Let Christmas begin!

Exams are over!! It was a stressful couple of weeks, but it's done. Time to let the Christmas festivities begin!

My last exam was Thursday morning. I was home by 10:30 am and spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing. Ditto for today.

We have another ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday and will update you on any new findings - we're hoping to be able to tell gender this time.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Hi Everyone,

Well, we went for an ultrasound this afternoon, and here's our latest picture of baby - that I labelled to help you orient yourselves... :) Baby is a good size, with a nice strong heart rate, with all bits and pieces in the right places.

We were hoping we might be able to find out whether she's a she, or he's a he, but baby didn't cooperate and kept his/her legs crossed... the best the tech could tell us was she "thinks there may be something there..." We're probably going back in a couple of weeks because they couldn't get a great look at baby's heart (not that there's anything wrong, she just couldn't get good pictures the way baby was turned), so she told us to ask again then.

Mike's frustrated... he REALLY wants to know, and he wants to know today :) I figure, now it will be a Christmas gift :)

We'll keep you posted.

quiet...

Hi all!

It's been pretty quiet around here, so, while I don't have any news (at least until maybe this Friday...), I thought I'd post a "funny" I got in my e-mail today. I'm sure everyone, especially Sarah, will get a chuckle or two out of it.

Hope everyone is well. Love to all from Calgary.
Marielena
--------------------------------------------------


These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: When is your birthday?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
____________________________________

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
WITNESS: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty-five years.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam? __________________________________

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-one year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.
________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question? ______________________________________

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception of the baby was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh....
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated? ______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female? ______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work. ______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people? WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people. ______________________________________

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy? WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Theresa

Well done, Theresa!!
Chris and I are really thrilled . Great stuff

Carl

The newest bud on our family tree

Some pics of baby Emily Roy.

It won't let me post a comment so I'm just making a new post!

Woohooooo! Congratulations, Shelley and Brian! We are so excited for you, and will be home in a short two months to see that beautiful baby girl! We wish we were there with you to celebrate today, but know that we are celebrating in full force here in the prairies!

Love you,
theresa and brian

Congratulations!

Hello Everyone!

Congrats to you Mike and Lena on your wonderful news! That's so exciting!!
And now its only a matter of days (hopefully? weeks?) until Shelley and Brian's little baby arrives. We can't wait!! Gotta love all these King great-grandchildren!

Things here are going well, but as per usual are very busy. I'm frantically trying to pump out my thesis proposal, getting ready to apply to the PhD program and am working and taking a course on top of that. It's a good busy though, and worth it on the days where I feel productive and like I've made a dent in the pile. Brian is also busy with his Master's classes and I think he's glad to be back into school full-time. When we're not busy with school and work, we try to plan a wedding! Thank heavens for Mom and Sarah who are a tremendous help since Brian and I aren't even in the city where the wedding will take place! We're going to try and book our flights tonight for Christmas and are very much looking forward to seeing everyone again!

But, I just wanted to say congratulations and hello to everyone else! I'm off to get back to work on the never-ending thesis!

Love to you all!
theresa

News

So glad the news went over great at Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks for all the well-wishes that dad has passed our way from all of you.

Our due date is April 15, just before exam week. Should be interesting!

Well, how time flies. Our grandaughter, Olivia Christine Gloria Collins, was two years old four days ago on October 2nd and I thought I would share some pictures that were taken in our yard today.


Carl

Checking in

Boy it's been quiet here lately!

Things out here are hectic and busy with school now in full swing for me and Lena working on the second year of her fellowship. At least the pace may make the time go by a little quicker and we can be finished with school and moves and settle into a "normal" life.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching! Hope everyone is gathering together somewhere for a family dinner. Make sure to post some pics for us!!

Shelley, your big day is fast approaching! I bet there is so much buzz all through the family waiting for the big arrival! Please keep us up to date.

Well, I finally put some more pics on the wedding blog. I think I'll put a bunch more on tonight, so go check it out! Remember, there's a link to it right here over on the right side of the screen.

Cheers to you all,
Mike

Pics from Greece now on the Wedding Blog

The first pics from Greece are now on the Wedding Blog. More to follow each day.

Some More Wedding Pictures

Some wedding pics

A sampling of photos from the wedding

Wedding Blog

Hi family!

Two more days to go, and then the big day is here.

