Cam I Am

Recently, my family and I have started exploring the world of geocaching.  It all started with my wife talking to a friend who is an avid geocacher that asked if we ever did it.  My wife had never heard of it, but was interested.  She came home that night and asked me if I had heard of it.  I told her that I had, but never thought that she’d be interested in it.

We talked about it, did a little research about it, and talked to our kids.  With the kids, it was an easy sell. “Do you guys want to go treasure hunting?”  My three girls were excited about the idea of little treasures hidden all around the world..

So, we’ve gone a few times.  So far, in the last 3 weeks, we’ve found two caches in Maple Ridge, and two in Penticton, and enjoy spending some family time together, outside, and looking for treasure.  We plan to keep going, especially with the nice weather finally surfacing. 

It’s nice to find an inexpensive, fun activity that the whole family can enjoy; and I still get to play with an electronic toy!

Over the past couple years, my wife and I have been trying to paint the inside of our house.  When we bought it, most of the walls had this horrid looking sponge painting job done on them.  While this works for some people, it certainly was not our style. 

Since both of us work full-time and we have three daughters, it isn’t easy to get around to getting things done.  We’ve managed to paint our dining room, living room and two bedrooms, but the upper hallway and stairwell have been a task that we haven’t been looking forward too. 

When it comes to painting, I am pretty meticulous about it.  I take my time to tape things off, patch holes, wash and sand the walls.  In this case, we’ve had to put primer on the walls before the two (and sometimes three) coats of paint required to make everything look nice.  But this time, we decided to hire a painter to do the hall and stairs.  We figured that it would be easier and quicker than the several days (to a couple weeks) that I would take to do it between working and making sure that I do a good job.

We looked through the local newspaper and called a painter by the name of Steve.  He came over, had a look and gave us an estimate.  We liked his offer, and told him the colour we wanted..

Well, it took him two days to do the job, which was expected. The result was less than spectacular.

He missed a couple corners/spots completely, and I’m not happy with the overall job.  The only reason I don’t call him back to fix it is simple..

I didn’t have to do it.  I would have taken a lot longer to set everything up, tape everything off, sanding, etc..  He got it done in two days, while my wife and I were working..

My only other complaint would be that his “receipt” is questionable.  A piece of paper that he scrawled on..  But I’ve kept it, and will be using it as a tax write-off next year.

Next time, I’ll just do it myself..  at least that way, I’ll be happy with the end result..

Please stop poisoning my family.

Every time that you start your very sick sounding vehicle, it spews out a horrid blue cloud that smells atrocious.  It’s bad enough that I walk out my front door into a haze of gases that nearly knock me unconscious, but it filters into my home, even with the windows closed.  You compound the problem by letting your van warm-up for 10-20 minutes each time you start it; even if you just returned from the store. 

I’ve politely asked you what was wrong with it, you told me that it was the catalytic converter and that you were going to get it fixed “soon.”  I’d like to know what your definition of soon is. 

You are making it uncomfortable and dangerous to be in my home.  I know that it is dangerous because my carbon monoxide detector is set off nearly every time you start your van…

So, once again, I ask you..

Please stop poisoning my family…