My Family!

Yes, I'm becoming a father for the first time, but I've been a Dad longer. Yes maybe I wasn't there for my girls birth, but they are every much a part of me as their new siblings. I can remember being much younger and feeling crushed at the thought of never having kids. Yeah I know that's a strange thing for someone so young to worry about, but you must remember I was the melancholic kid :-) Anyway when Sherri and I first met thins was still a very strong feeling. However of the course of a year or so, this feeling was concealed behind a painting somewhere in my cluttered brain. Yes I still really wanted more children, but I was fortunate enough to have two really great kids already. I don't pretend in any way to be the greatest Dad. I have my flaws as I'm sure my two will tell you, but I always try to be fair. "Hey girls if you want someone to blame, you blame your Granddad, I learnt from the best :-) "

A house full of babies terrifies me, yet I'm strangely calm. Actually calm maybe isn't the best word, maybe excited would be better. I realize I'm the one having it easy. Sherri is the one having to lug around two babies or the next 7 or so months. All I can do is be there and be as supportive as I can. As a family our lives are about to take a 90 degree angle turn at 100 miles an hour, but as a family we can take it like skipping over a puddle. Together.

Oi! Where are you lot going?

Yes I know my train of thought is shot to pieces and I tend to hop, skip and jump around, but on the way into work we saw the geese migrating back to Canada after their winter hols in Florida. Anyway my mind got to thinking, why do they bother coming back? Why not just stay where it's nice and warm? My biggest question was how do they know they are in Canada? Also where are they all heading? Is there a place in Canada with a high density of geese? Nature is a funny thing. All winter the wildlife just disappears. I know some of them hibernate, like squirrels and groundhogs, but what happens to the rest. You never see many pigeons or sparrows during the winter. Are they envious of their migrating cousins come winter? Does this cause bad blood when the geese return flaunting their tans? The biggest questions is how much duty free are they allowed to carry across the border :-) Make you wonder doesn't it.

Dos, Zwei, Due, Dois, Deux, Two!!!

Wow what a morning. Sherri has been feeling a pain in her abdomen on and off for a couple of days. Every now and then she'd get a sharp pain. I was a little concerned, as was she, but as we had an ultrasound appointment coming on Friday, she thought she'd wait till then. Last night she had the pain again and I convinced her to call the hospital this morning. The doctor said to come in straight away for a checkup which we did. The drive over was horrible, obviously we didn't want to think the worst, but... anyway I'm sure you can understand what was going through our heads.

We got to the hospital and the doctor explained that an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy was a possibility, but he believed the pains were due to Sherri having large ovaries at present, but he said we'd better have an ultrasound just to make sure. And here's the result.

Well believe it or not, those two dark areas towards the centre of the picture are our children. Yes I said children, we're having twins :-) At first the doctor only found one embryotic sac and to be honest we were over the moon. It's funny though my muddled male brain reasoned "Hey you guys put two eggs in, there should be two babies", but I didn't question him at all, I was just extremely relieved that the baby is doing fine. Then I noticed a small dark patch flash on the monitor, a few seconds later it flashed again. This time the doctor noticed it and said we were having twins. Well you can still knock me over with a feather. It's still early days yet, but mother and children are doing fine. The father is in cloud cuckoo land, but I'm sure I'll come back down to earth soon.

Goodbye Christmas!

Well it's official, Christmas is over. I know what you are saying, but I'm saying it's only just over as today I took down our Christmas decorations. Today was a beautiful day, so I finally got the ladder out and did a bit of a tidy up out front. All the hooks for the lights are still up, so next year, putting up he decorations should be a breeze. However all is not good with the world. The wife said to me today "So you took down the lights in the tree?"................. DOH! Oh well that will give me something to do next weekend.

Today was also a day, where us guys were sorely outnumbered. Alanna is having a birthday sleep-over tonight, so there's 6 of her friends, Mandi, the Wife and Alanna. Just me and da Kosmo to roll our eyes and wish for some quiet time down the pub. We he would say that if he could, I know my buddy.

Rounding the day of was a pretty decent hockey game against the Black Death of Hockey clubs......... Toronto. A pretty entertaining game,even though it did end up in a tie. Next weekend should be a hoot, Toronto again, last game of the season............ bring out the stretchers.

