Thanks very little, Steve

The gov't finally accepted 老婆 as a resident of Canada despite the fact she's been here for over two years now. Friends of hers on student visas were accepted faster. Needless to say that, as a Canadian-born citizen who really likes this country and pays his fair share of taxes, I felt it was a major snub. Getting seven months worth of benefits all at once was rather nice though. That was until I read a little lower and realized that the Universal Child Care Benefit is taxable. Yes, TAXABLE. The $100/month of insufficient funds Canada's New Government gives families with children under six so that they can pay for $600+/month day care is taxable. We will see the $100/month but, come April, we'd better have about $600 to hand back to Stephen Harper. I certainly hope he didn't win over any voters with this scheme in the last election. If you do any searching on-line, you'll quickly find agreement that the Conservatives have set back advances in equality and the reduction of child poverty by a significant amount. I wasn't a fan of King Ralph here in Alberta but at least when he handed out his $400 of free money he didn't ask for half back at tax time.

Speaking of taxes, the populace seems to be easily swayed by another point off the GST. The first percent taken off the GST was accompanied by an extra half percent on personal income taxes. I haven't heard if that's the case this time as well 'cause last time Steve didn't publicize the income tax increase as much as he publicized the GST cut. If I check out some statistics for Alberta from the 2001 census, I see that my family is a little ahead of average in terms of income. Since most groceries aren't taxed, the average Alberta family will save about $450/year from that 1% cut. Except, it can be argued that the GST cut is simply an upper-class tax cut. Low income families must spend most of their money on groceries which means they pay less GST and will see very little savings in a GST cut. It's the people saving $1000 in tax on a new Hummer who will see the savings. Low income families probably paid more tax with the income tax increase than they saved in the GST cut. I guess when Conservatives say they'll cut taxes, they don't mean they'll cut everyone's tax.

Glad to see that the government chosen by the people doesn't care at all about the people.

Day One

Today is day one of trying to get off the white stuff, again. It was a pretty good day as I completely avoided the sugary gummi treats in the developers' ghetto of which I had more than my fair share last week. There was also a fresh box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts which didn't crack my resolve. My only indulgences were a hot chocolate and a smallish slice of warm chiffon cake, baked by 老婆. I'm not gong from zero to hero here but I'm trying to make a change.

This morning I crushed the scale at a massive 87 kg. I'm aware that's not massive but it's far beyond where I'd like to be and I don't want to hit rock bottom by being wheeled in on an industrial strength dolly and crying to Maury or Tyra Banks. Rock bottom should have been one month ago when I finished last in a cyclocross race; nearly two laps down after six laps despite pushing an average of 93% of my maximum heart rate.

I got through high school at about 73 - 75 kg and maintained that until my metabolism slowed down just a few years ago. I then hovered around 76 kg except for a December 2001 trip on the boat that had no edible food from which I returned at 72 kg. It was Xmas so I was able to get back to 76 kg in a hurry. Except for a couple little dips due to the rigours of travelling in China, I maintained 78 kg from 2004 until Xmas of 2005. 老婆's first Xmas in Canada meant tons of sweets and treats at Mom's and I kicked off 2006 at 81 kg. Another year of falling activity and increased eating helped me top out early in 2007 at nearly 90 kg. A little contest with the co-workers enabled me to drop to 85 kg but the end of the contest has meant the end of any declines in my weight.

I'm feeling healthy as of late, no more back and hip pain which I experienced continuously to some degree for a number of years, but the belly giggling like a bowl full of jelly is not making me jolly. I'm lifting weights more regularly in the past few weeks and I'm hoping to keep that up. I'd decided that Dr. Atkins isn't the quack I thought he was a few years ago because of material I've been receiving from Men's Health and a book review on Quirks and Quarks. For me, carbohydrates mostly meant simple sugars so limiting them isn't a bad plan. Recently, a muffin or cookie too many, even long before bed, would keep me awake with heart burn so I think the messages my body is sending me are finally loud and clear enough. I'm going to cut those carbs and make sure meals have some meat and vegetables. I think I'm also going to try easing up on the rice and pasta.

So, now it's out there. I'm fat and I'm trying to do something about it. How far this goes all depends on how I feel. According to official charts, my ideal weight is supposed to be 70 kg but I don't think I've been there since junior high. I've always carried a little extra muscle in the legs and have been surprisingly heavy for my size. The little red mark on my scale is at 84 kg and it's too surprising that I've been above it for so long. The green mark is at 75 kg. My driver's licence says 73 kg.

If it sounds too good to be true...

The Rick Mercer Report on Tuesday did a story about ZENN cars; made in Canada cars but currently illegal to drive here. ZENN stands for Zero Emission, No Noise. While the cars look great and don't create any pollutants themselves, I hope people realize that something needs to be done upstream to reduce their carbon footprint.

One litre of gasoline yields about 35 MJ of energy and I typically drive my car less than most people so I use around 50 L of fuel per month; that's 1.75 GJ of energy I put into my car. If I owned a ZENN car and used a similar about of energy, at 8¢/kWh that I get with EasyMax, I'd send Enmax an extra $39/month but I wouldn't be giving that money to Husky. Based on energy usage, that's like paying 78¢/L but my EasyMax rate is locked in for the next five years. Of course, I wouldn't drive the ZENN nearly as much as my Jetta because the range is 56 km on a charge and the car tops out at 40 km/h. I can almost ride my bike faster than this car. And at four hours for an 80% charge, the drive to mom's would take 27.5 hours; only 7.5 of that actually driving.

What people need to realize with all these "zero emission" vehicles is that the energy has to come from somewhere. Yes, the ZENN itself produces no emissions but, if I plug my car in in Edmonton, all that energy could come from the Genesee coal-fired power plant. I hope no one tries to tell me that is zero emission. Of course, if Enmax allowed reverse metering, I would install a wind turbine on my home 'cause it's always windy here. I only checked a few sites and my friend who's trying to manufacture and sell wind turbines here hasn't got back to me with his numbers but, if the wind speed averages 20 km/h for the month, I could generate up to 400 kWh (1.44 GJ) of electric power. That's slightly off the 500 kWh (1.8 GJ) my home used last month and also slightly off what a ZENN car would use per month but I don't mind giving Enmax $32 less per month. They'd make it up with their distribution fees, service fees, unfair fees and taxes.

If we're going to make use of electric or hydrogen cars, we need to improve how we generate the power we use in our homes. I'd love the government to anger big business by helping home-owners install their own solar or wind generation systems and allow the consumer to bill the company when an excess of power is generated. As unpopular as it is, nuclear power is also an option but has anyone calculated the planet's uranium reserves? I guess I'd better get back to work on my cold-fusion experiments.

