14Feb2006

The World Junior tournament, more snow and my guitar.

It's been a long time and I apologize for that. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season.

I left Rayne and the puppies for a few weeks to have a trip out to Vancouver and watch the World Junior Hockey championships. For those that don't know, tickets had to be purchased a year in advance in order to get seats. My buddy Curtis and I attended almost all the games (21 in all) with the exception of a few of the relegation games near the end. Even for me (a self confessed diehard hockey fanatic) 3 games a day was just too much. I also came down with a flu bug sometime New Years Eve so for the last few days of the tournament I went from raving, cheering fan to a hockey zombie sitting quietly in my seat. Luckily I turned the corner somewhere on the last day of the tournament as Canada soundly thumped the Russian team 5-0. All in all I would do it again in a heartbeat. The hockey was fantastic!

Christmas was spent with the Davis family in Victoria. We had a nice day together and I got my dog fix as my Aunt Julie breads Yorkshire Terriers and there were a houseful when I arrived. My cousin Kirk and his wife Jane were there from Edmonton and were kind enough to give me DVDs of a TV show called Corner Gas. Something I truly appreciated because I can't get the Canadian made show down here and Rayne and I both really enjoy it. Any time spent with family during the holidays is time well spent IMHO (chat speak for "in my humble opinion").

After the tournament I went up to Kamloops for a couple of days to visit with Mom and my sister Vonny's family. Once again a nice visit, some good food and some absolutely awful singing. Actually I should explain the awful singing. Krista (my niece) received a karaoke microphone for Christmas. When I arrived at my sister and brother in-law's house the place was chock full with Krista and Carli's (my other niece) friends. They were taking turns with the karaoke machine. Now to say all the singing was awful would not be fair. Luckily my nieces and some of their friends could hold a tune. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for my brother in-law or Krista's new boyfriend. I was only glad my dogs were not there to endure the suffering the rest of us were subject to. Hopefully the karaoke microphone will help Jim since it actually gives you a score at the end to say how well you matched the correct pitch...

I then met up with my Dad. We drove down to Kelowna to check into the Rotary Cancer lodge. He was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly before Christmas and was scheduled for Radiation and chemotherapy. The lodge is a marvelous place and is situated right beside the hospital and cancer clinic in Kelowna. For patients the cost is only $30.50/day and for guests (if there is room) it's only $50.50. This includes your room (shared) and 3 meals a day. Absolutely everything in the lodge from beds to dishes and computers was donated. Trevor Linden donated the computer, way to go Trev! Dad had radiation treatment only while I was there. He couldn't have chemo right away as he needed a phlebotomy to reduce the red blood cell count. We spent a lot of time getting caught up and reading. Unfortunately since I have been back Dad has gone back to his home in Celista since he had some complications that meant he could no longer handle treatment.

The snow returned Saturday night with a vengeance, by Sunday afternoon we had about 2 feet of snow on the ground. Luckily the landlord has a snow blower! I can't imagine how long it would have taken me to shovel an 80 foot long driveway...Of course the dogs are in heaven although when it first snowed they looked more like rabbits as they hopped through the snow (they're only about 10-12 inches high). Since then the upper layer has hardened so now they can walk on top (although the occasional disappearing act does happen, pretty hilarious).

I've finally had an epiphany of sorts on the guitar! I've found a few very good websites that helped me to understand a few basic strumming patterns. I also started using a free piece of software called Audacity that allows me to record my playing. It allows me to record multiple tracks so I can play and then sing over top (something you don't really want to experience, trust me!).

I posted my resume on Monster.com, a site for jobseekers. In the first few days I had 4 phone calls from recruiters. Nothing has materialized yet but hopefully something will come up soon. While I enjoy being the dog's personal plaything all day I really would like to get working. Unfortunately it seems once I tell the recruiters that I am a Canadian citizen and require a Visa they don't call back. Hey guys I'm Canadian, it's not contagious!

Rayne is doing well at work. Her company, Open Solutions had their yearly "Kickoff" party a couple of weeks back (they have this instead of a Christmas party). The party was held in the ballroom of the worlds largest casino called The Foxwoods. The food was good and it was nice to meet some of Rayne's co-workers. They seemed like a nice group of people.

We went to a co-worker of Rayne's for the Superbowl. Brett works in the same cubicle as Rayne (remember the old days when people had their own cubicles!). He has a big screen TV with HDTV (high definition television) and I must admit it was great to see all the Superbowl commercials for a change. In Canada they show mostly Canadian commercials during the game. Sadly for the Seattle Seahawks it appeared that the entire umpiring crew were selected from the Pittsburgh area (where the champion Steelers are from). Across the country here the next day, the talk was all about how many blown calls the refs made. Oh well there's always next year....

