Lately I have been thinking that teenagers are almost always up to no good. I think this sentiment comes mostly from the recent thefts at our home (See my post from May 26th), but also from articles like this.
It's frustrating to me that I'm starting to feel this way because I know that not all teens are up to no good, and it makes me feel like an old fogey sitting on his porch in his rocking chair saying "Back in my day kids new their place!". As recently as a decade ago, I was a teenager. I don't completely remember what it was like, but I do remember doing some very responsible things as well as some stupidly irresponsible things.
I'm having trouble excusing the kids at the Ottawa marathon like the race coordinator apparently has done. His fix for the problem for next year is to "ask the city for a straighter course" and to "draw a solid blue line for runners to follow". I don't mean to state the obvious here, but how about "Getting someone other than teenagers to do the monitoring of blockades"?! Let's place blame where blame is due. The kids shirked their responsibilities and, as a direct result, chaos ensued (on the relative scale of a marathon, anyway). How about holding the kids responsible for the havoc they created? I'd almost suggest that we hold the parents responsible, but I think that is the problem: The parents are always taking responsibility for their kids actions and, therefore, the kids never learn responsibility.
When it comes to things like censorship and such, I'm sick of hearing the cries of conservative mothers saying "think of the children.... won't someone please think of the children?!" You know what? One thing I distinctly remember about being a teenager is being more fully aware of the things being censored than the people doing the censoring. Every word I heard that was bleeped on television was a word I knew and, likely, used. Let's stop fooling ourselves that, by sheltering kids from stuff we feel is inappropriate, we can make them the kid we want them to be. They're gonna find out.... and they're gonna find out a lot sooner than you want them to! I must have been in kindergarten or first grade the first time I called my brother a "fucker". I didn't know what it meant or even where I learned it, but I knew it was what people said when they were angry. Had someone told me that this was an inappropriate word, then - possibly - I wouldn't have used it.
Kids (teens, in particular) aren't as innocent as we think they are. Once we as a society realize that, then maybe we can start having kids be more responsible and stop letting them get away - sometimes literally - with murder.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Monday, May 29, 2006
The House
The realtor finally managed to get us an appointment to walk through the house (See the post from about a week ago). It's actually even nicer than we thought and the current price is $50,000 lower than their initial asking price. It's apparent that the couple has put a lot of work into the home and they wanted to try to capitalize on it.
In short, it's a little two-bedroom with a nicely finished basement. Hardwood floors throughout with an unfortunately small kitchen. In fact, all of the rooms are pretty small, but the fact that it is on three floors adds to the size substantially. There is a small yard in front, on the side and in back with heavy foliage all around the property. It's a stucco house, which irritates me to no end, but I guess it could be worse.
Marie doesn't like the fact that the laundry room is in the basement, but I believe that's pretty typical of older houses. Moving into that house would mean some serious lifestyle changes that, ideally, I would like us to make, but I don't know if we'll be able to handle it all at once.
For example, Marie-Pierre and I watch a lot of television. This is not something about which I am particularly proud, but it's the case. Also, even though we said when we got married that we'd never eat in front of the TV, we do so virtually every night. In the new house, there wouldn't be enough room in the main living area for the TV because the room is small and has a substantial fireplace. There would simply not be enough room for a TV as well. This means that the TV would need to be in the basement living area. Now, this would either force us to watch less television or we would end up spending most of our free time in our basement, which seems like such a shame. I'd obviously prefer the former, especially since we basically live in a basement now and we'd be wasting all of that nice landscaping.
Also, Marie does most of the laundry (OK... she does all of the laundry and most of the ironing) so it'd be a real hassle to haul the dirty clothes down to the basement from the 2nd floor and then haul all of the clean stuff way back upstairs. Theoretically, this problem would be solved by watching less television and doing laundry slowly throughout the week instead of once a week or once every other week. But, just like above, I'm not so sure we'd stick to that.
There is other stuff, but the last down-side is that there is no air conditioning. Now, I never had an air conditioner until I moved in with my roommates in University. Also, people lived for centuries without it. However, I like having it and Marie thinks it is a necessity. We'll see how that pans out.
In general, we liked the place (Marie even said that she was "falling in love" with it). However, I think we like it more for what it looks like than for its practical appeal. No matter how good a home looks, it's not worth much if it doesn't fit the lifestyle of it's occupants.
