babycondin

2011-12-07T14:23:00.001-08:00

E: What are those things on the road there?

Me: They're called manhole covers, they are so the workers can take the cover off and go down and fix the storm drains.

E: Why do they call them *manhole* covers, is it only men who go down, or can girls go too?

Me: In the olden days it used to be men who did most of that kind of work, so that's why they called them man-holes, but now women do that work too, so they can go down also.

E: Why don't they change the name then? They should call them family-covers since everyone can go down there.

2011-09-28T10:48:00.001-07:00

[Standing on front doorstep]

Me: Are you getting excited? The wedding's coming up in one week and we're all going to go!

B: I'm not going to the wedding.

Me: Why not?

B: Weddings are really scary.

Me: Really, what makes them scary?

B: There will be a shark there and he will eat Bernard the bear.

2011-09-28T10:46:00.001-07:00

E: I really like playing tag with you daddy.

Me: [Thinking I'm about to receive a nice compliment] Oh, that's nice to say, why is that?

E: Because you're so slow I can always catch you.

2011-07-04T23:19:00.001-07:00

Had to teach Evan what kidnapping is today, as we ran across it in a story. Hate having to convey this stuff to a 5 y/o. The other day he asked me what bullets were, and I was pretty happy that he made it to 5 without knowing that. "What happens to the kid when they get kidnapped daddy?"

The other day we were at the diner eating sandwiches and he read that sign that says "take a number for complaints" where the number is attached to a grenade. "What's a grenade daddy?" "Why would anyone want to blow up another person?" "What's a war?"

Canada Day too--what are the big artillery guns for?

Evan

2011-06-27T00:11:00.001-07:00

Evan asked me today if you have to fill the camera up with colour in order for it to get into the pictures. I've always told him that back when Grandpa and Papa were younger, back in the olden days, they didn't actually have colour (that's how *old* they are), and I've only recently let on that this isn't actually true. He asked me if there was colour back in the time of "How to Tame Your Dragon", and if me or Papa lived back then (the movie's about vikings).

New use

2011-06-27T00:06:00.001-07:00

We'll see if this works. I'm going to try and use this blog now to record some of the cute things the kids are saying that I can never remember. I figure I'm often close to email, and if I can post by emailing these to myself, maybe they'll actually get written down and recorded.

2011-06-02T19:45:00.001-07:00

Feb 2011

2011-02-24T21:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks for dropping by. I don't think anyone reads this blog anymore, and like (it seems) most bloggers in an age of Facebook, I've fallen off the posting wagon. Poor Ben--he hasn't received the blogging attention that he deserves, being a second child and all. But he is cute as ever.

We are all doing well. The new maternity ward opened recently at Peace Arch Hospital, and Carolynn has found herself busy catching babies. She's also returned to general practice, and is happy to find she still enjoys it. Our kids are growing so fast. Ben is talking away and has started daycare on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He has taught himself to jump from the third step ("watch this mom"; "bum drop daddy"). Evan is approaching his 5th birthday and is reading, skating, learning piano and soon going to be in kindergarten :(. Before then though, I understand he will have his first "graduation ceremony" (seriously, they do this) in the spring, at Little Sprouts Preschool. They are happy and cute as ever, and Evan is such a kind big brother to Ben. Ben follows him everywhere. As for me, I'm writing, writing, writing. Writing. And teaching.

Here are a few pictures. Wishing you a happy spring.
--C/C/E/B

Playing kitchen with nanny

Borrowing my glasses

Ben wearing mom's coat at the beach, when we forgot his.

At the beach in Gibsons

On a date with mom

This is probably my favourite picture of Ben, from Palm Springs in November 2010.

Checking out the goggles after getting into the felts

Christmas 2010

September 2009

2009-09-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks for dropping by - I don't update this very often anymore. Ben is almost sitting up now, eating solid food, and fall is coming fast. Carolynn starts work again next week. Time flies on, as they say. Here are some photos from September.

babycondin#2

2009-05-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

born in late April. Doing well. Keeping us up. Hope this finds you well.

