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If you want to get depressed in a hurry (doesn’t everybody?) you should go out and rent the documentary “The End Of Suburbia”. This happy little film discusses the inevitable downfall of our society due to the decreasing availability of oil.

We all know about this and are aware of the many obvious costs of our oil gluttony: war, global warming, environment depletion. The doc discussese these issues in detail but the key element discussed which is described by the title is how this is will affect our day-to-day lives. With our exploitation of oil we have created the suburbia that is seen today and when the oil runs out will dramatically change the landscape of these environments.

The dwellers of suburbia by definition are required to drive their vehicle many miles for virtually all their needs. When the oil runs out, these suburbs will become the new ’slums’ or become extinct as people move closer together as before the big boom in the 60’s. Alternatively, the slums will adapt and re-adjust to small communities that have the needs within walking distance. But there will be a cost to this: Many of these ‘McMansions’ as they are called by the documentary will become quasi-apartment buildings, very similar to what is seen in inner-city suburbs today.

Not to bore you or put myself into a deeper state of depression, I’ll skip the finer points and wrap up with some points that are important to me:

- how will the oil depletion affect the value of my home in the future? We live in an older suburb on the outskirts of the city. But it is located within a fairly self-supporting village with other small towns and villages within a 5 kilometer radius. Will the future see an increase or decrease in value? What services need to exist in the community to become even more self-sufficient and thus worthwhile to live in the community? Given that driving may become overly-expensive, how attractive is our community?
- To answer the above, we need to also think about what type of work people will be doing in 10, 20, 30 or 40 years from now? Our local metropolis is fairly diverse (several colleges, universities, factories, etc.) but has become prevalently a technology centre. What value will these jobs have down the road? How expensive will it be to drive into these jobs from outside of the city? What will I be doing?

- These questions will certainly drive the path we take whenever we evaluate our place of living, whether we should think about moving and to where we should be moving. And this evaluation should be ongoing along with a healthy (but not paranoid) awareness of housing trends and other indicators that provide insight into the future (cost of oil, US invasions into other oil rich countries, that sort of thing).

- Wherever we live, it’ll someday need to be a walkable, smart growth community.  Already, subdivisions are being built to accommodate this and they are selling at a monster premium.

The doc was a little over the top and most likely produced by conspiracy theorists, but when reviewed rationally there was good discussion within the film and some value to take away from it.

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We headed down to the Jays game last Saturday afternoon to watch them play against the 2006 AL champs the Detroit Tigers.  Always a fun affair, Jays games are a little more interesting to me this year than in past years.  Not because they are a contender this year (at least before their B.J. Ryan went down with an injury) but because I own a few of the players on my fantasy team this year:  Alex Rios, Lyle Overbay and Jason Frasor.  Additionally this game I would see a couple more of my players in action ala Pudge Rodriguez and the Detroit closer Todd Jones.

The game was a high scoring affiar with the Jays losing 10-7.  Both Rios and Overbay hit HRs with Overbays being very important (at the time) in the bottom of the 8th that gave the Jays the lead 8-7, and as equally important, a win opportunity for Frasor after he blew a 7-5 lead in the top of the 8th.  Unfortunately and yet still fortunately Ryan came into the 9th to close and gave up 4 runs to leave it 10-7 into the bottom of the 9th.  The win was erased but instead I was able to pick up the save when Jones came in to close it for Detroit.  So, a very active game to watch and for me personally for the fantasy world in which I live.

There was also very rare excitement in the top of the 8th when Craig Monroe fouled off a Frasor offering directly to Sonia.  Her hands were full with OG but fortunately the ball landed directly beneath her seat unimpeded.  She was able to pluck it out before anyone else could get to it.  The first time she has had a foul ball hit to her at a major league game.  It was quite obvious on impact that the ball was going to come close.  We were in row 40, the top row of the lower level along the first base line (section 115).  Since the batter is a rightie it had a nasty curve on in it but was very predictable as long as it wasn’t deflected which it wasn’t.  There was no real concern that OG would get hit.

