Sometimes, when you're living through things, you're just trying to get by. It's only after the fact when you realize, "hey, that's definitely one for the books!". That's what this post is to remind me of. 2 very important memories for me. Good ones, not the ones that have been causing me grief.

1- Kyle's loving reassurance. As many might remember, Kyle has had a habit of waking up in the middle of the night and coming to my bed for a "hug and a kiss". He has done this up to 4 times a night on occasion. As sweet as it was, it also (obviously) interrupted my sleep schedule as I would scoop him up and bring him back to his bed. It was/is a sweet thing. Just a little boy wanting reassurance that Daddy's there and still loves him :)

In the last few months, this has changed/ evolved in that he no longer gets up that often or that regularly. Nowadays, he'll come to the bed to get his hug and kiss (always snuggling his puppy and blankie, of course) but will then go back to his bed on his own. :) When he does this (perhaps 3 times a week) it'll only be once, not multiple times.

Even more recently, there has been another modification to this behaviour. As I get up before 5:30am, I'm usually preparing to leave/ warm up the car/ etc by 6am. At around that time, I'll usually be in the kitchen pouring my coffee, and I'll hear footsteps on the stairs. Lo and behold, Kyle will walk into the kitchen for a hug and kiss and I'll walk him back to the stairs, telling him I love him and to go snuggle back to bed :)

Wonderful moments, truly. :)

2- Charlize's camping out. Now, as much as Charlize has gotten into the habit of waking up in the middle of the night, she won't come into the bedroom. Instead, she sits right outside the bedroom door, against the wall that connects to Kyle's bedroom. She'll sit there, in the dark except for the nightlight in the hallway, and wait. Although she makes no real noise (sometimes shuffling) I'll become aware of her and wake up. I walk out of the bedroom, pick her up, and carry her back to bed to cover her up and have her snuggle with her blankets/ stuffed animals.

:)

Nightime, a time for sleep?? Not so much. But a time for Daddy to slay dragons and protect the castle? Definitely :)

You ever have that "grr" in the pit of your stomach just boiling up inside?

That's how I'm feeling this morning. Truthfully, I started feeling this late last night but was able to push it off to the point that it did not impede me from sleeping - or trouble my sleep when I finally did.

This morning, however, it's like lava boiling, bubbling, pushing its way to the top. I can't shake the anger and although I know what it's about and who it's directed at, I'm having a devil of a time trying to distract myself.

I hate ignorant, petty, insufferable people who's only lot in life is to make it as miserable as possible for others. Victims who cry out "victim!" every chance they get in order to excuse themselves for their actions, their life, and their behaviors.

It really feels like the start of "THAT" kind of week. I'm doing my best by trying to stay focused, taking deep breaths, concentrating on the good... but I'm really angry. And that anger is starting to overwhelm me.

Damn.

Got home last night to a nice review for The Mysterious Minute-Men: Ready for the Future! Although posted in a number of places (LibraryThing, Amazon(s)) the main site is found here on the With A Good Book blog.

There are a lot of pieces of this review which I liked seeing, such as "The first thing I noticed when I got my copy of The Mysterious Minute-Men: Ready for the Future was the gorgeous cover..." which I, of course, heartily agree. I was also glad to see that Eclipse went over well as Jody (the reviewer) states, "We’re also introduced to a wonderful new character..."

This was particulary validating: "Much of the story focuses on Minute-Man’s inner turmoil and his quest to sort out problems that are impeding his ability to protect Metro City. This was actually my favourite part of the book. While I enjoy the superhero antics, you can really feel Minute-Man’s agony over his situation and that’s when I really got into the story. Then when an evil scheme is revealed, it brings the story back to the lighter-toned superhero genre." Which, to me, means I did the job I had set out to do with this book.

All in all, a very nice way to end a day :)

And here's to Kyle's sharp and logical mind! During supper yesterday:

"Daddy, it's not true that Reindeers can fly."

"Of course they can. They have magical antlers that let them fly."

"No, they can't fly!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because! They don't have wings!"

(pondering a reply)

"Superman doesn't have wings and he can fly!" say I.

"Yeah, but HE has a CAPE!"

(blink) (blink) (mouth agape)

That's my boy. Knows all the angles. :)

A couple of sentences that have come up in a recent evaluation:

INTEREST IN JOB CONTENT:

Mike is conscious of existence, meaning, purpose, potential and destiny of humankind, people, and self.

Mike prefers to associate with others socially, organizationally, and recreationally.

Mike is motivated to manage people and their activities.

Mike has natural preferences that engender curiosity about the nature of things and about "what makes things tick".

Mike has a preference for physically working with things and objects, but that activity is probably secondary...

Deadlines do not motivate Mike as they only increase the pressure.

Mike prefers and may even require change and variety. Sameness and routine cause loss of interest, drive, and energy.

Mike prefers to be with people and will most likely avoid activities that are done apart from others.

Mike has little need for or is not motivated by recognition, status, or competitive gain.


TEMPERAMENT FOR THE JOB:

Mike is most likely benevolent, voluntarily giving of self to help others, especially regarding current pain, hurts...

Mike prefers and needs change and variety. Change is motivating, stimulating, and energizing.

Mike subjectively exercises responsibility for social, vocational, or recreational perceptions, thinking, options...

Mike has a strong preference to work under the management or supervision of others who are competent and knowledgeable

Mike is strongly motivated to be organizationally active with others.

Mike sees self as talented, self-sufficient, and goal-oriented.

Mike is motivated to influence and convince others as part of social, organizational, vocational, or recreational activities.

Mike does not generally see, retain, and/or recall verbatim detail and, instead, shows an awareness of concepts, patterns...

Mike does not prefer being tied to or tied down by timed, repetitious sensory/physical activity.


APTITUDE FOR THE JOB:

Mike's preferences fully support holistic, conceptual perception, and thinking relative to the basic nature, utility...

