Patrick's A Year Old!!!!!

Holy Smokes! I can't believe he's a year old today! About this time last year Deb and I were on the way to the hospital for a scheduled C-Section. I was SOOOOOOOOOO nervous I could barely eat! And I wasn't the one having surgery!! Anyways... that was a year ago. Today and everyday after his birth is just as important to me. Everyone says having kids will change your life which is true... but words don't give it justice because it also changes you in such a fundemental way. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for Patrick and I know that on a most primal level.

Moving on... we did a lot to prepare for today this entire week. It's hard to believe it's here already. I brought Patricks gift downstairs while Deb was changing him. It's a sort of one sided house with light switches and a radio and lights and etc. Since he is just army crawling I don't think he'll be able to crawl through the door but time will fix that. He really seems to enjoy it so it's all good!

I'll give you an update on the days events later on but for now... I have to go make breakfast and water some flowers before everyone shows up!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICK!!

Another Day... Another Sore Body Part!

Well I pretty well got our deck fixed. It looks really good but boy was it tricky trying to put that lattice up with 60km/h winds!!! I nearly took off a few times!! I would have looked like a cross between a chubby Mary Poppins and Tim the Tool Man. The picutre would have been complete if i'd been wearing my early 19th century, victorian dress.... but it makes my ass look big and the lace is a bitch to get clean once you get dirt on it. Moving on though... it's really starting to shape up out there. I just have a bit of trim and leveling out the surrounding dirt then i'm done. I figure I can do that tomorrow morning when Patrick is napping and Deb is gone to Owensound with Mom to do some grocery shopping.

I can't believe in a couple more days Patrick will be 1 year old!!??!! Now that he's learning words and kinda walking around with the use of furniture, it's starting to hit me just how friggin old I am! I was told today by a friend of mine that "I had to set an example for him so no drinking"... well, I paraphrased it a lil but it's my blog and I'll say what I want!! Anywho... back to setting examples... Me??? Set an example??? yeesh... that's like taking swimming lessons from a dead guy. Sure you may learn how to float pretty good but it ain't going to be pretty!

Well... I should get going to bed. Long day today and most of the muscles in my body hurt.

HURRAY!!! A WEEK OFF!!


Bout bloody time too if you ask me! I just finished up a busy couple weeks at work and now have a week off. I was really looking forward to it to because i'll get to spend some quality time with Patrick and Deb. Patrick seems to be growing in intelligence by leaps and bounds the last few weeks and I've missed some of it which really irks me. I guess I'll get over it though. I can't be with him 24/7!

The week seems to be shaping up to be a busy one. I have to finish repairing the deck and get my BBQ all set up and secured outside. Finish taking all the spare wood and cut tree's to the dump. Prepare for Patrick's BD party on Saturday. I also want to clear out around the shed all the gravel and level it off... try to make it look nice. LOTS OF WORK! Deb and I are already planning a movie/pizza night on the friday to unwind and relax. I think i'm looking forward to that the most. Just to sit back and relax!

Well... I guess I should go. I'm writing this because I couldn't sleep. Have plans for repairing the deck whizzing through my brain and If i'm not careful, they could hit something important and i'll forget how to go to the bathroom or something!

Here's what religion I should be according to a poll. I think it's pretty close with my own beliefs:

You scored as Buddhism.
Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already. In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth is not based on birth.

Buddhism
88%
Hinduism
79%
Satanism
71%
Paganism
67%
Christianity
58%
agnosticism
58%
Islam
50%
atheism
38%
Judaism
38%

Good Friday

It's been about a week and a bit since I last wrote in here. It's not my fault!! REALLY!!! Deb and I went away last weekend for a get away in St. Catharines. It was really relaxing and we had a great time. My only complaint was that I was supposed to get my train and the controller at a hobby shop they had down there but they didn't have what I wanted. So I ended up getting a few books and 40 feet of track instead. Oh well... I found a hobby shop in Hanover which looks promising.

When we got home on Sunday, Patrick was so happy to see us yet he had a really good time with Grandma Dot and Grampy Paul. They spoiled him rotten which I guess is what grandparents are supposed to do!