Yuck!

Well spring is definitely coming. Today it's gonna be around 17c, which is a pleasant change from the crap weather we've been having lately. It's unbelievable that I was again shovelling the driveway on Monday. Anyway with the recent warm weather comes the unpleasant task of tidying up the garden. "What leaves and twigs?" I hear you ask. No it's something far worse than that........... the dreaded dog (insert popular euphemism for turds here). Now I keep pretty much up to date with keeping the garden clean, but when the dog goes outside and it's minus 20, there are going to be the occasional accidents that just don't get cleaned up. The recent warm weather uncovers all kinds of doggy gems and this morning it was time to do the patrol before the warm weather today. It's much easier to pick up when the night has chilled it, than when the warm weather has turned it into a chocolate pool. Anyway garden is now nice and tidy and the dog has been instructed to pick up after himself and to use no more than 2 sheets of paper when wiping.............. yeah right :-)

Time for Pipe and Slippers?

My god what is happening to me. Two nights in a row that I've been in bed around 10pm. Maybe I'm having a parallel pregnancy with the wife. She's been in bed around 8pm the last few nights. I suppose it's hard for her. Her hormones must be racing around like Jacques Villneuve....... no wait there make that Michael Shumacher he's actually racing at the moment :-). Talking of the old hormones, I have a joke, now maybe it's not politically correct, but since when have I ever been politically correct? LOL

Q. What's the difference between an Asprin and a Hormone?
A. You can't make an Asprin.

It may take a while for that one to filter, but it made me laugh. Anyway no excuses for going to bed early tonight. The mighty Sens play Montreal tonight....... let's hope the team I know and love turn up tonight and not the inconstant also rans of late. Yes I know that may be a bit scathing, but come on, we are one of the best (if not the best) team in the league, when we decide to play. Maybe we are just back peddling until the play-offs, I can live with that as long as we put in a stellar performance then. TTFN.

Whatever Happened to "Hi neighbor!" ?

I like to think that I'm pretty easy to get on with. I realise I'm not that most chatty of people, well in real life anyway, but hopefully I radiate an aura of "Hey there, how's it going?". Anyway I got home last night to find a letter in our mailbox from one of the neighbor's. I say one of the neighbor's as they didn't identify themselves. Anyway it basically said I was making too much noise in the morning shovelling the driveway so could I stop as it was waking them up. Hey I have no problem with that what so ever. Maybe I am a little over zealous with the scrapping and the dragging and the diggy pokey motion. The thing that really irks me, is that they chose to type this note up on the computer and then to cap it off not identify who it was from. What is the world coming to. Can neighbor's not knock on the door and express their concerns. I realise we are fairly new neighbor's and not many people know us yet, but isn't that one way to get to know your neighbor's better? Anyway rant of the day over.

P.S. "Hey neighbor, notice received and understood, my early morning antics are over. If you're reading this, come over and introduce yourself . Maybe we can have a beer, but be sure to bring a 24 pack :-) "

"Tell me about your childhood."

I realise my life is never going to be the same again, but I have no way of comprehending how it's going to be. Sure I've been around babies before, hey I've even changed the odd nappy or two. I feel like I have a little devil and angel on each shoulder. The little devil is my male bravado. "Hey don't worry mate, it's gonna be a cakewalk. How can a little bundle cause you any problems. You're a man, hurggggm hurrrg, hurrrgh". Then on the other shoulder I have the voice of joys yet to come. "Don't forget you have to buy tons of clothes, nappies and baby stuff. You're going to need to sleep when you can, cos a baby works to their own body clock..... 'Waaaaaaaaah, It's 3:30am, waaaaaaaaaa feed me!' ". But do you know what, none of this phases me....... yet. I'm sure I'll manage one way or another. My Dad did, although I'm sure to get all the horror stories of what a pain I was :-) Some will say I'm still a pain, but I like to sweep those statements well under the carpet.

Now I really am rambling, but I don't care. I like to think of this type of venting as therapy. Cos you know I won't be able to afford a psychiatrist now :-) LOL

Somebody Pinch Me!