Mike's preferences and motivations are derived from understanding the deeper or 'real' meaning of ideas and words

Mike's mind is naturally motivated to put physical abilities and natural talents, whatever they may be, into immediate use

Mike is moderately motivated for Manual 'workbench' activities regardless of actually developed skills or abilities.

Mike's preferences and motivations most likely revolve around an adequate ability to see, retain, and recall detail.

Math may be about the same as a foreign language for Mike. At least, it is foreign to Mike's mental preferences

PEOPLE:

Mike feels both privilege and responsibility to use communication (including persuasion) to voluntarily provide beneficial information to people

Philosophical, literary, scientific, managerial and/or persuasive traits may be involved in Mike's motivation and drive

Mike is empathetically and sympathetically aware of the hurts, needs, problems, and wishes of others and is motivated to help them

The Mysterious Minute-Man has decided to try his hand at blogging! There's no way he can keep up on Twitter so he's resorting to trying to keep a blog going while he chills out at Stan's Donut Shoppe after his nightly patrols :)

You can read what he's been up to over on blogger: http://mysterious-minute-man.blogspot.com/

Drop by and say hello :)

To follow up (finally) on the post from October 12th, Casey responded to the medication REALLY well. We've done a heck of a lot of research on dogs and herniated discs and what can be done to treat them (outside of surgery). The one point that came up was Acupuncture.

Although I was initially worried as to the timeline of all this, it was heartening to see Casey slowly "returning to normal" after a few days. I know the pills were helping with the pain but I could also see the swelling start to go down, too. Before 10 days were done, she was almost back to her old self.

I did know from the reading that we were supposed to keep her completely bed-ridden for an entire month, but she only let us carry her outside for her business for that long. After that, we would open her cage door and she would rush outside. Of course,the fear that since she wasn't feeling pain she could have been doing damage always came up but we had to deal with it.

We started to let her out at night (when the kids were in bed) because she would simply join us in the living room and sleep on her pillow. She's a very social dog, what can you do?

This past weekend, we had to keep fighting to keep her from jumping up on us or anything! Literally, she acted like she had no injuries. Of course, the last of one pills were taken yesterday and she only has 2 half pills left to take. One on Wednesday, one on Friday. Luckily for us we have an appointment with the Vet/Acupuncturist on Wednesday at 430pm. She actually cleared her schedule for us so the 30 minutes we were originally given has been stretched to 60.

I'll post another update after that!

I sure can't say that these last few weeks haven't flown by because that would be lying. It's kept me away from here which is unfortunate because when the time comes to summarize it (for posterity) pieces of info get lost! Anyhow... here we go.

Last week seemed to have been an extremely bad one for asthma sufferers. Chantale, my sister-in-law, and Melyssa all confirmed that they had it a little rough but with Kyle it was too much. After fighting off a small runny nose for a few days and requiring to be pumped on Monday and Tuesday, it became too much and I had to bring him to the emergency on Tuesday night after pumping him repeatedly (as trained) to attempt to regulate his breathing.

We got there and shortly after triage his o2 sats were quite good although he was raspy. We're brought into the Asthma Center and he's given a mask. Every seat/ bed in the place was taken! And everyone I listened to had gone through the same issues. At a little after midnight, we were released (even though he was still coughing). I know it was an overcrowding issue.

We got home after 1am and he promptly fell asleep and slept deeply until 530am at which point he awoke due to coughing. I pumped him again and he managed to fall back to sleep until a little after 6am. Again, the coughing wouldn't subside and I knew I had to take him back.

We were back at the ER before 7am and sure enough his o2 sats were down at 92%. Off we went to the Asthma Center and treatments started. We basically "opened" the center because we were the first ones in. Within an hour, though, another 5 cases came through. We settled in for a very long wait because he was not responding to the treatments. This was the first time we weren't released after 3 masks. It would take 6 before he finally subsided.

His sats kept hovering between 92% and 94% and he ended up starting a fever. Doc was worried enough to get xrays and I had to explain to Kyle that there was this big machine that had "eyes like Superman" and would look into his chest and take pictures. He really wasn't too keen on it before and during, but at least afterwards (when he saw his OWN lungs on the computer screen) he was impressed :)

The last mask was basically triple-powered and sure enough he started breathing better and his sats went up to 96%. I think having Chantale there at that time was also a good boost as he had started to whine/ cry about wanting to go back home about an hour before she arrived. At any rate, we were finally cleared to go. I had predisolone to give him for 3 days and regular pumping.

After an emotionally draining experience like that, I took a vacation day on Thursday and stayed home with him. We rested and watched videos, he took his meds, and we even took a nap together. It was recuperative. On Friday, Chantale stayed home to take care of him. This weekend, he got better slowly but finally this morning he was doing MUCH better. Of course, after all that (and being stuck seated next to a lady who had a bad cold) I ended up getting laryngitis and popped pills all weekend long!

Okay, next post will be very soon and much shorter than this :)

Yesterday, during the day-long Thanksgiving preparation, Casey suddenly yelps in pain and then limps away to hide in a corner. We're all concerned and wondering what the heck happened because she hadn't had any kind of injury or been in a situation where she could have been hurt. Thinking it may have been some kind of "regular" paw injury (ie; someone stepping on it, or something dropping on it) or perhaps even something like pulling a muscle, we lay her down and let her rest. After a few hours she's up and about if somewhat slowly. Except, she's not playful, she's not hungry, and you can see she's still in a lot of pain. Every now and then, when we touch her, she yelps and tries to "climb away".

Well, by the end of the day, we're really concerned and decide to take her to the Emergency Animal Hospital. Getting her into the car was full of cringe-ing as she just kept yelling in pain. When we pull up, I'm a little amazed at the size of the building but expect that it shouldn't take long to see someone. After all, I think, as amazing as a 24/7/365 Animal Hospital is, how busy could they really be, right? What a shock. Getting checked in went quickly enough (under 30 minutes) but then the wait began.

