My waking moments

My Hockey Bag

2010-12-02T19:16:00.004-07:00

Friday
9:15- Leave house for SFCRA
9:30- Arrive at SFCRA with hockey bag.
10:00 to 11:15- Play hockey while hockey bag sits in dressing room with other hockey bags
Midnight- Arrive home. Drop hockey bag by the stairs and door of house.
12:01am- Eat snack. Hockey bag in living room.
12:30 am-Shower. Hockey bag in living room.
12:45am-Bed. Hockey bed still in living room.
6:00am- Awoken to fussy baby, wake-up wife, go back to sleep. Hockey bag in living room
8:00am- Awoken by boy who walks into room. Hockey bag in living room.
8:10am- Go downstairs with boy eat frosted flakes together. Hockey bag in living room.
8:30am Saturday- 4:00 Wednesday- Continue on with life. Hockey bag remains in living room.

4:01pm Wednesday- At work working. Wife frustrated, moves hockey bag to kitchen.
4:01:30pm Wednesday- 9:14pm Friday. Continue with life. Hockey bag in kitchen
9:15pm Friday- Leave for SFCRA

rib night

2010-03-26T20:47:00.000-06:00

Something wicked this way comes

2009-06-26T21:26:00.004-06:00

Wella Wella Wella... How are you all? It has been too long. Quick recap.

Food- mini wheats, some mornings I eat cottage cheese with cut up fruit. Why is it that everything tastes better when it is cut up into smaller pieces? Maybe I will try it with the mini wheats.
Wife started making veggie enchilada. It kicks ass. Other than that, nothing much different.

Work- Slowed way down. Start spending money, people! Thankfully didn't have to do anything other than cut and assemble wood. Did some timber work and exterior finishing with Andy and Cristophe (sp?).

Family- Samesies.

Friends- Not really sure. Saw Gord and Janice. Gord's hair is off the charts. Jon Hamm, Dana Hamm at the mall. Have not seen my main squeeze Neil G. though. Tragic, I know.

Moving on.

6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze 3 times.
6:30 Roll out of bed. Eat breakfast, mini wheats.
7:15 Leave for work.
7:33 Arrive at site. Basement developement in Hawks Landing.
7:45 Kevin challenges me to a fight.
7:47 Kevin taps out. I put him into the crucifix and then into an arm bar.
8:00 Start laying out plates. Kevin builds walls, Derek cuts for him. Del builds stairs. Jake looking at another job.
10:00 Coffee. No coffee though. I am not allowed to have actual coffee anymore. Water is still good though. Crackers, banana, granola bars.
10:45 Back to work. Cut and assemble wood.
11:00 Kevin starts beaking off, so I had to beat him into submission.
12:30 Lunch. I ate all of my supper last night, so I took the beans that my dad made for lunch last sunday. I ate them all. Also an apple.
1:30 Back to work. Del decides to join us in the basement.
2:30 I start cutting for Del. Del builds walls. Luckily I was there, because Del made the rookie mistake of mismeasuring stud lengths, and he built the wall 3 inches too tall! What a silly goose! Thankfully I was there to fix his mistake.
1:30-4:00 Del and I make fun of Kevin and Derek. Just for fun.
4:01 Derek threatens to kill one of us to teach the other a lesson, and that it was up to us to decide which was the one to go.
4:02 Del and I go to our trucks to play rock, paper, scissors. We both chose rock. Then we high tailed it outta there before the wrath of Derek "the Cheetah" Downes rained down upon us.
4:25 Arrive home.
5:00 Eat supper. Veggie enchilada! YES! Thanks Hun. (my wife, not Atilla).
6:15 Walk to Blockbuster (TM).
7:30 Feed son snack
7:45 Give son bath
8:00 Put son to bed
9:54 Write this line
10:00 Start watching Fight Club so that I can learn some moves to fend off Derek.
11:46 Shower
12:00 Bed

Well, there it is. I'll see what I can do from here. Don't hold your breath.

Aahhhhumm...

2009-01-28T22:04:00.002-07:00

5:45 Wake up. Mad that I only have 15 minutes until alarm goes off. Turn alarm off.
6:30 Get out of bed. Get dressed, go downstairs. Set no land speed records.
6:35 BM.
6:45 Eat breakfast. Sorry Neil, but I had a bowl of Vanilla miniwheats. I will try to spice things up tomorrow morning. Maybe Vanilla miniwheats with cayenne pepper and garlic powder sprinkled on them.
7:05 Start truck. Fiddle around with I-pod (TM) for a bit. Phone beeps. Low battery. Plug in charger to lighter. No work. Fiddle around with that until it works.
7:25 Leave for work. How time flies when you're having fun.
7:55 Arrive at site. Jake bugs me for how late I am. Derek gives me a copy of Highwaymen II. Wind still blowing.
8:30 Roll out. Cristoph (sp?) and I work on dropped ceiling.
10:00 Realize that something is wrong once it is almost done. Fascia is out of level. Jake: "it was level when I put it on". I don't give two peanuts about then, this is now. You ruined Christmas for me, thanks a ton, chisel chest.
10:10 Coffee. Cristoph (sp?) and Derek go into town to get french vanilla's. Bless their hearts. I eat some grapes, carrots, snaps, and a banana.
10:30 They get back with our coffees. Except that they are not true french vanilla's. Rather, they are coffees with the flavor shots in them! Mac's is lucky I don't sue for punitive damages. Maybe I should sue the guys, but I guess they tried their best and failed 50%. Or succeeded 50%, depending on whether you are an optimist or not. I am not.
11:10 Back to work. Start fixing Jake's mistake. Del is prepping the posts and beam, so every now and then I go over to help him flip it over.
11:45 Scottish Jon calls. He needs us back to do some more reno work, blimey boaby. Del has blank look on his face. Nods, says "I had a lovely Robbie Burns day too. Got totally stocious.
12:00 Del hangs up. We practice caber tossin the posts. Robbie knows we will need that skill tomorra.
12:30 Lunch. PB and N sandwich, untoasted. An apple, a granola bar, and some water. Discuss legalizing pot. Well, not really discuss it, more listen to Derek talk about how ballin that would be.
1:30 Back to work. Finish up fixing our little problem.
2:35 Good as new! Back to where we were at 10:00 this morning! Start standing posts.
4:15 RRRRRRRROOOOOOLLLLLLLL UUUUUUUPPPPPPP!!!!! exclaims Andy.
4:15-4:35 Stand around and talk with Del and Andy while everyone else rolls up.
4:45 Leave for home.
5:10 Arrive in Riverdale to pick up tools for tomorra. Aye. Achh. Load up cab of my truck. Wish I had a tonneau cover.
5:58 Arrive home. Put ladder in backyard so no one will take it from the back of my truck. Hope no one will take it from my backyard.
6:00 Post "Protected by Smith and Wesson" sign.
6:30 Eat supper. BBQ'd porkchops and perogies. Thanks me and Honey bunches of oats.
7:30 Feed son snack.
7:50 Give son bath.
8:12 Put son to bed.
8:30 Strip... some wallpaper.
9:30 Surf the ethernet.
10:47 Write this line.
11:00 Shower, s and s and s.
12:45 Bed.

Have a doss night. Achh.

It's a good thing it's not windy. That would make this perfect day really suck.

2009-01-27T21:17:00.002-07:00

5:30 Get woken up by the wind.
5:45 Get dressed, eat miniwheats.
6:01 Hear alarm going off. Run upstairs to turn it off before wife turns my life off.
6:50 Start truck. Glad to see it still in the parking lot, feared it would blow away.
7:02 Arrive at Chevy dealership so they can fix my door panel. Jerkwads.
7:05 Get in Adam's 1942 Fargo Pickup. Smells like old people.
7:40 Arrive in Morgan's Rise. Windier out there. 100-105 Km/H winds. -3 feels like -18. We stand around talkin bout cars, dreamin bout women, never had a plan, just livin for the minute.
8:45 Start working. Well, some of us anyways. DEL. JAKE. ANDY. Cristoph (sp?) and I work on the barrel vaults. Derek does backing and strapping. Adam cuts for Kev. Kev works on a walkway through the trusses over the pool room so that people have a way to get to the mechanical room in the attic. Andy, Del and Jake "supervise".
10:05 Coffee. All of us drive to Tim's. Adam and I drove with Del. Some guy in front of us kept slamming on his brakes, so Del decided to teach him a lesson. Del pulled right up on his ass, the guy fingered him, and slammed on his brakes HC this time. Del hit his brakes too, coming within inches of turning this guys Mercedes into a SmartCar. I fingered him, gave him the British wave as well as we drove past him. Adam mooned him. Too bad Del has tinted windows.
11:20 Arrive back at site. Work. Del, Andy, and Jake sit in Jake's truck discussing "work stuff". I call bull crap. They just didn't want to freeze their cahones off.
12:30 Lunch. Spaghetti. Snaps, a banana, an apple, grapes, and baby carrots.
1:35 Back to work. Andy rolls out. Del rolls out. Jake talks on his phone. '
2:13 Jake cuts something with the zipper saw.
2:45 Cristoph (sp?) and I start on the dropped ceiling over the front deck so that Andy can get the timbers in. Andy and Del work the timbers like a sculptor works clay. It is like poetry in motion. They are both so fluid and graceful.
3:30 Derek asks "where is Jake?". Good question my young friend. His truck is gone. Jake has been gone for like, and hour. He better be off getting us coffees.
4:45 He isn't. He is already at home. Del lets out a disheartened "Roll up. I guess."
5:05 Adam drops me off at the dealership. Truck looks brand new. Go in and ask for the keys. They say that if I want that 2009 Duramax 4x4 that's jacked to the moon, I will have to pay for it. I said "you guys are going under anyways, and its only a matter of time before GM liquidates its stock, so lets save the hassle and the paper work and give me the keys". They say no. I say "just put the sign in my truck window and call it even". They say no. I say "fine, you jerkwads" and I storm out of there.
5:15 Arrive home.
5:45 Eat supper. Chicken pot pie. Thanks Hon.
8:00 Feed son snack.
8:20 Give son bath.
8:35 Put son to bed.
8:45 Spill water all over my kitchen floor.
8:45-present Swear. Wife cleans it up because I am blinded by fury. Remember 42 posts ago when I cut all of that MDF for my closets, and I told my wife that I was going to build them right away. Well now those pieces are soaked, because they were sitting unassembled in my kitchen instead of assembled in my closet. SON OF A KJSEf iaHfihasiugh IUHH FIUESIUEGB SDfoiweh fiaj vsdfgasoidh gv beeeeeeepppp WATER!
10:00 Write this line.
10:15 Shower.
10:30 Go to bed.