In short, it's a little two-bedroom with a nicely finished basement. Hardwood floors throughout with an unfortunately small kitchen. In fact, all of the rooms are pretty small, but the fact that it is on three floors adds to the size substantially. There is a small yard in front, on the side and in back with heavy foliage all around the property. It's a stucco house, which irritates me to no end, but I guess it could be worse.
Marie doesn't like the fact that the laundry room is in the basement, but I believe that's pretty typical of older houses. Moving into that house would mean some serious lifestyle changes that, ideally, I would like us to make, but I don't know if we'll be able to handle it all at once.
For example, Marie-Pierre and I watch a lot of television. This is not something about which I am particularly proud, but it's the case. Also, even though we said when we got married that we'd never eat in front of the TV, we do so virtually every night. In the new house, there wouldn't be enough room in the main living area for the TV because the room is small and has a substantial fireplace. There would simply not be enough room for a TV as well. This means that the TV would need to be in the basement living area. Now, this would either force us to watch less television or we would end up spending most of our free time in our basement, which seems like such a shame. I'd obviously prefer the former, especially since we basically live in a basement now and we'd be wasting all of that nice landscaping.
Also, Marie does most of the laundry (OK... she does all of the laundry and most of the ironing) so it'd be a real hassle to haul the dirty clothes down to the basement from the 2nd floor and then haul all of the clean stuff way back upstairs. Theoretically, this problem would be solved by watching less television and doing laundry slowly throughout the week instead of once a week or once every other week. But, just like above, I'm not so sure we'd stick to that.
There is other stuff, but the last down-side is that there is no air conditioning. Now, I never had an air conditioner until I moved in with my roommates in University. Also, people lived for centuries without it. However, I like having it and Marie thinks it is a necessity. We'll see how that pans out.
In general, we liked the place (Marie even said that she was "falling in love" with it). However, I think we like it more for what it looks like than for its practical appeal. No matter how good a home looks, it's not worth much if it doesn't fit the lifestyle of it's occupants.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Vandals! Thieves! Crooks!
It may come as a surprise from the title, but today's post is not about politicians.
I went to take Maggie out for her morning walk only to find our doormat had been moved significantly. While I was thinking the words "I wonder how that...." I noticed that our bike rack that we have on our porch had been moved to the other side. I knew instantly that something was stolen, so I looked over and - sure enough - there was only one bike there.
It turns out that Marie's bike was stolen. Mine, oddly, was still there, though on closer inspection I discovered that it had significant damage. Fortunately it's all repairable/replaceable.
Here's what I think happened...
We park the bikes in the bike rack rear-end-in so that we can lock the rear tires to the bike rack. This is so people can't remove the front tire and steal the rest of the bike. We use one of those big-honkin' cables made specifically for bikes to lock them to the bike rack. It looks like they pulled on the bikes to get them out and - possibly - tried to disassemble the bike rack, only to realize that it wouldn't buy them too much. So, they somehow managed to cut through the cable and pulled Marie's bike out, but only after having made mine unrideable (which, I assume, is why it was still there). Not that Marie's was rideable because the seats (which had been stolen on Easter morning) were not on the bikes!
Anyway, the tire on my bike has been disconnected from the frame, which is repairable, but will require adjustments that I'm not capable of doing (Am I?). They also managed to rip apart the wires for my odometer/computer, but that's the least of my worries at this point.
Marie called the Police while I took the dog out and, not too surprisingly, they were neither surprised nor really cared. I guess I understand. I mean, they probably had a lot of crime last night and ours is just one bicycle. Still, we're going to file a report tonight when Marie gets back from work. We'll also see if the guy two houses down that has video of the street may have those pieces of sh..... I mean.... the criminals on his tapes.
There is one thing about this that makes me laugh... We bought Marie's bike for about $100 at Target several years ago. The bike they left behind, my Fuji Supreme, is worth about three times that and is fewer than two years old. Ha HA! Take that you thieving garbage!
(P.S. I just have to mention that the spellchecker on blogger.com found the word "doormat" above and suggested that I change it to "Toronto". Take that you theieving garbage! ;)
I went to take Maggie out for her morning walk only to find our doormat had been moved significantly. While I was thinking the words "I wonder how that...." I noticed that our bike rack that we have on our porch had been moved to the other side. I knew instantly that something was stolen, so I looked over and - sure enough - there was only one bike there.