All around the waiting area I see tissue boxes practically littered around us. I'm a little confused but don't say anything. Then, I take a look at the patients and realize that these are not cats and dogs just out for a check-up, they're here because they're really sick. Over the course of the next 4 hours, I find out how sick as I watch dogs throw up bloody bile, hear nurses call DOA on a cat, watch the news of another cat's health be diagnosed as diabetes and the harsh decision to put her down is made... etc etc. I've been in plenty of emergency rooms over the years, but never have I seen the amount of tears and crying as I did last night.

We finally get to see the doctor at around 1am and review the symptoms with her. We put Casey down and she sets about sniffing around the room like she has no issues. I'm a little confused but then a physical check is performed (ears, snout, paws, etc) and pretty soon she's once again yelping in pain. It's a weird thing in that the doc would touch her and she would cry in pain. Touch her again in the same spot and nothing. Move somewhere else and the same repeats. Finally, she manages to localize it on the center of her back. A discussion ensues as to what it could be and we agree to x-rays to ensure nothing worse.

At around 230am we get the news. She definitely has a herniated disc but does not have any impacted discs or cancerous fibers around her spine. She can hold herself together well enough that emergency surgery is not needed. Pain medication and anti-inflammatory pills are prescribed. However, the only way to completely cure her is with surgery. Pre-surgery also requires a CAT scan (on a dog? and I would normally laugh at the pun but just couldn't) to properly localize the bad disc that needs removal. All told, this would cost in the range of $3,000 to $4,000.

Apparently Bichon Frises are prone to such problems and she'll be 6 in January. We expected to have her around for at least another 5 years. Doc said that even after this surgery, there's no guarantee that the same issue doesn't arise elsewhere up or down her spine. I knew the ER visit was going to end up being almost $500, and we had already spent triple that last year when we got her operated for stones in her bladder. Now, looking at coughing up 4k... we're left to wondering how we'll afford it (if we go through with it). Casey's our "first baby". She's Melyssa's first real pet. Kyle and Charlize have known her all their lives. This is not an easy decision to make. If she were 10 years old, sure. But now? With maybe still having half of her life left? With the fear/ worry of something else coming up afterwards if we get this resolved?

It's been a very, very, long night... :( I think it was 3am when we finally turned out the lights. Kyle and Charlize, of course, got up at 7am as they'd been in bed since probably 9pm last night. I, feeling like crap (obviously)still had to get up to take care of them since I believe I'm the best equipped with living sleep deprived :). Chantale and Melyssa are still asleep and although Casey's in her bed in our room, she doesn't look like she actually slept. I'm hoping the pills I'll be giving her soon will start to ease her pain.

I'm thankful today's a holiday because there's no way any of us would have been able to function.

i really have to wonder sometimes how the heck we get anything done. what with all the demands put on our time just to stay ALIVE, how do we find the time to actually LIVE?

this, of course, makes me wonder even more on how can we find the time to move our personal projects forward. it's nuts. as much as life is "simpler" now than it used to be, it STILL shouldn't be this hard to strike a balance, find a harmonious middle.

when i first joined the workforce (*cough* *cough* years ago) i used to joke about 3-day weekends because, let's face it, who wants to face mondays? but, the older i get, the more i have to do and find ways to get done, the more i have to work at finding PEACE, the more the idea of 4-day work weeks appeals to me.

if i had that one extra day to do all the menial chores around the house, for example, the weekends would be more relaxing. on the other hand, if i could take that 1 day and prioritize and move my projects forward, i would definitely feel more personal satisfaction at accomplishing them.

i'm not going to live forever. i'd at least like to go out not feeling like i'm constantly chasing my tail.

sombre thoughts on a sombre friday.

The Grey's Anatomy premiere is this week. What with getting the last season on DVD last week, we've been going through a mini-marathon in order to get ready for it. Not that we don't remember what happened, but more as a means of getting hyped for it. We're fans, what can you do? :)

One weird thing that's happened, however, is that I've been having moments of... "whoosh". I can only call it that because I can't properly explain it. I'm sitting there, watching an episode, and I'll catch a phrase or a movement or a scene and it'll "whoosh" me back to 2 years ago. And then my heart starts to pound and my stomach drops.

Last night had such a moment. We were watching an episode where a doc (George) found a way to get a young patient into a quick look of the operating room. Standing before the doors, thinking about what was inside... whooshed me back to Aug 30 2007 and Chantale and I are walking the hallways of the Montreal Children's Hospital just in front of the big doors through which we were going to be giving up our daughter with prayers and hope that the doctors' would be able to cut open her heart, fix it, and save her life.

Being there, going through it, with other patients waiting their turns, felt surreal enough. Trying to live through it as matter-of-factly as possible was possible just by concentrating ON our child and the belief that everything would be all right. But suddenly, "today", I'm (without realizing it) allowing myself the freedom to experience the fear, fear, FEAR, of that moment. It's no longer me living through the "next moment" (ie; pass the baby over, head to another floor, meet with the doctor, etc etc etc), it's me remembering just what we went through.

Folks always ask how the hell we managed to go through what we did... The truth is that we had no choice but to go through it, live through it, force our way through it, reaching greedily for the next moment, for the next hug, next smile, next heartbeat. Hoping it would come, believing it would come, trying to ignore the fear that it might not come, and grasping to every little bit of good news to pull ourselves out of that hole of fear and despair.

*phew*

You would think that it would be easier to look back today. *shrug* I guess it depends on the day. It's almost like I never know what I'm going to feel next!

Seems like all I've been doing lately has been to run all day long, from one thing to another, that by the time bedtime rolls around I'm too mentally or physically exhausted and sleep just isn't restful.

I know it's just the post-vacation catch-up phase, but before you know it, it'll be the "end of the year clean out" phase which means more running to close/ complete items while preparing for 2010. Seriously. Life wasn't meant to be lived like this.