2008-12-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We'll be in Gibsons ...we hope to get to Calgary sometime early in the New Year.
C/C/E

2008-11-27T22:01:00.000-08:00

Evan's reaction to the latest economic update.

later he cheered up, and started looking for ways to weather the storm.

when all the news is shit, the best strategy is to paint n()k()d.

it's hard to reconcile economic apocalypse with a 2 year-old's sense of fun.

Seriously though, there's been such an incredible shift in ethos lately - it's a psychological vortex out there. I'm glad we have a 2 year-old's perspective on life to remind us of what's important.

2008-11-06T15:52:00.000-08:00

We miss you Marcus.

Nov 15, 2007

It's been a sad week as we say goodbye and "next time" to our good friend Marcus Dressel, who left us on November 7, 2007 following a dignified fight with cancer. Marcus was the kind of guy that didn't just "stop to smell the flowers", as they say; he would pull out his Canon SLR with its paparazzo lens and take a hundred photos of them in macro, photoshop them and put them up online. He had an eye for details that we all pass by, and the calm to stop and enjoy them. He was the kind of person that would call you up just to tell you about something funny he'd seen on TV or in a movie. We'll remember the way that he didn't just tell stories, he narrated them, including the one of his "unique" first experience as a midwife [2008: This video has now been viewed 41,000+ times].

His departure from this world is just such a tremendous loss.

For those of you attending the memorial on Saturday, Carolynn will be collecting cards and photos in a "memory box" to share with his family and daughter Katelyn.

UPDATE: I learned at the service that Marcus had 3 (three!) separate Bachelor's degrees (I thought he had two) - in psychology, geography and education, as well as a diploma in criminology. It has been amazing to see the outpouring of comments about how respected he was as a teacher in New West. We always suspected he was good at his vocation, but the many comments from students about him have given ample support to his sister Barb's point: one of the greatest tragedies of Marcus' passing is the loss of a rare and true mentor to students (here is but one example).

We've had a few inquiries from people who would still like to contribute to the memory box. I'm sure Kristina would still welcome contributions.

It's fitting that Marcus would leave an online presence:

Here is a great slide show of Marcus.
Here are some memories in the guest book on remembering.ca.
Here is the thread about him on Takethepiss.com.
Here is a link to the 1,172 images that Marcus ("keeper") took on the soccer pitch. (He posted 5,532 times on the takethepiss bulletin board, or 2.75 posts a day!, which I guess indicates how passionate he was about soccer and how prominent he was in the local community). Somewhere out there is a BC Lottery scratch n'win with his soccer photo on it (it was a great shot and they called him up and asked to use it), but I can't seem to find it anywhere...
See also the links at right to his blog and Katelyn's web-page.

2008-11-02T21:22:00.000-08:00

halloween 2008

2008-11-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

was really alot of fun.

pretty amazed making pie with Oma...

2008-10-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

soccer in the park

2008-10-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

2008-10-30T17:30:00.001-07:00

2008-10-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

a couple of weeks ago Evan was dancing with his bicycle pump (yes, a bike pump, when he sees it he likes to dance with it)...anyway, he was flying allover the living room and landed forehead-first on this plant pot. He split it in four places--it's cracked all the way down and up the back too, but you can't see it in these shots--with his head. He was okay, but had a nice goose-egg as you can see above. Mom had her concussion diagnosis kit out (she was on google), and I was recalling my concussion skills from babysitting school.

2008-10-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from Evan picking his pumpkin from our garden. In the spring, we planted the seeds, but apparently you have to pollinate them yourself, which we didn't know, so the pumpkin was, well, impotent I guess and didn't grow. We couldn't bring ourselves to see the disappointment on his face, so I bought a pumpkin at the store and snuck it into the garden. He was pretty impressed with himself as you can see...

We're still alive....

2008-10-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

If anyone still reads this thing, I finally got around to putting up some more photos. Mostly from the summer, but that's fitting, because I'm still denying that it's October. Evan has outgrown even his big-boy bed (formerly a crib) now, and sleeps in a queen. Today I measured him and he's grown 3/4" in the last month, though admittedly this is in the margin of error of the two-year-old-butter-knife-measurement method--I can't measure him with spoons anymore. Even so, it's a lot. Yesterday we wintered the vegetable garden and Evan's not running around outside naked anymore, so summer must be over.

I hope this finds you well. Thanks for stopping by.

