Everybody Knows It's True...

The End

2011-09-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've moved on... you should too!

whenshenaps.blogspot.com

Feeling passionate I guess...

2009-06-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from the book Child Honoring: How to Turn this World Around.

“In the multinational child, the multinational corporation has met its match: the universal child, essential human of every culture. The spirit of humanity.

Your Honor:
My people come from no single country, they are in all of them;
they come from a space and time called childhood,
the place of our common origins; they have no vote,
no way to sway their fate except with the play of their eyes,
their curiosity, their songs, their dance, and their drawings;
for centuries these people have struggled for recognition, to take their
rightful place in communities, as part of the evolving intelligence of our species.
These small and impressionable members of our human family,

Your Honor, they look up to you and the parental society
and believe you love them more than anything;
they expect you to rule in their favor;
as apprenticing adults, they are acutely sensitive to example,
they need consistency and fairness,
they are easily confounded by double standards,
hurt and demoralized by grown-up cynicism.
Do you remember how it felt to be their age, Your Honor?
The children are counting on you.

In a genuinely human court, the child would prevail.”

by Raffi Cavoukian
(Yes... THAT Raffi!)

If you want to read the book, check it out on his website

Here

direct link: http://www.raffinews.com/files/child_honouring/child_honouring.pdf

One Year Gone

2008-10-13T09:24:00.001-07:00

A lot has happened in a year.

I moved out of my sister's place.

I got married.

I had a honeymoon.

I got a new job.

I started going to school to get my Early Childhood Education Certificate.

I started going to a new Church.

That's a lot of change. This doesn't leave much time to blog. But I'll try if anyone's still interested. There's less of a shroud of secrecy surrounding what I do, so I'll be able to include some hilarious anecdotes from work.

Such as, how I get called Mr. Celery, or Mr. Hem-a-ding, or Mr. Cellar-ling, sometimes even Mrs. (insert any number of above listed names here)

It's great, I love every minute I get to spend with those little people.

Blogged this while listening to:
El Ten Eleven - I like Van Halen because my sister says they are cool.
Emmy the Great - Where is my mind? (Pixies cover)

If I ever figure out how to post these songs, my blog would be more awesome.

Baby come back!

Number 1... Engage!

2007-09-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

We went on a cruise this weekend, and I asked Lindsey to marry me. She said yes and we've been riding the high since then.

Here's a picture that a friend took.

Unfortunately Lindsey doesn't wear rings for me to know what ring size she is, so it doesn't fit so great right now. We're getting it sized tomorrow though, and then everything will be perfect.

I'd tell the details of the story now, except it's bedtime.

The Times They Are A-Changing

2007-09-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

I realize that the last post was light on details, so here's the real scoop.

During the summer I was able to go help out at a local camp. And of course we get nifty camp names that may or may not have anything to do with who you are. I've helped out once at this camp before and I gave myself the name Pez. The week leading up to this summer's camp I thought that maybe Hammer would be better, because when I was a factory worker some of the guys would call me that. Sadly, I was stuck with the name Pez. It wasn't really a bad thing though, as most people I was introduced to were interested in talking about my Pez collection. 300+ Pez dispensers and it grows every few years by a few more. That's my Pez story, nothing to do with anything really)

Anyways, when I get back from camp my sister is sitting there and tells me...
"So, I'm pregnant."
I'm all, "Cool! I get to be an Uncle!" and then I'm all, "So does this mean you're getting married sooner?"

Yes, my sister is pregnant so she and her beau will be tying the knot on October 14th, 2007. Pretty much everyone knows now so it's safe to go blabbing everywhere about it. I'm excited that there's going to be a baby in the family, but I'm also wondering how I'm going to continue living here while my sister and her hubby are trying to start a family. I've been living with her for a few years now.

Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh. Do you hear that?

It's the winds of change.
....................~
................~
............~
........~
....~

Still around...

2007-09-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Things have slowed down a little. To the point that I have a bit of time to post a brief update.

I'm still here.

I still love hockey.

Let's see if this dusty ol' blog still has legs.

Break

2007-05-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well friends, the time has come once again to blog. I know I haven't for a while, but times are busy. And when they're not busy, I'd rather be relaxing than typing up a blog.
Anyone who really WANTS to know what I've been up to just asks me anyways.

The same thing happened last summer. I just became too busy to bother with blogging because I would rather go out and enjoy the season.

Things have really picked up as far as work is concerned. I've trimmed my clients down to 3, but they are 3 solid clients. The workload is manageable, but the schedule is quite different every month.

I'm hoping to have a few vacations here and there, but that takes initiative and time. I'm all good on initiative, but I lack the time to sit at my computer and do up blurbs on my life. Besides, I'd much rather talk to you.

So, faithful blog readers, now is the time that I will bid you farewell for the summer. This blog isn't really a high traffic blog anyways. Most people have either moved on or forgotten.

I'll be back here and there, but not until life slows down a little more. For now though, it's full speed ahead.

Birthday Week

2007-05-08T13:55:00.001-07:00

It's my birthday. Woohoo!

I'm taking the idea given to me by one of my friends (thanks Holly!) to celebrate my Birthday all this week. Yesterday Lindsey bought me dinner at our favourite restaurant, The Frogstone Grill. She also gave me my presents, which were awesome. She totally spoiled me.

Tonight, my family is going to watch the Vancouver Giants play the Medicine Hat Re-Re's in the WHL finals. The series is tied 1-1. Now that the Canucks are out of the playoffs, this series should be packed with hockey fans.

Tomorrow night is cake night with Lindsey's family.

Friday we have dinner at our friends house.

The only day missing something is Thursday. Anyone want to do something for my birthday on Thursday? Actually, I'm busy. But 4 out of 5 days isn't bad for a Birthday Week. I usually only get one day of fun.

Picture This... An Update!

2007-05-01T12:04:00.001-07:00

My skis are bottom, Lindsey's are on top. She lost one when the chairlift took a wild bounce on liftoff. It was hilarious! She had quite the difficult time getting off the lift.

During our travels we ran into Bigfoot. He let us take pictures of his foot for proof. It's big.

It's the only way to live!

My dollar bet from Lindsey. We were waiting to get off the ferry and she bet me to down a single serving package of juice crystals. You know the kind that go into the 500mL water bottles? It was tangerine. My tongue was instantly orange.

Above are just some of the reasons I've been a neglectful blogger. That was part of March and April, I guess.

Suave and debonaire

2007-03-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

Yes... this blog sucks. I know.

Yes... it's been a long time since I last updated. I know.

Being a secret agent takes it's toll on the information I'm allowed to divulge. Which includes the secret joke behind the title of this post.

I know it's been a while since I last blogged because even my Mom is starting to get on my case about it. I guess this is where she updates herself on what I'm doing without having to see me.

Sometimes, life just gets in the way of extra cirricular activities. I'm doing a lot right now, including having 5 jobs. That's right. I currently have 5 jobs. I'm on the way out for one of them and I'm being trained for a new one. So by the middle of April I'll be back to 4.

I'm right in the middle of a busy stretch of life. In about 45 mins I'll be on my way to Vancouver Island for a rip roarin' good time at a wedding for Lindsey's friend.
I've never met these people, but I'm going to their wedding!

Of course I'll post a bunch of pictures when I get back.

I promise.

The flip side of the inactivity vortex

2007-03-09T10:26:00.001-08:00

Yes, I've been an absentee blogger. Oh bla dee, oh bla da! Life goes on...

Music
- I'm currently listening to some a ccapella covers of Sufjan Stevens and Boy Least Likely To. They're rad. I didn't really know that a cappella was so fun. My first foray into this under-appreciated singing style was when my long-time friend MRW started an a cappella choir at the high school we both graduated from. Let me just say, that who knew making funny backgound noises in unison can actually sound so cool? The Sufjan song has an extended musical interlude in it. The folks singing it sans instruments are maintaining the original sound of the song and it's actually really good. For a more profane exposure to an a cappella cover, check out this Ben Folds Fan Challenge. But be forewarned, this is NOT for everyone (swearing)!

Hockey
- We were given Canucks tickets. I've never been given Canucks tickets before (other than from my Mom), so of course I am eternally grateful. It was a doozy. 6 round shootout!
- The other night we were all over at my parents house watching the Canucks (featuring Bobby Lu and Cowan the Bra-barian) beat the Coyotes (featuring... well, Gretzky I guess). It was a PPV game, and after the game the channel ended up being turned to American Idol where they were showing an elimination of some guy named Sundance (?!?). For his farewell song he performed a rendition of the song Jeremy by Pearl Jam. After some opinionated comments on his abilities by my Dad, I asked him if he even knew who sang the original.
His answer? " Jericho!...Purple Jam!" So hilarious.

Random
- Some peoples kids, honestly. There's a boy in our complex who obviously didn't get the "Stay off the Road when a car comes" talk I got growing up. During the Summer him and his pals will sit in the middle of the lane and play. We have a huge greenspace for the kids to play in, there's even a playground, but they insist on sitting on the pavement. The other day, as I returned home from work, he was walking with his basketball rolling in front of him. Somehow he decided that letting the basketball roll out into the lane was a good idea. Then he chased after it, right in front of my car. Seriously!
On the flip side, the other day whilst picking up kids from school I witnessed a little boy no bigger 'n a minute wearing this huge blue bike helmet, blue raincoat and blue gumboots. He looked like Toad from Mario Bros. But the best part was when he started one foot stomping in this mud puddle, just happy to splash. So cute.

Skiing
- I went down my first Black Diamond run while skiing last Sunday. It felt pretty good. I don't think I'm ready for moguls though. There are some things I know I'm just not ready for, moguls are one of them.

Trivia Night
- It's Trivia Night tonight! I'm looking forward to it, obviously. Last year's Trivia Night was the first exposure to the Church I currently attend. It's kind of cool to look back and see how different my life is since Trivia Night '06. This year my team should kick some serious butt, because this year I've got Lindsey.

TV is sucking me into it's vortex of inactivity

2007-02-22T11:05:00.000-08:00

There are many good TV shows out there, most of them could really be movies.

I remember a few years ago I was getting into the whole mafia movie thing. I watched Donnie Brasco, Casino, Goodfellas, Scarface, The Boondock Saints, Miller's Crossing, and even got around to The Godfather. Well, of course after the hype continued for The Sopranos I had to get on board and see what it was all about. I watched the first 2 seasons of it and then got too busy to make time for TV shows. Actually, I think that's when I realized that some of my favourite animated shows were on DVD and switched over to them instead of the violent crime dramas.
Anyway, the point I was making was that The Sopranos was a solidly written show. Because of the serialized nature of the story it would never work as a movie. Even though most of the story portrayed elements of what I had just been watching in all of those other mafia movies listed above.

Now I've caught up on most of the animated shows I love. Most have finished their network runs and the DVD sets are all out there to buy, and I've bought nearly all the series I wanted. These days the TV show landscape has gotten much better than in the past. Now there are 5 or 6 shows a week that have gotten me hooked into their storylines. Even if I don't end up watching them during the week, I'll still download them and catch up before next week. There are even shows that I know I can't even bother to watch, even though I'm missing some great story telling. One day I'll catch up on all of them.

One day...

Random Hockey Math Rant

2007-02-17T00:07:00.000-08:00

The NHL's Northwest division is tough! Everybody put their Hockey Math jersery on and I'll explain this using mathematic principles...

There are 5 teams in each division, 3 divisions in the West and 3 in the East. The Canucks lead the Northwest with 70 points, the last place team in the Northwest has 60 points. A mere 10 points, or 5 wins, separate first from last place.
Comparatively the top team in the Central division has 81 points and the bottom team has 51 points. That translates to 30 points, or 15 wins. No team can mount a comeback that significant!
The Pacific division has the top team with 76 points, and the bottom team with 47. Again, a point spread of this magnitude (29 points) is insurmountable in my generation's NHL.

The Eastern conference divisions are spread just as greatly. The only one comparable to the Northwest division is the Southeast. The Southeast division has a point spread of 14 points, which is low for the East. But compared to the rest of the NHL, those teams just aren't as good as the West. Trust me, they don't win as much as people might think.

So, when compared to the entire NHL, the Northwest division is the hardest to beat. Every team in the Northwest has a Win record better than .500 (more wins than losses). And with a stupid lopsided schedule that favours divisional play, there's really no way to fix it. The NHL has to fix the schedule. It's stupid to play the 4 other teams in our division 8 times in a season, and only play 10 teams from the Eastern Conference once.
Who came up with that garbage?

Gary Bettman needs somebody to kick him right in the junk. Hard.

Ten days in point form

2007-02-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

Woo! I haven't posted in ten whole days. Probably because I haven't made the time to sit down, collect my thoughts and figure out just what I've done that's worth blogging about.

A whole lot has happened in the last ten days. Here is a list in no particular order.

1- I went skiing for the first time in over 10 years. Turns out I still know how.
2- Linds booked us a trip to go to the Island for her friend's wedding. We get to stay at a freakin' nice hotel too. I don't even know these friends, but I know that this tag-a-long is soooo going to be worth it.
3- The worship Pastor at our Church stepped down and everyone threw him and his family a series of goodbye parties. I think he had around 5 of them.
4- The Adventure Girl and Camera Boy video we made was nearly a bust for a bunch of different reasons. It almost didn't show up on time, there were technical glitches in it, and as hard as we tried to avoid it there were still some badly lit shots. At least the music didn't suck! On the positive side of things, most people liked it and we were actually thanked by one church-goer for bringing a light hearted note to an otherwise emotional evening.
5- My sister and her boyfriend went away to Whistler and got engaged. It surprised most of the family, but only because they've been together for 7 years and we all thought this should have happened 3 years ago. Now we can look forward to their 10 year engagement.
6- We went out for dinner for a surprise party that didn't end up working out the way normal surprise parties are supposed to work out. At least the guy was still a little surprised. That's got to count for something, right?
7- Lindsey wrote and illustrated a story book for me for Valentine's day. It's titled "The Boy Who Saved Valentine's Day" and I love love love it. I'm not even going to mention what I got for her because it pales in comparison to the awesomeness of the story book. Really, it does.
8- Linds and I rented some movies and made the time to watch them. Here's a brief review of the both of them.
Science of Sleep - This was a great movie directed and written by the same guy who did Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It's so crazy and cool that I want to buy it. I haven't said that about a movie for a while. It's the story of a guy who's dream life blurs into his real life. It's kind of a love story, but it doesn't fall into any kind of conventional love story formula. I thought it was awesome.
Running with Scissors - Apparently the trailer for this movie decided it was a good idea to be better than the actual movie itself. It looked so promising! The memoirs of some dude named Augusten Burroughs do not make for a very entertaining movie. The characters were very interesting, but the story was just boring. Nothing could make me want to watch this one again.

So those are were the Main Events. Of course, there were all kinds of side events that I can remember too. I just don't make the time to write about them.

Remember to breathe

2007-02-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

The weekend was far too hectic to relive. I felt more disorganized this weekend than I have in a long while.
Probably because there was very little time to stop and smell the roses. Every hour seemed to be taken up with something. Whether it was a worship party, driving around the Fraser Valley, getting a haircut, working, Camp Wannabe, driving to Mission twice to help a friend move, making a video, or going for lunch with my parents, it just seemed like a little too much at times.

Oh yeah, I'm not sick anymore. I did have to take a day off of work though. It's just not fair to make the kids I work with sick with a cold. But that's all over now, and I survived my first cold of '07. It's going to be a while before I get another one.

Tonight is a relax night, and I fully intend to do so.

Invincibility

2007-01-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

I've got to stop and remember that I'm not invincible.

7 day a week schedules can wear on a guy. I've got a sore throat because it's happening again. Linds and I are saying yes to things when we should be saying No. I'm just worried she's going to get sick again. We both know that I'm a Virus Carrier. They try and infiltrate my hearty immune system and only 1 or 2 get through the defenses. The rest get passed on to everyone else around me through various ways viruses travel. I mean, that's how she got Mono, right?

So now I have to relax a bit and work through it. I wish I could just take days off and lie on the couch for hours at a time like my sickly little sister is doing right now. But alas, if I don't work I don't get paid, so I work unless my whole body shuts down to the point that even movement is painful.
A scratchy throat? Bah! I can still walk and talk normally. So I work.

I can still maintain the illusion of invincibility though. It's called the Suck It Up effect, and I'm able to do this when I fall ill. I just suck it up and stop whining about it, because I'm probably the one who gave everyone around me the same sickness that I have now, before I succumbed to it.

Rest assured though, I wash my hands thoroughly all the time. Especially when I get a little sick.

The Ho Hums

2007-01-18T10:40:00.001-08:00

Even though I've got little to blog about today, I'm still going to because it's been over a week.