And I know that it won't be, but right now the lack of time to move some things forward is just starting to frustrate me.
Onwards.

I've been offline for a while now, just busy with life/ work/ vacations. So, I've got quite some catching up to do. However, until then (and when I can get back in the swing of posting) I wanted to take a quick moment and invite you to read an article on POD (Print on Demand) for Costco that I was interviewed for: http://tinyurl.com/costco09

Click on the cover and then look through the ToC, click on the article title (page 25). Canadian Costco members can get a copy of the actual magazine, of course.

I'm trying to keep these straight in my own head and failing, so it was time to write them down! :). With Comicopia 114 now in the mail, I can spare a few more brain cells.

Agile Events:

August 24th through 28th in Chicago: Agile 2009. Head over to http://agile2009.agilealliance.org/ for more info. I'll be there the 25th through the 27th.

Comics/ Book-related:
September 19th and 20th @ Place Bonaventure: The Montreal Comic-Con '09. Head over to http://www.montrealcomiccon.com/english/home.htm for more information.

September 27th @ Queen's Park in Toronto: Word on the Street. Head over to http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/toronto/whatson/comics to read about the comics events sponsored by The Beguiling. My time that day will be spent between these comic events and hanging with the 5 Rivers Chapmanry group (http://www.5rivers.org/)

I should be getting my Netbook in a couple of weeks. I defintely am looking forward to having that with me in order to keep better tabs on all I want/ need to do! :)

See some of you at the above-listed events!

Just realized that I never wrote about the fact that Chantale, Kyle, Charlize and I headed out to Edmonton for a long weekend vacation/ trip to visit friends! I was waiting for a free moment and it all disappeared. I still have some great photos to share... but no time.

Melyssa's been with us this week and it's been nice having her. I know how strange it felt when she left after having stayed with us for 3 weeks. I'm almost feeling the same way. She goes back on Sunday because she has orientation at her new school (jr high!) on Monday. I know it'll be weird going to bed on Sunday and not having her in the house...

On Tuesday morning, I'm taking a 730am flight to Chicago to attend Agile 2009! Things worked out (ie; I got a sponsor for the event, am flying on my dime, and the Co. is paying for 2 nights hotel stay) so I'll get to immerse myself in all things Agile for 3 days before flying back home on Thursday night. Next week, we're on vacation! Crazy perhaps, but we're planning the 'where' now :) We wanted to go back to Bas-Caraquet but the chalet we were renting is not available. There are others, but we're looking at maybe PEI. Maybe Halifax? Even thought about heading back to Edmonton ;) We'll see.

Yesterday morning I found out a friend of the family and ex-colleague (although still current colleague of my mother-in-law) passed away the evening of the 19th from a massive heart attack. Early 50s is way too young to go. As I mentioned to a friend yesterday, I was working on his computer the day I met Chantale :) Her mother was his assistant so while I was setting him up (that was the day prior to them taking their practice out of the main company building) Chantale came in to wait for her mother after having finished an exam. Smitten, I was. Extremely smitten, it seems. So much so that both he and her mother noticed. On both our parts, might I add!And here I thought I wasn't being obvious. Perhaps I failed to see anything else since my eyeballs were glued on Chantale :) At any rate, it's a very warm feeling to know he told Chantale's mom that I would make a good son-in-law :) Even though we were almost 2 years away from dating at that point!!!

*shakes head sadly*

Ah, life...

Just in the best of moods this morning! Wouldn't have thunk it considering how late I went to bed (playing Trivial Pursuit Totally 80's Edition :) ) and how early I got up (Charlize loves to surround herself with all kinds of things when she sleeps - literally, I'll put her to bed and by the time she falls asleep, she'll have hoarded books, dolls, balls, blankies, everything! around her. She's like a little squirrel hoarding acorns! - anyhow, strange thing is if something falls off her bed way early in the morning (like 1am-5am) she'll call out for me to go help her instead of getting down and picking it up herself :) )

At any rate, the sun is shining, calling for 31 degrees today!, I'm still very much enjoying Heinlein's FRIDAY (thanks Dreama for that recommendation) and my Nano's been pushing through some really great music! :)

Weekend's going to be: early rise tomorrow so Kyle and I can get our haircuts, go get Melyssa, come home to continue clearing out some stuff in the basement (out to the curb!) and prepping for running some electricity to the left-hand side of the basement. Then, after lunch, some plastering and I'm off again on the renovations :) I love doing this project in an "Agile" mode :) Basically, break down the work into "release-able" phases, and do the most important thing "now" while keeping in mind where I want to go/ what I want to accomplish :)

Seeing the progress in this way is just SO rewarding because you get to enjoy what you've finished while seeing the progress on what you're working on.

Speaking of Agile... there's a very high chance that I may end up going to Agile 2009 after all. Perhaps not for the whole week, but at the minimum 3 days. Tres cool :)

Have yourselves a great day and weekend!! :)

This week has been "back to work" for Chantale and I, and "back to home daycare" for Kyle and Charlize. What's been funny/ cute is that Kyle has insisted on dressing himself every morning to date. His style of choice? Superheroes and Jeans.

Basically, he puts on a pair of blue jeans and (so far), a brown Batman long-sleeved shirt, a light-blue Superman logo shirt, and a red Spider-Man 'webhead' shirt.