Anywho I'm off for now to practice on the guitar. Hope you all are doing well!

Kevin and Rayne

16Dec05 - Fall in Connecticut

Well the picture tells the story now doesn't it. Actually it only tells part of the story. Brodie and Kyla love the snow (BTW that's Kyla after using her head as a snow plow for about 15 feet). We received about 10" last week and it's still here. How odd for us, usually at home it's gone by the afternoon!

Last night we had a small ice storm. The roads this morning are pretty treacherous. The morning walk with the dogs was only missing a little Westie size sled to be complete. Rayne is able to work from home on most bad days so that is a good thing. Unfortunately today is not one of the "most bad days" so she will have to go into the office a little later than usual.

People at work have started to blame Rayne for the nasty weather now. It was only a matter of time.

I've spent the last week weatherproofing the house. Funny but for a house that is in a cold belt it wasn't very well trimmed for cold weather. New felt at the doors and I decided to try the saran wrap type things on the windows. It's actually shrink wrap and so far it's working pretty well. The temperature has been getting down to minus 10 - 12 celsius of late. Kinda Kamloops weather I guess! Our gas bill last month was 169.00 so we'll see if the Saran Wrap makes a difference.

I finished Rayne's Christmas shopping last week. We are just doing stockings with a limit of 100 bucks. It's amazing all the things you can find really cheap down here. Sorry I can't tell you though cause Miss Snoopy might read the blog!

I'm looking forward to going to Vancouver for the World Junior Hockey championships. Rayne and I had bought tickets for all 21 games last year before the move. I had planned to sell the tickets until I called my buddy Curtis in Vancouver. While asking him if he knew anyone to buy the tickets, he suggested he buy one and I make the trip (and stay at his place). Rayne had been bugging me to go without her so I decided to book a ticket. Sadly it means I fly out on Christmas Eve so Rayne and I will be celebrating a day early. She has been invited by neighbours and coworkers for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years already. Seems everyone was just waiting to get me out of the way to invite her!

Here's wishing you all a very happy and healthy holiday season and a wonderful New Year!

Kevin and Rayne

17Oct05 - Just a picture for today...

I was on a local website and found this. I hope it makes you chuckle too.

15Oct05 - Our first trip to Canada, the flood of 2005 (aka how I spent all night running sump pumps)

The first picture is the view from Rayne's aunt's cottage north of Toronto.

This is a photo of a park bench in Goodwin Park (just across the street) which is not usually in the middle of the pond!


Well we went for our first foray to Canada since we moved here in July. Apparently if we plan to become non-residents (and thus pay only US taxes) this is something we can't do too often. The drive from Wethersfield took about 8 1/2 hours including a few stops for the dogs along the way. When we arrived it was nice to see Rayne's aunt Pat and one of her cousins (Reed) and his son (Tyler).

The dogs had a great time as soon as we got there, playing with a border collie next door, digging in the sand and swimming in the lake. Pat cooked a prime rib for dinner to go with the wine that we brought with us from our stop in Marmora. We spent the evening at the neighbours house watching hockey night in Canada with a houseful! Oh it's nice to be in Canada again!

The next few days were spent relaxing, eating turkey (the next eveings dinner) and watching movies. We chatted about the cottage and all the changes Pat was making (she sold her house and is moving to the cottage full time) and reminisced about previous visits. The dogs got plenty of long walks in the woods and enjoyed the view of the lake from the enclosed deck.

On Wednesday we headed for home. We arrived in Wethersfield to the same weather that we left, rain. In fact since we had left on Saturday it had rained every day in Connecticut. We spent Thursday hanging out, grocery shopping and watching more movies (hey it was raining). Friday night came and we had a Ham for dinner and settled in to watch the Canucks play hockey. Around 10:00pm I went downstairs to check the basement since for the last couple of days the rain had been pretty constant. Sure enough in the lowest corner of the basement there was a rather large puddle starting to form. I decided to go to the neighbours house to see if they were flooding or if it was just us.

My neighbour Hector met me at the door. I told him that we had started to get some water in the basement and asked him how his place was. He said his place was fine but we decided to look anyway. Where we had a large puddle Hector's entire basement had 3 inches of water. I immediately went back home and called the landlord to see if he had a sump pump.

The landlord Joe, showed up at 10:30 with a small pump. We hooked it up and started to get the water out. Unfortunately the rain continued and got even heavier. The pump alone wasn't going to be enough. Joe wasn't sure it was going to be a big problem so I convinced him to go to Hector's house and check it out. We arrived to find Hector now had 8 inches of water in his basement and stuff floating everywhere.