Some things I've been thinking about this morning
- Canucks are 9 wins and 1 loss in their last 10 games. That's pretty good considering they were mediocre for the first half of the season.
- I get pretty annoyed by Bob Cole and think he needs to learn that Toronto is not the center of the Universe. Too bad he never will. I mean, come on... it's pronounced Be-EK-sa.
- Eastern Hockey sucks compared to Western Hockey. Sidney Crosby should play in the West. The East can keep Ovechkin and Malkin.
- A lot of people I know need prayer, so I find it hard to accept that I need prayer too.
- Scheduling 4 part-time jobs can be difficult.
- Waffles are yummy.

All that and it's not even 11 o'clock yet. This is a lot to think about for guys. Comparatively, I know women think about 10 times more things as we do. Per minute.

"Curse be upon your mustache!"

2007-01-10T13:17:00.001-08:00

Wa wa wee wa! It's snowing a lot outside. But that's not the reason I'm here today. A meeting has been rescheduled and I have time to kill.

Did anybody else catch the last Canucks game? It was a Pay-per-view game against Florida, which the Canucks barely won in a 6 round shootout. The winner is not what I'm addressing here. It's the 2 players on the Florida Panthers that have the disgusting mustaches.

Olli Jokinen.
Look at this tool. He looks incredibly stupid with a mustache. He's even somehow convinced one of his teammates, Ville Peltonen, that growing a mustache is a good thing. I tried finding pictures of it, but couldn't. They're probably having a mustache growing competition. Guys do that. And I'll bet it was because of the popularity of this guy.

Good ol' Borat.

Now, I'm not against NHL players who sport mustaches. Dave Babych, ex-Canuck, had a marvelous mustache. And he was part of the '94 team that made it to the Stanley Cup Final. This guy had an awesome mustache in his day, too. Who can forget about ex-Flame Lanny McDonald?

Now that's a mustache! You should see him with a full beard, too.

Basically I've decided that if you're going to grow a mustache, don't do it until you're over the age of 30, or work for the RCMP. Young guys just look stupid when they grow a mustache. Full beards and scruffy faces are okay, it just looks like you've been too busy to worry about it. But mustaches? Please, go big or go home.

The title of this post was taken from a direct quote by Saddam aide Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri to the Kuwaiti minister of state, Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah.

2006 in Review

2007-01-09T12:31:00.001-08:00

2006 was a year of change for me.

I rang in the New Year with people I didn't really know, and whom I haven't seen since. That's weird.
Somehow along the way I lost a good group of friends from across the river. I used to see them all the time. Then it became some of the time. Then I got disinvited to somewhere and I let my feelings be known about it. Ever since then I've only known what's been happening through blogs. I haven't seen them for about 8 months and that really sucks. I guess we're just in different places, in all senses of the word.

I met some new friends this year, including a lot of families from Church. I can't believe how many new faces are in my life now. It overwhelms me when I start thinking about it.

The first part of the year I quit my stupid factory job and now work with kids. This was a change that should have happened long ago. Who cares now, because I love what I do.

The summertime was interesting. I call it The Summer of Mayhem because it was. I was out and about almost every single day. It's the busiest I'd ever been. Looking back, it was all leading to something great.

My Grandma succumbed to her lung troubles. That was hard. It is the first time a relative so close has died. That, and the last time I had a real conversation with her was when she told me that I was a disappointment to my Grandpa. That's when I was taking a break from blogland. But I came back!

A large amount of my happiness this year can be attributed to Lindsey. We met in April, came
together June, and haven't looked back except to remember everything awesome we've done together. She's the best.

That's it I guess. Everything important enough to review is all there. I'm probably missing something and may offend someone with an omission, but I just don't care that much to worry about it.

I haven't posted much yet in '07 because I'm still figuring out my schedule. It's hairy! I have 4 different part time jobs. Yikes!

Here's to another crazed year!

Three in a row!

2007-01-05T13:26:00.001-08:00

Team Canada has just won their 3rd World Junior Hockey Championship in a row.
Go Canada!

I had to miss the first 2 periods because of work, but it doesn't matter. They won.

The Vancouver Canucks have finally won more than 3 games in a row, the streak currently sits at 5 games in a row. First time that's happened in a long time. Tonight they'll try and make it six when they play the Oilers. It should be a good one.

PS - I don't care if none of you watch hockey. I do.

Junior Hockey and Frank Gehry

2006-12-29T13:13:00.001-08:00

The best part about the week in between Christmas and New Year's is the World Junior Hockey Championship.
Over the last three years I have become a regular viewer of this tournament. I started watching it three years ago because hometown hero Andrew Ladd was picked for the team, and he was going to get to play with current NHL points leader Sidney Crosby (perhaps you've heard of him?). Since then, Canada has won 2 Gold medals and is going for their 3rd.
At the world level of competition the U20 team has won 15 games in a row. They have outscored the opponents (the rest of the world) by a margin of 105-25 during those 15 games.

Canada beat Germany today. They don't even have to win against Slovakia on Sunday to make it into the semi-finals. Canada is already in the semi-finals. However, they're obviously going to try and keep the win streak alive.
Oh yeah, and the American team is again the most overrated team at the tournament. Last year they were supposed to be "The Team To Beat", but they totally sucked. This year, they were supposed to be "The Team To Beat", but this year they're worse than last year. I hate it when the media hypes up a team like that.
But hey, I like Americans. I just think their hockey team is overrated.

The Pic of the Day comes from a request during the last round of comments. Steph asked if I had gone to Spain or Chicago. Are they the same? I have a vague notion of who Frank Gehry is, but I just found out he designed this building, the EMP in Seattle. I do know that the building looks cool and crazy and what's inside is awesome and educational, musically.
Hey Steph, if you're ever in Seattle you have to visit this place. It's just so interesting, every music lover should shell out admission at least once in their lifetime.

Yup, I dropped the L-Bomb

2006-12-27T14:58:00.001-08:00

Christmas is a fun and busy time.

Christmas Eve - Church twice (morning and evening), 2 afternoon open houses, one evening open house, and a late night comedy watch at my house (Russell Peters is hilarious). Drinky drinky!

Christmas Day - 8am start to making Brunch, scattered present opening, family brunch, more scattered present opening, dinner with Lindsey's family, a rare Turkey Dinner Nap, home again home again, jiggedy jig.

Boxing Day - Clean up clean up, everybody everywhere. World Junior Hockey! Canada shut out Sweden woot woot! H family cousin open house. I had forgotten to mention any of these cousins to Lindsey, so she got to know all 23 of them really fast. My little baby cousins got so big! Amazing how quickly kids grow up when you're not around them. Canucks beat Calgary. Hooray for hockey.

Pic of the Day
Lindsey and I made each other similar gifts for Christmas. Hers looks far more fabulous than mine, but hey, I'm a guy. She's the crafty one. She made a photo album and put in all of the feet pictures that we've taken over the past 6 months. I love it.
Also in this picture is my new bedding. I love Christmas!

Christmas Post 2006

2006-12-21T21:05:00.001-08:00

Christmas is nearly here and I still have a couple gifts to buy. This is, by far, the least organized Christmas I have ever prepared for. Usually I am so on the ball that I offer to get help my Mom out with things. The main reason of which is that I get to write the H Family Christmas Letter. But not this year, no sir (and madam), I have a life this year.

Lucky for me, I also have an awesomely flexible schedule that has 2 to 3 hour gaps where I am able to run around and get the last minute stuff done.

This is not to say that I am dreading Christmas. In fact, I enjoy everything that I've done in the past few weeks leading up to the oh so special day.

- I made a Christmas Music CD using free MP3's posted on blogs.

- I discovered my enjoyment of indie rock and Christmas Music can be combined into an awesome mix CD of free MP3's posted on blogs.

- I ate some yummy Christmas goodies from Lindsey and 4ever29.

- I visited with friends. A lot of new ones and, of course, the steady usual ones.

- I was introduced to Peppermint Schnapps and Hot Chocolate, a combination that everyone must enjoy, at least once.

- I saw the Canucks beat the Wild with a controversially allowed goal. It should have been disallowed, but what can I do about it?

- I saw my friend Holly perform in the Electra Women's Choir.

- We tried to organize a trip to see the Stanley Park Christmas Train, but downed trees and other wind damage cancelled our excursion. Oh well, there's always next year.

- Lindsey bought us the best Christmas CD box set EVER!...

Which brings me to our Pic of the Day. Behold all that is contained in Sufjan Stevens 5 CD Christmas Box Set recorded over the past 5 years. It's freaking awesome, and it will forever be in Christmas CD rotation.

Bonus Pic of the Day. Our Christmas Tree. See how unprepared we are? There are still no presents wrapped in our house. As long as they're wrapped by the 24th, right? Plenty of time...

Merry Christmas Blogland.

The things Wii did

2006-12-18T00:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a lot of fun.

On Friday we were supposed to go to the Stanley Park Christmas Train. But due to the unfortunate circumstances the weather brought to the Lower Mainland, the train was closed for the weekend. Stupid wind, blowing down trees and ruining our Christmas Train event. Instead, Linds and I ate a Festive Special at Swiss Chalet, bought some wine and gucamole supplies, rented a video and packed it in for the evening. It's what everybody else was doing instead of coming with us, I'm sure of it. Because, if they weren't hanging out with us, then they were obviously doing something far better than staying in doing nothing, right?

Saturday was packed with theory, which I'm not getting into because it's not worth explaining. The highlight was taking Lindsey to her very first NHL game, the Canucks versus the Wild. It as a pretty good game, but the Canucks weren't playing very well. At least they won. My favourite part of the evening was on our walk into the arena...
Linds - I'm so excited right now.
Me - I think you should go to the bathroom before we get to our seats.
Linds - OK... why?
Me - Because you might just pee your pants in excitement.
And then we laughed, obviously.

Sunday we were all over the place, from Albion to North Vancouver, and a few places in between. I got some Christmas shopping done, we had hot chocolate and seafood dip with friends, I went for Chinese food with the H side of the family. And then we visited with more friends. Oh yeah, and I got to play the Nintendo Wii last night! This thing takes video games to the ultimate level of fun. You actually move around to play the games, it's so awesome. I want one.

Our Pic of the Day comes from the hockey game. We take feet/shoe pictures, it's just our thing. Linds got some new shoes, but mine are looking less white and more yellow these days. Either way, the game was awesome and I'm so happy the Canucks won, because one's first NHL game should be a positive experience.

The "I just ate this" Pic of the Day

2006-12-15T17:24:00.001-08:00

Lindsey made a whole batch of these things. I saved mine until today so I could show my sister and her bf (aka my landlords). Then I ate it. Chocolate covered almonds make great and tasty penguins. And of course I love the cupcake aspect of it. But doesn't it look great? I mean, it sure tasted great, but doesn't it look delicious too?

In Mike's Backyard it's raining really hard

2006-12-14T13:38:00.001-08:00

Cool. It's raining outside and I've got to go pick up the daycare kids from school in an hour. Now, I like the rain. In fact I think I've grown so accustomed to it raining here on the Wet Coast that most of the time I'm not even aware that it's raining.
That is... until I have to walk around in it. Lucky for me I have a sweet Nissan Canada golf umbrella. I borrowed it from my Mom last Spring so I could walk the daycare kids to school, and she hasn't asked for it back yet. This thing is huge. One could fit 2 adults and 3 kids under it if one were so inclined to walk close together.

This week will pick up, for those who check in for interesting things to read about. I've got some cool things going on this weekend that I am really looking forward to doing. And one of them is hockey related.

Here's the Pic of the Day. It was taken right before I started writing this post. You can't tell, but it's raining pretty hard right now. Hopefully it lets up soon and we have a bit of a break so we can walk the kids back to the church. So many of them come unprepared for rain, and wet kids are usually grumpy kids.

Pic of the Day is a doozy

2006-12-11T17:30:00.000-08:00

My weekend was as busy as ever. Actually, Saturday had me downloading a whole bunch of songs that I found through blogs, which when you look at, isn't being all that busy.

I love the Internet. It educates me musically and entertains me regularly with sites like Youtube.com, Allmusic.com, Homestarrunner.com, and Quicktime.com. How could anybody be bored when they have the Internet!

I'm currently getting ready to go shopping with, as it turns out, my whole family. All 6 of us. I have no idea how that happened. I thought I was going shopping with just my Mom and sister. Now it's the whole clan. At least now I can ask each of them what they want without any confusion.

I don't have much more to say. This is just a stupid crazy month.

Here's the Pic of the Day. They're actually selling a Christmas decoration called a 'Frosty Dangler'. Does anyone else think this is an entirely inappropriate name for a Christmas decoration? Not only that, but you can 'Hang it anywhere'. Yikes people! I'm still giggling about this one. But then, I can't even say duty without smiling.

hee hee hee... duty

TV is sucking me into it's vortex of inactivity

2006-12-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

I don't know how people can blog everyday. I just don't seem to make the time to blog everyday. Maybe my posts need to be shorter. Yeah, that's it. I'll just do little blurbs about nothing, because that's all I've got at the moment.

There hasn't been any Canucks games, all I've really done is watch shows on DVD and schedule time for the ones I watch in their current seasons. Here's what I might be watching on any given night.

Heroes - Now that I've caught up on the season, I'm hooked.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - This is my first "Sorkin" show and so far it's been very interesting.
Gilmore Girls Season 7 - when a new episode is on.
House Season 3 - I haven't seen the first 2 seasons, but I think I get the idea. House is a jerk but he's good at solving medical problems.
Grey's Anatomy Season 3 - I really like this show. I saw sporadic episodes from Season 1 and 2. But as soon as I saw a guy blow up in that 2nd Season two-parter I was all in, baby.
Lost - They're on a lengthy hiatus right now. I hope they come back guns blazing. That would be awesome.

Gilmore Girls Season 2 DVD - Linds and I are about halfway through it. We hope to be caught up by the time they've decided the fate of the show after Season 7.

Scrubs Season 2 DVD - This is a show we've heard a lot about, but never took the time to see. Now that we have friends who own the seasons, we're catching up.

Justice League Unlimited Season 1 DVD - I just love this show. Period.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Volume 3 DVD- For those moments when drama is just too much and you need to see just how random some people can be.
Fraggle Rock Season 2 DVD - Dance your cares away, worry is for another day.
The Muppet Show Season 1 DVD - We're stretching this one out until Season 2 comes out on DVD.

Wow, I watch a lot of television.

Here's the Pic of the Day. Lindsey bought me this book and couldn't wait to give it to me for Christmas. It's awesome. I flip through it during Canucks games.

It'll Xavier your Rudd

2006-12-06T00:38:00.001-08:00

Today I did a lot of nothing, again. Fortunately my good friend MRW sent me a link to download this cool word game. It's totally for kids, Bookworm Adventures Deluxe. I had the time to make it through 2 of the 3 worlds. It's a very addicting game, the basic gist of it is this... Make words using the 16 letters given so you attack the bad guys. This is not as easy as it sounds. Once you use a letter you can't use it again unless the game gives it to you. I started out making mostly 4 letter words, but now I've upped my creative juices to using more 5 letter words.
But the game is not the point of this post.

Lindsey and I went to see Xavier Rudd at The Orpheum tonight and it was an amazing show. I knew very little about Xavier before I went, other than the fact that he can play the didgeridoo.
Well, is that ever an understatement as I was to learn tonight. He's got this whole set up in the middle of the stage that includes around 6 bongo type drums, 3 didgeridoos, 2 gongs, 1 wood block, and around 15 or so cymbals. Not only that, but he played at least 6 different kinds of guitars. The most amazing thing was when he was playing the didge while either drumming or strumming. The man can't be human!
All in all it was a great show, the last show on this particular tour. My favourite part, other that having my mind blown by musical talent, was his intro guy. This big bellied aboriginal man with a long scraggly beard and a long scraggly mustache came out with his tribal gear on and a santa hat. Then he cracked jokes as he played Jingle Bells on the didge (and boy that man could play the didge). I wanted to see him as part of the show, instead Xavier played a song written about the man's sister who died as a result of alcoholism.

Updated at 1pm!
The Pic of the Day is from the Xavier show. It took a few tries, but blogger finally decided to upload it. It's blurry, I know. It was taken from the balcony without a flash. During the encore performance he brought out a group of six kids between the ages of 6 and 10. They sang backup on a song about a ship. It was awesome! There were so many cool things this guy did, more people need to know about Xavier Rudd. Check out his setup, he can barely move in there.

Oh yeah, and the 10 points is going to be split right down the middle because Michelle guessed two things and she was only half right. We had Tacos and Fajitas. So that means the other 5 points go to Saranate who guessed margaritas but mentioned fajitas. Sorry Nuttina, we love the quesadillas but we didn't have them the other day. That's usually our Sunday lunch.

A Case of the Mondays

2006-12-05T00:19:00.001-08:00

Oh how the hours creep slowly by when I have nothing to do. Honestly, I'd rather be working on days like this. Lucky for me I have an awesome girlfriend who brings me joy.

