Merry Christmas from the Pearson-Lavallee Family! 

All wet..Again

So I go to bed at 11 pm. 4 am rolls around and I'm sleeping sound until I realize that someone is running a bath.
I wake up enough to realize that it's not a bath, but someone doing laundry.
I wake up a little more and can hear that the water is actually pouring through my bedroom ceiling. Right at the foot of the bed.

The laundry room is right above our apartment.
After running around the apartment naked for a minute I managed to be coherent enough to send the wife upstairs to turn the laundry off thinking the drainage sink was over flowing.

She comes back down and says she can't do anything. One of the pipes broke. Luckily the shut off valve for the building is in our apartment. Now no one has water. At least until the plumber comes in to fix things.

So now we've got laundry to do, and we may need to replace our mattress.
And since we don;t have content insurance, we're probably shit out of luck.

Water water everywhere.....

So. New neighbors moved in up stairs on Monday. It looks like a single mom and her 3 kids, the oldest is 17 and the youngest is 12. The mother came down Tuesday evening to ask if we'd be interested in sharing cable with her and the family on the top floor.
We got screwed over on a "deal" like that before so we said no.

Yesterday afternoon we noticed some "rain" noise but it wasn't;t raining out side. It was, however, pouring in our bedroom. Carrie called the landlord and I went upstairs to see what the problem was. The sink next to the washing machine, used for drainage, overflowed. A sock had gotten into it and blocked the drain when someone did a load of laundry.

We ended up having to do a small load of wash since our comforter got soaked. The middle daughter came down to help us clean up and Nova got over excited....Right the middle of our bed so the sheets needed to get washed too.

Later in the evening she came back down with our clean laundry and stayed for a Pepsi. She's a typical 16 year old girl, starts talking and doesn't stop. LOL
Shortly after, her older sister(17) came down as well. She barely spoke. They left after about an hour.

20 minutes later the phone rings. The 16 year old wanted to know if she could borrow some movies. She came back down with her brother. Now I don't remember the girl's names, but his is Christopher. He and I talked a bit about paintball and I loaned him one of my magazines. I think he's hooked and he hasn't played yet.

Any way, it looks like the ceiling in our room needs to be repaired due to water damage. I'm just glad things weren't any worse.

DONE!

So the last 2 weeks have been nuts. We've been packing to get ready to move, making calls to have things transferred over to the new place, getting Logan to school, worrying about my grandma.....

And as of this past Saturday we are moved in to the new place. Me, my step-dad Jim and my mothers minivan.... It only took us about 7 hours. Not bad. I just wish I had more painkillers. My back is killing me.

We spent Sunday and most of Monday unpacking. And we did more this morning. It doesn't want to end! The place is starting to look good now. We have pictures on the wall, furniture is set up. We do have an extra sofa that the last tenants left behind. Seems they couldn't get it out.

Logan loves his new room, it's twice the size of his last one. The room is a square with a short wall splitting one side. His bed is in a cubby, next to his closed and he has TONS of floor space to play on.

The master bedroom is a bit small and we need cupboard space to hang some of our clothes. Maybe we'll get an armoire for Christmas?

Stress!!! God, I need to get drunk.

Grandma broke her right arm in 2 places.

A few days later Carrie is diagnosed with a kidney infection. She gets her prescription for Ciprofloxacin, a penicillian of some sort. Four days later Carrie is off to the hosptial by ambulance at 3:00am because she's having an allergic to the meds.

The next day the dog gets into Logan's pretzels and spends 2 days barfing up all the salt and everything else he's eaten.

Add to that our new land lady wants to know when we'll be able to pay rent. That, of course hinges on Disability and thier approval of our moving allowence. We finally hear form Disabilty. We were approved but not for the $900.00 we were eligable for. They approved us for $400.00. Not enough for the rent, let alone a truck rental and other shit we need to do. Thank god for family that is willing to help us out.

We were hoping to move in on the 26th but that may not happen since the land lady found some mould in the apartment. She is hiring a crew to clean it. I just hope they get it done.

On the paintball forum I have a kid complaining he was unfairly banned for post "weird poop stories". Now the forum is supposed to be at about a PG-13 level, so ther is some minor sex talk, but not much. We do our best to filter content for profanities and we do not allow porn. This is an example of his post:

Taught him a very valueable lesson that day, don't leave your stuff anywhere becuase someone is going to POOPY SHIZZLE on the coats.

Now this isn't the first time he's posted questionable topics and many of his posts are less than helpful to people so I banned him. His next show of brilliance was to contact me over AIM to defend his actions. The actual conversation is longer but this is his ultimate defense (yes his name has been changed):

17:09] True Puzuma: What you did was beyond stupid and imature.
[17:09] I am a Doofus: wasnt saying it wasnt
[17:10] I am a Doofus: i was saying that it was funny
[17:10] True Puzuma: it shows me that you have no sense of decency
[17:10] I am a Doofus: and i wanted to tell everyone
[17:10] True Puzuma: or intelligence
[17:10] I am a Doofus: ...intelligence
[17:10] True Puzuma: of right or wrong, or an inkling of common sense
[17:10] I am a Doofus: no, me doing this doesnt show my intelligence or in your point of view lack there of
[17:10] I am a Doofus: it shows that i am a teenager who likes to have fun

I haven't even had time to deal with my own ailments. for the last week and a hlf my right shoulder has been in pain. Actually it's muscles surrounding the shoudler making it difficult to support myself. I've also been having foot and knee problems for the last few days and I've been in a REALLY bad mood too.

