CorneliusMurphy.ca

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Welcome to CorneliusMurphy.ca! Browse to your heart's content.

Quick Bio

I live in Manotick the Southern-most part of Ottawa, Ontario
I'm a 46 year old electrical engineer
I have a lovely wife and 4 fantastic kids
I love developing new electronic gizmos (when I have time)
I haven't played my sax it 2 years, but after my MBA I'll start again!

Stuff

14 Apr 2012

What a rough semester. Today's my last day in the regular semester. Only the Entrepreneurship course and the summer long Business Consulting Project to do now. How I long to coach kids' soccer this summer!

31 December 2011

MBA semester 1 is done: thank God! New Year's Eve is in progress - Curry Fest 2012! 5 outstanding home-made creations by a team of Murphy's from across the province. What flavours! What fun! As the evening progresses, I'll try to keep posting some thoughts about the year past.

23 September 11

MBA day. 3rd class. The workload is insane. And it's wierd. I've spent a lot of time doing coursework in Engineering school, where we take a look at problems to do with things and how they work (well, electrons and field dynamics in my case) and we do a lot of calculation according to some very ingeniously devised rules, and <><>PRESTO<><> out pops an answer. 4.332 m/s or something like that.

Well, MBA school isn't quite like that. No, the rules are not so rule-ish. Today, I learned (and learned and learned...) that selling cookie-cutter elevators in Asia isn't as simple as putting them out there, encouraging a salesforce, and watching the gizmos print money. And later in the day, I learned interview techniques because in order to figure out stuff about strategic alignment or operational efficiency or performance we have to interview people.

Engineering students don't interview people.

But MBA students do. It's interesting, though, despite the fact that people don't always behave in predictable ways according to formulas. In fact, the whole affair is quite refreshing. Sometime during the school year, when some of the training wheel support is removed, we'll be jumping in to take on problems facing an operating company and the stakes will be real for them. I can see why we're focusing on making sense of things like vision, strategy, business environment, competition, leadership, and management. People put food on the table, place their kids in soccer leagues, and go to the movies because business generates cash flow. And these MBA things keep businesses in running order, so these family things can keep happening.

I'm not going to like everything in the MBA program, but I know it will all be worth doing.

So, back to the grind. There's another case to be studied, more analysis to conduct, a sheaf of readings to finish and a bed to crawl into when I can't keep my eyes open any more...

6 August 11

Tommy lost his first tooth this evening. Beth gave it a helping yank with a wrap of tooth floss and a flick of the wrist, and out it popped. No crying, no shrieks, nothing; Tommy was unfazed. Mr. Spock couldn't have been cooler. Gillian and Hughie were more worked up about the whole thing than Tommy. Now before you thing he was anything less than delighted, let me assure you he was beaming! The loss of his first tooth puts him into the same arena as Hughie and Gillian. He's been waiting for this for a long time, hoping that a tooth would wiggle its way free. Tommy has even discussed this with his pals at school - "Dad, Porter says you have to get hit in the mouth to get a tooth loose." I chuckled and explained things to him and he was OK. But when that tooth popped today, he was too interested to be hooting and hollering. The boy is a cool customer, and I couldn't be more proud! I'll stick up a photo when I can figure out how. The website's acting up on me right now...

21 June 11

Guess who can whistle!?!?! Hughie!!! I couldn't believe it! After I came home from Gillian's soccer with Tommy in tow, I was standing in the kitchen and Hughie was whistling to himself. I stopped and said "Hughie, is that you whistling?" and he just nodded his head with that grin that comes from being noticed from knowing you've been caught doing something marvelous. I beamed, and he gave me a huge High-5. I am so impressed that he just whistled, without instruction from anyone. Wow!

14 May 11

My gramps, Jim Madden, used to sing little song snippets which I had never heard before, but some have stuck in my head firmly. I think I'll jot a few down here, maybe sing them into a microphone and post the sounds, and if anyone knows origins, that would be great to find out.

Here's one:

Oh, me Uncle Mic, he had a big stick
and he hit poor Paddy on the shou-lder.
All the blood run down his Irish bum
and in-to the straights of Dover.

8 May 11

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Hughie lost his bike today. The little devil went out picking dandelions for Mom's bouquet on his bike and came back with an armful, but with no bike. I didn't notice because I was busy loading the vegetable garden with dirt, so later on when Beth did the cursory "bike count", we came up one short. Of course, in our neighborhood, the likelihood that a 5 year old's bike getting snatched is about 1 in a billion, so I set off around the block to see where it might have strayed. It was wonderful! I got to talk to all our neighbors with a fully legitimate pretext for making idle small-talk and had a fine time. What should have taken 10 minutes at the most turned into a 45 minute "neighborhood refresh" and the last stop was where the bike turned up: right next door on the side opposite that which I'd started the journey.

