Regina

We got up early and drove to Regina today, took in the Saskatchewan Science Centre, and wandered around the grounds of the Saskatchewan Legislature where the hot weather had people out in force.  While we were walking around the Saskatchewan Science Centre, my nerve endings in my ankle and face started going nuts and I realized that it was going to be a long horrible night.  After talking it over with Wendy, we decided to drive back to Saskatoon which was frustrating but with the pain I am in now, it was the right decision.  I'll see what tomorrow brings and may post some photos of Regina in the morning.  Right now I am going to find a place to lay in pain.

Photo Friday: Fuzzy

Christmas 2007

So Christmas 2007 has come and gone. It was an odd one for me. I enjoyed it and Wendy blogged about it here (and she blogged about Boxing Day here). This is Mark's seventh Christmas and he was the same age I was when my dad walked out a couple weeks after Christmas. I remember a lot about that Christmas, including what an ass he was that holiday and thinking how much better life would be without him. Those thoughts came to haunt me within a couple of weeks and he was gone and life was changed. I may not be the perfect dad but I made it this far. It's an odd milestone to celebrate but it feels pretty good. As a friend of mine said, "You have to experienced it to really understand what this feels like." I think the rest of you will think I am going crazy but that is okay too.

Christmas was a simple affair as it often is around here. I woke up early, went down to the Centre with Maggi to haul some televisions out for the guys and wish a Merry Christmas to the staff that was working. I was home by around 8:15 a.m. and everyone was just getting out of bed to open gifts. The big gift of the day was for Mark. A couple of months ago Lee said he wanted to get Mark a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. We phoned and phoned and no one had one (well done Nintendo. I wonder how many PS3's were sold by people who could not get a Wii?). Somewhere along the way, Mark started to say that he wanted a Sony Playstation 2 like his Uncle Lee. We realized a) you could find them b) it was cheaper c) there were a lot of games to play for it. So Lee got him a PS2 and Wendy and I bought him the Guitar Hero I & II combo and the guitar controller. One thing we learned while opening the gifts is that Sony's marketing hasn't gotten to Mark. As he was opening the gift he said, "I see a P and part of a S. I wonder what this is?"

We played The Simpsons game for a bit before we took out the guitar and then the competition started. For the last two days Guitar Hero has been played by at least one of us and a lot of smack has been talked around here. I hate to admit it but both Wendy and Lee are better than I am and Lee is the reigning Guitar Hero of the household.

From the family, Wendy gave me Warren Kinsella's book, The War Room. Mark gave me Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World. Mark and I have been watching Poker After Dark on Sportsnet and I am fascinated by it although I am embarrassed to say that I have no idea what is happening during the show. To help remedy that, he gave me No Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament Edition 2006 (with some help from Wendy). Maggi gave me Kanye West's CD, Graduation while Santa Claus dropped off Shadow by Bob Woodward and The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. Lee gave me one of the new Star Wars themed PSP's. Until I was playing around with it, I had no idea it also had a RSS reader in it. Expect to see a PSP feed reader checking out your feed stats in the near future. Until I get a memory stick for it this week, I will have to remain content with fighting the Empire.

After we established I was horrible at Guitar Hero, we stopped in and saw the Pederson clan and then was off to the Reimers were we had a great supper with a large group of friends. Today was more Guitar Hero (Wendy and Lee were battling it out) and we managed to take Mark to the park to test out a used GT Sno Racer I got for him just before Christmas and his snowboard.

The only bad part of the holiday season is I have had a fever, chills and cold for most of it. Thursday I am back at work and hopefully this gets better than worse.

Technorati tags: PSP, Sony, PS2, Guitar Hero

Happy Holidays

Well as I post this I am ready for Christmas.  Every fall I start a spreadsheet and over the following months it gets refined and items picked up.  We were done the bulk of the shopping well before the craziness of Christmas shopping hits and I actually made two trips to the 24 hour Wal-Mart to do some shopping.  Last night Wendy and I set our alarm for 3:00 a.m. and went to the Stonegate Wal-Mart and wandered around a bit.  It is amazing how the shopping experience gets better when there are only 20 other shoppers in the largest Wal-Mart in western Canada.  The really odd thing is that on both trips to Wal-Mart I saw someone shopping in what was clearly pajamas.  If I could be dressed to shop, surely they could be as well.   Wendy and I only had a couple of things to look at but the problem with shopping at 3:00 a.m. is that you can't really call anyone up and casually ask, "So do you have a deep fryer?".  I guess you could but Wendy wouldn't let me.

