As mentioned in my post yesterday, we got in later than we thought, so we only had a little beach time… But that turned out to be good thing as we were all pretty pooped out after a long day of driving.  So here are a few oics fom day one!  Talk to ya soon!

Quick post for now folks, but we have finally arrived at our rented condo in New-Jersey’s Wildwood Crest!  We made the 9 hours drive, which actually took about 11 hours because of traffic, in two days.  This turned out to be a good strategy as Sammy was in a good mood for not being cemented in his car seat for too long.  I gotta say, he’s a good kid… Quiet and calm, he was just happy sitting with us an playing with his car toys!

So having finally arrived, we discovered that the owner had NOT hidden the key to the condo! He instead tried to mail it to us at home back in Canada… after we had already left!!! Grrrr!!!  So that means we got here after a 6 hours ride through traffic only to find out we couldn’t get in!!!! :(  Safe to say, we were getting pretty pissed buy that point.

Mike then whipped out his cell to call the owner, which we were fortunate enough to get in touch with, and we got a spare set of keys! 

So now we are in the condo and I’m updating the blog with my neighbour Louise’s laptop on a WIFI connection from a restaurant down the street!

Gotta go! We’re headed to the beach for a quick walk and dip, then it’s off to the supermarket to stock up the fridge!!!

I’ll update the blog with some pictures of the condo and beach later tonight!

Take care all!

It’s been a while since my last post, but as I mentioned in the posting, life has gotten busy! I’ve got a couple personal projects out of the way, only to have a few more take their place! But I’m not complaining, I love being busy, being productive and being creative! yay! Which means the blog has been suffering! Boo! Which also might be a good thing! Why? Well I started this blog mainly to chronicle the events of Sam’s arrival into our lives and in the past few weeks, the posting have also included topics that make this blog more like any other: movie reviews, game reviews, site reviews, rants about current issues, etc. Which is fun to do, but off the original intention of what this blog was supposed to be and what makes it different (in my eyes) to other blogs. So, I’ve decided that in light of my other sudden summertime occupations, I will update this blog less, but when I do, it will be about the parent life with Sam.

Having said that, last weekend, Sam, Melissa and I went to a great little restaurant near my parent’s place for Melissa’s 30th birthday dinner. It was a beautiful evening as we arrived at the little cottage like resto around 6:30 and proceeded to talk and dine until well past 9:30! The atmosphere was perfect, a nice breezy summer evening by the waterfront, under a giant maple tree watching the sun set on the water…all the while enjoying a great Austrian meal!!! The company was, of course fabulous, but we did regret that my sis and her family couldn’t be there. But we drank to them and hoped they were having as much fun as we were back in Toronto. Sam was a big hit with the waitresses and other patrons as he giggled and smiled his way through the evening, only to finally fall asleep in his Dad’s arms shortly before the ride home. Safe to say, he was pooped!

Later in the week, we had a massive, violent thunder storms blanket the area were we live. Much damage did ensue as trees were pulled out at their roots, roofs and houses were torn and many a garbage pail has gone missing…having flown away on the wind. I was working, but Melissa and Sam were at home during the ordeal which had them taking refuge in the basement as the storm raged outside. After a hit like that, it was no surprise that some water infiltrated through our windows causing minor water damage. Most of the city lost power as well. That’s right! Sam’s first blackout! So I took some pics of him to commemorate the moment! It just so happened that the sky was clearing as the sun set that evening, so I ran out and took a pic of my street with nothing but the sunset shading us in its soft glow. It was a nice moment and I was actually thankful for the blackout just then. It was a welcome respite from our neon filled nights, to have an evening bathed in pink giving us all some time to think.

See you next post!

Whew! Life sure keeps you busy in a hurry! It’s been about 4 days since my last post and I’ve hardly had the time to string together a few words for the blog! I’ve been working on a family project, which although I had some good fun doing, I am now glad it’s over! I can now get back to other projects I have on my to do list! Most of those are from my 30 in 30 list, but I have a new project I’m developing that has recently taken the drivers seat, putting all others on the back burner. I won’t talk about it now, but I’ll be dishing some news on it now and then… when it’s safe to do so! Also, we’ve had a few birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate recently, which puts all personal plans on hold (and rightly so!). As you can see Sam is pooped and so are Mom and Dad…

So as mentioned above, I’m working on this family project and I see this… Check it out and let me know what you think…honestly.