Bike found. All's well with the universe.

23 Apr 11

Tommy rode his bike with no training wheels for the first time ever yesterday evening, for about 100 metres, and repeated his success today with non-stop successful riding, leaving his dad in the dust, pushing Adam on his tricycle wondering where he'd gone. What a milestone! Gillian's asked for her training wheels to come off and then she was leaving me in the dust too. By the end of the day, Hughie was off training wheels and ready for unguided cycling (but not quite.)

20 Apr 11

Easter Eggs!!! Everyone loves Easter Eggs!

Gillian's

Tommy's

Hughie's

If I find one by Adam, I'll post it.

4 Apr 11

Mommy's and Daddy's Wedding, by Gillian, with a cast as follows: Jestyn, Mommy, Daddy, Auntie Mary, Hale with the ring boxes, Uncle Hugh:

Easter Egg season is upon us. "Daddy, can you cut out an Easter Egg for me, please? Daddy, please, Daddy, Daddy, please..........."

Tommy's impression of the tsunami:

26 Mar 11

Gillian drew a 4-page Fairy Book and told the story, and you can listen by clicking on the pictures. I'm going to try to capture the kids telling the stories of their colouring creations. Sometimes they're hilarious, and I'm sure that some years down the road, I'll be happy I went to the trouble.

Click to hear Gillian tell the story of Page 1! Opens a new browser tab.

Click to hear Gillian tell the story of Page 2! Opens a new browser tab.

Click to hear Gillian tell the story of Page 3! Opens a new browser tab.

Click to hear Gillian tell the story of Page 4! Opens a new browser tab.

23 Feb 11

Homework was interesting. This is what I got at the end:

It was worth it!

21 Feb 11

Hughie comes crying down the stairs at 9:00 pm, "Daddy, Tommy's being bad to me! He called me an idiot!"

I say to Tommy, while I tuck Hughie back in, "Tommy, that's a very bad thing to say. You never call your brother an idiot."

"But Daddy, he keeps saying he's got 12 fingers."

It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. God, it was hard.

"Hughie, don't talk to Tommy. Go to sleep, no more talking."

9 Feb 11

Tommy: Daddy? What number makes us go to sleep?

Me: It's a secret, big buddy. (smile suppression setting: 110%)

Tommy: Can you tell me? Please, Daddy!?

Me: Sorry, buddy, I can't. You just have to lie in bed and count to one thousand. When you hit the number, you fall asleep instantly! It's amazing!

Tommy: Come on, Daddy, puuuuuleeeeze?

Me: Nope.

Grumbling ensues, the boys go to bed. All is quiet and Beth and I have just started watching an episode of Glee, when a little patter of feet is heard behind us.

Hughie: Daddy, I counted to a thousand hundred and I didn't fall asleep.

Me: Oh!?!? You must have counted too fast! Each number needs to be clear and have its own space or else it just doesn't get a chance to make you sleep.

We go upstairs and I explain that because they're twins, maybe the 1000-rule is a little different, maybe it's higher for them...? Hughie starts counting after 1000. Tommy's fed up with it.

Tommy: I didn't get out of bed, Dad. (A badge of honour, as Hughie broke the rules and Tommy didn't.)

Me: That's good, buddy.

Tommy: Daddy, tell me the number which puts us to sleep.

Me: Sorry, Tommy, I can't.

Whining ensues, I cave in and say,

Me: But Tommy, everyone has a different number. Mine is 723!

Tommy: Daddy, mine is that too.

They go to sleep, I waft away, smiling inside my soul.

29 Jan 11

A month flies by...

Tonight I read the kids Curious George Flies a Kite. I started by insisting that they be responsible for reading ALL two-letter words. Interesting. The boys were disinclined to participate, so I declared that some pages would be "free-for-all" and others would be designated (ie. "This is Gillian's page!") It worked reasonably well for about 10 pages, and then I could tell the light of interest in the story was about to flicker out completely, so I announced "Daddy's reading all the rest of it!" and it was Game On again. I got about two more pages read when George decided to follow the Fat Man on a fishing trip.

