Just Feeling Blah!

As Rowan Atkinson said, "Some days are good days and some days are arse wiping bad days". I think I'm in between today. Total lack of energy and in need of a good sleep. That's not to say I didn't have a good sleep last night, especially with our new foam matress sheet. It's like sleeping on a soft egg box, but it's very comfortable.

It was reassuring to find my favourite shorts layed out this morning, although I was a little surprised. See I hid them last night as Sherri threatened to throw them out. I think I sent her overboard last night. The shorts have vertical white, blue and green stripes and I chose to put these on when I was already wearing a vertical sriped blue and white t-shirt. Hey I never said I was fashionable. I think I need to find a sneakier hiding place, but her note assured me they were safe........... for now :-)

I was just chatting to my friend Tony in England. Haven't spoken to him in ages, but he just informed me he's now got broadband. Surprise, surprise, he wondering why he didn't get it sooner. Welcome Tony to the 21st century, now watch your Internet usage skyrocket.

It's The End Of The Year!

As usual, the weekend got the better of me. We were however busy all day Saturday at our multiple birthing class. I was a bit sceptical with these classes, the final one is on Tuesday. A lot of what they tell you is really common sense, but it does cause you to think about things a bit more. We also had the opportunity to talk to once of the nurses of the baby intensive care unit. She showed us lots of pictures of premature babies. Although scary, it was comforting to know that at 28 weeks, the babies would have at least an 80% chance of survival. At 35 weeks the percentage goes up to 99%. No one wants to think of the things that could go wrong, but it's good to at least realise what can go wrong and be able to understand. By the way we will be at 28weeks on Wednesday :-)

Sunday I spent a while in the basement, catching up on some stuff on the computer. I'm also toying with a few ideas with regards to some forums. I'll fill you in if they go any further.

This week is going to be pretty busy at work, so excuse me if I don't post everyday. We have year end, so lots of stuff to tidy up and get off my desk. Ha, ha, tidy up that's a laugh if you could see my desk :-)

Dear Lucy and ..... `<8'

I've know you both since the day you were concieved yet I know so little about you. Will you look like your Mum or me. Will you cry lots? What will your first words be? So many questions, but a whole lifetime to discover. One of the first things we will probably discover is if Lucy is accompanied by a little sister or brother. For now I'll just call you `<8', that pronounced 'raised eyes, pointing left , with hands pointing likewise'. Yes I know a strange name, but it's already raising a smile on my face, as it has a bit of history with us Meeks' here :-)

Anyway I digress. My little babies, you only know me by my warm touch and my soothing voice, but I have a whole lifetime of experiences to share with you as well as a loving family who are all eager to meet you. One member of my family who won't be here is my Nan, that would be your Great Nan. She passed away many years ago, but I still think of her all the time and I like to think that somewhere up there she is looking down on us all and smilling approvingly.

You are probably amongst the few people who can say they know their Mum inside out...... ok, not out yet, but inside definately :-) Her warm arms are longing to hold you and give you all the love you deserve. Your sisters are also anxious to welcome you, but they ask can you please let them sleep in now and then :-)

I think poor old Kosmo is going to be the one who's going to be most confused. "Who are these new people" he's going to think, but I'm sure it won't take him long to realise you are the important new additions to the family and will look after you like you were his own.

Our house is empty without you, but soon you will fill that void. Soon will will wonder how we ever managed without you. Take care, rest well and don't be in a hurry to join us. We want you to be healthy and strong when you enter our lives.

Your loving Dad XOXO

In God we Trust!

We were having a chat at the office around a pizza and John, the boss pointed out something that was mind bogglingly badly designed. Since he mentioned it, I can't get it out of my mind. Maybe it's the logical programming trying to rear his ugly head or maybe it's something more.

Just imagine for a minute you were going to design from scratch a way to transport people around. Would you for one minute consider a method of trust. Multiple hunks of exceedingly heavy metal, separated on a ralatively narrow road by a non cushioning, totally non interactive white line hurtling towards each other at up to 70 miles an hour. Is it amazing that this method of transport is as successful as it is. I realise a lot of this is because it's something that has evolved over many years. From years where there were no roads and very few cars. Now however there are many millions of cars, trucks, buses and assorted types of transport. Lets not even mention the motorcycle. The whole concept of flipper your leg over a huge chunk of engine, that spends it's whole life trying to go faster than you, whilst trusting that two wheels are going to be enough to keep you from the tarmac speeding inches from your feet.