Photographic tips

I've been listening to Chris Marquardt's Tips From the Top Floor on my iPod while I ride the bus to work and there are lots of useful tips and tricks for aspiring photographers like myself. One trick I learned recently and has become my favourite is using the fully manual setting on my camera when shooting in consistent light conditions.

I like trying to use natural light through windows when shooting indoors and it is relatively consist for Julie's entire attention span while she's being my model. Since my ist D L2 tends to underexpose my photographs in indoor, natural light conditions, I like to correct for this so there is less post-processing to do. I can set my shutter speed and aperture and the camera also indicates if it thinks the settings are correct or not. I typically overexpose by one full stop to get results I like.

Another great advantage comes during the post processing. Since conditions do not change, all the photos I take are similarly exposed. Ergo, if I'm still not happy, I can batch correct all my photos quickly. I use iPhoto for most of my general corrections and Elements for anything that needs particular attention. iPhoto allows me to copy and paste edits between photos.

My only word of warning is to watch the ISO on the camera. If I take a few shots to start with, I use the P setting and then switch to fully manual when I see that Julie is in a good mood and going to give me a lot of cute faces. The camera remembers the P settings when I switch to M but the ISO resets itself so my first manual shot is horribly underexposed if I'm not paying attention since the P setting with an automatic ISO will often select an ISO of 1600 in low light. My minimum ISO is 200 so I'm typically three stops underexposed if I don't force the ISO to something higher or adjust my shutter speed or aperture.

I'm currently switching from Picasa to Flickr so you can check out those sites if you want to see more of my photography (read: Julie). If you use a news reader, you're probably better off subscribing to the Flickr feed. And check out the Tips From the Top Floor podcast.

Chinese Philosophy

Despite the West's objections to a law imposed on a society by a basically totalitarian government, I have to say I agree with China's one child policy. Though, I'm also glad my parents-in-law paid the fine when my wife was born as their second child. Before anyone asks me any "what ifs" because my wife is around only because of her parents' disregard for the law, you can ask "what if" about any decision anyone makes in life. I try to just make the best of the current situation. Hmm... What if I hadn't gone into geophysics? We'll never know.

Anyway, awhile ago I was listening to Dr. Bob McDonald on Quirks and Quarks talk to Alan Weisman about his book, "The World Without Us." I haven't read the book yet but I intend to and the idea I present here was presented during the interview so, if I don't have the facts of the book entirely straight, I'll try to straighten them out soon. I also apologize for skipping to the end of the book, but Alan Weisman suggests a worldwide one child policy.

If you consider the rapid and unsustainable growth of the human population, reducing our numbers a bit would make some sense. With 6.6 billion people in the world today and 9.4 billion expected in 2050, I don't see how the Earth can keep up with providing for all the humans. Each new person put on this planet requires a certain amount of resources.

Obviously, we're seeing today that the Earth cannot keep up and the ideas put forth about how to be sustainable/environmental without putting a limit on the number of humans on the planet are just ridiculous. The false environmentalist propaganda I like the most comes from the auto industry. Prices at the pumps were low across North America and then Hurricane Katrina blows through. Fuel prices take a big jump and the next day all the car ads have a new voice-over claiming this vehicle is now fuel efficient. Now everyone thinks hybrid cards or ethanol will save the planet. Take a gander over at Ford.ca at their Escape Hybrid. The regular model will set you back 10.7 L/100 km in the city and 7.7 L/100 km on the highway. The hybrid model uses only 5.7 L/100 km in the city and 6.7 L/100 km on the highway. I believe the reversal of economy is due to the sustained power to propel yourself down the highway is way too much for the electric engine so you're burning fuel the whole time. With a price difference of $7500 and assuming you do a lot of driving while gas still costs you around $1.10/L, you'll pay off the extra cost in a mere 136 000 km of city driving or 682 000 km of pure highway driving.

But I'm not concerned about how people are punished for trying to save the planet; I'm concerned about the pure consumption of humans. If I have two children and buy them each a Ford Escape Hybrid and they each drive 100 km per week in the city, they're using 11.4 L of fuel which is more than if I had only one child and bought her the regular Escape. Of course, it's also $41 000 cheaper to buy just one regular Escape. Someone else can do the math to see if two Toyota Priuses are more economical than one regular Toyota. That's also an argument purely based on fuel. The blog at Quirks and Quarks also pointed out that every car loses rubber from its tires which gets washed into the gutter and into our rivers, drips lubricant and requires its share of steel, aluminium and plasticsl. And don't tell me ethanol is the answer. With more people there are more mouths to feed yet we would rather that more people bought more cars powered by more corn which needs more water to grow. More is not sustainable.

If you want to cut greenhouse gases by 20%, why not let the worldwide population fall from 6.6 billion to 5.28 billion instead of making each person find 20% of their carbon footprint to cut. In fact, you'll have to cut more than 20%. Before the Earth's population has had much of a chance to fall under a one child policy, the population will have hit 7 billion in 2011. Now you have to cut your personal carbon footprint by 25%.

Sometimes an authoritarian figure has to step in and force people to do what's best. It should be obvious that governments and a few CEOs making obscene amounts of money aren't going to curb our consumerism or do anything to jeopardize their ability to make even more money.

the old man can climb

Just finished my first bike race in a long, long time and I certainly don't feel well. As you can see from my MotionBased GPS readings , I pushed about as hard as I could but that was only good enough for last. Technically, I wasn't last 'cause another ERTC rider got lost on the course, dropped out and was planning on riding the Expert race. I completed four laps of the course in just under 36 minutes and was lapped towards the end of my third lap. There was still one rider just behind me when I dropped out but he had been closing the gap and I don't think I would have kept him behind me for much longer.

The race wasn't terribly interesting for me. The start was technical with some short climbs up a small hill. My bike handling skills seem to still be quite good as I was able to easily stay with the bunch and I even thought about a few daring passes in corners. There was also a tricky hill climb which most of the Sport racers decided to run up. The approach to the climb was along the side of the hill and then the course turned quickly to the right, down the hill, and immediately turned 180 degrees to a climb. On the first lap, I was able to take a good line, go wide and climb the entire hill out of the saddle. As I climbed and passed a few riders who were walking, I heard someone exclaim, "the old man can climb." I really didn't think I was old but this is definitely a young man's sport. On the second lap, I made an error on the hairpin, twisted my handle bars, ended up in a track stand but was able to recover from my standstill and climb even though I was in the wrong gear. I was forced to run up the hill on my third lap as I got lost amongst all the flagging and was outside the course so I had to jump off my bike, turn around and get back on course.

The only other points of interest to my race were three near falls. On lap two, I took the inside line down the hill towards the asphalt section. There was a bump in the grass just before the asphalt and I caught a little air and landed a little more forward that I would have liked with the transition to a hard, coarse surface just in front. Also on the second lap, my front wheel dug into one of the sand pits and I was forced to put one foot down to recover. On my fourth lap, I hit a small hole in the grass just before I had to turn into a downhill, off-camber corner. The bump jolted me forward and I was left with my elbows on the brake hoods. This is not good posture for a sketchy downhill section but I was able to recover.