I don't even want to say good night because I am in such a bad mood, but looking at this screen and picturing all of your smiling faces makes the rage melt away. Sunshine and buttercups.

Will cut and assemble wood for food!

2009-01-26T22:26:00.002-07:00

6:00 Alarm goes off. Do the unthinkable. Hit snooze 3 more times.
6:30 Rush around downstairs, pack lunch. Receive text from Del, and I quote "Tims Westhills". NICE!
6:60 Start truck. Scrape windows, face nearly freezes right off. The wind bites and the air burns. And not a warm burn either, but a freezing, nasty burn.
7:32 Arrive at Tims. Andy and Kevin already there. Adam pulled in ahead of me. His 1972 Gremlin looks pretty good in this light.
7:35 Breakfast. Sausage breakfast sandwich and an apple juice. Thank you Mr. Horton.
7:45 Kevin regales us with tales of the Dominican Republic, most of them started with "I was so smashed, but not as smashed as everyone else though...". (Do I need a period after that?). Talk about this and that. Realize that Derek isn't here. Andy calls him, he is at the site. Whoops. Jake was supposed to call him, but apparently Jake had more important things to do.
9:45 Conclude that it looks warmer outside now, so we should head to the site.
10:00 We were wrong. -28 with the windchill. I of course said that it was no problem, and that we should work, because we are men, and we are tough. Response: Guitar Hero! Guitar Hero! Guitar Hero! Guitar Hero! chanted over and over. So we headed to Del's for a rock off.
11:00 Arrive at Del's. ROCK!
12:00 Eat some of my lunch. Grapes, carrots, and a PB and N sandwich.
12:01-4:30 ROCK!
4:30 Call Wife. Tell her I am on my way home, and ask if she could have a nice warm meal ready for me, because I was so exhausted from working all day out in the cold.
5:15 Arrive home. Nice warm meal cooking.
5:30 Eat supper. Baked teriyaki chicken and rice and broccoli. Thanks Snookum Pie.
6:30 Take wife out for a surprise. Drive to YMCA, get gym membership. Nothing says I love you like "hey baby, here's a gym membership".
7:45 Arrive home. Feel in better shape because I now have a gym membership.
7:55 Feed son snack.
8:10 Give son bath.
8:25 Put son to bed.
8:35 Do some dishes.
8:59 Watch some A.D. Only a few episodes though, because I am not in any rush anymore, DEL! (Tears, sobs). Now that your NBF Andy has loaned them to you!
10:00 Surf.
10:48 Write this line.
11:00 Go to bed. That's right, I am not showering because I did not work today. Although, I did break a sweat rocking my face off.
11:30 Shower. Wife says I better, or else find somewhere else to sleep.
11:45 Bed.

Auf Wiedersehen!

P.S. Thanks to all of you who are writing comments. NOT! Only Mysterious Russell, Nacho, and Neil G deserve recognition here.

Another sweet sunday drifts into memory.

2009-01-25T21:44:00.002-07:00

7:00 Son wakes up. Try to ignore him. Shut off the monitor. Put in ear plugs. Nothing seemed to work. Persistent little gaffer.
7:45 Get out of bed. Feed son and self and wife. Cheerios and miniwheats. No O.J. today.
8:00-10:30 Play and get ready for church. Wife will not let me wear my Metallica shirt and light jeans with the knees worn out and my plaid shirt tied around my waist. Whatever. I said that I would rather go naked than to go on denying what I truly am. She said fine.
10:40 Arrive at church. People are staring. Give me a break! It is -20 outside! See Neil G. He sees me. Give him the "hey" nod. He returns it. We had a moment.
12:30 Arrive home. Eat lunch. Corn Chowder Soup! Thanks Babes!
1:00-5:00 ????
5:30 Eat supper. Spaghetti witha the meata saucea. Thanks Snuggle Bunches of Oats.
6:54 Wife feeds son snack while I run bath. Need to speed things up in order to avoid a meltdown.
6:56 Wife baths son as I run around like an idiot looking for all his bedtime stuff.
7:06 Put son to bed. Hardly any screaming, on my part.
7:15-8:10 Surf the interweb.
8:15 Watch some A.D. That GOB cracks me up. Will he ever win?
9:00 Get email from my friend Colin. Told me how to get my little blinky thing back. The one on the computer, sicko's.
9:59 Write this line.
10:05 Do my Core Blaster workout. That's right Del. I will take your taunting no more!
10:30 Shower.
10:45 Receive text from Del. Working in Morgan's rise tomorrow. Well, at least I don't have to see Scottish Jon.
11:00 Go to bed.
2:16 Wake up in a panic. Hopefully Derek woke up from the 2x4 to the face, so that I can work him over tomorrow. Thank you, Core blaster 3000!

XooOXXxxO

S A T U R D A Y, Night!

2009-01-24T22:27:00.003-07:00

10:00 Wake up. Thanks Hon. Eat miniwheats. Drink glass of O.J.
12:00 Go swimming, with the rest of Calgary.
2:30 Arrive home.
2:40 Eat lunch. A&W. Thanks Albert and Walter. And Susan, the drive-through lady.
3:00 Watch Appaloosa.
5:15 Watch Hockey night in Canada.
5:30 Eat supper. Chicken noodle soup. Thanks Hon.
7:00 Feed son snack.
7:15 Give son bath.
8:00 Put son to bed.
8:15-9:30 ROCK!
9:40 Do some dishes.
10:05 Wonder what Neil G. is doing?
10:30 Write this line.
11:00 Shower.
11:15 Read some books. Maybe Religion and Science? Maybe Literature and Dogma? Who knows. I will play it by ear. I will let you know tomorrow.
11:57 Go to Bed.

Tooddles.

Ambient air temp: - suck

2009-01-23T22:18:00.003-07:00

I didn't even set an alarm this morning. Quite possibly the best thing to happen to me since Adam bought his 1999 Pontiac Aztec.

7:30 Son wakes up. I ignore him.
9:00 I wake up. Fam goes downstairs to eat breakfast. MINIWHEATS FOR ALL!! HOORAH! Glass of O.J.
9:30-11:00 Play.
11:00-1:00 Southcentre Mall. BOOOOO! It sucks even on a weekday. I just deleted my little flashy blinker thing that tells me where I am on the page! What did I do? Can someone help me? Will it fix itself? Anyways.
1:09 Lunch. Eggs on toast.
1:30-4:50 Nap. This makes up for having to go to the mall.
5:10 Supper. Pasta Rose with Shrimp. Thanks Schnoozlekins.
5:45-7:45 Play.
7:45 Feed son snack.
8:00 Give son bath.
8:20 Put son to bed.
8:30-9:55 ROCK!
10:29 Write this line.
11:00 Leave for hockey.
11:30 Start skating circles around Jake, crosscheck him. Maybe slash him. Get a high five from big Neil G!
1:30 Arrive home.
1:40 Shower.
1:55 Sleep.

Goodnight. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite.

P.S. Little flashy blinker thing still AWOL.

Fukagawa, Japan it's cold outside.

2009-01-22T23:09:00.002-07:00

Does the internet become more viscous when it drops below -20? Because hoooo doggy is she movin' slow tonight.