It turns out that Marie's bike was stolen. Mine, oddly, was still there, though on closer inspection I discovered that it had significant damage. Fortunately it's all repairable/replaceable.
Here's what I think happened...
We park the bikes in the bike rack rear-end-in so that we can lock the rear tires to the bike rack. This is so people can't remove the front tire and steal the rest of the bike. We use one of those big-honkin' cables made specifically for bikes to lock them to the bike rack. It looks like they pulled on the bikes to get them out and - possibly - tried to disassemble the bike rack, only to realize that it wouldn't buy them too much. So, they somehow managed to cut through the cable and pulled Marie's bike out, but only after having made mine unrideable (which, I assume, is why it was still there). Not that Marie's was rideable because the seats (which had been stolen on Easter morning) were not on the bikes!
Anyway, the tire on my bike has been disconnected from the frame, which is repairable, but will require adjustments that I'm not capable of doing (Am I?). They also managed to rip apart the wires for my odometer/computer, but that's the least of my worries at this point.
Marie called the Police while I took the dog out and, not too surprisingly, they were neither surprised nor really cared. I guess I understand. I mean, they probably had a lot of crime last night and ours is just one bicycle. Still, we're going to file a report tonight when Marie gets back from work. We'll also see if the guy two houses down that has video of the street may have those pieces of sh..... I mean.... the criminals on his tapes.
There is one thing about this that makes me laugh... We bought Marie's bike for about $100 at Target several years ago. The bike they left behind, my Fuji Supreme, is worth about three times that and is fewer than two years old. Ha HA! Take that you thieving garbage!
(P.S. I just have to mention that the spellchecker on blogger.com found the word "doormat" above and suggested that I change it to "Toronto". Take that you theieving garbage! ;)
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Marie's Immigration Update
Yesterday Marie-Pierre told me she sent my blog address to Anna in England (Hi, Anna!), which made me self-conscious enough to proof-read everything I had written. While doing so, I realized that I implicitly promised an update on how things went when we crossed the border for Nicole's wedding, but I've failed to deliver on that promise.
So, here it is....
When we went to Cincinnati for the wedding, we arrived at the airport with plenty of time (as MP and I are notorious for doing), which turned out to be fortunate. We went through US Customs and Immigration at the Montreal airport and - as expected - Marie was given the 3rd degree about why she still had her Green Card. So, we explained the situation - again - to US Immigration. When we explained that she tried to give up her Green Card at the US Consulate, he basically said "Yeah, they do that sometimes" and suddenly became very helpful. So I asked what we needed to do to make it so we didn't have trouble at the boarder every time we crossed and he indicated that we needed to go wait in the Immigration office (there was no line, by the way) and fill out a form.
So we waited for about ten minutes (did I mention there was no line?) and finally a guy comes out and tells us that they're having trouble finding the form and that they'll be with us soon. After a little while the guy calls us up and asks Marie to fill out the form. On one section she needs to describe why she is no longer intending to live in the United States. So, she and I both assume that they need a very brief description like "Moved back to Canada" or something similar.
No.
They want just about every detail! So she adds "Bought a condo and husband and I have jobs" (or something like that). The guy still wasn't happy with that! We started joking with each other that this sounds like a break-up letter: "It's not me, it's you. We can still be friends. I think you love me more than I love you". For Pete's sake!
So, in the end, she finally gave up her Green Card (which had been expired for a couple years anyway) and is officially "just" a Canadian Citizen.
So, here it is....
When we went to Cincinnati for the wedding, we arrived at the airport with plenty of time (as MP and I are notorious for doing), which turned out to be fortunate. We went through US Customs and Immigration at the Montreal airport and - as expected - Marie was given the 3rd degree about why she still had her Green Card. So, we explained the situation - again - to US Immigration. When we explained that she tried to give up her Green Card at the US Consulate, he basically said "Yeah, they do that sometimes" and suddenly became very helpful. So I asked what we needed to do to make it so we didn't have trouble at the boarder every time we crossed and he indicated that we needed to go wait in the Immigration office (there was no line, by the way) and fill out a form.
So we waited for about ten minutes (did I mention there was no line?) and finally a guy comes out and tells us that they're having trouble finding the form and that they'll be with us soon. After a little while the guy calls us up and asks Marie to fill out the form. On one section she needs to describe why she is no longer intending to live in the United States. So, she and I both assume that they need a very brief description like "Moved back to Canada" or something similar.