We plan on buying a flexpack to see 5 more games this year so one of the games we’ll head down early and we’ll head down to the field to get a signature from Frasor and/or other Jays.  They won’t be able to resist the wiles of OG.

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It rears its ugly head.  There has been one persistent problem that hasn’t gone away after 2 visits to the mechanic.  In defense of the mechanic, this problem hasn’t been the primary reason for bringing it in the last couple of times.  It’s always been an “Oh, and can you take a quick look since you have the car anyway” type of request.

The problem is with the coolant.  The blasted light has been blinking for months now and it’s clear that there is a coolant leak (slow early on, very quick nowadays).  The 1st time I brought it in they noticed a break in the tubes and were able to fix that pretty easily.  After a top-up of fluid that seemed to have solved the problem.  But a few days later the light came back on and since I had to bring it in again (due to what I like to call the “Ignition Coil Incident”) they took another look and suspected there was a blockage somewhere in the system.  They pressurized the system to remove any air pockets and this seemed to do the trick for a few days.  Then the light came back on again.  I was tempted to cover the light with electrical tape and live with it until this past Monday:  there was no heat coming into the seating compartment and when driving the car at highway speeds the temperature gauge was spiking.  Sounds like all the fluid has drained from the car.  I’m betting there’s a big puddle in my garage right now.

I’m taking the car into the shop at lunch to at least get a top-up and schedule an appointment.  Depending on the problem and the $$ to fix it this could be the last straw for the bane of my existence.

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Over the weekend the house was transformed into Casino Roach for the 2nd time in history.  The 1st transformation occurred about 2 yrs ago when we introduced the event to 20+ guests.  This 1st event holds an historical footnote:  It was during that night when Sonia and I announced to the ‘outside’ world that we were pregnant with OG. (more…)

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We’ve been struggling this past month trying to decide where to relocate OG for daycare.  Our current arrangements have become a non-option for the time being as that family is preparing to increase its head count.
The struggle we are having is whether we want to enroll her in a commercial daycare environment.  For the past week we’ve been visiting a daycare very close to my office.  It is a fairly large daycare where they do the standard division of ages and can have capacity in a single room of up to around 15 children.  I believe a minimum of 3 caregivers are in the room at all times.

Not impressed.  Although a fairly reputable establishment I’m sure, the environment did not suit us, especially OG (at least we think).  The environment seems a little too institutionalized for me; far from a homestyle comfy feeling I would want to see.  Play, naps, meals all take place in the same room which although is somewhat large is not suitable for all three needs.

We did a few trial runs of a couple hrs each to get a feel for how the staff interacts and it wasn’t sufficient for us.  OG (biased) is a quick learner and requires more stimulation than simply running around from toy to toy.  Reading, colouring (which was controlled to specific times) and crafts are what she is getting more interested in.  And interactively with older people.  The caregivers were providing what I felt was minimal interaction on an educational level.  The rest of the time was mere supervision.

So we’ve been researching other in-home possibilities where we can expose her to an environment with a good mix of children of different ages.  We felt a huge advantage of our old arrangement was that there were kids older than OG that were playing and interacting with her frequently.  I would attribute a big part of her rapid vocabulary and memory development to this exposure.  Being in a room full of similar aged children is not going to be the same.  I’ve observed that equal aged children about her age ( < 2yrs ) tend to not interact meaningfully.  They pretty much just stare at each other and then sometimes try to take each others toys.  I’m not child expert person but I really don’t see anything much going on there at the surface at least.

We have a few leads that we’re following up that could provide an environment similar to what OG is used to.  We haven’t given up on the commercial product yet….just the initial one we gave a try.  There is a top notch daycare facility that we are on a waiting list for that provides a lot of the educational stimulation that was lacking in the other place.  And the environment is much less institutional.  By sending her there a couple days a week and spending some time with both Grandma’s on the other days can be very beneficial.

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We finally had what could be liberally called a snow storm last night.  From where I come from (and from where some people I know now live), it was more like a moderate flurry.

