Skydiving, skydiving ... someone's put that bee in my bonnet again.

I could a swam all night. I was in the groove, doing 100 I.M. after 100 I.M.. I'm looking forward to a great season in swimming and for triathlons.

So much has gone on lately, and I've had so little time to document any of it. Work has been quite consuming and what litle time that I've had to spare I've been investing in family and friends.

Yesterday, I had one of those moments that you absolutely live for.

I was sitting at a stop light beside a car that had pulled slightly ahead of me. I look sideways out my window and notice a large dog directly across from me, sitting in the back seat of the car beside me. The dog (a Wheaton Terrier) was staring intently at me while the driver and his passenger were carrying on a conversation. I stare back at the dog for at least ten seconds, and then for some reason decided to feign a lunge at him. Then, the silent comedy unfolded.

The dog goes absolutely nuts, barking at me (although I can't hear it through the two sealed windows of our cars) and scaring the bejeezus out of the passenger. The passenger does a classic head-thrown-back-and-hands-shooting-up-in-the-air move, along with the silent (to me) scream.

It was all I could do to keep my enjoyment to a mere smile as the light turned green and I drove away.

Classic slapstick comedy. What a treat.

This Week's Favorite Quote:

"... so many good times I can't remember .... STUPID BEER!"

Curious about New York? Have a peek at the album.

Just realized that I only have (theoretically) 6 more years to teach Banana everything she needs to know to be an adult.

Wow.

There's 5 inches of fresh powder that have fallen onto the 7 food base at Lake Louise, with 8 more inches forecast in the next 24 hours. What the heck am I doing in Edmonton?

Oh yeah - I have kids.

I saw my first set of frisbee players engaged in an outdoor game of catch. Can spring be far behind?

Family Updates:

• McMonk is growing her hair out. It's shoulder length and looking good. Swimming every second day is takin git's toll, but she seems to like the style it's becoming.
  
• Banana and her buddy are working on a Science Fair project that has been accepted into the city finals. The project is all about how age effects peripheral vision. Smart cookie.
  
• I got back from my second trip to New York in three weeks and I was feeling out of touch with my family. A few days together for a ringette tournament whould cure that.
  
• Oh yeah, ringette. We're off to Edmonton this weekend for Petite B Provincials. Banana's team got the wildcard spot. And 'wild' it will be.
  
• Devon (our 15 year-old dog) got a good brushing tonight. She really needed it, as she is looking rougher and rougher all the time, with thinning fur and many cancer-like spots on her skin. She rarely jumps up on the bed (I suspect her hips are giving her trouble), she loses her footing when walking on the floor and doesn't sleep much during the night - she just wanders and wanders. I think it's just about time.
  
• work has many things on the go - thank goodness I have help in Tech Services Land. I love being busy but hate being overwhelmed. Work is steady but I feel like I'm keeping ahead of it.

I'm remembering today what a precious commodity time is.

Congratulations Sheldon and Kim. Your priorities have just changed.

Take good care of Ella Lilliane.

Our house is ringing with peals of children's laughter. One of Banana's buddies is over for a sleepover, and we are home to the class guinea pig for the weekend.

I better watch where I step.

Swimming tonight was so hard, I thought I was gonna die - no, wait.

Swimming tonight was so hard, I wished I could die, but knew I wasn't gonna be that lucky.

_{(to tell the truth, it felt good to have some healthy hurtin' going on in my arms and chest.)}

I'm back, I'm tired, I'm sluggish from lack of exercise, I'm ready to eat properly again.

It's nice to be home.

Business trips are a workaholic's dream. You are relieved from all family and personal habitat responsibilities. You don't cook, you don't clean up after yourself, you don't have to deal with relatives (face-to-face, anyways), you don't even have the regular at-your-desk trivialities ... you are free to slave for The Man until you drop.

I *am* putting in quite a bit of time at the office, but I did notice the sun shining through the window just after lunch today and took a whole Saturday afternoon off. After all, I'm in New York for the first time. I walked through most of mid- and lower Manhattan, seeing Times Square and Union Square, Soho and Greenwich Village, Little Italy and Chinatown, Battery Park, Liberty Island, the World Trade Centre site, the Brooklyn bridge, Wall Street, Broadway, Park Avenue, and lots of interesting folks on the street. I'm totally impressed by the vertical scale of this place. Everything is straight up.