2008-10-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

From left: Carolynn's aunt Ingrid, Carolynn's Oma (Evan calls her "Other Oma" or "Great Oma), Carolynn, Evan's Grandpa Dennis, and Oma Margret.

2008-10-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Asleep with Papa.

2008-10-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

note to self: someday if I ever get around to it, rustle up the picture of him bathing in the sink when he was a newborn, just to put here.

2008-10-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

Evan's vegetable garden that we put in this year. Evan and I dug for about a month. His shovel's in the background; he brought a lot of labour to the project.

2008-10-10T23:12:00.000-07:00

At the PNE (my and Evan's first), which was, umm, well, umm, festive, but not Stampede. Evan rode on the carousel but was scared of the horses. He was the only one who wanted just to sit on the chair, so we got to skip the line (we rode it 4+ times).

2008-10-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

first time camping (in August near Vernon).

gardening with Oma.

2008-10-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T23:00:00.001-07:00

2008-10-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

camping near Vernon in August.

ooh that's cold.

2008-10-10T22:56:00.001-07:00

reading Green Eggs & Ham with Grandpa.

2008-10-10T22:56:00.000-07:00

with nanny and papa.

2008-10-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

testing out new pajamas.

2008-10-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

At the sand dunes during our trip down the Oregon coast (Evan-free, back in June).

2008-10-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T22:48:00.000-07:00

these were from the summer, after Carolynn had taken him to the Chinese salon for kids. "You want boys cut?" Carolynn: "yes, but just a trim". She proceeded to shear him, tufts of hair and all.

2008-10-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

Condin jamboree. Andrew's legs make an appearance and his girlfriend Brenna, who Evan likes to serenade.

2008-10-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

these are from the summer. our pictures have been a total mess lately, but i've finally started to sort them out and restore backups.

2008-09-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

2008-09-22T00:12:00.000-07:00

This one's for you Deb.
C.

2008-03-04T23:44:00.000-08:00

Happy March, and happy birthday to the 75% of the Canadian population that was born this month. Things have been pretty hectic around here--hence the dark blog--mostly stemming from our recent "move" (in quotes, because moving requires unpacking, and we haven't really done much of that) a couple of weeks ago into our new house. It's exciting to have a yard for Evan and we are starting to feel more settled. Here are a few pics/videos from the last month. I'll try and get some more up soon.

Cute

2008-03-04T22:42:00.000-08:00

We bought Evan a microphone on the weekend (we've been watching Bobby McFerrin videos and he's always asking what the mic is).

We finally have a choreboy

2008-03-04T22:35:00.000-08:00

When she was trying to convince me to have a wee-baby, Carolynn promised me that one day this would come to pass. And now, here we are, and well, [sniff] it feels just as emotional as that first moment that Evan entered this world and opened his eyes. Like suddenly, everything becomes clear, you know?, and you have this sense that, whatever happens, we're going to be alright.

Out for a walk with mom and nanny

2008-03-04T22:28:00.000-08:00

What happened to February? These are from the start of the month.

Budding Photographer

2008-01-12T21:22:00.000-08:00

Evan loves taking pictures now that he's learned to work the camera. Here he is in Vernon with Brenna, his favourite subject.

In Vernon without Mom

2008-01-09T23:04:00.000-08:00

2008-01-09T22:53:00.000-08:00

Evan didn't ride on Uncle Andrew's sleds, but he did wear his hat.

In Vernon with Nanny Papa

2008-01-09T22:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2007

2008-01-09T22:12:00.001-08:00

2008-01-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

Looks like your typical sweet and innocent gingerbread house....Jen, Chris, and Sig hard at work.....almost had to call in Steve to make the roof stay up.
Sig - up to no good...

Gingerbread men? women?

Christmas 2007

2008-01-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

Secret Santa

2008-01-09T21:58:00.001-08:00

Christmas eve at Oma and Grandpa's house. Can you imagine when we used to do this and most of the 22 cousins were less than 10?

2008-01-09T21:51:00.001-08:00

Before the 3rd Rum and Coke

2008-01-09T21:48:00.001-08:00

More Christmas Eve 2007 at the Stevenson House

2008-01-09T21:43:00.001-08:00

Chris and Evan escape outside on Christmas Eve Day while the women are inside getting ready......

