grantalias

The Band's Back Together

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:15:49 -0400

Last Friday to celebrate the end of summer / Labour Day weekend we had a corn roast at work.

My co-worker Christ sang and I accompanied on my guitar. We only had two days to practice and I hadn't played so much guitar in three to four years. We only did three songs, but I believe in quality over quantity.

08 29 08 Music at CVE s

These are some other videos posted on YouTube from some of my co-workers. Wow, multiple camera show!

Contro Valve Corn Roast

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Unleash Your Inner Manga

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:02:34 -0400

grantalias a la manga

Following as I do the technorati I've got the inside line on the next internet meme and it's FaceYourManga.

Very similar to the South Park or Simpsons creators of yore. Or think Mii on your Wii.

You get a plethora of options to design your avatar and background and even add text to your clothing (which is one letter short for grantalias).

For 1,50€ you can even buy your avatar in a "digital file" to brand your site. It would be nice though to know what the resolution was before buying. Of course I think the majority of people will be very happy with the low resolution copy they get.

A great little service for people who were not lucky enough to get a personalized animated version of themselves.

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Saint-Jean / Exporail

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:53:21 -0400

Exporail 2008

Quebec_flag

This past Saint-Jean the boys, my parents and I went to Exporail. Unfortunately Donna had to work.

The boys really love going. ET loves the train rides as this is the only place he has ever been on one or any kind of public transportation for that matter. I assume if we took really public transport he'd be really board.

Carts was hysterical for the model trains and was so excited seeing them moving around and going to tunnels and over the bridges.

But they both really enjoyed getting on go on the trains. The Museum has a large collection of trains (indoors so no worries about bad weather like in the old days) and a few you can get on and walk through.

little brothers know not to cross the tracks

The boys didn't get to have a nap so ET was a little hyper and selective in his hearing. We were waiting for the trolley to arrive at one of the stations when he runs across the tracks. Needless to say I was freaked out and terrified. Of course he thought it was really funny. Ah kids. Another story to tell him when he's older.

I highly recommend it for families with small kids, since what kids don't love trains.

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Camping With The Parents

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:00:07 -0400

cheers!

Alternately this post could be titled How My Dad Is Still Trying To Do Me In And Make It Look Like An Accident, but more on that latter in the post.

This past weekend I got away (alone) and went camping with my parents. I find it funny and reassuring that no matter how old I am (or how many kids I have myself), I'm still my parent's kid.

One of the projects was to get the mast of my dad's sailboat up. It's huge, aluminum and sits in a small cup the size of a hard boiled egg holder on the deck. The three stays hold it in place magically.

I've always had an irrational unease when my dad puts the mast up. And after 20 years I was proven correct. After we got the mast up and all that was left to do was tighten up the turnbuckles on the three stays, one of them snapped sending the mast into the lake and missed me by two meters. Scared the crap out of me!

mastless

No you we're trying to kill me Dad. Yes I can hear you grumble as you read this.

Luckily no damage to the boat, mast, or my person but the broken turnbuckle put my dad's sailboat out of commission until he gets a new one delivered (hopefully before this coming weekend).

rain, rain, go away!

But it all kind of worked out (as things usually do) since it rained Sunday morning and the sailing races were canceled. Unfortunately they were to be held off our dock.

All in all it was still great to get up to the lake, have a beer by the fire, sleep in a tent, get a nap and for a few hours take it easy.

Bark Lake 2008

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Father's Day Weekend

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:27:13 -0400

Zoo Animals

What a busy weekend that was.

Saturday, a local Zoo was showing off a few animals at the now Wal-Martless mall. My sister met us there with her kids. Let me tell you... trying to keep three kids under the age of four occupied while waiting in a line is alot of work! We pulled out all the stops from candy to ipod videos.

An upside to all this work was that we got kid passes to the Zoo and since we were planning to go for our yearly trip anyway it was two birds with one stone kind of deal.

I was super surprised that our kids touched the snake, I didn't see that one coming.

On Sunday we again with my sister and her kids when to LaRonde and even got them in free with some coupons we got with out season passes.