I can tell you I'm still up there in Cloud 9 and finding it hard to find my feet. It's like the flood gates of my mind have opened. This can be a good and a bad thing. I'm thinking about all the great things to come. Holding a baby(s) in my arms, knowing that the small bundle is totally reliant on me. Knowing that no matter what I do I'll always be their Dad. I can't help also overthinking things. What if.......... I know it's to be expected and I'll deal with it, hey that is the least of my worries. I have 8 more months of an expectant wife to look forward to :-) It still doesn't seem real. We've waited so long for this, that I'm still finding it hard to believe. Hopefully when we go for the ultrasound things will seem a bit more real. What can I say we Pisceans are eternal dreamers, we sometimes need a kick up the backside to let us know reality is here :-) As the wife will no doubt attest to, I sometimes need a kick up the backside just because :-)

I'm very lucky to already have three wonderful girls. My wife and my two children. I know that this is gonna be a rollercoaster ride for all of us, but I'm looking forward to sharing everything. Are you ready to change Nappies girls ? :-)

Anyway I've babbled on long enough. A new working weeks is upon us and time waits for no man.

We are Pregnant!

Yes I know I'm not Pregnant, but I'm using the royal We here. The Family Meeks is going to hear the pitter patter of tiny feet. After 3.5 years of trying, Sherri is carrying my baby(ies) and we look forward to hearing the sound of tiny feet towards the end of November. Yesterday was a bit of a blur. We went to the hospital around 7:30am for blood tests, went for breakfast after and then headed home. From then on it was a matter sitting and trying not to pace the floor too much until we got the phone call we were waiting for. I'm still pretty much on cloud nine. I can't believe that in a few short months we'll be staring into the eyes of a new baby(ies).

Some of you may not be too surprised by my news. I have hinted that something big was coming, but didn't want to say anything more until we were sure. There's still a lot to tell, but I'm going to save that until another day. I'm even contemplating setting up a separate site so everyone can follow our progress.

What about Saint George?

Happy Saint Patricks Day to all my Irish friends in cyberspace. It was while sending an email to a friend, that I began wondering, what ever happened to Saint Georges Day which is on April 23rd? I can remember my GrandDad when I was a kid, always putting a red rose in his lapel on Saint Georges Say and have a beer or two down the pub. There seems to be no national pride in England anymore. I'm as much to blame as the next person. I never understood what it was really all about until I moved to Canada. Saint Patricks day here is a real big thing. Newspapers favour the colour green on their headlines. Bakeries put green icing on their cakes. Pubs serve green beer. Yet when Saint Georges Day comes, it doesn't even raise a whimper. What with political correctness in England, I doubt Saint Georges Day will ever become a day for the English to feel proud. Hell you can't even fly the Saint Georges Cross without being called a racist. Well I have my Saint Georges Cross and I aim to have it unfurled one way or another. As I always correct my children, I am not British, I am English and proud to be so. Europe may gobble us up, but there will always be a part of England in me which can never be taken away and which will never die.

Of Course You Get That Included...

Well as I mentioned yesterday we were not too happy with our cable company (Rogers). We signed up a few weeks ago to the Centre Ice package as we didn't want to miss any non televised games. Now we realised that this package would not include home game, which are usually televised on local TV stations anyway, but were under the impression that all away games would be available to us. We even asked the sales person on the telephone when we signed up if this was the case and he assured us it was. So imagine our dismay when we notice in the local press that the Vancouver games was not being televised. No worries we though, it will be available on our Centre Ice package. Was it? No it wasn't. To add insult to injury, Toronto could watch the game, but we couldn't. Anyway we called up immediately and were told that a manager would call us back, which I must say he did not long after. He advised us that the Ottawa Senators didn't have a deal with any cable company so the games were available on a game for game basis. He told us that the sales person should not have told us we would get all away games and told us that we could cancel our subscription which we did. Now the really amazing thing was the game was on our regular channel 27 all along, even the press said it wouldn't be. Oh well at least we found out now rather than later.

Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays?

