Cubs Leader = Me

In the fall, Mitch joined Cubs. And this spring, after a great deal of paperwork delays, so did I - as a Leader. My shirt is bigger, and he's the one that gets to collect the cool activity badges, but aside from that there isn't much difference.

I really am enjoying working with the kids and the other leaders.  Mitch has become more and more independent as we attend more meetings. There are no other kids from his school that have joined, so it was tough to find people he related to quickly.  But he kept at it, and has become friends with a few of the other Cubs.

This past weekend we went camping at Birds Hill with all of the Service Area 9 groups.  There were over 80 cubs and some 300 campers all tolled.  It was a great experience for both of us. Mitch spent the day Saturday going around with the other Cubs and leaders to the various activity stations while I conducted a geocaching activity for the 6 Cub groups.  It was a blast. 

From building Cub cars, selling popcorn, going camping, hiking, launching rockets, singing camp songs, and completing badge work activities, this has been a very fun experience.  I'm looking forward to next fall when we start up again.

Food Symmetry

Presentation of the Kona burger at Original Joe's seems to be saying something about the cook's OCD. For the 2 optional sides, I chose the Caesar salad and mango pasta salad. For the latter, I was unable to find any mango, but there were entire peppercorns to munch on. Not pleasant.
The burger was quite tasty. The pineapple, bacon, and bbq sauce worked well together with the burger patty.
Speaking of which, based on the price of the burger and 2 sides (14.99) I'm quite certain it was not beef, but unicorn, or perhaps mermaid.
As usual, the best part of my lunch was the company. Burger Club is awesome!

An open letter to Burger Club

There are definitely different burger philosophies out there. The typical "Winnipeg burger" incorporates a thin-ish patty of seasoned beef, lettuce, tomato, onion and a thin meat sauce that is seasoned with chili powder and usually cinnamon and nutmeg. All of this is served on a day old kaiser made with an egg dough to give it a crumbly texture and glossy sheen(not the sheen that lives with porn stars).
I propose we visit 2 and no more than 3 of the type of establishment that serves this classic Greek burger.
There is also the other type of burger of the "bistro" variety that generally uses a thicker meat patty. No chili here, but you will still see the requisite lettuce, tomato and onion. In place of the 'one molecule from plastic' processed cheese slice found on most Winnipeg burgers, you will often find a slice or two of cheddar, swiss or mozzarella. Accompaniments available will include seasoned bacon, mushrooms, and sauteed onions.

There is always going to be a burger for everyone. Except vegetarians, I guess. And don't get me started on hippies trying to pass off giant mushroom tops and compressed olive patties as 'burgers'. Not meat=sandwich. End of story. Yeah I'm lookin' at you, Boon Burger.
The important thing to remember: we all love hamburgers. So instead of burger club being a wedge that drives us apart, let it create a bond that holds us united in our support of hamburgers.

Seagate GoFlex

Or as I call it...Seagate NoGoFlex.  I bought a Seagate GoFlex TV streaming media player. Basically it allows me to access media shared on other computers on my network on my TV using a simple menu and a remote control.  So far, I like it.  But it lacked the speed and convenience of a local storage medium.  No hard drive meant that everything had to stream over the network.  This slowed things down for other users, and led to annoying buffering when other users were on Netflix or streaming media sites.  Yes, we're a very connected family.

So I ordered a GoFlex internal drive.  I figured I could load it up with a bunch of shows from my computer, and then watch it locally on the GoFlex TV unit.  But so far, When I attempt to write files to it using my Windows XP desktop, I get constant delayed write failures, even though I have turned off the delayed write setting for the drive.  Yet it works fine in my Windows 7 notebook.  Why? Oh, you don't know either? Boo.

Well, off I go to the internet to see what the various support forums have to say.  Wish me luck.

Netflix.ca = Goodbye Blockbuster

We got the kids (ya right) a Wii for Christmas.  And as much as I enjoy swinging my arms and jumping up and down in my rec room holding a buzzing plastic wand, when I saw the free Netflix channel download on the Wii Shopping channel...well...free was right in my price range. And at 7.99 a month after the 30 day free trial, it's not a tough decision.  I'm sure that somewhere on this planet there exists a cheaper, more convenient and similarly legal entertainment delivery method. But that is probably in the same fairy-tale place as free lunches and daily hugs from [insert name of heart-throb/supermodel].