It's no wonder people buy high powered rifles and site in bell towers and book depositories.....

Courage. Honor. Valor.

It's Remeberance Day/ Vetrens Day.

I tried to explain to Logan what it was. It's hard to get a 5 year old to understand why we observe the 2 minutes of silence at 11:00 am on the 11th day of the 11th month. All I could come up with is, "It's to say thank you to the good guys for beatng the badguys a long time ago." He accepted it, but thought you had to be quiet all day long.


Thank you Grandpa Frank. 1921-1999

Thank you too, Grandpa Herman "Doc" Lavallee. I would post his pic if I had one and I am unable to post his birth and death years. We are packing to move and that info is in a box already.

More news

Mom called this morning.

Here's the deal. Grandma had surgery at 5:30 pm Saturday. It lasted 5 hours and she doing well. They put the plate in her right wrist and it was decided to do the same for her upper arm. So she should be good to leave the hospital on Tuesday!

From what mom said I was one of the first people she asked to see wharn garndma came to. Damn I hate not having a car. I'd have been there during the surgery.

I can't wait to see her and know she's doing well.

Update.

Mom called back last night. Grandma is worse off than we thought. The upper arm break is clean and can be reset easily.

BUT

She needs a metal plate and 4 screws in her wrist, so she needs surgery.
Mom wasn't sure when they'd do the surgery, but figures it would be some time today. She also said tehy won't be putting a cast on grandma, just a sling. So grandma will need X-rays once a week for the next 6 weeks.

On the plus side, grandma now has a new nick name: Old Iron Fist.

Broken Arm.

I just got a call from my mother. We have call display so I knew it was her. My stomach did a flop before I answered knowing I'd hear bad news. I was right.

This morning my grandmother was in the garage. She was on the stairs to enter the house and fell. She broke her humerus. I don't remember if it was the left or right arm. I was too concerned that the 85 year old lady was alright. Yes I know how stupid that sounds knowing she has a broken arm. I'm concerned that there may be more damage.

Mom called just after the ambulance left. She'll call me back tonight to give me more details.

I need sleep...

Man, having a puppy is tiring.
Piddle on the floor, poopies here and there, needing to go out every 30 minutes, me being the best chew toy on the planet...

Now let's add a twist. The other day we were out walking Nova. We went through the front yard and found one of the other tennants out there with her shitzu/dacshund, Gizmo (who for some unknown reason I keep calling Corky). He and Nova spent the next hour running around and chewing on each other.
Yesterday she came down to ask if we could do her a favor. She was asked to go out by some of her co-workers. She didn't want to leave Gizmo alone and wanted to kow if we could dog sit. It was only supposed to be for a few hours but turned into all night.

Now, Nova is only 11 weeks old now, and Gizmo is about 1 year. So from 4 o'clock when he was dropped off untill 1 am when I went to bed, the two of them were running around and beating on each other. Both dogs kept trying to get into the bedroom all night long. Scrathing and whining at the door...

Logan got up at 7 am. Yelling because one of them pooped on the floor.

Now it's almost 8:30am, both dogs are asleep on the couch. Wish I were still sleeping.

Progressing...

I now hate Best Buy. Well, at least the manager of the soon to be new local Best Buy.

I went to the 3rd interview and was told that I was everything they could want or need in an employee, but since I've been unemployed for almost 2 years I'm a "risk". WHAT THE FUCK is that supposed to mean? I sent several emails to their head office and haven't had a single response. Managers can be such assholes.

We told our landlord that we will not be renewing our lease. It's not that I hate this place, but it's small and so poorly heated. It's also got mice. I've killed 3 with my shoe (not with the stink). We told the superintendent about them and he gave us some traps and poison. We also get TONS of spiders and centipedes in here.

We have found a new place. Much nicer too. It's about 900 square feet and all inclusive. Free laundry to boot! It's a much nicer neighborhood. There is a nice park with a wading pool less than 100 feet down the street, there are 2 schools within walking distance (1 public, 1 catholic) and there are lots of kids around too. The only real downside is it's a bit further from downtown and the grocery stores.

We had to take Logan to the hospital last night. He got up yesterday morning with a bit of a fever and he was having some trouble breathing. He's asthmatic and we've had a smog advisory over the last week so we didn't pay too much attention to his cough, especially since it wasn't sounding like anything more than a bit of irritation.

So we gave him his puffers and some advil. His temp went down but his breathing didn't improve. At noon we gave him his puffers again and still no improvement. At 6:30 we gave him yet another dose and still no change to his breathing. It was labored and shallow. So off we went to the hospital. They gave him some Prednozone and more ventolin. He could breath again!

It terrifies me when he has a sever attack like that. I've been through them myself and I know how hard it can be. Trying to imagine my son going through it. No matter how calm I seem to be to everyone around me all I could think is that my son is suffocating.

Today he woke up with a bit of a cough and that's it. He's breathing normally and has no fever. Thank god.

Nova is doing fine. He's afraid of the rain so takng him out to do his business today hasn't happened. He just wimpers are tries to get back indoors. Funny stuff... Untill I have to clean up after him.