The armored foot hit impossibly fast causing him to stagger. He knew what would come next. Then, the blade bit deep, scraping on bone, and drove through his ribs. The pain was paralyzing as the blade was pulled from his failing body. He grasped the wound with one hand and kept waging a hopeless battle with the shield he held in the other. Blocking blow after forceful blow from his assailant, he tried to regain his footing, but found his legs betraying him. No strength would come of them, he knew doom was upon him. The storm had reached full force and the lashing rain stung friend and foe alike upon which deafening thunder played through the somber clouds. Sparks flew as another merciless blow rung on his shield and his defenses were down. He lay there in child like fear, eyes wide in terror and pain. Arms spread wide, too heavy to lift, he lay there vulnerable, alone and cold. He had the look of a man who didn’t want to die, not this way. The thoughts and memories of his life multiplied in his mind lending him comfort in his last breath. His murderer hefted the bloody sword that had slain most of his friends and looked deeply into his eyes. Pure evil was there. The man cried and whimpered as the slender steel whistled through the air for the killing blow.

The cry sliced through the sky like lightning and the blocking sword wasn’t far behind. A young boy, a lad, a child, had stopped the deathblow and now found himself in a deadly dance of steel. The darkness turned with unnatural speed lending its terror to the youthful warrior. The boy fought with the courage of ten men. Weaving and bobbing, he dodged the crippling blows of the murderer. He attacked with techniques taught to him by his father, and these were passed on through the many generations of his family. He fought with pride and balance, clearly the best fighter his family had produced in a long hierarchy of great fighters.

The horrendous sounds of war filling his ears, he sat staring from the mud clutching his punctured body, he knew this child was a prodigy. One who had grown so fast and so strong could only be a hero. Hope flickered in his frail soul. To him the rain had suddenly stopped, the thunder had been silenced, his gaze fixed upon the young phenom. He found resolve at the sight of this and got to his feet and reached for his sword…but the murderer had claimed it’s latest victim. The man dropped to the mud to see if he could still save the boy, but once again the armored boot came crashing down, this time on his fingers shattering them. He reeled from the pain and looked at his murderer. Their eyes didn’t lock this time for the sword flashed without hesitation and darkness fell upon him…

And that’s it! If you care to leave a comment below, I’m just curious for a reaction. That was written by me over 7 years ago… Safe to say that my reading of it now has changed my perception of how I thought I used to write. But we are “our own worst critics“.

That’s it for now, catch you later!

Work got you down? Need a little boost cause you’re bored? Well cheer up already! It’s Friday and the ever blessed weekend is upon us! Just a quick post today to help you all through the day and get you to that 4 o’clock freedom bell! Check out some of these interesting stories I’ve found around the interwebs. I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll like or at least to keep you busy for a while. Bored at work? Well you are not alone my friends!

Have fun and have a great weekend!

Untouched humans found! This is quite fascinating, a tribe of humans having never contacted the outside world has been found. Check out the fly-by photos!

Bad Tatoos gallery. What were they thinking?!? I guess that’s the point: they weren’t.

The tallest building in the world is now in… Isn’t this just another form of a “Who’s got the bigger d*ck” fight?

The 6 most badass stunts ever pulled in the name of science. From Cracked.com!

Miracle Fruit rewires taste buds. I want to try these.

HULKs 10 best brawls. To hype the upcoming HULK movie (that I think will flop, but we’ll see!)

Sixth longest place name in the world: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg! Only Sixth? WTF?!?!

Disney Land for nymphos? Ummm….yeah… weird asian stuff.

Stiller, Black and Downey Jr. as the Pips!

Funny stuff! Great song too!

Kevin Smith’s next flick “Zack and Miri make a porno” starring Seth Rogen has it’s first web teaser out! It’s not for kids due to strong language, but it’s pretty funny! Check it out here!

That’s it folks, enjoy!

In continuing with finding fun and innovative websites, and by writing about them, thus giving them a whopping 6 additional hits a day , I stumbled upon another cool site: SomethingStore.com. Now I’m not sure how or if they make a profit from its operation, but the concept is pretty cool none-the-less. They describe themselves as such:

SomethingStore is a fun new website that operates simply: We will send you something, an item selected randomly among many things from our inventory, for $10 (free shipping) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it. What will yours be?

Sounds simple and fun right! Well I think so, and in keeping with my ever curious and rash decision making…I’ve ordered me a little sumthin’ sumthin’! Why not? For 10 bucks, taxes and shipping included, what do I have to lose? Well, 10 bucks. But if the sites’ customer feedback testimonials are to be believed, it’s worth it. Besides some, if not most, of the items sent out are worth much more than $10.00 and the whole point is to be surprised and have a little fun… you cheap bastard! This could be a great birthday party gag gift or a secret Santa Christmas gift. Its a interesting premise that could net you a lot of cheer as some of the items are pretty neat.A brief example of these somethings include (all items are pulled from the site, with their shipping destinations included):

The variety of items they deliver is quite impressive and really throws off any expectations one might have. Because, clearly, size nor money is an issue for what they send. The shipping is usual pretty fast, but due to ever increasing orders, they’ve been delayed an extra few days. No matter! I look forward to getting my something in the mail and when I do, I’ll post it up here with my reactions/comments. Hmmm… I really hope it’s one of those USB rocket launchers… I could really use one of those around my workplace!