I wonder what we'd do different if we had a clean slate?

Running Late!

Just a quick message to say good morning. I'm running late today as I had to take our car into the garage for it's 20,000KM service. It's amazing, although they told me exactly how much this was going to cost, within half an hour of the garage's shuttle dropping me off, they called to recommend we get our front and rear brakes lubricated, which of course isn't free. What can you do. You refuse and something goes wrong, then it's your fault. Of course if I were rally skeptical, I would say this was just a con to get more money out of us.... lucky I'm not skeptical.

And The Second Baby is a ...

...dunno! There's me thinking, oh what a wonderful thing science is. We can see our baby in glorious 3D. See every intricate wrinkle and expression, well what a let down.

First the lady who performed our ultrasound wants to think about getting a new profession, preferable one that doesn't entail dealing with the public. She was rude and admittedly frustrated because the babies were proving a bit awkward, but come one, show a bit of professionalism, don't spend the hour puffing and grunting, while at the same time providing the minimal feedback to us. Remember, although this may very well be your 3,000 scan, these are our babies and show them and us the courtesy of not letting things get to you personally.

The 2D (normal) ultra sound went OK. The babies are now 2.1 and 2.3 pounds with heart rates of 143 and 148. They are developing well, apart from the fact that one of them is exceedingly camera shy, so we still have no idea what the sex is.

As for the 3D ultrasound, we didn't even bother getting a CD as you just couldn't make out anything. In fact the technician told us, if you can't get a decent 2D image, then there's very little chance you'll get a 3D one. Now they tell us.

Anyway we are back to the doctors next wednes and will probably have another ultrasound 2-3 weeks after that. I don't think we'll bother having another 3D one, but then again, never say never.

Hazy Shades of Winter.

I can already sense the summer coming to an end. The pool has been a constant 70f, which is ultimately too cold for me to swim in. Even last night I noticed that it was pretty dark at 8:30pm, which is not a good sign. We're still having nice warm weather, but winter is a coming. It's not even like we had much of a summer, oh well can't complain, at least I won;t have to mow the lawn much longer :-)

Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

Somedays it's just great to wake up early and enjoy the day. I got out of bed at 8am this morning. Now that's actually late for me, but I'm having trouble getting back into my old rhythm since we came back from holiday. Anyway I gave Kosmo his medicine and came downstairs to check my email and stuff.

Now I thought my ears were deceiving me when I heard the shower going, but lo and behold just before 9am there was Ally Moo standing before me and showered and dressed. "Couldn't sleep" was the reason she gave for being up so early. But it's understandable as one of her best friends and sometimes out spare daughter Tamara, comes back home today, after spending time with family in New Brunswick and they are going off to the Ex.

Anyway even though Alanna was waiting for a phone call, I managed to coax her into coming with me to Tim Hortons to get some coffee and Ice Caps, as well as some milk. I wanted to have her with me as I also wanted to take Kosmo, it's been a while since he was out for a good walk. It was actually a very pleasant walk, both Alanna and I enjoyed a bit of quality time, that we don't get enough of these days. She was however petrified she was going to miss her phone call, but I can understand that.

All was not good however when we got home. Poor old Kosmo had a ton of burrs in his paws and one of his ears. His ear was actually all stuck together there were so many. It took me a good 10 minutes to get the majority off. I even had to cut away some of his fur, but he's ok now and annoying the hell out of me with his bloody indestructible ball.

So what's planned for the rest of this day. Nothing much I think. I probably need to get the pool cleaned once and for all and then we have to go to the grocery store to pick up some food for the week. Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day. We are off for our regular ultrasound, but this one is hopefully going to be special. This one is going to be in 3d. Now apparently the 3d ultrasound doesn't give them all the information they need, so we still have to have the normal ultrasound first. The 3d one is more for the parents I think. Fingers crossed we can finally find out what the other baby is once and for all.

