HOLY SHIT!! HAPPY! HAPPY!

I just got a call from my dad in Grande Cache Alberta.
He was wondering if I wanted to go out there and work at the mine with him.

They will be hiring in the "near future", aprox. 15-20 spots, 2 postions: Laborer and Driver.

Laborer= Gopher postion. Running around working with welders, fabricators, mechanics, and blasters. startin wage $20.00Cdn/hr after a few months you can move up to Driver.

Driver= BIG ASS DUMPTRUCK. that's all you do. Starting wage $29.00Cdn/hr.

I'm thinking of going with Laborer.

Boredom breeds insanity.

I was bored the other day. I finished reading the Stephen King book I got for Christmas, and there was no one to have a game of paintball with. Rather than spend time reading everything on the paintball forum Spec Ops, I decided to set up my own paintball forum. Puzumas Paintball Place. Aside from me, my test accout, my sister Paula I have one other member. I've got a small section set aside for private friends and family chat, and it's SUPPOSED to be primarily Canadina paintball content, but ANYONE can join!

I got a call from my dad the other day. He was looking for my sister Carmens adress. I didn't have it. So I gave him moms phone number. He mentioned that he might be able to get me work at the mine he's working at. I think he said starting pay is around $20.00/hr. Down side is i'd have to move to a smaller town again, that's over 6 hours drive from the nearest big city. DAMN!

Christmas pt 2, New Years, and new pets!

So, the Sunday beofre Christmas, my family came up to visit and open presents. The following Saturday we had a "real" Christmas. Not that Carrie and I had tons of gifts, but Logan had a bunch more.
Man were we glad to get that over with. Listening to a 4 year old asking to open presents every 10 minutes of every day for a week is not fun.

New Years eve was last night. So we did the same thing as last year. Nothing.
We haev a kid. We're in a new city and don't have a sitter. Logan went to bed at 8:00, even though we told him he didn't have to go. Carrie palyed on the internet for the most part, and I sat and watched YTV's Animania untill 11:30. At that point I switched to the FOX station and we watched the Ball drop countdown. I would have prefered to see something from Toronto, but Could find anything. We went to bed around 1 am. Talk about party animals! lol

We also got some new pets last week. Leopard geckos. Four of them, 1 male & three females. It's a small breeding colony. One of the girls is ready to lay eggs. Hopefully we don't fuck things up and we're able to sell them.


Two of the girls and the male. He's got the big head. 

The Amle is in the center, and has his head resting on one of the females. Aren't they CUTE?

Christmas part 1

My New APG winnings! 

Yep! That's it! My brand spanking new PMI Piranha GTI that I won from APG! I got it today when my family came over for an Early Christmas.

We opens all the gifts from My parents, grandmother and sister. Logan sure got a huge haul! WWE wrestling ring with 2 figures, some Tonka toys, an Animaniacs Splat Ball (paintball) computer game, Spongebob Squarepants "Mr. Potatohead", some art supplies, and a few assorted odds'n'ends.

Most of what Carrie and I got were his'n'hers gifts. We got a new microwave, some tupperware containers, floor wax and a ceiling fan.

I got a Stephen King book, a fotrune telling set, and a few stocking stuffers.

Carrie got some new pajamas, some perfume, and some stocking stuffers.

The highlight of the day was when my grandmother opend her gift from us. We got a picture of her and my grandfather put on a coffe mug. When she opened the box, the picture was facing up, and she started to cry right away. She was litterally speachless. Everyone was teary-eyed for a few minutes.

And e have on VERY ANNOYING MYSTERY on our hands. Our gift to my sister Carmen VANISHED! We tore the place apart, while they were here, looking for it. And we still can't find it. It'll probably turn up in the new year.

More Paintball gun pics in a day or two.

8 days until Christmas and counting....

Yep. The year has disappeared pretty quickly. In 2 weeks it will be EXACTLY 1 year since I was fired from Stream and worked last. With having moved in I haven't put many resumes out. It's too much with having to try and get the apartment to feel like home, transfer direct deposit government cheques to a new account, fighting with Bell Sympatico internet about why they took a payment when we cancelled service with them and getting Logan into school. In total I think I have 5 or six out there. And that doesn't count the 4 or 5 I did over the internet.