6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze 2 times.
6:20 Get out of bed. Can't find clothes. Go downstairs, wave at neighbors, eat miniwheats.
6:45 Go to basement, find clothes, get dressed.
6:55 Look at forecast for the day. Put on more clothes. My thong...sandals won't cut it today.
7:05 Start truck. Start driving. Get out of my parking spot without having to be in 4wd. Thanks guys who were contracted to clean the parking lot. Swell job.
7:33 Arrive at site in Riverdale. Del is already there. Adam is there too in his 1968 VW Westfalia. Del tells me that the new trusses are here and that we have the fix specs.
7:35 Call KFC about my application. They said that I will not get an interview because I am too under qualified, but seeing as how I was already on the phone, could I answer some questions about Adam. He put me down as a reference. Through tears, I told them that he was a good man, can flip a mean chicken burger and makes poutine like a true frenchman. But I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him with the Colonel's secret recipe.
7:40 Realize that it has been a fortnight since I had some of his chicken.
8:00 Finish rolling out. Get to work. Del says "the sooner we get this done, the sooner we get to go home." So I started running up and down the roof, swinging my hammer, shooting nails, cutting wood.
8:45 Del stops yelling at me for all of the damage I caused and extra work I just created.
8:50 Push new trusses onto flat roof. Devise a way to get them across and into place. Starts snowing.
9:20 Get them into place. It sucked. Now we have to figure out where the new header needs to go, and then how to get it in place. 22 foot high vaults are not fun to work on, especially in the snow and wind. It sucked.
10:00 Coffee. Banana, granola bar, PB and N sandwich, snaps. Water.
10:30 Back to work. Hope that the salad I had for supper last night shed a few pounds off me midsection, because I had to cut the trusses while standing on them. Adam weighs less than me, I don't know why he didn't do it. Besides, he doesn't even have a family that would miss him. And he has life insurance. He told me once in a drunken stupor, and some papers were signed, and let's just say that his "safety" is in my best interest.
11:00 Came out unscathed and not on the floor amidst a pile of trusses and organs.
11:10 Put header in. It sucked. Nailed trusses to it, felt better. Adam nailed hangers. Finished moving the chimney hole.
12:30 Lunch. Leftover steak. Thanks Todd. An apple and a granola bar. More water.
1:30 Back to work.
1:35 "FULL SHEET!" Yells Del.
1:35-2:30 Sheet roof. It sucked. It sucked even more for Del, who had a sheet on his back in 40 KM/H winds and had to walk up the snow covered roof. Del's tough though.
2:45 RR RRR ROOO OOO OLL LL U UUU UUU PPP PPP P!! Del yelled though chattering teeth.
3:00 Drive home. Call Southgate Chevrolet and kick some ass verbally. Jokewads took my door apart, and then placed it back together, so now the panel falls off and hangs by the power window wires whenever I close the door.
3:30 Arrive home. ROCK! until...
7:00 Feed son snack.
7:15 Give son bath.
7:30 Put son to bed.
10:00 Watch Grey's Anatomy. I'm serious.
11:44 Write this line.
12:00 Bed.

No work in the morning, because it will be too cold out and I am a pansy. And I know that Jake's crew won't be working anyways.

Nighty night.

Can I get a huh huh! How about a what what!

2009-01-21T21:40:00.002-07:00

8:00 Alarm goes off. No I am not late. We are headed to a reno for Scottish Jon, and apparently he doesn't arrive on site until 9. Hit snooze 2 times.
8:20 Hear my phone beeping. Del text-ed. Went downstairs to pack lunch and eat breakfast.
8:23 Call Del. He asks "did I wake you up?" I say "No, no. Been up for hours working out and meditating." Del then tells me where the job is.
8:55 Start truck. Guys with bobcats finally show up to clean out our parking lot. I thought they should get an earth mover in here because there is about 8 inches of ice everywhere. I am no condominium president, but...
9:03 Arrive at site. Talk with Del and try to decipher what Scottish Jon is saying.
9:06 Look at a wall that is rotten to the core. Form plan of attack.
9:10 Hear the throaty growl of Adam's 1997 Geo Tracker. He comes strutting up with his tool belt flung over his shoulder, hair blowing in the wind.
9:20 Unload Del's truck. Del goes to pick up material from the local Rona. Adam and I start de-constructing. Pull off the siding, then the buffalo board. Then we pulled out the ladder in the buck.
10:15 Del get's back. Cut out what was left of the bottom plate of the wall. Adam tears down the privacy wall. Scottish Jon comes by and says "asd;kjfhasdhh werthwsufh aas;hetha haggis lsdkflskdosijgfoaglksajgl;sfghdgjoi kilt asdlkfsoiajfsf what do you want to do here?" Blank stares. "Weeellll. We think the floor sheething is rotten under the floor a little ways." Del says. "lkaavcnadrgherngagvavkn tartan lksdjaewnwernaiviosgnwe98as'lk Robbie Burns." Blank stares.
10:16 He leaves. We go ahead with making our own decisions and pull up a row of hardwood in one of the units. Rot did indeed go under the hardwood. Cut out the sheething. Sprayed anti- mold stuff. Resheeted the floor. Cut new plates and studs, started rebuilding the wall.
12:30 Lunch. Banana, snaps, apple, granola bar, PB and N sandwich. 2 buffalo flings from Safeway from Adam.
1:00 Scottish Jon show back up for a meeting with some people. Stops to "talk" to us. "cvnsdfgoiiukjwenjwvcioua jowainfa eghaeungvhnoanfewru bagpipes lvoerojweihnavb aew efw cuddy." Blanks stares followed by uneasy laughter.
1:30 Back to work Drywaller comes by and tells Jon something. Jon tells Del what the drywaller wants. Del tells Jon to tell the drywaller to "jog on". "Wits that bawbag gawkin at, blimey bampot. That numpty must be tanned! Ah'm pure scunnurt with that minger. Tube. Ah'm gonna skiddle. Excuse me" I said as I walked away from the conversation.
3:00 Drywaller comes by to work on it. Jon tells him to "jog on" and cut the drywall him self. I pat Jon on the back and say "that was doss." "Aye" said he. "Aye", said I. "Aye". "Aye". "Aye". "Aye". "Aye". "Aye". "Aye"....
4:45 "Aye". "Aye". RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL UUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPP!!!
yells Del.
5:00 Leave site. Go to Safeways. Get groceries.
5:15 Arrive home. BBQ steak.
5:30 Eat steak, perogies, broccoli, and a salad. Thanks Hon, for auld lang syne.
7:00 Go to Futureshop and kick some ass.
7:45 Arrive back home. Wife has son fed, bathed, and in bed.
8:00-10:15 ROCK!
10:56 Write this line
11:07 Shower.
11:21 Go to bed.

Scottish Jon thinks Del is a crabbit old chiel. I don't think that though, Del.
Goodnight everyone. XOxoooxxXoO.

Shout out to my main man, Neil G!

2009-01-20T23:16:00.002-07:00

6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze twice.
6:20 Get out of bed. Go downstairs. Eat vanilla mini wheats. Pack lunch.
7:00 Start truck. See Adam drive by in his 1976 Datsun 620 King Cab.
7:31 Arrive at site. Shoot the breeze. Tag comes by to pick up some hockey tickets. Turns out there are eight tickets, so out of the kindness of his heart, he gives me two.
8:00 Roll out. Start working. Del and I load up one of the dormers onto the boom. Jake drives it to where it needs to be. Del and I put it into place and finish the build-over. All the other guys are doing something in the house, because I could hear saws going and nails being driven.
10:00 Coffee. Yogurt, snaps, a banana, 2 small pieces of pizza, and some water. Derek threatens to choke us all out, and starts off with Jake. Jake chokes him out.
11:00 Back to work. Dormers. Same shize, different pile.
12:30 Lunch. Pasta, thanks to Mama Michelina's secret recipe. A granola bar, and an apple. Some more water, no coffee.
1:30 Lunch over. Jake and Derek face off again. Jake works Derek over. Derek decides to take me on. I think "No problem. This kid weighs 140 pounds soaking wet." So I take off my glasses and my sweaters and...he kicked my ass! What the heck. Good thing I wasn't betting. I think now that Jake and Derek were just doing this to hustle me and make me feel like less of a man. Derek was fast and nimble, like a cat. And I am slow and fat, like a...hippo? Hippo's are supposedly fast aren't they? Well then...a ...fat sloth. If you know of any animals that are slow and fat and can be likened to me, then write me a comment. Anyways, "Cheetah Downes" as he now likes to be called, was pretty pleased with himself for the rest of the day. Can't blame him.
1:50 Del leaves to check out a reno job for Scottish Jon.
1:50-4:30 Adam and I finish off the dormers. The fascia just wouldn't fit though. Which was awesome, because I already felt like a piece of crap ultimate fighter, and now I am sucking at my job. Adam offered a little encouragement by saying things like "even I could cut better than that". Anger goes off the charts. On a scale of 1-13, it was 16.
4:30 "Roll up?", says Andy.
4:31 Hide around corner of garage and wait for Derek to come to the trailer and...WHAM! 2x4 to the face! Couldn't dodge that could ya? Nobody makes a fool of Todd Smith other than Todd Smith himself! NOBODY!
4:45 Start driving home. Call wife and tell her to pack up the kid, I got her a special present for her birthday. That's right honey, 2 hockey tickets! They were hard to get, but for you, nothing is to great a task.
6:00 Adam called wanting a ride down to the game. Picked him and his girlfriend up and tried to emphasize the odds of him having two tickets as well. Crazy!
7:00 Game starts. Buy Adam a beer to get him to keep his mouth shut about the tickets. Tag shows up. What a coincidence honey! All these people that I know are here, sitting between us, on your birthday! Love you!
7:25 Give wife second half of her birthday gift. 6 50/50 tickets! And some nachos for our romantic supper.
9:30 Game ends. Drive Adam and Rachel home. Drive self and family home.
10:00 Put son to bed.
10:00-11:15 Put on business socks.
11:49 Write this line.
12:00 Shower
12:15 Go to bed.

Lullaby, and goodnight.