We (Marielena) had the bright idea to create a new blog to chronicle the tornado that is this wedding, plus periodic posts from our Honeymoon! It's up and running and I have just inserted a link to it in the "Links" field on the right hand side of the screeen.

See it?! Great! Pop over often to check it out. There will be frequent posts of current goings-on like Poker Night at Casino DiBartolo (cards dealt at 7pm sharp, two drink minimum) and past activities like the showers and Marielena's Tree Top Adventure Day with the girls.

This is a great way for folks who couldn't attend to still get a feel for the action!

Ciao!
Mike

It must be his effervescent personality...

My friend Jason in London just launced his own blog and has a great video that shows the amazing results of combining Coke and Mentos. He also includes a link that explains the science behind it.

Mary, Dad says you are excelling in chemistry so maybe you can decipher it and explain it to me!

Jason is one of the smartest people I know so check out his other posts about his thoughts on the auto industry.

http://jbclements.blogspot.com

Wedding invitation responses

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to say thanks to the large majority of you who got their responses in by the deadline - we're still missing 40% on my side!

I am sad though, that while we knew things were going to be a little lopsided, in the end Mike will only have the 9 immediate members of his family, plus his godparents, (of the 33 invited) to share the day. I guess we'll just have to wait to see everyone next time we make it out east.

Hope everyone's summer is going well. Can't wait 'til September to see baby picutres from both sides!

Love to all,
Marielena

The Kings in the berry patch

Canada Day Weekend

We were feeling adventurous on the weekend so we took a couple of day trips.

The first three pics are from Saturday, Canada Day. We drove up to Banff, had a spot of breakfast and then headed to Lake Minewanka. Just a nice little area with some walking trails. The first pic is my best shot so far of a big horned sheep. We spotted them walking across a bridge and they just walked right past us and up a hill.

We sat for a few minutes at the end of the rocks that Lena is on in the second picture, then headed into the trail were the third shot was taken in the middle of a wooden bridge. Then the batteries in my camera died...









The next day we were far more ambitious. Up at the crack of 8:30 am! We hit the road and headed west for B.C.

The first shot was taken about 20 km's or so inside the B.C border by a helpful tourist.




Our main destination was the Radium Hot Springs. There are springs of water that naturally flow to the surface at an unbelievable temperature of 44 degrees celsius. They have harnaced one of these springs and have it constantly filling a large public swimming pool. They cool the water down to 37 degrees before it flows into the pool. When you first get in, it literally almost burns it is so hot.

Beside it is another pool of natural hot spring water that is cooled even more to about 24 degrees. They make an announcement every 20 mins and encourage people to alternate pools to avoid overheating in the hot pool.

They also have a small 4 or 5 man pool in the corner called the Surprise Plunge. This is regular water at a temp of about 16 degrees. I couldn't get in past my ankles , but Lena braved it all the way in.

This is me in the hot pool. I really liked the temperature and found it really comfortable. Lena couldn't stay in more than a couple of minutes at a time.




This is the cool pool. The hot pool is on the other side of the building.




From there we went on south towards Cranbrook and found a little place called Fort Steele. It's the remains of an old 19th century mining and rail town and they have it set up as a historic site. There are people in period clothes walking the streets and put on dialogues and people working in the blacksmith shop, bakery, hotel, etc. I'll post pics of that another day.

Finally our drive home took us through this very imposing rock passage. We got out to take some shots of the waterfall beside it.







All in all, a great way to spend the weekend!

Ciao,

Summer is here

Hello all:

Well summer is here. You can't tell by the weather but I know it's here because our summer matinees have started at work. That means a lot of extra hours away from home and family but the extra earnings come in handy. It seems as I get older I like these summer hours less and less.

I can tell you I am looking forward to my two weeks off in August for Mike and Lena's wedding. Actually, I'm looking forward to retirement but I will have to wait a bit. Recently,I was talking with my financial advisor and asked him when I could afford to retire. He told me I could stop working right after his son's wedding. His son is a priest so I don't know what he was trying to tell me.

Anyway, everyone here is fine. Chris is doing quite well, Mary is preparing for her fall course at NBCC, Cate is working and Olvia is still full of the devil.

It was nice to see Theresa's post. Love an good thoughts to her and Brian.

c ya l8tr alligators

Oh my, I've been MIA!

Helloooo Family!

