Pickle’s Perspective

Well today was a pivotal time in my life, I think. Today, for the first time, I felt old. I’m not certain what triggered this thought initially, but if I took a guess it was a sign on the Transcona Country Club that said “Congratulations 2008 Grads” (continue reading…)

On the weekend, my wife and I commented about how tiny a baby’s shoes are. Well she grabbed the camera and snapped a couple off.

About five years ago, I made a New Years Resolution. I think it’s the only New Years Resolution I ever made that I have actually kept. The resolution was “Never make another New Years Resolution!”

If you make one resolution. Do yourself a favour, and make this it! It’s the ultimate resolution. It comes guilt free and without effort. All it requires is a memory that lasts 365 days and a mental reminder on day 364. (continue reading…)

As we lead out our lives, sometimes the simple things escape us.  Some of life’s simplest lessons are taught to us when we are very young, and we lose sight of them when we get older.  Sometimes, these little lessons are taught to us again in unexpected places and/or circumstances.

The lesson I’m referring to is the that of persistence and patience.  So many things frustrate us in our daily lives to the point of making our blood boil.  Whether for you it be the slow driver ahead of you, or the tail gaiter behind you.  Perhaps it’s the doo-hickey you took apart and can’t get back together.  either way; having patience and persistence are keys to  our sanity in life. Sometimes I forget how important these traits are.

Not too long ago, I was sitting on the floor near the fireplace watching my baby girl play on her play blanket.  She’d roll over and try to get up to crawl.  She kept failing.  She kept at it for a good 20 minutes.  Over, up and then fall back down.  She still hasn’t nailed the crawling, but her dedication, persistence and patience to try and try and try again truly taught me something this day.

Our kids can teach us just as much as we teach them.

CP (Canadian Pacific) Rail set the Holiday Train locomotive on it’s cross Canada trip yesterday, December 1, 2007. The train will stop all across the country for a “free” concert for people wishing to watch. The program is intended to raise donations of food and money to help the less fortunate this holiday season.

The train stops in Winnipeg on Friday, December 7th at 9:45 pm at the section of train track by Molson St. between Panet Road and Munroe Ave. It’s a great time for with family consider coming out, don’t forget your food donations please.

For full details see the CP website http://www8.cpr.ca/cms/English/General+Public/Holiday+Train/default.htm

So, Graco has gotten back to us and offered to exchange our swing with the same model but a different color/pattern. We asked for the same one we currently have, but they informed us that they only have the one color/pattern available. Who knows what that means. If they can ship our swing to Toys R’ Us, why don’t they have it available for us directly?

I asked what if the new swing does the same thing. They told me that if the new swing moves, they’d just blame it on an un-level floor. The floor in our house is level and I’ve demonstrated the swing moving in multiple directions which proves that the floor is not at a grade.

Nonetheless, Graco stands fast on their offer. We’ve decided to keep our swing as we are confident the problem would persist with a new swing. It wasn’t worth having an undesirable pattern/color and end up with the same problem. We simply put a phone book in front of the swing. That’s all it took to stop the swing from moving. Not the prettiest sight, but it works.  Our little girl can now swing to her hearts content without concern.

IF you have this swing, be careful. Some parents put a baby into a swing so they can do some chores around the house. Our baby loves her swing. She swings and naps, giving us time to clean up etc. Well on the weekend, I was doing some computer work, when I noticed little girl was right beside me.

Check out the video.

I called Graco to log a safety concern. They are investigating and appear quite pro-active at this point. I’ll keep you up to date!

Funny how small the world can be. Yesterday, I was asked to show a local college student about my job. This student, who was taking the same IT program at College that I graduated from in 1998 was on a mentor-ship program at at our company, and as school is about to start again, he was given a view of different IT positions in our organization. My co-worker friend (who was in my graduating class) came to my cubicle to introduce me to this student. An introduction was not needed, as I recognized my old Elementary School friend instantly.

This friend, let’s call him Tom, was a judoka since we were young kids. Tom, had nearly made the Olympics on several occasions And may have even made it a couple times too, I don’t know.

We took a couple minutes to catch up on 13 years of not seeing each other. the conversation included his Judo career. As we discussed the martial arts I mentioned to him, that I had taken a few years of Jiu-Jitsu and hoped to get back into it some day.

the world being as small as it is, Tom knew my Sensei and the places where we trained. Sensei Ron Fulton, what a great man. That’s when I found out….. Sensei Fulton has passed away…
The place we trained on Thursday nights belonged to Sensei’s friend Darwin. He’s also passed away.