It struck me that we don't do "fat man" any more. In fact, it was so refreshing to have a "fat man" to read about that I was bumped into an alternate mode of feeling. The next thing I knew, the story was becoming incredibly funny. It was difficult to hold back outright laughter. George needs a bit of bait, so he uses cake. At this point, I'm rolling. The fish in the pond nibble his cake away and have these big smiles. Now the tears are streaming down my face and I can't form the story's words. The kids know there's something wrong - Gillian's laughing with me, but with a lining of trepidation, Hughie's physically hitting my head with his fist, and Tommy's trying to get me to admire a 10 cent Canadian Tire note. I'm helpless, and all I can do is ride it out. I tried to declare "The End" but no one was biting. In the end, I just had to come down a notch or two and sail into a smooth finish after the fishing trip, noting the look of sardonic laughter on the faces of the minnows watching George depart for more adventure elsewhere.

I enjoy those moments. I wish there were more. That uncontrollable laughter, the kids thinking Daddy's a nut, the insight into a Curious George story that would never have happened (mostly the whole joke thing going with the illustrator's drawing of George headed away from us with all his fishing tackle) and the unrestrainable joy of wild mirth. It's wonderful, such bubble up from nowhere joy, and having it with the kids is a bonus: they get to see that the Old Man isn't just a crotchety kill-joy all the time. What fun!

29 Dec 10

Our new neighborhood continues to astonish me with how welcome it makes us feel. I say "new" but we've been here for for 14 months now. I suppose "new" is the appropriate word since the next door neighbors bought new here over 20 years ago, as did so many other we've had the pleasure to meet this Christmas season. Nowhere else have I had so many people invite us over for social functions like caroling, buffet meet & greets, breakfasts where the kids get to run themselves silly, evenings of drinks around the pool at sunset, birthday parties, and even just to compare notes about how to put together a well-made outdoor ice rink. We've done our best to reciprocate, but I notice one thing: I'm unused to this type of social interplay. Often, after we've been invited to some event (say a dinner or what have you) I'm uncertain about things like how soon a reciprocal invitation should go out, what kind of event would be appropriate (certainly not just an imitation of what happened the first time around), and what level of delay approaches rudeness? Having obstinately been a single, geeky, soldierly, hang-with-da-boys kind of lout for much of my adult life, I find myself enjoying the awakening but feeling uncertain about the learning curve.

Things I've noticed about interactions with my neighbors that have stricken me, sadly, only in retrospect but which I am strongly considering modeling into my own behavior are:

Speaking only good about people and things, and steering conversations clear of becoming mutual commiseration over irritating things. For example, I have initiated chat with some about irritating work situations which I'd imagined might lead to some shared ground, something to grumble about mutually, and perhaps share a laugh over or establish some commonality. It has almost universally fallen entirely flat and I strongly suspect that situations where it didn't were those in which the conversant was only humouring me. How clean on their part! How cheap on my own part! I see it clearly in retrospect and feel sullied by allowing myself to think that trying to establish relational terra firma on such swampy ground might be remotely useful. Most of the people I'm talking about are very successful in a rainbow of dimensions, so I'm learning something valuable, something important about their characters and about the character of communications with which these people interface to the world. Some might now, with some justification, decide that there are better people to interact with than myself, but I'm certain the take-away lesson for me will prove to be extremely valuable in the long term.
Be an organized entertainer. We hosted a couple and their children one evening this past year and I screwed up some of the preparations. They have been graceful enough in subsequent affairs to let me believe they had a fine time nonetheless. However, I am still feeling the sting of learning this lesson: be certain about the important aspects of enterting - the food prep, how to cook and present it, the timings, etc. Leaving them to chance and chalking it up as a learning experience says something which I am ashamed about: we don't value your evening with us highly enough to be properly prepared for it. Had I really thought about it beforehand, I should have realized that this message would be delivered. It's a credit to the couple's civility and "stand-up" nature that they've never hinted at having had anything but an excellent time in all our subsequent, and happily many, meetings. I count my lucky stars that they didn't just write me off as a laconic buffoon.

16 Dec 10

My videos aren't showing up in Vimeo the way I'd thought they would. It turns out that if one password-protects a video, then Vimeo prevents people from seeing that the video is there to be watched. You need a direct link to it. So here is a list of links to vids which I'd thought everyone could see. Apologies!!

When I get a chance, I'll put up some video of the new rink we've constructed in the back yard. It's mostly an experiment, but with a bit of luck, the kids will be able to have some fun with it this winter, and it'll get them outside more often!