The fact that it's too hot for long pants doesn't deter him. Of course, I always pack shorts for him as well and he usually changes into them before going to play outside :)

Just too bloody cute :) Especially when he takes one of his blankies and ties it around his neck so he can have a "cape" :)

And yes, you can just picture Charlize also running around in a cape :)

No photos yet, but one day soon ;)

Kyle turned 4 today! "I'm a big boy now! Look at how long my legs are!" is how he puts it :)

Woke up to lots of hugs and kisses and then he sat on our bed and opened one of the many gifts he'll be getting. He was still tired, but his eyes glowed and a small smile spread on his face as he slowly unwrapped the paper to discover... a Spider-Man cap and t-shirt! :)

What a happy camper he was :) I didn't have a camera handy to capture his smile, but will definitely do so tonight :)

We all got up and as I got everyone ready to go, Chantale iced the cupcakes she made last night (from the leftover batter she used to bake his cake) and then sprinkled smarties on them :) Melyssa is also spending the day with him and Charlize at daycare - it was one of his special requests :)

I can only imagine how excited he'll be tonight :)

It all seems like such a blur. At times, it's hard to believe it happened at all. At other times, it feels like it was just "yesterday" that we were walking the streets of the Champs D'elysees or staring at the Mona Lisa lost in the grandeur of moments of history... Sadly, it's been days now (actually, past a week). But, oh wow... what days they were!

We made the later flight on Friday night and got to fly Executive First Class. I could hardly believe it. No side-by-side seating. "Pods" for each person - basically everyone was in a lazy-boy type of chair with everything at a finger's touch away. Able to turn the chair into a bed and privacy slates between everyone. Plus, first class service of food, drink (and drink), and pure comfort.

We got to Paris quickly enough (7+ hours were like a blink) and we made our way to their Regional Trains to get to the heart of the city. A 45 minute train ride later (while being totally amazed by all the trains and metros running underground) we exit at Wagram and as we make our way out of the tunnel - the Arc de Triomphe is there to greet us. What a sight. Unbelievable.

Our hotel was just a couple of short blocks away and we went there to drop our bags. Check-in wasn't for a number of hours still and although we hadn't really slept in lord-knows-how-long, we headed out to investigate the Arc and the Champs. Hours later, we took a tour bus around the city to catch a glimpse of all we would visit in detail during the coming days. Finally, after that tour, we checked in and were pleasantly surprised to find a very nice and cozy room. Yes, very small, but it held a queen sized bed and a private bathroom. We didn't need anything else.

A quick change later, we once again headed out to walk the city and ended up running into Chantale's old boss! Small world! She suggested a few places to eat and sure enough after many more hours of walking around, we went to eat at "Chez Andre". Strangely enough (or maybe not so strange) it almost felt like we were sitting in a restaurant in Quebec City :) Of course, that feeling ended the moment we left the restaurant and were back on the main street! :)

We had many plans for Sunday... but, alas, the fatigue finally caught up to us and we didn't get out of bed until 130pm Paris time :) So, we re-arranged our plans and went to visit Notre Dame - first stopping off at a nice little corner cafe for a panini and people watching. We ended up being in the cathedral during a service and were thus able to listen to the organ playing while we explored. Cool :) With a short window of time left, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower for another quick visit and then sat in the park underneath enjoying an ice cream cone :) We walked around a bit more, stopping off to pick up a couple of beers and some food on the way back to the hotel. We ate, changed, and headed over to the Lido for their "Bonheur" cabaret show. We had decided on Lido as opposed to Moulin Rouge mainly due to proximity. We enjoyed a bottle of champagne with the show and watched quite a dazzling array of costumes, scenery, and boobs, paraded, sang, and danced for over 2 hours :) It was a fun time but distracting, too. Not knowing any of the numbers, I found it a little difficult to get into. Show over, we took to the streets again for more walking before calling it a night with every intention to get up early the next day!

Monday, we forced ourselves awake and headed out to the Louvre. The wait wasn't too bad and the view spectacular. But when we got inside, our main target was the Mona Lisa. We made a beeline for it not really looking at the other pieces of art on the way there. I have to say, though, that once we were standing right in front of it... I was in awe. Seriously, deeply, truly, in awe. Forget the fact of how old or popular or famous it is. There was a vibrancy to it that I had not expected. Rich colours "behind" Mona that I had never noticed before. A simple painting with SO much energy... I was enraptured. Chantale took a couple of shots of me gazing at it, including one when I turned around. That one shows a look on my face of complete... shellshock? Or maybe I was just completely empty - sucked dry of time and place. Quite an experience.

After Mona, we took the time to explore the paintings around us and I was once again floored by those incredible wall-sized works of art. Such an incredible treasure-trove... almost too much to take in! Just... wow.

From there, we headed out to find Venus, but made our way through Egyptian antiquities first - stopping at the Crypts and tombs. Afterwards, it was off to Mesopotamia and finally: sculptures. Wow. And again... wow. I think we took more photos of the scultpures than anything else. And you know what? After all those hours there, we realized we had no more energy. We'd been up with little sleep, no breakfast, and no coffee. We decided to call it a morning and went looking for a cafe. We finally found 2 but, unfortunately for them, I got really fed up of waiting to be served and got up and left at both places. We ate our own snacks and drank our Orange Juice and then headed off on a long walk. Our destination? Back to the pier to get tickets for the boat cruise.

What we failed to realize was that it was about a 3 hour walk to get there. LOL! Again, everything is so huge that it seems "only a few blocks away" and then turns out to be much, much, much more than that! :) At any rate, we finally made it there and Chantale made an executive decision to go on the supper cruise as opposed to the regular cruise. With tickets in hand, we left the area and headed up to Montmartre. Destination: Moulin Rouge :)

We didn't go in or anything, just wanted to walk around it for a bit (after stopping off at Starbucks because I really wanted a Mocha Latte! - turned out to be my first coffee in Paris, how bizarre is that?). After a few pictures, we stopped off at a corner restaurant for a couple of baguettes and headed up towards Sacre Coeur. Yummy food in hand, we walked up and up and up and up, and then we walked up stairs! and stairs and stairs! After a short visit through the church, we needed to head back to the hotel to freshen up and get changed for the cruise. And so, we walked down stairs and stairs and stairs and more stairs (more than walking up!) until we found ourselves back at a Metro (they actually call Metropolitain) and went to the hotel.