As far as other jobs go. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'm thinking about going to school, assuming I qualify for O.S.A.P, and taking some business courses. Other than that I'm thinking about asking the local tattoo shop if they need an apprentice.
I'd be working there for free, but maybe I could get some ink done too. If they do piercing maybe I can get those done too.....

This is our new puppy. His name is Nova 

Looking good!

So what's been going on? Over all, not much.

I saw an article in one of the free local papers saying that Best Buy is coming to Kingston. So I applied on line with the on-line interview. At the end it said there were no postions availble and figured that was it, no big deal. A few days later I get a call for a live interview with them.

It looks like it went well. I have a third and final interview on Tuesday. The only downside is that the store doesn't open untill late November/ early December.

This past Tuesday we got a puppy. He's a 7 week old Beagle/Basset cross. We named him Nova, short for Cassanova. When we took him for his first walk all he wanted to do was follow the ladies around. It was kind of funny. Mind you he seemed like the "model" types more. I'll put some pics up soon. Of the dog, not the women he picks up.

We'll be giving our notice at the end of the month. We need to move. This place is just rediculous. I shouldn't have to call in a hhousing standrads enforcement officer to get a fucking floor tile replaced. Besides, assuming I get the job, I'd like to live a little closer to work. Having to get across town to be at work for 6 am, without a car, can be difficult.

Almost there.

Yup. Almost there.

It's been a rough week. Some/most of the repairs are done. The entry way has an indoor/outdoor carpet installed. Some of the glue is still wet in spots but most of our stuff is back where it belongs. Most importantly we have our kitchen back!

Logan is back in school and seems to be enjoying himself. He's there for half days for the next 2 weeks. After that he's in for full days. YES!
Add to that that Carrie's back at school this year too. I actually have some alone time! Question is: What am I going to do?

I'm getting depressed about not having a job. I've had several interviews, but none have panned out. It's not like I can't do the jobs I've applied for. I know I'm doing EVERTHING right in the interviews, being positive, friendly, enthusiastic, knowlegedable, answering any question they throw at me with confidence.

I know what I want to do. I know how much it'll cost. Probelm is I don't have access to money. My credit is fucked up, so I can't get a persoanl loan. Can't get a studant loan becasue the school is in the US and isn't a "recognised" educational establishment. All I need is $5000.00 CDN. and everything is covered for me.

Shit, it's getting to the point where some days I feel like selling sexual favors. At least I'd be doing something.

It's about freaking time!

Ever since we moved into our apartment we've been asking the super to do some fixing up.
None of it should have been a big deal, but none of it got done unless it was ABSOLUTELY necessary(like fixing the toilet or shower). Every time we asked we'd get told "it's not in the budget" and it would be avoided.

Well, a few weeks ago we got fed up and called the Housing Tribunal. They suggested that I contact the City Property Standards Officer. He came by on Wednesday and looked around. He took some note and told us he'd make a few call and be back in about 3 weeks.

Thursday the super came by asking what stuff needed to get done because the landlord called him with a list of things that had to be done by Sunday.

Friday the wife and I cleaned out the entryway area. So our kitchen is a fucking disaster. We have shit sitting outside and we now have no spes in place to GET IN OR OUT of the apartment. The super Pulled them off the wall, yanked up the crappy linoleum flooring and layed down a layer of thin cement over half the floor.
Later today I'll have to help move the stairs so he can lay the rest of the cement, and hopefully tonight put the new flooring in.

Damn. I know I wanted the repairs done, but being "trapped" inside wasn't part of the deal! At least people won't be killing themselves by tripping the the holes in the floor...

Fun, Fun, Fun!

So....
Wednesday, both my grandmother and sister were to arrive. So my mother picked us up and took us to Ottawa to hang at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. When I was a kid I thought it was a blast. Now I found it interesting. Thankfully Logan was with us and kept us laughing. Talk about an exhausting visit! We arrived at 11:00 am and left at 3:00 pm. We did have fun, Logan more than anyone else.

After that we headed to the Airport for our first pick up at 4:00 pm. Grandma arrived a little late but had a good flight home. Once the luggage was collected and put in the van we went back in for dinner and to wait for Paula to arrive at 6:00 pm. Other than a guy dressed like a chicken waiting for Paula to arrive was pretty quiet.

Yesterday the family went on a boat cruise of the 1000 Islands. The original plan was to visit Boldt Castle. But due to a misunderstanding we ended up just going on a 3 hour tour (begin singing Gilligan's theme). We did, however, end up circling the castle.

Below are the pics, or some of them. I don't think anyone would want to see all 180 pcs so I just picked a few.

Deer Island

Deer Island, Owned by the Skull and Bones Society of Yale. 

Deer Island is located just North of Alexandria Bay, New York. It is a fifty acre island containing diverse topography and a varied shoreline. The southern perimeter of Deer Island faces the American shipping channel while the northern perimeter faces the Canadian channel. It has several protected coves and a small bay and is currently mostly forested with White Pine, Black Oak, Hemlock, and Sugar Maple.

Deer Island was one of the first islands in what has become known as The Thousand Islands region to have been sold as a summer retreat. In September of 1856, Deer Island and a smaller 7 acre island nearest to it on the northeastern edge was sold to a Mr. Samuel Miller for a sum of $175.