My my its been a long time since theres been a post from me! And sadly, I don't even have any exciting developments to fill you in on. But I thought I should say hello and let everyone know how things are here in the Sask!

Bri and I are both doing well. I have survived the imfamous first year of the MA in Clinical Psyc and only a little worse for the wear! I'm now almost 2 months into my 4 month clinical placement. So far its been great, I am doing lots of assessments and lots of therapy and I've learned a ton. And really like it, thank heavens since I've been going to school FOREVER and theres not even an end in sight. How sad would it be if i turned out to hate clinical work now?:) Luckily, this does not appear to be an issue! The thesis, sadly, is going slowly due to my lack of motivation. If anyone would like to write my thesis for me, please note that I am accepting applications to do so. :)

Mike and Lena: What gorgeous wedding invitations! They're beautiful. I was soo excited to get it in the mail. Brian and I are soo sad that we wont be able to be there, but unfortunately when you're doing a clinical placement for your masters not only do you not get paid (and have to actually PAY to be working there) but you get noo vacation :( So make sure you take lots and lots of pictures and know that we'll be there with you in spirit!

Shel: Your little one is too cute already. What I think we need next Shel are some cute pictures of the pregnant Mommy-to-be! Mike and I aren't there to see how cute you are like everyone else! Really, we should have like weekly pictures so that we can see the progress. Get on that, will you? ;)

Well off to bed for me, work comes eaaaaaarly in the morning!

Miss you all tons and tons. Hopefully I'll get home sometime this fall (keep your fingers crossed)

Love,
theresa
xoxoxox

Sarah called to the bar June 15th

This is my sister, Brenda Dever and her daughter Sarah who was called to the NB Bar today (June 15).

This has been quite a week. First, my future daughter-in-law recieved her certificate from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and is now a pediatrician and now Sarah becomes a lawyer.

As well, my daughter Mary wrote her final exam today in her pre-technology program in preparation for her Medical Lab Technicians course and my other daughter,Cate, writes her final exam tonight to finish her fourth year for her BA/BED program at UNBSJ. Is my cup full of blessings or what?

Marielena's pediatric exam

Marielena has successfully challenged the pediatric examination and has received her certification in pediatrics from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

She is now officially a pediatrician.

Congratulations, Lena!!

kudos Judy

Well done, Judy. I am very proud of you.
As Michael Sean said "Sometimes one person can make a differance".

NB Telegraph-Journal Saint May 31, 2006

LOCAL ACTIVIST WIN AWARD

Judy LeBlanc one of nine to get the Canadian Lung Association's National Clean Air Day Award

Judy LeBlanc, a wife and mother living on the outskirts of Saint John, is about to be honoured along with famous ecologists and multi-million dollar retail collectives for her efforts to clean the air. Mrs. LeBlanc will one of nine to receive the Canadian Lung Association's first annual National Clean Air Day Awards for outstanding personal contributions to clean air on Friday.

"When I heard I'd been nominated, I didn't really pay too much attention," Mrs. LeBlanc said. "I'm nominated for awards all the time, but very rarely do I actually win them."When she was told she was the only person in Atlantic Canada to receive one of the awards, and environmentalism celebrity Dr. David Suzuki and those behind the environmentally conscious retail collective Mountain Equipment Co-op were two of the other nine, Mrs. LeBlanc said she was convinced there had been a mistake."I didn't want to offend Dr. Suzuki, because he's been working to improve air quality for pretty much his entire life," she said. "I've only been at this for about 10 years."Mrs. LeBlanc, who has bronchiectasis, was forced to move out of East Saint John 10 years ago, when the city air began to overwhelm her. Her disease is a chronic inflammatory or degenerative condition that causes her breathing passages to swell up when they take in irritants, such as ozone and sulfur dioxide, or even Eucalyptus.

She became involved in campaigning for clean air with friend and asthma sufferer Cynthia Marino. Before Ms. Marino died of an asthma attack in May of 1995, the two made a pact that if one of them died, the other would continue their work in the movement.Since then, Mrs. LeBlanc has not only become a very visible activist in the clean air movement, but a shoulder to lean on for families stricken with respiratory disease. She said she gets phone calls from people just learning of their diseases, and gives advice on how to live with it."Judy has certainly put a human face on the problem of air pollution in the city," said Gordon Dalzell, who acts as co-chairman of the Saint John Citizens Coalition For Clean Air with Mrs. LeBlanc.Mr. Dalzell said Mrs. LeBlanc is an inspiration, devoting a large chunk of her life to working faithfully towards her cause, at times risking her own health and well-being."She's the Mother Teresa of the clean air movement."The ceremony will be at the Canadian Lung Association Commemorative Plaza at Rockwood Park at 9:30 a.m. on Friday.Mrs. LeBlanc hopes the award presentation at Rockwood Park will serve to promote awareness of air quality in Saint John and the surrounding region.