The entrepreneurial spirit is deep-rooted in these folks. There are thousands of junk shops, operating under the guise of "Trading Companies". The goofiest, tackiest stuff is up for sale - plastic purses, shelf dust collectors, throwaway electonic and cloth goods, ... and there's SHOPS full of just one or two things. And there's several shops with the same twisted idea that this stuff will sell. I guess they have the best chance of finding someone buy it, here of all places. There are so many people around, all of the time.

Boy, I must sound like a country bumpkin. I do love the excitement and scale of it all.

Coming here for work means that I get to hang out with the locals, too. I was taken out to a homey Italian restaurant on my first night, and a swanky Manhattan place called the Park Avalon on the second night. They've threatened to take me to Dukes next, so I get to see the seedier side of the city. I hope they come through for me. I haven't felt threatened in the slightest during my trip. I've been all over, but just not to upper Manhattan or over to Brookyn or Queens. Maybe I'll save that for next trip.

I'm taking pictures with my trusty digital camera, which I hope to make available as soon as I get home to my required cables. By Monday evening, I'm sure I'll be ready to tear myself away from the office and all the work that there is here, but for now, I'm still digging right into getting things set up my way.

Whoo hoo!

Surprise, surprise! Things got moved up on my trip. I'm getting packed, preparing to climb on a plane to New York. I hope I have everything I need.

I certainly am able to pack a lot of fun into a week. This week includes:

• big hullabaloo at work while we sort out some last minute details of a big, big deal
  
• a surprise outing to a Calgary Flames game
  
• a social get-together for my old farts swim team
  
• booking airline flights unsing frequent flyer points, for eight people, all with different arriving and departure dates
  
• a trip to New York for myself with only two days notice
  
• Banana's city final ringette tournament
  
• Geek work that just won't seem to leave me alone

Pile wanting to spend time with my kids on top of that, along with the fact that I am single parenting this week (The Missus is in Newfoundland with work), and my life begins to feel pretty busy.

On the drive into work today, I passed by one of my coworkers as he was walking into work. I saw him and drove right by.

The reason for not stopping wasn't a snub - it was done out of respect for his privacy. We all need quiet time to be with ourselves and prepare for the day. For me, the trip to work has become a transition period, where I put away all the home thoughts and mentally pull out the work "to do" lists and bring forward the knowledge and memories necessary for dealing with coworkers and job issues. Having someone cut that time short really throws me off.

As I drove towards him (he on the sidewalk, me on the street), I saw him purposefully striding towards the office, still blocks away. I decided to let him have his time. A simple gift that will go unnoticed, but one that would be missed if it were snatched away.

Another weekend spent in Edmonton. The ringette tournament was a great success as long as you don't look at the standings. No deaths, minor injuries and a good time had by all.

A drive from Calgary to Edmonton with my dad meant a little bit of father-son bonding. Being with my dad brings out the redneck in me. We rode in a pickup, made some ethnic slurs, bemoaned our in-laws, cursed the eastern government and ate a greasy-fried lunch at a truckstop just barely off Highway 2. You can't get much more Albertan than that.

I'm needing some new music.

Everything I listen to these days seems to sound like Top 40 radio or 'old-rock' radio. Some of my work buddies have shared out their iTunes playlists. If I was sitting still at my desk for long enough, I'd troll through their selections. Yeti has some interesting stuff.

Perhaps tonight ...

Tonight was a tough workout. 2900 metres, but they were hard ones. 10 x 200 m with 10 seconds rest in between seems to be a blast from my age-group-swimming past. After the good, healthy hurt I feel from my shoulders, lats and biceps, I'll happily revist more of those memories.

We be building some muscle for summer!

tirathlon? triathlon? tire-athlon?

There's a freudian slip if I've ever seen one.

I was all over the place today, learning about computer speech recognition, child psychology, what part of New York the La Quinta Hotel is in, what a good ringette goalie ought to know, the difference between ECC and non-ECC 512 meg 168 pin SDRAM DIMMs, the need for reverse-lookups on your domain when you're running a mail server, and lots of other stuff.

I'm also reminded that switching tasks involves driving from place to place, and driving from place to place is a terribly inefficient way to spend your time. Better to stay in one place and get everything done. I'm gonna try to do less for everyone and more for just a few.