This weekend was your typical spring weekend in a typical suburb. The nice weather permitted us to work on the property, you know: cut the grass, plant some flowers, sweep the driveway, etc. Melissa and I try, but we simply can’t keep up with the crazy lady that lives in front of our house. You know the type I’m sure… Everything is pristine on their property! The vibrant green, freshly watered grass is perfectly cut to a thick carpet like quality, while the flower beds simply overflow with petaled rainbows of color. The asphalt driveway is of an obsidian sheen not seen since 2001: A Space Odyssey… you expect chimps to walk up and touch it, then start beating each other to death! In fact, she rarely parks her own car there! It’s as if she knows of it’s slumbering, evil, power. But a quick example of her “level of commitment” to her property: During a rain storm this spring, she would constantly come out of her house to pick leaves of her lawn during the storm… leaves that would blow onto her lawn… every 2 minutes… really… Even Sam can’t believe it…

So anyhoot (ranting over!), we even had some family and friends over for supper on Saturday night, and all went well. It was Sunday morning, that the titled event happened. Now, before proceeding, understand that new parents keep track of their kids bowel movements just to be sure the infant isn’t constipated and or dehydrated. As a general rule, at least one good poop every 2 - 3 days is considered normal. Melissa and I had noticed Sam hadn’t done the dump-dance in the past 2 days, so we knew it was on its way. We could see it in his eyes, like storm clouds on the horizon.

In the hurried confusion that followed, some events may have been forgotten, but I’ve done my best to recreate the time line here, for documentation purposes, so that others may learn from this tragedy.

11:15 A.M. - Living Room, Sam’s Technicolor play mat: Melissa is prepping lunch while I entertain Sam. Suddenly, Sam stops his gleeful playing, furrows his brow and begins grunting several times in rapid succession.

11:16 A.M. - Living Room, my nose: the smell of Sam’s hard work assaults my olfactory senses, setting off my natural defense system. Adrenaline is released into my system, thus my heart rate increases and my blood pressure shoots up to prevent me from passing out. Yes, I am well trained.

11:17 A.M. - Kitchen: Sam’s biological weapon reaches his mother. She’s caught unaware and a thump is heard as she faints on the kitchen floor.

11:18 A.M. - Sam’s room, 2nd Floor: I’ve taken Sam to the change table in his room. The ground floor of the house is lost. I don my oven mitts and scuba mask for protection as I gently peel away his clothes and eventually, his diaper. I begin to sweat, the vile taste of panic rising in my throat… there’s poop everywhere! Sam smiles.

11:24 A.M. - Sam’s room, change table: After 6 minutes of furious wiping with baby wipes, Sam is still contaminated. He’s been wriggling around smearing his poop/spinach/Velcro byproduct onto everything. It’s now on his feet, knees, legs and I’m pretty sure it jumped onto my hands as my left hand thumb was full of the stuff. Having smeared his change table mat while I held his legs aloft, setting him back down now painted his back in the poopy mixture as well. I frowned.  Again, Sam smiled.

11:25 A.M. - Upstairs Bathroom: Melissa recovers from the preemptive strike and runs to get me a bowl of soapy water and a washcloth. I like to think of this moment as “the turn of the tide“. The toxic poop was no match for the soapy water, as I cleansed the entire lower half of Sam’s stool afflicted body with an invincible wipe, rinse and repeat combat tactic. Every last bit of the enemy was destroyed, even when it cowered in the baby fat folds of his little legs. Victory was ours!!!

11:28 A.M. - Sam’s Room - Change table: Melissa and I celebrate the end of the fecal hostilities as I finish drying Sam off and begin to fit a new diaper on him. I turn to Melissa to thank her for the flanking support, when a giggle from our son turns my head around… and to our complete shock, Sam is busily peeing away on himself! By the time I regain control and cover his pee-pistol, he’s been covered from head to toe in pee, as have my hands and arms, the change table and his clothes. I frown, and Sam and Mom giggle.