Original Pirate Material!

Although I was once told I "have Van Goughs ear for music", that doesn't stop me loving it. I hasten to add that it was said as a joke, I like to think my tastes are wide and varied, well everything except Country. Anyway I've never been a great fan of rap. There have been a few exceptions like De La Soul, and some JayZ and 2Pac, but as a whole most rap leaves me cold. However I've just discovered a great new (to me at least) artist and would you believe it he comes from just around the corner from where I used to live in London, Hackney. It's funny fly 3,000 miles round the world and end up finding good music on your old doorstep. Anyway the name of this artist/group is The Streets.

I first came across them on Napster. I'd heard the name before, but saw them come up on a search for something else and ended up listening to the album "Original Pirate Material". Anyway this album knocked me bandy. None of this gang ridden angst, just a guy talking about a the trials and tribulations of being a youngster (I mean that as the late teen, early 20 age range). Yes, there's an abundance of drug and sex references, but better to listen with an open mind. Some of the hooks are excellent and I find myself coming back to this album again and again. In fact I even went sofar as to buy the album via Amazon.ca. Go on, have a listen and see waht you think.

Mmm Food

I had the lovely pleasure of being taken to a restaraunt by my lovely wife. It's funny how you can forget how great the simplest things are.

Sherri went to work today, just to check in and take in her doctors note. It must be hard for her, as it can't be easy giving up work, I know it would drive me crackers.

The Ex has come to Ottawa again and for the first time in ages, I'm not too worried about missing it. The Ex is a big fair that is held in Ottawa every year. Mandi is going tomorrow and I'm sure she is looking forward to it. In fact I am definite she is looking forward to it, as Hanson, her favorite rock band in the world are performing their for free. All these years she's waited to see them and the first opportunity she gets, it doesn't cost a bean, relatively speaking of course as you still need ticket to enjoy the Ex.

It's just 9:30pm and I'm knackered. Time for me to have another beer and then get my head down. Guten Nacht.

When I was a kid... (Part 6)

Loot was a funny company to work for. It was very much an us and them situation. The day shift comprised of probably around 200 people, many of them working flexible house as copy takers, typing down peoples ads that are phoned in or faxed. There was also a sales department and the production department. Although I worked nights, we actually did our work in the production department. We took over the Apple Mac (spit, spit) computers when the production people left.

Now before I forget, I want to stream off a list of names to try to jog my memory later on. Also I have had a brain freeze on many of the last name, I'll fill them in when/if I remember. Maddie, Louisa, May (can hear the name in my head, but can't spell it), Maire, Margaret Thorpe, Jane, Rachel, Douglas Wood, Mark Tabet, Paul Kingett, Peter Simmance, Patrick Pule, Paul Magdassian, Chris Lodge, Tom Webber, Roy Clarke, James Jegede, Mike Ivey, Piers Gordon, Tomi, Angie, Boozy Phil, Roger, Tim, NewZealand Phil, Jackie, Steve, to name a few.

I started at Loot sometime in 1990, I've already mentioned the strange circumstance under which I was hired, but when I look back I wasn't surprised. Loot was a funny company. It was started by a couple of guys and I think the success of it surprised them. Loot is a freeads newspaper. You can sell virtually anything you want for free as long as it's not a business, otherwise there is a fee depending on the prominence of the ad. When I started at Look I worked 3 days a week, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Things were really tough in the beginning. We had to first make up the newspaper on computer, print them out to be proof read, then print them to typesetting machines producing camera ready art work, which took an age. Then the proofreader would stick the ads in the correct blank space and the whole lot would then be picked up by the printer. In those early days a 48 page issue would take between 10 and 18 hours. This sounds like a cushy job, but you needed that day in between to recover and you never got a whole weekend as you had to go in on Sunday nights, oops I forgot to mention, yes this was a job working the night shift.