Well that was a whistle stop weekend. I feel like I didn't even get a chance to do anything on the computer, which should please the wife :-) Anyway I did manage to write a new utility which I hope to be releasing soon. It's a piece of software to find files on your PC and to perform certain actions on them. For instance you could find all files on you PC that have the extension .BAK and delete them. The program has a lot of the same functionality that is build into Windows, however it is much, much faster. I haven't decided on the final actions to include, but the ones I have thought of are delete, move, copy and rename (with special options, i.e. add numbers to each file name).

I'm hoping to start one of the books I bought over the weekend. I've dipped into a couple of them, but not sure which one I feel like starting first. I should really dig out some novels as well to choose from, but I think I'll polish off a couple of the books I bought first.

And finally...... The Sens dropped the ball again last night (or should that be puck). From a commanding 1-0 lead, we totally fluffed it in the second period and let in 3 un-answered goals. Now this just isn't on, especially so close to the playoffs. We need to step up out game and make the final push to the end. We're playing again tonight, so let's see what happens. Oh, I nearly forgot. I have a major beef with Rogers, our cable provider, but I'll save that until next time. Suffice to say last night we were not happy bunnies.

My Day.

Had a great day today.... that is when I finally managed to get out of bed. Hey I deserved it, I'm usually out of bed by 6am. Anyway I finally managed to drag myself out of the pit by 12:30 in the afternoon. Had a shower and got ready and we were finally all out on the road by 1:30pm. We had to go downtown so Alanna could get her belly button pierced. Not that I agreed with her getting it done, but what the hey, I'm only the Dad :-) Anyway we got that done and went to St. Laurent shopping centre. I finally managed to get my hair cut. Now I hate hair cuts, but sometimes a man has to do, what a man has to do. Anyway after that, we all went to my favorite store Chapters, the bookstore.

I gave the girls a $20 limit each to spend only on books and when we all finally cashed in, the final tally was $57. Now this was great considering I bough 5 books which normally retailed at $150.00. It's not that I'm a cheapskate, it's just that the books I like always seem to go to the bargain bins early. Anyway who am I to complain.

Right now it's 8:45pm, just over an hour before the Sens play Vancouver. Lets just hope they can pull another win out of the bag, while on their roadtrip. Go Sens, go.

I'm a Pinball Wizard!

I have very fond memories of pinball and funnily enough they aren't from that long ago. I played pinball many times in my youth, but never really got into it until I was in my 20s. I suppose the main reason was that the pubs I used to frequent then, had them and also I really liked pubs :-) There's one machine in particular that me and my mate Dave were extremely hot on and that was Terminator 2. We knew every trick and feature of that machine and it was a sad day when the pub replaced it with something lame like Elivra or something. Anyway as luck would have it I stumbled across a website that allows you to play Terminator 2 amongst another 20 or so tables on your PC. Somehow they've created an emulator that recreates everything on the table, from the lights and bumpers, to the special feature elements on the table and on the score board. I can't get enough of this emulator at the moment and am really looking forward to the weekend when I can really put it through it's paces. All I'll need is some cheesy 90s music and some beer and I'm set.

The Bookworm.

I've realised lately I haven't been reading enough. I've got no shortage of computer magazines to dip into when I'm looking for some quiet time, but I always used to have 1 or 2 books on the go. I think the main problem is that since we moved I haven't got around to unpacking all my books. In fact I don't have enough bookcases to unpack them, so I'll have to go to Walmart or Ikea and see what they have. I've probably got a few hundred books, so I'll set them out downstairs in the rec room. I'll try to pick out a few books to work my way though and let you know what I picked and why. I've also promised my two daughters that I'll take them to Chapters (a big bookstore chain) this weekend and buy them a book each. I love Chapters. You can actually go there and read the magazines and books while drinking a coffee. I think that Borders in the UK allow you to do that now, I just wished they had that when I was younger. I would have saved a fortune.

If you cut me, do I not bleed?