A quick shave and shower later, we were ready to go. Chantale had spent an hour battling the web-tv in our room to try to get us an idea of our flight out the next day and we decided to stick to our original plan of Paris-Toronto-Montreal. Off we went and an hour or so later (by this point very comfortable with our knowledge of the underground travel), we were seated on the boat. Chardonnay opened and sipped while we chatted with other couples sat close by.

The meal was really good and the wine(s) was(were) delicious! There was lots of it and the evening was just so much fun that when the sun went down and we started to see the beauty of Paris at night... we were in such good moods! We saw the Eiffel Tower all lit up and sparkling while we danced on the boat - how romantic is that?! It was a perfect, perfect evening! When it was all over and we were back at the dock, we decided that since our neighbors were not white wine drinkers, that we would re-cork their bottle and take it back with us to the hotel :) Yes, we did. And it didn't feel weird in the least! Heck, the number of folks you see around the city carrying wine and/ or drinking it out of the bottle (and these are regular folks, not drunks/ bums) would make you laugh.

Back at the hotel, we polished off the bottle and then finally went to sleep. We had to get up in about 3 to 4 hours :) The morning came really quickly and we were soon back on the train headed to the airport. Everything went very smoothly from there. Check-in, flight to Toronto (again in the Pods), and a short wait to hop on the flight to Montreal (again in the Pod). And just like that, we were back in our car, leaving the airport and zooming off to pick the kids up from daycare.

And now, a week later, it's hard to believe we were actually there! If not for the hundreds of photos and the visa bills... ;) For those who haven't already seen them, there are a selection of less than 50 photos up on my web site. You can click the direct link to get to them: http://www.savageland.com/father/family/paris09.html

It's funny. I never really had the inclination to travel. But after this visit... I suddenly want to do more. Not entirely sure if it's the notion of seeing things that's so attractive, or the freedom to not have to be ruled by the clock and calendar. We'll see in time. :)

All my bags are packed, we're ready to go.... :)

Paris awaits!

Tonight, Chantale and I fly off to Paris for a romantic long-weekend getaway! Just the 2 of us! :) The kids are watching the in-laws (yes, they need watching ;) ) and we'll be free to stroll through the streets of a city neither of us have been to while soaking in a very rich history. Something to definitely remember!

A lot of last-minute juggling had to happen to get this trip done but it's all gone off smoothly which is wonderful. The kind of opportunity that comes by quickly and you have to grab at or lose. I don't know when we would have had another chance like this.

So, after all the insanity of Chantale's first year with Air Canada and all the work she's done in that major project, we'll finally be able to get away from it all and just unwind together. Yes, we did that a few months back when we got away to Banff, but this will be much more different. Much less rushed.

So, radio silence after today, back on Tuesday night. Behave yourselves and enjoy your weekends! :)

So I'm sitting here wondering:

- who are you? (Do you know?)
- who or what are you living for?

Any takers?

Sometimes I really miss posting on this blog. But, with all the things vying for my time and attention, there's only so much I can do.

For right now, though, I thought I'd login to the LJ mobile site and post from here. Perhaps this might become more habit forming after a while :). After all, I might like interacting on Facebook, but I get tired speaking in soundbites. Which, unfortunately, is why I still can't get into Twitter.

I created an account and tried a couple of apps for the Blackberry but, really, unless you're logged in and looking at it all the time it's just overwhelming.

Life's too short to drown in Tweets.

so those are my thoughts for today. My train stop is next and I'm itching to get home and continue my James Bond marathon ;)

Peace out.

Remember: The Mysterious Minute-Men books are available everywhere you shop with great discounts through Chapters-Indigo. So what are you waiting for? :)

My older kids have made "plans" this weekend. So, tonight, instead of driving close to an hour to go pick them up so they can spend the weekend, I have to tell Kyle that his older brother and sister won't be coming. Again. I already mentioned to him this morning that James wouldn't be able to come because "he has something to do". He was disappointed but then perked up thinking that Melyssa would sleep "upstairs in James' bed!". I did warn him that it was possible she would also not come and gave him a list of things we'd be doing tomorrow regardless. It made him very happy to know I'd let him help with the painting downstairs, "with the roller, okay, daddy! I'm a big boy now I can help you!" :)

I know with James being 3-months-short of 15 and Melyssa being 12, Chantale and I expected them to want to hang with their friends more and more - regardless of how little they see us now. And, in fact, we'd prepared for this already - especially with summer in swing. But still... it doesn't mean it's not disappointing - especially to Kyle who's still small enough to adore them and want them around all the time.

But, such is life. And I've long given up living in regret for what and how one wishes it can be. Instead, as I choose to always focus on the NOW of what is. In the end, Moments are all that matter and count - not regrets. So, when next I see them, we'll enjoy our time together. For now - and this weekend - I'll enjoy watching movies, playing, painting, and gardening with my little ones. And probably throw in a visit to Nonna and Nonno as well to put a smile on their faces! :)

I spent the last week scanning the 226 covers from Comicopia's history to date. Then, I fixed them up, coded each page, and made sure everything looked good locally.

A part of me still can't believe how many pages I put together in so short a time but it was all very well worth it. The site is not 100% complete (still missing a number of splash/pinup pages and member bios/ info) but in terms of all the covers to date, it's done.

So, without further ado, head over to http://www.comicopia.net and let me know what you think! I must warn however that if you're using Internet Explorer 6 it's going to look wonky. Chrome works fine, IE8 works great but I prefer FireFox :)

This past weekend, Savage Enterprises Publishing signed a distribution agreement with Five Rivers Chapmanry to pave the road for better distribution of our books in the Canadian market (primarily with Chapters-Indigo).

As of today, you can purchase our books through the Chapters-Indigo Website (with a really great deal!) as a start. Tell all your friends and share the word :) This will help get sales figures going in order to set up some in-store signings!

The Five Rivers note is also on their blog.

Have yourselves a great day/ week!