I'm still intent on doing a few more cyclocross races before the year is out but I have confirmation that my conditioning is not good. According to MotionBased, I averaged 172 bpm, or 93% of my maximum heartrate, during the race. At least I was trying hard. The course was very tough and I didn't really enjoy it. It was good for the enclosed space but some sections were easy to lose your way and go off course. I also don't know why course designers insist on forcing racers to go up and down hills so often. It seemed the design was mostly an effort to tackle the one hill as much as possible, hit the few other obstacles in the area and keep the racers uncomfortable. The cyclocross course I enjoyed the most was in Edmonton and had a good mix of high speed stretches, technical turns and climbs. Consensus after that race was that there were only three places where you had to touch the brakes. This one had at least ten braking zones and went up or down the only hill eight times. Still, I imagine course design is very difficult, you cannot please all the people all the time and I'm sure some people thought it was a great course. I did enjoy the asphalt section and the spectators could see almost the entire course from one spot.

Getting myself sued for libel

Okay, if I check the dictionary this is not actually libel since I can back it all up. I'd like to say that my experience with Laurich and Associates for the purchase of my house has gone less than ideally. I do realize that we've been living here for eight months but there are reasons I've come to this conclusion at this time.

I used the same lawyer for buying a condo in the summer of 2005 and everything went fine. Since I had a name for a lawyer who'd done a good job for an average unreasonable price, I thought I'd use the same lawyer again. Of course, that's when things stopped going smoothly.

The first problem was that the lawyer had moved his office seemly due to a split with his partner. The previous office was conveniently located downtown near my work. The new office is in a house in Bridgeland which is not convenient since it's neither near work nor home. It's also a good five to ten minutes on foot from the closest C-Train station. Have you realized that eight months prior to this post was January so walking isn't always nice. If I remember my first house sale correctly, I visited their offices once or twice for a signature. For this transaction, I visited four times and had to get Ying downtown twice. The extra visits were for typos which had to be corrected and then initialled or signed by us or to avoid being charged the lawyer-standard $10 for a 50¢ stamp. The mistakes were just the ones they caught while not in our presence. They also found a good number while in our presence. Our initial run through of the sales agreement went something like this:

lawyer: "this first page just shows the address of the property you're buying"
me: "that's not the correct address. We're buying a house in the NW and that's an address in the South. Also, that seller's name wasn't on the documents from our realtor.
lawyer: "yes, that doesn't match the address on the cover page. I'll have to get this page retyped. Just wait a moment."

The lawyer should also have a professionalism talk with his staff. The girl he has answering the phones is nice but not at all organized and doesn't conduct herself as I expect someone who works the phones for a lawyer should. On the phone, she mentioned a few times her lack of organizing her files, noticed some more of her typos and referred to me as, "hun" a number of times. She seems to be just out of college but I'm not aware of what she studied.

I'll get to talk with her some more on Monday though. Due to the crazy pace of buying and selling in the Calgary real estate market, Land Titles has been a little behind in processing everything. I didn't think they were eight month behind but I guess they were. Two weeks ago, we finally got the legal description of our property. Last week, we got a surprise of almost $200 back from the lawyer. We were surprised since we received a final tally months ago; two months or so after I had to make a trip to the lawyer's office to pick up the money from the sale of our condo. A bigger surprise came today when I noticed on my on-line banking that the $200 had been taken back out of my account. I have other issues with the Royal Bank wanting $1.50 to show me the details of a transaction on-line but that can wait for another day when they finish the job pissing me off and I switch banks. It appears that the lawyer has written a bad cheque. I'll be going through their math tomorrow after my bike race, incase there are more errors in my favour, so that I don't have to phone them more than once to complain. I've already wasted hours of my day travelling to his office so that I can verify that I'm aware of mistakes in legal documents.

When lawyers openly write on your bill that they incurred massive costs for photocopying and local telephone calls, you'd think they'd have enough money in their bank accounts to cover a $200 cheque. It's not even his money! The $200 is the amount they overcharged me on the Land Titles fee and are returning eight months after we moved in.

The agony of defeat

First basketball game, first loss. Doug and Charity have assembled a good team but we met another good team tonight and were defeated by one basket.

There was some controversy in the second half when I was fouled driving to the hoop. It's a social league and there are no actual refs; a "Game Co-ordinator" keeps score and makes sure things don't get out of hand but each team is supposed to call its own fouls. We though the defence called the foul and the other team thought it was the offence. That left two teams calling fouls at our end of the floor and no one calling fouls at their end. Anyway, I wondered out loud why no foul was called, was told to call my own foul and then proceeded to say I was fouled. There was a bit of a discussion as to whom should actually be calling the fouls and play resumed after a few minutes. However, play resumed with them bringing the ball up the court. The foul against me was forgotten.

Personally, I don't like not having refs because a few people in the league don't know what a foul is. There are also one or two GC who act as part time refs, which is extra annoying since some fouls are called by them and then they lose interest for a while. They also don't run the court and are a long way from the action. One in particular has overruled charges which I took on two different occasions. Both were charges and both times the other player had accepted that he committed a foul until the GC pipes up from the sideline.

Ying and Julie liked the game quite a bit; they sat on the stage at one end of the gym. Julie was so excited to see all those people running towards her, like they were coming for a visit. Except, they didn't quite get all the way to her and then they ran away again, making her a little sad. But, just a few seconds later, everyone would come running towards her again and she's get excited. Yet, once again, everyone would run away after a few seconds. These emotional ups and downs took their toll and Julie just slept through the second half.

Oh well. It was a fun game which was played at a high level. We got off to a slow start but pulled ourselves back into the game at the end. We even had a lead briefly but couldn't hold it. I'm looking forward to next week's game quite a bit. I'd better get some more practice in so I can contribute more.

Getting Autumn underway

This week marks the start of post-Summer activities. A new season of basketball starts tomorrow and I'll be doing my first cyclocross race of the year on Sunday, if my licence arrives.

Basketball should be enjoyable again this time. I like the people I play with and I hope I can contribute. My co-worker, Victor, might also come out for a few games. We're normally a little short on players so we'll need a little help from a guy who's definitely not short on height. Victor and I are also not short on excess mass so we could both use the exercise. Victor claims to have played at a high level back in the CCCP so we'll see if he can shake the rust off. I didn't play at a very high level and it's about two years and counting for me and the rust shaking.

