Happy Birthday To Wendy & Happy New Year's Eve!

A shot of the moon & a fireworks burst of light courtesy of my dad's pyrotechnic aptitude.

Last year we spent New Year's in Green Bay but this year we were able to get away to the Star Lake Cottage with my parents, my brother Kyle & his family, and my sister Keira.

This shot was taken via tripod on bulb mode on New Year's Eve.

Our annual tradition of sparklers & fireworks!

I did manage to get a few football games in and saw the Packers clobber the Bears but unfortunately they just missed getting into the playoffs with the Giants having a stronger strength of schedule or something like that. I guess I'll be cheering for the Seahawks instead - my B-team ended up in the Superbowl last year but they definitely aren't the same team. New Orleans would be my next pick - we'll see what unfolds during the wild-card weekend.

A shot of Chelsea & yours truly doing some skiing at sunset on Star Lake.

A shot of us in less of a posed shot.

I got lots of skiing in - I'm guessing about 20kms by the time the weekend was over and Chelsea joined me for a km or two on the lake trails that my father groomed. We also cleared off a huge section of lake for a skating rink which was a workout in itself.

My little sister Kiki skating (hey if you don't want this posted let me know)

I was able to play a bit with my camera during Wen's birthday celebration that coincides nicely with New Year's fireworks!Wen's birthday cake complete with the appropriate number of candles.

The birthday girl Wendy & our daughters (kind of cute how Chelsea is holding Wens' belly where child #3 currently is hiding out!)

Christmas for unfortunately often involves tons of marking exams - I had total of 86 exams to go through and I managed to get all my marking done by Dec. 30th. On top of that I had to create new syllabi for three courses because of our switch from a modular to a semester double block schedule. So yeah - although I got to play with my family and enjoy some of the festivities, I still had lots of work to get done.

Aimee bundled up, if you look closely you can see her dad in her eyes!

A nice shot of Chelsea in winter-mode.

The girls absolutely love the outdoors and highlights for them included playing with their dolls, building forts, Chels' skiing, Aims' snowmobiling with Grandpa, and both loved going for short hikes in the snow!

A couple shots of Aimee & Grandpa on the snowmachine!

Wendy has caught up to me once again age-wise - at least until March! 2006 was a great year for us as a couple and a family. We'll see what 2007 brings? I'm hoping lots of mountain biking, teachable moments in the classroom, fun & learning times with the family, escapes with Wendy, a healthy baby boy in May, the list continues...

Another shot of our annual tradition of sparklers & fireworks!

2007 Bikes For Under The Tree

March seems so far away right now...

Merry Christmas!

In similar fashion to my musings blog, I've decided to post a collage of memories of our 2006 but this time in full-on colour! We haven't done much today other than read the Christmas story, opened a few presents for the kids, and had some delicious home-made waffles for lunch. Aims & Chels both seem to be pretty pumped about there gifts! We actually went second-hand with some stuff and opted for more practical gifts like books! But we did grace Aims with a doll or two! Cornish hens are on the menu for supper - it has been our tradition for the past ten years - turkeys just make you sleepy and who wants turkey sandwiches for the next month?

Chels & I may go tobogganing later - we'll see! I spent part of the afternoon putting together a playlist for my iPod shuffle which found its way into my stocking courtesy of my lovely wife. She in turn got a surprise of the practical gift of new pots and pans in the colour scheme of our kitchen - deep red! And yes - we've exchanged plenty of chocolate!!! I get the dark stuff - she get's the milky kind!

UPDATE: The hens were great - two were spiced by yours truly and second pair had a neat boysenberry rub...served with mashed potatoes, gravy, & veggies. Yep - the family went sledding on the big hill! It was a little breezy but the temperature was great. Both girls had a blast with dad and mom watched us from on top!

Merry Christmas!