Today's checkup for Charlize went better than we could have imagined!

We got to our appointment on time at 830am and got out by 11am. In between, our little girl was weighed, measured, blood pressure checked, and then off to electrocardiogram and echocardiogram tests which she seemed to have passed with flying colors! :)

She (and her heart!) is doing so good that the doc's have re-confirmed their quote of last year that they have no concern in regards to her health. It really helps that she did not have to lose her valve during the operation (she's one of the lucky few). After a round of questions, the doc smiled and said, "see you in two years"! TWO years! Not next year, TWO!

*insert massive happy dance here*

:) Relieved? Oh god you have no idea! What a wonderful birthday present for her (and us)! :)

Fantastic, Fantastic, Fantastic news!!! :)

*wipes away tears*

(I think one of the hardest things about this day was seeing 2 other little babies (4 days and I think 1 week old) there to go through their preliminary tests... and then seeing one of those new families sitting in with one of the cardiologists who was obviously breaking the news to them... Flashback to 2 years ago and the shattering effect it had on us... But as I told Chantale - if they looked at us and this little blonde bundle who did NOT stay still the entire time we were waiting for the tests - as she skipped and walked up and down the hallway for over 20 minutes - we could have perhaps given them strength and confidence that it could very well work out for them, too....)

I've been waiting to share this with everyone as I wanted tscheese to hold the actual book in her hands first. This was, after all, somewhat a suprise for her :)

The same as she did for The Mysterious Minute-Men Omnibus, Theresa provided a piece of artwork that I included in the book. When it came time to gather material for The Mysterious Minute-Men: Ready for the Future I once again contacted her for a pin-up.

Well, I loved the image SO much that not only did I have to include it in the book, I wanted it on the Back Cover so folks can see it in all its glory! When I handed the image over to Von Allan (vonandmoggy), he lifted the images out, added some great color highlights and shading, and the end result was this:



Isn't that a beauty? Wonderful, wonderful work once more, Theresa and Von!

If you haven't ordered your copy yet... what are you waiting for? :)

Tomorrow morning, after dropping Kyle off at Daycare, Chantale and I are taking Charlize to the Montreal Children's Hospital for her follow-up visit. We'll go through (I'm pretty sure) of the regular tests (echo, maybe xray) and learn how her little heart has been developing in the last year.

As much as I've always tried to put myself in the mindset that it's just "another yearly checkup" similar to dentists, optometrist, physical, etc, there's always that little... nugget of fear that takes hold of your center.

I guess it's still something to get used to. After all, I don't go visit the Eye Doc, Dentist, or Family Doc worried they'll find anything. I do it as a regular preventative measure knowing they'll confirm my clean bill of health. I'm thinking it'll take a few more years before I feel the same way about Charlize's cardiology appointments...

You know what I realized today - about an hour ago? That this sunday IS Father's Day.

I know I've been out of touch for the last couple of weeks while insanity swirled around me, but this was just a bit much. This would have been the first Father's Day weekend when I would have had James and Melyssa with me without any "complications". However, due to other appointments and Charlize's birthday, and the fact that Melyssa still has school on the 22nd and 23rd (which meant I couldn't keep the kids from the 19th through the 25th), we agreed to postpone pickup until the 23rd.

Had I realized...

sigh.

Oh well. It'll be different next year as my "little" girl will be in Junior High and thus have a similar school schedule to James.

I need more sleep and less "stress"

Edited to change the "was father's day" to "IS father's day". More PROOF POSITIVE that I am really out of touch! (you're out of touch... i'm out of time... but I'm out of my HEAD when you're not around... oh-oh-oh... oh-oh-oh!"

So. Since last weekend (May 31st?) I've been on my own while Chantale has been "sequestered" in various hotels working on some very big deals - affecting the lives of over 15,000 people.

I think I've mentioned before - and many times over - how damned proud I am of her and all that she's accomplished in her life - and her still not even 30! :) The point is, it's been a tough climb for her to prove herself NOT just as a woman in the workplace, but as a young woman who had the vision, strength of character, and integrity to pull off all she was capable of.

It's been tough but today she has quite the incredible stories to tell about what she's gone through and laurels to prove it. And as she embarks on her new project/ career, she can lay to rest the biggest project she's worked on so far and move forward with a clear goal.

True, the finalizing of this project required up to 20-hour days, barely getting one or two hours of sleep for a week at a time, but it's "done" now. Or close to being done-done with a chance at some normality. She did come home last Thursday, and promptly slept a good 15hours :) But, she flew out on Saturday and back into the thick of things until, finally, last night, the agreements were signed.

So, I should be getting my wife back (and the kids their mom!) before the week is up. Just in time to relax for the weekend and then take Charlize for her follow-up appointment on the 17th at the hospital to see how her heart is doing. And Charlize turns 2 exactly one week after that :)

Have I mentioned it's going to be a busy month? :) (obviously there's more going on that I haven't noted here, but it's going to be a busy month!)

So. Back to my first sentence. I've been handling stuff while she's been away and I have to admit it's been running well. It's been said many times that kids need and thrive on routine and weeks like this have definitely shown that. I get up every day at around 545am. Charlize and Kyle are up by 6am which means I just had time to get dressed and wake up :) I dress them and get them ready, then they eat breakfast while I prepare my own lunch and breakfast. We're out of the house by 645am to get to daycare. Afterwards, I grab the train and head to work until 4pm. I pick them up at 530pm and head home. On one night, they take baths while supper cooks, on other times they just play while supper cooks. Point being that by 6pm we're eating (and usually done by 630pm). The kids then play or watch some tv (week 1 was The Emperor's New Groove. week 2 seems to be Superman The Movie). Charlize, by 7pm, is clamoring to go to bed. So, I give her some milk and she's in bed. It's Kyle's turn at 730pm. By 8pm I'm working on various projects (either copyediting or writing) and by 930pm I'm already fried and ready for bed!

