Curt’s Basement

If you get a chance, and the time (it’s an hour and fifteen minutes long), check out this video of Randy Pausch’s last lecture he did before he died. It’s not important whether you know who he was or what he did before watching.

By now you guys should’ve probably got a bunch of emails from Google regarding invites for Google calendars. I figured I’d add in the events calendar at long last so we can stay organized as a group. Obviously, there was some challenge in setting it all up and there still is. I originally shared my own calendar, but it was including personal events (doctor’s appointments, etc) and I’d really like it to be a bit cleaner than that. So I created a new calendar and invited everyone to have access to it, and that’s the one you see shared here. Unfortunately, things still aren’t quite working as planned. Carl tried adding an event earlier and it seems it added it to my own personal calendar, not the site’s calendar.

Just thought I’d give everone a heads up. I’m sure once everything’s working as planned it’ll work great, we just need to sort it all out.

UPDATE: Alright, everything seems to be squared away. Hopefully you guys didn’t have to agree to too many public calendar invites. Now when you add an event to the calendar, and set it to public, it should show up on the website. This should help us keep everything organized (for D&D in particular).

Well guys, i just want to say thanks again. Yesterday was very awesome. I guess deep down when you get older it means a lot more to you when people remember and care about your birthing day and such. Seeing everyone was great and i had a great time, hope everyone else had a great time too.

Also thanks again for the awesome gift (i will consider it one gift in two parts :wink:) I can’t wait to get at it and get them all together.

Carl, thanks for letting us use your new home, let Marie know how much i appreciate it too. Was very awesome of you to allow us to have the party there considering your still just settling in. Happy belated anniversary also. I am such a douche. I remembered before, forgot it over the weekend, and then just remembered now. I must be getting old. If you are free Tuesday night i can bike over and we can finish that desk.

So guys, just wow, is all i can say. Thanks for the great B-Day, can’t express how much i appreciated it. Was great to see everyone and i am glad Joe could make it also, i know his schedule can make it tough especially on what i assume could be considered short notice. You guys rock!

Edit: Leman Russ is under construction! WOOT!

So, as I know you’ve all mentioned on the site recently, I’ve been very inactive around here and have not yet submitted any characters for the campaigns that have been proposed. I have been very interested in playing many if not all of these campaigns and have even started making one or two characters, but haven’t been able to complete them yet.

The big reason I’ve been so silent lately has been my dad. As a couple of you may know, he hasn’t been well lately and has been acting very much unlike himself. My dad has been convinced he owns and operates some sort of antique business and has been spending unhealthy amounts of money to support this idea. Most of this has been used to purchase low-quality pieces of worn-out and used chip-board furniture that is then negelected and left to rot out in the rain. These delusions have been preventing my dad from eating properly or taking his much-needed medications. My sister and I have been spending a lot of time driving back and forth to Pincourt to check in on him and try to intervene in this self-destructive spiral.

This recently hit a new level of risk when my dad began taking forrays into the woods after midnight often wearing only a pair of underwear. We have a theory that one or more of these were to bury his dog Chloe as she has been missing for two weeks and was a very old and unhealthy dog.

The most recent development was last Sunday when my sister and I took our dad in to Lakeshore General Hospital for a plethora of physical and mental health issues (his behaviour, weeping wounds on this arms, chest and legs, swollen red feet, swollen testicles and scrotum, etc…). As it stands he has been admitted to Lakeshore and is being monitored and will be treated and given a full psychological evaluation. He will likely be there for another week or two, depending on progress and what we can determine by speaking with a social worker we have been in contact with.

In the meantime, my sister and I have been going to his place every couple days and have taken on the very extensive task of cleaning his house up as the combination of left-out food, spilled liquids and dilapidated and old furniture have made the house dangerous not only for him but anyone else who enters the house. We made lots of progress on Monday when we were last there and are going back today to continue work on getting the house in order. We are hoping that by the time we find out exactly what is going to be done concerning our dad, that my sister and I will have the house fully cleaned up and possibly even painted if we are able.

So, that’s the long and short of it. Sorry I haven’t been on so much and haven’t let you guys know about all this sooner. Though I felt you guys deserved to know where I’ve been, so here I am.

Well I am officially moved. It was long and exhaustive but survived. The place is nice and bigger then I imagined when placing things. I think one of my favorite things aside from the huge tub is the silence at night and the fact that we are not very illuminated so you can see the stars very easily. I have internet however no phone (Yay DSL) so not sure when I will achieve connectivity. Looking at the garage which is packed I say a good week if not a bit more.