Well in Canada I do bleed and Canada doesn't want a drop of it. I used to give blood on a regular basis in the UK. Every 6 weeks or so I'd toddle off to the Blood Bank and hand over a pint, eat a biscuit or two and then retire to the surroundings of a nice pub. Yes I know you're not meant to drink after giving blood, but hey it does en'alf strike up a thirst. Anyway after settling in Canada for a while and hearing the constant announcements on the radio for blood donors, I decided it was time to do roll up my sleeve and think of En....... Canada :-) Well wouldn't you know, my blood isn't good enough. Do you know why? I'm not allowed to give blood because of CJD, more commonly known as Mad Cow Disease. Now I admit, that sometimes I am as mad as a bicycle, but this brain is in no way spongified (although that would make a nice absorbent for the beer). Anyway the long and short of it, I'll probably never be able to give blood, because I ate beef in the UK during the mad cow era. Oh well dem is de breaks.

Will Winter Never End?

Well a whole weekend and no entry, now that's what I call relaxing. Fear not, this lull is now abating and I feel fresh and ready for the new week. Yet again I woke today to be greeted by the snow. Just when I thought we'd seen the last of it. Up until then the snow we had was melting and you could sense spring in the air. Oh well it was only a few centimeters and didn't take long to shovel driveway.

On a totally different subject, can I remind people not to open attachments from anyone, unless you know for sure it's safe. A few people have received emails purporting to be from Meeks.ca which are totally bogus. I know this for a fact, because I've been receiving them as well. Anyway always better to be safe than sorry.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Another year notched up, older, wiser and as happy as a pig in........ Well you know what :-) It's amazing looking back over the past year, it's been an absolute roller coaster ride, both physically and mentally. I managed to get back into the computer field after a 2 year lay off and boy does it feel good. So what are my plans for this weekend. Well I haven't opened so much as a birthday card yet. Saving that all for tonight. Nothing worse than having to rush things in the morning, especially waiting for 3 women to get ready :-) So home tonight with the family, a shiny new case of Molson Canadian beer, chicken Kiev for dinner and follow that all off with Hockey on the TV. I'm also having an Indian for lunch at work with the rest of my workmates, a nice way to round off the week.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank my Mum and Dad. Even though I'm now 3,000 miles away, I still think of them everyday and thank them for everything. I wouldn't be where I am now without them. Love Colin.

I'm Wired for................. Coffee!

Wow, I never realised that I was a coffee junkie. I decided to go without caffeine for a couple of days, not drinking tea, coffee and caffeinated drinks and I have to tell you it was pretty scary. The first day I felt a bit tired, but otherwise no adverse effects. The next day however was a different matter. I was virtually falling asleep at my desk and had a thumping headache like you wouldn't believe. Now it could have all been a coincidence, but seems a bit too obvious to me. Anyway it certainly was an eye opener.

With doughnut in mouth and coffee in hand, off I pop.

And all for the want of a horse-shoe nail.

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horse-shoe nail.

This quote from Benjamin Franklin was used in one of my favorite movies of all time. In the UK it was know as "A Matter of Life or Death", in the rest of the world it was know as "Stairway to Heaven".

The story is of a man who bales our of a plane over the UK during World War 2. He has no parachute and accepts his fate. Anyway the last person he talks to is an army Wren who realises he's doomed and is heartbroken when he finally jumps. As luck would have it, he mysteriously manages to survive the fall, but suffers awful headaches. As the story unfolds we find out that he was meant to die on the fateful day, but something went wrong and he survived. In the meantime he's fallen in love with the army Wren who spoke to him before he jumped. An angel is sent to bring him to heaven, but he stands his ground and eventually it is agreed that a judge and jury in heaven will hear his case and decide accordingly. I'll leave it at that.

The movie stars David Niven and Kim Hunter and has spectacular special effects, consider it was made in 1946. I've still yet to pick it up again. My copy is in the UK PAL format and I can't play it here in Canada :-( Anyway if you're after a really entertaining file, I thoroughly recommend this.

One Month. Woo Hoo!

Well a month has passed since my first blog and I must say it's been quite a challenge to write something everyday. I think I've missed 4 or 5 days of 29, which I don't think is such bad going. The major problem is starting everyday with a blank canvas and trying to come up with something fresh. I hope I've done a passable job, but am sure there is room for improvement. Many exciting things are happening here at the moment, but I can't write about them just yet. Intrigued...? Interesting times ahead me finks. Talking of suspense. How do you keep an idiot in suspense?