As much as I hate having my mother and the rest of the family come over, just because it winds Logan up for the next 3 days, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday. Since we don't have a car, we can't go home for Christmas. So they're coming here for a few hours, to let Logan open presents from them early. But that's not why I'm looking forward to it.
If you've read everything else then you already know I entered a contest for a paintball gun with the draw date in October. I found out I won on November 4, and have been waiting with baited breath ever since. On December 3 I email APG to see if it had been sent out and maybe get a tracking number. They told me it shipped on November 22. On Tuesday of this week mom called to ask me to see if I could track it down. I was going to call customs to see how long of a hold they put on that sort of thing. The next morning Mom called back and said the package arrived!! I GET IT ON SUNDAY!!!! WOOT!!! Pictures will be posted on Sunday or Monday!

As I mentioned above, Logan was enrolled back into school. We were planning on waiting until the new year, but listening to him ask, "Is it a school day yet?" got on our nerves. He goes all day Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday. So he went for a total of 3 days and is off for the holidays. Ugh! Now we listen to, "Is it Christmas yet?". We can't win.

I got an MSN messenger popup from my sister Erika, today. She's in Alberta. Haven't talked to her in a while, since she didn't have internet for the longest time. I'm pretty sure I gave Dad our new address, but I gave her all the info. I just hope she wrote it down. She can be such a doofus.

Other than that, all that I have left to do is wish my Mom, Jim, Carmen, Steve, Paula, Dan, Amber, Erika, Dad, Laura, Carries dad Jim, Linda, Wanita and Dean a

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

And Merry Christmas to everyone that reads my blog, and even those that don't!

New digs!

YES! We're moved into the new place. We did that Sunday. Started unpacking.
Monday saw more unpacking, and the connection of the internet, cable and phone.
Tuesday, while carrie rested because her back was sore, I put up all of her dolphin knick-knacks. It made the new place feel more like home.
Wedensday, we put up pictures after my mother left. As a housewarming gift my grandmother bought Carrie and I a new bed frame.
Yesterday we all went out to do Christmas shopping, and finished it today. THANK GOD!! We have our Xmas tree up and decorated all the presants are wrapped and under it.

That's the week so far. Other than that it's just us trying to get used to the new place. With it being a basement apartment is cooler. Heat is from the old radiators, but they're mounted to the ceiling so it's not as warm as it could be. We asked the super if he could turn up the heat and we were told no since it's a central heating system. It's set to 19°C so it's not cold. But at 2 am.... So we bough an inexpensive space heater. It only cost about $20.00, but works great!

Today while we were finishing up the Xmas shopping we explored downtown as well. I found an Army surplus store that deals in some basic paintball gear. Which means I'll be able to fill my tank, when I get my paintball prize, for about $8.00

I also noticed a roleplaying store downtown too. I may be able to start playing Mechwarrior:Dark Ages, and get into some other RPGs as well.

Tonight we fed Grissom. Boy, talk about wanting privacy. he refused to eat unless all the lights were oput and a cover was over his tank.

I think tomorrow we need to feed the hamster. I haven't fed him this week. I don't think Carrie has either.

More pics!

Me and my budy. 

This is Grissom. He's a 2 year old Califonia Kingsnake.


Yes. He is comming out of my sleeve. 

I'm a large guy, and I'm always warm, which is what Grissom likes. His favorite game with me is to crawl down my back and out the my armpit.



Isn't he cute? 

He's chocolate brown, with cream banding. Very inquisitive, and very friendly.


Carrie and Grissom 

Moving and new family members.

It's been a while since my last update, but when you're moving, who has time for anything else?
Anyway, Sunday is coming VERY fast. We're just about ready. only have a few clothes, dishes and food items left to pack.
We're happy to announce a new addition to the family. He's about 2 years old, 3 feet long, and weighs less than 2 pounds.Isn't he cute?


Grissom

Is he gentle? Take a look and you tell me....

Best buds! 

No, he's not venomous. His name is Grissom. Yes, as in CSI Gil Grissom. He eats mice and small rats. He doesn't kill them himself, they're already dead, frozen, and thawed for him. After we move I'll put up some other pics.

17 days untill we move.....hopefully.

