It's getting real

Photos of the Fortnight 1.4

The theme for this installment is vehicles.

We recently bought another truck. There was nothing wrong with the old one, it just did not have enough space for the expanding family. The new one is a Toyota Tacoma, breaking my string of 3 straight Ford Rangers. This is the 4th truck in a row that I've owned. I must have the Alberta truck disease.

Here is a photo journey of all of the vehicles in my life.

1983(?) Plymouth Colt

1984 Ford Ranger

1992 Ford Ranger

2002 Ford Ranger

2006 Toyota Tacoma

The Baby Racket

I had a bit of an eye-opener today.

We are down in Spokane, Washington on the first leg of what Melissa is calling our last vacation ever. We are here to do some shopping and check out the city before heading to Kelowna on Friday. In particular, we are shopping for baby supplies. Over the past few months, Melissa has spent a great deal of time over-analyzing what our baby needs and we now have a shopping list. That is only half of it though. Being tightwads, now we have to go out and find the best deal possible for the items on the list to avoid the pain of knowing we didn't do everything possible to get the right price. She's done some looking at used stores in Calgary, but the prices generally aren't that cheap (another downside to the Alberta boom??). She has scored nicely on using the online classified site Kijiji. We've found some good used stores down here and have done okay to fill out our list.

However, after spending an hour in 'Babies R Us', it appears that the list may be incomplete. After looking at the endless baby products out there, the proprietors of this chain store would like me to believe that I may be needing a serious loan to stock up on everything that the little guy/girl is going to demand once it arrives on the scene in 2 short months. The products available are ridiculous. I actually left the store to get my camera to take pictures of some of the madness.

Maybe, I am taking this too lightly and I am going to end up being very under prepared and well on my way to a poor showing at the father of the year awards. Have a look at some of these products (and the prices) and let me know if I am off-base here.

Do they make this in adult sizes? A little pee never hurt anyone...did it?

Warm wipes. Does it really matter? It's not like they are stored in the fridge.

My favourite..the $38 diaper toolbox. It must be a serious mess if you need to break out a tool box.

Official baby accessory drying rack. Come on.

Baby whirlpool. I'll only get this if the cat can use it too. Do you think cat fur will clog the jets?

A digital bath spout thermometer. We opted for the 48c rubber ducky that changes colour if the water is too hot.

This may be useful, I just thought it was too funny not to share.

This ain't your parents' CBC

It gives me great pride (as a Canadian) and pleasure (as a CBC devotee) to pass along news that the often joked about CBC is now on the cutting edge of the internet revolution. Beginning on Sunday, the people's CBC will become the first major North American broadcaster to distribute content free via bittorrent (the largest peer-to-peer file sharing system on the internet).

See full story here.

Long live the CBC.

Photos of the Fortnight 1.3

On our latest whirlwind trip to Calgary, we stopped briefly just west of Okotoks to have a look at the "Big Rock". From the picture, it seems to be just a rock in a field. However, the rock holds an interesting tale.

The rock is officially known as the Okotoks Erratic. An erratic is a piece of rock that deviates from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests; the name "erratic" is based on the errant location of these boulders (definition from Wikipedia). The reason that these rocks get displaced is glacial movement.

The Okotoks Erratic is the world's largest known glacial erratic. It is believed to have once been a part of Mount Edith Cavell, located in Jasper National Park. Somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, it made a 350KM trek atop a glacial ice sheet from its original location to its current resting spot near Okotoks.

As Paul Harvey would say... and now you know the REST of the story.

Fill Me In 1.3

Next trip you are going to take?
Nothing as exotic and glamourous as we have done in the last few years. Likely a quick trip to Kelowna with a stop in Nelson.

What radio station to you listen to most?
It's got to be the CBC. Laugh if you will, but the CBC makes you think.

Name one thing you are obsessed with.
I am obsessed with the internet. It is my primary source of entertainment and information.

What is the smartest thing you ever did?
Going to university and gaining my accounting designation. University really wasn't that difficult. Honestly, I believe that anyone can get a degree if they put the effort into it. The designation took a lot more work, but it has set me up with a nice career.

How many watches do you own?
I own 4 watches. The one I like the most is still the $11 fake Swiss Military watch that Melissa brought home from Thailand for me in 1999. A few batteries later, I am amazed it is still ticking.

Milling in Esterhazy

This interesting article popped up in my news feed reader this morning.

Photos of the Fortnight 1.2

Have a look at what 10 EUROS ($15 CAD) buys you for breakfast at the Frankfurt airport.

One mediocre salami and cheese sandwich ($6.50)
One really small, lukewarm cappucino ($5.25)
One very tasty pastry ($3.25)

Fill Me In 1.2

Favorite piece of clothing?
For me, clothing is definately comfort and function over fashion. I was recently surprised to see a photograph of myself in 2002 wearing what is still one of my favourite t-shirts. Anyways, my favourite piece of clothing is probably the black, long sleeved, v-neck sweater that I am wearing right now. Here is a picture of said garment in Istanbul.

I don't go anywhere without packing it because it serves so many purposes. Although, I did just buy a sharp cordueroy jacket in Dubai in December that I am quite fond of.

What books are you currently reading?
I am almost exclusively a non-fiction reader. About six months ago, I resolved to read more as the backlog of books that I have been amassing is getting out of hand. Since then, I have polished off Goin' Deep by Matt Dunigan, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson and A Storm in Flanders by Winston Groom. I am currently reading No Logo by Naomi Klein, Vagabonding by Rolf Potts and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. This is on top of trying to stay caught up on the magazine subscriptions I have.

How did you and your spouse meet?
Over wonton soup when we were in Grade 3. Cute story, but I think we'll keep it to ourselves.

When was the last time you got pulled over by a cop?
Early summer, 1995; Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I got ticketed for speeding. $100 hurt pretty bad at the time, so I successfully resolved to adjust my driving behaviour to avoid future traffic violations.

What is the furthest you've been from home?
Through using Google maps, it looks like the furthest that I have been away from home is the south coast of Australia. Google map says it was a few kilometres shy of 15,000 KM from home