Joe decided to go find another pump and I went home to check on the pump and get all our things up off the ground in case we weren't able to keep the water at bay. When Joe returned he had another pump but it needed to be submersed in water or it would overheat and stop working. As luck would have it the flodding started to get alot worse and the nastiest spot was the downstairs toilet. We stuck the one pump in the toilet and the other pump in the laundry room. The only problem was the pump in the toilet would drain the toilet then overheat and quit working. After some time we just started unplugging the pump every minute or so, letting the toilet fill up (30 seconds) and then plug the pump back in. This went on from 11:30pm until 7:30am the next morning.

I set up chairs and Joe and I sat and watched TV, drank some wine and marvelled at how much water was coming in. At one point we walked outside to look at the road and noticed that the pond on the golf course across the street had now swollen so much that it was now even with the road. Joe, who has been a longtime resident of the area was amazed. In the past 8 days the area had received over 12 inches of rain. Joe went out in the morning and bought an expandable plug and we removed the toilet and plugged the out take to stop the water coming in.

Finally the rain subsided later in the morning so Joe went home and I went to bed to get some rest. We were able to stop the damage to our place but the neighbours up and down the street have been devestated. Luckily (or not really), the flooding was caused by the sewers backing up (yuck!) and so people should be able to get their things replaced and fixed without having to have flood insurance.

So let's check the score here now.....the hottest summer on record with 29 days of 90+ weather, a flood that many have said is a once in 50 year event, gee I can hardly wait for winter!

Ciao for Now!

Kevin and Rayne

04Oct05 - A Trip to watch the World Series Champion Red Sox vs. my Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park


The first picture is from the subway in Boston at the Park Street station. They have a mosaic mural there that is just beautiful and something one doesn't expect to find in the subway!




This is a my view from my seat in right field. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for watching a game.
The entrance to Fenway Park off Yawkey Way. There were people everywhere hawking everything from hotdogs to souvenirs. Over 30,000 people showed up for the game on a Tuesday afternoon at 1:05 pm; doesn't anybody work?

Ah, the reason Fenway is so special, The Green Monster in left field. It's 37 feet 2 inches high and 240 feet long and stands 310 feet from home plate. Apparently back in the old days the ground in front was also sloped up some 10 feet. It still is raised a little today but not nearly 10 feet!


Two trips to Boston and the most expensive sporing event I have ever seen.

While looking at things online (on Monday the 26th of September) I decided to checkout the Craiglist sight for Boston. For those of you who don't know what Craiglist is, it's a free online classified ad site. They have most major cities listed and this is in fact how I found our washer/dryer.

While browsing the tickets, I noticed that there were a number of people selling tickets for the Blue Jays/Red Sox series starting that evening so I decided to call Rayne and see if she was interested in going to Boston for a ball game. It's about 2 hours away from Hartford. Once I spoke to Rayne (and got the budget for tickets) I set about sending off emails to anyone that was selling cheap tickets. There were a few for 25.00-30.00/ticket obo (or best offer) and most were much more expensive. I really wasn't expecting much since Rayne and I had decided our budget was 60.00/pair, the Red Sox were in the midst of a penant race with the Yankees and if you were to get on the waiting list today for season tickets you might actually get them by 2050 (seriously!).

As luck would have it one of the people I emailed was a student from Boston University. She had lsited the tickets at 25.00 obo but said she was hoping to get 42.50/ticket. I called Rayne and we settled on 35.00/ticket. Rayne got off work early, I arranged with the neighbours son to take the dogs for a walk while we were at the game and off we went.

The drive to Boston was pertty uneventful. Most of the drive is on the Massachusetts Turnpike which is pretty straight and boring. I had printed directions to Fenway from Mapquest so we could meet and get the tickets before the game. Now here is the thing. Boston has pathetic directions (even to Fenway Park) and is full of obnoxios/discourteous drivers/pedestrians and an inordinate number of one way streets. While we made it to Boston with an hour to spare it took us more than 1/2 an hour (and plenty of expletives) to eventually find Fenway and get parking.

BTW the parking was 30.00, so between the 2 tickets and parking we're at 100.00 (not bad for a trip to Fenway I figure!). We went into the Golds gym next to Fenway and asked to borrow the phone to arrange to pick up the tickets. In another two minutes the girl showed up with the tickets and took our 70.00, she rushed off in a heartbeat because it had just started to rain...