Why hopefully? Well the landlord is getting paid directly from ODSP. We can't move in untill he has first months rent. All we can do is hope he gets it in time.
We can't stand living in this shit hole anymore.

This morning the stunned cunt neighbour was fighting with her husband. Again. The cops were called because she's scream for him not to touch her. Of course when they get here she says he's at work and nothing happened. After the cops leave he pulls their van around front.
If he kills her, all I'm going to do is laugh at the stupid bitch.

Mom gave the the tracking number for her letter to the editor of APG (see the link). I checked it today. It IS in the U.S. , but hasn't been signed for yet. It is vetrans day tho'. So I'll check tomorrow. With luck I should have it before we move.

More good news!

YEA! More groovy news!
Some time ago I entered a draw through a paintball magazine, Action Pursuit Games. Every issue they have a draw for a paintball gun. I finally decided to enter. I would have entered my name 4 times, but it's only one entry per person. So I used Carries name, my mom's name and a friend.
Mom called me about 30 minutes ago. She won.
The package is a PMI Piranha GTI, with owners manual, allen wrenches, o-rings, and barrel plug. the kit also comes with Extreme Rage/PMI X_RAY goggles, 9oz Co2 tank, 200rnd PMI loader, PMI Twin pouch harness, two 100rnd PMI pods and a Swyper flexible squeege.
The picture in the August Action Pursuit Games mag is red in color. I'd prefer black or blue, but hell, it's free so I don't care if it's dayglo pink!

Chock full of good news goodness

Halloween and Samhain have come and gone.
Halloween I wore my old deaths head mask, monk's cloak, and carried a sythe. Carrie was dressed as a cat woman. Logan was a fireman. WE left the house to go trick or treating at 5:00 pm, and got home a little after 8:00 pm. Yep. Our four year old son had us out for 3 FREAKING HOURS!
We probably could have gotten off easy, but he hooked up with a couple of 10 year old girls. They were pretty cool about hanging out with a little kid. They'd wait for him to get to the door before yelling "Trick or treat!", and if he tripped, they'd help him up.
When all was said and done, Logan ended up with a 5 gallon bucket full of bags of potato chips, an 8L container 3/4 full of candy and chocolate bars, and 6 cans of pop. Mommy and daddy got about 2lb of hard candies that we felt he might choke on.

Last week we went and looked at an apartment. It's a basement apartment in an old Victorian style house, with the upstairs converted into 4 other apts. It has it's own entrance, and a large vestibule/mudroom. the bedrooms are a pretty good size, the kitchen/dining room is decent and have lots of cupboards. the only small areas are the living room and the bathroom. The bathroom door is a little low too. the rent is well with in our budget at $525.00/month and hydro costing about $40.00/month.
We got a call from the landlord today to confirm it is ours!
The current tenant moves out December 1, we have to move out of here before Jan 1, so we have lots of time!
The worst thing we have to do is pack. We're close to being finished...Sort of. More than half of our dishes are packed, all the pictures are off the walls, our storage closet has been cleaned out and put to use for hiding boxes.
We've gone through all of Logans toys, and thrown out all the broken crap, set aside stuff he doesn't play with for the Salvation Army and now almost all of his toys fit in the toy chest.
We have a few things, like damaged chairs to throw out, and some stuff we figure won't fit in the new place. Not that the new place is smaller, but it's lay out is very different. I have an old armoire that I bought when I was in Calgary, aside form the draws having been destroyed it's still in pretty good shape, but won't fit. We also have a knick knack shelf (6'x8') we aren't sure will fit anywhere, but we're taking it with us.

Tomorrow we go to sign the lease. After that's done I'm dropping off an application to Corrections Canada. Hopefully I get a job with them. In the mean time, O.D.S.P will allow us to earn $239.00 a month with out deductions. That works out about 29 hours a month at $8.00 an hour. So..Part time at the mall looks like a good idea.

After we're done with the lease signing we need to go to the Uhaul rental place and get some information. Online a 14' truck with a dolly and some pads will cost us $130.00+tx, but it doesn't say how long we can keep it. Is it a one day rental or a week? Is there a charge for mileage?