Well - this is our family's year in review complete with a sepia-toned collage! It has been truly an amazing year and one that is worth celebrating! The journey of life is filled with its challenges but that is what makes it unpredictable. From times at the cottage, teaching in the classroom, exploring the outdoors, capturing images, playing hard, escaping to Costa Rica, to just coming home and being family, it really has been a great 2006! Wendy is beyond the wife I deserve, my daughters bring me so much joy, and I love exploring play while musing about anything under the sun! Cheers & Merry Christmas!

UPDATE 12/25/06: I redid the collage - the old one had some issues. It's been a relaxing Christmas other than all the meal prep & clean-up today! The girls have been a little wired but that may be our fault for letting them go nuts on the chocolates and the new stuff they are playing with. Lots of new books - which means we get something new to read as well!

Exploring Key Words

It took me a lot less time "key-wording" exploreplay thankfully than my musings blog. Here are the top seven topics for you to peruse if interested: mountain-biking, traveling, musings, photography, play, quotes, & skiing.

Key Words

Wow - I just finished "key-wording" all 190+ posts on this blog but I think the results will be cool. My top five topics include: family, education, photography, music, & factoids. I'll post links to these eventually on my sidebar and perhaps a few other topics. It is kind of neat to see how many times I've blogged about coffee for example - 7 times! The outdoors, mountain-biking, etc. popped up more often prior to creating another blog more focused on play - exploreplay. I've also updated that blog with key-words as well!

The Wonders of Ultrasound

Well - we were once again exposed to the wonders of ultrasound earlier today and witnessed the first pictures of our baby due somewhere around May 10. Pictures taken with sound - what an amazing concept! Here are some interesting factoids from Wikipedia that you may find interesting:

• Ultrasound is sound with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing, this limit being approximately 20 kilohertz (20,000 hertz).
• Ultrasound is generally regarded as a "safe test" because it does not use ionising radiation as in x-rays, nuclear medicine, or CT. But it is a form of energy, and scans should only be performed for a suitable medical indication by trained operators. The biggest danger of ultrasound is often considered to be misdiagnosis by untrained operators.
• A common use of ultrasound is in range finding; this use is also called sonar. This works simiarly to radar: An ultrasonic pulse is generated in a particular direction. If there is an object in the path of this pulse, part or all of the pulse will be reflected back to the sender as an echo and can be detected. By measuring the difference in time between the pulse being transmitted and the echo being received, it is possible to determine how far away the object is.
• The dog whistle is used to call to a dog. It makes ultrasound at a frequency in the range of 16000 Hz to 22000 Hz that dogs can hear.
• It is well known that dolphins and some whales can hear ultrasound and have their own natural sonar system.

Some more interesting factoids were found at Howstuffworks. In ultrasound, the following events happen:

1. The ultrasound machine transmits high-frequency (1 to 5 megahertz) sound pulses into your body using a probe.
2. The sound waves travel into your body and hit a boundary between tissues (e.g. between fluid and soft tissue, soft tissue and bone).
3. Some of the sound waves get reflected back to the probe, while some travel on further until they reach another boundary and get reflected.
4. The reflected waves are picked up by the probe and relayed to the machine.
5. The machine calculates the distance from the probe to the tissue or organ (boundaries) using the speed of sound in tissue (5,005 ft/s or1,540 m/s) and the time of the each echo's return (usually on the order of millionths of a second).
6. The machine displays the distances and intensities of the echoes on the screen, forming a two dimensional image.

So yeah - interesting stuff and we are looking forward to revisiting the pictures/video of baby #3 in a couple weeks...and yes - we do know our future child's gender!

This may sound strange but knowing the gender in someways makes our baby more "real" and I'm curious if anyone else has experienced that? And now we have to decide how or if we should share this information? Seeing as we have two daughters already - some say the odds would be that we will have another daughter. Some say that every father needs a son and statistically it would make sense that we would have a boy! Frankly, both Wendy & I prior to going to the ultrasound admitted that if we were to have a boy we would be stepping into completely foreign territory - a little bit scary! Anyone care to place any wagers on gender, weight or birth date?

A B C D F - Yep I'm Marking Exams!!!