When I started there were 5 of us, Patrick (the boss), Mark, Paul, Doug and me. To be honest Patrick didn't do that much on the newspaper. He proofread the stuff and got it ready for the printers, but apart from that he spent most of the time in his office looking busy. Yeah I know that sounds like me being harsh, but this is my blog and I can get away with it :-)

The early days were hard, I had a lot to learn, but picked it up fairly quickly. Although I'd done quite a bit of DTP stuff, I had never worked on an Apple Mac before. Over a short period of time we became a pretty tight group and the nights were never dull. We always had the radio or tapes on and the conversation was diverse to say the least. Every now and then someone from the day shift would do a couple of night shifts just in case one of us was sick and they needed cover, but that seemed to rapidly phase out. Maddie did a few night shifts, which was always nice as she was a laugh and I have to admit I was a bit sweet on her. So sweet in fact I've forgotten her last name, my brain is not what it once was.

I can remember my first Loot Christmas Party, Me and Maddie bumped into each other a few times. Apparently one time she was very doe eyed towards me, but I put it down to the drink. Anyway a couple of days later she gave me a Christmas card with a very love lorne reindeer on it :-) Although she probably never fancied me, even if she didn I was to much of an idiot to notice. There was another funny story about that party. I took one of my best friends, Steve along. Steve is another very complex story, which I want to tell one day, but let me get my work years out of the way first. Anyway Steve bet me that he could have sex with someone before the end of the night. Now this was not the best bet to try to win at my first work party, but idiot that I am, I agreed. You should have seen him. We were both pretty drunk, having started drinking around 5pm, but he was just going up to total strangers (women I hasten to add) asking if they wanted to find somewhere to have sex. I couldn't believe my ears though. He must have been flatly rejected about 6 times, had 2 offers of "I'd like to get to know you better" and 1 outright yes. I couldn't believe it, off he toddled with a very Latino looking woman, who must have been in her mid to late 30s and had his wicked way. Anyway I digress.

When Maddie worked nights I generally waited around for a bit so I could drop her off at Euston Station so she could get the first train home to Milton Keynes. In fact I generally always dropped someone, somewhere after work. I didn't really mind though as I had to go past 3 of the major stations on my way home, Euston, St.Pancras and Kings Cross.

I pretty much settled into Loot life pretty quickly, apart from the hours. I could probably write a whole book on some of the characters we had working with us, maybe another time. Within a few months I was promoted to Night Shift Supervisor. I like to think I was a pretty easy going boss. Actually it was hardly like being a boss at all. Apart from having to organise cover, we were all pretty much on par with each other. That's the benefit of having good people around you. That's not to say we didn't have our share of really lame people. The name Tomi comes to mind. I don't mean this as a personal attack on someone, but some people are just not suited to working with computers. This girl took all night to put together 2 pages of the newspaper. Actually 2 pages was probably being over kind, I'd say 1 1/2 pages. Not only that but once she finished them, someone would virtually have to redo it all over again, as she had a real bad habit of putting the wrong display ads on the wrong page. Anyway I spoke to Patrick and said she had to go, it's rather unfortunate that the timing was around Christmas, but she was literally killing us.

Paul Magdassian was another extreme case. Don't get me wrong, he was a great person to have around, it's just he used to live life to the edge if you know what I mean. He used to commute from Coventry on Sunday and stay in London until Friday morning and then commute back. He was unbelievable with graphic software. I like to think he's out there somewhere making lots of money, hopefully for himself.

Doug was one of my close friends at Loot. In fact he once paid me a really great compliment, by saying if he'd ever had a son, he would have liked them to be like me. It's not often you get a compliment like that and it's certainly not something you forget in a hurry. Doug always seemed to me to have a complex life. He had some businesses in Uraguay and Argentina and finally left us a Loot and moved to Uraguay where he had a house. So we all club together and get Doug a CD player and some CD's as a going away present (CDs featured very heavily on the night shift, especially on Roger Thurdays). He's not out the door more than a couple of months and the bastard comes back. Talk about milking your workmates LOL. For what ever reason, it was good to have him back. In fact I think Dougs life fell into place, because he met a woman called Zoe and settled down. It wasn't long before the patter of tiny feet was heard, when Zoe gave birth to a little girl they called Miranda. I'd left Loot by this time and Doug and I kind of fell out of touch. I was sad to hear he was very ill at one stage, but heard nothing since. I hope he's OK. If you're out there Doug, drop me a line, It would be great to hear from you.