Then I had to work most of the week which really sucked because I missed Patrick pulling himself up, start crawling, walking along furniture and yelling "Kitty" at the cats! Go figure. I DID get a excellent surprise of my own though! I went in to check on Patrick before my shower on Wednesday and he was in his crib on his belly just chatting away. He looked up at me and said "Daddy!" I was totally blown away! It made the rest of the day fly by because I was on cloud 9!

Anywho... that brings us up to today.... hmmm... not much to report yet. I've got the weekend off which is really nice. Get to spend time with Deb and Patrick which I miss. So I'll update ya later!

Well, as my darling wife has said, I should really update this!

Deb & Patrick just got back from her mom and dad's in Orangeville yesterday. They were gone for just under a week which was a couple days too long in my books. It wasn't so bad at first because I worked for the first 4 days but I fould after a couple nights with only the cats as company, the house felt empty! I WAS able to get a few things done though while they were away though. I replaced a couple of wall sockets in the living room to match the rest in the house. Plus the one had corroded/burnt wires so it was a bit of a fire hazard. I was also able to nearly complete my train table in the basement. It looks really good but needs a couple more things to complete it.

Concerning the train... I guess I should update anyone who reads this! I've been interested in starting my own model train set for a long time but really got into it a few years back when I met my father-in-law who already had one. He kind of got me started thinking more seriously about it. So when Deb and I went looking for a house, one of the things I was looking for was a room that I could build my own set in. First Objective... CHECK.

Secondly, I had to build a table in which I could store things underneath it because I couldn't in good concious, have a room ENTIRELY devoted to trains. It had to be practical too (So Deb told me in no uncertain terms), so the train table would be a little different then normal ones in that respect. May make wiring a little more tricky but where there's a will, there's a way! So I finished the base of the shelves and table last year. Second Objective... CHECK.

Thirdly, I had to build the top of the table that would hold the styrene and make it look pleasing to the eye. I was able to accomplish that when Deb & Patrick were away this week. I work a lot better at this kind of stuff when I'm alone. I'm not very handy and subsquently, tend to make a lot of mistakes. This in turn leads to my frustration level going way up and I'll take it out on anyone or anything around. I do NOT want to take it out on Patrick and Deb because that's totally unfair so it's best that when I do these major projects, no one is in the house. Anywho.... Third Objective... CHECK!

Now, onto the fourth objective, the planning of the layout and it's controllers. This was roughly done right from the beginning in order for me to design and build my table. I always had a rough idea what I wanted. A mid 1800's to early 1900's mining train with a mountain in the middle of the table, a switch yard, small mining community and a mine. Basically lots of scenery. I also knew I wanted to get into N-Scale modeling because it offered tighter turn radiuss and smaller track. IE. I could get more bang for my buck when it comes to size. I was able to semi-finalize my plans while Deb and Patrick were gone but I don't think you can ever be fully finalized when it comes to something like this. I have decided i'm going to go with a Digital Command Control (DCC for short) set. This simply means that instead of the old way of having a train set where you had different "Blocks" for power and you basically controlled the track with switches rather then controlling your trains, you put out one steady current to the whole track and each train or turnout had a chip that would recognize when a signal is sent to it and do what it was told. This simply means I can control everything on the track a little more easily. Up until yesterday, I thought wiring for this system would be a snap. Sodder on a wire to each track from the controller and I was set. Upon further research though, I found out it is better to sodder on wire to each 3 foot section.... and turnouts can be rather complicated.... CRAP! I'm going to have to learn a lot of basic electrical principles!! Oh well... It could be fun. Just as long as I don't screw up a lot of track! Anyways... this objective is almost complete.

Deb and I are heading to St. Catharines this weekend for a get away. It will be my first time back since I moved here 2 1/2 years ago and really miss the city. It also has ontario's largest hobby shop so I'll be able to purchase my train, track and hopefully all the equipment I need, Plus ask a lot of questions! Deb may want to go out shopping or something during that time because I figure i'll be a good hour or more.

Well... you're basically caught up with my hobby now. I'm sure I'll have other stuff to report today as I think of it... but for now, Patrick is actually getting tired of watching Baby Einstien so I think we should go play some more!