The year started off with promise. I got to go on a trip back home to Ontario — something that hasn’t happened for 9 nine years. I visited my family and a few friends on my quick trip back.. It started off well!

Then the 2010 Winter Games were here! An exciting event that I brought the kids to see the sights downtown. We even took the kids to see a Sledge Hockey game for the Paralympics..

Sadly, this was also a turning point. The same day as the hockey game was the same day that my wife and I let our children know that we were separating. It wasn’t an easy decision, but after being together for over 12 years, it wasn’t working for us..

Shortly after I moved out. And since then, things have been a very different. I left nearly everything in the house, so I had to quickly furnish a place as inexpensively as possible. (Well.. the inexpensively part didn’t work out so well). I’ve also had to learn how to operate a household on my own. This is the first time in my life that I’ve had to be on my own. And yes.. I do suck at housekeeping! My ex and I are also still working on how to schedule the kids around our needs, and parent as a cohesive unit that live separate lives now. A challenge indeed..

I’ve met someone as well. This happened much quicker than I thought and she’s had to put up with me. I’ve been all over the map in terms of how I feel about where I am in life, dating and family. It’s been over four months since I’ve moved out and this new lady in my life has been supportive (she’s clearly a sucker for punishment!). I’ve made mistakes and I still keep trying to improve myself.

I’ve had a lot more time for myself. When I don’t have the kids and when I’m not working, I spend time with this new woman in my life (Meghan). I go geocaching, have gone camping a couple times (with another trip planned in a couple weeks), and still am full of good intentions..

So, here it is on a beautiful, sunny holiday Monday. I’m planning to take the kids to the beach today, play in the water and find seashells and some crabs.. I have no idea where life is taking me at the moment, but I’m still moving forward. Who knows where this journey will take me.

Hopefully, I’ll be blogging a lot more regularly now..

I changed my background pic from me in front of Alcatraz, from my trip to San Francisco last March to a skyline shot of Toronto, (with me blocking it!), from my trip home this past January.

So..  on with spring cleaning!  Good luck with yours!  :)

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/glowing-hearts-day-in-bc.html

Have a great day!

Well, not really..  While the rest of the world goes on with life, with athletes returning home, and regular TV programming resumes, Vancouver is very much in the Olympic spirit.  How does a city and country come down from the high?  How do we resume life after over two weeks of a big party?  There are still the Paralympics to come.  All the pavilions will be open again, but I imagine that the whole event will be a little more low-key.

On the radio today, there was a report saying that this is not uncommon in cities that have hosted the Olympics.  There are going to be counsellors available to VANOC employees to help them transition back to the real world of work.  Ever since July of 2003 when the world heard Jacques Rogge announce that Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics, things have been building towards it.  Major construction projects, such as the athletes village and the Canada Line, reports warning about road closures and the traffic mayhem to expect.  The general hype around it was building until February 12th when it was finally here.  Now that the Games are over, we all look around at each other and say, “Now what?”

Well, the sad reality is that after the Paralympics, it’s all done.  Vancouver will return to life as it was before, but with one last question.  What will happen to the economy here?  We’ve avoided a lot of the job losses here so far, but without the driving force that we’ve had here, no one knows what is going to happen….

For months, VANOC was warning us of impending road closures and traffic/transit congestion. The truth is that my 75 minute commute from home to work (and back) has been reduced to 35-40 minutes through the duration of the Games. Yes, you read that correctly.. The Olympics are good for my commute. Who woulda thunk it?! Whether it was intentional, VANOC seemed to prepare us for the worst, but the situation turned out really well. I drove downtown the other day and parked on the street a block away from The Bay.

People are generally more friendly and patriotic! I’ve seen more Canadian flags in the last two weeks than you ever do for Canada Day. People are waving them in the streets and drivers honk as they go by. The Olympics seem to have really united this country…. even for a couple weeks.

I took my kids downtown last weekend to take part in the general celebrations.. It was amazing! Lots of people everywhere, but I didn’t notice very many people that seemed frustrated with the crowds. The lineup to get into the Olympic Superstore at The Bay downtown appears long, but only takes 15-20 minutes to wait for.

It’s been a challenge trying to find the popular Team Canada hoodies too. Even though they were in stores for four months prior to the Games, I never bought one.. By the time I decided that I wanted one, they were nowhere to be found. Eventually, I resorted to Craigslist to find one for my wife and I… paying double what they would have in the store just one month earlier.

Now everything isn’t all sunshine and puppy dogs though. There have been issues with the Games too. Everyone has heard about the tragic death of Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, which has brought into question about the safety of the track. Even the IOC has stated that they never requested that VANOC build a track as fast as they did.

The lack of snow has been an issue. I’ve lived here for nearly 13 years and this is the mildest winter I can recall. Even my first visit to Vancouver in February of 1997 was warm, but not like this! Fortunately, Whistler and Cypress Mountains have managed to work around it and (to my knowledge) get the events rescheduled.. It is too bad that 28,000 tickets had to be refunded for Cypress because of unsafe conditions for spectators that weren’t in the stands.

I am glad to hear that the pavilions are going to be open for the Paralympics too. I think that we should make just as big a deal over them as the Olympics. I guess we’ll see how that all turns out in a couple more weeks. I bought tickets for Sledge Hockey too.. I could afford those tickets!

That’s about it for now. I’m hoping to make it downtown tomorrow to take in more of the amazing atmosphere down there.. If not, I will definitely be going there during the Paralympics.

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a merry Christmas!

After some research online, I came across this place called Fraser River Fishing Lodge and Resort (http://www.fraserriverlodge.com/). They have a variety of packages available, including one called the Romance package. This was the package that I selected, with an upgrade to a honeymoon suite that included a jacuzzi tub.

Overall, we were very happy with our experience. The dinner was good, and because it was family style seating, we met some very interesting people. The room was cozy (the fireplace helped!) and it was quiet too. We were about an hour away from home, but a world away.

I highly recommend this place for a getaway!

We adopted him from the Maple Ridge BC SPCA on Saturday.  He was a stray, so the name that the shelter gave him was Charlie.  We’d like to change his name, but the kids seem attached to his current name!

And that was my weekend!!

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..