2 Nov 10

The Snowman Making Trilogy is up at Vimeo. If you view the videos but get told they're protected, entering gillian should do the trick. They're long and filled with nothing but Adam, Daddy, and Hughie meddling about in the back yard, so I shouldn't imagine anyone would find them interesting but family. Nevertheless, there they are. Enjoy them at your leisure.

25 Oct 10

I haven't done the photos yet, but I encourage family and friends to check out the new videos I've put up on line. Click the "JAME'S VIMEO" link off to the left hand side of this page. If you have trouble viewing them, read my 12 Oct entry below. Enjoy!

24 Oct 10 - Gillian's Birthday Party

Gillian had her birthday party this afternoon and it was, by all accounts, a success. Daddy, Adam, Tommy and Hughie, however, spend the afternoon enjoying all the Science and Technology Museum had to offer! Cool! Better than a house full of princesses. I'm told there were 17 or 18 little princesses running around talking about Barbie and other such terrifically masculine fluff, so a romp around the steam trains and space craft and digital tumble-tubes at the museum was just the ticket. Actually, we lucked out because the alternate for us boys was an afternoon at Saunder's Farm: it rained cats and dogs. Except for one 3 way spat over who got to have the engine at the toy train table in the 5-and-under pit, the museum affair was both serene and energetic all in one. Adam is really getting the knack of not getting lost as we walk to the next activity. Previously, Adam would ignore the mass departure, intent on pulling as much fulfillment from whatever absorbed him for the moment, but now, he's sensing the drifting currents of his companions and coming along with minimum prompting. Makes things flow a little more smoothly. I'll throw some photos up when I find the camera.

16 Oct 10 - Gillian's Latest Pictures

Gillian loves to draw. I love the results. Yesterday she did the teddy bear drawing below, and the Jack o'Lantern is what Beth and I really liked. The triangular eyes were so fun!

And a couple from Tommy, who's totally obsessed with Antonov 225's and 747 Jumbo Jets! The surprising label "Porter" on his first jet is purely coincidence: Porter is the name of a pal of his from down the street. Tommy's never heard of Porter Air.

12 Oct 10 - New Vimeo Access Word

I keep my videos at Vimeo, for the most part. I'm not sure why I like it. It's a bit less chaotic than YouTube and I've found videos there unlike any I've seen at YouTube. For example, the bathtub series, an example of which is this: http://vimeo.com/3156959

I've changed the word which allows people to see my Vimeo clips which have family content. It's now the name of my daughter but not with a capital 'G'. I hope this hasn't thrown anyone off their game.

The kids were wonderful this evening! Gillian and Hughie and I read a few of the Fancy Nancy books on the blue couch while Tommy and Adam beat things to death. It's surprising what you can filter out after a while. I have no recollection at all of what the pair of them were beating, but I know it was nearby.

Gillian is learning to recognize two and three letter French words. The boys are - albeit very reluctantly - learning to sound out two letter words. Sadly for them, Daddy sometimes has trouble reading further if he gets stuck on a two letter word and he needs some help. The boys scream like banshees but eventually, curiosity takes over and they decipher the word to a flurry of praise and surprise! This reading stuff is fun, and they might not get much in the way of instant gratification, other than story continuation, but pretty soon they'll realize they can read stuff. They'll be pretty pleased, I'm sure.

Mom and Dad in Norway: I'm sure you won't have much time on the internet, but I hope you're having a blast! Snow tonight, or at least frost, but since you're now part of the Arctic Wanderers Club now, that'll be a laugh, I'm sure. Take care!

11 Oct 10 - Video, Photos, and Drawings

Click here for the High Def video of the kids horsing around with a couple of road crew stop signs and my tractor. (Tech tip: It's best viewed in full screen - click on the four little arrows by the blue HD symbol in the bottom right corner of the video window - and with scaling set to "off".)

Here's Tommy's rendition of a bumblebee. I don't know why Beth and I were so charmed by it, but I adore it:

and here's a nice shot of us in September, when Ruth and Earl were leaving for Edmonton after their 50th wedding anniversary visit with us:

3 Oct 10 - Bedtime chatter.

It's bedtime, the lights are off, stories have been read, drinks drunk, kisses and hugs done, and it's time Daddy disappeared. Just as I'm leaving:

Hughie: Daddy, I know the three rules.

Me: What three rules? (I'm thinking it's the three Home Depot rules from earlier today: no running, no screeching, no climbing on the shelves)

Hughie: No getting out of bed. No jumping up and down. No pulling on the night lights.