No.
They want just about every detail! So she adds "Bought a condo and husband and I have jobs" (or something like that). The guy still wasn't happy with that! We started joking with each other that this sounds like a break-up letter: "It's not me, it's you. We can still be friends. I think you love me more than I love you". For Pete's sake!
So, in the end, she finally gave up her Green Card (which had been expired for a couple years anyway) and is officially "just" a Canadian Citizen.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
I know someone famous! *Doh!*
In the Spring of 1999 I did my student teaching at Robert's Middle School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. My cooperating teacher's name was Brian Ebie. He was very well liked by the students; so much so, in fact, that I had a hard time with them because no matter what I did I wasn't as much fun as Mr. Ebie.
Well, obviously I wasn't anywhere near as much fun as Mr. Ebie because apparently a student was having sex with him soon after I graduated! Here is the story. The strange thing is that I probably know who this girl is. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know for sure who she is, but I do have a strong suspicion her first name starts with "A" and ends with "y".
Here's my story...
Brian and I had very similar interests, but everything about him was bigger and better. I wanted to be a music teacher, he was a music teacher. I had a Apple laptop, he had a better Apple laptop. I am mildly tall and have thin dark hair and a goatee, he is taller with fuller dark hair and a big goatee. I am generally likeable, he was loved by all. We were even both members at different Disciples of Christ churches. I think you get the pattern here.
Well, one day he was going in to teach class and was having some problem with his laptop (I honestly don't remember what it was) so I offered to run some diagnostics on his machine and he cautiously accepted. Had he just said "Sure! Thanks!" then I wouldn't have been suspicious, but his hesitation made me curious. But, I didn't want to get into anything like finding his secret pr0n stash while I was working at a Middle School, so I let it go. As I was running diagnostics on his hard drive, I saw a bunch of JPEG files in a directory called "My Girls" that was buried way down deep inside other folders, giving the impression that he didn't want casual browsers to find it (I think it goes to show how odd I found this discovery because I remember the name of the folder but not the problem I was trying to fix). Anyway, my curiosity got the better of me and I looked at some of the photos in this folder. Not too surprising were photos from the internet of some young, pretty, female movie stars in various states of dress, all of which would be considered somewhat normal for movie stars on covers of magazines and such. What was far more surprising were the photos of other young women. There were photos of some students I didn't recognize as well as some that I did because they were his current students! And, yes, at least one photo existed of the girl I suspect was his prey. Mind you, all of the photos I saw - if viewed out of this particular context - would have been considered completely normal. But having them all together buried as they were.... it was curious to say the least.
Anyway, I didn't say anything to anyone because, well, there was nothing explicit there. In fact, it was the implicit meaning of such a directory with such photos that made me remember the situation.
So, there it is. The one famous person I know. How embarrassingly sad.
Well, obviously I wasn't anywhere near as much fun as Mr. Ebie because apparently a student was having sex with him soon after I graduated! Here is the story. The strange thing is that I probably know who this girl is. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know for sure who she is, but I do have a strong suspicion her first name starts with "A" and ends with "y".
Here's my story...
Brian and I had very similar interests, but everything about him was bigger and better. I wanted to be a music teacher, he was a music teacher. I had a Apple laptop, he had a better Apple laptop. I am mildly tall and have thin dark hair and a goatee, he is taller with fuller dark hair and a big goatee. I am generally likeable, he was loved by all. We were even both members at different Disciples of Christ churches. I think you get the pattern here.
Well, one day he was going in to teach class and was having some problem with his laptop (I honestly don't remember what it was) so I offered to run some diagnostics on his machine and he cautiously accepted. Had he just said "Sure! Thanks!" then I wouldn't have been suspicious, but his hesitation made me curious. But, I didn't want to get into anything like finding his secret pr0n stash while I was working at a Middle School, so I let it go. As I was running diagnostics on his hard drive, I saw a bunch of JPEG files in a directory called "My Girls" that was buried way down deep inside other folders, giving the impression that he didn't want casual browsers to find it (I think it goes to show how odd I found this discovery because I remember the name of the folder but not the problem I was trying to fix). Anyway, my curiosity got the better of me and I looked at some of the photos in this folder. Not too surprising were photos from the internet of some young, pretty, female movie stars in various states of dress, all of which would be considered somewhat normal for movie stars on covers of magazines and such. What was far more surprising were the photos of other young women. There were photos of some students I didn't recognize as well as some that I did because they were his current students! And, yes, at least one photo existed of the girl I suspect was his prey. Mind you, all of the photos I saw - if viewed out of this particular context - would have been considered completely normal. But having them all together buried as they were.... it was curious to say the least.