We entered Fenway and wound our way through the hallowed halls (picking up a beer on the way) to find our seats in the bleachers. We put on our Gortex jackets, marvelled at the lights and the Green Monster and sipped our beer while we waited for the rain to lighten and the game to start. An hour passed and the rain continued to fall until an announcement came over the PA that the game had been cancelled and would be made up the next day at 1:05pm. Dammit! We had half expected the rain out (there was a 56% chance of rain) but I did not expect them to schedule the game for the next day. Apparently neither did the throngs of faithful that loudly booed when they annonced the date and time for the make up game. Like Rayne, I suspect that many of the crowd were at the night game because they had to work and couldn't attend a day game. The only happy people this night would be the scalpers lined up at the front door buying tickets for 15.00/each no matter their value! So we went back to the car and drove home to Hartford in the rain...

the tally for a rainout

Two tickets for the game - 70.00
Gas to and from Boston - 30.00
Parking across the street - 30.00
2 beers to drink in the rain - 13.50

Total 143.50

When we arrived home I asked one of the neighbours if they'd like to come to the game the next day, all they had to do was pay bus fare to the game. They couldn't make it (something about going to college or some rubbish). The next day it went like this.

Cab Fare to the Bus Station - 18.00 (with tip)
Return Bus ticket to Boston - 42.00
return Subway fare to Fenway - 2.50
Massive delicious Hot Dog - 6.75
Water to sit in the 80f bleachers - 4.00

Total for day 2 - 73.25

I sold Rayne's ticket after some haggling for 15.00

Net Total for day 2 - 58.25

Total for me to go see one game at Fenway Park.........201.75 (Ouch!)

The game was great. The Blue Jays lost, which made the fans happy. People all around me were giving me high fives whenever Boston got a strikeout or a hit. I even learned to speak New Englandese! A leadoff hitter (the guy who bats first) is a "table setta", Fenway is a "Ball Pahk", and when you go home you get in your "Cah". Now put it all together, "Pahk yuh cah in Hahvahd Yahd". Apparently the letter R is to be used sparingly if at all in these parts. Speach geeks call this non-rhotic speaking...

We are headed to Ontario to visit Rayne's aunt at her cabin (or cottage if you are from Ontario), this weekend. It should be a good time. The dirve is about 7 1/2 hours non-stop so I expect with puppy watering breaks we should be there in 10 hours or so. It'll be nice to be in Canada again!

I ordered the NHL Centre Ice package from the cable company here. Unfortunately something went haywire on opening night and so I missed my beloved Cancuks game...I was pretty dissapointed after 1 1/2 years of waiting to see hockey again so I went and wrote to nasty reviews of the cable company on Epinions etc. A nice fellow showed up today to resolve the problem so hopefully I can watch some games when we get back! Looking forward to Hockey Night in Canada escapes on Saturday night!

The weather here has still been very warm. Today 07Oct05, the temperature has been in the low 80s (25 -28c) and very humid! Apparently next week things will suddenly drop down to the 60s (15c). It's been too warm for the fall leaves to change so far but we plan to take lots of pictures on the way up and back if we see a magic spot.

Hope you are all keeping well and you enjoy Thanksgiving!

Ciao for Now

Kevin and Rayne

BTW if you leave a comment can you put you name in so we know who's speaking? Cheers

29Sep05 - I finally figured out how to get more images in a blog!

The first image is of a car in Newport that we saw in front of stores that fit the time period (actually it should have been a horse and carriage). Honestly, it's very difficult not to get a Honda parked there in the frame...

The second picture is of few boats moored in a small bay off the coast of Newport. Strangely the boats seemed entirely inadequate for the Mansions we had just passed but hey, maybe the rich folks just need a taxi to the yacht!

The last pic is of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The building was really magnificent! I would have liked to spend more time there. Unfortunately the restaurant attached was supposed to open at 11:30 but didn't open then and I was getting "grumpy hungry" (hence the meatball sub in the previous post!) so we continued on...Besides that, I'm sure Brodie and Kyla weren't likely to be welcome in the "Hall of Fame", their loss. They've never seen a Westie ball retriever I'm quite sure...

29Sep05 - Blogger Image Upload problem, Mystic CT and Newport RI
Well I haven't updated for a week or so because I have been unable to upload any pics to the blog! Now I know you are all awaiting my latest ruminations with baited breath but if you're like me, reading without pictures is just plain painful!

The picture is of the drawbridge in the Seaport of Mystic, Connecticut (about an hour or so from Wethersfield). It's a quaint little place on the coast. It's claim to fame is that the first movie that had Julia Roberts in it was filmed here. The movie is called Mystic Pizza and the Pizza shop actually inspired the writer to film there! We stopped here for a coffee and a watering break for the dogs on the way to Newport, Rhode Island.