"I feel sort of funny inviting people to come out and watch me get this award, but I really want use it to spread the word about living with lung disease," she said. "The other winners are scientists with degrees. I am a mom and a wife who just wants to know what's in the air."

Called to the Bar

Congrats to Sarah Dever. She will be called to the bar of the province of New Brunswick on June 15th. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to become a lawyer. Well done, Sarah

For those of you from Lena's families that may check the blogs...Sarah is the eldest child of my sister Brenda

Congrats, again,Sarah

Love always
Uncle Carl

Hair raising experience.

This is Mary during a science experiment at the NB Community College.

Well fed and home again

Hello all:

Lena's Q&A for Quantas is funny. When we were flying this past week end I thought of the fact that the planes were built by the lowest bidder. OOh, scary.

Well, sisters and other interested parties we had a blast in Ottawa. We arrived Saturday afternoon and were met by Michael Sean and his future father-in-law,Fred DiBartolo. "The girls", Lena and her mom, were shopping so Fred and Mike took us on a tour of Ottawa. We saw the Parliament Buildings as well as the PM's home at 24 Sussex Drive. Stornoway, the home of the Leader of the Opposition is across the street. Fred showed us the national library and museums galore. I would love to spend a vacation in Ottawa and see everything.

Then we went to Fred's home and were met by Lena and her mom, Diane. More hugs and kisses. We went out to supper later (thanks again Fred and Diane) and returned home. Fred and I played some cribbage and that was fun. Chris wants to know why I can't go anywhere without playing crib.

On Sunday,after attempting to attend mass in a very full St. Patrick's church ( the weddding site) we began to eat. First at Diane's sister Carmel's home for brunch at noon. It was like our family gatherings. The house was full and noisy just like homes should be. We loved it. Wow,what a spread! Baked beans, ham, salads, potatoes and let's not forget the chocolate fondue. Take note....champagen and orange juice is delicious. And also, more handshakes hugs and double cheek kisses. I love those. That's how I am greeting people from now on. Be warned.

Then after a trip back to Fred and Diane's we went to the home of Joe DiBartolo, Fred's 89 year old Dad, for a huge turkey dinner with a clan of more than 25. More hugs and kisses and great food.

Now we need to rest and digest all the food and love.

For those of you attending in August be prepared to be well recieved. You will feel like you are home.

Anyway, that was our trip. As I said, we had a blast. Thanks to all who made it possible.

Michael Sean is in good hand. Speaking of him, he Marielena send their love.

See you all soon
Carl & Chris
oxoxoxo

Quiet

Things have been pretty quiet around both blogs the last couple of weeks, so I thought, I'd share a "funny" with everyone... Enjoy!

Love to all, and Happy Easter,
Marielena
--------------------------------------------------------------------

It takes a uni degree to fly a plane but only an apprenticeship to fix one: a reassurance for those of us who fly routinely in their jobs. After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet"which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humour. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' Pilots (marked with a P) and the Solutions Recorded (marked with an S) By Maintenance Engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And The Best One For Last !!
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel . Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget

Happy Birthday Dad and Cate

Hey all!!

Happy Birthday to Dad and Cate yesterday and today.

I'm not sure exactly who this happy fellow pictured below is, but he appears to be having a great birthday - and you should too!!!

Cate, you'll be pleased to know you share your happy day with Diana Ross, Steven Tyler and Leonard Nimoy.

Dad, you get to cut cake with Mariah Carey (hello!!), Quentin Tarantino and some silent film actress from the 1920's named Gloria Swanson.

Have a great day!!