I really can't let this blog go on for much longer. But let me just drop a few bylines and let your imagination do the rest.

1. Big Tits
2. Pete's Birthday Drink
3. James Jedege Entrepreneur
4. Maire the Poetry Judge
5. Chris Lodge, the Escalator Story Accomplice.
6. Mark Loves Jane
7. May Likes Colin
8. Colin Runs Like a Chicken
9. Roger Whittaker is King

I spent nearly 6 years at Loot and have some really fond memories. During those 6 years, Loot were keen on getting some kind of automated system in place. We used to laugh about it. In fact 3. is directly related to it. Slowly but surely Tim and Roger had a system that was about 80% of the way there and Loot decided that they could let loose a few people. I decided to take volutary redundancy as I felt I'd been there too long and they wanted those left behind to work 5 days a week. I'd had enough and wanted a change.

With my redundancy in hand, it would be nearly 6 months before I eventually found a job; and a job I really loved, with people who were just great. This was to be my Systematic Marketing years, and just like Loot, my job interview would be a defining moment.

So How Am I Doing?

I've been writing this blog for a few months now and am beginning to feel more comfortable in my writing and feel that I've become pretty regimented in doing this nearly every day. So what's it all about then? Inside me are a ton of ideas for novels, poems, etc, but somehow I can't get them out of my head and into printed words. Poetry flowed out of me like water from a tap, but that was when I was single and pretty much depressed most of the time. Now I'm married with children, life just doesn't get much better. Great for me, unfortunate for my writing.

Anyway this particular blog is pretty much inspired by a book I'm reading called "Just a Geek" written by Wil Wheaton. Who he, I hear you say. Well remember Star Trek? Remember the Next Generation version? Remember that dipstick boy on it who played Wesley Crusher? Well that was Wil Weaton. He's been wrestling with his alter ego ever since and only now appears to have stepped out of his shadow. Funnily enough he did it through writing a blog. Before I continue, let me just add that from what I've heard and read, he seems like a nice bloke, definately someone cool to get pissed with (sorry pissed as in the English variant=drunk).

So where do I go from here. Confidence building I think. I'm gonna plug away a bit longer and try to develop a few ideas on the side. As soon as I have something I feel confident in showing, then I shall unvail. Anyone who hasn't read my "When I was a Kid..." series on these blog, should have a peek. Although it's techy based and all true, it's based on my growing up and gives a good insight into what you can probably expect. Once I finish it off, I'll collate and edit the whole lot and put it up as a PDF.

Anyway enough of my ranting. As always it's always great to hear any feedback, whether it's family, friends or just passers by. Maybe one day something great will be born from this site, wouldn't that be cool.

Ay'up

8am and all is well. Weather is promising to be good today and the pool is nearly clean again. We can also now enjoy the garden again after finally getting it mowed. I think the natives are restless at home, the girls are getting a little stir crazy. Never fear, school is nearly here. Come to think of it so are the babies *gulp*. It could be as little as 9 weeks before the Meeks household hears the little patter of tiny feet, although Sherri's been feeling those little feet for a while now, regular little soccer players that they are :-)

Kosmo, Kosmo, Kosmo

Just as I was beginning to get back into my stride with the blogs, something unfortunately causes a hiccup. That hiccup unfortunately was Kosmo. Thursday morning Kosmo had a seizure, not too unusual and like most of his times he had another one around 3am. Poor Alanna tends to panic and he was in her room at the time. She came and woke me up and I stayed with him for half an hour or so and then took him to our room. After pacing around for a little bit he settled down and had a pretty good sleep.

I got to work at around 7:30 am on Friday, but got a call from Sherri telling me Kosmo had another seizure not long after I left. 3 seizures over that kind of time frame isn't that unusual for him, but half an hour later he had yet another one. We decided it was best if we took him to the animal hospital. The vet their was great and agreed with us, that it was probably best if he stayed with the for a while so they could monitor him. We hated to leave him, especially having on just picked him up from the Kennel the previous Saturday, but it was for his best. We mentioned that we were a bit concerned. Maybe the kennel wasn't giving him his medication properly, or maybe not at all. The vet said he'd get a reading of Kosmo's levels and let us know if they are unusually low.