Sunday will be my first cyclocross race of the season and my first race in a long time. Since I last raced, my training has included doing nothing and eating cake. I've also bulked up by about 10 kg but this isn't football and I'm not worried about being pushed around by other large men so this extra weight is not going to help my performance. If you watch le Tour, you'd know that riders my height usually weigh about 25 kg less than I do. Lance Armstrong is just a smidgen taller than me and he was fairly heavy at 70 kg. I do believe I'm a sprinter and not a climber like Lance. My favourite rider is the great sprinter, Erik Zabel. He's also about my height and 70 kg. Ying says she'll come out to cheer on Sunday and I've made sure she won't be disappointed watching me tour around at the back. If I hadn't been doing my cycling commute to work, which is about the length I expect to race, I'd probably have to put her on the bike for a lap while I recover. Anyway, my goal on Sunday is to be last in the easiest category there is. I assure you there will be rejoicing should I exceed my goal and come second-last. I hope to post some photos from the race as Ying will be my official photographer so long as Julie isn't fussy during the race. If there are others around whom I know, I'll try and get some pictures of them too.

Privacy concerns

My As It Happens podcast was about Google's Street View. You can see it in action above. Some people are concerned that having a car driving around taking a picture of every single street in the world is an invasion of privacy; that they'll be caught on camera doing something they don't want the world to see or that a user of Street View will be able to see into their front window. I don't see how this argument stands up.

If you are doing something illegal on the sidewalk, chances are you'll be suspicious of a car driving down the street with a massive piece of technology on the roof. You'll probably be looking out for cars with technology on the roof that flashes blue and red anyway. For thousands of years, people have been walking down streets and witnessing illegal activity with the privacy of the perpetrator never questioned. Companies are also allowed to put up surveillance cameras around their businesses to watch the activity outside. I'm sure that 100% of those cameras are not trained on 100% private property. If you're cheating on your wife/husband, there are better ways for your wife/husband to catch you than scouring the Internet, hoping Google will drive by, take your picture so that you're both recognizable and post the pictures on the Internet in a timely manner.

With the number of roads in the world, Google will probably only drive down your street about once every two to ten years. Every year if you live in San Francisco. Had they driven down my street, I might use that picture when I give directions to my house; that would be pretty cool to do. Of course, my house numbers are legible so it's not that necessary. I've used Google Earth to show friends and family what my roof looks like. Chances are that Google will be driving down exciting streets first and more often. Businesses could use it for advertising! "As seen in Google Street View!" So, once again, the chances of Google driving down your street, taking pictures while your drapes are open and you're standing buck naked in full view is remote. If you're going to sue Google for invasion of privacy, you'd better also sue the retired couple down the block who have little else to occupy their time and the teenage astronomy buff neighbour who isn't looking for heavenly bodies in the sky. I don't think robbers or pedophiles are going to be using Street View for reconnaissance either. As one friend found out first hand, robbers are going to do a little more work than look at a still picture on the Internet. Luckily for his family, the robber attempting to pilfer from his neighbourhood was caught and the robber's notes mentioned the "big dog" at my friend's house.

That all being said, if you zoom in on the picture above, you can that that after about a minute on Street View I found Morpheus! But that's not Neo with him.

And if that mocking bird don't sing...

...papa's gonna buy you the Baby Einstein Be Musical activity jumper thingy.

Julie's developing quickly and is meeting almost all the development targets we've heard about from different sources. She's jumped up to the 90th percentile in height and, at three and a half months, she weighs what we were expecting at six to eight months. She also has her dad's massive cranium but that's still on the charts. So, those are the three statistics the doctors and nurses keep measuring and Julie's doing fine.

We were noticing that she wasn't reaching and grabbing or using her thumb when we helped her grab things so we headed out last Saturday in search of educational toys. She seems to have her parents small hands and her thumb is so small it's tough to wrap it around very much. We were looking for something that would help support her upright and have lots of cool things for her to reach for. After having Julie test a few out, we knew we were getting something she'd really like. As soon as we got our purchase set up at home, Julie was in it and reaching for all the coloured toys. Unfortunately, Julie has bad parents because they forgot to buy all the C batteries necessary to power the little piano. Half a week later and they still haven't bought any C batteries. Nonetheless, Julie's swivel seat has three other stations with a bright sunflower, a frog that spins and colourful beads in little domes that spin or pop. Due to her massive weight, she can stretch the springs enough to touch the floor and get herself bouncing.

I'd have to say the colourful chain that you can reposition and bouncing in the seat are her favourite parts of the toy so far. Ying and I love that we can position it near the dinner table so she can see us and entertain herself. Previously, we were eating in shifts since one of us had to distract Julie. She loves facing people, screeching and babbling away in her own little language but can become grumpy quickly if left alone. Of course, sometimes she also loves to just lie on our bed by herself and babble away.

Daddy's little sumo wrestler

Julie's off the scales for weight! On a diet of pure breast milk, she's gone from average to morbidly obese in just over two months. I don't know how she can keep this up. The nurse today would have suggested a change in feeding if Julie wasn't on breast milk but, since she's on it 100%, she can get as fat as she likes. We're noticing that her clothes are quickly getting smaller and have trouble going around her belly. She also has her dad's big, fat legs. If any of that baby fat turns to muscle, we'll have a great speed skating sprinter or track cyclist on our hands. But, for now, she only needs to keep practising sitting up and smiling. She's starting to get the hang of sitting and the smiling and laughing are going great. Sitting up might become tough because her head circumference has also gone from average to 95th percentile. Now we know where all the weight is!

I've also lodged my complaint with Canada's New Government about child benefits. Ying was turned down on a second benefit; again due to residency. I thought about reapplying on-line but it simply asks if you're a citizen, which she isn't, and then lists her citizenship as "not on file." I hope my complaint gets things done because all the literature clearly states that you only need to be a resident of Canada to collect benefits. One of Ying's friends is getting money and she's here on a student visa. She might have already gone back to China and, if so, I hope she's not still collecting.

The Great Mouse Hunter

We've got a mouse in the house! As you can see though, the trap is set. While I was in the hardware store, I considered being a good Buddhist and thought about how I will come back in the next life while looking at the catch and release traps. Of course, if I release the mouse close to home, it'll probably figure out the way back in. I don't feel like cycling, driving or walking with this mouse all the way to Nose Hill in order to keep it away from all houses. Ergo, I'm going for the quick, clean kill. I did ask to borrow one of Peggy's cats but she says they've gone soft and wouldn't be effective. I also wonder if my ceiling tiles in the basement can hold them. I don't think I'll post any photos of the next stage since it won't be of a happy, well-fed cat.

Non-universal child care benefit

Canada's New Government sucks. I'm not going to comment on their ridiculous insistence on calling themselves "Canada's New Government" and how they're trying hard to prove that absolute power corrupts absolutely after painting themselves as saints while, I guess you'd call it, Canada's Old Government got fried for the sponsorship scandal. I'm not even going to comment on my relief that Bush's invasion of Iraq has gone so poorly that Canada's New Government has forgotten that it would have sent our troops in too if they were in power at the time. I am going to discuss Canada's New Government's Universal Child Care Benefits program.