Anyone watch the Canucks game tonight? You didn't miss much. They lost, were totally shut out by Edmonton, and three players left the game with injuries. Talk about a bad game.

On the plus side, here's the Pic of the Day. Guess what we had for dinner tonight from these fixings? (Lindsey made the guacamole on the lower left.) 10 points to whomever can guess first!

I've got a funny feeling

2006-12-04T00:42:00.001-08:00

Oh man, everything was hilarious to me just a minute ago. I love being at that moment where you know you're tired, but everything someone says is funny. It's better than being drunk, because you can just fall asleep and wake up without the headache. Laughter really is good medicine, except if you really do have a headache.

My friend Holly (the one in the Elektra Women's Choir) came back from California a couple weeks ago. She went down to celebrate American Thanksgiving with some family that live down there. She brought me back some avocados, which I am extremely thankful for, and excited about. I asked her to bring one back for me, and she brought me three. The reasons for my excitement are simple. Lindsey and I love making guacamole. More accurately, we love eating it. And for some reason the only avocados they ship up to my corner of Canada are dinky little things no bigger than a minute. The avocados that they have in California are at least twice as big. That means twice as much guacamole! Woohoo!

This brings me to the Pic of the Day for Dec. 3rd. It's Lindsey holding the big avocado halves, right before they get made into guacamole. If we had a dinky avocado from the grocery store I would have shown a comparison shot. Maybe I just got a good idea for another Pic of the Day.

PS - I've decided to count from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed as one day. Never mind this midnight-is-the-next-day junk. The next day happens when I wake up. Screw you, clock.

So far - off to a bad start

2006-12-03T00:57:00.001-08:00

You know when you mean to do something, and then you end up having too much fun doing something else, and you forget to do the original thing that you meant to do in the first place?

I meant to blog everyday in December, but as you can see from the clock, it's not Dec 2nd, it's the 3rd. What can I say? I live an exciting life.

Today was supposed to be a "relax, don't do it, when you want to go to it" kind of day. And it was for the most part. I did some scanning for my dad because his scanner is on the fritz. I'm only half done and I've already scanned 33 articles and pictures, all hockey related. Then Linds and I caught up on this weeks episode of Grey's Anatomy after having Tim Horton's chili.

The evening was when things got busy. My friend is in the Elektra Women's Choir, which, depending on who you talk to, is kind of a big deal. They've been around for 20 years now, and are known the world over for singing excellence.
Q: How much do I know about choir?
A: Not much. I've known my friend has been in this choir for about 7 years now, (including the 2 that I've known her for) and am only just beginning to grasp the prestige this choir carries. She's kind of a big deal, she has many leather-bound books and her place smells of rich mahogany.
Anyways, I went and saw one of her concerts for the first time ever tonight. It was good. This choir is really really good. Who knew I have a friend in the Elektra Women's Choir?

The reason for the late post is that we went to Cactus Club afterward and ran into Lindsey's Long Lost Cousin (LLC) whom she hadn't seen in 8 years. And we also saw some of Lindsey's friends from The Ranch. It was totally random and strange, but it was a lot of fun. I'm going to have be short on details because I really need to get to bed soon.

Here's the Pic of the Day for Dec. 2nd. It was taken by the one and only 4ever29 during the Christmas Café kitchen clean-up. Gus kept coming into the kitchen area looking for a cold drink, as the mask made things 10x hotter than normal. Oh, and Gus is blinking in order to add to the mystique of Gus' identity. It's hilarious that some people can't figure out who Gus really is. I know, but I'm not telling!

Christmas Café and Pic of the Day

2006-12-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

Alright, so most of you who read my blog didn't really enjoy my love of super heroes post.
Too bad. I don't blog for you, I blog for me. But thanks for the greetings!

Now that it's December I'm going to try and blog more. I don't know why, I'm just going to. That way I won't feel so overwhelmed when I try and think of a post.

Christmas Café is going on at Burnett right now. 2 years ago I volunteered for Parking because my Mom said they needed help, and I was on my 4 days off. This year, I'm actually attending a service regularly, and my rise to recognizability has been fast. So I kind of feel a need to volunteer, for everything. This year I'm in the Kitchen. It's fun.
Here's a useless bit of information: My team leader this year is married with children to my team leader of 2 years ago. They were married with children back then, too. But I didn't even go into the church 2 years ago, so I didn't meet anybody.

After my stint in the Kitchen (which was really the Nursery) was finished I went out for a late dinner with Lindsey and our friend Shannon. We babysit for her, which is kind of a big deal, because she doesn't let just anyone babysit for her. You've gotta pass the test. It's a series of written exams, physical exertion tests, and a 2 hour interview. We totally nailed it on the first try. We're actually looking after her kids next Friday. But I digress... We went to Quiznos and the girl there made us feel like we weren't supposed to be there, even though they didn't close for another hour. I'll never know why people with no "People Skills" ever apply for work in the customer service industry.

Tonight is another Café night, so I'll let you all know in tomorrow's blog if something cool happens.

Here is the Picture of the Day for December 1, 2006. This is what we did at Daycare. They made a slide and some forts. This giant pile of snow is from when they cleared the parking lot for Christmas Café. That's the slide they're going down.

-------------------------------

Oh yeah, this end part is for Phats. I still read your blog. I even read the boring sports posts about college ball, which I promptly forget because I'm saving that part of my brain for Hockey Trivia. But if you're really such a comment whore, then I'll be sure to put a Hi-dee-ho in for you after I read. Sheesh!

We could be heroes

2006-11-29T21:02:00.000-08:00

I'm a hero crazy comic geek. But not in the way where I avoid social contact and sunlight in the dark musty corners of a comic book shop. I'm a cool geek. I watch the shows/movies and keep track of the history of the heroes.

The other day my partner in crime fighting, MRW, came over and we beat Justice League Heroes for Xbox. It only took us about 3 hours combined (over the course of 2 non-consecutive days) to beat the last boss, Superman's otherworldly arch-nemesis Darkseid. It always feels good to beat a video game. In the past 8 months I've beaten X-men: Legends One and Two, Lego Star Wars One and Two, and now Justice League Heroes. It's fun to play heroic games.
Next up on the list is Marvel Ultimate Alliance. But I think I have to wait for a Nintendo Wii to show up in my house before I play that one.

Also, over the course of the past 2 days I have watched all 10 episodes of the new fall drama 'Heroes'. I didn't give this show a snowball's chance in hot soup of ever becoming as popular as it has become. I was mildly intrigued when it was the first of the new shows to be picked up for a whole season. What finally made me want to watch it was MRW's random phone call gushing about how good the show actually is. I will admit, I'm totally hooked. It's a collection of origin stories of how normal people suddenly gain extraordinary super powers. There's also a sinister plot that the viewer hasn't been too informed about, that keeps me watching to see how it's all going to unravel. I like trying to decide who is going to turn out bad out of the characters that haven't shown the strongest moral fiber, and there are a handful of them. A serial drama about the origin of super heroes? I'm in.

I've also mentioned before that I love the underrated cartoon Justice League Unlimited. The animated universe that has been created pays homage to so many DC comic book fans, including the likes of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. This show is so freakin' cool, I say that it's my favourite show EVER! The Cadmus story arc in the 2nd season is so awesome, it imagines a government that is worried what might happen if the Justice League ever decided to force it's will on the public, which actually happened in a previous episode in an alternate dimension. (It's a long story.) Super heroes have responsibilities and problems too, yo. I don't really want to get too jazzed up about it, because then I'll start sounding like a certain MRW gushing about another show I just finished watching.
He's totally justified in his love for Heroes, though. Just as I am for Justice League Unlimited, which MRW also enjoys.

I just wish I could find more people out there who aren't such geeks about it. You know, the ones who hide out in the comic book shops and argue about who would win in a fight, Superman or the Hulk. Those people need a life and some sun.

November Update

2006-11-20T00:39:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a busy November. It's all gone by so quickly, I don't even know where to begin to tell everyone (all 5 of you who still read) just what I've been up to the past few weeks.

So, I tried posting those pictures a few weeks back and Blogger still wouldn't co-operate. I just kind of gave up on blogging for a few days after that, and then I started doing fun things, so it all got pushed to the back burner...

Here's everything I've done in no order, other than that which I remember first.

Last week I went to watch a WHL game, Giants vs Kamloops Blazers. It was awesome, even though the Giants lost 4-2. There was a sweet fight in the middle of the 2nd period which, apparently, was a way bigger deal than Lindsey and I knew at first. The two guys that fought were each their team's fighter, Lucic for the Giants and Kassian for the Blazers. And, they are both represented by the same agent. An article in the paper said that the agent wouldn't declare a winner, so the paper tried to analyze it to no avail. Lucic got more hits on the other guy, but the other guy cut Lucic over the eye with presumably a punch. (I think he just forgot to cut his pretty little nails.) Linds and I both agree that Lucic totally beat the other guy.

Which leads me to last night, when I went to my first NHL game of the season. Canucks vs Blackhawks. Canucks won, and the game was great. I went with our friend (and some of yours) Heather. It was the first time she had ever gone to see a hockey game. The highlight of last nights game was a toss up between the funny drunk guys sitting behind us, and the fight between Pyatt and Vandermeer. Pyatt totally won the fight, but he had home ice advantage, so he had to win. The drunk guys behind us were making us laugh the whole time. Some quotes...
"Skate!"
"Feed it to him! Feed him with the right and block with the left!"
"Oh yeah, we got ourselves a 'tender!"
"Here I am, rock you like a hurricane!... We totally nailed that one, oh yeah, nailed it"
"You have no idea how proud we are of you right now, Junior. She digs you"
"That's ok, the rejection only hurts a little bit (pause for effect) OK it hurts a lot but I'm alright"
"Don't panic... Awww you panicked!"
"We need Bure back. Whatever happened to that guy? I hear he's a pimp in North Van"
"Squish 'im!"
Most of those need a context, but suffice to say they were way funnier in person.

Lindsey and I went to a handful of movies as well.
Borat - Totally hilarious, but a portion of it had way too much man parts. Not for everyone.
The Prestige - Very interesting. See it. The story is worth it.
Stranger Than Fiction - The statement, "Hey remember when Jim Carrey was a funny goofball and then he did The Truman Show and everyone began thinking he was a good actor?" can now be replaced with, "Hey remember when Will Ferrell was a funny goofball and then he did Stranger Than Fiction and everyone began thinking he was a good actor?"
The Queen - Great movie. It really portrays the Queen with the dignity a monarch deserves, and it also provides a glimpse at just how much Britain's opinion of the monarchy has changed over the decades. Word of the movie, 'Modern'.

Linds and I were recruited to be drivers for the upcoming Youth event The Amazing Race. If you've ever seen the show, you know this was a fun event. I had the A-team of the Youth in my car, so we came in first place. They won movie passes and I found out that they squandered them on the movie The Santa Clause 3, totally ignoring my recommendation of Happy Feet. I wasn't too happy with them. But I understand trying to decide on one movie between 8 hormonal teens is a difficult thing. Still... Santa Clause 3? Please.
At least the race was totally fun. I drove the kids to Maple Ridge Paintball through the deepest potholes I have ever driven through. And there were a lot of them too!
DZ: Hey Mike, I think you need a better car.
Me: Hey DZ, I think you need a smack in the face.
DZ: ...
Then there was a stop-over at the Pitt Meadows Airport for another challenge. Morse Code or a flight simulator. After that we had a visit to the Laity Farm to either move hay, move a cow, or milk a cow. My team chose to move a cow, so they all smelled like cow for the rest of the race. Then it was on to Safeway for a shopping list challenge, and finally to someone's house for a video quiz.
In all, it was a fun night for me. My team led the way, thanks in no small part to my excellent driving abilities. Seriously, I think my knowledge of the quickest routes gave us an edge. I used to be a car parts delivery boy. I have a clue. I also had Linds in Pastor Mike's car letting me know about an accident at 203rd and Dewdney. She got to be driven around with him taking video of the whole thing. Unfortunately, we were usually leaving the location when they were arriving. What can I say? My team didn't come in first place because they were slow!

A trip to the Planetarium was in there somewhere as well, on one of the weekends. And we've also caught up a bit on TV shows that we watch. But it's a new week, so there will be more.

I'll try and do a Fall picture post one of these days, because I know some people still want to see our Halloween costumes.

You know it (was) Thriller, Thriller night

2006-11-01T20:03:00.000-08:00

I kind of left everybody hanging with that last post. Here's the sum-up...

- Swimming was too long. 4 hours is far too much time to be spending in a public pool. Ick!
- Video games were fun as per usual. We now consider Lego Star Wars 2 complete in my house.
- Improv was hilarious. This Filipino guy was the funniest one on stage. And drinking a Guinness in front of a Pastor still makes me laugh a little on the inside.
- Chinese Food and BBQ both didn't happen, and nobody can prove that they did.
- Friendly Visit was all smiles and rainbows, which was great. Even if scheduling it was a little crazed, I'm blessed to have such understanding friends.

Now for the meat of this post, my Halloween Funtimes.

Friday 4 of us drove on down to the Halloween Train at Stanley Park. It was definitely cute. The theme was B Horror Movies, flicks that MST3K would feature. The only thing that creeped me out were the actors doing the zombie walk. Funny or not, zombies creep me out.

Saturday had Lindsey and I searching all around the local clothiers trying to find red socks to finish our Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes. We did, and our costumes were so good. It probably tops all of my previous year's costumes for being the best.

Monday was a mini Halloween Party at the daycare. We played some Halloween games, one of which included me going face first into a plate of whipped cream trying to find some candy worms. I love whipped cream, so this challenge wasn't really all that challenging.

Tuesday (Halloween for those not keeping track) didn't really feel like Halloween. I had already done so many things in regards to it, the only thing that kept me in a Halloween mindset was carving punkins. I made 3 Homestar Runner themed punkins this year. So easy, yet so cool all at the same time. I also went and watched "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest" in a barn. That was a lot of fun. I didn't even care that it was sub-zero temperatures and we were watching a movie I had already seen in an unheated barn. I felt that it was very character developing, and will make an interesting story to tell people in the future.

I'd love to share pictures with everyone, but blogger isn't uploading them for me tonight. Perhaps tomorrow will be a picture post?

Pre-Weekend

2006-10-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'm really looking forward to this weekend.

Swimming, Video Games, Improv, Chinese Food, BBQ, and a Visit with Friends.

Last weekend was just as good. And next weekend is looking even better.

I love weekends.

Summer Photo Essay, Part 2

2006-10-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

The continuation of all my Summer awesome... or as I called it, the Summer of Mayhem.

Vancouver Aquarium
Working at a Daycare during the Summer meant a lot of field trips. We went to the Aquarium and saw them feed the Sharks. But this is a picture of a turtle because none of the shark feeding pictures really turned out.

Greater Vancouver Zoo, Aldergrove
Another awesome field trip. Go ahead and make your jokes about the kids being wild animals (they were), and the fact that it rained on us all day. I still enjoyed this field trip a lot!

Granville Island
"Dear Strong Bad, Do you ever feed the ducks? Personally I think feeding the ducks is the greatest thing in the world. What are your thoughts on the subject?"

Dino Town, Bridal Falls
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Rockasaurus Rex!

Queens Park, New Westminster
Linds and I set this whole reception up for friends of ours (Jason and Amanda G!). It looks pretty amazing if I do say so myself. We had help of course, Amelia brought the trees! Go team Reception!

The Church My Cousin Got Married In
I went to 4 weddings and a funeral this summer. Too bad they don't make a movie about me. PS - We look drastic fantastic here, don't we?

Ellensberg, WA
This picture was taken as part of a series that I like to call "Hey you guys, where's Michelle!?"

There you have it folks, my Summer of Mayhem all summed up in a collection of photos. One day I'll make an album of it all, but I just can't seem to find the time with all the relaxing I've been doing.

Summer Photo Essay, Part 1

2006-09-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, I had a fantastically awesome Summer. And I only left the province once!

Rocky Point
Lindsey and I came across this sign after we had already walked for a half hour. It was dusk. Lucky for us, we know how to sing and clap a lot!

The Barn
We visited these little kittens nearly every week until they got big enough to be sent to new homes. So Cute!

Harris Road Park
This is a trap. I am about to walk into it. But I didn't, because I was the one who set the trap.

April's House
I did way too much house-sitting this Summer. This was the first one, so Lindsey, Heather, Wayne and I made an awesome potluck dinner. So good in fact, that it needed a picture. Chicken Asparagus, Roasted Potatos and Caeser Salad. This was the only "In House" potluck of the Summer.

Columbia Beach, Vancouver Island
Can the sunset BE anymore fantastic? That's drastic fantastic, folks.

Brooksfield Farm
Hayride! Need I say more? How about... Heather got to drive the tractor!