TGFA (Thank Goodness For Adam)

2009-01-19T22:50:00.003-07:00

6:00 Alarm goes off. Don't hit snooze. Instead, reset alarm to get a few more minutes of sleep.
6:45 Phone rings. It's Adam, making sure that I grabbed all of his sweaters and gloves on Friday. Act like I had been awake for a while.
6:47 Hang up. Swear. I was really looking forward to vanilla mini wheats this morning. Instead, I toasted some bread as I threw lunch into my kit, then slapped on some PB and N.
7:05 Start driving, eat a cold toasted PB and N sandwich off of my dash. For a day that is supposed to reach 15 above, it sure felt like effing freezing degrees outside.
7:40 After speeding and cutting several people off, I arrived at the site. I didn't want Jake to yell at me.
7:40-8:20 Shoot the breeze. Feel the sting of the cool breeze.
8:25 Roll out. As we're talking, Derek says to Jake, "You couldn't choke me out!" (They both had watched UFC the night before). Turns out, Jake can choke Derek out. Basically whenever he wants. Sorry D-Rock, but I told you to start with a finishing move. Go for the throat.
I started the day out working with Andy. There were 2 more dormers that needed to be built, so we built them on the deck.
9:30 Christoph (sp?) joins me in the building of the dormer, while Andy finds something better to do, or someone cooler to hang out with. I couldn't tell.
10:00 Coffee. No coffee though. Yogurt, a banana and some snaps. 6 sips of water.
11:00 Back to work. Still working on the dormers. Jake, Adam, and Del were installing windows. Plumbers show up. So does the roofing delivery truck, and the roofing crew, and a pool guy. Packed house today.
11:30 Derek has his back turned and WHAM! Jake is choking him out. Derek taps out, Jake releases his death grip.
12:30 Lunch. Andy, that saint, goes to get us french vanilla's from Mac's. I think that he was really going just to get himself a Granditto Burrito, but felt bad once he got there as he thought about us dying of thirst back at the site. But selfish or not, he came through in the end, and we all cheered his name when he got back.
1;30 Back to work. Talking with Jake. Jake's back to Derek. Derek jumps on Jake's back and WHAM! Derek is on the floor and Jake is choking him out. Derek taps out, Jake releases his death grip on his throat, and sits on his chest and plays the "don't hit yourself" game with Derek's fists.
1:40 I give Derek some pointers, he threatens Jake again and WHAM! Jake is choking him out. Repeat 6 more times
3:00 Finish the dormers. Derek and Christoph (sp?) are waterproofing windows while Del, Adam, Jake and I strip...windows and install them.
3:40 I go out of my way to get a ladder to use. I turn my back to do something productive, and Del steals it on me.
3:56 Go out of my way to get a different ladder, because I don't want to interrupt Del's work flow. Turn around to do another productive thing and WHAM! Jake is choking Derek out. And Del had stolen my ladder again, this time I think just for schmidts and giggles.
4:30 RRRRRRRROOOOOOOLLLLLLL UUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!
4:33 Jake walking to trailer with cords and a hose when he is jumped from behind by Derek. Suddenly WHAM! Jake is choking him out with the cord.
4:56 Derek regains consciousness. I reprimand him for not taking my advice by whipping him with a hose.
5:30 Arrive home. Change clothes.
5:40 Head out door for plumber Gord and Janice's house.
5:50 Pull into the back of the line on Crowchild at 33rd.
5:50-6:40 Swear.
6:42 Arrive at plumber G and J's.
6:55 Eat supper. Chicken chili. Thanks Janice. I don't know if I can give plumber Gord any credit for anything, though. Maybe some water needed boiling. Oh, he probably got the crock pot out. Thanks plumber Gord.
7:00-9:30 Converse and relate.
10:00 Arrive home.
10:10 Put son to bed. I know right? Totally throwing off my schedule.
10:30 Shower.
10:45 Look through latest issue of Fine Woodworking. Nice centerfold. A beautiful, curly maple table with dovetailed drawers. Hot.
11:34 Write this line.
11:45 Go to bed.

Cheerio, as our friends across the pond would say. Or Au Revoir, as Christoph (sp?) would say.

P.S. Tag showed up sometime during the day, but it wasn't that exciting.
P.P.S Tag, if you are reading this, I meant to say that it was so exciting that I had to leave the encounter out because it would have overshadowed everything else that happened today, and all the guys would be jealous because I couldn't stop talking about how awesome you are So...ya.

Get a little mud on the tires

2009-01-18T22:22:00.004-07:00

Hope everyone out there had a good weekend. I sure did.

8:00 Alarm goes off. Todd, you goose! You don't have to get up until 9:00!
8:45 Son wakes up Go downstairs, eat mini-wheats while he eats cheerios.
10:40 Church.
12:05 Talk with Jon, my finishing carpenter friend. Go out for lunch with him and wives. No, he is not a polygamist.
1:30 Arrive home after son has breakdown in Jeep. Son goes to sleep.
1:45 Talk to Janice and plumber Gord.
1:50 Watch some guy stuck in the snow across the street. He got out with a shovel and ate shoot hardcore. Tell Gord, we laugh really hard. Wife disappointed she missed it.
1:55 Guy finally gets up off road holding his arm.
1:56 Go out to see if he's ok, try to push him free. Turns out he was a pizza delivery guy. Said I would help him for a free pie. He said no, I started to walk back to house, he finally agreed. Man, I drive a hard bargain.
2:15 Tell him to stop spinning his bald tires because his engine was smoking and his exhaust turned blue. There is a reason that this guy was delivering pizza's. Lets just say I wouldn't have him defend me in court. I think his name was Cleetus. Look under his car and see it is basically hi-centered on the snow.
2:20 He says "Hey, did you say you had a truck? Heeeyuck." I said yes. He said "Do you think you could pull me out? Heeeyuck." I said I know I can pull you out, whether you have a bumper when all is said and done... He said "I need to deliver these pizza's or else. Heeeeyuck." I said fine, but I accept no responsibility for anything that happens to your car. He said "heeeeeeeyuck." I took that as a yes.
2:25 After digging out a place to actually hook up to, I tell him that he should put it in drive, do not touch the gas, and once he is out, he had better break when I brake, because my hitch would do a hefty number on his hood. He said "heeyuck."
2:26 Put it in 4 lo. Started moving, and what do I see in my mirror? A rooster tail of snow coming from his front wheels. I thought, "O well, this should be fun." Luckily for him he stopped once he was free. He hit his brakes, but I kept going for a few more feet. Reversed, unhooked, went and parked. He honked and gave a grateful "HEEEEEEYUCK" as he drove away. I just ant to say thanks to all my lazy neighbors who watched this whole thing unfold instead of coming out and helping me push.
2:45 Go to sleep.
5:00 Son wakes up. I wake up. Guess we aren't going to the zoo today.
5:30 Ate some pizza pie. Thanks inbreeding.
7:45 Fed son snack.
8:00 Gave son bath.
8:15 Put son to sleep.
8:30 Watch some Arrested Development.
10:51 Write this line.
11:00 Shower.
11:15 Go to bed, eagerly anticipating a new work week. I get to see Jake tomorrow! And Adam in his 1992 Isuzu Hombre! Woot Woot!

And a Woot Woot to you, too.

What in the wide wide world of sports is goin' on here?

2009-01-17T22:56:00.003-07:00

I have to start out with an apology to all of my faithful fans. I didn't post last night. I didn't before I went to hockey, and I got home at 2:30 in the morning, and I didn't do it then. I have no excuse. I suck.

But here we are anyways. Recap of last two days

Friday
7:45 Son wakes up. I wake up. Get out of bed. Feed son and self.
8:45 Leave for dentist.
9:00-11:50 Try to entertain son at dentist. Get teeth whitened. Think that hygienist had a look of disgust on her face as she cleaned my teeth, but I couldn't tell because she had a mask on.
12:00 Eat lunch. Toasted PB and N. Quite possibly the best thing I have ever tasted.
12:30 Go to our site to get some tools that Del conveniently forgot.
1:36 Arrive in Morgan's Rise. Shoot the breeze. See Derek's new truck and beard. HE is a bear trapped in mans skin, not me. He is almost too good looking now.
Build some dormers on the deck with Andy. Jake drives Adam and Del around on the zoom boom.
3:45 Load one of the dormers onto the boom. Del and I put it onto the pool roof.
4:20 Finish up. Jake takes us back around the house to the trailer. As we rounded the corner we could see the sun setting in the western sky, casting a romantic golden hue on our faces.
4:50 Start driving home.
5:45 Arrive home.
6:00 Supper. Spaghetti. Thanks hon.
7-8:30 Look after son as per usual.
8:32-10:45 ROCK!!!
11:30 Hockey.
1:20 BP's. Talked with Jake.
2:25 Arrive home. Shower.
3:00 Go to sleep

Saturday.

7:45 Son wakes up. Lay in bed hoping he goes back to sleep.
8:15 Wake up. Son still making noise.
8:25 Eat breakfast with son and wife. Cheerios.
11:26 Ikea. Woo Hoo.
12:03 Best Buy. O.K.
12:33 Drive by Lee Valley. 67% of Calgary is in the store.
12:33.5 Drive home.
1:00-2:00 ROCK!
2:00-3:00 Nap
3:12 B.M.
5:45 Supper with Fam. BP's. I had the cheese steak. And a piece of cheese cake. Ice tea too.
8:00 Arrive home.
8:15 Feed son snack.
8:30 Give son bath.
8:50 Put son to bed.
9:00-10:50 ROCK!!!! my face off.
11:17 Write this line.
11:30 Go to bed.