Through the turn of the century, this region became a favored summer retreat for the American elite as many wealthy families purchased islands and constructed ever more elaborate and decorative cottages. Most of these homes were featured in tourist books of the time since the many hotels also attracted the less affluent vacationers and the homes of the millionaires were no less of interest to the tourist in 1800 than they are today. Yet, photographs of the Deer Island structures are not as easy to locate despite the fact that the Island and its accouterments were apparently no less elaborate and interesting as the many of the other cottages.

At some date prior to 1949, Samuel Miller's son, George Douglas Miller, gave a building on the island to the Yale University's Skull and Bones Society. This building was known as "The Outlook" and was built largely of stone with a wooden upper structure. It was reported to contain fifteen rooms and housed a valuable collection of antiques and books. The building and it's contents were destroyed by fire in 1949.

The Skull and Bones Society currently appears to own the entire island however, of the original larger cottages on the island, only one clearly remains. There are at least three obvious ruins on the island. The NewRuins Deer Island Project seeks to determine the history of these ruins and the factors that led to their demise.

taken from Deer Island--A Breif History

The 1000 Islands International Bridge 

The 1000 Islands Internationl Bridge 

from l-r :Grandma Agnes, My sis Paula, Carrie, My other sis Carmen. I'm in the back and Logan is in the front. 

"AUNTIE PAULA! YOU'RE HERE!!" 

At the Ottawa airport wating for grandma and Paula to arrive. 

Carrie and Logan having fun at the science museum in Ottawa 

WOOT! WWE PICS!

If this pic wasn't first I'd never hear the end of it. Carrie got a kiss from the big Visera too. 

The World's BIGGEST love machine! 

Ya think Gene Snitsky has Y2J where he wants him? 

KURT! U SUCK! lol 

Eugene and Angle  

the BIG SHOW!!! 

They kept the belts, I think. I was too busy ogling Stacey.... 

Stacey Keibler! Oh, and Rosey too. you can kinda see the Hurricane's boots. 

The MASTER LOCK! 

Chris Masters Vs Rob Conway 

And the WINNA! CAARLIIITOO! 

Shelton Benjamin vs Carlito for the title 

I think I pissed someone off......

It's come to my attention that certain individuals seem to have issues with my last update.

what follows are direct quotes form their forum about what I had to say. The member names are NOT included, colors are used to distinguish indivdual quotes:

See what the fat a$$ canadian puzuma said about us. oh and i bet he "didnt" know that capt obvious made himself a mod here by hacking. and if any of you other mods are covering him you are dead. This proves that we need to step up our recruiting

yea man i hate the mods there. they banned me for no good fricken reason. bastards this puzuma guy banned me because he said i "flamed' yet i didn't do crap. total bull.

back on topic puzama is a fag realy he is not joking he has done some stuff that i am not going to say that could get him aressted


Those fucks. they hacked the forum??? Those goddamn lying hipocrite (sp) bastards.

{QUOTE
They managed to get a few people on their side to PM new members about joining them and their board saying Spec Ops sucks and the staff is oppressive. }


Im pretty sure I was the only one pming and I didnt say any of that.

I think that once a day, we should get members to spam their entire forum and om every member they can before they are banned.

Dont worry. Special ops' evil empire is like the soviet union in the early 80s. Many forum members are getting annoyed at them. There has been alot less posts on their site, and like 10 get locked every day, and alot of people are getting banned. Its just a matter of time before ther collapse.

To top it off some of the members there are still memebrs at Spec Ops, yet they call me a hypocrite? That's funny.

They seem to think that Spec Ops is quaking in their boots over them. Saddly, since I'm not an actual employee of Spec Ops I can't speak for them. But let's look at the logic here. Current specops members as of 1054 am EST: 6595 their members :67

My understanding is that the "leader" seems to have bailed out on them and there seems to be some dissension amongst the ranks as to who is now in charge. Yup. Spec ops should be cowering in fear.

Now for my own curiosity I decided to see how easy their forum was to find. Even using the forum name google can't seem to find it. Yet another reason to fear them.

Now before they go flying off the handle scream that I'm a fuck asshole and such I'm going to go against my better judgement and include a link to their forum. I invite ANYONE who reads this to view sign up and read Their Forum

Now on a side note, as I mentioned, some of their members are STILL on the Spec Ops forum. The ones that FOLLOW the rules, even though they are obviously two faced, haven't, I reapeat HAVEN'T been banned. I certainly have the power to ban them just becasue they are on the 1st Seperatist Army forum, but that WOULD be an abuse of powers.

Now since you've qouted my blog directly on your forum I know you read this. For some people that seem to hate me so much I can't figure out WHY you would.

Who opened the can of STUPID?

**Opens the vent**

Someone somewhere opened a big ass can of STUPID. That's all I can figure.

Over the last week on the Special Ops paintball forum we've had at least 3 morons start bitching and moaning how the admin staff handles things. This has resulted in these three topics :
What admin/ do you hate the most?
Spec Ops moderators, to strict,
and finally
Poll: Hierarchy or Democracy

All of this because these people couldn't get it through their heads that the threads were closed for a VALID reason. The cried and whined about unfair treatment that we, the admin staff, are too strict in the enforcement of the rules. I'm proud to say that the majority of the forum members feel that we are doing a good job and basically told the offends to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut. (And any forum members reading this, this is MY blog I can say whatever I want here. I remain professional at Spec Ops.)