Now, one would assume "Universal" means that everyone can get it. One would be wrong. Yesterday, Ying and I found out that she didn't qualify due to residence restrictions. Now, I do have some beefs about some of the stories Ying brought back from her English class about all the free programs and cash given to "skilled" immigrants who don't seem very skilled at all. We were also dismayed because of the big push to get people into other courses to help immigrants but we would only run into dead ends as these programs were outrageously expensive. I earn enough money to prevent the organization from hitting up the government for the obscene amount of money required to attend. With all these stories in my head, I am glad you cannot arrive in Canada with a brood and start collecting Stephen Harper's pittance right away. However, I fail to see why Julie fails to bring in the cash for Ying and me. Since Canada's New Government is doing their best to force women back into the kitchen, we had to apply for the Universal Child Care Benefit under Ying's name since she's the primary care-giver. In the obtuse set of documents I filled out in order to collect the benefit, there were questions about Ying's residency and a bureaucrat's dream team of confusing questions if you couldn't just check the "applicant born in Canada box." We were refused and so I called Service Canada to get some answers.

My first call was answered by a machine which told me, "all our operators are busy so phone back later." My second call got through to a bitter, angry Quebecois woman who was determined to do her best to thwart me and ruin my day as well. She was not going to discuss my case at all since Ying was on title. She didn't even want to see if Ying has given me permission to handle tax and other bureaucratic topics on her behalf. I did trap the woman though. Since Ying was denied money due to residency and the woman wouldn't tell me why, I asked her what are the residency requirements. Simple question for one who's paid to answer questions about the Universal Child Care Benefit. She told me she didn't know and put me on hold. I assume she went on to other calls and was hoping I would go away. Since my New Government helper wasn't interested in helping me, I knew I should hang up and fight the Man some other way.

And I am going to fight the Man. I am going to get my Harper pittance. It's only $100 every month but it's Harper's crappy program and I'm going to take advantage. Even though that $100 doesn't pay for 20% of what child care will cost and even though you need to register your child for a day care space one year before the baby is born in order to get in when maternity leave runs out, I will fight to get my pittance.

If only more voters had small children, Stephen Harper would soon be able to call himself Canada's New Opposition. But then I'd have to wait another thirteen years for the Liberals to get their day care strategy underway.

Pedestrian

In just a week, we've gone from a two car family with just one driver's licence to a no car family. It's just a temporary situation though. Minutes ago, someone else drove away with my beloved Beetle. I bought it around Xmas 2000 and it's been a fantastic car ever since. I hope it does a good job with its new family. On Sunday while up at Lake Louise, our brand new car started to act a little strange and a non-critical warning light came on. Monday morning, I dropped it off at Fifth Ave to be fixed. They said they'd try and squeeze it in over the next few days. I phoned today and found out they've been swamped and it will be a few more days. It seems like such a short time ago that we had our Jetta in the garage, a Civic in the garage from some of Ying's friends and our Beetle in the driveway. That's all over and there's currently just a few bikes and a stroller in the garage. Well, good thing I haven't let myself go completely 'cause I'll be confined to the bike for the next few days.

One month

Julie reaches the ripe, old age of one month tomorrow. So far, so good. She's sleeping in longer stretches and she can stay awake for long periods of time as well. She can even be content lying on her own without crying; she doesn't need to be held and coddled every second that she's awake. She has become a bit more fussy lately but she will still settle down fairly quickly. Ying's been making sure that she's well fed so when she cries due to hunger, it doesn't last long. Ying's mom has been doing a fantastic job taking care of Ying and Julie which lets me make sure there's bread on the table and the house is in reasonable order; expect for the cleaning which Ying's mom is also doing.

On the work front, everything is going well. We've been a little slow of late but so has the whole industry and it is usual for a little summer lull. I did write my first useful Python production program though. Following a few examples by Marc, I wrote a time-variant AGC which Rob and Jon wanted. Since the gate length must be recalculated for almost every sample on every trace, it runs very slowly and there are few shortcuts which can be made. I was able to cut down the run time by 70% from my original version as I looked and found some good optimizations. Marc's our Python guru and he had lots of valuable insights as well. Last time I talked with him about it, he was just looking for a little more speed and cleaning up a few minor elements in the program; for example I wrote 1000000 instead of using 1.0e6. I really enjoyed writing that little program and I'm hoping I have the opportunity to do some more. If I had more time away from depth imaging and was using that time for programming, I think I've mentioned before that the job in the company I'd like to be able to do the most is Dale's. He is a TBI founder and owner but he seems to be lining himself up for an early retirement. If he does decide to check out, I'd love to be the Cocoa developer but I don't have the skills; it's a huge step down from Dale's Cocoa and application development abilities to mine. Those with most of the skills inside the company don't know Cocoa and don't really wish to learn. I don't think I'd hire me right now as a software developer but I'll keep reading my books at home for fun just incase.

In other work news, my former company has partially closed their doors. It appears that 4/7ths of the Calgary staff has been laid off. One more seems to have been given one month to finish off some work for the Houston company. That leaves the centre manager and secretary. It seems odd to leave the last two if the company is indeed pulling out of Calgary and not just cleaning house. I was glad to leave there and my experiences at TBI have only made me happier I landed where I did. I became increasingly embarrassed of the product I was sending out from there and my limited experience and limitations of management prevented any real improvement. The technical knowledge around TBI is astounding as is their desire to put in place a system which streamlines the delivery of a quality product. We've got a new accounts manager who'll constantly be shaking the trees for more work. I won't mind being busier; especially if the profit-sharing bonus starts to flow for all of us.

The world keeps on spinning

I know this picture also appears in my TFFTF photo challenge album but I kind of like it. The toys above Julie's head would be clearer with a shorter exposure but the challenge was for a 30 second exposure. I had thought about the typical long exposure of car headlights and taillights streaking through the night but this idea struck me as a good one too.

Julie's reached the age of 15 days. We're all settling in nicely around here and she's doing great. The first night home was a little rough 'cause Ying's milk hadn't come in and Julie was hungry until we gave her a little formula. There's now a plentiful supply of milk especially for Julie and she couldn't be happier. She's a very quiet baby unless she's hungry or her diaper's poopy. Even then, she's pretty calm. She was a major drama queen for the first few days when we were changing her diaper. She'd take her crying to the next level, shed a few tears and even get her bottom lip quivering but it'd quickly stop when the new diaper was on. The latest picture in her album on Picasa shows one such visit to the changing table.