The Lunar Eclipse

Yeah, I know. Everyone and their dog, cat, horse and grandmother will be blogging and chatting about it.
Here S.E Ontario it started around 2100hrs. Just a black spot on the lower left side of the moon. Somewhere around 2230hrs the eclipse was in full effect. I wasn't expecting an epiphany, nor was I expecting the same magical feeling of a solar eclipse. I was pleased that I was able to see it, just as I was when I saw Comet 1996 B2 (Hyakutake) in March of 1997. However the comet seemed to have a more spiritual feel to it. I Hope I'm still around to see Haley's Comet in 2061. I missed it in 1985 due to cloud cover. I found the Lunar Eclipse a bit of a let down though. It probably would have been more impressive if the moon had been lower in the sky, allowing it to appear closer. It also seemed to be more of a reddish brown color and I was hoping for a bright red. On the plus side, I did see to meteors/shooting stars.
Saturday we're heading out of town for a few hours to take a look at an apartment. It sounds nice on the phone, and it's well within our budget, $525/month + electricity (about $35.00/month). We did a quick recalculation of our finances and we'd be able to save $200 every month, spend more on food, and get a better internet connection!
I'll keep you all posted as top what happens with the new digs!

Burble

Here we go.
We're planning on moving in the next 60 days or so, and so far we've only been able to book 1 viewing of one apartment. If things keep going at this rate, we might need a cardboard box. Thank god we haven't given our notice yet.

Two days after we decide that we do want to give notice, Future Shop calls me to set up an interview. I said no, since we are moving. I guess I'll put in an application when we get to our new town.
Yes I am not saying where we're moving to. Why? Because there are a few people that we do not want to lnow where we're going. We just don't need the stress from these assholes.

It's been a busy few days. LOTS of laundry needed doing. A friend of ours called last week to let us know that their niece had come home from daycare with lice. Our friends didn't find any on them, but since they babysat, and had been to our place they let us know to keep an eye out. So we made a pre-emptive strike. Washed all our clothes and linnens, and scrubbed up with the lice killing shampoo. 25 loads of laundry. HOLY SHIT!! I never want to do that again.

Last night, Carrie did some re-arraging in the bedroom. It looks good. At 11:30 pm we heard a strange growling noise. We thought it was something outside. We were wrong. Turns out that it was something in the file cabinet. One of her "toys" was accidently turned on. I damn near pissed myself laughing!

I got some news today, oh boy.

I finally heard from the army today.
"I have reviewed the medical records accompanying your application to join the Canadian Forces (CF). The documents indicate that you suffer from exercise and cold-induced asthma requiring pre and possible post-treatment with inhaled bronchodilators. As well, it is noted that you suffer from obesity and multiple food and envronmental allergies and possible hyper tension. Accordingly, medical limitations have been assigned. Unfortunately, you do not meet the common enrolment standard required by both the regular and reserve forces."

SO I'm fat. I can't eat anything, and I should probably live in a plastic bubble. If I'm lucky, I'll have a heart attack before I'm 40. But at least they said it nicely.

The big question is: What now?

I need a life....

It's been 15 days since my last entry. Goes to show how much has happened with us.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada, and we aren't doing a damned thing. Hell, we can't even afford a turkey and with my "step dad" Jim out of town, my mother cancelled dinner.

News...News.....News....Hm. None really. Schools been going well for Logan. He had his first field trip on October 6. His class went to the grocery store and library. They got free cookies for the class as a snack.

Carrie's got pink eye. We figure it's because of Logan. He poked her in the eye a few days ago while she was sleeping on the couch. We don't know what he used, but it must have been dirty. How else would she have gotten an infection? We haven't been to a public pool in about 2 months, and no-one else we know has it.

Me? Still waiting for the fucking army to call. If they don't I don't know what to do. What I'd like to do is get into paintball. I know I don't have the money to open an indoor field. I'd LOVE to do that, but I'd need at least 4 acres of land, buildings, and all the fixin's to make it livable. I'd be happy to become an airsmith.
I could do it as a home based business. All I need is a work table, bright light, and someplace to test fire the paintball markers (guns). Repairing, modifying and upgrading them.

It'd be nice to have some kind of family support for my paintball enthusiasm. Not that it matters. It doesn't seem to make any difference what I want to do. What ever I mention to my mother is "a bad idea". She thinks I should become an ambulance attendant. That is something I really don't want to do. I know Belleville isn't like Toronto where I'd be scraping people off the streets on a daily basis. I just don't want to deal with that kind of stress, being responsible for someone dying. I don't care that they die, that's part of life. But Belleville is small enough that I'd run into other family members that would blame me. It's not worth the stress.