Joke for St Paddy's Day

Happy St patrick's Day everyone. A little joke to lighten your day:


A man stumbles up to the only other patron in a bar and asks if he could buy him a drink.
"Why of course," comes the reply. The first man then asks: "Where are you from?""I'm from Ireland," replies the second man. The first man responds: "You don't say, I'm from Ireland too! Let's have another round to Ireland."
"Of Course," replies the second man. Curious, the first man then asks: "Where in Ireland are you from?" "Dublin," comes the reply.
"I can't believe it," says the first man. "I'm from Dublin too! Let's have another drink to Dublin."
"Of course," replies the second man. Curiosity again strikes and the first man asks: "What school did you go to?"
"Saint Mary's," replies the second man. "I graduated in '62.""This is unbelievable!" the first man says. "I went to Saint Mary's and I graduated in '62, too!"

About that time in comes one of the regulars and sits down at the bar. "What's been going on?" he asks the bartender. "Nothing much," replies the bartender. "The O'Malley twins are drunk again."

Pictures from the top of the Calgary Tower

Hey family,

Marielena's Aunt Carmel was here on a business trip a couple of weekends ago and as part of her whirlwind tour of Calgary, we went to the top of the Calgary Tower.

Our tower which is just 525 feet up to the observation deck is just a baby compared to the CN Tower in Toronto which is 1136 to the observation deck. Still, it provides a spectacular panoramic view of the entire city and the Rocky Mountains.

The first few pics are of downtown including Bankers Hall, the TD Towers, the Telus Tower, etc. The fourth pic includes City Hall on the right hand side. It's a glass building shaped like steps. The fifth pic is the Saddledome where our beloved Flames play. It was a bit overcast that day, so the one picture I have with the mountains of on the horizon is a bit hazzy, but you can see them. It's the sixth picture down. The seventh pic is looking straight down through the recently installed glass floor section. You can see the base of the tower and the passing traffic at the corner of Center St. and 3rd Ave. I took some video while standing on the glass floor but unfortunately it can't seem to be posted on the Blog. The final pic is looking up from the base of the tower after we left.

While up there, we enjoyed brunch in the revolving restaraunt. It takes one hour to make a complete revolution, so we took our time to enjoy the full 360 degree view.

Great news Shelley and Brian

Hey Hey Hey!!!

Great news for Shelley and Brian, eh? Another great-grandchild in the family. Congrats, you two. Another October birthday. Shelley, Mary and Olivia have birthdays in October and now little Unknown Roy.

Shelley here are a few suggestions for a name.

Male: Carl, Carle, Karl, Karle, Carlito, Carlos

Female: Carly, Karlie, Carlene, Karlene, Carla, Karla

Just trying to be helpful. LOL

Lots of love to both of you.

Uncle Carl

ps: my sisters have been Grand-Aunts for 17 months. Now it is my turn to be a Grand-Uncle.

Sunday morning fog

Yes, Michael Sean, a big welcome to your Aunt Judy. It's easy,Judy, once you get the hang of it.

I don'tkow what's going on with the Leafs. They are 5 or 6 points behind Les Habitants for the final playoff spot. I'm hoping they make the playoff although I know they won't make it out of the first round. This year it could be New York or Ottawa. Ottawa would look good with the Stanley Cup parading in front of Parliament Hill.

I was blaming the Leafs poor record on Quinn. No defense. Then he coached Team Canada and guess what......No offense.
Maybe it's the hockey gods.

A PD in Calgary! Lucky you. If they're franchising out there you may see more.

Yesterday we had a huge theatre rental. Irving Oil spent yesterday celebrating their 2 Billionth barrel of oil from the refinery by hosting free events for the citizens. They paid for bowling alleys to provide free games, a free Fred Penner show for the kids, coupons for free Irving gas and a bunch of other things as well as renting 5 of our screens for free 10 a.m. movies plus a free Kidz Pak for all. We had about 1600 people in our theatre yesterday morning. At our place yesterday Irving Oil spent about $17000.00. That does'nt include the extra money earned by staff who worked the event. Everybody won!

Our head office folks were very pleased with the way things went and so were the Irving reps that were on hand. This could mean more rentals for us. We have 31 locations in Atlantic Canada. We could accomadate them at anytime and any place.

Anyway, it's Sunday morning and I smell bacon. Gotta go. Give my future daughter-in-law a hug for me.

c ya
Dad

Welcome, Aunt Judy and assorted ramblings

Ladies and gentlemen, she's on!!

Welcome, Aunt Judy to the King Family Blog. Hopefully you'll be a contributor and not just a voyeur!

