Happy Halloween!

BOO!

Did I scare you?

Is anyone even reading this blog anymore?

Oh, well, at least I can say that I still read it.

Jen has been in Edmonton this past week, and will be there for the next 2 months or so in order to get herself healthy. She was taking some medication for her headaches and stomach infections that made it impossible to have kids. Since the drugs were not doing anyhting to cure the illnesses, we decided we would try to get her healthy by seeking help outside of the "traditional" medication routes. Sorry, but I am so tired of doctors that are always prescribing drugs as a quick solution. I realise that they have their place, but there needs to be a more balanced approach in the medicare industry, and that is what Jen is seeking. We are hopeful that this helps out alot.

In honor of today's holiday, I present:

The Top 10 Scariest Things I Can Imagine!
10. Rollerskating through a buffalo herd (the mess alone would be terrible)
9. A K-Fed concert (ouch, my ears!)
8. Teaching Grade 3 Phys. Ed.
7. Lorne Calvert's NDP winning a majority here in Sask on Nov 7 (knock on wood)
6. Finding out that Anne has mutated into a vicious killer and that I have to out her down (don't laugh, I had a nightmare about this)
5. Being here alone without City of Heroes, Muppets, Star Trek, or Jen to keep me sane
4. Learning that chocolate causes cancer
3. Christmas holidays are cancelled
2. CISN FM in Edmonton goes off the air
1. Jen never comes back! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Home Sweet Home

ACK! So much for posting twice a month.

This weekend was fabulous. We spent it in Edmonton, staying at our good friends Matt and Sharon Harker. They have been friends of ours for years. It was a really fun time, playing Killer Bunnies, converting them to Corner Gas, and hanging out with their cute kids. We also got to see Jen's parents at their new house in Edmonton. Talk bout a big house. they have so much space, we should move in with them. Or maybe not.

The highlight of the weekend was the wedding reception of my friend Levi Godfrey. It was one of those "This is awesome, but I got to see it to believe it!" Seriously, Levi is one of the most loyal friends I know, and he is very deserving a good lady to love him. I only met Aubrey on his reception night, but I can tell she is one in a million.

Today's top 10 list is sent out to the Harker kids, who were squealing with delight at the Muppet videos I showed them on You Tube.

Bryan's Top 10 Favorite Muppets!
10. Fozzie Bear - 2 words: Wocka Wocka
9. Gozo the Great - the Great Weirdo that is
8. Wembly Fraggle - I love his Hawaiian shirt and indecisiveness. Reminds me of myself (without the shirt)
7. Ernie - I can't hear you Bert, there's a banana in my ear!
6. Cantus - the head minstrel on Fraggle Rock. Very cool guy.
5. Animal - Woman! WOMAN!
4. Pepe the Prawn - I am no shrimp, I am a KING PRAWN!
3. Rowlf the Dog - his one-liners are so bad they're great!
2. Kermit the Frog - Ah, a very close second, but it's not easy being green.
1. Who else, the Swedish Chef! Bork Bork Bork Bork!

Here are some videos to accompany the list. Enjoy kids!

It Begins...

Yesterday we had a "special visitor" come to the school. It was Lorne Calvert, the premier of Saskatchewan! Wow. All I can say is that he is much shorter in person than I expected. He had a quick tour of the school, then spoke at an assembly. His message was a bit vague, but then again, so are his policies. Anyways, coupled with that and the fact that teachers are getting a 10% raise over the next two years can mean only one thing: there is an election on the way.

In addition to that, another seemingly annual tradition has begun. We had an abandoned puppy dropped off at our door step. she is a little fuzz bucket that we have named Kira. She is so cute, although she was much cuter after her much needed bath. Fortunately, we have plans to take her to the SPCA in Lloydminster early next week. I'd show you the picture, but we can't find our cord that connects the digital camera to the computer. She is a Rottweiler cross, and Anne is very good with her. They play together and keep each other company. So far, after 24 hours, total number of messes = 2: both today after school (1 #1 and 1 #2).

Today's Top 10 List is brought to you by the good people of Mr. Sparkle! (sorry, that is in reference to the Simpsons episode that Jen is watching right now). I give you: The Top 10 Bits of Advice That Have Changed My Life Forever!

10. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink if he dies on the way there.
9. Driving backwards the right way down one-way streets can still get you a ticket.
8. Laughter is the best medicine. Unless you are diabetic. Then, insulin is the best medicine. (credit to comedian Norm Macdonald)
7. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, it's time to change my phone number.
6. Children are like flowers. Hope you don't have allergies.
5. Fire bad. Tree pretty (credit to Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
4. If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.
3. If you ever travel back in time, don't step on anything! (courtesy of Grandpa Simpson)
2. Man is the head of the household. Woman is the neck, that turns the head wherever it needs to be facing.
1. If there is nothing wrong with me, then there must be something wrong with the rest of the universe (Dr. Crusher, Star Trek the Next Generation)

Cheers all.