Canada's version of Netflix lacks the DVD/Blu-Ray home delivery component.  You are only able to stream to a game console (Wii, PS3, Xbox) or your PC. There are set top solutions available from other manufacturers such as Seagate's GoFlex. But as of this writing none work.  There are some network capable Samsung TV's and Blu-Ray players that are announcing a firmware update to allow direct streaming from Netflix.ca without a game console.  And finally, you Apple folk can sign up with a litany of devices (iPhone, iPad, AppleTV).

What you miss by not having access to the DVD/Blu-Ray delivery method is the newer and seemingly more popular titles (read: expensive to license). But to paraphrase from the great Shawn McCarthy "I've never had trouble finding something to watch".  The selection is well categorized and offers selections based on your previously viewed content as well as in response to an optional likes/dislikes survey you fill out when you sign up.  The interface is uncluttered and easy to navigate with the Wii remote. Your selection will begin to play in just a few seconds, even the HD titles.  You can pause or stop playback and resume at any time.  And if you miss anything, rewind and fast forward presents you with screen shots to reduce the guessing as to where to stop.

To give you an idea of the available selection, imagine going in to Blockbuster and only being allowed to select movies from the "middle" of the store.  You are not allowed to look along the walls at the new releases.  Unless you pay extra.  Extra meaning you spend 120.00 on Apple TV and 4 bucks to see a movie, or 99 cents to watch a TV show.

I hope Netflix works hard on growing and rotating their selection. But as it is, the value is definitely there. I recommend it.

"ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!"

Yesterday I joined the ranks of Facebook. There were just too many things I was missing as a result of not having yet drank the Kool-aid.  My concerns were mostly due to the wax and wane of the privacy policies and the lack of security granularity available to the users.

There are a couple of things that stand out to me. The mind boggling "friend suggestion" tool with its digital clairvoyance, and the lack of control over being tagged in photos that others have posted of you.

So you can imagine my joy when within 5 seconds afer signing up, it was suggested that I become friends with a number of people I am in close acquaintance with, and I accept a dozen friend requests that were inexplicably waiting for me already.

Well, I managed to get over that within about 10 minutes.  And as it turned out, that was just long enough for a friend to tag me in a few photos...huzzah!

Well, I welcome Facebook, my new Lord and Master.  I hope to be a dilligent slave to its every need and whim.

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Schtick

Few will argue that one of the most important traits you should nourish in your children is a sense of humor.  I have always tried to encourage this in my kids.  They are now approaching the ages when their sense of humor matures beyond the obvious kid-based fare (toilet sounds, toilet words, etc) to more evolved content.

The other day I was getting the children prepared for bed.  Brooke can be a bit lazy when it comes to picking out pyjamas.  More often than not, her version of PJ's ends up being a piece of clothing (usually the shirt) that she has worn all day, and some pyjama bottoms added.  Sometimes she just takes off her socks and tries to get away with going to bed like that.  On this night, she decides that she will wear old sweat pants with a hole in the leg and a pyjama top.  I tell her that she should not wear those pants outside the house any more, because she would look like a hobo.  I use that word alot when chastising my kids for a dishevelled appearance. ("Did you brush your teeth?" "No." "Y'know hobos don't brush their teeth either, maybe you should be a hobo.", etc)

When I was a kid, I would be called a street urchin under the same circumstance.  I never really knew what a street urchin was, I just knew it was bad.  It didn't have a physical form in my mind.  And because that was my view, I always kinda thought that my kids had the same limited vision of hobos.  Not so.

Brooke's initial response was "I am NOT a hobo. Of course I wont wear these to school."  This is predictable.  Mitch on the other hand, comes storming into the bedroom wearing a wife-beater and underwear proclaiming "I want to be a hobo!, I could be a hobo."

Now frustrated by losing the limelight and being challenged for her attire, storms out of the room huffing, "Then go grow a beard...and....get a harmonica!"
Stomp, stomp, stomp, back to her room. And adding:
"...and a can with FIRE IN IT!"
*Slam*
Then. On the other side of her door. Giggling.

We all had a good laugh over that.  I never really thought that the kids had an image in their head of an actual hobo.  And the timing and delivery of Brooke's retort was just perfect.

In re-reading this, I see that the content is you-had-to-be-there ish.  Too bad you weren't there.