Maple Ridge ACT
Well Hello there, Lord Stanley. Comin' this way again anytime soon? No, I didn't think so either.

Giggle Ridge, Cultus Lake
This mini golf course was possibly the best mini golf course Lindsey and I have ever been to. Seriously.

Next time...
Weddings and Field Trips!

Shove this down your Gorge!

2006-09-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

On Labour Day weekend I took a road trip. I drove all the way down to The Gorge in WA, so that three lovely ladies could see Dave Matthews in concert.

The adventures have already been chronicled for you, hence the title of this blog.
here ... That's All She Wrote
and here ... don't tell me you don't know
and also mentioned briefly here ... Pretty Much Life the Universe and Everything, but she just says to read Heather's post.

The weekend was non-stop travel for me. I was moving and shaking all over the place, except when I was driving and my butt cheek was falling asleep. There's only so many different positions one can shift one's behind when driving the Washington Interstates. But I digress...

My concert experience was unique. I drove the three girls down knowing full well that I wasn't getting into the concert. They had already purchased their tickets months ago and I had really only just arrived on the picture. Tickets were still available, but my love for Dave Matthews does not extend past $80. In fact, it only ranks a $40. Scalpers at the concert wanted $100US.

At the concert, while the girls safely descended into the Gorge, I hung out in the parking field (it wasn't a "lot", it was a large grassy field). I had no idea that there was such activity in concert parking! People on each side of me were "tailgating" by either drinking or playing Cribbage. Since neither of these things were holding my interest I instead paid more attention to the guy across the way who was jamming out Dave Matthews songs on his acoustic guitar. I don't know much about guitar, but I know that Dave Matthews songs are really hard to play! And this guy was good.

After everyone had left, apparently they were uninterested in the opening set, I decided that I would move in closer to the entrance and prepare to listen to the concert from there. I expected to sit on my Mexico blanket and listen to the concert by myself, because the parking field was quite deserted at that point.
Instead, I found myself talking to some 41 year old guy named Pat who was obviously sauced to the gills. He said he just wanted to get effed up and try and sneak into the concert. Pat was friendly enough, and we chatted a bit during Mr. Matthews' set. We talked about all kinds of things. Music, great guitars, his wasted youth, how much we loved Canada. Pat was American, but he was a nice enough guy that I thought, 'Hey, it can't hurt to hang out with this guy, he obviously doesn't want to harm me'. In fact he even brought me a beer from his car.
Pat disappeared into the thousands of parked cars before the concert ended, so I have no idea what mischief he may have gotten himself into.

Nice guy, even if he was a bit drunk and weirdy.

After the 3 hour concert we drove the long way home, trying to find food before we returned to our campsite.

And that's how I almost saw Dave Matthews at the Gorge. Maybe next time he rolls through I'll actually pay to go see him.

Good to go like Dynamo

2006-09-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

Alright, alright already. I know, it's been a few weeks since my last post. I've got a lot of good post ideas, but they always seem to come to me while I'm driving. It's a little difficult to jot down notes to yourself while driving, even for me. Stay tuned, I promise the next post will come sooner rather than later.

Here are some of the things I want to post about eventually...
- Why Justice League Unlimited is blow-your-mind awesome.
- What I did on my Summer vacation, a photo essay
- How I almost saw Dave Matthews at The Gorge
- Why I love driving everywhere, even though gas is ridiculously expensive
- How spending time away from the computer is a good thing. It gets you all kinds of awesome, including a girlfriend. :-)
- New music I found during the Summer including some of the songlists for mixes I made
- Great running-low-on-cash date ideas

My Summer of Mayhem has come to a close, but now Fall is upon me. This means my schedule becomes a nightmare. I managed to pick up another job this Summer. That puts the total job count at 3. Add to that all the babysitting, the Church functions, the weddings, and everything in between, and you have one busy Mike H.
Thankfully, Fall brings with it some sense of stability as far as the weekdays go. (Weekdays = Work.) I just have to get through the training for the other job, and then I'll be good to go like dynamo.

ALSO

Hockey season starts soon. Not soon enough mind you, but it's in the air. I can't wait! (Too bad pre-season always sucks.)

Stanley Cup Day '06

2006-08-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

Canadians and Hockey. Go figure, eh?

Back in 2003, (I was turning 22) my Dad was doing a 3 month work thing in the Toronto area. I had some time off so I did a 4-day whirlwind tour of the Toronto area with my Dad. The Hockey Hall of Fame is in Toronto and we both went while I was there visiting him. It was my Dad's 3rd or 4th time at the Hall of Fame so he knew where everything was, including the replica Stanley Cup. That holy grail of Hockey displayed oh so proudly in this huge room with history all around it.

Andrew Ladd was only 17 when I first visited the replica cup in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Fast forward 3 years to when Andrew Ladd has now won the real Stanley Cup with his NHL team, the Carolina Hurricanes. And he brought it to our small corner of Canada, Maple Ridge, BC.

The Stanley Cup came to my neck of the woods this summer. Last Wednesday, August 23rd to be exact. After waiting in line for 2 and a half hours, I got my picture taken with it.

The RCMP member right beside me is my parent's neighbour. I grew up next to this guy and his family. Small town, right?

It's probably going to be the only time for a while that I'll be able to be that close to the real Stanley Cup. Not some replica bolted to a pedestal in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Canucks do what they can to win it, but somehow fall short every year.

Andrew Ladd is a pretty cool cat.
Before all the afternoon fanfare at the Bandstand in Maple Ridge, he brought the Cup to the kids in BC Children's Hospital. He also brought the Cup to Canuck Place Children's Hospice and visited with the kids there.
http://www.canuckplace.org/news_events/index.php?id=118&press=1&draw_column=2:2:2

He spent nearly 3 hours in the middle of town signing autographs for every kid that came up to him with cards, jerseys, pictures, and sticks. All this after spending an hour inside our local theater answering questions from ticket holding Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey Players.

Thank you, Andrew Ladd.

Summer Kids Club

2006-08-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

Indiana Bones and the Sands of Time starts today. It's the most exciting week of the Summer at my church. I'm so so so so so so so so excited for it to start.

I get to be a leader this year. Last year I wasn't attending the church regularly, so I was just a helper. What a difference a year makes. Now I work at the church, and they've entrusted me to lead 20+ kids around for our version of Vacation Bible School.

This week is gonna rock the socks off of Summer.

I'll be there in a sec...

2006-08-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

... Just give me another minute.

I've been working on this video for Church.

And I've been going to a lot of weddings.

And I'm going to the waterslides tomorrow.

And my Justice League DVD's aren't going to watch themselves.

It's the Summer of Mayhem folks, so you're just going to have to be patient.

Hey-Oh!

"It's the best game you can name"

2006-08-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

I miss hockey.

The only downside to Summer is that there's no hockey on television.

I grew up watching hockey with my family, so we all really love it. We love watching it, we love criticizing it, we just can never get enough of it.

My Mom has season tickets to the Canucks that she shares with her friend. Of course, this is awesome because it means never having to try and get tickets to a sold-out season.

My Dad has collected hockey memorabilia since hockey first became a sport. He's always on eBay getting a program from some game in the 1930's that mentions some Uncle I never knew I had, but I know now.

Apparently I had quite a few hockey players in my family history. My Great Great Uncle Tony played for the New York Americans in 1936. They were an NHL team back in the 30's.
I'm also distantly related to the first goalie to ever play with a curved stick, Don McLeod. A not-so-famous first, but it was a big change in the way goalies played the game back in 1974. It took a few years to catch on, but these days a curved goalie stick is just 'the way of things'.
These days I have a cousin, Lance Monych, who played for the WHL team the Brandon Wheat Kings. He was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2002, but couldn't make it past training camp. He has gotten lost in the shuffle of minor league hockey right now, but I think he'll make it one day. He's only 23, so there's still time for him to make his mark.

Hockey is all over my hometown. Growing up, the hometown hero was Cam Neely, who played for the Vancouver Canucks in 1983-86. He was traded to the Boston Bruins where he finished his impressive career. They love him in Boston, but nobody who knows hockey here will ever forget that he grew up in Maple Ridge. We had an arena named after him.
Now we have another hometown hero. The one-time Vancouver Giant, Andrew Ladd. He played for the 2006 Stanley Cup winning Carolina Hurricanes. And apparently the Stanley Cup is supposed to be making it's way down our main street in some kind of parade celebrating this accomplishment. Every player on the 'Canes gets the cup for 24 hours, and it's coming to Maple Ridge, baby.

Hockey will never be unpopular in Canada. Even a fully cancelled NHL season didn't deter us Canadians from loving a sport we have come to call our own.

I miss hockey and I can't wait for the season to start.

I'm back

2006-08-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

Blog Hiatus is officially over...

This is Me and Mike Bolt, the Keeper of the Stanley Cup. He's got the greatest job in the world, and I got to meet him this Summer at the NHL Entry Draft. If you look closely you can see the shadow of the Cup on the left. It was the real deal baby.

Grandma, we love you.

2006-06-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

April 5, 1935 - June 19, 2006
Breathe deeply Grandma, you're home now.

(100th post, yo)

And you were not the same after that

2006-05-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

I've had nothing but trouble with this stupid blog for the past few weeks.

I'm out. I give up. I've officially tapped out.

Consider this blog on hiatus until I determine whether it's safe to come back.

Mike H

I had MUSTARD?

2006-05-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'm house sitting right now.

And dog sitting.

And cat sitting.

I have a feeling I'm going to like this independence.

"As long as there's a record deal we'll always be friends"

2006-05-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been getting the feeling that I just don't make a great friend. I always try to be a great friend, but my efforts thus far have been less than stellar. I seem to have developed a knack for making people disappointed in my friendship efforts after the 'get to know you' phase is over.
Once, every so often, I tend to forget to call people back even when I say I will. I don't like that I do that. I haven't really been very good with keeping up my correspondence, ie. letters, e-mails, phone calls. I used to think it was so uncool how everyone always seemed to be too busy to talk. But now I have become my own worst version of uncool.
I'd like to make more time for friends, but I've been meeting a ton of new people over the last few months, (literally, like 40-50) and my brain just feels like it's getting stretched way too thin. I forget to call the people I've said I was going to call. I try and write things down now so I don't forget what it is I should be doing for the next few hours, and who I should be calling. It's always, go-go-go, and I've not totally adjusted to it all, yet.
This is actually the first time in a few weeks I've been able to sit down and do very little during the day.
Here's an excerpt from a real conversation I had with a daycare Mom back in March,
Me - "Yeah I had a really busy weekend after spending the whole day with those kids (list off some things quickly, leaving little time for story telling)"
She - "Wow, when did you get a chance to put your feet up?"
Me - "Umm... I haven't yet"

Not that I'm complaining about it though. This isn't meant to be a rant. I'm just trying to illustrate how busy I make myself. See how I'm not a very great friend? I have to figure out how to fit myself into everyone else's schedule without compromising my own. It's tricky.

I wish I knew how to balance all of this. I've got friends who live all over, and they're all very important to me. So when I've been neglectful, it's not personal, really.

Just be happy that I've made myself happy with being busy all the time. Please?

I'm the coolest kid you know

2006-05-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

I love Thursdays. It's the day I get to play with the best group of kids under the age of 6 ever assembled. Thursdays is Mom 2 Mom at my church. Sandwiched into a day that begins and ends at Rainbow daycare.

I love that I have a fan base in this group of children. There's this one set of 2 year old twins (there are 3 sets that can show up on any given Thursday) that couldn't have a more opposite set of personalities. Twin #1 is mellow and easily pleased. He chews on the tag of his blanky and takes it all in stride. Twin #2 needs constant attention. He always wants to be picked up, and has to show me everything. But it's cool. I love the attention he gives me too. Apparently he knows my name now, and when his Mom mentions my name to him, he gets really excited. (So cute!)

I love my new little 4 year girlfriend. She totally has a crush on me, I know because she gives me hugs and kisses whenever she sees me. On my birthday I was planning on sleeping in, but I ended up getting a phone call from my little friend asking,
"Where are you? How come you're not here?" (here being Quantam Gym) "I want you to come here and play!" My Mom had just called me to organize something, and she bounded in to the Gym right after my Mom hung up the phone with me, asking where I was.
And when we were leaving she gave me a great big hug and said, "When am I gonna see you again? I'm gonna miss you."
This girl is too cute for real life, and my heart melts for her every time she asks me to do something. I've asked her mother how she ever says No to her, but her Mom just laughs and says it's easy. Well it's not easy for me! She is just way too cute for real life. Dy-mo-mite!

I love that I was a preschool sub today. It came up that one of the teacher's at the local Montessori preschool was off sick this afternoon, and since one of the daycare Mom's who is Director of Something Important at Montessori knew that my love of 4 and 5 year olds knows no bounds, she asked me to fill in. It was an easy afternoon. In the two and a half hours I was there I received 11 drawings, 6 from one child in particular. These kids wanted me to do everything with them from play picture bingo to reading the dinosaur book to them. And I was just there to crowd control!

I love that all the Rainbow daycare kids respect me now. Maybe it is the fact that I can draw Pokemon, or that I'm always the best at the games we play. It could even be the fact that I'm tough as nails and don't let them get away with any bad behaviour or bad attitude without a time out. Today was a good indication of just how much they respect me. The other behaviour support staff member was directing a 6 year old boy on what he should be doing for Quiet Time, and he shot back with "You're not the boss of me, Mike is" I only just barely contained the laughter that I so desperately wanted to release.

I love my life right now. It just gets better and better everyday.

Now if only I could figure out how to use this kid magnetism on women, I'd be the Coolest kid in your Universe.

5, 4, 3, 2...

2006-05-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

Ack.

I know I haven't posted since my birthday, but there just hasn't really been enough hours in the day to accurately post about anything.

I'll have to schedule in some proper post time tonight.

Now, I've got to go to work for an hour, then switch over to provide care for the Mom's Group that meets every Thursday, then finish my day at the daycare.

I'm out until tonight, and I'll have all the 'fun in the sun' details of my awesome days.

25 and still Alive

2006-05-08T00:31:00.000-07:00

This has been one fun weekend.

Since I turn a quarter century on Monday, I decided it would be a good idea to celebrate my birthday ALL weekend.

Friday night my family took me to a WHL playoff game. Vancouver Giants won 5-1. Woohoo. The best part about the evening was inviting along my lil buddy. Up until Friday he had never been to a hockey game, at all. The boy is already 10 years old! He should have started going when he was 8. He was hilarious the whole time, he kept thanking my parents for inviting him along, and he didn't stop talking about everything until at least the 3rd period. It's fun to be part of this kid's life.

Saturday was a bit more stressful. I was attending workshops all day about Social and Emotional Development in children. Informative stuff, and they gave out free goodies all day. I was only 1 of 3 men that attended. Over 100 women and not a looker in the bunch. Want a tip guys? Become a preschool teacher. All of them are really old right now and they'll all be retiring in 5 years. This means there are a lot of hot young women getting their ECE right now.
Anyways, that night I had people over for a BBQ at my house (and I got cupcakes!). It was a big disorganized mess in the beginning, which has pretty much dashed any hopes I had of being a party planner. The evening seemed to go off without a hitch, but apparently I wasn't as intentional as I should have been with attending to all the friends. A few felt a bit slighted at the lack of Mike H in the room they were in. I am currently in the throes of making amends. Le sigh.

Sunday. Whoa. There's really just so much to tell about Sunday, so I'll have to sum it up, in chronological order.
Camp Wannabe
Church
"Kiss me it's my Birthday" button
Dim Sum at Kirin with Australians
Thievery of 4 chop stick holders
Bowling at Commodore Lanes with drunk Australians
'i love Lamp' shirt!
Frogstone Grill meal paid for by the waitress
Easiest babysitting job EVER
(did I just get drunk dialed?)
Grey's Anatomy
And then, the coup de gras, coming home to read the best post about me ever!

I hope tomorrow is as much fun. I mean, it's my birthday after all.

Hi Ho Silver, Away!

2006-05-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

This really needs no explanation... does it?

Ain't nothing gonna break my stride

2006-04-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

Nobody's gonna slow me down, Oh no
I've got to keep on moving!

Honestly, I am having the time of my life right now! How come nobody told me being single and free was so awesome!

Maybe it's because I'm around children all the time, but I'm seriously riding the euphoria right now.

Please don't stop this crazy train! More people should get on with me!

Pommelo Pete

2006-04-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Pommelo Pete's origins are simple enough and can be found here...

Pommelo Pete's Back Story

Alas, the end of Pete was not to be as picturesque as one might have hoped. I mean, I think we all had visions of a tough looking bald guy checking the back of his pickup with a confused look on his face. I mean, I know I did!
"This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful pommelo! How did it get here?"