Ying's mom has been great taking care of Ying and Ying's been great taking care of Julie. Ying thinks I need lots of sleep so I can do well at work so she gets up to tend to Julie during the night. Of course, there's nothing I can do about feeding Julie. Sometimes I'm woken up too and I'll do a diaper change or burping. Ying's able to get in lots of naps during the day 'cause her mom will look after Julie and do all the cooking. Once in a while I need a break from the Chinese food so I'll do a little cooking for myself. But, so far, Julie's been a great little baby and we're all doing well.

This is just a practice run...

I'd like to announce the birth of Julie. The girl we expected from our 18 week ultrasound was born today just moments before 3:00 in the afternoon. We had the name Julie picked out long ago and no other names. What started out as a practice run to the hospital at 9:00 in the evening on Thursday turned into the real deal when we asked to have a few minor labour indicators checked out. The official line is:

Julie Wei Reynard. 14:59 25 May 2007. 3.644 kg (8 lbs 0.5 oz). 49.5 cm (19.5 in). Cute as a button but that's a biased opinion.

Mother and baby are doing fine and expected home tomorrow. I'll update more after a little sleep since my last real sleep ended after just six hours at 6:45 on Thursday morning. See some photos!

Julie must have been reacting to events taking place in England with her soon-to-be cousin. My sister was induced on Wednesday but it took until the wee hours of Saturday for Joshua Arthur to make his appearance. We had briefly hoped that the two would share a birthday so Mom would have an easier time remembering dates. Josh is only three hours and 47 minutes younger than Julie but, due to the time change, he'll have to wait that extra day for his cake and presents. Congratulations to Tim and Leslie.

Imminent to six weeks

A big thanks to Rod for coming up for the weekend and driving my Beetle here. We're now ready to sell it. I should've let him borrow it for the entire week as he might have wanted to buy it. It's still available to anyone who wants it. I'll be cleaning it up and putting out some ads right away. While he was here, we did very little. This was mostly due to the bad weather over the long weekend. It even snowed on Monday! Ying's mom did show us how to make zongzi, a Chinese, sticky rice treat. The ingredients are simple; wrapping the bamboo leaf is tough. Still, I'm willing to keep practising until I get it.

On the birth front, there's a doin's transpiring! Monday morning brought some practice contractions and Ying also put on a little bloody show for the doctor to check this afternoon. According to legend, Ying's mom delivered 姐姐 just hours after a show and 姐姐 delivered 倩 a day or two after a show. Our regular baby doctor was away today so we saw one of the other doctors in the clinic. She's young and admitted that she doesn't deliver babies. Our regular doctor's team is at the hospital and it now seems that they all practice out of different clinics. The doctor who saw us said the show could mean the baby will come soon to two weeks. The book Sheila gave us says imminent to six weeks. Of course, there are only nine days before the due date so I don't think this pregnancy will last another six weeks. The nerves kicked into high gear Monday morning before the contractions proved to be obviously false. Feeling unprepared and having a long time to go is one thing; feeling unprepared and having to head to the hospital for the real deal is another.

In other news, my sister will be induced in the morning. Looks like my baby will be the younger cousin as I was the younger child.

Not my fault

If you're tuning in for a baby update, sorry, but this is one of my little observations. This one brings to mind the quote from Einstein, "the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits."

I'm finding the deteriorating quality of drivers rather humorous but that's probably since none of them have rammed my car or bike or person lately. Since it's no longer winter, near where I used to live there is construction which has closed a main road out of downtown. Busses are still allowed through; taking turns using one lane. Even though the detour, construction and do not enter sign start seven blocks before the road closure, lots of people believe these signs don't apply to them. As I ride the bus through that zone, I take a sadistic pleasure seeing the police inform them with a small piece of paper that those signs do indeed apply to them. I wonder what excuse these people have for obviously disobeying signs. At least with the carpool lane, those signs are high overhead and not easy to understand. I'm sure that's why I still see about 70% of the vehilces in that lane driven by single people, alone in their SUVs, unable to comprehend that little sign under which they might drive about 230 times a year. It's sad that most of the people who got a ticket for driving through the construction zone will end up in court, trying to explain why they thought it was okay to drive where mostly busses were driving, past all the signs telling them to change their way. Most of those people will have their fine reduced by a judge, lawyer or some clerk of the court; thus ensuring that our courts will remain clogged and police with remain in those courts defending their quota of tickets because people know they can save a wad of cash just by showing up with a fabricated story. CBC had an excellent example on The Fifth Estate about a man who's still driving very dangerously despite multiple traffic offences. I've also heard stories of drunk drivers getting off because they're alcoholics. It's not their fault they drove drunk; they're an alcoholic. You'd think the first step of admitting you're an alcoholic would be followed by the second step of having your driver's licence ripped up.

Cavalry

The cavalry has arrived. Ying's mom successfully navigated Vancouver's airport and Canadian Customs and arrived here on Monday. Since then, she's cleaned our home while not letting Ying lift a finger, witnessed an extra-chippy basketball game of mine, gone for dinner with her relatives and braved Calgary Transit with Ying. As you can see from what I found when I arrived home for the long weekend a little early, she's either kept busy or is still dealing with jet lag. You'll have to ask Ying what's her excuse. Rod's coming down this weekend and Ying's mom will be giving a lesson in making zongzi. She thinks there are a lot of tall people in Canada and Ying's already let her know that Rod is the shortest of my three best friends. Obviously, Ying and I are extremely happy that she's here. Ying hasn't seen her in a year and a half and the extra help with the baby is most welcome. Ying's mom and sister also bought a lot of baby clothes while in China. The set of drawers which were just given to us are already full.

Need more stuff

Ying and I have gone and done the baby registry thing. We have mixed feelings about it. We're not trying to send a message to everyone that we want some material goods because we're having a baby. If we only wanted material goods, we'd advertise our birthdays a bit better. On the other hand, it is tradition to buy something for your close friends to help their new baby get started. There's lots of stuff to buy for a new baby but we've been lucky to have people lending us lots of things they don't need until they're expecting again or another friend is expecting. We appreciate everyone who's given us something already and all those who've also made promises of baby items. So, IF you haven't already given us something and IF you were going to give a present and IF you don't know what to give, you can surf your way over to Toys 'R' Us and log into the baby registry. We are DarcYing and our registry number is 913431354.

Be sure to stay tuned here for more frequent baby updates as the days count down to 31 May, or so. I suggest a news reader to anyone who follows blogs or RSS feeds as most updates are random at best.

Crunch time

27 days to go...

