Before I dash home, some thoughts:

• Lecture-Fest 2006 is now over. On the drive back from a Holiday Lights Festival with the children this Thanksgiving weekend, I counted 9 mini-lectures and tidbits of advice from my MIL, and the trip was relatively short. I guess if you’re good at something, stick with it…
• As my daughter learns how to talk she’s developing some interesting sayings. Darcy calls planes “wheels” for instance. She said “Oooh Daddy, I hear a wheel” recently, and I wanted to write that one down before I forgot it.
• Alpacas are very interesting, cuddly creatures. We saw one at the Lights Fest, and I couldn’t believe how soft and gentle it was. Maybe someday I’ll become an Alpaca rancher.
• Reindeer, on the other hand, are kind of homely, unhappy creatures, who smell awfully bad. Nothing against Santa’s choice for transport, but I wasn’t all that impressed with the non-flying versions, and I daresay they didn’t care much for me either.
• Gone With The Wind is badly acted in most places, but very well-acted in others. I saw it again over the weekend, and was annoyed by much of it, but intrigued enough to enjoy the final act.

Final thought: there just isn’t enough time in the day. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

–Brian

When I was a teenager, filled with teenage angst, my parents took us to Toronto to the newly opened “Canada’s Wonderland.” Like a typical teen, I didn’t want to be seen with my family, so I walked separately and tried to act cool…which was difficult since I hadn’t packed shorts, and it was sunny and in the upper 80s at the amusement park. My brothers still joke about the black jeans.

Sadly, that was my last memory of Toronto, until this past weekend. I had a great time, this time with my wife and children, the latter of which who thankfully have yet to experience teenage angst. We spent the weekend at the palatial Sheraton Centre, which almost would have been enough in and of itself! Quite a complex, including a massive 6 mile long underground mall, which I would imagine is going to be very welcome to residents in another couple of weeks up there. We also saw the CN Tower, and took in some great nightlife, all thanks to the radio station.

It was after midnight Saturday when Heather and I stumbled back to the hotel, but there were still people out and about as if it were 5pm. And Sunday morning, people were camped out partying in the street, waiting for the historic Santa Claus parade. It was a very different vibe up there, but quite a lot of fun, and I truly can’t wait to go back.

–Brian

Round two of pics from Gina Browning and I performing at the UNYTS TRANSFORMATIONS event.

Ok Ok…I know it has been almost 45 days since I have posted here. I promise there are some big things coming up though. I’ve had a lot of requests (ok…at least three) to post the pics of Gina Browning and I singing at the UNYTS TRANSFORMATIONS event. Well here they are. Please refrain from copying, cutting, and pasting them, adding photos of sheep, stupid captions, etc, and sending them to your neighbors. I hope they come out big enough to show our performance in all it’s glory.

Despite the overcast sky, the world seemed like a brighter place today. It’s nice when there’s justice in politics.

It was Darcy’s birthday yesterday, and before her party we all went to the polls and did our civic duty. (Speaking of which, did you know that Lockport, NY is the birthplace of not only volleyball, but also the world’s first voting machine?)

At our particular polling place they had the usual half-curtain voting booth, and Darce was very interested in “hiding” with me behind the curtain. She was also intrigued by all the buttons and levers, and Connor followed me in and began calling out the numbers I was checking for all to hear.

YIKES!

“Connor,” I said, “Voting is private. We need to keep this part secret – that’s why we’re hiding behind a curtain!”

At Darcy’s party (she’s three, by the way), the gift-opening followed the usual pattern: we would help her open a present, she’d be all intrigued and start playing with it immediately, then we’d direct her to another box, unwrap it, and watch as she started to play with THAT gift. It was exhausting, but fun.

In the end, Dora The Explorer won out – no surprise.

–Brian