2008-01-09T21:37:00.001-08:00

What a day!

2007-12-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

Today will be great for sure. I just woke up to discover that my dream of having a glow-in-the-dark cat has been realized! Red too. How great is that?

Cloned cats that glow.

Way back in October

2007-12-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

I never did get a chance to post pictures of Evan's halloween. He was a kangaroo and it was a lot of fun. He loved the pumpkin lights but showed no interest in the candy.

An attempt at a group photo at the halloween baby party.

Evan getting his "wow that is so amazing" look at the big pumpkin in the picture below.

With best buddy Evan Cropp (a super-cute monkey)

Not to be moralistic,

2007-12-09T23:36:00.001-08:00

but this tragedy back home is a useful reminder that we should all slow down this holiday season.

Trucker charged in McLeod Trail Tragedy (Calgary Herald)

Sprouting

2007-12-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

This is Evan from October. He looks different even today. It's crazy how fast he's growing.

Laughing

2007-12-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

These next ones are from the last week or so.

Driving

2007-12-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

WIth Dolly.

2007-12-03T11:15:00.000-08:00

Genes switched off before being passed on

2007-11-30T21:28:00.000-08:00

This "discovery" isn't as new as it sounds, but it's fascinating and yet another example of how the book on genetics is being rewritten. Remember all the stuff you learned in biology about genetic inheritance? Well it turns out a lot of it was wrong, including the main assumption that we only pass on our genes to our offspring, and nothing else. The interesting thing to watch will be the implications for one Mr. Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection, which in its original form looks increasingly inadequate for explaining stuff like this. Remember LaMarck's competing theory? The one with the giraffes that stretch their necks to reach the leaves and then pass their long necks on to their children? It sounded so stupid right? Well it's turning out he was actually (partially) right after all.

2007-11-15T17:05:00.001-08:00

It's been a sad week as we say goodbye and "next time" to our good friend Marcus Dressel, who left us on November 7 following a dignified fight with cancer. Marcus was the kind of guy that didn't just "stop to smell the flowers", as they say; he would pull out his Canon SLR with its paparazzo lens and take a hundred photos of them in macro, photoshop them and put them up online. He had an eye for details that we all pass by, and the calm to stop and enjoy them. He was the kind of person that would call you up just to tell you about something funny he'd seen on TV or in a movie. We'll remember the way that he didn't just tell stories, he narrated them, including the one of his "unique" first experience as a midwife.

His departure from this world is just such a tremendous loss.

For those of you attending the memorial on Saturday, Carolynn will be collecting cards and photos in a "memory box" to share with his family and daughter Katelyn.

UPDATE: I learned at the service that Marcus had 3 (three!) separate Bachelor's degrees (I thought he had two) - in psychology, geography and education, as well as a diploma in criminology. It has been amazing to see the outpouring of comments about how respected he was as a teacher in New West. We always suspected he was good at his vocation, but the many comments from students about him have given ample support to his sister Barb's point: one of the greatest tragedies of Marcus' passing is the loss of a rare and true mentor to students (here is but one example).

We've had a few inquiries from people who would still like to contribute to the memory box. I'm sure Kristina would still welcome contributions.

Here is a great slide show of Marcus.
Here are some memories in the guest book on remembering.ca.
Here is the thread about him on Takethepiss.com.
Here is a link to the 1,172 images that Marcus ("keeper") took on the soccer pitch. (He posted 5,532 times on the takethepiss bulletin board, or 2.75 posts a day!, which I guess indicates how passionate he was about soccer and how prominent he was in the local community). Somewhere out there is a BC Lottery scratch n'win with his soccer photo on it (it was a great shot and they called him up and asked to use it), but I can't seem to find it anywhere...
See also the links at right to his blog and Katelyn's web-page.

Those crazy Americans,,,

2007-10-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

I guess Supertramp might come after Evan now.

Fishes

2007-10-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

Carolynn took Evan to the aquarium the other day. Apparently he was more interested in the drain than the seal show, and he liked the bench by the belugas, rather than the belugas...

2007-10-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Citrouille

2007-10-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch on the weekend with Evan Cropp. It was lotsofun. They had goats, a preserved conjoined-twin-cow-head (don't ask), and a 3,500 lb. bovine-looking beast, standing on 4 meat-pillars, each of which could have fed me for a month. Plus there were bunnies! Here are a few pics.