Anyway, I didn't say anything to anyone because, well, there was nothing explicit there. In fact, it was the implicit meaning of such a directory with such photos that made me remember the situation.
So, there it is. The one famous person I know. How embarrassingly sad.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Is it time to move?
Between Marie's new job and the fact that it only took her less than a week to get plowed over by a semi, we are looking at moving to the other side of town; Ville St-Laurent, specifically. We were driving around the area and - quite accidentally - came upon this house.
We thought it was pretty cute and we're going to look more into it. I really don't like the idea of selling our current place, though. Not neccesarily due to any sentimental connection to it, but just because I know it's going to be a stressful headache.
Anyway, I only mention it because I'm sure there will be more on this topic in the coming weeks/months.
We thought it was pretty cute and we're going to look more into it. I really don't like the idea of selling our current place, though. Not neccesarily due to any sentimental connection to it, but just because I know it's going to be a stressful headache.
Anyway, I only mention it because I'm sure there will be more on this topic in the coming weeks/months.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Marie and Richard's Terrible-Horrible-No-Good-Very-Bad-Day!
Yesterday was a very bad day in my family. I'll tell the stories in the order in which they happened, not the order in which I found out about them.
Apparently sometime around noon my Uncle Dick - who is visiting my grandmother in Kent, Ohio from North Carolina - fell off of a ladder at my grandmother's house and hit his head pretty badly. In the hospital he apparently had forgotten why he was in Ohio (The wedding last weekend) as well as the fact that he had been retired for several months and that Black & Decker was moving his old plant to Mexico. In other words, the fall made him forget everything that had happened in the last few months and he wasn't remembering things he was being told. My mom says she thinks he's going to be fine, but it was a bad thing, nonetheless.
Then, around 5:00 PM, I get a call from Marie saying that she was in a car accident on her way home from work. She wasn't injured, just shaken up. Apparently this trucker from Indiana was in the left lane and Marie was in the center lane. The truck didn't see her there and started changing lanes and hit her and then dragged her in her car for about 150 feet! And, wouldn't you know it, there was a cop car in the right lane just next to Marie! To make a long story short, the car is in pretty bad shape, but Marie is fine. We now need to find a way for her to get to work every day. Yesterday was only her fourth day at VW and she already got in an accident!
Here is a picture she took of the accident scene.
My dad said "Boy, I hope bad things don't come in threes!". So now I'm waiting for a piano to fall on my head.
Apparently sometime around noon my Uncle Dick - who is visiting my grandmother in Kent, Ohio from North Carolina - fell off of a ladder at my grandmother's house and hit his head pretty badly. In the hospital he apparently had forgotten why he was in Ohio (The wedding last weekend) as well as the fact that he had been retired for several months and that Black & Decker was moving his old plant to Mexico. In other words, the fall made him forget everything that had happened in the last few months and he wasn't remembering things he was being told. My mom says she thinks he's going to be fine, but it was a bad thing, nonetheless.
Then, around 5:00 PM, I get a call from Marie saying that she was in a car accident on her way home from work. She wasn't injured, just shaken up. Apparently this trucker from Indiana was in the left lane and Marie was in the center lane. The truck didn't see her there and started changing lanes and hit her and then dragged her in her car for about 150 feet! And, wouldn't you know it, there was a cop car in the right lane just next to Marie! To make a long story short, the car is in pretty bad shape, but Marie is fine. We now need to find a way for her to get to work every day. Yesterday was only her fourth day at VW and she already got in an accident!
Here is a picture she took of the accident scene.
My dad said "Boy, I hope bad things don't come in threes!". So now I'm waiting for a piano to fall on my head.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Congratulations Paul and Nicole!
The wedding this weekend went very well. The groomsmen and bridesmaids listened very well and took very good directions. The one exception was the best man who was constantly drunk. I suppose he has some good qualities, but I sure didn't see them.