There we have it, sports fans.

thursday

2009-01-15T21:57:00.003-07:00

6:00 Alarm goes off. Think I hit snooze.
7:00 Wake up in a panic. Did not hit snooze, hit perma-snooze. Run downstairs, quickly get ready.
7:20 Start truck. Some lady in a Mercedes gets stuck behind me. Put truck in 4 by and drive over curb onto street.
7:40 Stop at 7-11 to get Adam and Del coffee. Del always said it's ok to come late, as long as you don't come empty handed.
8:00 Arrive at site. Adam's 1985 Ford Ranger is parked in my spot. Shoot the breeze, drink some coffee.
8:15 Start working. Adam is working on direction blocks and strapping. Del and I finish the wall over the door. Tear down, then rebuild scaffolding on the other side. Start working on other wall.
9:00 Notice that Adam is strangely quiet. So I made fun of his mom.
10:00 Coffee. Yogurt, sesame snaps, and an apple. Some water too.
10:30 Back to work. Adam starts working on the sheer walls. Thankfully. I was worried that the house was going to blow over at the slightest breeze.
10:30-12:30 Nothing noteworthy happens.
12:30 Lunch. Leftover shepherds pie. Hardly a lunch though, more like L U. Luckily, I brought some leftover pizza as well. Wonder what my life coach will say about that. O ya, he will say I'm fat, and that I shouldn't eat more than a handful of dried mango slices a day. I also ate two granola bars as well. Drank 1/2 litre of water.
1:30 Back to work. Sunny and beautiful outside the house, raining inside the house. Del and I finish the walls, so we start working our way down the to-do list.
3:05 The skies grow dark and the air chills. The hair on my arms stand on end. Look up. He who must not be named is upon us, and we have no time to take cover. Before I could run away, my gaze is drawn to his. I am trapped. I call out to him, but the voice is not mine, it sounds otherworldly. "Hello (He who must not be named), I love what you have done with the truss system. Worked out great!" Our gaze is broken, and with it his control over my mind, when Del rounds the corner. Valiantly he engages He who must not be named in conversation. Adam carries me to safety. Del reaches out and accepts He who must not be named's offering of carpenters pencils. They leave the house to do battle. I feel the warmth returning to my body, strength soon follows. Back to work.
3:30 After some colorful language is used by Del, He is run off by Del's mighty hammer.
3:31 His vehicle speeds away. The clouds retreat, the sun's warmth returns. The site is at piece again. Except for Del. He is furious. Remember that fix I told you about. We have to do it.
3:45 RRRRRRROOOOOOOLLLLLLL UUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!
4:00 Arrive at Staples business depot followed by Adam and Del.
4:05 Try to print resume's. Can't work copy machine. (Recall that scene in Zoolander where they act like apes and start hitting the computer).
4:10 Staples associate prints them for us.
4:30 Arrive at food court at Chinook. Apply to various restaurants in food court.
4:56 Arrive at food court at Southcentre. Apply to KFC.
5:15 Arrive home. Tell wife I had a good day. Everything is fine.
5:30 Eat supper. Wraps. Thanks Hon.
6:00 Go out to do some running around. Pick out nice black slacks for new job.
7:50 Arrive home
7:59 Give son snack
8:14 Give son bath
8:29 Put son to bed.
9:00-11:00 Don't talk to wife. Her shows are on and she will hit me if I make a noise. Read silently in bed. We'll, my lips were moving a little bit.
11:05 Write this line.
11:15 Shower
11:30 Go to bed.

Good bye MY LOOOOOOVVVVVE!!!!!!

Just remember the Red River Valley

2009-01-14T22:29:00.003-07:00

I remember this one time, when the weather was supposed to be nice, and only a chance of isolated flurries. They were wrong. It snowed all fricking day, and it was colder than -1. I am no meteorologist, but maybe I should be. No stress, no consequence for improper forecasting. Any other forecaster who is inconsistently wrong would either be stoned to death, or have their thumbs cut off by the mob. Moving on.

6:00 Alarm rings. Hit snooze 3 times
6:30 Hop out of bed. Eat bowl of mini wheats. Pack lunch.
7:00 Start truck. Wipe snow off truck. Some lady comes over and asks if I can push her car out of her parking spot.
7:10 I can't. So I get a shovel and call Adam to come dig her out. See, I am a good person. Always helping those in need.
7:15 Adam arrives. Digs her out. I help push the car.
7:40 Arrive at site. Sit in basement. Del arrives shortly thereafter. Shoot the breeze.
8:15 Start work. Snowing like a banchhorse. Work inside. Work on vault walls with Del. Adam does strapping and backing and insulation stops.
9:13 Adam starts with the "your mama" jokes. Kevin isn't here, so someone needs to fill the quota.
10:00 Coffee. "I had your mom out for coffee". Really Adam, was it nice? Ate some mango slices, vanilla sesame snaps, and an apple. Drank some water. "Your mom drank some water".
10:30 Back to work. Frame in California door header, and then build the insulation wall in front of the beam. Built some scaffolding too.
10:45 "your mom would cut me a 2x4"
10:49 "your mom would go get me some nails"
10:58 "your mom is so fat, that when she jump for joy, she get stuck".
11:15 "1973 called, it wants your mom's hair back". Really Adam, will my mom support you when you are unemployed?
11:16 "just got off the phone with your mom. She said she will".
12:30 Lunch. Spaghetti, from Mama ("your mom") Michelina. Also had a bar, and 459 ml of water.
1:30 Back to work. Cut some wood for Del. Cut nothing for Adam.
2:15 Adam went up into the trusses, and I took his ladder away.
2:16 "your mom would get me down from here".
3:00 I tell Del and Adam a funny story about myself that will never be shared here, because it will harm my macho image.
4:30 Roll up says Del calmly
4:45 "Del, do you hear something?" ("your mom will know you left me here"). "No Todd, I hear nothing but the gentle whisper of the wind".
5:15 Arrive home.
5:30 Eat supper. Pizza.
7:00 Give son snack.
7:15 Give son bath.
7:30 Put son to bed.
7:45 Look out window. Thought I saw Adam's 1976 Toyota T-100 slowly driving by. Did he manage to free himself from his wooden prison? Did he actually call my mom?
7:50 Wipe all fears from my mind by watching "In the name of the King". The cover looks so cool, and it has England's sweetheart Jason Statham in it.
9:50 Finish movie. Grieve that I will never get these two hours of my life back. I could have been rocking, or watching paint dry.
10:00 Do dishes.
11:03 Write this line.
11:15 Shower
11:30 Go to sleep

Adam wishes good night to all of your moms. I will not be so rude, and bid you all adieu.

Pressure: 102.72 kPa

2009-01-13T22:14:00.002-07:00

Very nice day today. I didn't even wear a toque or my vest. Supposed to be isolated flurries tomorrow, though. High of 1°C.

6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze 2 times.
6:23 Pull self out of bed. Go downstairs, eat Vanilla mini wheats. Pack lunch.
7:00 Start truck. 7°C, wind howling. Leave for work.
7:13 Some lady decides that she needs to be in my lane "RIGHT NOW". I am no physicist, but I am pretty sure that two vehicles cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
7:13.5 Swerve into oncoming traffic, slam on brakes, pull in behind her.
7:14-7:20 Lay on horn.
7:21 Stop at stoplight behind her. Consider getting out. Decide against it. I don't want to be seen as one of those psychos you see on Fox's "Most outrages things caught on tape 7".
7:22 Move all of the contents of my lunch kit off of my dash and back into my lunch kit.
7:35 Arrive at site. Adam already there. I actually forget that he exists in the morning until I see his beautiful 1983 Sonoma.
7:40 Look down street, see school bus stuck in snow. Decide to be a good person for once and go help him. Tell Adam to get shovels.
7:42 Start digging out the wheels. Well, I watched. Adam did a great job. Actually got the guy moving. Kids weren't to happy with us though. And by us I mean Adam.
8:00 Roll out. Continue sheathing. Finish below the hidden gutter, then moved onto the back side.
8:15 Del arrives. Regales us with his tales of yesterday, when the great white truck was wounded and Del had to guide it unassisted by power through the mean streets of Calgary to his mechanic. Adam and I were riveted.
10:00 Coffee. An apple, 3 pieces of mango, and a bar. Few sips of water.
10:30 Back to work. Still sheathing. Del is working on the walls that separate the vault from the rest of the attic.
11:00 Wind picks up. Glad that it is Adam on the roof with a sheet in his arms and not me. Potential to end up in Okotoks if you catch the right wind.
12:30 Lunch. Shepherds Pie, mango, some water.
1:30 Back to work. Phone rings, it's my life coach. He tells me that I am fat, and need to work out more, and that his rate is $100 per motivational insult, and that I am seriously in arrears.
1:32 Ask Del for a significant raise. He says he will think about it.
1:35 Consider canning Del as my life coach. Maybe find somebody who can make me feel even worse about myself for half the price.
1:36 Realize that I can't do that to Del. After all the insults he has thrown at me? He really has invested himself into my health and well-being. Name me one boss who would weigh your meal portions and then make fun of you for eating so much. Thanks Del. I feel better about you being my life coach again. Maybe I could just wash your truck and pick up your dry cleaning to help offset my mounting debt.
2:05 "He who must not be named" calls back with a potential "fix". It involves adding another ply to the girders, and changing the bearing point!. Luckily, that will take us a really long time to do, and it will suck so bad that we will never want to frame again, and we would all rather go to work at a K.F.C in the food court at the mall than fix it that way.
3:30 Del leaves to pick up his truck.
4:30 I get to yell RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!! at Adam.
4:45 Leave for home.
5:05 Arrive at home.
5:30 Supper. BBQ pork chops and pierogi, my fav. Thanks Hon.
7:00 Feed son snack. Lucky duffer got some leftover pie that was hidden from me last night.
7:20 Give son bath.
7:45 Put son to bed.
7:56-10:05 ROCK!
10:50 Write this line. Yes it has taken me 45 minutes to write this.
11:00 Shower.
11:15 Trim beard. It is getting out of control. It is like I am a bear trapped in a mans skin.
11:30 Go to bed.