11:29 A.M. - Upstairs Bathroom: Sam is now in his bath, since this is obviously what he wanted from the beginning of his planned, two stage attack. I let him splash around in the warm water after having washed him, and tell him it’s time to come out. As I reach for him, he again begins to pee in the bath! This time, we all giggle, happy he was in the bath when he did it. I place him in his towel and pat the little guy down, getting him nice and dry. I remember thinking: “He’s got to be empty now right?”. Well folks as it turns out, he was.

11:50 A.M. - Ground floor, Sam’s swing: We are back on the now decontaminated area of the ground floor. Sam is happy, he always is through these ordeals, and Melissa and I can finally eat. Things are back to normal, for now. But as this picture of Sam shows, he’s clearly not impressed with our diaper changing prowess. So fair warning to all you out there, babies are cute, sure, but they can strike with merciless brutality if left unchecked for too long. The casualties were high and lives will forever be changed after this… I might never regain the full use of my nose. The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it, for the first time, with a sense of hope. Because if a baby, a poop machine, can temporarily be stopped, maybe we can once again live clean.

On May 20th, Samuel turned 3 months old! Time is flying by! It seems like yesterday that we just got home from the hospital, with Sam fast asleep in his car seat placed on the kitchen table, while Melissa and I stared at him wondering just how much our lives had changed. It was a thrilling yet scary moment to be sure, but one I’ll never forget! Now, Sammy-boy is an active, talking, kicking, pooping, curious little boy. No longer can we keep him satisfied by simply laying him on our bed with a couple toys to keep him busy for a few minutes. He wants to be part of the action, whether were are making supper or working in the yard, Sam’s got his eye on us!

Which is what he should be doing at his age. Check out the “What to Expect the First Year” guidelines for 3 month old babies:

Things most babies should be doing:

• Recognizes your face and scent: Sam’s been doing this for a while now. Our favorite times are when he wakes up in the morning and when I get home from work. He’s all smiles when he sees us! As for the scent part, well lets just say he knows when someone has farted!
• Holds head steady: Sam’s good at this too. Now we can hold him in our arms and let him look around without laying his head on our shoulders. Unintentional head-butting on his part has also greatly diminished, to the great joy of Mom and Dad… they hurt!
• Visually tracks moving objects: Check! Sam’s always watching us walk around. We have problems sneaking into his room when he’s trying to sleep as he spots us at the door as we walk in. So Mom and Dad have sometimes been reduced to crawling below his crib eye line to get into the room unseen! Sheesh!

Things some babies can be doing:

• Squeals, gurgles, coos: Yep! He’s a chatter box like his Mom Ouch! (She’s just smacked me!)
• Blows bubbles: Besides our initial thoughts that Sam had rabies the first few times he did this, it’s pretty cute. And I’m kidding about the rabies of course… we thought it was a seizure!
• Recognizes your voice: He knows Mom and Dad alright. So do a few dogs in our neighborhood, as I go into super high-pitch mode when doing baby talk which gets the surrounding pooches all excited. I’m like a Bee Gees soundtrack!
• Does mini push-up: He does these little chest raising push-ups during his “tummy-time”. But I’ll really be impressed when he does them on his knuckles.

Things few babies can do:

• Rolls over from tummy to back: He’s just started this which has heightened our awareness of his growing capabilities to get out of the places Mom and Dad put him in. He’s no longer static Sam just lying there, now he’s wiggling and slouching and rolling and tossing… Fun times indeed!
• Turns toward loud sounds: He does this a lot, which might explain his new found love for T.V. or the movies Dad watches while giving him a bottle.
• Can bring hands together, bats at toys: This is really cool, as seeing him grab at his toys is a big visual step in his interaction with us. It also gives him a little more personality in the way he moves and decides to throw away a toy or hungrily bring one to his mercilessly suckling mouth!

All in all, we’ve had an awesome 3 months so far and seeing him acquire these new skills and levels of interaction just makes us look forward even more to what the upcoming months will bring!

Have a great weekend everybody!

During spring and summer, I like making different recipes that I wouldn’t make at any other time of year. Which makes sense, because who wants a nice boiling pot of stew in mid-July?!?! Well, crazy people. But here is a simple spring/summer time recipe I love making because it always yields impressive results that are sure to be appreciated by whomever gets to feast on these babies. Today, I’m sharing my super easy Spring Roll recipe, which scores me MAJOR brownie points whenever I make them for the mother-in-law!!!

Now I say this is an “easy” recipe, but if you’ve got clumsy fingers and no patience, you might want to swing by your local sushi shop and pick some up instead. Your first couple attempts may end in the total destruction of the mutant spring roll your inexperienced hands have birthed. But fear not as the making of spring rolls has never made anyone crazy, so put your axe away Mr. Torrence!