I thought about going south for a few weeks to learn how to build mountain bikes. Design and weld the frames. Again that would be shot down by my mother.

Yeah I know I shouldn't give a shit what she thinks. But I feel like I've never really done anything to make her proud of me. She says I have, but I sure don't feel like it.

Sometimes I think the only way she'd be proud of me is if I were to die.

The world marches on.

So, on September 7, Logan started junior Kindergarten. He's been having a blast, but he's only there for the mornings. Man does he ever get pissed off when it's time to come home.
He's going on his first field trip on October 6. His class is going to a grocery store for a tour, and then to the library for stories. I hope he has fun.

I'm still unemployed. I'm getting pissed off at the army, they STILL haven't called. So, I'm looking at other options.
Earlier this year I was told about a program that I'm eligible for. I don't remember if it's E.I or CareerEdge that's in charge of it, but I could get as much as $5000.00 Cdn to go to school with. Downside is it has to be a 1 year course. So I've been doing some poking around on line to see about becoming a paintball airsmith. There is a school in Tennessee that will teach me and allow me to be a factory certified tech for 7 or 8 paintball manufacturers. C1/C2 certification Fill station operation is $200.00 US, is 2 days. C5 Advanced Air smith class is $750 US and is 4 days. C5a is more indepth than C5 and gives me aditional factory level traing. Unfortuneately they don't have a price listed, or a time frame, but I'd expect it to be 2 days and probably the same price as C5. So that's a total of about $1700.00 US and less than 2 weeks training. I can then start a home based business here in Belleville and go on line as well.

God, I need to work. Carrie and I are driving each other up the fucking walls being in each others faces 24/7.

Jessica Simpson RULES!!!

As far as karaoke is concerned, anyway. Why do I say that? Well, I was doing some channel surfing the other day and came to the music video station Much More Music. They were playing a video of Jessica Simpson, it doesn't really matter which song though. It did get me thinking. As I thought about it more and more I realized I could remember EVER hearing an original song by her. They all seem to be covers of well known songs. I maybe wrong about everything she's done being a cover. After seeing her on her show "the Newlyweds" or whatever the fuck it is, she sure as hell doesn't seem smart enough or deep enough to write anything on her own. Nick Lachay doesn't seem much brighter.
How the hell did she get a recording contract anyway? She must be damn good in bed, or the producer must have been desperate.

OH! I almost forgot. I HAVE GMAIL! I also have 6 invites to give away. Anyone want one? Post a comment, if it's nice enough I may give you one.

Am I a monster?

Well, 9/11 has come and gone again and I live in no more fear now than I did 3 years ago. Does that make me an uncaring bastard? Maybe. Does that bother me? No. Has mass media desensitized me? Most likely.
In September of 2001, I was going in for my first test after my first week of on the job training. Someone in the calls had said something about "they're blowing up the World trade Center." I had assumed he was talking about an up coming movie, or, maybe some future urban renewal project.
Seeing it on TV, I was shocked by the loss and devastation. Yet on some level I think I found beauty in it. The same goes for the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters.
Am I a monster?
I relish the power and beauty of disaster. I empathize with the loss of life, but that's about it. Weather it's a natural disaster, or one bred of human arrogance, or wrought be an evil mind, I know and understand the purpose behind it.
No, I'm not talking about God's overall plan for us. I know it's merely a reminder.
Every once in a while we, as humans, forget we're just small animals on the planet. Civilizations have collapsed because they've thought themselves better, bigger, stronger than nature. We try to force the Universe to conform to our needs. The Universe has the power to thow us a curveball every time.

Ok. Enough diatribe.

I'm bored. So today I went to the mall seeing as they were having a job fair. What a waste of time. The fair was only for the stores to recruit Christmas rush staff. Of the 10 stores looking, there were only 4 that I'd be able to work at, and only 2 I'd care to work at. They now have my resumes. Actually they have 6 copies of my resume to date. The only other place I dropped a resume off at was a massage studio. I should hear back from them by the end of the week.

the end of the day! 

Mrs Montgomery talking about Lucy.