The journey to Newport took another hour and involved crossing two very long bridges (one with a toll). Newport is quite different than most of the regular tourist trap seaport cities that we have visited on both coasts. Many of the houses date back to the 1600 and 1700's and a great number of the old port buildings still exist (mind you they have been converted to Pubs etc.). We parked the car a few blocks away from the water and wandered around the upper part of Newport looking for a place to eat. While on our walkabout we happened upon a restaurant that was inside the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The building was a 17th century wood frame building that used to be a Casino in it's day. Very cool place that had a courtyard restaurant that enveloped a grass tennis court. I will post a picture when I stop getting errors from Blogger!

We couldn't find a place to eat that would allow the dogs to sit outside (off the deck and leashed) so we meandered our way down to the water area and found a Subway shop to get a sub. I know I'm not supposed to eat wheat but man sometimes I just gotta have a metaball sub!!! We walked around Newport people watching and taking pictures with the dogs for a while and then decided to head back to the car (that was parked in a 2 hour zone) and head off to do a tour of the Newport Mansions.

The Mansion Drive in Newport is something quite spectacular. The houses and properties are indeed magnificent. Many of the mansions are open to the public (those without dogs) so you can walk the grounds and some common areas. Since we had the dogs we didn't stop and so I don't know if the tours are free or if they charge money for them. Eventually the drive circles the waterfront with some truly beautiful vistas and a large State Park right on the ocean. The money in Newport must be very old because the mansions make those in places like the Uplands (Victoria) and Shaugnessy (Vancouver) look like guest houses (which many of them have). Oh well, I bought a ticket for the powerball lottery down here today maybe I'll buy one with the 167 million I'm gonna win!

I'll continue on with our trip to Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox, Mom that's baseball) next time, hopefully I'll be able to upload some more pics by then...

Ciao

14Sept05 - A learning experience about appointed officials

The picture is an early one of Kyla, who knew such a cute lttle thing could harbour such a mischevious attitude!

I have been riveted for the last few days by the process of electing a Chief Justice to the Supreme Court of the US. It is interesting to note that Supreme Court officials in the US are "lifetime" appointments. Currently there are 2 vacancies due to the untimely death of the Chief Justice (tie breaker kinda guy) and the resignation of Sandra Day Oconnor. Right now the Senate Judiciary Committee is interviewing a candidate for Chief Justice John Roberts, that just recently (a week ago) was only being considered for a Supreme court judge position. Considering the man is only 50 years old it means the Republicans could have a stranglehold on the Supreme court for a very long time (scary).

Now I must say that I am intrigued for 2 main reasons. The first being that the "lifetime" appointment means it is a crucial decision (you can't just fire the guy!!!!). The second being that with the overt partisan politic that is evident in the US right now (right vs. left) that I was interested to see how the different parties would treat the candidate in "on camera" interviews.

I must say that with the exception of Republican Senator, Orrin Hatch from Utah (Republican party guy) I really didn't see too much in the way of coaxing sympathetic answers (ass kissing). On the contrary I must admit I have a greater respect for one Arlen Specter (another Republican who happens to believe in Roe vs. Wade) who hammered the nominee with a number of questions regarding womens rights. Unfortunately most of Mr. Roberts answers were answered either indirectly or he declined to answer (apparently this is common practice for nominees).

Now I realize that most of you have no idea what I'm talking about, but I must say that I have been impressed with the due diligence that has been given to the nomination of a judicial official. When was the last time Canadians were able to watch the discretionary decision of a parliamentary appointment:? I realize that patronage appointments are just that but at least in this case there is a public forum and the candidate is held accountable in an open forum.

The Canadian method is more secretive. In fact this excerpt is taken directly from the Department of Justice Canada website (http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/scc/4.html) where they are proposing reform!

"Confidentiality is the most critical prerequisite to ensuring the effective operation and public credibility of the revised process. The prospect of breaches of confidentiality could result in a future reluctance on the part of those consulted to provide candid and forthright assessments, and thereby undermine the effectiveness of the process. "

Now I don't know about you, but I think if some judge is going to receive a cherry appointment until he's 75 and be deciding the most important judicial and constitutional matters in the country that we "citizens" should be privy to the review process and the information obtained. That's it for my rant...but I am impressed with the process here.

The price of gas is going down here but not as quickly or as much as it went up. It's currently 2.99/ US gallon after hitting highs of 3.35. An interesting artical in the paper mentioned that used car prices for big gas guzzling SUVs were down around 10%, maybe people are finally getting the message. Interestingly when we were looking at vehicles one of thre NIssan models we were interested in Canada isn't even sold here. It's called the Xtrail and is a 4 cylinder sport utility...wonder if we'll see it soon.

Later