P.S. What do you mean to much information? I really have to hold back all the exciting stuff that happens to me in one day. The internet doesn't have enough room in its warehouse to store all of the goings on of my life.

Pressure: 101.43 kPa

2009-01-12T22:14:00.003-07:00

Just sitting here in my boxers as I pour my heart into this. The last time I tried this, the old lady sitting next to me in the library in Abbotsford was disgusted, and the guy sitting on the other side of me wasn't disgusted enough. That's a whole nother story though.

6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze 3 times.
6:30 Pull ace out of bed. Go down 14 stairs. Turn right, turn right again. Head down hall to kitchen, 12 steps. Turn left, 6 steps to Lazy Susan. Open Lazy Susan. Get out Vanilla Mini Wheats. Bowl from upper cabinet, spoon from drawer. 5 steps left, get milk from fridge. Pour milk into bowl, then put milk back into fridge. Eat. One spoonful after another. 56 bites. Read nothing, finished "Appaloosa" night previous.
7:00 Go to truck. Turn truck on. Scrape windows. Start driving.
7:34 Arrive at site. Adam is already there showing off his new truck. Mr. Fancy Pants. Oh well, at least he wasn't in my truck this morning.
8:15 Roll out. Time to sheet. Adam makes snide comment about how all the plywood was already up on the floor. I made him drop and give me twenty push ups, without gloves, in a snowbank. Not so funny now, is it. Del had to talk to "He who must not be named", the lumber and truss salesman, so we started sheeting without him. Once Del got off the phone, he started doing hangers. His choice.
10:00 Coffee. 3 pieces of dried mango, an apple, a granola bar, some water, and an artisan.
10:30 Back to work. Finished off the west side of the roof and went over to the east side. Can't start on the north or south faces yet because "He who must not be named" made a little error that potentially translates into a butt-load of work. Work is work, I guess.
11:00 I hear the hanger nailer. Look over the edge to see if Del is actually working or not. Thought he might just be sitting on a sawhorse firing nails into a 2x4. Saw hangers in place. Dodged it that time. He was nearly on the hook for twenty cartwheels up the riverbank.
12:30 Lunch. 2 PB and N sandwiches, 5 mango pieces, an apple, more water.
1:30 Back to work. Finish off east side. Got Adam to start sheeting the south face. Figured it was o.k seeing as how it is a 6-12 and the eave is only 2 ft off the floor. He will hardly hurt himself if he falls. Unless he falls through the trusses, which I hadn't thought of til now. (note, he made it unscathed).
2:15 Needed to switch out a hanger that was under a truss, on top of a wall. I started pulling nails with Del, and broke the head off of the last one. I looked him in the eyes and saw the disappointment welling up, and he said that I ruined his Christmas '09. Hangers mean a lot to Del.
3:30 Right my wrongs, fix the hanger, save Christmas.
4:30 RRRRRRRRRRRRROROOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL UUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4:45 Turn truck on. Talk with Del for a few moments, laugh, cry, go our separate ways. Adam's already gone. There is no stopping him in his 1992 Mazda B2000 now!
5:15 Arrive home. Shut off truck. Walk to door. Unlock door.
6:30 Eat supper. Shepherds Pie. Thanks Honey. Dessert, Vanilla cream pie! I ate it all, save one small slice, which is for lunch tomorrow.
7:00 Feed son snack.
7:15 Give son bath.
7:45 Put son to bed.
8:00 Rock face off.
9:00 Do some dishes. Note, some.
9:30 Shower.
9:55 Get call from Del saying he will be late in the morning. Something about him blowing a belt and losing power steering and brakes.
9:55-1:30 Chat with Del. I am laying on my stomach on the floor of my room with my feet up in the air, kicking them slowly. Twirling the cord of the phone in my fingers as we talk.
1:30 "No you hang up!". "No you hang up!". "No you hang up!". "No you hang up!". "No you hang up!". "No you hang up!". "No you hang up!". "No you hang up!". "No you hang up!". "No you hang up!". "OK, by" I finally said.
1:35 Drift into dreamland.

Nighty night

Well x 2

2009-01-11T22:28:00.003-07:00

Well, here we are again, again. It is sunday night, and my fingers are sore and my face is melted off because of all the rock.

7:30 Son wakes up. We lay in bed, pretending to sleep, hoping that he will fall back asleep.
7:32 Fall back asleep.
9:00 Hope son fell back asleep. Otherwise, he had a boring 1.5 hours.
9:05 Breakfast. Half a bowl of vanilla mini wheats. That's right Del, only half a bowl.
10:40 Go to church. See Jake.
12:30 Church ends. Jake gives me a present. Go out for lunch with friends, the most notable of them being my finishing carpenter friend, Jon. We discussed mahogany wood. It was envigorating. I had beef yakikoba, or yokikaba. Whatever.
1:50 Shopped for groceries.
4:00 Some friends came over.
5:46 Supper. Chicken fajita wraps. Thanks hon!
7:00 Said friends left.
7:16 Son fell and smacked face on toy Jake gave me.
7:17 Toy OK.
7:19 Yakishnooba reacting with the chicken
7:19.0026894 B.M.
7:40 Feed son snack while watching a bit of "Heartland". Grade A programing on the CBC.
7:50 Give son bath
8:00 Put son to bed.
8:00.018 ROCK!
8:00.018-10:30 ROCK!
10:31 Call Andy and get him programming "Christian Music Hero". Might as well capitalize on it now while we can. Carpentry work is running short, you know.
10:44 Write this line.
10:46 Phone rings. It's Andy. He has the preliminary copy of the game already programmed. Anyone know of a good Christian video game maker? Rockstar Games already said no.
11:00 Eat dried mangoes. 3 pieces
11:10 Go to bed knowing that Andy's name is on the game. Sleep soundly knowing that when DC Talk, The Newsboys, and Michael W. Smith come to sue, Andy will take the heat.

Sweet dreams
xoxooXXoOxo

Well...

2009-01-10T21:59:00.002-07:00

Well, here we are again. At the weekend.

8:30 Son wakes up. Wife gets up with him, lets me sleep in.
10:45 Son has nap, wife has nap. I get up, eat vanilla mini wheats.
12:56 Lunch. Homemade corn chowder. Thanks Hon.
1:16 Adam comes by to show off his fancy schmancy new truck. Looks good...enough for him to drive me to work every day for the rest of my life.
3:30 Go for a sled ride. Well, kind of. I sat in the sled, but my son couldn't pull me. So I hooked up to my truck and got him to rip around the parking lot.
5:26 Supper. Leftovers. Thanks again, Hon.
7:00 Give son snack.
7:18 Give son bath.
7:45 Put son to bed
7:47-10:00 Rock my face off!
10:06 Write this line.
10:20 Watch movie about Deadwood (thanks XBC)
11:26-2:33 Rock my face off!
5:00 Wake up on couch, guitar still in hands.
5:05 Go to bed.

Sweet dreams!

Hallelujah!!!!!!

2009-01-09T21:13:00.002-07:00

If you don't think that this is the best day ever, I will fight you.

6:00 Alarm rings. Hit snooze 4 times.
6:40 Force self out of bed. 4.6 hours of sleep doesn't feel like enough. Eat a bowl of mini wheats.
7:10 Start truck. Go to Mac's, buy O.J. and a Red Bull. Pound both at once.
7:12 FEEEEEELLLLL SSSOSOSOOOOO AAAAAAWWWEEESOME!!!!!!! THAT'S A KICK TO THE FACE THAT I CAN USE EVERY MORNING!
7:40 Arrive at site. Buzz already worn off. Del and Adam already there. Get out of truck and stumble into the basement.
8:30 Roll out. Del and I get to work on the last hip and the rest of the fascia. Adam is on the other side of the house shoveling. Then he continued with rafter blocks and continuing the hips to the peak of the roof. Drop pencil off scaffolding into a snow bank. Get Adam to get me two new ones. Del laughed.
10:00 Coffee. Banana, dried mango, water.
10:30 Back to work. More fascia and hidden eaves trough. Adam does a little sheeting. I put my pencil down in front of the fascia and pounded the fascia out, only to knock my brand new pencil off the roof and into a snow bank. Del laughed and laughed. I don't know why he takes such pleasure in my pain.
11:15 Adam's phone rings. The girl who was interested in his car called and said that she had booked it in for an inspection at 1:00 today. WHAT! I said "Adam, leave right now and spit shine your car until it glistens like my teeth. Then, leave a Big Mac coupon on the passenger seat and a case of beer in the trunk. That will guarantee your car passing inspection." Del agreed. So off Adam went, jumping and clicking his heels as he left.
12:30 Lunch. Leftover Pasta Rose, some more dried mango, a great McIntosh apple, and some more water. Del had lasagna.
1:30 Back to work. Finish off the fascia, then realize that Adam isn't here to pack sheets for us, and that we would have to do it ourselves. Curses!
3:30 Start packing sheets. Adam had better sell his car so that he can buy us lunch on monday for all his work that we were doing.
4:30 Roll up. We were tired from all the manual labour.
5:15 Arrive at home. Text Adam. Wait in eager anticipation for his response......SSSSSSSSOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDD! Wooo hoooo! Party! Bodacious! Radical! Gnarly! Stupendous! Dreams really do come true! Never again will I have to see Adams face before 7:30 In the morning! I am going to buy my wife a fur coat with all the gas money I will save from cutting out that extra twenty minutes of driving per day! And, I can call Adam anytime now, and I mean anytime, and he will be able to pick me up! Excuse me while I wipe this tear of joy from my eye (sniffle).
5:45 Supper. Baked chicken and rice. A salad, too.
7:00 Give son 2 snacks (it is a celebration)
7:20 Give him 2 baths (why not)
7:40 Brush his teeth (I figured it was about time)
8:00 Put son to bed (then get him up, only to put him back down again 2 minutes later).
9:55 Write this line
10:00 Rock my face off to Guitar Hero.
10:45 Leave for hockey.
11:30 Play hockey.
1:00 Get home, shower
1:30 Check blog for comments.
1:32 Cry self to sleep, for lack of comments.