Summer's Out, School is In

So the summer is over, and I started back at work yesterday. Bummer. I was just getting the hang of this summer vacation thing. Oh well. At least the kids won't be here until Thursday. Jen and I had a long yet mostly enjoyable summer (although the heat wave in July was annoying), but it is nice to be back and not living out of suitcases. To complete my summer recap, I present today's Top 10 List: The top 10 highlights of the summer!

10. Added two new postcards, thanks to Justin and Jada's trip to California. (I collect animal postcards, incidentally, so if you want to contribute, I'd appreciate it).

9. Watched the last three seasons of Stargate SG-1 (thanks to Heather and her arch-nemesis brother). I even bought four seasons for my collection.

8. Advanced on of my City of Heroes Characters to level 41, where I gave him a prestige power! OK, you have to play the game to appreciate that.

7. I went to the Fringe Festival in Edmonton and saw a delightful play called "The Headshot of Dorian Gray". This is only the second play at the Fringe that I have seen, and it was fabulous (unlike the other one).

6. MOVIES! Between Jen and I, we saw Fantastic 4, Ratatouille, Surf's Up, 1408, Disturbia, Harry Potter 5, Simpsons, No Reservations, and Transformers (TWICE!)For living in the middle of nowhere, that's a lot.

5. Read Harry Potter 7. Wow, what a book.

4. Terry Fator won America's got talent! Check him out:


3. We spent most of the time with our pooch Anne. Usually our little gal has to stay home, but thankfully we had family who were willing to have her come along.

2. I picked up Season 2 of the Muppet Show, and Jen gave me Season 1 of WKRP as a late B-Day present, so I was laughing a lot this season.

1.We visited a bunch of people that we hadn't seen for a long time, plus almost all of our family. I even got to see Paks, the dog that we gave to my Dad before he packed up and moved to Ontario. It was so nice to see so many loved ones this summer. Hopefully next year we'll be a lot closer to many of them

Vacation (?)

Well, July is almost done, and my summer vacation is half over. It has been a very interesting vacation so far. A couple weeks ago we had a phone call from my sister in Clagary who was frazzled with having to move. She and her husband had bought a house in Calgary and were trying to get moved before they left on their trip to Chicago. We were supposed to get to Calgary on July 16 to house sit for them while they were gone, and ended up dropping everything at home to get there a few days early. I can say this, moving furniture in 30+ oC temperatures is no picnic. We drove Annie down to Lethbridge to have her stay with family there, then back up to Calgary to help with the move.

Tara and the family left on the 19th, and Jen and I looked after their mini-menagerie while they were gone. In addition to watching Disturbia at the theatres (excellent flick), going to the Calgary Zoo, and catching up with some friends, we also had our Harry Potter fix. We caught the latest movie while Tara was still here, went to some Harry Potter parties on Friday night (they had a portion of downtown Calgary set up as Diagon Alley), then bought and read the last book on Saturday. Jen started it at about 8:30 and was done by 4pm. I got it next and finished it Sunday afternoon. Very intense book. Jen also watched a whole lot of Buffy, and I played a whole lot of City of Heroes.

Yesterday we made it back to Lethbridge, were reuinted with Annie, and will be looking after our neice and nephew for the next week. We are also hoping to see the Simpsons movie today and possibly a couple others (I'm hoping to catch Transformers for the second time). Before we left Calgary, however, Jen bought me my belated birthday present: WKRP in Cincinatti Season 1! I'm already done the first disc. This brings me to this issues top 10 list:

My top 10 Favorite Sitcoms of All Time:
10. 3rd Rock From the Sun (nobody goes over the top better than John Lithgow)
9. ALF (he's back, in Pog form)
8. Everybody Loves Raymond (I'm glad my family isn't like his)
7. The Cosby Show (Cos rules!)
6. Happy Family (only on for one season, but Jen and I loved it. John Laroquette is brilliant)
5. The Simpsons (19 years and counting)
4. Dinosaurs (Not The Mamma!)
3. Night Court (If I am ever brought before a judge, I hope it'll be like that one)
2. Corner Gas (I've been were they film it! Nothing sums up Saskatchewan better than this show)
1. WKRP in Cincinatti (here is my favorite clip)