Nonetheless, the blowing wind blew most of the snow into our driveway this morning.  Leaving it virtually impossible to ram the cars out of the garage without something unusual likely to occur.

So, faced with that realization, I donned my  armour and wielded my only weapon available to me:  the Canadian Tire Special Manual Snow Push ( CTS-MSP ).

The snow had drifted in several spots on the driveway upwards to about 3-1/2 feet so previous experience told me that to complete the entire task would take at least an hr.  Much more time than I had to spare.  So I mapped out the areas I needed to shave down in order to get the cars out and onto the road.  Cleanup the rest later when/if I get around to it.

About 10 minutes into the job with only about 6 square feet cleared out, to my relief I noticed Ray making his way over with his blower.  Ray has come over to save me on several occasions when we had a snowfall that is more than usual.

Thanks to Ray, I am again postponed from having to go out and buy a snowblower myself for yet another year.  Something that I debate over each and every start of winter.  But logic has always prevailed.  In this neck of the woods, this type of snowfall only happens about 3 times a year, 1/2 a dozen in ‘bad’ winters.  Any snowfall less than today’s is quite manageable by manual labour in both effort and time.

Although it is somewhat disheartening to see somebody blow your driveway in about 5 minutes with ease as opposed to the 1 1/2 hr of backbreaking effort (especially when the snow banks get higher and higher making it harder to move the snow off the driveway), it’s not enough for me to sway towards to the simple life.

Let’s say a typical blower that would suit my needs costs about $1200 with taxes.  That’s a little on the cheap side but it’ll do for the point I’m about to make.  Assuming it lasts about 20 years and we get about 4 snowfalls a year that truly requires its usage  (I’m going to assume that global warming will not be enough to impact my 100 ft x 25 ft driveway over that span of time), that’s about 80 legitimate uses.  1200/80 = $15.00 per usage plus gas and maintenance fees puts it up to around, say, $16 a usage.  That’s about $3 a minute.  My snow shovel cost me about $15 which makes that about 18 cents over the same amount of usages which in the end is going to be about a penny a minute.

True, if I get a blower it will probably be used more than the 4 times out of sheer laziness.  But to counter this, I have generally become more lazy anyway when it comes to clearing the driveway such that nowadays I will only shovel the driveway when it’s clear that it would be somewhat cumbersome to get the Jetta out onto the road (the CR-V has a much higher tolerance).  And even then, I tend to only shovel the parts that would impede the car on its journey down the driveway.

This is a dramatic shift to how I used to maintain my driveway.  And the shift can be directly related to the birth of OG.  In the winters preceding her, I was diligent in keeping the driveway as clear as possible from snow — cleaning it right down to the pavement.  Boy was I proud whenever I looked out onto the vast expanse of snow covered land *except* for my little area of black gold.    Often, I would gaze out fondly from the opening of my garage while enjoying a much deserved frosty beer after a hard hr’s work.  So much spare time back then.  Now, my standards have dipped excessively to a level where the bare minimum of effort is all that I’m looking for.  I now pride myself on how many weeks in the winter I can go without ever having to touch my shovel.  I do not attribute this to laziness.  I attribute it to wanting/needing to spend my time on more important and more valuable efforts:  aka L’il OG.

So, to get a blower requires overcoming a few obstacles:

1. The cost per usage is quite high
2. The # of required usages is quite low
3. I have neighbours on both sides and across the road that up until now have always willingly come to the rescue.  I personally believe these guys actually want, nay, need to do my driveway in order to justify their purchase of a blower.

Thus, the question:  What year will it be when I have enough $$$ that I don’t care about the cost, the price on my time saved by a blower is high enough and I’ve pissed off all my neighbours?  The question is moot for by the time that would ever occur we’d have set up shop in Phoenix as per Sonia’s wishes.

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Olivia is in a transition. Now that she’s over 18 months I guess it’s time for her to start testing her boundaries and exerting her character a bit more. I’ve noticed this in her eating and how she is expressing her desire to not do something.