Very well! You’ve chosen to brave the trials of spring rolling (yes I made that up) and as a Master of the craft, I will take you as my pupil. Preparation is key, I recommend gathering the following before you even touch you’re first rice patty! By the way, you can pretty much put anything in a spring roll, but I put the following, so feel free to modify to your liking Mr. or Mrs. Fussy!

• 1 pack of rice vermicelli, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes
• 1 thinly sliced red bell pepper
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 2 cups beans sprouts
• 45 - 50 small sized, thawed shrimp (3 per roll)
• 20 rice patties
• 4 twigs of fresh mint leaves
• 1 head of iceberg lettuce, chopped

Now follow these steps and good luck! Remember to just be patient as you roll to not tear the rice patty.

1. Set yourself up in a similar fashion, with all your ingredients within easy reach.

2. Soak the rice patty in warm water until it’s soft, about 10 to 30 seconds depending on the temperature of your water.

3. Pat down the wet patty lightly with a scott-towel , leaving it humid but not wet.

4. Place a bit of rice vermicelli towards the bottom of the patty.

5. Next, place a pinch of the iceberg lettuce on top of the rice vermicelli.

6. Now throw some beans sprouts on the lettuce.

7. Tightly roll the patty until the end of the patty is tucked into the roll and place the shrimp.

8. Put some of the bell peppers on the shrimp.

9. Add the shredded carrots on top of the peppers.

10. Fold in the sides of the patty.

11. Now add a couple mint leaves and roll tightly until the end!

12. Voilà! You’re done! Easy-peasy right? Now you are the master, go forth and roll!

And, of course, a nice Peanut Dipping Sauce really complements the light, crispy spring rolls nicely:

• 2 Tbsp. (30 mL) peanut butter
• 4 tsp. (20 mL) each: rice vinegar and water
• 1 Tbsp. (15 mL) soya sauce
• 1 tsp. (5 mL) each: sesame oil and brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. (2 mL) minced garlic

In a small pan, mix the above ingredients together. Cook on medium heat until peanut butter is completely melted. Serve rolls with peanut sauce. Simple and delicious!

Good Eatin’!

On May 13th, Melissa and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary! Yay! It’s an anniversary of sorts as we are not actually married, but just because we aren’t, doesn’t mean what we have and what we worked to building together doesn’t count! I know some people are more traditional an believe marriage is the appropriate step to take with your significant other, but that “mentality” just never appealed to Melissa or myself. And I’m not starting a religious argument here (that would be a waste of time) as we chose to for go both the holy sacrament of marriage from our catholic upbringing and the legal eagle city hall wedding alternative.

Why? Well…that’s none of your damn business!

Actually we just always had other things we’ve wanted to put our time and money in. Moving out of our parents house into an apartment, then into a house, then a baby (Sam!), careers, trips, etc, the list goes on. We all have our own priorities in life, and we’re happy they way things are right now. Now that’s not to say one day, in the next few years, we may want to get married, but to do so in a church would be a little hypocritical as our Sunday morning are for sleeping in and breakfast in bed (waffles anybody?!?). We prefer a nice beach/tropical/island wedding! A nice, relaxing event with close family and friends, that would end with a dip in the big blue… preferably the Caribbean, and would lead into a beach party lasting until dawn. Now that’s our idea of a wedding. Leave Gods&Laws aside, and bring a wedding back to what we should be celebrating: love, fun, a life shared and… food!

Despite that dream wedding, I know Melissa is the love of my life. I see that as plain as day, and she tells me she feels the same way (whew!) , which is a wonderful feeling. A feeling which is only stronger now that Sam is in our lives, a tie that binds us, flesh and blood, more meaningful than any marriage license could ever be! Sam truly moved our life goals and dreams into new territory, beyond the material. It’s tough to describe as it’s more of a state of mind rather than a series of emotions. Yeah yeah, getting all mushy here eh? Well, too freakin’ bad! My blog, my mush!

All this to say that Melissa has changed my life in the most amazing ways in the past 11 years. She’s allowed me to stay true to myself while helping me through the good and bad, but always making me laugh the along the way. She’s honest and caring, beautiful and engaging, intelligent, passionate, witty… and short! I’m 6 ft. 2 and she’s 5 ft. 2, so we don’t always see eye to eye, but we always kiss (with Melissa on her tip-toes) and make up. So, I know she’ll be reading this, a smile on her face, which is the way I see her when I think of her. Happy and beautiful. The most brilliant star in my sky that I’m so thankful to have had light the way these past 11 years.

I only hope my love has given her the same.

These 11 years we’ve shared have gone by so fast, with a lot of fond memories along the way. I can’t wait to see what the next 11 will bring!