Evans Pumpkining

2007-10-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

How do you write

2007-10-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

7,000 pages of fantasy novel and not have a talking horse in the whole thing?

Just wondering.

Greatest Youtube video ever.

2007-10-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

Evans Driving

2007-10-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Congratulations!

2007-10-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

To Cara and Chris, who were married in a gorgeous ceremony outside Victoria on September 22. Our pictures turned out really lousy (see below for typical example), but we had a great time.

Just in case...

2007-10-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

You didn't get enough of Evan dancing in the video below, here's some footage of his first exposure to the greatness that is Supertramp. You've been warned, it's a solid 3 minutes long, which is eons in Youtube time (or any home video clip, for that matter). If you hang on to the end, you can get a sense of the tidy clean state of the house when dad's on duty (at least the baby's well-fed!).

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2007-10-06T22:17:00.001-07:00

"Smiling"

The Dragon Reborn

2007-10-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

Lately Evan has taken to reading. Like his mother, he's deeply embroiled in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (this could be a pen name, as it's unlikely that one human being could be this "prolific"). For those of you who haven't heard about Carolynn's new fetish, the Wheel of Time contains over 12 volumes, each at about 1,000 pages long. Here is Evan experiencing the wonder of Lord of Chaos (Volume 6), in which:

"The Dark One has apparently decreed that the "Lord of Chaos" is Rand al' Thor, and that the Forsaken should let him rule; causing destruction on his own, though he means not to.

The deposed Queen of Andor, Morgase Trakand, goes to Amadicia to seek the aid of the Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light, Pedron Niall, in returning her to her former throne.

In response to the declaration of amnesty for men who can channel by Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, Mazrim Taim, a previous False Dragon who had wrought destruction in the Borderlands, swears allegiance to him. Rand has Mazrim Taim lead and train the newly-established Asha'man at the Black Tower." - taken from Wikipedia (source of all things trustworthy).

I wish I was making this up, but that's actually what the book is about. She's on page 10,765 of Volume 7 now, reading day and night, reveling in the bright of the Dragon's power. You can see how it's influenced our boy! I walked in on Evan lying on our bed reading this book on his own the other day, and ran for the camera.

2007-10-06T09:26:00.001-07:00

Here's the kitty one.

Youtube

2007-10-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Lately Evan and I have been watching Youtube videos together - it's great, you can search pretty much anything and there'll be a video of it. This morning we watched donkeys and belugas (who knew that Saturday morning at 8 am I'd be having so much fun watching donkeys and belugas?!). Anyway, here are a couple of his favourites. There's a kitty one too, but I can't find it. The last one is the best.

Skateboarding Dog

2007-10-06T09:08:00.001-07:00

Extreme Pete the Dog

2007-10-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

george bush funny moments

2007-10-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

Dancing

2007-10-05T08:50:00.001-07:00

Here's a video of Evan with his groove on.

On the complexity of the human body.

2007-09-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty amazing theory, if it's correct.

Well...

2007-09-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

...a new year has begun and it appears that summer is over. I've taken a TAship (History of Anthropological Theory, beginning with Locke, Hobbes and Rousseau--you may have cursed them when you were in school); Carolynn has started work at a Family Practice clinic on Fridays. Evan has started daycare, which is fun for him, but leaving him there is hard. He's talking away, and loves his mommy more than the world. Life has been pretty busy lately, but we managed a weekend hop to Calgary for Steph & Gord's wedding, and things are starting to even out.

With Papa on the new bulldozer

2007-09-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

Waders

2007-09-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is when we got him to wade out into the water in Vernon, with much coaxing. The first two are from when the water reached "a certain level".

Smilin'

2007-09-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from the last little while. The first two are Evan trying to smile. Which he thinks is done with his eyes. It's really cute. I'm thinking I'll have to rename the blog littleboycondin.com. He's less and less a baby every day it seems.

(Blasphemy)

Water Park

2007-09-21T08:38:00.001-07:00

These pics were taken in Paradise (aka the water park). They're from late August when Evan experienced the water park for the first time. It was transformative. He'll never, ever forget it.