Marking has been called the "bedpan" of teaching and personally I haven't found a more apt description but then again it is pretty hard to be creative when going through doldrums of correcting other people's mistakes. Sure there are the teachable moments, the "wow - i didn't expect you to do that well" surprises, the genuine pride that I do have when students succeed. But then there are the failures, the "obviously-didn't-study-and-probably-doesn't care" student wallowing in apathy and apparently likes the letter "F" - admittedly I sometimes struggle to understand how it is mathematically possible to bomb a true & false section of an exam!

Any-hows, I have officially completed the marking of one course (Interpersonal Processes) and for that I can celebrate - only two more courses' marking of final exams to go! Unfortunately - one of those courses (Communications) had 53 students, of which I've completed about 15. My other course (Philosophy & Programming of Youth Ministry) entailed a take-home exam and I'm saving that for last as I get to see firsthand the aspirations & dreams of ten people considering a calling & profession! Here's to emptying the bedpan and switching gears to a new year of teaching...oh yeah, I almost forgot - apparently I have to retool all my syllabi for 2007! So once I'm done marking - it's back to r & d my courses for the new year...

Favorite Instrumental Albums

I used to collect movie soundtracks because I love to study with background music. That love to work with music continues and I do find that instrumental stuff still works best as it allows a person to not be distracted with lyrics. I have discovered over time that music allows me to be more easily inspired & creative than simply just focusing on my work.
The Last of the Mohicans is one of those soundtracks that captured me back in 1992 - interestingly it was also background music to some of my dates with my then future wife! I also enjoyed soundtracks a little on the weird side - like the soundtrack from Twin Peaks.
If everyone remembers that David Lynch produced series, you will know what creative weirdness the music supported. It has a cool laid-back jazz feel to it and I find I still play it when I'm in more of a bluesy-jazz mood.
A recent soundtrack that I listen to from time to time is from the movie The Motorcycle Diaries - the Spanish-influenced music matches the incredible story & cinema photography of the film.
I mentioned in my previous post the powerfulness of Friday Night Light's soundtrack which was performed by Explosions in the Sky. Interestingly, as I post this - I'm listening to a similarly styled atmospheric electronica band - God Is An Astronaut - great ethereal quality to it! I think my love of the instrumental began with Joe Satriani's masterpiece Surfing With The Alien back in 1988. Satch's music may not be the trend of the 2000s but it still resonates with me how he allows his guitars to be a conduit for creative wanderings - musings if you will! Track 4 "Always With Me, Always With You" was played at our wedding by my friends Mike Janzen & Jay Kehler. Also coincidently, as I check out the cover of the cd, I have a ticket stub of when I saw Satch & guests perform at the Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall on July 13, 1990.

Other instrumental albums/artists that I have collected (note the variety of styles) over the years include: Phil Keaggy, Bruce Cockburn, Moby, Sigur Rós, The Album Leaf, Andy Hunter, Daniel Lanois, Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits fame), and of course my multiple jazz cds like Coltrane, Robin Nolan Trio, etc.

Any favorite instrumental albums or soundtracks that you treasure and would want to have with you on a desert island?

Back Door Skiing

Admittedly, it is pretty nice living with a playground in your backyard which is why decided to build next to the park. This time of year has been amazing with snow and warm temps hovering around the zero mark. So I escaped on yet another ski across the soccer field and on to the groomed ski trails of our local golf course. Sure it ain't the wilderness but it is great for getting back into shape with about a three week break from mtn biking. Christmas is coming which means there will be lots of food = so I need to do my best in staying somewhat trim! We did a couple laps - maybe 8kms for a little over an hour...just a great stress reliever!

Ski Saturday

I had a great first ski of the season...it was a balmy 1 degree out there and the skis glided well on the groomed trail. I spent sometime off-piste breaking new trails and the snow was a little crispy, breaking off in chunks, so not nearly as efficient as the groomed stuff. After 40 minutes of skiing solo I joined up with Pat, Jason & Dale for a bit and ended up doing a couple laps through the golf course area. I think with my solo stuff & later group ski - I ended up doing around 10-12kms...pretty good workout on the thighs & lungs! Forecast is great for the next week, although we could use a little more snow, some grass was shining through the tracks in places...

