a couple pieces of furniture (the filing cabinet and a “trunk” I have) are less than ideal.

Stage one is complete- I’ve emptied the trunk, cleared out the cabinet, and shifted them around.  In the process, I’ve created one full curb-side bag of garbage, a similarly full bag of cardboard, and a half full bag of recyclable paper.  I have also displaced about 30 miscellaneous computer game and software boxes, and collected another box full of various cordless and cellular phone parts.  And I generated a discard pile of antiquated technology: joyless joysticks, hopeless hard drives, pathetic processors, crappy CD ROMs, cantankerous keyboards, and moribund mice.  I also have a bunch of 35 mm film and a decent but very old Canon 35 mm film camera that I’ll likely never use again.  And as a real blast from the past- a Polaroid “instant” film camera, I’m guessing one of the last ones they made.  And an unopened package of film for it.

One interesting and unexpected “collection”: I seem to have about half a dozen of those little clip-on “wrist wrest” attachments.  Apparently every keyboard I’ve ever bought has one, and I never use them- if I want a wrist wrest, I use one of those gel pad rests.  I wonder how many discarded keyboard wrist wrests exist in various landfills?

I managed to cut a trail back to my computer keyboard to write this post.  I’m going to have some lunch now and then see if I can cut through some of the software boxes and organize the CDs/DVDs they contain.  Stage 2, hopefully starting tomorrow, will be to shut down my computers and “re-do” all the wiring.  With two kittens in the house we’ve had a couple of “unexpected power shutdowns” as they’ve discovered various ways to turn off the powerbars…and the wires themselves are very vulnerable.  I’d like to keep as much of that stuff out away from inquisitive little paws and teeth as I can.

I live on the Wet Coast- webbed toes are a pre-requisite for living here.  So you know that it’s a strange thing when I’m *happy* about the fact that it’s raining. 

We’ve had a couple of weeks of strangely cold weather, with an accumulation of snow that has stuck around for well over a week.  But the temperature has started to go up a few degrees, and the precipitation is no longer the kind you need to shovel.  A couple of days will erase the winter wonderland and restore our normal soggy greenery. 

Yay! 

Okay, that’s enough celebrating…

I admit it…I’m weak.  Put a tiny little kitten in my hands, and I toss all reason and logic to the wind.  Nimbus came into our lives through Irene’s volunteering at a local pet shelter.  And now Iris has joined our catty household due to a visit to our friendly vet…

Click the above picture to see a folder full of kittenhood! 

Iris’ Mom was sadly given up to the vet when her owner realized they couldn’t afford the bills.  Five kittens were born at Langley Central Pet Hospital, and were raised there with plenty of love and attention.  But they needed homes. 

I was there with Nimbus a month or so ago, and was invited to see the kittens.  No one suggested that we might take one, but I was smitten.  They were all very cute…and a few weeks later, just before Christmas, I put my name down for one.  Five kittens, and a six person waiting list.  Some others apparently dropped off the list, though, because I got the call a week or so ago to come in and pick out our new kitten.  And I picked little Iris up today. 

I’m the first to admit that we don’t need more cats in the house.  With Iris, we now have seven, which is a crazy number.  But I love them all, and Iris…well, sometimes my heart is my undoing.

It’s a little past midnight, so that means it is now officially 2007 here on the Wet Coast.  Irene and I got back from Chilliwack about an hour ago, and my wife is already off in dreamland.  I’m sitting here in front of my computer with a glass of cognac at hand, pondering the deep imponderables.  Actually, I’m just experiencing a mild buzz from the cognac fumes as I upload a handful of photos from Judy and Bryan’s New Years fondue party.

Dennis successfully gave us something new to talk about by almost burning down Judy and Bryan’s house while lighting the fondue burner.  No harm done- Judy got to be the hero of the day for grabbing the fire extinguisher Shane insisted they buy a couple of days ago, and which Bryan had installed just in time for use.  The fondue itself was great- the last time I cooked with fondue was…oh, probably 30 years ago.  Chicken and beef bits, and Irene was frying up zucchini.  Lots of snacks were around as well- Judy never permits an empty tummy. 

All in all, a great way to spend the last few hours before the turning of the year.  I expect great things from everyone in 2007: nah, scratch that- I just want everyone to be happy, great, small, or indifferent. 

We had a great day at Judy and Bryan’s place today.  My brother Colin, his wife Betty, and two of their children, Jacey and Troy, drove up from Edmonton for the Holidays. 

Click the above picture to see more…

As usual, Judy fed us all to bursting, and we had a mass of presents to carry home.  We had some energetic discussions regarding the Middle East (”nuke ‘em”), criminals of various sorts (”shoot ‘em”), and … heck, all the usual topics ;)  It’s the discussions that make the day for me- as long as we all walk away intact and with more thoughts in our heads than when we arrived, it’s all good.

I’m a pretty lucky guy to have family I can reach out and touch periodically…people I can respect, and that generally respect me.  Thanks, Judy and Bryan, for inviting us into your house!

It’s December 25th…I’m still wearing my PJs and robe and it’s fast approaching noon- it must be a good day

Christmas has been good to Irene and I this year.  We have each other, and our cats are all healthy and happy at the moment.  We are going over to my Sister and Brother-in-law’s place in a couple of hours, where we’ll have a happy day of time with the family.  Surrounded by loved ones, enjoying food and company- that’s what Christmas is about for me.

Best of the season to everyone reading this!

We had well over 20 cm of snow last night…

It’s still coming down.  And for once the meteorologists had the forecast almost bang-on.  It’s a bit of a shock to go from zero snow, having seen perhaps only two or three days with even light frost, to a “winter wonderland” overnight.  But it is also something you just can’t avoid when you live in a temperate coastal rainforest climate.  Winter means huge moist airmasses smacking into sometimes frigid air- a perfect formula for snowfall.

I’m thinking it was a good thing that I ordered pizza last night- now I have leftovers to survive on…