This is on the heels of another incident where some forum members felt the need to "step up" the way the Spec Ops works. First of all Spec Ops IS NOT AN ARMY OF ANY KIND. Spec ops decided to us a ranking system similar to the military so that individual have milestones and targets to shoot for.

These other members felt that having a rigid command system would be a better idea. In other words if you sign up and are ranked as a Corporal and I'm a Master Sergeant I'm automatically your superior officer. They started their own forum, which was cool with us. But then they decided that they needed more members. They began multiposting on the Spec Ops forum asking/demanding people join them.

We asked them to stop, they didn't. Instead they complained we were being unfair. So we banned the worst offenders. Apparently that started a war. They managed to get a few people on their side to PM new members about joining them and their board saying Spec Ops sucks and the staff is oppressive. More bannings occurred. A little bit of time passed. I'd heard rumors that their members were rethinking the whole thing, and foolishly we let some of them back. It wasn't for very long, they did something stupid and got banned again.

Now, I'm not perfect. I've ignored rules, bent others, and if I get caught doing it, then I expect to pay the consequences. These icons of sheer stupidity seem to believe that they are above the rules.

IF YOU WERE ABOVE THE RULES THEN YOU WOULD BE A MOD/ADMIN. And even then there are rules that we have to follow.

If you're on a forum, ANY FORUM, and you have problems with the staff, PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS and take a breath of fresh air. The shit you keep spewing is getting to you.

**closes vent**

On the flip side of the coin someone started this thread Who's your favorite Mod?. Last time I checked I was in the lead. I'm not sure which poll I take more offense too the one that says I'm the second most hated, or the one that says I'm the best.


In other news, Carrie's been in and out of the hospitall for the last week. She's late for her period (again) and was in pain so we went to see if there was a problem. Not pregnant, but she did have a bladder infection. We went home, she took her pills and was still in pain. Monday night it was back to the hospital. She spent the night since they wanted to do an ultra sound. Again, no major problems but they did find a gall stone. They put her on Percocets for the pain and sent her home. Wedensday she was still in lots of pain and the Percs weren't helping. Back to the Hospital. this time they did a catscan or sor somethinhg and found a hairline fracture in her left hip. the fracture looked like iwas healed or nearly healed but there was still some fluid in the area from the damage. As near as we can figure the fracture happened 6 or 7 weeks ago when she slipped on the stairs.

WWE is coming to K-town!

OK. Several weeks ago they announced that WWE Raw Live is coming to Kingston on August 13. Tickets went on sale July 16 at noon. Now I enjoy WWE but not enough to spend the night waiting in line fro front row ticktes.

So I got up at 7 am Saturday morning and the 3 of us walked down to the tickect office. I wasn't sure how big a line there would bem but figured we'd still get decent seats. When we arrived there were probably 50 or so people that had camped out. Now it was just a matter of waiting in line for the next 4 hours...with a 5 year old...in the sun...on a street corner....
Actually it wasn't that bad. Logan adopted a 17 year old girl as his new friend and he kept everyone entertained.

Finally noon arrived! The doords opened and the line started to move sloooowly...They were only allowing 2 people in at a time to buy tickets. 12:30 we can now see the door! And we can also see that some of the buskers are setting up. Logan and I peeled away from the line and watched the show while Carrie got the tickets.
Our seats are in section 19, row g seats 1 & 2. What that means is row 10, on the wrestlers entry to the ring. So I should have some pics to put up around the middle of August.

I know what you're all asking: Who's coming?

The card, of course, is subject to change, but:
3 different title matches!
****MAIN EVENT for the WWE Title****

John Cena vs. Chris Jerico


****Intercontental Title Match****

Shelton Benjamin vs. Carlito


****WWE Tag Team Title Match****

The Huricane & Rosey vs. Tyson Tomko & Gene Snitsky


The Big Show vs. Edge (w/ Lita)



PLUS

Kurt Angle

Christy Hemme

Vivera

Val Venis

& many, many more!


The only downside is it's most likely NOT to be televised. Which means you all won't be able to see my pretty face!

If there are any changes I'll be sure to post them!

Ghostly visit..

So, last night I crawl into bed just before midnight. I close the bedroom door becasue Carrie's playing on the computer. I KNOW I heard the door click shut.

At about 12:05 am I heard the door open. I figured it was Carrie either going to ask me a question or just being a goofball. But she wasn't there, she was having a smoke.

My next thought was that it was Logan, sneaking out of his room while mom was having a smoke, but he was still asleep in bed.

She's been feeling ill for the last several days and went to lay down this morning and dozed off. When she woke up she told me that last night she felt someon touch her hand shortly after the bedroom door opened and she had dreamed of her grandmother.

Years ago Carrie watched her grandmother die and was to upset to go to the funeral. She felt bad about it. It didn't help that her mother told her everyone was going to hate carrie for not going.

In her dream she visited the grave site and found a doll that looked exactly like her grandmother. When Carrie asked to keep it, not only did the graveyard staff say yes, she heard her grandmother say, "keep it. It's yours."

It took a while, but her grandmother finally said it was okay for Carrie not to have been at the funeral.

They all laugh at me.

