Office Mystery

Who uses so much paper towel in the Men's room that by 3 PM, there is none left for those of us who need paper towel after 3 PM? Who?!

I demand to know.

Super-Saturated

The title pretty much says it all. I have this 1.5 litre Dasani water bottle from which I drink. I am wondering how much water I can drink in one day.

Only one way to find out!

I'll keep you posted on my progess on this important matter.

My Ears Are Warm

I've had my headphones on for about 20 minutes now, and I just realized that I'm not listening to music.

Why I Don't Own An X-Box

Co-worker friend Fraser, recognizing a lonely man in need, lent me the use of his xbox last night. After a glorious evening of Tiger Woods Golf, GPMoto2, and FIFA Soccer (Romario!), I am reminded why I don't own my own xbox. It's not to guard Matthew from the violent games, but to allow me to have some semblence of a life outside of my basement. I plugged the xbox in around 7 PM, and didn't move from the couch until nearly midnight. I don't need any additional recreational distractions to occupy my time. Currently, my big tv is enough, and when I get the HD satellite reciever, well, it'll be all over...

House Is Too Quiet

On the bright side, I had a fantastic sleep last night. The kids are away with Martine in Val d'Or for the week - it's Claire's 60th birthday today and there's a big surprise party planned for her tonight - Happy Birthday Claire!

Having the house all to myself is a fine thing - for about the first 15 minutes... after that, if I don't occupy myself with various household chores, I'll go looney. I could detail the superior grass cutting efforts I put forth last night, but, aside from extolling the virtues of a new cut pattern and the benefits of the doublecut, there's really not too much to tell about my evening last night. Let it be know however that it a finer job of grass cutting has not been seen on my street in some time.

Weekend Update

Saturday

My Dad came down for a visit this weekend, and we redeemed his Christmas present of a round at The Marshes on Saturday. Our foursome was rounded out by two so-called friends of mine, Jamie and Todd, two finer gentlemen one could never meet(?!). It was a tad cool and very windy on Saturday, so windy that when putting, the ball would oscillate slightly... British Open-type conditions. It was a first time a couple of us had played using GPS displays on the golf carts - an awesome graphical mapping feature that tells you how far it is for example, to carry the bunker on the left, and the exact distance to the pin on every hole, etc.

None of us could recall playing on a day that had more wind than Saturday - but despite the wind I had one of my better rounds in recent memory, finishing with 82 which felt more like a 72 considering the conditions.

Driving home after the round, Dad and agreed that there are now two rounds of golf that we'll remember forever - Our round together at the Portland Course at Royal Troon, Scotland circa 1984, and Saturday's round at The Marshes. Cool.

Sunday

Hungry. Eat: three eggs, four sausages, four strips of bacon. Loosen belt.

Dad, Matthew and I spent the afternoon running errands, happily spending some time gaming at one of the many consoles at Best Buy. It is a tribute to my fiscal restraint that I didn't come away from that store having damaged my credit.

After dinner, Dad and I went to see a manly man's movie called Open Range, a Kevin Costner old-school Western. Though no Old School, this film had its merits. I suppose Westerns have gone out of fashion, and I can only really recall only one other Western of note in the last dozen or so years - The Unforgiven. Anyway, good story and solid acting - I always like Robert Duvall and when Costner sticks to his generes he's ok - ie, baseball / sports / westerns). Excellent shootout at the end - LOUD gunfire.

When we arrived home from the movie (@ approximately 10 PM) I noticed that Matthew's light was still on. I went up to his room to find him sound asleep with the overhead light on, with his new Hotwheels storage box sleeping beside him. Martine had bought the storage box a while back, and we were going to give it to him for Christmas, but his Hotwheel collection was starting to get out of control, so we gave it to him just before he went to bed. I guess he was so excited about having it that he couldn't sleep without it.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being lowest and 10 being highest (duh), I'd have to rate this weekend as a 10 - this despite having to endure 4.5 hours with Jamie on Saturday.

An Open-Toe Protest

I was wondering how long it would take Paul the Skeptic to weigh in on the open-toe at work... here's his take on the open-toe...

I'd like to formally lodge my protest to the open toes at work. You presumably already knew I objected, but I suppose you needed it in writing. This isn't Plato's academy. Put some real shoes on.

Paul the Skeptic

Personal Ban on "White Foods" & Touting the Russian Kettlebell

The Wonderbread Years are over. As of my drive in to work this morning, I've decided that I will try to avoid "white foods" for the next while - not sure how long this will last, but everyone seems to be keen on "Atkins-type" diets these days (http://atkins.com/), so I am swayed to give it a shot.

Not that I am looking to lose any more weight - I'm already down to 170 lbs from last summer's high of 193 lbs. I have achieved this new level of sveltitude not by any drastic diet fad, but by returning to regular physical activity (gasp!) - for the past year I've been working out at GoodLife Fitness three or four times a week - this, in addition to playing hockey once or twice a week has shed the weight. I'm in tip-top shape. No really, I am.

The only other significant change I made that may or may not have affected my weight was that I stopped drinking Coke - I was once having three or four cans of the swill a day. I'm not missing the glucose-fructose influx, nor the badness, which was, I am convinced, the direct result of those six to eight teaspoons of refined sugar that is dissoved in every can of Coke. I'm sure stopping the Coke was worth 5-7lbs right off the bat, and happily, I have not had to interrupt a round of golf with a sprint to the woods and leave a perfectly good golf towel behind, in more than a year. So now, every time I would have had a Coke at my side, I have water instead.

I'm thinking that it can't be a bad thing to avoid white bread, white rice, and potatoes for a while... we'll see what happens. Fraser just told me that corn on the cob is out too.

A friend of mine (Dave Weir, no relation to Mike), is now touting the use of the Russian Kettlebell as his fitness tool of choice. I'm intrigued, yet somewhat disturbed by the images of the shirtless doodes in black speedos hoisting this old-world implement. I'm diggin' the way this site touts the Kettlebell - after all, who wouldn't want "TOP DOG, LORD-OF-THE-MAT, ALWAYS-WIN Strength and Endurance"?

Anyone? Didn't think so...

New Sandals

I purchased some new sandals today. I felt this necessary as my old flippers were making my stomach churn due to their overwhelming stench, a stench brought about by a good soaking from pool water the night before. The old sandals were pushing five years old. It was time they were put to rest.

The new ones are nice. They're the Grey/Yellow ones.

Purchasing this sandal is somewhat a victory for me. I was unsure if I could actually wear such a sandal, as the sandal screamed 18-25 to me. Once I had tried them on however, I felt that at 35, I could still pull it off. Or put it on. Whatever.

Backstory: It's quite important to note that at one time I was reluctant to go open-toe at work. Now however, I am secure enough in myself that I am willing to go open-toe in a workplace environment.

Another sign that I continue to grow as a person.