The bachelor's party was fun with boring parts in the middle. I must have inhaled more second-hand smoke that night than almost any other time in my life. The groom was plastered by the end of the night... so much so that he couldn't put together a sentence.
On Friday Marie and I went shopping. It was a useful, but expensive outing.
On Saturday, I took a little walk and sat in a park where I saw a deer. Then Mom and I went shopping while Marie got her hair done and such. When the time for the wedding rolled around the groomsmen did a bang-up job seating people. I marched the groomsmen in only to find out that someone had left their kid in the aisle! So we had to move them out of the way to get by. Nicole took her time showing up and then, once we were all up front waiting for her, she didn't come through the door! So there I am at the front with the groomsmen and the bridesmaids and about 75 people staring at us. It felt like we waited five minutes for her, but it was probably more like two or three.
FINALLY she comes through the door and everything beyond that went off with hardly a hitch.
Anyway, we generally had a nice time and things went pretty well. We went out with my friend Erin and her boyfriend Kris on Friday night. That was a lot of fun. I drank way too much though. I woke up at about 5 AM feeling like I had been in a gutter all night. All-in-all it was a nice little vacation.
The bachelor's party was fun with boring parts in the middle. I must have inhaled more second-hand smoke that night than almost any other time in my life. The groom was plastered by the end of the night... so much so that he couldn't put together a sentence.
On Friday Marie and I went shopping. It was a useful, but expensive outing.
On Saturday, I took a little walk and sat in a park where I saw a deer. Then Mom and I went shopping while Marie got her hair done and such. When the time for the wedding rolled around the groomsmen did a bang-up job seating people. I marched the groomsmen in only to find out that someone had left their kid in the aisle! So we had to move them out of the way to get by. Nicole took her time showing up and then, once we were all up front waiting for her, she didn't come through the door! So there I am at the front with the groomsmen and the bridesmaids and about 75 people staring at us. It felt like we waited five minutes for her, but it was probably more like two or three.
FINALLY she comes through the door and everything beyond that went off with hardly a hitch.
Anyway, we generally had a nice time and things went pretty well. We went out with my friend Erin and her boyfriend Kris on Friday night. That was a lot of fun. I drank way too much though. I woke up at about 5 AM feeling like I had been in a gutter all night. All-in-all it was a nice little vacation.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Upcoming Wedding
So in about a week and a half I'll be performing my first wedding! My
cousin, Nicole, asked me to officiate, so I got online and got
ordained. Fortunately the state of Ohio isn't too picky, so an
ordination certificate from the "Church of Spiritual Humanism" was all
I needed to get a license to solemnize marriages. I can't help but
laugh at the irony of "Spritual Humanism". First off, in the truest
definition, humanism is decidedly not spiritual. Secondly, I feel
there is a fine line between humanism and scientism (That is to say
that most scientism-ists are likely to be humanists, though they may
not call themselves that), which is ironic because I happen to be
waging an education crusade against the problems caused by scientism!
Anyway, it should be fun. I keep trying to remind myself of two
things: 1) No one is going to remember a word I say at the wedding,
and 2) even if I screw up royally, they'll still be married. It's
been working as far as making me less nervous, but it's got the
unwanted side-effect of not trying really hard. Not that there's much
to do, I suppose. Nicole (a.k.a. "bridezilla") has just about
everything planned already.
I'm just hoping we don't have issues at the border like we did when we
went to the States for Turkey Day! When we moved to Canada
Marie-Pierre went to the US Consulate in Montreal to give up her US
Permanent Resident ("Green") Card, but the woman there refused to take
it saying "You don't need to give it back yet, so hold on to it just
in case you decide to move back".
Ok.....
So we got to Customs and Immigration and the woman sees the K-1 visa
in MP's passport and asks if she has a green card. MP presented it
and the woman had this look on her face. You know the one... the look
that says "You've just done something wrong and I'm trying to decide
if I should give you a hard time or not". I saw this happening and
interjected that we TRIED to surrender the card but we were refused.
This worked well enough as the woman said she should fill out some
form to extend her PR status, but that form requires that you're
living in the United States.
Whatever. That's what we get for being completely honest with the
government. We'll see how it goes.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
The Montreal Disappointments
So I just got done watching the Habs lose in the first round of the playoffs. How sad. This is my first hockey season in Canada and our local team botches it in game six. Argh! Stupid Cam Ward and his calm, cool, collected exterior. Bah!
