well 2003 is about to bite the big one and for most of us, that's a good thing. the year of mad cow and sars and so much else doesn't really stick out for me as a banner year. nice to turn the corner every now and then and think new dreams. if you are into that.

having a few people over tonight for champagne and roast, a little 'family guy' and maybe a flick or two. it's all good. ben is still in moose jaw, nate will be out with friends. i will volunteer to pick him up no matter what time tonight. i don't trust his friends...

it is actually snowing here and its going down to an outrageous -1 C, 31 F. ouch! hehe. reminds me why i hate snow though, even at this temperature. snowboarding tomorrow - nathan thinks i love it so i'll go to hang out for the day. best part of the trip is when you get to the bottom of the hill on the way home and see the green grass.

well have a great new year if anyone reads this!

boxing day and just read jordon cooper's blog. www.jordoncooper.com. he writes that they have already put away all of their christmas stuff.... i haven't even really cleaned up the front room yet. our new airhockey game sits in the front room and i'm watching "24 hours of Mel" on TBS. ahh the good old days of the mullet!... bad memories.

nate got an mp3 player for his car so i have to pick him up from work so we can go spend tons of his money on speakers for his 'system'. i'm guessing more bass than is humanly possible. ben flies out to mosse jaw tomorrow with marianne and i shall miss him tons. hard to put him on the plane alone but he will be spoiled rotten in moose jaw with mama and papa and assorted irritating (for him) cousins wanting to spend time with the cool older cousin from the coast. wish it was me going instead of him but that's life. right now he doesn't want to go but he'll love it once he's there.

ben got a waa waa pedal for christmas and so his guitar addiction can continue to grow. he is really becoming amazing and has an amazing teacher who he adores. plus his big buddy martin comes over and they jam alot. yesterday he and martin jammed on accoustic and mandolin. it was sweet. really proud of him. since leaving french immersion his marks have gone from c- to b+. i plan on painting his room with some estrogen help while he is away. going to do it in a scottish theme complete with swords and a huge celtic cross on the walls. should be cool. lots of tartan. maybe then he'll even sleep there occasionally. don't ask. no one sleeps in their right room around this frat house.

ben and i ate a ound of bacon for breakfast so if this suddenly ends you'll know i keeled over and died...

this year we added an empty coke can to the tacky tree. last year it was a generic KD box. our tree rocks... really.... us....

going to spend mnext week trying to overhaul the website. but not today. this is the extent of the work i'm going to put in today. not even sure if or what i'm talking about on sunday. may do something interactive...

saw LOR last night. a good film but kinda hokey in the end. got tired of samwise crying all the time. but over all a great trilogy. i still think aragorn should have dumped the elf and gone after the rohan chick. if Liv was anymore mellow she would have slipped into a coma.

it has been an amazing week in the news. I love the response from John Steward on the late show on the comedy channel at the news of Saddam's capture... "we finally caught the man who had nothing to do with September 11. the irony of that would escape many americans, i am sure.

this is the first christmas i am not travelling or having relatives come over in my life. there wa only one other instance where we stayed put and that was a year in fort mcmurray when all the clan came up to our ranch for a christmas in the country with a 22 ft. high tree in our lindall cedar home. it was amazing but the furnace crapped out during the coldest chrstmas night on record and i had to sleep beside our useless fireplace in my snowmobile suit trying to keep a fire going lest the pipes freeze... aww the memories of christmas past.

this year promises to be a mellow christmas. ben is taking off for saskatchewan on the 27th, flying alone (not liking that much). nate works an inordinate amount of time at superstore and can't go anywhere. i hope to take a few days off and rake the back yard (gotta love the coast) and do some snowboarding with the kids.

my laptop hates coffee. i dropped an extra large coffee in it and fried it. at least i still get to make payments on it for another year.

i have been working on new video editing techniques and am really impressed with sunday plus version 2.3 for video display and enhancement. it seems to take care of alot of the problems of 2.1 and creates better realtime editing.

as i write this i am sitting in our office - an art studio(ish) thing in downtown mission complete with kitchen and bandstand. the ladies group is cackling out in the main room, a homeless guy stopped by and decided he needed some of the presents we had collected for another lady who we helped to get a place to rent upstairs. it's kind of cool actually. we have been running an evening 'street jam' on sunday nights after we feed everyone and it continues to grow. many who attend have taken ownership and consider this their space. it is interesting if we are having band practices or youth events as the street people tend to show up and include themselves. many of the youth have had to process that notion. often the regulars show up drunk. i lose patience with the drunks quicker than susan or others on her team do and they tend to have to placate me when i believe things are starting to get out of hand..

the women are struggling with interruptions from one of our downtown "friends" as i wirte this. i should go alleviate their stress but its more fun to watch.

pulled the christmas stuff out a while ago. christmas used to be my favorite time of year. i've found that it's a hard time of year for many people, myself among them. christmas conjures up so many memories and the commercials are especially hard on single people. so i raise a glass to you this christmas season if you are alone. enjoy the moments cuz the hours may suck. find some joy. i hope to too.

blogging is something which has been much in vogue lately. most people use it to tell the day to day events of their lives. usually i try to forget the day to day crap.

my friend len died lately. got hit by a car. he was out church pet. len wasn't mentally challenged or anything though he did have several issues he lived with. if you knew len you knew he was ultra hyper. people like len give me hope. some folks have labelled me the same, but watching len, i know i am a lightweight.
len gave a sense of wonder to everything he did. he was childlike in all the right ways. every day was a huge adventure for him. i think he was the most alive person i have ever met.
he got hit by a car driven by a sixteen year old local who had his drivers license for all of three days. he ed, braindead, in vancouver for almost three days. i was there when they pulled the plug. it is a place i have been far too often.
how do you say goodbye to someone you love. it is easier when they are dead but nonetheless the scent of that relationship s for some time. many people miss len, he was a sweaty, lively, adhd child in a world of old people.
he reminded me of what i once was but somehow lost along the way.