We're getting down to the end here. We're almost ready too. We still need to borrow a crib, sign up for diaper service and pick up a bunch of creams and lotions and cotton swabs but we're otherwise ready. We've also got some help on the way. Ying's mom got her visa and will arrive a week on Monday. Obviously, Ying's very excited because she hasn't seen her parents since coming to Canada and it will be fantastic to have the help for the first few months. I'm imaging that her mom might be a bit nervous since she's never been on a plane or outside of China in her life. It's amazing how Ying and I have affected others since most of our occidental wedding party probably never thought they'd find themselves in China and would never see a sight like Ying's hometown. I think it was a great experience for them and I hope Ying's mom has a great experience with us in Canada. I feel bad that we didn't get back to China earlier and then couldn't go because we wanted to be on the safe side with the pregnancy. I'm very happy that Ying's mom will see exactly how life is for Ying in Canada and she'll be able to see her second grandchild. In fact, she might be able to see the very beginning since we'll give her the option of being in the delivery room. In that stressful moment, Ying might be comforted having her mom and a Chinese speaker in the room. Of course, I'll be practising the Chinese translations of, "breathe, relax and push."

Be vewy, vewy quiet...

Spring has sprung again in Calgary but we'll have to see exactly how long this one lasts. With the office weigh-in, another season for basketball and softball season pending, it'd be nice to be able to get out and about without needing my down jacket. In the hopes that tomorrow will be nice enough to ride to work again, I did a very quick shake-down of my 'cross bike. I was just a few metres off my driveway and a big hare appeared in front of me on the road. After getting back home, Ying and I went for a walk in hopes of seeing the hare again. We did a little circle of the neighbourhood with no success. As we're heading home, the hare appeared at the head of the bike path and made its way right towards us. It passed pretty close and I was able to get a number of good shots.

Here's hoping the weather starts to improve. Another session of basketball starts on Wednesday and softball in just over a week. I'm hoping most of the guys added to our team are no shows 'cause we've got double the number I'd like: eight! We only have two girls which means they'll be on the floor the whole game and, if everything was equal, the guys would get 37.5% of the playing time. I might get more exercise in softball this year. The team I play for likes to take things easy. There are usually a lot of volunteers to be the extra player and no one was interested in a league with no outfield fence. I'm quite the oddball on the team 'cause I'm looking forward to the bigger field this year. My favourite position is still first base but I'll probably be seeing most of my playing time in the outfield. I hated the small outfields I've previously played at since lazy fly balls turned into home runs. I'm not a power hitter in softball so I'd rather have the opportunity to track down some balls in the outfield. Thanks to Dr. Jordin, I'm feeling quite good this Spring so I'm eager to do some cycling, some running up and down the roundball court and to stretch my legs in the outfield. If only I could find a decent outdoor basketball court. I checked out one near by today. One hoop was set at about 11' and the other was 9'. No happy medium.

necessary photographic equipment

We're up in Edmonton this weekend picking up the new family car. So far, we love it! It's got a sunroof, an aux jack for my iPod so I'm no longer using the cassette converter and a ton of oomph. (Remember cassettes? Two wheels and a ton of magnetic ribbon which made skipping ahead a song very difficult. After I turned 16, I spent more time in Stuart's car listening to a tape winding than actual music.) Uncle Bob and Aunt Joan are also in town this weekend and have bought us a crib so we almost have everything we need for the new member of the family. With six weeks to go, we've got some new baby clothes, blankets, a rocking chair, stroller, crib, car, house and visa documents for Ying's mom. With all this new stuff, I'll be hard at work over the next long while to make sure there's enough money to pay for it all. We still have two grandmothers who are doing a good job spoiling the baby before it arrives so we're well taken care of.

I brought my camera to Edmonton and found a little time to do some photography. I'm still hoping to get a picture of a bird washing itself in the bath in the backyard but I got some photos of the next best thing. Some chickadees kept landing on trunk of this old tree in the backyard. They were continually landing just out of my view so I was wondering what they were up to. I was able to circle around and it seems they've built a nest inside the trunk. I've got a few photos of them flying in and out. I'll try for some more later when the Sun is in a more favourable position; assuming they're still at it later. As I'm taking my pictures, I'm realizing some equipment I should have handy next time: a baseball cap and a stool. While using my 300 mm reflex lens, I was also using my tripod since the focusing is so tricky. The Sun was above and behind the nest which is very close to the ground. So, I'm squatting in the backyard, squinting through my viewfinder and trying to get some good shots. I haven't squatted that much since playing catcher in baseball when I was 16 or 17. I'm also trying to shield my eyes with my hand so I can see something out of the viewfinder because the backlighting is quite bad. A little shade for my eyes and something low to sit on would have been very helpful. I'll post the results once I'm home and can get the photos off my camera.

=> We're home now and I've posted a photo of the chickadee. It was using my 300 mm reflex lens and did I mention the focusing is tricky? I botched most of the shots on the focusing and should have taken control of the ISO so that my exposure was shorter. You can see that I was shooting into the Sun and you can notice a bright spot in the upper right.

bikes versus buses

It's official, riding the bus sucks. I took a slightly different route today to cut the climbs off my ride and it worked pretty well. I actually got home faster that I got to work even though home is 100 m higher in elevation. I only saved 14 m in total climbing but the route was a little shorter and the wind was behind me on the way home. Still, as I was leaving work, my normal bus was just leaving my stop. As I was turning in for home, possibly the same bus was just ahead of me again. If it was on schedule, it was the same bus. This is the "express" bus.

Due to traffic, the bus to work takes longer than the one home. Normally, I have a five or ten minute wait for my bus to come. On Monday, I left work just after my last express bus was scheduled. I waited five minutes for the 301 which has limited stops and is supposed to be fast. I transferred buses and had to wait 15 minutes for the 46. Then, I had to sit in the 46 for 15 minutes waiting for it to start since it must have been ahead of schedule. A minute after I sat down, the 146 came and went; it's another option to get home if I take the 301. I would have taken it had I known the 46 was first in but not going to leave for so long. On Tuesday, I waited 20 minutes for a bus which comes every six to ten minutes.

I hope the weather stays nice so I can ride more. Cycling is faster, healthier, more convenient and more fun. I need the exercise 'cause losing weight hasn't been going well. Halfway through our work challenge and I've only dropped eight pounds. I'll be much happier when I drop 20 more and my goal for cycling means dropping 30 more. I now weigh myself everyday when I arrive at work. If I'm down a bit, I'm encouraged to keep it up. Up a little and I know I need to do better.