Tommy: I got a better rule.

Me: What?

Tommy: No slamming the closet door.

Hughie: I got a even better rule.

Daddy: What?

and on and on...(my memory begins to fail)

Me: Boys. Bedtime. Go to sleep.

The boys:(more chatter about rules. I leave.)

23 Sept 10 - Gillian's First Lost Tooth!

Poor Gillian! She bit into a gingerbread cookie tonight and she must have munched it up and swallowed, because the scream of horror wasn't one of pain; it was of shock: her tooth was gone. I had to promise her that the Tooth Fairy is able to get teeth from inside tummies, and not just from underneath pillows. She get's her first Tooth Toonie tonight!!!

But, by Hell, did she howl! The blood flowed for a minute or two and it was more than she, tired as she was from it being 7:30 pm and right after her skating lesson, could take. It was a noisy bedtime too, with the boys doing their level best to avoid the direct route to rack. Skating night is very exciting!

12 Sept 10 - The Scream!!

12 Sept 10 - New Mush Recipe!!
I'm trying a slightly new recipe on the kids. Mush is one of our weekly staples, along with pancakes and more. Here's today's experiment and I'll report the results after our little connoisseurs comment.

2 cups oats (not instant or anything fancy, just whole oats)
1/4 cup flax seed, ground up
1/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup wheat bran
1/2 tsp salt
2 pinches cinnamon, ground
4 cups milk
3 cups water

Put it all together and bring to a boil. Back off the heat and just barely simmer it for 20 minutes or more, until it's "mush". Serve with brown sugar sprinkled on top and maybe some light cream or milk drizzled over it if desired. Feed the kids vegetable before they know it's mush day because they won't eat them otherwise.

OK, the report is in: 4 out of 4 kids liked it enough to finish the entire batch. Of course, their love of the mush didn't stop them from asking for more and more brown sugar (request denied, of course) nor from taking a long time, but eat it all up, they did, and, that, after a pile of vegetables and sausages had gone down range first.

I call it a success!

5 Sept 10
Don't click the following link yet!! Think of a domain name you might fancy, say "abcd.com". Now copy the following link to the URL line in the browser, and then append the domain name you fancy. Like this:

http://www.aboutasite.com/domain/abcd.com

You'll see an estimate of how much it might be worth! UFI, but interesting, nonetheless.

2 Aug 10
"Daddy, does the chipmunk chip humans too?"

  --Gillian, this morning

Adam calls the chipmunk "Chipmonkey"!!!

19 July 10
I'm back from Alert! Ellesmere Island was an experience few people get. I visited Eureka and Alert and seven mountaintops in the area doing maintenance and inspections of various facilities. In addition to giving me a fantastic opportunity to get a solid grounding in satellite communication systems, the exposure to what "harsh environment" means was valuable. Our North is unbelievable. Vast, rich, beautiful, desolate, unforgiving, it's no wonder Canada's governments have put such stress on Northern Sovereignty. I'd have to say that what made the greatest aesthetic impact on me were the psychedelic ice melt patterns. Here are some examples:

5 June 10
Ok, it's later. Here are some photos of the last entry's activities. Again, it's late and I'm tired, but hopefully I won't mess up these URL's...

4 June 10 - Fireworks!!!
Tonight marks the first time our kids have ever seen fireworks in real life! The four of them started the evening off by taking part in the Dickinson Days parade here in Manotick. They rode on a semi-trailer flatbed all decked out in sparkly tinsel and colourful cords and stuff with about 50 other little girls and boys from their dance studio.
After that, we gathered them up at the parking lot where everyone ended up after being squeezed through town and whisked them to clown show in a big tent down by the old mill. Tommy was hysterical at the screwed up balloon routine, where the clown pretends he's to silly to tie the end of a balloon and it deflates while he's looking the other way. I thought to myself "hmmm, I'm a bit concerned about this boy..." but then I looked over at Gillian and Hughie, and they were in stitches too. I needed to lighten up, I guess.
The clown routine ended and we all strolled down to the park to see the firefighter games and fireworks. There was a lot of time to kill, so the four of them played like it was the last bunch of slides and tubes in the world. It was non-stop motion! Even Adam was going down the big kid slide and enjoying it! Pretty soon, though, it was fireworks time, but it felt like waiting for the food to come and a classy restaurant: good food, takes too long, so the kids scream and you can't enjoy it now.
Finally, after rolling down the hill for what seemed like an hour, and enduring a full-out Adam I'm-pissed-off meltdown it all started and the day was saved. In fact it was more than saved; it was transformed! The display was stunning, breathtaking. The fireworks did things I'd never seen before, much less imagined.
I'm falling asleep right now, but I'll write more later.