Poor Kosmo had another 2 seizures at the hospital, but they were eventually able to stabilize him. After having gone over 24 hours without another seizure we went to pick him up Saturday afternoon. He must have smelt us or something for within a minute or two of us arriving, he was barking and howling his head off.

Anyway Kosmo is now on an increased dosage of PhenoBarb, which means he's a little wobblier than usual. We do have some long term health concerns with this, but for now we just have to make sure we make his seizures few and far between.

Today I finally got around to mowing the lawns. It's a job I hate, but must be done as their were mushrooms and all sorts of wildlife in the long blades of grass. It looks much better now. I just have to get the pool sorted. Theirs still some stuff that needs vacuuming, but I can only do it a bit at a time, becuase it makes the pool cloudy and I can;t see what I'm doing. I reckon I'll have it sorted in a day or two.

Bloody Computers!

I started reinstalling our network at home the day before yesterday and it still isn't finished. For some reason my nice new( 1 year old) HP machine doesn't like my 802.11G PCI card. It can see the network, but for some reason will not connect to it. It's a royal pain in the posterior. As an interim measure I think I'll try to connect it to the network using a cable. Ah good old realiable cable :-)

We went to the Doctors yesterday and everything is proceeding exactly as it should. We have another ultrasound in a couple of weeks and are hoping to get one of the new 3D ones. Apparently they are virtually useless for anything more than a good picture, they'll do the usual 2D one as well. At least it should provide some interesting stuff for the website.

Anyone for Typhoon!

Wow what freaky weather we had last night. Sherri picked me up at work about 5pm and the skies were looking a bit dark. By the time we got home, there was some light rain and then the heavens opened, accompanied by some wicked wind. In fact the TV was broadcasting a Tornado warning for Ottawa along with severe thunderstorms and for once they weren't wrong. Around 6:30pm we lost power for around an hour. Oh well at least the pool doesn't need topping up now :-)

I chose last night to pull the network apart at home, probably not the best time, but everything is nearly back up and running. I think Mandi will be having severe Internet withdrawl by the time things are back up and running tonight....... hopefully :-)

Goodbye Summer!

I say goodbye, but hopefully not in the literal sense, more in the sense that my 2 weeks off are over and it's time to put my nose back to the grindstone. I must admit it was quite nice to have a few weeks away from the computer, but it's nice to be back, I do tend to get the computer equivalent of the DT's after a while.

There's not really too much to report. We had a little scare upon arriving back. We'd left the pump pool off for the entire 2 weeks and consequently it looked like a science experiment gone wrong. I kept expecting some kind of Golum creature to start rising from the ladder. Anyway a good few litres of chlorine later and everything seems pretty much back to normal. Still a bit misty, but I'll take a sample to the pool shop and see what they recommend.

The wife and I are off to the doctors tomorrow to get a status report on the little ones. They have been moving quite a bit lately. I actually got to feel them for the first time while we were away. That's not to say they weren't moving, but everytime I put my hand on Sherri's belly, they'd stop. Anyway I think they are beginning to get a little restless and running out of room. Sherri said last night she could see her belly moving and incredible amount, but couldn't feel too much, I guess it's just how the babies are positioned.

Anyway time to sign off. I shall endeavor to get back to my daily posts.

Hey There!

Just a quick note to say we are still alive. I did write a really long blog about the journey down, but it's on the laptop and we've been unable to get wireless Internet access, so that sucks. We had a great weekend at Sherri's brother Ricks's cottage. The cottage had an excellent view of the lake and we had some fun being dragged behind Ricks speed boat.

We're cutting short our visit to Nova Scotia and heading back home through the US, specifically Bangor Maine. Gonna spend a few days there, relaxing and doing a bit of shopping before heading home. We'll probably be home on Friday, so I'll still have the weekend to relax before going back to work on Monday.

Anyway time to cut it short. The weather is great and the week ahead should be interesting.