Wendy struggled a bit with her shopping for me and blogged a bit about it.  Her depression, self-imposed pressure, and firm deadlines don't always go together.  After reminding her that the perfect Christmas generally isn't purchased, a lot of stress went away and the four of us are relaxing while listening to some Christmas tunes.  Well actually Lee and Mark are having a Karate duel right now, Maggi is barking, and Wendy is officiating.  It isn't looking good for Mark or Lee while Maggi is holding her own.

Lee is off work as Case New Holland shuts down for a week over the holidays.  While I am sure he has some skills working on the paint line, he just brought up some presents that look like they were wrapped by a man.  Wendy is working at Safeway on Christmas Eve but for only the second time since we have been married gets Boxing Day off of work.  The big question on Christmas Eve is how many married men will come in at 4:00 p.m. or later and ask Wendy where Safeway keeps the jewelry.  They look so worried when she says they don't sell it.  I am putting in a half day at the Centre tomorrow and then am out of there at noon.  I am spending the morning sorting out the stuff that we are giving to the guys on Christmas morning.  Some churches have made gift bags for the guys as well as a lot of individual donations to be sorted.  The photo to the right is just some of the stuff taking up every single square inch in my office.  On top of that I have stuff stored all over the Centre.  Last week I actually created a spreadsheet to keep track of it all.  We are renting some DVDs and offering up a lot of food as well, it should be a pretty nice day.  If the weather improves Mark and I will take his GT Sno Racer out for a run.  I had one as a kid and some of the most painful things I have ever endured came as a result of that thing so it should be fun.  I just hope his injuries don't affect his Christmas.

On Christmas morning, I am getting up early and helping set up things down at the shelter.  Once shift change happens, I am heading back home to open gifts with the family.  Sometime tomorrow we are heading to the Reimer's to eat and argue.  Today Gloria and I had a conversation where we both decided that we would rather just talk about the faith rather than live it out so all we have to do is argue :-)

I have a growing photo set on Flickr of Christmas 2007 photographs.  I am sure more will be uploaded over the next couple of days but don't expect anything here until I head back to work on the 27th. 

Enjoy Christmas!

Technorati tags: Christmas, Wal-Mart, GT Sno Racer

Wendy's Birthday

Wendy turns 38 today and is a little weirded out that her co-workers all knew it was her birthday from Facebook.  Of course at her age, new technologies often confuse her.  She's spending the day ranting about how much better things were back when she was young... the era of Pong, Vic-20s, and when she thought she looked good in leg warmers. 

Technorati tags: Wendy Cooper, Facebook, Safeway

Christmas

I guess I am officially in the Christmas mood. The snow and cold are here to stay in Saskatoon. Yesterday it was almost -30 with the wind chill. Just walking across the street from my car to work was enough to make me want to move.

Wendy and I did some Christmas shopping this weekend. We bought Mark a snowboard which was harder than we thought. We had some Canadian Tire money so I wanted to get it from Canadian Tire. At the same time I have always been told snowboards needed to have metal edges. After talking to a couple of people who do snowboard (I ski so I know nothing), I was told that for Mark's age and type of hill he will be snowboarding on (the hill in A.H. Brown Park isn't that big), the snowboard we got him would be fine until he is ready to graduate to an actual ski hill. After the Canadian Tire money, the snowboard was just a couple of dollars and we got him some snowboard glasses a couple of weeks ago. We also went to Toys R Us and I was amazed that the same toys that I played with as a kid have all made a comeback (or in the case of Star Wars have provided a steady stream of income for George Lucas for 30 years now). Mark has been fascinated by my PDA since I started using it again and we also found a Sponge Bob Squarepants PDA with a remarkable 2k of RAM. Not a lot but what does a seven year old need to keep track of.