The story picks up over a Swedish chicken dinner at Ikea. I have just been regaling my parents with the Pommelo story as we leave with their (not my) purchases. I know, I made it out to Ikea and back without buying anything, it's called purchasing power. Something I haven't had since 2005.

Upon arrival back at the parent's house and exiting our respective vehicles, my Dad quickly says to me, "I saw your pommelo on the bypass"
Um... What? "Yeah, it was on the side of the road..." and goes on to describe the exact bend in the road where the pommelo was launched. Apparently, and pardon me while I hypothesize here, the pommelo did not, in fact, make it to into the back of the pickup truck. This can only be because of two possibilities.
1- Lindsey's throwing arm is more powerful than she gives it credit for and overshot the pickup only to land ungracefully on the side of the road.
OR
2- The pommelo did in fact land squarely in the back of the pickup truck and due to the freakish nature of it's seemingly bouncy outer shell, it bounced out the other side of the truck and landed on the side of the road.

I'd like to believe it was hypothesis number 2, because I'm a dreamer like that.

PS - My Dad doesn't joke about things like this. He really saw the pommelo on the side of the road along the bypass.

Morning Lapse

2006-04-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

For some reason it took me longer than usual to decide on something to wear this morning. I have no idea why either. But I tried on 2 other T-shirts before finally settling on the red one.

I think something is seriously wrong with me...

Normally I just put on whatever the heck I want, and never think twice about looking good or whatever. I mean, I haven't bought myself new clothes in at least a year. I'm quite comfortable in everything I own. But today, for whatever reason, I couldn't decide.

It took me a good two minutes to snap out of it. And when you're a guy, spending longer than two minutes deciding on what to wear makes you wonder if your multi-vitamins have been secretly replaced by estrogen pills by some nefarious housemate. (I'm looking at YOU, Bosco!)

I guess I'm a little out of sorts these days. I henceforth promise not to take more than 30 seconds to decide what to wear in the morning. Because otherwise I would be acting a like a little girl.
Henceforth, Ergo and Vis à Vis.

Weekend Update

2006-04-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

I cannot seem to find the time to blog anymore. Seriously. I've been having far too good a time living life and being busy working with children.

Here is everything I've done in the past few days:

Friday was the field trip to Vancouver in which we rode train, seabus and skytrain. Toured GM Place and walked by Alex Auld. He was probably intimidated by the sheer number of children under the age of 10 gallavanting through the hallway. We had 24 kids, and I was in charge of the 3 that didn't barely listen to a word I said. I even employed the use of the Power Voice, which, if you've heard it, you know it's powerful. I think I was running on adrenalin all day, such a rush!

Then on Saturday I found out why my Grandpa doesn't like me. I don't live up to his ideal standards of what a grandson should be. Apparently while I was trudging up to University I should have been stopping in every week to chat, go out for lunch, and helping him with yardwork. I did absolutely none of these things, 'tis true, but then, nobody ever asked me to, so am I really to blame? I guess I was just supposed to spontaneously know that I was disappointing my Grandpa without anyone saying anything about it. Yeah, extended family.
I went to the Blarney Stone too. But without being able to cut loose and drink, I didn't feel like I was performing at my peak. Being responsible can be burdensome, but living an accident free lifestyle is something I strive for.

Sunday was far superior to Suck-turday. I was finally able to put my feet up and relax a bit. I hadn't had a break from Life until Sunday afternoon. And that night I was brought out for the biggest plate of nachos I have ever laid eyes upon. This thing looked like the top of a very large head. I've seen piles of nachos before, but this was the coolest. The pitcher's of Long Island Ice Tea and Sangria complimented it nicely. So did the pint of Guinness.
Also, I have some new friends. They're the ones who invited me out for the biggest plate of nachos this side of the Fraser River. Their blogs are already linked, so prepare yourself for some more funny girls in the life of Mike H. They're a riot. Sometimes my face hurts from smiling so much after I hang out with them. It's a good thing. In fact, I've already been quoted by them. Seriously, they wrote down a thing I said today and even went so far as posting it on the ol' blog. Cool.
Lindsey and Heather - I hope this interview process doesn't last TOO long. I mean, I've told you about the 8 month woo, right? I can only last so long 'on the outside' before giving up entirely now.

I've got way too much to say. I'll post some pictures later.

PS - Phats, is it just me or did your comments become increasingly ill informed? The Canucks didn't make the playoffs, so they're not playing anymore. And my birthday is May 8th. Why is this not marked in your calendar yet? You're such a Hoser.

Field Trip!

2006-04-20T23:25:00.000-07:00

We have a field trip tomorrow to Vancouver.

The daycare I work at is going to take the train into town, the seabus to Lonsdale Quay, and the skytrain to GM Place. Then we get to go on a tour of GM Place.

Awesome. Stupendous. Fantastic.
I can think of more words to describe my excitement. But I'll keep it at three.

I love my job.

Happy Easter

2006-04-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

This week has been crazy. Crazy good.

I drove my little brother to the airport. He's gone until at least July now. Little twerp. I got the last picture of him, right before he went through security. (Even though he's a twerp, I'm still going to miss him.)

Um, apparently I'm supposed to try a "diva" look in this picture. As you can plainly see, I have no idea what that means. I'm just trying not to smile, which is hard because I know I look hilarious.

Ah yes, the Bouncy Castle. So many tried to 'take me down' while I was in there, but alas, the Tower of Mike H still stood tall. We even had a Royal Rumble style cage match with 4 of the littl'uns trying to take me out. I am invincible in there.

It's hard being me, you know? Sometimes I have to play Super Mario World on Super Nintendo for a super long time. That rug is not as comfortable as you might think.

Some restaurant called Sandbar on Granville Island. We're on the patio. I like how my left wing is standing out so much against the backdrop of the umbrella. We went and laughed ourselved silly at theater sports after we were done here.

That's just a little peek into my week. I haven't even gotten into what I did yesterday, and today is still unfolding before me.

I hope everybody is having a superb Easter!

It's a good day for shining your shoes

2006-04-10T15:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's party was so so so much F-U-N!

Helium filled balloons. Platters and platters of food glorious food. Over 100 people. Friends. Family. Cake! An air filled bouncy castle.

The only thing I kind of regret was not being able to talk to more people. I knew everybody who came, and it had been a long time since I had seen most of them, yet I was only able to chat with a few.
I also would have liked to take way more pictures. The few that I did take were alright, but for 4 hours of partying I would have liked to have a little more to show for it.

Reasons I didn't take more pictures:
- Every 5 minutes I started talking to somebody different that wanted to know what I'd been up to for the last little while.
- There was an air filled bouncy castle!
- I was giving piggy-back rides to the kids. You know, because I'm so tall.
- There were 2 rooms with food. I had to bounce in between each one to sample everything.
- ... speaking of bouncing, did I mention there was an air filled bouncy castle?

After the party the fun didn't stop. I took my lil friend to see Ice Age 2. He loved it.

Now if only I can get a girl to appreciate time with me as much as the 10 year old does.

PARTY!

2006-04-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

There's this huge party my Mom planned for today and she's been driving everybody in my family bonkers.
It's to celebrate my Grandmother's 71st birthday and to send off my little brother to the Yukon. She also wants to show the extended family all the hard work she's put into setting up Rainbow daycare.

There are going to be over 100 people coming to this thing. You can come if you want to, she's already invited nearly everyone she knows.

I'm happy we're having a party, but I'm going to be so relieved when it's all over. Then my Mom can calm down and stop being such a party monster. She can be so intense sometimes!
...
...
...
...
...
...

Oh, and on Friday night I got to dance with some girls who were playing 'pass the ice cube with your mouth', and I got to play it with the cute one, but only once. It was awesome, and she is really cute.

Just bragging, is all.

Thanks for inviting me to your fun evening, Holly! Let's go again and invite those girls!

Cupcakes

2006-04-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

I love cupcakes.

This is just a general announcement to all who are reading. I love cupcakes and it's my birthday in a month.

My favourite kind of cupcakes is called a Lemon Drop. I love the lemon frosting. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate in general, so chocolate cupcakes are not my favourite. But I still love eating them.

There's this cupcake place downtown Vancouver that I only seem to visit once a year. It's so out of the way and I never find a nearby cupcake lover that can make the trip out there with me.

I don't know why I love cupcakes so much, I just do. Cake on it's own doesn't replace the delicious taste of cupcakes. It's something about the fact that it's a miniature cake that makes it taste oh so good.

My mouth is watering now because I'm thinking about cupcakes. I wish I had a cupcake.

Alas, I do not have one with me right now, and there is not one for me in the near future. Hopefully there is one for me in the distant future. Right tgp?

Cupcakes taste better when someone else makes them for you. That's why I'm not rushing to the store any time soon for ingredients. Also, I don't bake. I cook.

I told my supervisor that I probably would have stayed at the battery factory if they changed Donut Day to Cupcake Day. She laughed more than I thought she would, but I was serious.

Here are the cupcakes we ate for St. Patty's Day. They were delicious.

They're chocolate with green frosting and green sprinkles, but you can see that of course. And they were made at my special request, because I talked about cupcakes and my love for them so much.

I love cupcakes.

Clipper Ships

2006-04-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

"Clipper Ships" by Mike H

"Me and my dad make models of clipper ships."

"I like clipper ships because they are fast."

"Clipper ships sail the ocean."

"Clipper ships never sail on rivers or lakes."

"Clipper ships have lots of sails and are made out of wood."

*****Does anyone know the movie I plagiarized this from?*****

April Fool's is for suckers

2006-04-01T00:15:00.000-08:00

Busy Friday.
I worked all day because one of the schools had a day off. We took the kids (all 3 of them) swimming and then for a play at McD's. I brought Bosco in to visit the kids in the afternoon and he loved every minute of the attention.
I went to my last Canucks game of the regular season and they lost in a shootout.
I chatted with Phats Dawg last night. He's a funny guy. (Hey Phats! Save me some Finding Nemo cake!)
Stephanie sent me a song which she has now announced as her 'Song of the Summer'. Bold words Steph, but you can reserve the right to change your mind by Summer's end. Music tastes can be fickle. This is something for which I have much experience. The song is Gnarls Barkley - Crazy, and I dig it.

The last comments section nearly erupted in argument. I'm sorry to all involved if anyone's feelings were hurt. I'm going to steer clear of controversial topics henceforth.

I really appreciate all of my friends. They listen to my insecurities and make me feel better. We laugh at the same things and enjoy life in similar ways. I trust and confide in them nearly as much as I trust and confide in my own family. I'd defend them just as I know they'd defend me. It makes me happy to know them and share in what's going on in their busy lives, and I really don't know what I'd do if there was falling out between us. Life would suck.

I don't mind driving to everyone's house, really I don't. I was having a 'Vent' moment about it because the price of gas is going to skyrocket this Summer, and that makes me annoyed. I'm sorry TGP, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I still love driving to LangTown.

Maybe I should hang back from the blog for a bit...

3 posts for the ultra-suede price of 1!

2006-03-30T19:14:00.000-08:00

#1 - Reasons I Haven't Updated

I have had a really busy week.
I have been catching up with old friends from the battery factory. 2 breakfasts and a lunch. People still really miss me over there!
I work so hard at Rainbow that I need my downtime when I come home. No computer!
The Vancouver Canucks (NHL, for those who don't really know) are making the Western Conference playoff race really close, so most of the time I'm watching hockey. Even if it's not the Canucks playing.
The Vancouver Giants (WHL, these are 16-20 year olds) are in the playoffs, and WHL hockey is really fun to watch.
My mother is acting as my "agent" and setting up meetings and such in order to get me more work in the childcare field.
My brother is leaving for the Yukon. Again. For 2 years or so. I need to spend time with him because he's leaving in a few weeks.

#2 - Plans

About 6 months ago, I had a 3 year plan. I was going to work at the battery factory, pay off my car, and save up to buy a house. I was going to meet lots of nice ladies (NOT factory ladies, they're cuckoo), convince one of them that I was worthy of a long term commitment, and make lots of hockey playing babies.
Then I quit my job. New plan.
I actually don't have a plan as of yet. I can barely make ends meet as it is. I have 2 years left on my car payment and I'm making 1/4 of what I used to be making. Most of my friends live a 30 minute drive away from me, and I seem to be the one making the effort to drive and see all of them. It's not that I mind this very much. (I'm a very co-dependent person. I need to have people in my social life, or I'm likely to go into a coma of depression. ) I just wish gas didn't cost 5 days worth of groceries every time I fill up. It's eating away at what little I have saved up. By the end of April, I'm gonna be broke! I hope I get a refund from the Tax Man, otherwise I'm going to go into a financial coma... and hermitude.

#3 - Wasting my time?

I went to a Default concert. Wait, was it last weekend? Has it really been that long since I posted? Wow, I'm sorry guys. Time flies when you're busy living life. (See my reasons above.) Anyways, I'm at this Default concert, not because I like Default. In fact, I think Default is only OK, and not really worth the money spent on a ticket to their concert. I'm at the concert because Miss K invited me, and the only way I get to see her, or hear from her, is when she happens to call me. I call her, but I usually get her voice mail. I'm thinking I should just try asking her voice mail out, at least I'm getting through to it. So, I'm at this Default concert not because I like the music (I don't) but because I like Miss K. And she knows it. Because I told her. At the concert. And I got next to nothing in return.
Now, I've been out of this whole 'dating scene' for a while now (and that's ok by me, I'm not desparate for love or anything, but it would be nice to get a little action). But the rules haven't changed have they? I mean, I like this girl and say really nice things to her, right? She's supposed to say nice things to me so that I know the feeling is mutual, isn't she? I'm not going to try and make some move when I don't even know if she likes me, should I? According to my sources on the matter, she likes me. But if I go based on my instincts, she just likes to have me around as a friend. My instincts haven't really been too reliable in the past though. (Have you read my All-Time Top 5 Most Heartbreaking Breakups?) I've really got nothing else going on. That is to say, no ladies in my demographic have made it known to my limited guy intellect that they're interested in me. Tell me, is Default right? Am I just wasting my time?
Crushes suck. AND crush.

Running with Dogs

2006-03-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

Today I took my dog for my run with me. This posed a whole set of new challenges for running.

Let me preface this story with some background on my dog.

His name is Bosco and he's a Black Lab. He is just a year old as of the beginning of March. He still acts like a puppy, because he is still just a puppy. Last week the vet told my sister that Bosco is a little on the chubby side. He needs more exercise. Now, I've always left the "taking care of the dog" business to my sister. It's technically her dog, I just live here. So, my sister was going to take Bosco for a run with her the other day. She let him have his leash to play with (bad idea) while she answered the phone. When she was done with the phone call, he had eaten half of his leash. Yes, my dog can be dumb sometimes.
Now we have a leash that was this long _____________________
and is now this short ___________

Today I took my dog for a run with a leash that is half of what it once was. This was not an easy task. Bosco's never really been on a controlled run before. He usually just runs around in a field chasing a ball/stick/flashlight (when it's dark out). He was underfoot so often it was beginning to be a safety hazard to my being upright. Seriously. By the end of the run I think he had gotten the hang of it. He knew to stay on the sidewalk beside me, and to stay off the road. There was only once where he chose, at the last second, to go to the right of a tree bordering someone's yard while I was on the left, on the sidewalk. The outcome looked hilarious to all watching, I'm sure.
I think I need to train him some more on the art of running. Like how to keep my pace and not drag me along for a ride. Like how to stay on the sidewalk and not run on the road. These are all things I know my sister has worked on while she took him for walks. But he's a bit dumb sometimes. The male equivalent of my dog is a big beefy dumb jock. Like Moose from the Archie comics.

Even when he's dumb as a stump, I still love my dog.

Canada! F#CK YEAH!

2006-03-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

Wow.

What a vacation. The past 10 days have been, unequivocally, the very best vacation I have ever had. I kept saying it during the week, because it is the truth. Holly's family is, in a word, Awesome.
I didn't even mind that the weather wasn't all that cooperative. (It rained on 3 or 4 occasions.) I didn't mind that every time I looked at the Canucks scores, they were losing (except once!) I didn't mind about anything at all. I was totally noncommital every time a decision had to be made. I was just 'along for the ride'.
I don't remember the last time I drank so much during a vacation. I only spent $30US on a few books, and the other hundreds went to admission, food, and alcohol. Wicked.

We went to Disneyland. We drove the Pacific Coast Highway (which is beautiful by the way.) We picked oranges, tangellos, limes, grapefruits, and avocados right from the tree. We ate a whole bunch of really great Mexican food. We ate at In-n-Out Burger. We met some really cool people. We drank and drank and drank. We had fun.

I'm really glad I'm home though. I missed my bed, my daily routine, my friends, my family, my job. It's nice to just be 'along for the ride' for 10 days, but that's not an existence I'd like to experience too often. I enjoy being useful, and I think most other people do too.

I was able to read 3 books while I was down in Southern California.