More Than Meets The Eye

Wow, what a day yesterday. Happy July 4th to my American friends and family. Anyways, back to the story (which I never really got started. Oops). Yesterday Jen and I decided to make a trip to Saskatoon for a bit of shopping, civilization, and most importantly to see the new movie Transformers on the big Galaxy screen. I had originally thought a trip to Lloydminster would have sufficed, but thankfully Jen convinced me to make the splurge and go see it on the big screen. What was supposed to be a fun trip turned into something a bit more interesting. After a stop at the North Battleford WalMart, where I happened to find Season 9 of Stargate SG-1 and the Zoo Tycoon 2 Marine Mania expansion both for really cheap, we proceeded to head towards Saskatoon. About 40 km out, our poor old Sundance (which we have started calling the Blueberry...thanks again for that Mom Hill!) started to shake like it was coming apart. I began to slow down, and then it really started to go haywire. We pulled over and found that the front right tire had just had what can only be described as a spectacular blow out. I have had a tire go out on me before, but this was amazing. The tire was shredded. Caputs. Gonzo. It was horrendous. So here we are on the highway, changing the tire for the little donut tire, and we're heading back to Battleford to get a new one. Since you are only supposed to go 80 km/h on the donut, 40 km never seemed so long. I swear, nuns on bicycles were passing us.

We made it the Fountain Tire, and expecting a major delay I was kissing my ultimate movie experience good-bye for the day. Don't get me wrong, the situation could have been a lot worse. A blowout like that could have been a lot more dangerous, and we were relatively close to Battleford at the time. Still, when you have been hoping for something for a week and realize that the fates may be conspiring against you, it is a bit of a bummer to have to put it aside for the time being. Thankfully, the Fountain Tire people helped us out quickly, and $85 bucks later we were back on the road. And here we were wondering what to do in Saskatoon before the movie, now we were heading in with only minutes to spare.

Suffice it to say, the movie was worth all of the hassle. For over 2 hours, I sat there, reliving my childhood where to the chagrin of my parents I spent countless hours watching the original cartoon. It was breathtaking, exciting, and a whole lot of fun. I am so glad that they went with the Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime (he was the original voice in the cartoon). The movie was everything that a die-hard fan like myself could have wanted. Even better was that Jen really liked it as well. So although I really wanted our beat up car to transform itself into something a little more reliable, we hopped in and headed back home (with a quick grocery trip thrown in).

Today's top 10 list: Top 10 Fictional Heroes from my Childhood
10. Robin Hood - I still remember running around the house with an old wire coat hanger that I used as my bow.
9. He-Man - I'm talking the original, although a few of the later re dos of the show have been good. By the way, why didn't anyone realise that He-Man was simply Prince Adam with a tan?
8. Spiderman - loved the cheesy old cartoon. It's what now, 50 years old?
7. Kermit the Frog - OK, he has no super powers, is an amphibian, and eats bugs for lunch, but still, Kermit was the coolest for keeping everything on the Muppet Show together as well as he did.
6. Superman - nobody has done it better before or since than Christopher Reeves. I miss him.
5. Luke Skywalker - I liked him better than Han Solo as a kid because I felt I was more like him.
4. Indiana Jones - Unlike him, I don't hate snakes, jump large pits, and win the girl with charm and rugged good looks. This is more of a "I wish I was more like him" entry.
3. MacGyver - oh, if only I could make a high yield explosive out of a paperclip, some mud, and a stick of chewing gum like he could!
2. Captain Picard - this was the tail end of my childhood, but as I get older it is reassuring for me to see that bald is manly.
1. Optimus Prime - no other hero is as awesome as Prime was. He was the embodiment of all that is good and heroic in the world, and he's not even from around here! yes, I still have my Optimus Prime action figure.

Have a great day, and in the words of Optimus Prime...Autobots, roll out!

Fighting in the Jungle

Well, June is almost over, and boy has it been busy. As I have tried to keep everything going for the last three weeks, I have begun to neglect certain things at home. Jen has been a real trooper about it. having subbed for me a few times, she understands how much work is involved at school, but certain things keep piling up. Most noticeably has been the grass around our house. I hesitate to call it a lawn, and our immense backyard is almost like a mini-field. Suffice it to say, the grass in some areas has become as high as three feet. yes, some of our nieces and nephews could get lost in that jungle. Jen has been trying to get on top of it, but finally on Saturday I found myself with a few spare moments and fired up Janna's electric mower. I got all of the really big stuff, and started thinking "Why did I put this off for so long?" Yes, life is easier if we take of things right away. However, to help ease the guilt of those of us who are procrastinators at heart, I present to you:

Top 10 Reasons to Procrastinate!
10.......Ah, I'll finish this list later.

Later all!