Over the last wek or two I've gotten hooked on Starpoker.com's No Limit texas Hold Em poker. It's all for play money, thank god. So far my best game was a bluff for a $15,000 pot. I won on a pair of 2s.

Yesterday Carrie asked me how to play, so I showed her. I let her use my account (Puzuma btw) and watched how she did. She wasn't playing for more than an hour when she won a pot($1100.00) with a Royal Flush.

I'll leave it to you as to who had the better day.

Bumgorf

Well, that's another week and a half between updates. I feel like I'm slacking off here...

I'm at a point where I'm seriously thinking about quitting the job hunt. I've put out resumes, I talk to people about possible work, I'm looking in the papers, on the net and in shop windows. In the last 7 months I've had 2 job interviews. Only one of them had the balls to call me and tell me I didn't get the job. The other left me hanging until I called them to see what was going on. Fucking idiots.

The "reach back" program I've been looking into doesn't seem to be too promising. Every meeting I've had about it makes me think I'm ineligible because I'm not on pogey. I've been to their stupid little "job club workshops", I KNOW I'm doing my interviews right and the one thing I REALLY want to do I need $7000.00 Cdn.

Uh what else?
Well over at the Spec Ops Forum I've gone up the ladder from member to mod to the admin staff. That keeps me pretty busy. It'd be worse if CptObvious and ShadoAngel weren't promoted along with me. Maybe sometime in the future we can hook up at a strip club and complain about the really stupid thing s some of the members do. Not all, SOME. If you guys are reading this you know what I'm talking about. There's always those few members that can't take a hint and continue to spam or flame. Considering that we're babysitting some 5500+ members it's not really that bad.

Canada day has come and gone. They held a "red & white" parade from uptown to city hall. Anyone could get in as long as they were wearing red & white. So the family and I get in there. Heck we even made it on TV. You could see Carrie clearly and Logan for the most part. I was hidden behind a flag. You couldn't even see my feet. Not that it mattered really since we were only seen for 2 seconds...

Well, it's getting close to luck and I'm hungry. soo...

Beauty and Elegance

Two words not really associated with WWE Wrestling but they can certainly apply.

Monday night we had a friend come over who's never really watched WWE. I think I may have converted him to the darkside.

"But wrestling is fake don't ya know?"
Yes it is and isn't. Yeah the story lines are similar to what you'd find on Days of Our Lives and the winner is pre-selected but the actual skill is a thing of beauty and elegance.

I've watched wresting since the 80's when Andre the Giant's footsteps made the world tremble (god rest his soul). As a kid I was like everyone else "He's a goodguy and wins his matches, so must be a good wrestler." Since then I've learned to see who the good wrestlers truly are based on timing of their moves and athletic ability.

What made my case to our friend was during Edge and Lita's wedding. Kane (Lita's ex husband) came out of the floor and destroyed the ceremony. Before he was done he gave the minister a piledriver. The pile driver was poorly done in my opinion. I offered our guest 2 possible reasons: Kane sucks at doing the pile driver (not he's actully quite skilled at it) or the minister wasn't a wrestler and kane took an extra safety percaution.

Normally when the pile driver is use the victims head is placed between the knees. Just before impact the victim is lifted slightly so the knees hit the mat first but isn't noticed due to the speed they move at. This was not the case with the minister. The minsters head was near the middle of Kanes thigh. When the move was completed the ministers head still hadn't hit the mat.

Now, hopefully, in August when WWE comes to Kingston I'll be able to show Carrie what I'm talking about since some things are harder to see on TV. At least I hope she'll be able to see what I'm taling about if she isn't too busy drooling of Batista...

What a Great Day!!

Yep. We had an awesome day today.

Logan decided he wanted to go outside. I suggested we go for a walk. At first he wasn't too keen on it untill I said we could go to where they played the boot game.

The walk down to the water wasn't all that exciting. We stopped an petted a dog or two and that was it.

Once we were down there, there wasn't any thing happening. People were sitting there enjoying the sun and a picnic lunch. So we walked along the water and looked at the boats and ducks. One lady asked if Logan would like to feed the ducklings some bread. She didn't have to ask twice. After the bread was gone the ducks swam off. We said thank you the lady for giving Logan the bread and wandered on.

We stopped at a scuplture called The Wrestlers. It's kind of 3D stick figure art. Logan thought it was cool but wanted to continue on to the steam train, the Spirit of Sir John A.

We walked around it and found a place to sit. We watched some seagulls fight over some scraps.

Next we walked past City Hall and found a flea market going on. It wasn't much but Logan enjoyed looking at all the stuff. There was even a small park with a canon in it. Logan big comment on that was, "It's got spider webs on it" then wandered off again.

On the way home we a girl sitting on the sidewalk across the street. Logan wanted to see what she was doing. She was drawing a pretty nice mermaind with her sticks of calk. She was nice enough to let Logan draw too. He did a little doodle and signed his name. Since we didn't have any change to give her we ended up giving her a bottlecap liner for a free Pepsi.

Next we saw a puppy near McDonald's. I'm not sure what kind, it looked like a boxer or bulldog cross. Logan got a kick out of how friendly it was. Since we had a bottle of water with us we gave the puppy a drink.

Finally! We made it home, but we were only inside for a few minutes. Logan decided he wanted to draw on the sidewalk. Thankfully we have a bucket if sidewalk chalk!