The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland
How to be Good by Nick Hornby

The Cure for Death by Lightning, is extremely boring. It just didn't hold my interest, and I was glad when I finished it.
Girlfriend in a Coma, was really good. I've read a lot of Coupland books, and they've all impressed me. This one was a lot more Sci-Fi than his other books. I mean, visions of the end of the world? A ghost who cures the main characters? This is not your typical Coupland book, but it's still an entertaining read.
How to be Good, that I just finished today, is really good as well. It's the first Hornby book I've read, and it's amazing. I want to read his other books now.

I also went to see 3 movies when I was in Southern California

Ultraviolet - Don't even bother watching this one. It's like they just wanted to film a bunch of cool action scenes and figure out the plot afterwards. The effects aren't even that good either. There are a couple of really cool action sequences, but seriously, it's not worth the pile of dog crap storyline to pay money to see it. I was really disappointed too, because Milla Jovovich is so cool in The Fifth Element.
V for Vendetta - I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and not just because I have a huge crush on Natalie Portman. I can't believe that there are stories like this out there in graphic novel form that I have yet to read. This is one I'd watch again because the vision of the future is so... real. I think I'm gonna have to go buy me a copy of Alan Moore's Watchmen before the movie gets made. Seriously, this guy can write!
16 Blocks - It's like a really good (lengthy) episode of NYPD Blue. I think Mos Def is rad, and Bruce Willis can do no wrong when it comes to action. Overall, it's not a bad little movie.

Random vacation ramblings

2006-03-14T11:31:00.000-08:00

Southern California is awesome. My friend's family is awesome.

Tomorrow we're going to Disneyland. Cool. I can't wait to go on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters again.

Too bad the Canucks can't win these days. They should start playing the new goalie, methinks.

Has anybody ever been more hungry on vacation than they are while at home? I kind of feel like a pig. Oh, and the alcohol consumption? Forget about it. Beer down here is not nearly as good as beer at home. I can drink 3 beer before I even feel anything remotely resembling a buzz. I guess I'll have to stick with the hard stuff.

I miss my friends.

Miss K, I can't stop thinking about you.

Peace out, yo.

I wish they all could be California Girls

2006-03-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

This week has been great. Not good, but great!

I went for ice cream and a windy night walk with Miss K Monday night. I really like her, and I don't care who knows. I just wish I knew if she really liked me.

Tuesday I reconnected with an old friend from the High School/University days. He's a man of faith (not unlike myself) and we had an excellent evening talking about the past 3 years. His have been way better than mine, but it's not a competition. I'm happy for the guy.
He said he's often thought about looking me up, because I was always such a cool guy to talk to. "Down to earth" is what he called me. I took that as a compliment.

Wednesday was really cool. My friend, MRW, (who you may have noticed linked) is volunteering his time to come and do what I do, but in a much more limited capacity. He comes every Wednesday now to help out with Rainbow School Age Childcare (SAC). To be totally honest, I think he likes it more than I thought he would. I've known the guy half my life, and I never knew how great he was with kids. I think one of the reasons we've stayed such good friends over the years is because we can both lower our mental ages easily. I mean, we don't take things too seriously, the way kids are like.
Then, in a surprise twist ending to the day, TGP called me up to get together for Timho's Tea. Most excellent. I had already resigned myself to the fact that we weren't going to be able to hang out until at least the 28th or 29th of March. But she wanted to do something before I left for California...

...which is happening incredibly soon! Like, tomorrow soon!
I have so much to do today it's going to be easy to keep my mind busy instead of racing with anticipation. But it's kind of hard to keep it cool, because it snowed today, and that's incredibly exciting for me. I've been waiting for it to snow ever since Winter began, and now I'm leaving town. Only 1 more sleep until I travel to the much sunnier California!

Oh man, this is so much fun!

Oh, Snap!

2006-03-06T13:22:00.000-08:00

My weekend...

Friday night was Trivia Night at my Mom's Church. She invited me because apparently I was going to help them win. My Mom has this misconception that I'm really smart. It's just a ruse, I assured her. I'm very knowledgeable about movies and music of the last 10 years (when I started paying attention) but the rest of my knowledge is pretty limited.
I was only helpful some of the time. And most of the answers I had correct, my team (my Mom's Bible Study group) shot down and put their own. It was fun though. For everything I didn't know, it was interesting to find out the real answer.
People really go all out for Trivia Night too! There was this one table of hot girls, who all dressed up like they were going to a party or something. They were contrasted by the table with all of thier significant others, dressed as country bumpkins. Cowboy hats and all. Whatever, I liked checking out all the pretty girls.

Saturday was busier than I expected. I went to see 'Curious George' with my good friend from the battery factory, and his family. It was his 2 year old boy's first time to see a movie in theaters ever, and I got to be a part of it. The movie was pretty cute for kids, and the experience is one that the little guy is going to remember for a while. He didn't like the previews though. I mean, who puts a preview for Monster House in front of a movie aimed at the toddler crowd? Seriously!
Right after the movie was over, I had to jet and make it to my friend Holly's house so we could then go to meet her Australian friends at a minor hockey game. Vancouver Giants vs Spokane Chiefs. Giants won 1-0, but they should have had more goals with 43 shots. We all applauded the Chiefs goalie at the end though. He was all over the place saving everything he could!
Holly's Australian friends are very cool. I just like hearing them talk. It's enough for me to just let the three of them reminisce about going to the same Catholic school in Brisbane. We all went out to this restaurant called Memphis Blues BBQ House. I've never eaten so much meat in one sitting before. And I probably could have eaten more. It was delicious.

Sunday I helped fill in for my sister at a babysitting job. She had a soccer game in the morning, so I looked after the kids until she was finished. These are the sweetest most well behaved little children I have ever had the privilege of looking after. 10 months old, 2 years old, and 3 years old. The woman they live with, and who we know, is a foster mother, and all 3 of the children were born to mothers who were substance abusing during their pregnancies. It would be really sad if it weren't for this woman taking the children into her care. She's a power Mom.
That night I went to watch the Vancouver Canucks get beaten by the St. Louis Blues. It's really too embarrasing to speak about. Especially how I forgot my ticket at home and had to get my parents to drive out and meet me halfway so I wouldn't miss too much of the game. (For those who don't know, I live about an hour drive out of downtown Vancouver.) Big Ups to my parents for sacrificing watching a losing game to help me out. I found out later they turned it off and didn't even end up watching the last period. It's frustrating when Vancouver is a team that should be doing so well, but can't seem to score goals against the 2nd worst team in the NHL.

All in all, I had a great weekend. Now I am counting down the days (4) before I leave for California for a much needed, agenda-less vacation.

I think a change would do me good.

2006-03-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

That's right, if you've managed to find your way here you'll know that I've changed my blog address to:

http://thehisforhockey.blogspot.com

It's because I'm no longer a battery guy. I don't work at a battery factory anymore, I work in childcare now. But because I couldn't think of anything clever with childcare, I decided to go with hockey. In my house, you can never go wrong with hockey.

This doesn't mean that I'm only going to post about hockey. It's just fitting. Mike H, the H is for hockey. We can all thank Phats Domino for that one.

Canucks beat the Flames 2-1 the other night, despite all the injured defencemen. They play again tonight, and I really hope they don't lose.
I'll update everyone soon on how things are going with the Rainbow Before and After School Care. But I will tell you this. I don't think I've ever been so happy about doing something in the past 5 years.

Do you feel it?

2006-02-27T10:15:00.000-08:00

NHL hockey is returning tomorrow.

And the Canucks top 2 defencemen are injured.

Storm's a brewin'...

Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo is freakin' HUGE!

2006-02-26T20:43:00.000-08:00

The Blarney Stone last night was the most fun I have had in a very long while. For the first time since I can remember, I was NOT the Designated Driver.
Oh Happy Day!

Not only that, but my friendship worlds collided with my blogging worlds and my wings. It was a spectacular collision of awesomeness.
What are wings you might ask? Well, in my inability to get anything going with any girl, I have given up on maintaining my hair. As a result of this, my hair is getting longer, and so are my pseudo-burns. They flip up and outwards a little bit, hence the term wings.

There was plenty of dancing, and plenty of drinking. I started with Guinness, and then worked my way over to the hard stuff. But shots are expensive, and $80 later I had no more money to spend on alcohol. It was no matter though, I was sufficiently buzzed enough that I managed to deploy the secret weapon for Operation: Kim Possible.
Let me explain. My friend Wayne brought (for some unknown reason) a rose made of ribbon. When I told him that I still liked Miss K, he gave me the rose ribbon and told me to give it to her when the time was right. Operation: Kim Possible didn't exactly feel like a resounding success. I'm a chicken, that's why I didn't try and kiss her or anything. I also don't have any moves to speak of. So I just try and be myself, and see if she likes me for who I am. Then I let the feeling be known as "mutual" and then the kiss just happens.
I know I should have made a move. I know I'm being stupid in not making any kind of move. But seriously, I'm still pretty guarded about fully liking any girl just yet. I mean, I just found out that the last gf (the whore) is now engaged to her new Utah bf. Ouch. Being the-one-before-the-one is not really something I'd like to experience again, thank you very much.
I'll stop being silly. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy my immensely changed life and get used to it.
Change is hard to get used to, even if it is a positive change.

Right, back to the events at the Blarney. As the subject says, I did in fact get to meet fellow blogger, notjoecheese. Pockey, Cranberry, Shipkicker and that girl possessed were all there as well. (I can link, TGP. Can you?)
Notjoecheese - You're freakin' huge. I'm sorry I keep saying it, but eventually, I will get over your proportional enormity and we will be able to have a civil conversation. If I don't pass out from your bigness, that is.
Pockey - Your Operation: Makeout was a success? I wish I had stayed a bit longer, dammit. We need to discuss this further. Let's watch Gilmore Girls again soon!
Cranberry - I want ALL 85 of your pictures. Is there any way this can happen?
Shipkicker - I'm very glad you liked my Transformers T-shirt. You're ridiculously good looking.
TGP - I'm gonna call you as soon as I post this. But your curls need to happen more often. You were one of the cutest girls in the room last night. Hooray for curls.
Wayne - Thank you Thank you Thank you for taking pictures of Miss K. My batteries died halfway through the night, so I highly appreciate the pictures you let me have.
Holly - I feel like there were discussions between my friends and you that you've not told me about yet. I think you should let me know just what is going on. But I'm totally glad you're part of our crazy little group now. We get together just enough times as not to annoy each other when we hang out. It's so much fun when we're all together though. I love it.

At last, there is nothing left to lose.

2006-02-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

That's it, that's all. I'm finally finished working for E-One Moli Energy.

My last day was full of music, laughter, tears, drama, and an evacuation (for an electrical fire). I would go into more details, but I've got to tell all of my friends about it first. Suffice to say, it was a night I won't soon forget, and I will greatly miss my work friends.
I didn't end up stealing the poster, Phats. It's right outside the lunchroom, and right at 3am when I was going to make my move, we had the evacuation. Well, in the process of an evacuation, everybody in entire plant goes to the lunchroom. My stealth abilities are good, but not that good.

Now that I'm all finished at the battery plant, I've got BIG plans.
First, the Blarney Stone tonight. It's going to be mayhem, pandemonium, and scandal all wrapped up in a neat little package. I've secured a ride home, so there's going to be a very drunken Mike H to take care of (TGP, I'm looking at you). Jager Bombs, here I come!
Second, now that I have a regular Monday to Friday schedule, I can concentrate more on a weekly basis, instead of a crazy 4-days-on-4-days-off basis. This includes having a running day, a letter writing day, a blogging day... The possibilities for devoted days are endless. I can't wait to have a normal schedule!
Third, I'm going to California! And I hope to have an actual vacation, not like the time I went to Puerto Vallarta and had to do something everyday. Or the time I went to Disneyland and had to do something different every hour. No, this vacation is going to epitomize everything a vacation is supposed to be. Sunny California, here I come!
Fourth, more pictures! I like taking pictures of things, people, etc. So I'm going to make an effort to do this more often. I'm sure all you out in blogger land would enjoy looking at these as well.
Fifth, I'm thinking I need a new blog address. Something that doesn't remind me of batteries, because I don't make batteries anymore, and that's exciting.

That's all I've got for now. It was my Mom's birthday yesterday, so my sister and I have to finish making her photo collage present, because she's coming for dinner to our house tomorrow!

Hooray for the best time of my life right now!

Someone will need you tomorrow

2006-02-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

There's this safety poster at the battery factory. I've seen it every single day I've worked there for the past 3 and a half years, 5 times a day. It's right outside the lunchroom, and I walk past it every time I take my break.
It says "Someone will need you tomorrow" (hence the title of this post), and it has a picture of a baby on it. Cute kid, in a diaper. I guess it's supposed to remind all those with a family waiting for them at home that they should think about safety first. The message is good.
For the past year, whenever I saw that poster, I never thought that anyone would need me tomorrow. Well, I mean, I knew that there were no kids that would need me tomorrow. Something could have happened to me, and life would just go on uncomplicated for everybody.

But now, I feel like that wouldn't be able to happen. There are kids that I see every week that need me, in my opinion. I feel like I'm actually important now.

It's kind of nice.

My Funny Valentine

2006-02-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

This is how I wear my heart on my sleeve. I make a mix CD about how I feel about Love and post it on my blog. Make this CD if you want. Then you'll have a little piece of Mike H to listen to whenever you're feeling blue. It really cheers ME up whenever I'm feeling lonely. (I've been listening to it a lot lately.)

Letters to Cleo – Want You To Want Me
Andrew W.K. – She is Beautiful
Cake – Love You Madly
Blessid Union of Souls – Hey Leonardo
Kylie Minogue – Love at First Sight
Phil Collins – You Can’t Hurry Love
Police – Every Little Thing She Does
Jack Johnson – Bubble Toes
Wannadies – You and Me
Sky – Some Kind of Wonderful
Van Morrison – Sweet Thing
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrel – Ain’t No Mountain High
Gwyneth Paltrow – Bette Davis Eyes
Roy Orbison – Pretty Woman
Bjork – Venus as a Boy
Frank Sinatra – The Way You Look Tonight
Michael Buble – Come Fly With Me
Nat King Cole – L.O.V.E.
Beach Boys – God Only Knows
The Cure – High
Reindeer Section – You Are My Joy
Stereophonics – Have a Nice Day

Shiver me timbers!

2006-02-13T19:26:00.000-08:00

My pirate name is:

Iron Tom Bonney

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

"Everybody's changing and I don't feel the same"

2006-02-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

I've got a cold. I hate colds.
My eyes won't stop watering, my nose won't stop running, and I think I've got a mild fever.

Sucky.

I called in sick to work today. I might call in sick again for tomorrow. That's something I've never done before, 2 sick days in a row. I never get this sick. But, on the plus side, I don't have to go to work.

I'm giving my notice next week. Seriously. On Feb. 12th (Maybe the 13th if neither of them decide to come in on Sunday) I'm officially announcing to my supervisors that I quit.

Then I'm going to take the month of March off. Probably sell my car. Go to Southern California with my friend. Work a part time job at the Rainbow Before and After School Program a 10min walk from my house.

I'm going back to school. Something in the childcare field. I'm just too darn good at it not to do something about it. It's what I should have done 7 years ago.

2006 really is gonna be big for me, TGP.

Hitting a Rough Patch

2006-02-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been hitting a bit of a rough patch. I've been trying to keep a "stiff upper lip", "look on the bright side of life", "every cloud has a silver lining", all that jazz. But I just can't do it anymore.

***DISCLAIMER***
Just a warning, this is a depressing blog entry. So if you're here to be entertained, you best stop reading now. I'm probably only going to bring you down too.
***END DISCLAIMER***

I've hit the proverbial wall. I actually think I hit it back in 2002, when I got dumped, dropped out of University, and got a job at the battery factory. Now, of course life went on, and nobody really noticed this wasn't what I was supposed to be doing, myself included. After a couple years at the factory, I was about to quit but instead I found a source of potential happiness.
That ship has come and gone, leaving an emotionally broken and battered ME in it's wake. I just can't do it anymore. On my days off, I wake up and just lay in bed for 3 hours watching television. Well, I'm not actually watching it, I'm more just flipping channels for 3 hours looking for something worthwhile to watch. It isn't until around noon that I actually decide that I've had enough time to mope, and I get out of bed.

"When you're in bed, you're dead" - Morrie Schwartz

I've read Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom three times; twice since '06 began. This book contains a meaningful life lesson that everyone should learn. I've told many a friend that they should read this book, but few people take my recommendation seriously.

"The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to the community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

All I have done of this since I graduated from high school 7 years ago, is devote myself to loving others. A co-worker tells me how uncommon it is to find a guy like me who cares so much about other people. TGP's Mom tells me how uncommon it is to find a guy who communicates as well as I do. My Mom tells me how proud she is of me when it's obvious I'm having a tough time of things. She also apologizes to me for making my younger sister and I such caring people, because we always seem to get hurt by the people we should believe in.