Strange. I haven’t seen these people in years; and based on their age, I knew there was this likelihood, yet I’m saddened. This post is me paying my last respects to Sensei Fulton

YUHAI

For crying out loud, when is enough enough already?

So a couple days ago, I come out of work; I walk to my motorcycle, which was parked behind the office and notice that the bike is laying lifeless flat on it’s right hand side.

As if? Like Come on… Wasn’t it enough that I had the Home From Work? SURPRISE then the Off Work.. SURPRISE Let’s not forget the most recent Another After Work SURPRISE! Now some asshole has to go and tip over my bike too?

I have crash bars on my bike that protect the motor in case the bike falls over, so the bike was resting on the crash bars in the front, and on the passenger footpeg in the back. Damage was restricted to a little bit of scuffing on the throttle side hand grip.

At first I thought maybe somebody backed into it, and drove off, but then I noticed that the kickstand was up. The mirrors were twisted around, and all the controls were played with. Gasoline had leaked out of the tank to the extent of leaving a nice puddle on the pavement.

I put my helmet down and picked up the old lady. Sat down, straightened the mirrors, unlocked the steering and started her up. A few sputters and she came back alive.

I went back into the office to talk to the security guard…

Apparently a drunk guy stumbled into the building and told the security guard that he lost his keys to his bicycle, and would like the guard to cut his bike lock. The guard proceeded to chase the pathetic drunk off of company property. This is when the guard saw my bike laying on the ground.

The next day the guard told me that he had reviewed the video footage, and although the bike wasn’t fully visible in the video, he could see the drunk guy at my bike playing around. By the sounds of it, he tried stealing it. I assume that when he realized that it needed a key to unlock the steering and that he wasn’t going anywhere with it, (aside from in circles.) he just pushed it over and proceeded to attempt his luck at a bicycle.

People always talk about the benefits of working downtown. “everything’s in walking distance” “Public Transportation connections are great”, or arguments, like “You don’t have to go ouside because so many buildings are skywalk connected” I paint a slightly different picture. Overpriced parking. Inadequate parking, and an overabundance of trouble makers, sniffers, huffers and drunks. All I can say is, the guy’s lucky I didn’t see him push over my bike. Most people are smart enough to know, you don’t mess with another man’s (or woman’s) motorcycle.

Cruisin’ The Dub! Car Hops are back!!!

Well, okay, I admit that back in the 50’s my parents were still learning their ABC’s and simple mathematics, so I can’t refer to the good ol’ days, but we all know about the Car hopping days. Teens in their now classic cars, heading to the local A&W for a Root beer and teen burger, served on roller skates to your car window.

Well…. Those days are here again… Sort of.

Granted, the server isn’t wearing a skirt, and she’s definitely not on roller skates, or blades for that matter. But this summer; if you visit an A&W on a Tuesday between 5p.m. and 8 p.m. you can have some good ole’ car hopping service.

A&W is celebrating 50 years this year, and with that, they’ve brought back the car hops. All you need to do is park your car in the designated parking stalls, (They’ll be marked with a car hop sign) and a server will come to your window to take your order. This is a throw-back to the old times, so no Interac please, as that’ll end you up with a trip into the restaurant, which completely spoils the mood imho!

When I heard about the car hops returning, I wanted to go. With the wife in the car, and kid in the car, we headed to the A&W. We ordered 2 mama burgers, two fries, a Rootbeer and a Coke. For dessert we ordered two apple pies. The drinks were served in glass mugs. (which not all A&Ws use now-a-days)

Our meal arrived as prompt as a drive through order, with trays that attach to the window of your car. (Note. don’t bring a vehicle with highly slanted windows as the tray won’t sit straight.)

We ate our meal, enjoying the novelty of eating in the car while listening to MP3s. (okay some stuff has to be modern.)

When we finished eating, the server came and took our tray and we were on our merry way. We pulled out of the parking lot on our trek home. We commented on the car hopping experience and then moments later, the MP3 player skipped to the Next song. as luck would have it, the song that it played was “Earth Angel“, by the Penguins. A perfect way to complete the experience.

So, if you’re looking to Car hop this summer. It’s at your local A&W 5-8 p.m. Tuesday evenings, all summer long.