We also managed to make it out to Costco to look around. The carts were lined up to the back of the store. It was a sight to see and what I don't understand is that Costco wasn't running that great of sales so I have no idea what would be so important to stand in line for a couple of hours for. We browsed and looked around and took some notes but like I said, there was nothing worth standing around for.

Yesterday Wendy came down to the Centre and helped decorate the Residential Unit's lounge's and hallways. Some wreaths on doors, a nice Christmas Tree (we still need a star to go on top), and some other decorations for the front lobby. We have B.B. King's Christmas CD playing and life is good. We have also been making some plans for making Christmas Day nice for the guys at the Centre which is fun.

Technorati tags: Christmas, Canadian Tire, Costco

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hope yours was a decent Thanksgiving weekend. Around the Cooper family compound, it was busy with Wendy and I both working all weekend as well as the holiday today. I worked the graveyard shift Sunday so I got to cook the dinner. Wendy enlisted Lee's help who managed to turn on the oven by himself and place the turkey beside the stove before wandering off. After that I just kind of took over with Mark and we cooked up a fine dinner. After watching Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, I rediscovered my love for Yorkshire pudding and of course have joined the Campaign for Real Gravy.

Later last night, the Reimer's came over and Mark gave Gloria a karate lesson, we ate some pumpkin pie and all was good.

Dogs

Anyone who has ever owned a dog knows what Warren Kinsella and his family are going through right now.  I remember the sorrow of putting down Elway.

Technorati tags: Warren Kinsella, Elway, dogs

Have your lawyer call me...

Article on how divorces after 30 years together are getting more and more common.

Not long after the 30th wedding anniversary party, after the family photos had been thoroughly reviewed, the toasts and good wishes shared, the presents opened, the guests thanked, not long after the roses in the vase had wilted and sagged, he/she (you pick) left a note on the kitchen table that read in part: "Gone for good.… Get your lawyer to phone mine. Soon."

Wendy and I know a couple of couples who decided to end their marriage after 20+ years which strikes me as being really, really sad.

62

My mom would have turned 62 today if she had survived brain cancer 9 years ago.  53 is too young to die and I wonder how life would have turned out differently for my brother and sister if she had beaten the cancer.

To the right is an old photo of her with my grandfather and grandmother taken when she was 18 or 19 and one that we didn't know existed until after her death when some relatives gave me a print. It was a favorite photo of several of the family and I am glad they gave us a print.

I have been thinking about her a bit lately as Mark has been learning about ancestors in a book he is reading and I have been telling him about the family tree. The fun part is when I get to tell him about the skeleton's in the closet of the family tree. 

A lot changed since she died and not all of it good.  It had a big impact on others in the family and because they were so young, it was a lot harder on them then it was me.  I also think of how much garbage she put up from me growing up and I realized that with both my brother and Wendy suffering from depression, I need to show the grace with them that she showed with me growing up. 

Technorati tags: Marion Cooper

Mark on Flickr

Mark has been taking a bunch of photos with whatever digital camera we will let him us this summer.  I set up a Flickr account for him the other day and he has been busy uploading some photos.  If you are interested, you can find his photos here.

Technorati tags: Mark Cooper, photography, Flickr

Father's Day

Today was Father's Day and Mark gave me a barbecue set and a Dale Earnhardt Jr. watch which raised my eyebrows a bit. I think that means that my right arm is now sponsored by Budweiser. I have been watching a little NASCAR lately with Mark and I have to admit, it is better than watching Formula One or IndyCart (although Paul Tracey does liven it up quite a bit). The rest of the day was spent trying to sleep as I am working nights the next two weeks and this is my one transition day. The sleep never came no matter how many left turns they made today in Michigan. We had hoped to do some carting ourselves today but it rained a couple of inches which is doing wonders for my lawn but not so much for my efforts in being a NASCAR dad (you know, taking Mark to NASCAR practices, NASCAR little league games, NASCAR recitals...)

Technorati tags: NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Father's Day