LaRonde

Luckly, Donna being pregnant and unable to go on the rides A) looked after my new nephew how was born last month and B) took some photos and video so there is proof for future generations that I was actually around and not absent from every event or activity. Thank you Donna.

One thing I've got to say. First really hot weekend at the place so super packed and you're not fully staffed to have all the kiddie rides running. Fail LaRonde, fail!

It was a great day all be it a very hot time, but I love seeing the little cousins play and interact. I know they see each other at daycare, but us parents don't get to see that.

LaRonde animoto_video

MIKA - Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)

Serendipitously, Caillou made an appearance and the kids were reasonably entertained. Of course looking at the video after the fact it's hard to understand. I guess it helps to be a kid sometimes.

What I found really funny was the kids show they have there and they sing Mika's Big Girl (You Are Beautiful), but in French with kid tailored lyrics.Very strange to say the least.

IMG_6527

And the little troopers were asleep before we got to the van in the parking lot.

Father's Day

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LaRonde Opening Weekend 2008

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:11:26 -0400

LaRonde Animoto

Rides @ LaRonde

Well we've made the investment this year again of season passes for LaRonde. Last year we went so often that we made our money back and it's a great activity for the boys. Plus they usually fall asleep on the way home.

They seem to have done away with the Sponge Bob Square Pants 3D ride and moved the Nintendo pavilion into the space. It kind of sucks because that was the only modern high tech ride at the park that was comparable to a ride at Universal Studios. Of course the 3D scared ET a bit last year and they boys would still be too small to sit on the hydraulic seats.

It was a beautiful day and the park was not that packed (well at least the kiddie rides). Donna's brother Steven came with us and in 3 hours was only able to get on three roller coasters. Yikes.

The one downside to the day is that with Donna in her present condition can't even go on the kid rides so it now takes twice as long to go on them. The upside is that Donna is now the photographer this summer and you'll be seeing photos of me and the boys!

What is nice though is that ET is now tall enough to go on a few by himself and scare us to death.

LaRonde 2008

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South Park Shafts Canada... Again!

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:03:51 -0400

me as I would look like as an American

Listening to the lastest BOL (RE:689, Hi JOMOTO, <3 the show) it turns out that the creators of South Park are tired of illegally downloading their own show so they have setup South Park Studios where you can stream all 12 seasons.

Sorry Canada

Downside? South Park Studios is geolocked to the good old US of A only.
Bad enough they had to invade us in the movie, but now this. Though the site does seem to suggest that it's "coming soon". Oh well, par for the course.

Upside? The other 6 billion of us can at least use the Avatar Creator. Though the Simpsons avatar creator is much better than the South Park one.

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Carousel Reprieve

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:17:13 -0400

Life clock

For another year I have escaped Carousel. Thank goodness my rosette has not started blinking because as apposed to last year, I'm not completely sure I could out run a Sandman anymore. Stupid knee.

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Merry Go Round

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:49:00 -0400

Day @ the Mall

Duck Car Ride

Saturday (before the snow hit) we headed over the Mall because they had a Merry Go Round, car ride and a bouncy castle thing. We met up with my parents, my sister's family and my cousins-in-law family. I think all the boys had a great time because they fell asleep on the car ride home.

Rides at the Mall

spin me round

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The Odyssey Is Completed

nobody@vox.com(grantalias) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:49:26 -0500

My on going odyssey (and yes I'm being melodramatic) with Canon support has finally ended. The good, the bad and me ugly follows.

I still look like a dork

After a week of Canon support telling me they had not entered my camera in the system yet (the second time in a week I sent it in for repair) and therefore could not give me a status update, today they tell me it's out for delivery. I mean I called yesterday and no news. But today it's waiting at the Purolator depot. Well at least I got the camera back tonight and it's like new. From what Canon support told me over the phone it looks like they replaced the entire shutter button assembly. I wish they had done that the first time.

Lexar 2GB SD

Returning my camera also got me moving to MRA my Lexar 2GB SD card that had an intermittent problem and I should receive a replacement sometime in the next month (hopefully).

On a side note... during this whole time with my camera in the shop, I misplaced my SanDisk Ultra II 2GB SD car. Which let me tell you had led to some frantic searching over the house to find it.

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