2 June 10 - Septic Tank Adventure
Our septic system had problems on the May Two-Four weekend. The pump failed and, well, read about it all at this link: Septic System Story. The best part about it was opening the giant screw cap hatch and showing the kids the bowels of the pit!! They loved it!

9 May 10 - Mother's Day!!
Beth and I thought it would be nice to put up some of the kids' creations which they worked on today. They were quite wonderful today, helping me with pancakes (except when Adam tipped all of the "wet" on the counter and the gooey egg/milk/oil mixture ran into the cabinets beneath - soon cleaned and forgotten though) and playing well together. They even enjoyed a play in the back yard, though the temperature was down around 3°C this morning!! It was a short play. Anyway here they are. Click on them to see bigger versions.

3 May 10
The weeds won the weekend. But only because the family succumbed to rampant illness. I stayed home from work today and Tommy missed school because we were too sick to contemplate going in. Poor Beth dealt with the noise and poor humours of kids alternating their sicknesses - on the one hand a boy would be hacking up a lung, on the other hand someone would be screaming because their poor coordination caused them to stub their toe on a door corner - that it occurred to me that there ought to be a medal for the likes of her.

But there were high points. Tommy and I had a nap this afternoon while Gillian and Hugh were at school, and we slept soundly until 5 pm, Tommy at the wrong end of his bed, and me at the wrong end of Hugh's. An accidental nap, really, but it did us both good.

This evening, the kids painted pictures in waves of two. Adam and Gillian were first and they worked nicely, Gillian contemplating various green blue shadings for her sky scape and foliage, Adam splashing rinse water on his paper. But when the boys decided to check the scene upstairs (it was probably too quiet for their spidey-senses) they opened up a withering fire on the paint area: "when is it my turn, Daddy? That's too long. Gillian's going to take forever. Adam's stupid. You're fat, Daddy." etc... When the changeover happened, The pair of them hadn't the spirit to stay with it more than about 5 minutes before giving up in a torrent of whining and grumbling.

Bedtime was shortly thereafter.

And that's were I leave this report. I might be well enough to get off to work tomorrow, so I should hit the hay.

1 May 10
This weekend is Weed Weekend. I wish it meant I got to smoke a few fatties, but no, it really means that Beth and I had to work like dogs all day pulling out dandelions before they went to seed. The place was festooned with them, awash with yellow. My plan to coax the kids into pulling them all didn't work out. My offer of a penny each only lasted as long as they were interested in playing with coins. They hated it when I had to use silver to pay them out. All it meant to them was they got fewer coins. The fun evaporated. No, the weeds had to be beaten back in a frontal assault. I bought some gizmo called a Weed Hound Dog or something like that, and it worked great! But we had so many weeds that even after a full day of pulling, we've still got the far side of the house to pull. I'm amazed that these weird Ontario people banned herbicides and such. This is truly a pain in the ass.

27 Apr 10
Hughie staggers out of bed at 11 pm tonight. He notices me looking at him from down the stairs, just as he's about to bang on the door to our room, behind which Beth is snoozing soundly. His face is screwed up because the hallway is brighter than his bedroom, but not much. He staggers into the bathroom as I come upstairs, drops his britches and adopts the thinker's pose on the throne.

I sit on the bathtub, opposite.

"Dad. Remember when I was a toddler?"

"Yes, Hughie."

"That was a long time ago."

"Yes, my boy."

"I'm big now."

"Oh, yes, you are."

He is finished the business, hops off, shimmies out the door with his PJ's around his ankles, stops, pulls up his undies and pants, and walks back to bed.

I tuck him in and say goodnight, but he's already asleep again.

6 Mar 10
Sure, it's a little late, but better late than never, eh?

What a day! This morning, Tommy jumped in bed with us at 0659hrs, but - thank god - went back to sleep for about 10 minutes, snoring loudly. Eventually, I decided it was time to go to the junk yard and finally get the parts we needed to fix some small stuff on the vans. Side view mirrors and headlight bezels and such. Tommy came with me and it was a minor adventure. The junk yard reeked of character. The owner was a round gent, balding with long hair at the back, and the main building seemed like it was originally a house that kept growing. Addition after addition combined to make the interior a rabbit warren of small rooms with quarter-inch fake wood paneling. I got overcharged for the parts, to make a long story short, and Tommy had a great time getting very, very filthy. He took two bolts off the van I was working on and I couldn't have been more proud! How many 4 year olds do you know who know how to remove bolts with socket wrenches? He was everywhere! But he had the most fun when I let him "drive" the van I was dismantling. Oh, ok, maybe he had more fun sliding down the big snow hills I told him to stay off. Anyway, we just about missed dance class at 1115hrs, but made it just in time and the rest of the day was a whirlwind of kids shouting, running, and the like. Beth and I are too bagged to go to bed, so maybe we'll watch a minute of TV...