Crazy, sometimes strict-sounding, but it runs really well. Minor changes fall after suppers on nice nights when we take out the bike and ride around for 20-30 minutes. It works well, but it still takes a lot to keep it going and since I wasn't sleeping very well (or at all) for the last 10 days, it made things a little tougher.

Last night was the first night I slept right through since I don't remember. I could have definitely slept a few more hours but responsibilities beckoned... :)

I've been wanting to update this journal for 2 weeks now and only got a minute in between taking a bite to eat, drinking coffee, and fighting off an impending headache!

But at least there's an end in sight. Phew.

Being an Author of Italian origins, how could I not take advantage of a new agreement between LSI and the Espresso Book Machine? After all, when The Mysterious Minute-Men need a really quick boost of energy, does it not make sense to grab an Espresso?! :)



Savage Enterprises Publishing has signed an agreement to make their current (and future) titles available on the revolutionary Espresso Book Machine

It's like an ATM for books and will allow our titles to be available to a wider audience who could literally buy themselves a copy and have it printed out for them within 10 minutes!

Technology is changing the face of how we interact with each other and it has certainly allowed micro publishers the chance to break down the walls of traditional publishing and reach an audience base that would have been a lot more difficult before.

According to On Demand Books, here is the list of EBM current locations (including my home town!):

The University of Alberta Bookstore - Espresso Books, 9012 Hub Mall, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Internet Archive - 116 Sheridan Avenue, The Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Bibliotheca Alexandrina - P.O. Box 138, El Shatby, Alexandria, Egypt

New Orleans Public Library, 219 Loyola Ave, New Orleans, Lousiana

Angus & Robertson Bookstore - 360 Bourke Street, Melbourne, Australia

University of Michigan Library - Ann Arbor Campus, 818 Hatcher South, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Northshire Bookstore - 4869 Main Street, Manchester Center, Vermont

NewsStand UK - 88 to 84 London Business Park, Roding Road, London, UK

McMaster Innovation Press / Titles On Demand - McMaster University Bookstore, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

McGill University Library (spring 2009) - McLennan Library Building, 3459 McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

University of Waterloo Bookstore - 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Blackwell Bookshop - 100 Charing Cross Road, London, UK

Brigham Young University Bookstore (spring 2009) - Wilkinson Student Center, University Hill, Provo, Utah, USA

The InfoShop, The World Bank (exhibition 2006) - 701 18th St. N.W., Washington, District of Columbia, USA

New York Public Library, SIBL (exhibition 2007) - 188 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, USA

I'm Ready for the Future! Are you? :)

Reminder: Online retailers selling Ready for the future: http://tinyurl.com/minmen2
Online retailers selling the Omnibus: http://tinyurl.com/minmen1

I'm proud to announce that The Mysterious Minute-Men: Ready for the Future is now available!



You can get your copies online at various prices or directly from me for the discounted price of $12.00

Raise your coffee mugs up high! Life never ceases to amaze :)

The Future!

Are you ready for it?

I am! :)


The Mysterious Minute-Men: Ready for the Future

Now Available! Sporting an awesome cover by Gabriel Morrissette! Special thanks to Von Allan for helping to get it print-ready! :)

http://tinyurl.com/minmen2 can help you find a copy online (use http://tinyurl.com/aragona to see the price plus shipping). Amazon might not be offering any real discounts at the moment, but others are.

So? What are you waiting for? :)

(if the answer is "Me" - I'm waiting for my shipment to arrive)

What a way to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of these zany characters! Who could have ever predicted I'd still be having so much fun with them after all this time?!

at least that's what it feels like! I haven't posted in over 2 weeks and can't even pick up the pieces of what's been going on! :) Mother's Day celebrations, my birthday celebrations, so much done/ to do around the house, the kids, etc etc... wow!

Last weekend, Melyssa pulled my 2004 journal down from the bookshelf and read through it in a couple of hours. If anything reminded me of why I keep wanting to record my life and theirs, it was that :) It's just that there have been a number of... changes that have prevented me from getting on here as much as I've wanted. I'll probably post privately about that later on.

On top of all that, various deadlines have come and finally gone and I'm finally feeling like I have a moment to breathe!! Truly. I think it's been months since I last had a moment where I didn't feel a deadline pressing down on me in one form or other. There is a book I have to proof before the end of next month, but I'm looking forward to doing this (first time going through this author's work).

As for The Mysterious Minute-Men: Ready for the Future... it's almost here... :)

I've got the final front cover from the upcoming novel... and it is SO cool that it helped turn around my entire "bleah" week! :) Seriously! I'm so tempted to share it with all of you but decided to hold off a few more weeks until the book's ready for release. It's done. I'm just putting some final pieces together before sending it off to the printer.

In other news, I'm having a birthday in a couple of weeks! Now, ever year, I have gone to see some kind of comic or action movie on my birth day. Why not? It's fun, it's mindless, it's a day off... what better time to just unwind and give in to the silly side :) This year, the chosen movie was set to be Star Trek. However, one of the folks I was going to see it with would not have been available on my birthday weekend. So, we pushed up the party day to tomorrow May 2nd and now we're going to see Wolverine instead :)

Of course, I'm also taking May 15th as a vacation day (initially it was supposed to be the 14th, but something had come up on that day that made it impossible so I switched to the 15th... and they've since moved that meeting to another day. sigh. but at least it'll make for a 4 day weekend since the 18th is Victoria Day and thus a holiday :) But, I digress). Anyhow, Chantale and I are going to head out to see Star Trek on IMAX on the 15th. So, a double-bonus this year ;)

Speaking of bonuses... another very nice thing about this weekend? May 3rd marks 10 years that Chantale and I have been dating :) This past Monday marked 8 years that we've been living together! So, to celebrate, I'm taking her out for a romantic brunch at our favorite place: Auberge des Gallant where we held our wedding reception :)

*Happy Sigh*