The only glimmer of hope that I will defeat this feeling of grey that I've been moving through for the past 4 years comes from my Mom. She has unofficially hired me to help a kid at her after school program. This boy comes from a broken family, (another thing that's been bothering me lately) and purposely hurts the other kids with words and by hitting, just for the attention, that he's apparently not getting at home. It's obvious his mother just doesn't know what to do anymore, and his father is obviously not creating a healthy home environment for this boy. My Mom figures I can make a difference in this boys life by showing him a better sense of right and wrong. But I'm not totally sure I'm the right guy for the job. I barely believe in myself as it is.

I need to quit the battery factory
I need to start believing in myself
I need to start devoting myself to something that gives me purpose and meaning
I need the courage to take the leap
I need someone to push me, I just don't know if I can do it alone
I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and get over it already
I need to cry less
I need to feel love again...

Weezer - The Good Life
When I look in the mirror, I can't believe what I see
Tell me, who's that funky dude, staring back at me?
Broken, beaten down can't even get around
Without an old-man cane, I fall and hit the ground
Shivering in the cold, I'm bitter and alone

Excuse the bitchin', I shouldn't complain
I should have no feeling, 'cuz feeling is pain
As everything I need, is denied me
And everything i want, is taken away from me
But who do I got to blame? Nobody but me

…And I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the Good Life
It's time i got back, it's time i got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back…Yeah!

Screw this crap, I've had it! I ain't no Mr. Cool
I'm a pig, I'm a dog, so 'scuse me if I drool
I ain't gonna hurt nobody, ain't gonna 'cause a scene
I just need to admit that I want sugar in my tea
Hear me? Hear me? I want sugar in my tea!

…And I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the Good Life
It's time i got back, it's time i got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back…Yeah!

I want to go back, I want to go back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
It's time i got back, it's time i got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I want to go back…Yeah!

…And I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the Good Life
It's time i got back, it's time i got back
and I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back…Yeah!

Man of the People

2006-01-30T16:23:00.000-08:00

Ok,
Phats is whining about not being mentioned in my blog, and when he whines, I'm strangely compelled to listen. Which is weird, because normally I ignore whining little kids.

Right after Christmas and New Year's I got a sweet letter in the mail from Phats and Nutty. They're so awesome. Nutty made me a mix CD (which is pretty sweet) and Phats gave me a Pez Dispenser of Timon from the Lion King. AND they both wrote me a letter, but Phats writing is like chicken scratch. Seriously, I had to scrunch up my already bad eyes (I wear glasses) and concentrate really hard to read it. Gimme a break. I much preferred reading Nutty's letter, because she is a girl, and girls writing looks nicer than Phats' writing.

There you go Phats Domino.

Side Note: The other day my 15 year old cousin told me I reminded her of Seth from the O.C. I think it was a compliment, but I don't watch The O.C. But then she cut me down again and called me a nerd because I have been carrying around a small blue bouncy ball in my coat pocket. (It was part of my winnings from my Skee Ball tickets when we went to Castle Fun Park. I also got an army man and a bunch of candy.)
*Le Sigh* What do 15 year olds know anyways? Hmph.

"With your shirt tucked in and your shoes untied"

2006-01-25T17:35:00.000-08:00

I just don't have the time to blog anymore, but I always think about different things to blog about.

I have become a runner. I even have the nice fancy shoes that I've been meaning to post a picture of before they get dirty. (PS- I don't run with my shoes untied.)

I have recently come into the possession of a small collection of grey hairs on the top of my head. I've named them Cecil and the Gang, Winston, and the Grey Ghost.

I am volunteering my time at an After School Program every Wednesday evening. I love it, the kids like me too. Last week we played ball hockey. This week we played Dr. Dodgeball. Everybody wants me on their team. Probably because I'm so tall.

I beat X-men Legends 2, and now we're playing X-men Legends 1, because Big T and I like X-men. They're cool.

I watch Hockey ALL THE TIME! Even if the Canucks aren't playing well, I still watch or listen to the whole game.

... and my friend just had a new baby, and because I have no one to keep me company, I go and steal some baby time with little Lyndon.

So you see, I'm just too busy to properly post about anything.

Finished Reading: Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom (Everybody should read this)
Favourite Song: Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens
Favourite Music Website: www.pandora.com

One more thing (OK, two): Oh yeah, and I went Mini Golfing with TGP and another friend and TGP's ball fell in the water and when I retrieved it the smell was horrific. We all expected my hand to grow fur, turn colours, double in size, or gain special powers. Alas, it did not.
AND I went and saw Brokeback Mountain with TGP but I didn't connect with the movie like everyone else seemed to because I just don't understand gay love. At least, that's the reason I'm telling myself. Everyone seemed to like it so much, and I didn't really enjoy it. It was too sad. You even get to see Anne Hathaway's AND Michelle Williams' boobs, but still, I'd only see it the one time.

Remember that time I actually had time to update?

2006-01-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

The reason I haven't updated for a while is because this new year has gotten me so busy I don't have time to update.

I've been out and about enjoying life in general. I've been working and watching hockey. I've been going to hockey games, hanging out with TGP and Pockey, going to birthday parties, congratulating/visiting my friend on his newborn baby, helping my Mom out with her daycare pickups, and just generally being too busy to do anything but respond to the 1 or 2 e-mails I get per day.

There is one bit of news though. I've decided to become a runner. I'll post about that later, but right now, I have to go out and buy some running shoes. And then go see my friend with the newborn baby, because I love babies. And then go pickup the Carpenter twins and their sister from school, and then have tea with my Mom.

See? I have so many things to do today, there's just no time to update.

Don't even start on how many letters I've let pile up. I was already NOT updating until I got some responses written, however there have now been 3 people asking me about updating, so there you go.

I'll get back to this when I have more time.

PS - Of course you can add me Nutty! I didn't even know you used Messenger!

New Year's Eve '05 = Hockey Day

2005-12-31T18:50:00.000-08:00

Canada lost to Russia in the Spengler Cup. Boo.
BUT
Canada beat USA in the World Junior's. Hooray!

Vancouver Canucks lost to the Minnesota Wild. Boo.
BUT
Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers play, and they have such a fierce rivalry it's going to be an entertaining game.

It's a great-ish day to be Canadian!

Happy New Year's Everybody!

Vancouver Island is the place to be tonight. But I'll be hanging out with Miss K and all her friends. Movies and Scattergories, here I come!

I guess I took a week off

2005-12-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged for a while, because I haven't made the time to blog. I've checked other blogs though, and left the odd comment, but I just can't find the energy or creativity to blog about anything.

Christmas Day was uneventful. We had an impromptu party at our house on Christmas Eve. That was fun.

New Year's is still coming together slowly. Looks like we're Island bound!

Miss K doesn't ever call me back. I think I've been given the brush off. Time for me to move on.

I'm going to 2 more World Junior Games the next few weeks (I've been to one already). Go Canada. But now I need somebody to go with because Miss K isn't likely to get back to me about coming to them. Girls can be sooo frustrating.

I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weiner...

Jesus is the reason for the season.

2005-12-20T16:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas is coming and I'M NOT READY!

I need more time! I've got too much to do! I barely have the time to post this!

But I am looking forward to "Winter Fun Day 2005" on Dec 22nd. Which will coincide with the "Mike H and TGP Gift Exchange 2005". The exchange has slowly become a tradition. We just made the fun day thing up because we always have fun when we hang out.

I hope Melvin can make it.

Saturday Night Checklist

2005-12-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

Granville Island Brewing Lions Winter Ale is like, the best tasting beer I've ever had. But they only bring it out every Winter, so it's a seasonal treat.

Canucks lost a game they should have won.

I really don't want to work tomorrow... but I have an Ironman streak going right now. Only 2 sick days in over a year; before that it was none for 2 years. Compared to everyone else I work with, I'm Mr. Dependability.

Christmas is officially stressing me out. I still have gifts to buy, but I don't know what to get. I still have letters to write, but I can't seem to find the time to write them.

I'm too responsible for my own good.

"When you do things right, people won't notice you've done anything at all" - God to Bender, Futurama
...story of my freaking life.

Was it a date? I don't know...

2005-12-16T16:18:00.000-08:00

I've completely forgotten about all the bad news this week, because it's finishing strong.

The Canucks won twice on the road against some really good teams. New York, #1 in their division, and Philadelphia.
Joe's Cheese, I'm not questioning Auld anymore after a standup preformance against Philadelphia. He faced 20 shots in the 3rd Period and only gave up 1 goal? That's amazing. I'm willing to let his Colorado games just be a bad memory, and not a skill indicator.

As well as the Canucks winning, I got to go see 'King Kong' with Miss K! It was awesome! The whole evening was awesome.
The movie itself was very good. It's no 'Narnia', but I still enjoyed myself. I kept laughing through the jungle parts, because it was all so ridiculous. Just when you think it's pretty cool, Jackson hits you with something else that's freakin' wicked. (I don't want to reveal too much.) I'd recommend everyone go see 'Kong', if you don't mind sitting for 3 hours.

We had a guy sitting behind us that was the highlight of the movie though. He was alone, and had obviously just gotten off work to come see this movie. He was wearing a nice traffic vest, some coveralls, and work boots. All through the movie he was saying funny random things, loudly, and I think he expected us to answer him? We didn't, we just laughed. Some of his quotes throughout the movie, there were more, these were my favourites:

"Is that Spencer Tracey?" I just looked this guy up. He died in 1967.
"Uh oh, here comes the T-Rex"
"It's not her!"
"...(singing) bluebird, (after realizing he sang the wrong lyric)... oh it's blackbird!"

It was very hard not to laugh at all this. Miss K and I both agreed that I had to blog about this guy. He was hilarious.

Then we enjoyed a quick dinner at White Spot, (you remember the place TGP likes to steal mints from?) and headed to the place where all the cool kids hang out. Joey's House.

These 4 guys were fun, I mean, they're the cool kids so obviously they'd be fun. They were all Miss K's friends and they all seemed to like me. But I mean, who doesn't like me? You've got to have a grudge against nice people if you don't like me. Nearly everybody likes me. And if they don't, oh well. I like me.
Right, back to the story. I liked "hanging" with these guys, because they're so funny. I don't really have a group of guys like this that hang out, play video games and fooseball, and drink beer. They're all really good friends and it's obvious.

I also would like to re-iterate here that I still really like Miss K. She told me she was nervous that things would be awkward, and was happy that they weren't. Hopefully things keep going well. But she reads this (Hi Miss K!), so I don't think I'll be revealing too many details. She knows I like her though, so it's all good I continually remind you of that.

You know, in case you forgot.

Frustrated, incorporated.

2005-12-14T21:54:00.000-08:00

"The whole f***ing world's against us dude, I swear to God." - Jay, Dogma

Worst News Week, EVER!

I found this article while on a break at work. It's quite possibly the worst thing I have read this week.

I mean, replacing Christopher Robin? What the H?

This is right up there with redoing the Looney Tunes into some X-treme crime fighting superhero team. Which they've done, by the way.

Why can't people just leave well enough alone? Winnie the Pooh is doing just fine, as far as I can tell. I just watched the movie (again) tonight, and it would totally suck if they phased out Christopher Robin.

Not that I'm against the fact that they're introducing a new character. That doesn't matter so much as the fact that they're virtually eliminating the sole reason for Pooh's existence. It's all for the boy. Doesn't anybody realize that?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One more thing. The Vancouver Canucks have now lost their #1 goalie, Dan Cloutier, to knee surgery that will have him out for the entire season.
You know that Canucks Stanley Cup prediction Phats? I just downgraded it from a real possibility of them going all the way, to just barely making the playoffs. I guess we'll have to see how backup Alex Auld is going to fare during the next 6 home games. Then we'll see if they have a shot.

Anybody else have more bad news they want to tell me? It's only midweek, so you still have a few more days to break it to me.

It's okay, I can take it.

Take Off, to the Great White North!

2005-12-11T23:14:00.000-08:00

As I sat at lunch today I realized that I was eating A&W poutine for the 4th time in a week. (It's delicious!) My coworkers must have noticed too, because they all started talking about how I eat it a lot and still maintain a svelte figure. What's wrong with that? I wrapped up their judgmental conversation by saying "I want poutine for Christmas" in a little kid voice. I can be so silly sometimes.

This got me thinking. I'm so typically Canadian, and here's why.

I eat poutine. At least once a week, if not 4 times a week.

I wear a toque... not a beanie or a skullcap. A toque. On my toque is the logo of my favourite hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks.

I like hockey, and not just my favourite hockey team. I like all of hockey. I'm very excited to see who they pick for the Canadian Olympic Team now that Steve Yzerman AND Mario Lemieux have taken themselves out of consideration. Crosby? Spezza? Staal? Who's it gonna be? These are the conversations I have with other Canadian hockey fans.

I like drinking beer when I watch hockey. I like drinking beer when I don't watch hockey. Canadian beer is much better than American beer. I know this as a fact, because when we were in Disneyland we tried 3 different kinds of beer. They simply don't stack up to a simple bottle of Sleeman's Original Draught.

I use the word "eh" frequently and subconsciously at the end of sentences, usually questions. And if someone else says "eh" I barely even notice. Unless they're making fun of me. Then I drop the gloves and pull their shirt over their heads.

I enjoy snow, and the cold. I don't enjoy BEING cold, but I do enjoy the process of warming up with a girl when I AM cold. Cuddling is the greatest pastime in the world. And if you make fun of me I'll drop the gloves, you see that I don't! Hosers.

I apologize when I've bumped into someone in a crowd. Not profusely, but it's definitely a quick apology as if to say "I'm sorry I couldn't get out of your way more quickly, I didn't mean for us to bump into each other"

I know all the words to over a dozen Tragically Hip songs. Every true Canadian citizen can sing along to at least one or two.

My Dad's name is Gordon. Seriously.

I find the beaver to be a proud and noble animal.

OK, so that last one isn't entirely true. It's partly true, but not entirely. I just get a kick out of saying it sometimes because it was in a beer commercial once. A CANADIAN beer commercial.

PS - I am tall. Here's picture proof. And TGP likes to steal mints from White Spot. Here's picture proof.

Optimus Mike is back, baby! And better than ever!

2005-12-09T23:40:00.000-08:00

Alright, I'm back.

Today was an extremely productive day for me.

1- I finished editing and formatting the family Christmas letter for my Mom. Now all she has to do is mail it off to everybody.

2- I helped out at the After School Program at the Church my Mom goes to. It was interesting. I was basically there for crowd control. But since there were only 7 kids. I thought, How badly can I be needed for crowd control with only 7 kids? It turns out a lot. There's this one boy who purposely tries to push every limit put in place. He hits, he's insolent, he's cheeky, and he doesn't listen when anyone tells him not to do those things. At first I thought he was autistic. I had the opportunity to sit in the dreaded "Time Out" with him and we came to an agreement. "Time Out" is really boring, so anytime he gets close to getting there, I was going to tell him to 'be cool' and he'd try and stop. Of course, this worked for about 30mins, and then it was back to the insolence. At least he stopped hitting the other kids. My Mom was just really impressed that I had most of the kids listening to me. Normally they don't listen to anyone, and I had them lining up single file barking orders at them like I was a drill sargeant. I wasn't going to take any guff!
We got to play in this wicked cool maze for part of the afternoon. It took up a whole room and was made of wood about 4 feet high. It was covered on top with tarplike black material, and inside were Christmas lights so the kids could see. Honestly, I think it was the coolest homemade maze I ever experienced for free. (But I had to crouch the whole time, and now my quads are a little sore.)

3- I watched the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. It's rad. I loved it. I'm probably going to have to see it again. Centaurs are probably, like, the coolest thing ever! And so are animal battle scenes. At least now I know which animals are evil and which animals are good. This movie is Lord of the Rings Jr. I hope they make sequels.

4- We had a bunch of work people over to watch the Vancouver Canucks vs Ottawa Senators game. It was an intense game. I loved every minute of it. We won in the first round of Sudden Death Shootout. Canucks rule.

Based on all these things, and what happened yesterday (oooo mysterious!), I can unequivocally say that I feel like the cool, well-rounded, self-assured Mike H of the good times again. Top shelf Mike H is back to play again.

Watch out Blogosphere. You ain't seen nothing yet!

I'm only 6'2". That's not tall is it?

2005-12-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

I had a fabulous time last night with Cran, as she refers to herself. It was an excellent day too, so let me start at the beginning.

Yesterday morning was as boring as any other. I woke up, blogged a bit, checked out the X3 teaser trailer for the 5th time and had some lunch.