16 Feb 10
A quick pic - gotta run for supper:

Ok, back from supper, a walk to the park, pushing all the boys on the swings in the dark, retrieving Adams rubber boots which fell off into the snow from swinging, shouting at the boys to stop rolling down the hill and come home to mom, watching Hughie and Tommy squeeze into a snow cave made by a hot sewer grate and calling it a fishing pond full of sharks, and getting hit with a pink shovel by Tommy because I laughed at him falling off a snowbank. Whew. Oh yeah, and snacking them all and putting them to bed but not before watching Ms. Ricker or Ritter get a gold medal.

Now, I get to sit down to some nice, peaceful performance evaluations for my folks at work. Ah, bliss...

Oh, BTW, the big colourful blobs on Gillian's drawing which look like tulips (or bums, if you're not inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt) are really hearts, because she is still quite smitten by the whole Valentine's Day thing and hearts feature big in all artwork these days.

Now, onto the PER's...

31 Jan 10
I cannot express just how much barf has flowed from this family's mouths this past weekend. It's downright astonishing. Thursday night was the start of the troubles, with Beth coming down hard with some sort of illness. She got taken out of commission at about 7 pm. Then at 1 am, Tommy started upchucking at nearly 20 minute intervals. He probably barfed 14 times until sun-up. Beth was a write off, poor gal, and I had to phone in and tell them I had to hold the fort at home. Thankfully, they were understanding and had no issues. (Some people think the army's a rough place to work, but in a pinch, the guys are solid and stick up for you.) Tommy kept it up most of the day, finishing his final heaves at around 2:40 pm, just before Gillian and Hughie got home from school. That evening, it was Hughie's turn, and by Saturday morning I was pretty tired. Thankfully, Beth had recovered enough to let me have a couple of hours of real rack, from 8-10 am. That pulled me through, and just in time too, because Beth relapsed somewhat to the point where I thought I'd be calling the paramedics if she didn't turn around. She did, but it was quite unnerving... Beth was ok until mid-afternoon. We managed to get Hughie and Gillian off to ballet on Saturday afternoon, but we left Tommy at home to gather a bit of strenght (and to avoid passing it on to others.) The rest of the day went delicately. Today, Sunday, Tommy barfed again, unexpectedly, on the way to skating, but I chalked it up to car sickness (silly me) and sent him out to skate anyway - no problem, he was fine - but later when he was nice and calm, he barfed again. Which brings us to this evening: Adam's up to bat now. He decided to refinish the boys' floor in puke by climbing onto the foot of Hughie's bed as story time was about to begin, coughing, and then exhaling a stream of KD and weiners which Niagara Falls would have been jealous of. Hughie's bed comforter was a write-off, along with 2 pillows and a sheet set, not to mention my jeans and Adam's PJ's. About 10 minutes after that load was all cleaned up, Adam's own floor and bed were next. It's shaping up to be quite the evening, and there's still Gillian and myself left for the chopping block. I've taped a bucket to the side of Adam's crib, hoping that he might use it in a pinch. He laughed pretty hard at my demo of a barfing 2 year old aiming for the duct taped bucket. I hope it works. If the boys were any indicator, I'm looking at half-hour intervals of pandemonium and snippets of sleep in between. Man. When it rain's it pours. Oddly enough, I'm in a great mood.