Fighting traffic, literally

Here's the summary of my commute home from MotionBased.com. If you're using that service, let me know and I'll deprivatize a few of my commutes so you can view them. I'm getting 30 km a day going to work and back and I hope that'll help if I decide to race this summer. I'm thinking about doing time trials and then cyclocross in the Autumn. Maybe I'll do a few criteriums too. Three posts ago I have a picture of my elevation profile for the ride home. The one day I rode my mountain bike, I posted a time of 40 minutes getting to work and 50 minutes getting home. Obviously, a road bike with slicks is much better on the road. I'm actually using my cyclocross bike at the moment but I've shaved 5 minutes going to work and 12 minutes coming home. I was a bit surprised that the difference in time to work and back on my 'cross bike was only three minutes because the difference in elevation is 100 m between work and home. It appears to be because on 4th St. there are some long, gradual climbs on my ride to work. They're barely climbs but while I'm going to work, there are long sections that I'm averaging 20-25 km/h but I come back home at about 40-45 km/h. I'm obviously not a climber so the two big climbs near my home really slow me down. I'm still carrying over 10 kg more that I would like. It seems odd that, for racing, I spent quite a bit of money for a nice, light, stiff bike yet I'm carrying a pile of extra weight on my body. For you skiers out there, it's like the difference between the Birkie and the Birkie Lite but I've got two packs on. Oh well, compared to two months ago, at least I've almost gotten rid of the third pack I was carrying.

Let them eat cake

Just a photo for this post. Sonja invited Ying and me to her daughter's first birthday. Sonja's nephew, Logan, took a cue from Sidney and tried to grab a little cake before he was cut his own piece. He was quickly stopped from helping himself and had to wait like the rest of us. I rather like this picture I got of Logan wondering if the next piece of cake will be his.

Welcome to this world

I'm happy to report that Alex and Bobbi welcomed Felix Robert Julian on Tuesday. This one gets special mention because I happened to call Alex on Wednesday and caught him at home during a brief break from the hospital and I got a demonstration of how much the birth of your first child can really take out of you. Here's a snippet of our conversation, to the best of my memory.

Alex: Felix was born last night at 11:37.
Darcy: let me get this all officially entered into my calendar. So, 27 Feb at 11:37.
Alex: No, 28 Feb.
Darcy: today is 28 Feb and you said last night.
Alex: it was last night. Isn't today Wednesday, 29 Feb.
Darcy: it is Wednesday but it's the 28. Plus, this year isn't a leap year so tomorrow is 1 March.
Alex: are you sure?

Alex was never the best at keeping track of dates and times and I can understand that childbirth is a stressful event so his disorientation can be forgiven. It was also kind of amusing for me; especially the 29 Feb part.

26 down, 14 to go

With just 98 days left (± 2 weeks), things are still changing rapidly for Ying and I. We're settling into our new house and making it a home. We still have lots of shopping to do to prepare for the baby. And shopping for others since Alex's due to be a dad tomorrow or so and I've accepted an invite to a first birthday party. Ying regrets not getting her driver's licence as soon as she got to Canada because we're a little further from everything out here. Still, things could be worse.

Things might start getting worse soon if the Brick doesn't get their act together. Despite my hating the Brick, which isn't completely related to Mike Comrie and the Edmonton Oilers, I found myself purchasing a washer and dryer there. In retrospect, I should have gone to Leon's since the Brick only had that deal on in order to match a Leon's price. I almost walked out except we had the least pushy Brick salesman I've ever met; he only tried to sell me the extended warranty three times! They must have sold quite a few washers and dryers since they wouldn't be able to deliver for a while. That while expired yesterday so I'll be calling tomorrow to see where my washer and dryer are. I need them soon 'cause I'm running low on clean clothes. Don't worry, I'm not down to the inside-out/back-to-front thing with my underwear just yet. My closet is brimming a bit more than usual since Mark's has been putting lots of stuff on clearance which Ying has been buying up for me.

The weather has improved enough for me to get in one bike ride to work. In Calgary's continuing infinite wisdom, it was decided that bike routes should wind through neighbourhoods and climb as many hills as possible. Streets with bike routes are also obviously different from other streets since they have the little bike route sign posted intermittently along them. No marked bike lanes, not even a wider shoulder is to be had in my whole 14 km commute downtown. I also live in the void of bike paths as there are few between here and downtown and the ones which do exist around here are short, useless and go nowhere. I'm sure the little bike route signs will prove effective in keeping me from being struck down by some large SUV as I fight traffic. I notice that all motorists are keenly aware of the signs posted beside the road. The car pool lane down Centre St is normally 60% - 70% filled with lonely people, idling their car in traffic while they drive just themselves downtown. Oh well, I should be in shape soon enough that it'll be faster for me to ride my bike than take the bus.

Moved

It's done! Ying and I have successfully moved from our little condo into a much larger home. We're very happy in our new place and we invite all our friends to come visit us sometime. We'll have enough room when the baby arrives to put up a few relatives who'll be in town to help out.

The move into the new house went great. We invited a lot of people to come help and many of them turned out. I rented a big truck and everything was jammed inside in under an hour. The drive took 20 minutes and then everything was out in no time flat. Our movers were paid in beer, chilli and sugar and they all seemed to have had a good enough time.

Today I rode the proletariat chariot into work for the first time. It was actually pretty good. To and from work, I was one of the first people on and off. It was nice to get a seat for the 35 minutes journey. It looks like I'll be riding all week since we're supposed to get some snow for the rest of the week. It's also a little darker than I like while biking. The sun comes up earlier everyday so I don't think it will be long before I'm cycling in. Good thing too. I'm currently sitting in third in the weight loss challenge. I think I'll spend April and May going over Nose Hill so I get 300 m of climbing everyday.

Halftime

Tomorrow marks 140 days to go in Ying's pregnancy. So far it's been smooth sailing through calm waters. Ying did have a few months of nausea but that's all gone now. We've sold our condo and will take possession of our new house in two weeks. We've got a number of brave volunteers set to help us move so things should go well. We'll then have four full months to settle in and get ready for the baby. TBI gave us the wonderful Xmas gift of a stroller/car seat combo, Ying's mom is rapidly buying up baby clothes and my mom's starting with a rocking chair. We're still not ready to be parents but I hear everyone is nervous before their first. But the coolest thing is that we're starting to feel the baby kick! I felt it myself for the first time just four days ago. The ultrasounds were good but to feel the baby thumping away inside Ying's belly is the ultimate.

I should also be a little lighter when the baby arrives. At work, Jon, Dale and Victor decided that they needed to lose a little weight. Greg and I found out and asked to join in. The person who loses the smallest percentage of their original body-weight by 18 May has to chip in $100 for a nice group lunch. The rest chip in $75, $50, $25 and nothing based on their order of finish. At the official weigh-in, Dale was the low man at 84 kg while Victor crushed the scale at just over 124 kg; even after we made him take a pile of change and his cell phone out his pockets. Of course, the weigh-in was after a big lunch, fully clothed and, for me, there was the need to take a bathroom break. I came in second-lightest at just under 90 kg; which I find very embarrassing. I know I've bulked up a little in the past while but that's ridiculous! I hope my soon-to-be new commute which involves nearly two hours of biking a day will help. My goal is to get back to my high school weight of 75 kg. I've got some work ahead of me.