Then, when my sister's boyfriend came home we got to doing some errands. We hadn't been to the bottle depot since the summer, so we had accumulated quite a collection of beer and pop cans and bottles. After all was said and done and the money collected, we were up $22.03. That's a lot of beer people. I know there are probably those out there with a better story, with a higher amount returned. But for me this was a lot.

After the bottle depot, we went to my Mom's house to pick up an old coffee table she'd like us to take off her hands. This meant, she didn't want it anymore, get it out of her house and burn it. Well, a coffee table doesn't fit into a fireplace all that easily, so we had to smash it. Oh and smash it we did. You know how I said that playing X-men Legends was good for getting out aggression? Smashing up a coffee table is even better. I'm totally aggression free. Seriously. The Cheat is beginning to worry I don't love him as much anymore.

A quick dinner in my tummy and I was off to Vancouver to meet Cran for the game. Now, getting out of Maple Ridge at 5:30pm proved to be more difficult than one might expect. There is only one bridge out of the place, and at 4pm they put counterflow in so only one lane can be used to leave. It took me 30mins to leave Maple Ridge, and 20mins to get to Vancouver. The traffic didn't bother me much because I was going karaoke style on my tunes in the car. But I would have liked to have spent more time before the game chatting with Cranberry. She's way cool.

In between the first and second period, they have little kids come out and play a little hockey game for the fans. I can honestly agree with Cran when she says that these kids got more cheers than the big kids. They were too cute for words, so here's a pic.

They all were just barely able to skate, and everything was very much in slow motion. The best part was when the one team scored, and when the little kid was celebrating his goal he fell over. Oh so cute!

Of course, when I drove Cranberry home I also got to see the Rainbow Palace. It truly lives up to its name. That's right, I know the secret location of the RAINBOW Palace! Taking back the 'bow!

Now, I've got a backlog of letters to write.

Cher - Apparently you didn't read my last post about my hellish week. And the fact that I'm sick. I find I sound too whiny when I write letters while in a poopy mood, so that's why your mailbox is lonely. But don't worry, I'm writing a Christmas letter this year, so you shan't be disappointed.

Mike H Update

2005-12-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

Wow, I've been told I need to update. I didn't know you needed to see new things so frequently Cranberry!

After looking at the last few posts I realize that I haven't really been tracking the new business in my life. It's all just been fun stuff to look at.

I just finished one of the most hellish work weeks since the last time I did overtime. My regular Team Leader, Mstile, was away in Cancun on an all expenses paid trip. I guess there's no one else who can fill in for him but me (I asked), so I had to be TL for 8 days. Yuck. I even told my Supervisors that I didn't like it, but they still made me do it anyways. At least my December cheque will be bigger than it normally is.
I worked so hard over the last few weeks that my health began to suffer a little bit. I'm a bit under the weather. Not debilitating-lie-in-bed-all-day-wishing-I-was-dead sick. More like, sore-throat-sound-sexy-on-the-phone-don't-kiss-anyone-I-overworked-myself sick. There's a big difference.

My sister's boyfriend and I have discovered a new obsession, and a new way in which to "hang out". X-men Legends 2, the video game. Now, I'm not a gamer nor have I ever been a gamer. It was a major ruination point for my last relationship so I usually steer clear of playing them too much. But this game is really fun for me.
It may be my nerdlike knowledge of the X-men characters and storylines. It may be that I've needed an outlet for my pent up aggression that kicking The Cheat just wasn't providing. But I love playing this game, being Wolverine, and beating on the bad guys. It's totally unlike me to be so into a video game. That's why it's newsworthy.

Cranberry invited me to a WHL game tonight. I'm stoked. The Canucks don't play until Friday and that's a very long time to go without a Canuck game. So I'll get my hockey where I can. And tonight, it's by invite only with DJ Cranberry. I've been to a few Vancouver Giants games last season, when there was no NHL. But it was always with my family. I think that tonight will be much more worthwhile. Because the tickets were free.

Everything feels better when it's free.

Letters are my anti-drug

2005-12-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

OK, as promised, here are a few of the many awesome things I have received by writing to people.
A colouring book page? Coloured to the exact specifications of a gay robot? This is seriously cool. Who would have ever thought a robot could be gay? I know I didn't, until I got this in the mail. And my whole perception of robots was turned upside down! But then again, just because I like rainbows doesn't mean I'm gay. Straight people gotta take back the 'bow sometimes! Seriously though, this robot is definitely gay.

This is the postcard that cranberry sent to me. It's ridiculous. I wonder what happened 2 seconds after this picture was taken? My theory is, mayhem of course.

This is a cheating a bit. I didn't actually receive this in a letter. It is a little comic that my friends drew. We were up at good ol' University, um, studying, yes that's it. They bet me whatever they had in their pockets that I wouldn't put on my new scarf, some crazy goggles one of them had for some reason and fly up and down the hall like a fighter pilot. I even made airplane noises, and pretended to drop bombs! (For some reason they thought I was a helicopter. Silly girls!) I ended up with $1.87. But it was worth it, because as I dive bombed the other table in the area, we started talking to them more, and it inevitably wound up with TGP and I becoming friends.

And the finale, from the best letter I've ever received, from fellow BC blogger Cher. This is just the bottom of one page, but it's mostly all like this. A motorcycle and flames! That's awesome. Nobody has topped this. At least, not yet.

There was an article in the paper today about some stationary store having a BC Letter Writing Club. I felt so trendy. It was like, I'm not alone in the Snail Mail Revival! There are others taking up the cause.

Letters are the Greatest!

Stupid tags. I usually rip 'em right out!

2005-12-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, I was tagged by TGP to do this silly thing that seems to be circling around blogs like the 24 hour flu.

Here goes:
Mike H needs to step up and do what he knows in his heart is right
Mike H needs a life outside of his television
Mike H needs some cheese for his whine
Mike H needs to go
Mike H needs you as a catalyst
Mike H needs help
Mike H needs a copy ofthe insurance rider for CCRCNA
Mike H needs to clean his ears

Ouch, that wasn't fun at all. I'm using that googlism thing that TGP used:
mike h is back in the us
mike h is the man
mike h is drawing portraits
mike h is attributing to the anti
mike h is producing
mike h is that he's one of the few people who actually does what he says he is going to do
mike h is his name
mike h is the all american guy
mike h is the bestest
mike h is on an imac
mike h is a dork
mike h is doing a windows ide for div2dos
mike h is helping someone by pushing their wheelchair
mike h is concerned
mike h is there and am i coming over? so i went and watched videos
mike h is now known as mike
mike h is obfuscating again
mike h is probably right
mike h is 100% correct about "let's hang on"
mike h is of course right
mike h is replying to this message

Ah, much better. Now I feel happier about who I am, rather than what I need. Mike H needs to stop being tagged is what Mike H needs.

Now shoo, all you taggers, shoo! No more tagging for today!

It's all just STUFF!

2005-11-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

I never knew that Pez Dispensers were so cool to everybody. Are you guys being serious, or just laying it on thick so that I will reveal more for you to make fun of?

Do you seriously need a full list of everything? I started one for the loosies, but it's beginning to get very tedious for me to list them all. But I'm a pleaser, if a list is what people want, then I'll give you a list of everything I have.
I don't think a list does it justice though. To fully appreciate the Pez Collection in all it's majesty you have to see it for yourself. I'll work on a huge picture post.

Here's the story on my Pez Collection. I've had it since Grade 12 (1999), I haven't added to it in a few years because my priorities have changed. I'd like to move out of my sister's place ONE day! But here's the rub. I still love it. If I keep them out of sight in these bins, under my bed, the temptation won't be there to buy more. But I occasionally see the new ones come out in the grocery store. They have Madagascar ones, new Star Wars ones, Sesame Street ones, Bob the Builder ones, oh man, the list just goes on for the ones that I don't have.
It's ridiculous, I should really try growing up for a change and stop holding on to all this STUFF.

I have too much STUFF.

By Request

2005-11-28T22:00:00.000-08:00

Here's just a little taste of how big a nerd I am. I have another 2 bins like this. I'll work on a list, this is just to whet appetites.

* * * Bigger nerdiness to follow. * * *

Wedding Crashers, sort of.

2005-11-26T15:55:00.000-08:00

If you've already visited TGP's blog you'll already have an idea of what I'm going to blog about. Here are my highlights.

On the way out there TGP and I didn't truly get going on the giggles until after we had driven by the ocean. There must be something in the air. Pockey just sat in the backseat and got a little worried about us.

Immediately upon arriving I was called out for being part Asian, which I am. It's just very surprising when I was just being introduced to someone and they immediately spot the 1/4 Chinese in me. I think Ken has a crush on me now. But it still didn't stop him from trying to mack a little on the bridesmaids next door.

When the bridesmaids next door danced in, it felt like the party we crashed had won some kind of Coolness Prize. That's when I knew, we were the cool kids and everyone wanted to hang out with us.

If I get really drunk, I dance like a maniac... on the floor. With only 2 beers I was only able to pull out the Running Man, the Elaine (from Seinfeld), and one that I haven't found a suitable name for. It's where the feet run in one spot to the beat of the song, but the upper body does the running in slow motion. (TGP is a big fan.) Other than that I just did the standard guy dance moves. It takes way more than a few beer to unleash the true dancing machine Mike H. Look out New Year's!!

Miss K was looking smashing as always. Which means, she was smashed, but still managed to look as gorgeous as ever. So why couldn't I just ask her to dance with me? I don't know why, I just became paralyzed everytime I thought about it. I'm not ready to get myself out there yet. But that doesn't mean I don't like being in the same room with her. Any Miss K contact and I'm a happy camper. I'm being very literal when I say I have a little boy crush on her.
The all time Highlight of the night was when we were leaving, and I apologized for not asking her to dance, she hugged me not once, but three separate times. And she said she liked me and that we all need to hang out more. Hello Movie Night!

A blog a day keeps the Ho Hums away!

2005-11-24T23:04:00.000-08:00

I've got nothing in particular to Blog about. Just some random stories of my day.

Big Sports News of the Day (for me anyways)
Canucks beat San Jose 3-2, although they were really given the game by the Ref. He allowed a goal for Vancouver that probably should have been disallowed, and didn't count a goal that most definitely was a goal for San Jose. Those Canucks got away with one there. They're very lucky.

What Else Is New?
We're very shorthanded at work on my shift, and yours truly gets to be in charge of it all. The regular Team Leader, Mstile, is on a trip to Cancun for 18 days. Lucky bastard. Of course, this is the week that we get a new employee, and management changes all kinds of procedures on us. Poor kid, he's not going to know what's going on in the coming weeks. And neither are we.
Bonus Work News
Being as we're so shorthanded we've had people in on Overtime helping us out for the past, oh, 4 months maybe? Always different people, we usually see the same group of 8 signing up to work with us on our shift. Today, one of the girls heard me tell one of my coworkers the awesome letters I have been receiving. To make a long story short, she is now a part of the Mike H Snail Mail revival. It will probably be the shortest distance I will send a letter, but it's going to be interesting because she seems very excited to get something other than a bill.
That makes 12 people I send letters to now. With a possible 13th. I haven't decided if I'm going to renew the letter writing with this person. She's probably living in Spain or something, and not Canada like she used to. But who knows?

Personal Messages to my loyal Blog Readers
TGP - I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow night. Before you called me it was a really good plan, and now it's a super fantabulous plan. Mainly because I'll get to see Miss K. She's cute! (I hope she doesn't drink too much.)

Shipkicker - If you really want a letter I'll write you one, and I'll even put it on scented cupcake paper, with rainbows, just like I've previously stated. Unless you're too cool for that kind of thing which I suspect you are.

Pockey - Winnie the Pooh is a great book. But it's difficult to read it at night when My So Called Life is on. (I think I just double deuced myself.)

Cranberry - I'm drinking cranberry juice right now. I wish I had some apple juice so I can mix them together. Oh, and the postcard picture you sent makes me laugh a little on the inside.

Phats - Thank you for cheering on the Canucks. They're doing just fine, and I'll update you on my opinions about their chances for the Stanley Cup in the New Year. I promise.

Ms. Nuttyblonde - The mix CD is on it's way. I made myself a copy too, and I listen to it every morning on my way to work. I love the music I listen to!

Gareth - I'm going to kick ass in the Blog-iator Challenge (shallaunge?) on Phat's Blog. At least, I hope I will. Oh man, I'm so bad at "trash talking".

Grish - Hello? Are you out there? I'm SO sending you a letter!

Cher - TGP hearts you. Pass it on.

I hope everybody has a good weekend!

Tagged! D'oh!

2005-11-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I've been tagged by Cher. That means I'm obligated to do one of these things. True to form though, I will not be tagging anyone else. All through my e-mail life, I've been the Forward Killer. Whenever I got one, I read it and deleted it. And I'm still here, so there's your proof that nothing bad happens. Anyways, on with this tagging business.

1. First name: Michael
2. Were you named after anyone? Nope, nothing fancy about Michael
3. Do you wish on stars? Not since 10th Grade.
4. When did you last cry? A few weeks ago. I was watching an older Michael Keaton movie called 'My Life'. I blubbered like a baby, then I went to sleep. Actually, I guess it was Sunday night during Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I always tear up during that show. But no one ever notices. I'm a stealth crier.
5. Do you like your handwriting? No, it's terrible.
6. What is your favorite lunch meat? Garlic Turkey Breast
7. What is your birth date? May 8
8. What is your most embarrassing CD? Um, Avril Lavigne - Let Go. It's nothing like any of my other CD's, which are loads better.
9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you? Of course! I'm very easy to get along with.
10. Are you a daredevil? No, I'm way too responsible. It makes me sick.
11. Favorite Magazines? Don't read them
12. Do looks matter? Health matters. I think if you're keeping yourself healthy, you look good.
13. How do you release anger? Punch my stuffed The Cheat.
14. Where is your second home? My parents house.
15. Do you trust others easily? I usually have faith in the basic good in people. But then I get hurt and it's harder to believe in that.
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? He-man action figures. And plastic dinosaurs.
17. What class in high school do you think was totally useless? Gym.
18. Do you have a journal? I carry around a small notebook. I kind of use it like a journal.
19. Do you use sarcasm a lot? No. Sometimes it doesn't "take" to me and I actually believe the person using it against me. Usually ends up with the other person explaining things to me once they realize that I just don't get it.
20. Favorite movie(S): Top 5 Favourite Movies of all time.
1- The Princess Bride
2- Amelie
3- High Fidelity
4- Leon: The Professional
5- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
21. What are your nicknames? Mike, The Hammer, Hammer of Thor
22. Would you bungee jump? Sure
23. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Yes, how else are they going to come off my feet?
24. Do you think that you are strong? Physically, no. Mentally and emotionally, yes, or so I've been told.
25. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Vanilla
26. Shoe Size? 13
27. What is your favorite color? Blue or green.
28. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? I'm too particular about some things.
29. Who do you miss most? This is not a fair question.
30. Do you want everyone you send this to send it back? I'm a Forward Killer!
31. What color pants are you wearing? Blue jeans, my everyday uniform.
32. What are you listening to right now? Most Serene Republic - Content was always my favourite colour.
33. Last thing you ate? Mini Pizzas
34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? The whole damn box baby!
35. What is the weather like right now? It's been foggy outside for the last 5 days!
36. Last person you talked to on the phone? Ex-girlfriend. #3 on the Most Heartbreaking Breakup list.
37. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Smile, Eyes, Hair, and then boobs.
38. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes, she sent me the best letter I have ever received.
39. How Are You Today? Lonely.
40. Favorite Drink? Any kind of fruit juice. Sometimes I mix them together. Cran-Apple is best.
41. Favorite Sport? Hockey! Hockey! Hockey!
42. Hair Color? Very dark brown. Almost black, but it's brown, trust me.
43. Eye Color? Brown.
44. Do you wear contacts? Glasses. I had to wear my contacts for the last 5 days and hated every minute they were in my eyes. Blech to contacts.
45. Favorite Food? I'll try everything once.
46. Last Movie You Watched? Walk the Line. And Goblet of Fire in about an hour.
47. Favorite day of the year? Christmas
48. Scary Movies Or Happy Endings? Happy endings. I can't handle scary.
49. Summer Or Winter? Winter, because cuddling for warmth is the best past-time ever!
50. Hugs OR Kisses? Hugs. Kisses are too much pressure.
51. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? Cheesecake.
52. Who Is Most Likely To Respond? N/A
53. Who Is Least Likely To Respond? N/A
54. Living Arrangements? Rent a room from my sister and her boyfriend. And we have a dog.
55. What Books Are You Reading? Today? Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne.
56. What's On Your Mouse Pad? Todd Bertuzzi, Markus Naslund, and Trevor Linden.
57. What Did You Watch Last night on TV? Nothing good. But LOST is on tonight! Woohoo!
58. No #58? I'm scared!
59. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Beatles
60. What's the furthest you've been from home? Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I'm not very well travelled.