13 Jan 10
Gillian barfed the night before last. I'd just finished supervising Tommy's tinkle at about 1:30 a.m. and as I was creeping back to bed from putting him down, I heard a whimpering - not faint - coming from Gillian's room. I figured she'd heard us at work and wanted some attention. That happens, but usually a good shhhh is enough to restore quiet. Not this time. She cried out louder, so I went in to see what was going on, thinking she'd just need a bit of reassuring or a stern look or something daddy-like but there she was, lying flat on her back with her blankets tucked mummy-style around her, and she said "daddy, I don't feel well." Just as that sunk in, like Ol' Faithful in Jellystone Park, up she went - barf city. I tried to whip her out of bed and get her aimed for the floor, wanting to preserve what I could of the bedding, but only succeeded in making things worse. The bed was covered, the floor plastered, and the splash effect got onto the bedside table and several poor teddies and puppies assembled to watch out for monsters and such. Gillian, under my arm like a football now, was carried to the toilet and Beth came to the rescue. Thank God for Beth! While I the "hold the head in the toilet" routine, she did bedding triage and faster that I could believe, Gillian was down again, sheets bundled and garaged. I'll never get the image of Gillian standing only in her undies by the toilet trying to be glib about how much better she felt and starting to yammer on about happy stuff. I remember doing the very same thing 40 years ago, thinking how much better my parents must feel now that I now no longer felt barfy and was on the mend. Oh how things come around again. I hit the sack again with a smile on, not having been completely useless, but pretty damn happy I married who I did. In retrospect, except for putting on a blanket or helping tuck a bed corner, I think I was just about as helpless as Gillian, and if it wasn't for Beth, the floor might still be awash with stomach contents. Ah, parenthood...

10 Jan 10
A quick note: anyone who's emailed me lately - sorry. My computer blew up and I've been putting it back together. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be back up. Apologies.

2 Jan 10
Today was less odd. Actually, it was oddly enjoyable. It's the first day in a while that things started to seem a bit more normal. We took it easy, just "breathing in" the house. The kids and I went out and played snow forts and such in the back yard. Adam was in like a dirty old shirt, and the others - after a bit of whining - were in there too. I got the snowblower out after Adam and Hughie had begged (and received) permission to go inside and Gillian and Tommy ran for the hills. Actually, they ran for the septic field and tree fort, and then flanked me by going 'round front. Having gained the tactical advantage, me being bogged down 'round back with the heavy artillery, they pressed mom for access to the warmth of indoors and were successful. No harm done though - I consider an hour or more out of doors as time well spend and forcing the issue to be pressing my luck.

Gillian did a lovely picture of our stay in Great Wolf Lodge over the holidays. I thought I'd post it up as she positively sparkled as she described every component. I adore it. Here it is - click on it to see it bigger:

Gillian is the girl with orange hair holding a flower. Left of her is a brown springy diving board (there were none at GWL but that's what she remembers.) Below her is the rainbow pool with water in it. I think that's how she remembers the wave pool. At the very left edge, you see a waterslide - the zenith of all our kids' fun was the orange waterslide but could they have, they'd have given it all up for a slide down the blue one. Above her are the clouds, black and brown for some reason, and the sun is the big orange ball. The gray waves to the sun's left are the "brightnesses" - the rays shining from the sun. Funnily enough, the water park was indoors, so we never saw the sun, but it was very well lit, so it might easily have felt like the great outdoors to Gillian. How wonderful!! I hope you enjoy it.

1 Jan 10
Yesterday was an odd day, to say the very least. Some things were hysterical, others tragic. Why not start with the lows...

Cpl Zach McCormack, one of Beth's pals from her army Basic course, was blown up in Afghanistan. She was deeply saddened; she'd remembered him fondly, and as you do on your army Basic course, you develop a bond not easily severed. I won't say more about this except to say it prompted me to make the bedtime song for the kids our national anthem last night and I had to turn the lights off not to look like I was losing it in front of the little scamps.

Speaking of scamps... I was plodding up the stairs after arriving home from Toronto, just after doing some outside chores and my foot squelched into a fine puddle of liquid about 8 steps up. The carpet was sopping, wet through with some sort of juice. I wasn't in the mood to be upset, so I asked around affably and got no "owners" so I went about my business. About 5 minutes later I caught Gillian hovering upstairs, so I asked her if she knew what that stuff on the stairs was. No, she replied, she didn't do it. I could tell she didn't want to be blamed, so I said "I don't want to blame anyone, I just want to know what the stuff is so I know how to clean it up properly." "Daddy," she said, with a little apprehension in her face, "puppy tinkled." "Puppy tinkled?" I asked, "What did puppy tinkle?" "Juice," she said. "Oh! OK," I said, and I tried to suppress a hearty laugh. "You tell puppy not to tinkle on the stairs anymore," I said, and I gave her a quick poke in the belly. Man, kids are fun sometimes.

Ach. Gotta hit the sack. Tired out from staying up until 2 last night and taking the tykes tobogganing this afternoon and snowblowing and bathtime and ...

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May 20, 2012

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