It's really late.

2009-01-09T00:38:00.002-07:00

6:00 Alarm goes off
6:15 Get out of bed
6:30 Eat Vanilla mini wheats. Drink juice. Read book.
7:00 Leave for work. Only -11. Slight breeze.
7:30 Arrive at site. Complain about weather. Head to basement.
8:15 Get to work. Fascia, hips and rafter blocks.
10:00 Coffee. Brian and Rick show up. Discuss some stuff, shoot the breeze. I eat spinach dip, still delicious. Drink some water, eat banana and teddy grahams.
10:30 Back to work. The wind has picked up and it feels like I am standing on the scaffolding in nothing but my nudyness. Can't feel my fingers, toes, and other stuff. Normally I don't complain, but I was off the charts. I even talked Adam out of working.
12:00 rrr rrr rr rr rrr oooo o o oo oo lll lll llll uuuu uuu uuu ppp ppp ppp! (That's Del stuttering from being so cold).
12:30 Arrive at McDonald's. No Timmy's close by. Drink coffee. Redeem free Big Mac coupon. Adam bought a sandwich of equal or greater value.
1:30 Arrive home.
5:30 Eat supper. Pork roast with perogies, chedder filled, and brocolli and cheese. Thanks Hon. Water to drink. Thanks Brita.
7:30 Go to thing for Church. Jake's there. Hardly recognize each other. We both clean up well. Who am I kidding. Jake looks good in any situation. I'm the one who looks homeless. Find out that Jake and the other crew worked until 4:00 ou tin Morgan's Rise. It is way windier and way snowier out there.
7:31-present Feel inferior to Jake and his crew for their manliness and work ethic. Decide that to combat this, I will work regardless of the conditions. I will sacrifice Adam's fingers to frostbite and his body to hypothermia for the sake of the cause.
10:30 Arrive home. Finally stopped snowing.
12:59 Write this line (I know right).
1:15 Shower
1:30 Sleep.

Sorry, bed earlier tomorrow, way more funny next time.

3 missed nails are as good as 1 solid one, right?

2009-01-07T21:18:00.003-07:00

Giving a shout out to all my fans in Jaerkmahnistan. This one's for you.

6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze only once.
6:15 Get out of bed, feeling chipper and bright eyed. Look for my pants, wonder why I don't put them in a easy place to find.
6:25 Go downstairs. Eat breakfast, vanilla frosted mini wheats. Read a few chapters of Appaloosa. Pack lunch.
6:50 Start truck. Struck by the fact that a day that was supposed to be +7 and sunny, was shaping up to feel a lot like -12 and snowy. Thanks, Dunphy.
7:26 Arrive at site. First one there.
7:31 Del arrives. We complain about the weather, and head straight for the basement.
7:46 Adam arrives. I am not complaining, but see what happens when I don't pick him up. He loses control of his life, and can't tell time. Just sayin'.
7:46-10:47. Converse in the basement. Talk about politics and religion, the latest breaking news and sports. Someone should get a camera there and tape us. They would have an award winning talk show on their hands. It would be like The View, just slightly more manly. And good.
10:48 Realize that time has slipped us by, and that Jake would be pissed if he ever found out that we wasted all morning talking, not working, yet still billing him for the hours. Dodged that one, though.
10:50 Roll out. Keep sheeting walls. Stand the last of the trusses. Once the trusses were stood, we were able to get going on the fascia and the hidden eaves trough.
11:16 Del's phone rings. It is deep in one of his pockets under his many layers, so he misses the call. People from the street thought he was just doing a sexy dance.
11:17 Phone rings. It's Jake. Wondering if Del's phone was dead, or in his truck. I assured him that Del did everything in his power to answer it.
11:26 Jake asks me the question that he was going to ask Del. I answer it.
11:30 Bid farewell to Jake.
12:30 Lunch. Leftover pizza. An apple, some teddy grahams, a banana, a no name granola bar that wasn't all that good, and some water.
1:30 Back to work. Del finishes off 70 lineal feet of fascia and hidden eaves trough. I Start working on the hips.
2:26 Adam's phone rings. It's Mitch. He's pulling out of the deal. To bad buddy, Adam is keeping those goats, and I get the coupon.
2:30-4:30 Work work. Work work work.
4:30 "rrroooroooooolllllll uuuuuuuuuuppppp" Del whispered. He inhaled a snowflake just before he "yelled".
4:45 Start driving home.
5:15 Arrive home, to a delicious spinach and artichoke dip!
5:30 Eat supper. Pasta Rose. Thanks Snookums. Also, raspberry pizazz juice.
7:06 Feed son snack.
7:23 Give son bath.
8:00 Put son to bed
8:45 Check weather forecast. -23 with windchill and 5-10 cm of snow. Awesome.
9:53 Write this line.
10:00 eat more spinach dip.
10:15 Shower
10:30 Go to bed.

P.S. Anyone who wants to buy a Skyline, call Todd at 403-555-5785.
P.P.S. If I sell your car Adam, you owe me 30%.
P.P.P.S. Don't be mad at me, we are in a recession. A man's gotta make money where he can. Besides, I am giving you a deal, normally I charge 63% when I sell cars. So change your tone, mister.

COME ON!

2009-01-06T21:38:00.005-07:00

Today started off like any other...

6:15 Alarm clock ringing. Hit snooze button, 3 more times.
6:45 Roll out of bed, no Adam on the phone. Very nice.
6:48 Find pants, go downstairs. Pack lunch, fill water bottle. Make, then eat a PB and N sandwich.
7:10 Go to Mac's, get O.J. and a banana. No Bronco, though.
7:15 On the road again.
7:40 Arrive at site. Del already there. Converse in basement about life, the universe, and everything.
8:30 Roll out and stand some trusses. All of the main trusses were stood. All that was left were the jacks in the corners and at either end of the cottage roof. Ask Del if I could leave at nine for a bit.
9:00 Leave for FutureShop. Meet wife there. Drop off Jeep so command start could be installed.
10:15 Go to get son's shots.
11:30 Drop wife off at home with cranky kid.
11:40 Pick up 3 large french vanillas from Tims.
11:53 Arrive at site. Drink coffees. Get out of truck, get back to work. Del and Adam finished off the jacks, and now were sheeting the walls and nailing the girders together.
12:30 Lunch. Budget Gourmet Mac and Cheese. Gratsi Mama ( sorry, my Italiano needs some brushing upo). Also, a granola bar that my son left in my truck, an apple, a nature valley bar. Water.
1:30 Back to work. Pack sheets for Del. Cut sheets for Del. Tell Adam what to do. Laugh to myself as I remember the time that Adam was shoveling the floor and had a big pile. He then took a run at it, and the pile didn't move, but the end of the shovel caught him in the stomach and he went ass over teakettle and basically kicked himself in the back of the head whilst in midair.
1:45 Bring the memory up with Del.
1:46 Point our fingers, throw our heads back, and laugh at Adam until our sides are so sore we can barely stand, and Adam's self esteem is so low that tears are welling up in his eyes.
2:00 Regain control. Side still split.
2:17 Adam's phone rings. It is not that guy who is supposed to buy his car. He was supposed to have called at noon.
3:00 Install girder truss with Adam.
3:30 Patience wears thin with "Mitch", or "guy who had better buy Adam's car or else" as I like to call him. So I call him.
3:31 Put on my fake "greasy car salesman" mustache and turn on the charm.
3:57 Hang up. Tell Adam that I negotiated a deal. Full asking price, plus three goats and a free Big Mac coupon (valid only with the purchase of a sandwich of equal or greater value). Mitch drives a hard bargain.
4:30 RRRRROROOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL UUUUUUUUPPPPPP!!!!!!!
4:45 Drive home.
5:30 Eat supper. Italian Beef Lasagna. Thanks Hon. Plus a glass of milk. 2%.
6:30 Drive to FutureShop to pick up Jeep.
6:50 Flip out on dweeber in the back. (anything in quotations to be read with nerdy voice). "Actually, this Jeep needs a converter kit that will allow it to blah blah blah 70 dollars more blah blah blah have to bring it back in so that we can install blah blah blah special order.) Oh really, Steve. Well, you have known about this for two months now, and we discussed this very thing when I bought this, and you told me I didn't need a converter. (Steve) "Actually, we didn't know until we saw the vehicle that we needed it" It's not a Maserati, Steve. Don't act like you have never worked on a Grand Cherokee before. (Steve) "Actually, you are going to have to talk to the sales guys about this, I am just an installer. They don't pay me $9.50 an hour to deal with the customers, I just work on the cars. Wires and stereos are my only friends".
7:06 Find out that the sales guy I bought from "just left for the evening." How convenient.
7:08 Wonder why I ever buy anything at Future Shop. O well. Drive home.
8:00 Give son snack.
8:15 Give son bath.
9:30 Realize that Kevin is on holidays in the Bahamas. That's what has been different around the job site.
10:29 Write this line
10:45 Shower s and s
11:00 Go to bed.