Had a great workout today, too. I think (because I've been told) that today is the first day of tirathlon season training.

Experiencing cerebral difficulties.

Please stand by.

People keep adding to my 'gotta do' list while I'm trying to get rid of 'gotta do's so I can get some of my 'wanna do's done.

Amidst all the noise, confusion and craziness that is our family, Banana turned 12 today.

It is still dark as I rise from a warm, comfortable position and venture into the day. I sit on the edge of the bed and s-t-r-e-t-c-h, bringing blood and life into muscles that have laid dormant for the past few hours. The cool air of the house isn't prickly enough to penetrate the warm fog of tired that I wear. Feet are jammed into my heavy, comfortable slippers before I stand, then walk to the hallway and down to the shower.

I gently introduce my eyes to light - first the dim glow of the range hood light (a mere 15 watts), then the distant brightness of the light above the stairs (a 60 watt bulb here) and down the stairs and round teh corner to the twin-60-watt-luminosity of the bathroom. I reach into the shower and turn on the water, adjusting the water pressure lever to a position that I know will produce a soothing-but-not-scalding temperature. I allow the hot water time to reach the shower stall before I venture in. A quick pee, then I'm ready, as I prepare to step into the coursing stream, eyes still squinting to block out the harshness of white lights against white tiles. The basement floor is cold and I surrender my slippers begrudgingly.

Soon, the water envelops me, fifty tiny streams hissing into my scalp and running in rivulets through my hair and down my neck, back and chest. It's right about here that I start to wake up and realize what is going on.

It's morning.

The Missus is gone off to work already, and I begin my breakfast of oatmeal, apples, brown sugar and a glass of milk. If I'm really hungry, I'll steal a bit of the kids' cereal for a second bowl. By now, I have woken Banana and McMonk up and they are having breakfast with me. We are talking about what we have planned for the day, what we are doing that night, what is coming up on the weekend. It's a great ritual that brings me closer to them and helps wake us all up before leaving the house.

I have shaved before breakfast in my comfortingly traditional routine. I make two passes over my face with the Braun, going with and against the grain of my whiskers, making sure to be smooth and thorough. I dab on a discrete amount of aftershave balm (Perry Ellis 360) - I know razor burn will follow if I don't. I try not to use too much as to be aromatically intrusive. Next, a few quick swipes with an industrial-strength deodorant, just in case, then open my razor and tap the whiskers into the sink (four taps, always) then close up the razor and wash the whiskers down the drain.

Onwards into my routine - I next find myself in front of a my closet. I pick something comfortable as my job demands, but always clean and (preferably) pressed. I like shirts that button up with button-down collars. Denim or at least cotton pants and always, always a belt. When I'm not feeling like a dress shirt, I'll sometimes choose a sweater, or sometimes a t-shirt - perhaps a vest overtop. My sleeves will be rolled up by the end of the day. I may roll them up as I put on the shirt. I like having my hands and forearms free of fabric, to the point of choosing shirts without sleeves, and not wearing watches or jewelry. I mentioned this to my mother one evening, and she noted that as long as she can remember, her father was the exact same way. How peculiar.

With lunches made and placed in backpacks, I leave the house with the girls and head up the alleyway to school. As soon as we get to the end of our property, Banana and McMonk see their friends and rush off to walk with them. I stop at the end of the driveway and watch them walk the 1/2 block to the chain-link fence surrounding school grounds, then they dissappear into the gate.

Then I turn to go back into the house and see the sky.

It's beautiful. A thin, high layer of cloud has lit up with purples, oranges, reds and other colours that there aren't names for yet. Even though the crisp January air isn't the least bit warm, the fire in the sky touches something deep within me and I send out a "thank you" to God, the Collective Good or whatever it is that brought me to this spot and made me aware of all of this. The sun is still lingering under the horizon.

So, I stood for a full minute and drank in the moment. And that's why I was late for work yesterday morning.

Someone asks you to do something.

You hesitate before saying you'll do it. Then they ask you, "Oh, do you mind?"

What they're really asking is, "Do you want me to be all pissy at you for the rest of the day?"

Answer accordingly.

This evening, at the dinner table, my youngest daughter informed me that I don't have a bum.

She tells me I have a gluteus maximus. What are they teaching these kids in school these days?