2007-09-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Los CoopZaks

2007-09-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Steph and Gord, who were married in a gorgeous ceremony and with much celebratory goodness in Canmore on September 8. Some of our pics didn't focus properly, but you should see the "official" photos. The rest of our pics are here.

summer pics

2007-08-27T22:58:00.001-07:00

Hi all,
We hope this finds you well. We've been having a great summer and we're wondering where it's gone. We haven't been at home much. Here are a few random pics of Evan over the last month, mostly from Vernon and Texada Island. Enjoy the next couple of weeks!

Crack-ed

2007-08-09T22:12:00.002-07:00

Well we've had a busy week. For those of you who haven't heard, Carolynn and I bought a crack-house last week. Literally. The Condin Crack Shack, it's a beautiful home - skylights, vaulted ceilings and all - that has been beaten up by a young girl and her user friends who partied in it for 6+ months; it also functioned as headquarters of their small property acquisition venture.

"Shovel in bedroom", C Condin, 2007

So Carolynn and I saw nothing but opportunity. A steal of a deal at $590,000, no? An easy reno and we'd have our dream home. Much of the demolition already done for us.

A quick quiz. It takes a lot to scare us off a house. Which of the following was the reason we backed out of the deal?:

a) the mice chirping in the insulation in the attic. (Okay, mice are poisonable and trappable [some say cute], but when they have a state-level society in the insulation that's only accessible through the roof, it's a problem).

b) the mould in the living room wall, the family room wall, the closet, bathrooms 1, 2, and 3, the garage, and the sunroom.

c) the hamster food mixed with ecstacy strewn on the closet shelf. This, of course, begs the question about what happened to the hamster(s), and whether the mouse droppings (see above) were really mouse droppings.

d) the used feminine product under the fridge.

e) the carpenter ant wings all over the hallway.

f) the carpenter ants that announced themselves by crawling out of the heating vents.

g) the rays of sunshine visible through the roof (from the inside).

h) the dead cats that the neighbours described being removed from the house.

i) the condom wrappers strewn on the roof [neighbours' stories of morning treasure finds in their backyard redacted].

j) the rusty brown colouring on the walls that was initially assumed to be "just dirt". How wrong we were.

k) the curious amateur wiring running from under the kitchen sink down into the crawlspace.

l) the indentations in the attic insulation that resembled either plant pots or the rumps of now-departed-cats quietly sitting while hunting rodents. The rodents, of course, having outlived the cats and the plants and now feeding off the candies strewn about the insulation.

m) the $120,000-$150,000 repair quote.

n) the back-neighbour's yappy ankle-biter dog.

o) all of the above.

If you're still reading, actually, it was the dog that broke the camel's back. It barked at me at the end of a really long day examining the property. To be honest it was difficult to walk away from. The sad thing is that somebody's going to buy the house, throw down some carpet, a new roof and some paint, and walk away with $100K+. And so, buyer beware, future resident of 12669 18A Avenue, Surrey, BC, V4A 5T6. May Google save you.

Here are some "don't-do-it-justice" pics, if you're interested. Our search continues...

Front door.

"Rusty-brown substance on walls"

Master bedroom with walk-in closet, ensuite and leaky balcony.

Blood

Ice Cream

2007-08-09T22:12:00.001-07:00

Evan last december

2007-08-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

2007-08-07T23:58:00.000-07:00

2007-07-11T20:52:00.001-07:00

PS - do you like any of those paint colours?

2007-07-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Loyalty: (def.) A wife who agrees to wear your new dress shoes around the house for you to stretch them in so you don't get blisters, and also to have her photo taken and placed on the internets in said shoes.

With thanks to everyone for your support (and especially the best partner in the world that one could ever, EVER, ask for, oh instrumental-to-my-very-existence Carolynn), I'm off to Philly and NJ. Unless Carolynn posts, the blog will be dark for a couple of weeks (like this hasn't happened before), but hopefully there'll be lots of news on my return.

Terrorist Doctors

2007-07-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

This makes me extremely nervous. Apparently our publicly-funded health care system makes us extremely vulnerable to terrorist doctors, hiding in the dark corners of our bureaucracy (likely with heavy weaponry).

Evans at sunset.

2007-07-07T11:17:00.001-07:00