Well, we still have Ottawa, I guess.
Well, we still have Ottawa, I guess.
MS Walk 2006
On Sunday we went with our friends Anna and Andrew from church to the MS Walk in Maisonneuve Park. The walk started out going through the Botanic Garden but we were quickly told that we couldn't take Maggie (the dog) with us. There were a lot of disgruntled doggie daddies there, so we just ended up making our own route through the part of the park where we were allowed.
There was a pretty good turnout.
Here is a picture of Marie-Pierre and Anna when we were done with the walk and waiting in line for lunch.
When everything was done, Marie and Maggie were pretty worn out. They're so cute!
There was a pretty good turnout.
Here is a picture of Marie-Pierre and Anna when we were done with the walk and waiting in line for lunch.
When everything was done, Marie and Maggie were pretty worn out. They're so cute!
Welcome to Montreal!
Since this is my first post to this blog, it would be a good idea to get you up-to-date on what's been going on since I left the United States in June, 2005 and now, May 2006. This will be mostly a pictorial entry as I have a backlog of photos I've been wanting to share but never got around to posting them.
I want to apologize in advance as all of these photos were taken with a camera phone and then strewn haphazardly up on this blog. Please be gentle!
On commence!
I moved to Montreal with my wife, Marie-Pierre in the middle of 2005. I took a job with EMC Corporation of Canada. I travel around Eastern Canada installing EMC products and integrating our hardware with the customers' environments. Some of them are very friendly.
It was such a hassle to get my old 1995 Lincoln Town Car imported into Quebec that I was very excited to finally get my Quebec license plate. It sorta made me feel like I was finally getting settled in.
When I was starting to get settled, I spent a lot of time wandering around McGill University since it's so close to where I work. I thought the School of Music was really a nice looking building and McGill is about the only place downtown where you can find an open field.
This is Tour McGill College where my office is. The first one is a picture from the East with a nice church steeple in front and the second is from the West.
It's a pretty distinct building with the pyramid on top.
You see some funny things when you spend as much time in airports as I do. These two golf carts in the Toronto airport ran into each other, at which point the two women in red jackets (just right of center) started arguing loudly with one another. I couldn't help but laugh!
It's always reassuring when you're on a plane that there will be enough safety devices for everyone: "Can I have another seat please?!"
Finally, I'll close with some nice scenery. The first two photos here are of Cornerbrook Newfoundland in the Fall. It was really pretty there.
The last two are photos of Florenceville New Brunswick (Home of McCain Foods). The camera phone I used doesn't do it justice. And it was Winter, so everything was dead, but trust me it's pretty. Outside of Florenceville is the world's longest covered bridge at somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/4 mile.
I want to apologize in advance as all of these photos were taken with a camera phone and then strewn haphazardly up on this blog. Please be gentle!
On commence!
I moved to Montreal with my wife, Marie-Pierre in the middle of 2005. I took a job with EMC Corporation of Canada. I travel around Eastern Canada installing EMC products and integrating our hardware with the customers' environments. Some of them are very friendly.
It was such a hassle to get my old 1995 Lincoln Town Car imported into Quebec that I was very excited to finally get my Quebec license plate. It sorta made me feel like I was finally getting settled in.
When I was starting to get settled, I spent a lot of time wandering around McGill University since it's so close to where I work. I thought the School of Music was really a nice looking building and McGill is about the only place downtown where you can find an open field.
This is Tour McGill College where my office is. The first one is a picture from the East with a nice church steeple in front and the second is from the West.
It's a pretty distinct building with the pyramid on top.
You see some funny things when you spend as much time in airports as I do. These two golf carts in the Toronto airport ran into each other, at which point the two women in red jackets (just right of center) started arguing loudly with one another. I couldn't help but laugh!
It's always reassuring when you're on a plane that there will be enough safety devices for everyone: "Can I have another seat please?!"
Finally, I'll close with some nice scenery. The first two photos here are of Cornerbrook Newfoundland in the Fall. It was really pretty there.
The last two are photos of Florenceville New Brunswick (Home of McCain Foods). The camera phone I used doesn't do it justice. And it was Winter, so everything was dead, but trust me it's pretty. Outside of Florenceville is the world's longest covered bridge at somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/4 mile.
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