some stuff

We went to see a NHL preseason game at the MTS center this past Sunday. All I can say is that I'm happy that we didn't spend the money for the tickets. I know it's preseason but it was boring. The third period was ok, but I expected more from the pros. The game was between the Oilers and the Coyotes with the Oilers handing a sound 5-0 defeat to the Coyotes. The biggest name there was behind the Coyotes bench in the way of Wayne Gretzsky.

On the home front, I feel proud to show this painting that Marla just completed. She has done a couple courses where they have a painter help them copy a sample, but this one was done completely on her own from looking at a picture. I think it came out very well and I'm quite proud of Marla.

Other than that I also picked up the newest Dune book, entitiled Hunters of Dune. It's the first or a two part series finale created from the notes left behind by Frank Herbert, which originally had been entitled Dune 7. His son, Brian and another writer have already written a number of other Dune series books in the past few years based on other notes from Frank, but this is the story that all Dune fans have been waiting for. I've already finished it and have to wait for the concluding second part sometime down the road. It was an ok read and started right where Frank's last book, Chapterhouse: Dune, ended. For those who have read the series, I will let you know that two clones of Paul Atreides have been created and one is being mentored by a clone of Baron Harkonnen. Some characters from the Legends of Dune Series (The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade and The Battle of Corrin) have also shown up in this book and I assume will play prominent parts in the second book. I'll leave the rest at that=)

Just an update since I've been focusing on other stuff in my blog as of late.

Marla and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary yesterday. It's been a quick four years with lots of changes: new jobs, new house, new everything pretty much. The amusing thing is that we bought each other the same card. I guess that shows that we're on the same wavelength =)

Also have some news about a friend and a cousin of Marlas. Marla's friend, Kim (and mine as well of course), who was her maid of honor is making a move to San Francisco to work with Genentech. She was nabbed by recuiters while on a conference there a couple months back. The offer they made was too good to refuse so she's off in a few weeks. That also made us contemplate a move out west (maybe Calgary or even the Northwest US) but we'll hold off as Marla has some opportunities here in Manitoba currently.

Marla's cousin, Jennie, has taken a years leave of absence from teaching and is currently on a trip across the globe. So far we've received pictures from India and most recently Khatmandu. She'll be going to Russia, then through the Baltic states down through Turkey and if Israel is stable there. After that it's onto Egypt then across the Atlantic to South America and then on to Antarctica. She's backpacking it and staying in hostels while on this trip and from what we can tell from her emails having a lot of fun.

Basement finishing is still going on. I'm just finishing up the vapour barrier which should be completed tomorrow. I'll try to get the building inspector out this week (trying for monday) so we can get started on drywall as soon as well can. Ron will be finished farming come this week (finishing up corn silage) so he'll be able to lend a hand. Once the drywall is up on the walls we can work on the bulkheads we need to put in place, then it's on to the mudding and taping.

Bo and the Art of Relaxation

His Highness is very adept at finding the best places to relax and take a snooze. Sometimes he will wake up from a nap to find another spot to take a break from his nap and... well... take a nap.We can learn a lot from Bo about how to relax.

King of our house

All hail King Bo.

Some graphic work... not that kind of graphic.

I was asked by my friend Scott to design a crest for his group (soldiers? brigade? Scotty, help me out here). It need a dragon a crystal ball and a latin phrase meaning "we see all." I didn't think my craftsmanship was up to the task but I pleasantly surprised myself with the outcome.

The following examples are a second draft after some input from Scott. The only difference between the two is one has a globe in the crystal ball and the other has a maple leaf.

If you read this before I send them to you on Monday Scott, let me know if you need other changes.

Judging a book by it's cover

Had a little reminder today to not judge a book by it's cover. I've receive MANY credit applications from National Vehicle Leasing for guys in the money industry (ie: investments, money managing, etc) wanting very expensive cars to keep up the facade of "having money."

Well today I received an application for a $71000.00 2006 Lexus SC430 (see picture below) for an investment guy. Based on previous experience I figured since he's young he's not going to qualify. I obtain his credit report and see a couple clean credit lines but what a shock when I looked at the "High Credit" column: $1 million dollar line of credit opened a couple months back at a major bank. Now I know I'm dealing with a guy who should know what he's doing. After that I noticed the $150,000 Porsche Financial Services credit line reporting.

Anyway, I had no problems approving the guy for his Lexus (which he plans on using as a winter car - we should all be so priviledged).

Other than that it's been a slow day at work.

Little change to the house

We got our garage doors painted to match the trim on our house. No more ugly white doors taking center stage when you see the house now. The painter will be back to paint the front door (Mayflower Red) and will be doing the interior of our house in a couple of months. He had a computer color match done to a piece of the trim to save us some agony trying to match the color via paint chips.


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