Now, he's just gotten out to the bath and is relaxing by watching one of his favorite shows.

Tomorrow is another day!

Paintball manifesto

Recently on the Spec Ops Forum a member known as Tyger poseted a manifesto in regards to woodsball paintball.

Although he says it's a first draft I think it's more than good enough to share with the rest of the world. This is mearly to "get the word out" but my own opinions follow very closely with Tyger's.

Woodsball™ Manifesto
By: Tyger

We are Woodsball™ players. We are the core of paintball. Over 90% of the players play paintball in the woods, and yet 90% of all in-paintball media coverage ignores us. We play not for prizes or money or fame, but for the passion of the game. We play because the challenge is there; every weekend, all around the world. We just need to show up and accept it.

We are not the pretty-boys of speedball. We are the anti-heroes of the mainstream. You won't see us on posters or in videos sliding into bunkers with names like "cans" or "snakes", and that's fine by us. The real game isn't spit shined, groomed and polished or made for TV. It's down and dirty, in the literal trenches. Our fields are not well maintained lawns; it's terrain that both teams overcome. We don't complain about sand or dirt or uneven fields, its part of the world we play in. Scratches and dings in our equipment are displayed with pride, and we can tell you where they happened, and how deep in the crud we were when we got it.

We are the roots of the game that have been abandoned by much of the mainstream industry. We don't throw aside where we've come from to make the game more palatable for an audience. If nobody sees what we do, it does not make the effort or result worth less. We drive through back roads to fields that nobody knows about but ourselves. We know we're there when we lose our favorite radio station and the cell phones won't work anymore. We play under the media radar with no reward other than bragging rights because we want to play. There are no prizes, no million dollar checks, but that makes neither our tenacity to win no less fierce nor our games less meaningful for us.

Our chosen uniform is camouflage, not because we want to be militaristic but because it works. We use our clothing as a part of our game, something that escapes many of the "firefight specialists" that play only arena games. The paintgun is only one tool of a well rounded player, not the only tool. We know this; as we use all the skills and tools we have every weekend.

Based only on our clothing, our gear, and our chosen locations of play, we are looked at as inferior players. We are told we would never stand a chance in a "real game" of paintball. We understand your arena game; yet you refuse to understand our woods game? We are not throwbacks to a long dead game. Yes, we are living history, but we have evolved. We honor our roots, but we do not abandon them to follow the next "promise" in paintball. Long after the "flavor of the month" arena game has worn out, we will be playing in the woods. To know the past is to control our future, and we embrace both.

We are told that we should abandon the woods, for the better good of "the future of the game". Our presence threatens those who never have, and probably never will, understand what the origins of paintball are. They think we will scare away the media by looking like "militia members". Not that fist fights and blatant cheating will attract any better media attention in their games. Not that terms like "Bounce Engineered" or "Ramping Technology" mean anything to the true roots of what paintball started as; what paintball should be. Are the arena players scared of us or ashamed because we remind them what they should be?

We are woodsball™ players. Any given weekend we'll be playing our game with a grasp on the past and an eye on our future. Players that don't understand will come and go, we know this. They can play under the bright lights in front of audiences and pretend to be rock stars all they want. We'll be in the woods years after you retire, playing the game of paintball the way it always had been played; with honor, with integrity, and with friends. All 90% of us.

© 2005 Panther Free Press
http://www.tyger.us

Open permission to print / distribute / repost on other personal web pages as long as this disclaimer, my web site and my name remain attached to the text. "Share and Enjoy" Any use of this article in a paid media (Magazines, paid or sponsored e-zines / paintball field pieriodicals or newsletters, and so on) is permitted ONLY if permission is given first from the author.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Last month I was supposed to go to KEYS (Kingston Employment & Youth Services)to meet wiht a job councellor. Unfortuneately she had to reshcedule for this past Monday.

Things went as well as could be expected, I guess. I was just our first meeting after all. It was a "get to know you" type of thing. We talked about my past job experiences. Where I worked, what I liked and disliked and why. I was even able to mention my wanting to go to the Paintball Training Institute (PTI) in Tennesse. Hopefully on May 25 we'll be able to talk about it more. If I'm mega super ultra lucky they'll say, "Here's the money, have a nice trip."

The other day I went into the army surplus store downtown to see if they had a certified airsmith on staff since they sell some paintball gear. I was told no. So that could be a potential employer.

I know I'm dreaming, but if i get the training they surplus store hires me I might be able to talk the owner into opening an indoor field in town. Granted it wouldn't be MY field, but I'd be in charge of it. I'd actually be doing something that I want to do and not something everyone thinks I should do.

I don't care if I make millions of dollars. I want to do something that I'll enjoy, something that will keep my hands busy and my mind working. Being at a paintball field would be a huge advantage. I'd have a place I could test the repaired markers, and play or ref when I can.

So please. Pray, sacrifice goats, eat bugs to/for what ever version of god that I'll have some good luck with this. Other wise I'll probably get stuck working with computers.

Damn

I can't believe it's been a month since my last entry. I can't figure out if things have been that busy, or that dull.

On the 19th I was supposed to go to a meeting to look into going to school. Unfortunately that got postponed until May 9. Depending on how it goes there's no telling what I'll be going to school for. Basically it's supposed to be for skills upgrading. My skills are warehousing, computers and some management.