Snow, snow and more snow. That's the situation out here. We got off very, very lucky this year so I shouldn't complain. About a week ago it snowed for the first time since before Christmas. Didn't think much of it, figured it would melt in a day or two. Well not quite. Despite a nice Chinook a few days ago, the snow has stayed and it has flurried almost constantly since. So here it stays. At least it isn't too cold.

Not much else new. Lena is in Toronto this weekend for a course and coincidentaly, her aunt Carmel is here from Ottawa for a course! So she'll be staying with me tomorrow night and hopefully Lena will be home early enough on Sunday so we can maybe get a drive to Banff in before Carmel leaves.

Had a nice birthday week. Not sure about the rest of you, but I am crazy about Pizza Delight. Since it's a New Brunswick chain, it became a once or twice a year ritual when I came home from London or Calgary to visit. Well, turns out the only place outside of the Maritimes that there's a Pizza Delight is in Calgary!! There's only one, and it's way down in the deep south so no where near where we live or ever go. It was my mom who found out about while in PD in Saint John and let us now. Otherwise, we'd never have found out. So that's where we went for my B-Day dinner on Tuesday night since I was in school til 9 on Monday. It was great!! There was even a car with an NB license plate in the parkinglot!

I just picked up the anniversay edition DVD of Airplane! tonight at the mall. Hillarious! I sure hope all of you have seen this classic with Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack and Peter Graves. "...and don't call me Shirley". Brilliant. For my younger cousins, if you have not seen this movie, it's a must.

Had a final exam today and I think it went quite well. This guy always makes it out to be that his exams or tests will be long and detailed. So we get all stressed out and it always turns out to be so straight forward and simple. Or it may be that we get so stressed out that we're extra prepared. Either way, it went well. Hopefully we'll get our marks on line tomorrow.

My buddy Shawn and his wife just bought a house in Toronto, specifically, Markham. Not sure what he paid, but judging from the pics on his blog, it must have been a pretty penny. Property values in T.O are insane. They got a townhouse style home like ours, but with a contained back yard! And it's a fair size! And the house is less than 5 years old!

The housing market is growing out of control here and we could almost be to the level of T.O soon. We have only been in our townhouse for 8 months and we estimate that we have already made about 20% return on the value of the house! The deep north and south of the city are expanding at an unbelieveable rate. If you buy a map it's outdated and obsolete within 4 to 6 months. It's nothing but sprawling suburban development.

T.O is much the same right now I think. And to be in Markham probably notched the price up a bit by being a bit closer in to the city centre and not out in the sprawl...yeah, only about an hour and a half commute each way!! There is a link on the right to Shawn's blog if you want to see the pics of his new house! It's a few posts back so scroll down.

Hey, Dad, what's going on with the Leafs?? Last place in their division? They were doing well around Christmas.

Looks like their could be some labour trouble in the NFL. Probably not a strike situation like in hockey, but at the core of the dispute it's the same issues. Bottom line; tons of players are getting cut because teams need to get under the salary cap and star free agents won't get the money they want because of the abundance of players in the free agency pool. The next month or two leading up to the draft should be interesting.

As of right now, there's 7 days, 2 hours, 21 minutes and 35 seconds until the start of the 2006 Formula 1 season!! First race is in Bahrain on March 12!! Go McLaren!!

Well, it's late, so off to bed I go.
Ciao

Happy Birthday, Mike

I've heard of that game. Sounds like fun.
Speaking of birthdays. Happy 31st Birthday to you, tomorrow.
When I get off work I'll come home and have a Guiness in your honour.
Have a great day, bud.

Dad

Wanna buy Harbour Station, The Gondola Point Ferry, The City Market? How about Partridge Island?

Yes, all this and more can be yours simply by playing the official "Greater Saint John on Board".

A board game similar to traditional Monopoly, but based entirely on the greater Saint John area. This was an unexpected and very welcome early birthday present sent to me yesterday from back home.

The story goes that there is a new Teen Resource/Crisis Centre opening soon in the city and this was one of the fund raising ideas. Cash is raised not only by the sale of the game, but through the sponsors who have paid to have their business or landmark appear in the game, like Harbour Station, Alpine, Kent's, Sobey's, Irving, CHSJ, Aliant and McDonald's.

There were 3,500 games made and they have been for sale since before Christmas. You can still get them and they sell only at Sobey's for $35.

The new Teen Centre is to open in a refurbished St. Joseph's school sometime in 2007 and will offer everything from career counselling to free dental care.