So if anyone needs to reach me you go my cell number so best to go with that for now.

Hello everyone, I have not dissapeared! I just wanted to say though that things are going ok. Marie is hanging in there and has not been too bad. I had to go for an asthma treatment yesterday so yes another trip to the emergency. When you start to know the staff rotations there is a problem lol But all is ok and were taking things in stride. The townhouse is almost all packed. Were wrapping up the packing today.

So Chris or Cliff (I saw him post something on Alex site) if you can help out. Not sure how long you down Chris. We need some hands on the 25 (evening) 26 all day or 27th all day long.

Neil and  Angie are already signed up for helping out so gimme a shout on my BB at 514-515-9389 since I am still living at the parents.

Off Topic: Will see about getting my PBEM character done tonight. Marie brought my books so will do the character tonight.

Peace Out!

Well we have returned from the hospital. Seem’s Marie has stones in her liver which were created by all the fluids given to provoke the pregnancy. She will need to get surgery to fix this but unfortunately cannot be alone. So we are moving to my parents in the meantime. I will need help maybe during the evenings to pack the rest of the shit here. I have family helping but still quite a ways to go. So will call on however can muster the time.

Since I am moving to my parents I am not sure about status of my availability. Will keep posted

Well with the house being signed for the 25th of June it is not leaving much time for anything. Were hoping to get some boxes moved before the movers come on the 27th (mostly really fragile stuff).  So in general if anyone is able to help the 25th, 26th, 27th let me know. Also since I have a long weekend at that time I was wondering if people wanna do some sort of get together. inaugurate the house with some D&D or good food.  Not sure if anyone else has some long weekends or time off they can take but just an idea.

So I`m home, safe and sound, returned at last from a land flowing with rum and tobacco phalli of varying sizes and qualities. These two things I could not return without bringing, of course. Cuba, I must say, is a wonderful country, so thoroughly founded in tourism is it, that it`s residents will treat you better if you don`t look like one of them, perhaps only to get a peso or two, or CUC as they are referred to at every Cadeca (Casas De Cambio) in the country. While Casas De Cambio may sound like the abode of a denizen of the lower planes, I assure you it is simply a location to exchange various currencies for the elsewhere-unusable paper and metal that is used in this tropical paradise.

The trip was wonderful, the scenery both on and off the resort was oft-times breath-taking. The temperature, contrary to what every person I spoke to on the subject had assured me, was both hot and humid. I must say I adapted admirably, though, and really enjoyed myself. I got a decent tan, though my hair saw fit to migrate to paler shades due to some alchemical combination of sun and seawater. Deb and I have many pictures which will be shared in due time. We had an interesting trip, we swam with dolphins and other fish in the caribbean and drank from literally limitless supplies of alcohol. I puchase many souvenirs for myself and others, not the least of which where the fabled rum and cigars of Cuban fame.

We returned this morning around 2am, very tired from the trip, but also very rested from the week off. And I retrieved my cell phone, turned it on and found that I had received a voicemail message, it was my boss. She had called inform me that the contract I was on would be ending as of midnight tonight. This was unexpected but not too strange as we had been warned of this, with the date in question being a month from now. But here we were, closing a month early. So I went in today, a day I had already been given off and signed my papers, and cleaned out my desk bidding farewell to my fellow co-wokers who were all doing the same at various point throughout the day. I will be receiving pay for the five weeks up to the previously-agreed date, and will retain all benefits and insurance up said date (June 27th), so this basically works out to meaning I now have a month`s paid vacation, which is fine by me.

So that`s what`s new with me, just thought I`d let you guys all know how I`ve been during and since my technological blackout/vacation.

Well we are on our second day home with Lucas. It has actually been going really good. He has fallen into a pretty steady routine of sleeping and waking up about every 3 hours for feeding. Which is pretty good actually. When he feeds enough he zonks out. So all around a very quiet Asian Caucasian which allows us to catch up with sleep.

It’s strange though as your perception on things change. Priorities shift, tolerances change. I hate loud noise unless a tune I like and was originally totally annoyed with crying from babies but now it is a good sound. I am still a bit cranky when waking up unexpectedly but that is slowly changing.

Oh and we watched Star Trek 1 this morning. Baby was quite entertained