Carrie went to Rochester over the weekend. she had a pretty good time, even though she was homesick.

While she was gone my mom took Logan for a night. When she picked him up she said she might keep him for two. At 10:00 the next morning the phone rang. Mom said she was going to have Logan home around 1:30. Things started off great but at 3:00am Logan got her up because he wanted hotdogs. After he was back in bed he got her up at 6:00 am because "It's not dark out anymore." She refuses to take him for a week on the grounds of "It'll be the death of me." all I could do was laugh.

Most people believe us Canadians to be a mellow and friendly people. I think that's going to change.
Recently I saw an ad for a new brand of Molson beer: Molson Kick. It's 5% alcohol/volume, which is typical of our Canadian beer. What's the Kick? Caffine. It's being sold in 355ml aluminum bottles. Right, not cans, BOTTLES.
Not to be out done Labatt will be producing Ð Shok Ð. It will be sold in 250ml cans, but it's 6.9% alcohol/volume.
It's going to be bad enough having hyperactive drunks running amok in Canada. God help us all if our beer makes it's way south of the border. Can you imagine a bunch of hyper drunk rednecks? They'll be shooting the crap out of everything and then duck taping it back to gether to shoot some more. Trailers will be improved (sort of)as the mow lawns, rebuild the junkers and clear trash. You know what that will mean don't you? Jeff Foxworthy will need to get new jokes.

Creeepy Stuff!

Many people know that I currently reside in Kingston Ontario, near the NY border. From Kingston to Albany is only 4 to 4.5 hour drive.

When we moved in I thought the converted Victorian home was creepy enough. I honestly have no idea how old the building really is, but it could easily over 100 years. It's big, old and grey. Sometimes it reminds me of an entry to a mental hospital (Perfect place for me, I know).

Not far from where we live is a park. It's proper name is McBurney Park. Locally, though, it's called Skeleton Park.

At the moment the park has a couple of picnic talbes, some play ground equipment, a cannon facing south, a mound of rocks cemented together in the center and a monument at the north end.

On a bright sunny day it is a nice place to visit and play with your kids, or sit and haev a coffee and enjoy the sun. It is, in fact a nice place.

"If it's so nice then why is it called Skelton Park", right?
Well. I wondered that too. asking people got the basic they found remains there. Some would go so far as to add human remains to make it seem more ominous. The reasons and numbers varried from 1 due to murder, up to a 100 due to mass murder.

But I wanted to kow the truth behind the name. The truth is creepy.

Back in 1825, three different churches useed the plot of land as a burial grounds. Over the years as the city grew, the churches got their own seperate cemetaries, and McBurney park was more or less forgotten. Houses grew up beside the disused land, and of course vandals and hobos were in there. People started to complain.

the churches didn't want to pay to tidy the place up, so they gave the land to the city. The city thought that was fine since they could put in a park. they were just going to bury the headstones and keep it simple, but of course people want their loved ones to be moved.

So the city bowed to the public pressure and started to dig them up around 1893.

In 5 days 400 bodies were found. They came across signs of grave robbery, casket staking, and multiple bodies in a single casket.

The other day my son and I were walking around in the park and I noticed some stones in the ground that seemed out of place. Remains of head stone? Most likely.

If you want to read all the details read Is it any wonder that Kingston is considered one of the most haunted cities in Canada?
Now who wants to go for a picnic with me?

another Birthday passed and the universe kicks me in the balls again.

So March 9 was my birthday, and Logan's was on the 8.
Logan got a pretty good haul for turning 5. Me? I hit 34, got a dragon wind chime, dragon candle holder and a nice watch that didn't fit.

I took the watch back to the store and they refunded me the money into a giftcard. I've tried on about 20 watches and none fit me. I must have monster wrists. So I'm thinking about selling the card to a neighbor and using the cash to get a subscription to Action Pursuit games magazine or getting odds and ends for around the house.

Now for the kick in the balls.
When I was a kid I lived just outside Halifax, NS. I spent 12 years living in Nova Scotia and I was deathly allergic to seafood. Universe kicks me in the balls....
On March 17 I woke up and heard my name being announced on the radio. Appearantly I won tickets and airfare to see U2 live in Boston. Problem was "I" was already in the studio talking talking to the Djs, while I was still in bed. Kicked in the balls again.
Some people think I should go to the radio station, with all my ID and see what they'll do for me. It'd be cool to get the prize, but my luck I'd just get arrested.


The band I'm NOT seeing. 

The place where I'm NOT seeing them them... 

The radio station that ISN'T sending me anywhere. 

HAPPY pre BIRTHDAY to me!

Well, Blockbuster didn't pan out. No big deal though. It's their loss. Maybe Cyclepath management will have more than one functioning brain cell and put me to work.

It's March (like you couldn't figure that out with out my help). March is birthday season. Logan has his birthday on March 8, mine is March 10. Mind you my mother and grandmother are coming up tomorrow to celebrate. Carrie picked up the cake from Dairy Queen. Yes the pics are edible.


Mine and Logan's birthday cake!  

Then on March 10, one of my best buds from high school has his birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK! Say Hi to bonnie for me!

Hopefully I'll get some really cool stuff. I know Logan will, so I'll be posting more pics later!