Friday Night Lights

One of my favorite movies about football is Friday Night Lights. It is a dark movie in someways, even the lighting at times is eerie, and the soundtrack is so emotional, by an amazing instrumental band - Explosions in the Sky. I heard in the fall that a spin-off tv series was going to be made but I never bothered to check it out until now. I watched the first episode and was blown away - it actually had a movie feel to it and the character development for a pilot was pretty amazing. There is a bit of a spiritual resonance to the series without it being preachy - it just sort of captures life in a Texas town that is focused on high school football to the point of fanaticism...it definitely is worth the peek and you might just stay hooked on the show like I seem be becoming!

Why is Music Legal?

Okay - you have to check this site out...The Dilbert Blog - very funny stuff! A hilarious rant on how music is a mind-altering drug...so true! I better listen to some Tragically Hip! Oh by the way - I've officially become a part of a community rink in the empty lot next door! My neighbour put up some boards and we are in the process of flooding it - I have to make some use out of this -21 degree weather - why not make ice!!!

Skiing to Stay Fit

So obviously my mountain bike season has "frozen" to the point of no hope for a big thaw...so that leaves me with few exercise options to maintain my fitness. Cross-country skiing definitely isn't as edgy or inspiring as rocketing down a hill on two wheels but it still can be fun. But admittedly, it takes a heck of lot more motivation to actually make the trip to Sandilands to ski. Once I'm there it generally is all good but these temps we've been having have definitely made it tougher to be excited. I admit it - I am more of a -5 to -10 skier - the whole arctic tundra -30 thing just doesn't do it for me. Anyone out there who would care to inspire me to stay fit this winter>>>?

So yeah - I need someone to kick me in my butt to get back into physical exercise!!! The Bowflex routine starts this Monday and I may retake up swimming i guess. We can ski locally at the golf-course that is a mere 1/2 km away from my backyard which is nice but no real hills unfortunately. Oh and I may take up spinning if I can justify buying one of those trainer machines for my bike. Anywhoos - I better get back to exam review & closing lecture prep.

Soundtrack of December

I'm not a huge fan of the whole Christmas genre of music generally speaking but there are the few obvious gems like Silent Night or O Holy Night. I personally find that the whole "Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, & Santa" deal gets old fast. My pet peeve is actually Xmas music in stores or shopping centers. Maybe it is the attempt to get us happy consumers to buy more by being in a festive spirit that personally makes me want to hurl or take up Rudoph-hunting as a new sport.

In fact, when it comes to Christmas giving, I'm more in the category of Buy Nothing Christmas or giving more alternative gifts. If you do need to buy something - why not check out Ten Thousand Villages which carries products from overseas that actually support people who really do need economic support more than we need little knick-knacks on our shelves collecting dust. Or why not as a group of friends or family buy a goat or chickens for people living in lesser developed nations - check out World Vision gifts.

If you do need some Christmas music check out Sufjan Steven's Songs For Christmas - it is a great mix to have playing in the background while you deck the halls and pin up the mistletoe. A personal favorite from awhile back is Bruce Cockburn's Christmas album - also a great mix of songs with a good dose of folk-rock. For those into the more contemporary worship scene, I admit to owning City On A Hill - It's Christmas Time and it too is great background music for those family or friend get-togethers. A Very Special Christmas is an interesting an eclectic mix of rock, pop, jazz, & country artists (I think there are at least 6 different volumes now with artists like Sheryl Crow, Tom Petty, Dido, etc.) and interestingly enough the profits go to Special Olympics.

So far my soundtrack of December is pretty sparse when it comes to holiday classics other than the occasional listen to Sufjan's interpretation but I am listening to plenty of instrumental stuff. What's playing for me? Sigur Rós' Takk, The Album Leaf's Into The Blue, & Múm's Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today is Okay. So yeah - that's my current soundtrack for marking during the December season of wrapping up courses and torturing my students with exams.