OG used to be an indiscriminate eater. She would eat pretty much anything you put on her plate. Although she still will eat many different types of food I have noticed that she has become more selective. She picks the meat out of her noodles, she will not eat carrots. In general, she will eat ‘around’ the items she’s not interested in at that time….which are items she may be interested the next time around. At first I was a little frustrated but I realize now that this is part of growing up: I still eat around items I’m not too fond of so who am I to pass judgement?

The other recent development is in the way she expresses herself when she does not want to do something: arch her back and flail about which can often lead to her banging her head against one thing or another, which in turn sets her off. Not because it hurt but because it’s a cue to start crying. This behaviour is particularly prevelant when it’s time to have a diaper change, get dressed or get undressed. This gets me really frustrated me and I have caught myself on the verge of anger. And that embarrasses me. There is no place for that and it is my responsibility as a parent and a member of my family to put myself above these emotions. It is detrimental and serves no purpose. So, with new enlightenment I will strive to be patient when it is easier to be impatient. How else is my child to learn proper behaviour and how else am I to grow as a parent? Plus, I’m not fun to be around when I get into the spiral of frustration and it’s not fair to Sonia.

Hey, these types of challenges are far outweighed by the enjoyment to everyday life that OG brings. Each of our lives have been enriched since becoming a family. Check out OG’s site for some bragging by daddy on the wonderful accomplishments she’s been making.

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I was looking through all my poker accounts over the weekend and found $1000 sitting in my Paradise account.  This windfall will be put to good use:  going towards a trip somewhere, someday soon (I can’t divulge any details at this time).

While logged into Paradise I took a look-see around and discovered that there was hardly anybody online.  This was Saturday at around 11:00pm which used to be prime time.  Looks like the US crackdown on creditcard usage on these sites has hit some sites hard.

So I went over to PokerStars to see how they were doing.  Much better.  But I think it’s because a lot of Canadians hang out there.  So I decided to play a sit-n-go ($30+3) and won 1st.  More coin to the coffers.

Now that I have a goal in mind (more money for this mysterious trip) I think I’ll spend a little more time playing again for at least a little while.  OGD is starting to sleep a bit more regularly (YES!!) and with the predictability I can sometimes stay up a little later and play during the peak hrs.  We’ll see how it goes.

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I’m back!  It’s been a while, but I’ve been busy for a while.  I’ve been sick, Olivia’s been sick, Sonia’s been sick so not much spare time at home.  More to come about this tomorrow.

I was just treated to a wonderful show of nature.  We have a resident hawk that hangs around the building.  It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen her hanging out on the hill in the centre of the roundabout outside my window but I caught sight of her today.  She’s enourmous and healthy.  As I was watching she dove down and trapped herself a big rat in her talons and flew away.  Awesome!

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It’s Friday morning and we’re still at the hospital.  OG has now gone about 30hrs without a fever.  Her battle with strep pneumonia has turned the tide.  We’re hoping to get the clearance to head out.  We had a heartbreaking moment last night when her IV needed to be redone.  There was nothing, NOTHING more upsetting than to see OG in pain when the IV was being removed and re-inserted.  I despise IVs.

Therehave been some positives to take away.  The Children’s Unit has exceptional staff.  And an exceptional amount of toys.  When we were freed of our involuntary quarantine (which was agonizing but I need to shut my trap because it was only a small sample of what long-term kids have to deal with when they are being treated for cancer or other isolated illnesses), OG was able to walk the halls (what a pitiful sight that was to see her toddling around the halls with an IV attached and Daddy/Mommy walking behind wheeling the electronic cart) and play with all the toys.  And there are a bounty of videos and books.  We will be sure to donate plenty of toys in the future as they are such a welcome bonus and makes the stay much more enjoyable for both child and parent.

And God bless the little fishes.  It was the 1st time I saw OG happy in almost a week.

And thanks to the nurse who re-arranged our room so we could get a playmat on the floor.

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