Good night moon. Good night sow jumping over the moon. Good night all readers, big and small.

Season 2 begins now!

2009-01-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year all! Hope that you had joy filled holidays.

Quick recap of mytrgfm,ij644dxxetreweweq S0rry, my son decided to help me blog. Recap of my holidays...
Dec 26-Jan 2 Do nothing that had anything to do with carpentry.
Jan 3 Build linen closets shelves and install them.
Jan 4 See my finishing carpenter friend Jon.

Now, for what you all came here for!

6:15 Alarm goes off. This is the earliest I have been up in weeks. I had forgotten that this ungodly hour even existed. O well, houses don't frame themselves you know.
6:30 Receive phone call from Adam. His mom is in Mexico, so he has a vehicle for a week! "JOOOOOYYY" rings out from the heavens! Could this be? Can dreams really come true? I don't have to pick Adam up for a whole week? "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" (to be read with a high pitched, angelic tone)
6:45 Find myself skipping around downstairs. PB and Nutella has never tasted so good. Colors have never been brighter. Smells, sweeter. My abs, more radiant.
7:00 Turn on truck. Remember that my belt is in the basement.
7:02 Get belt
7:05 Get in truck. Realize that I don't have any gloves.
7:06 Search house for gloves
7:12 Realize they are in wife's Jeep.
7:13 Sneak out to Jeep, get gloves.
7:15 Sneak back into house, leave keys exactly where I found them.
7:45 Arrive at site. Only -2 today! Man I love the exclamation mark!
8:00 Start shoveling snow with Adam.
8:07 Del finally shows up. Something about traffic and blah blah blah. He doesn't seem to care that Adam and I had been busting our humps all morning to pick up his slack.
9:00 Del is tired of scraping snow and ice off of the roof joists, so we sheet the roof.
10:00 Coffee. Actually, I had tea. Green. With honey. Also, some teddy grams (I know that isn't how you spell it, I am just to lazy to go down to the pantry and spell check), an apple, and some buffalo wings from Safeway.
10:30 Back to work. Work on the parapet walls on the roof. Del hurt himself in a very funny way. So funny that I can't even bring myself to type it out, because tears of joy and hilarity are blindinf mu,
11:16 Adam's phone rings. It is not Jake. Instead, it is some guy who wants to buy his car! Today! Could this day get any better. I think not.
12:30 Lunch. Mozzarella Lasagna. Thanks Mama Michelina. Also, a nature valley bar, and something else that I can't remember right now. 593 ml of water, too.
1:30 Back to work. Finish the parapet walls. Start moving trusses into the house. Stand some, move more into the house.
2:49 Adam's phone rings. It is a different guy wanting to buy his car!
2:50 Get Del to pinch me to make sure that I am still on earth and not in a state of Nirvana. Turns out, Del had set his I-Pod (TM) to the alternative rock play-list, and it was indeed Nirvana.
4:30 RRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL UUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4:45 Lock trailer up
5:07 Arrive home. That's right, I went straight home. Not via Adams house.
5:30 Eat supper. Hawaiian pizza. Thanks guy who drove it to my house from Pizza 73. Drank some Mango punch (now with 13% real fruit juice! [not endorsed by the health commission of the state of California]).
7:00 Feed son snack
7:30 Give son bath
7:45 Nearly puke as poo is cleaned out of the tub.
7:47 Try to teach son difference between big white tub with water in it, and the smaller white bowl with water in it.
7:48 Blank stare.
8:00 Put son to bed.
11:12 Write this line. I know, its late. Sorry, MOTHER!
11:30 Shower
11:45 Be in bed.

(the following to be read with the mental image of me in my best suit, blurred, sitting in front of a bookcase that is in perfect focus.)
Boy it's good to be back. For weeks I have had this longing in my heart, as I am sure all of you had. A longing that can only be quenched by me posting and you knowing what I am doing at every waking moment of my day. Fears be relieved, I will be back daily. And hopefully you will to.

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

Things are a little slow around the Smith household these days.

9:33 Wake up. Go downstairs to start making breakfast.
10:23 Eat breakfast. Eggnog french toast, bacon, juice. No bacon juice though.
11:00 Open gifts. Very few carpentry related.
12:00 Family comes over. Get new work gloves, and a new hat for work. Some other stuff, not carpentry related.
2:00 Go for walk.
3:00-10:52 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
10:53 Write this line.
11:00 Go to bed.

Happy holidays. Hopefully things will pick up in the new year.

Tho' I could never know why

2008-12-24T16:57:00.001-07:00

Christmas Eve Day. How wonderful. What better way to spend it that working!

6:00 Wake up. Hit snooze.
6:23 Get out of bed. Eat vector, fill lunch kit with snacks for coffee.
7:00 Leave for Adam's
7:05 Arrive at Adam's.
7:30 Arrive at site, with coffee. Thanks Adam.
7:45 Head to basement. No propane = no heat. Huddle together for warmth.
8:36 Get to work. Continue standing trusses.
10:00 Coffee. Water, banana, apple, snaps, chocolate thing.
10:30 Back to work. Stand more trusses.
12:30 RRRRRRROROOOOOOOLLLLLL UUUUUUUUUUPPPPUPPPPPPPPP!
1:00 Arrive at mechanic, pay for truck, give Adam keys. Adam drives truck to my house. I drive him home. I know, why the nice-ities? Well it is Christmas Eve after all, and as I was driving home, I heard a song that said "Christmas is about love". Who am I to argue with that?
3:30 Arrive home after some running around.
4:51 Write this line (I know right?)
5:30 Go to family party.
6:00-? PARTY!
? Put son to bed
? Shower
? Go to bed

Merry Christmas All!!!!!!

Filled to the brim with girlish glee

2008-12-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

6:00 Alarm clock is ringing, who could that be singing? Its Toby Keith, baby, with my wake up call.
6:15 Actually get out of bed. Lacking desire. Think of my day ahead. A little more desire. Get a phone call from Adam needing a ride, lose all desire.
6:30 Pack lunch, eat a PB and N sandwich. Out the door.
6:45 Freezing me ghoulies, walk to where my truck should be only to find an empty stall.
6:46 Re-enter house, wake up wife to ask her if I could take her Jeep. "IF I FIND ONE PIECE OF SAWDUST IN MY JEEP, I WILL CLEAN IT OUT WITH YOUR FACE!"
6:47 "Love you Hon" says I. "I mean it" says she.
7:00 Pick up the A-ball. Start the commute. Roads, icy. Air, frigid. Other people on the road, stupid.
7:32 Arrive at site. Del isn't there. I begin to wonder if he was playing a practical joke on me when he called last night and said "Oh, hey Todd" (muffled giggle). "It's supposed to be nice tomorrow" (muffled giggle). "We should head into work" (muffled giggle). I said, "Del, you tell me what to do, and I will do it."
7:35 Del pulls up, lucky for him. He was about to incur my wrath.
7:40 Realize how cold -21 feels, and we head to the basement. There, we shoot the breeze, laugh, cry, share our feelings with each other.
9:27 Roll out. Well, shovels anyway.
9:30-10:16 Move 3600 cubic feet of snow.
10:17 Have coffee. A banana and some snaps. A sip or two of water.
11:00 Go back to work. Ambient air temperature feels no warmer.
11:01- 12:30 Push trusses by hand. All I can say is there is a reason God invented the mobile crane.
12:30 Lunch. Pasta with Alfredo sauce. Thanks Mama Michellina. You maka the fina pasta ah. Also, an apple, a nutri-grain bar, 3 sips of water. Invigorating conversation also sustained me.
1:30 Back to work, push more trusses.
2:30 Finish pushing, start standing.
2:31 Back to trusses.
2:45 Del's phone rings. It's Jake.
3:30 Feels cold again, so we go home.
3:35 Receive phone call from mechanic. Good news, they can fix my truck. "Good News", it will only cost me 1500 dollars.
3:36 Heart stops briefly. Tell them no, I only paid 1000 Dollars for it. I can drive without lights, thank you very much.
4:25 Drop Adam off. On the way home though, someone called about his car and said (trumpets and gongs resound!) that they wanted to buy his car! All I can say is that if this guy pulls out of the deal, I will slam his face into the hood of the car and say "you buy this car". I'm good like that.
5:00 Mechanic calls back, they can actually fix it for 600 dollars. Will be ready tomorrow morning. Sorry Hon.
5:30 Arrive home. Spit shine Jeep.
6:00 Eat supper. Pork roast (thanks hog), scalloped potatoes (thanks son), mixed veggies (thanks green giant), raspberry pizazz juice (thanks Sans Nom). Overall, thanks Hon.
7:00 Feed son snack
7:23 Give son bath
7:55 Put son to bed.
9:44 Write this line
10:00 Shower
10:30 Go to bed, with visions of not ever having to pick Adam up again in the morning, dancing in my head. Best Christmas present ever!

P.S. I figured out how to get that second photo on there all by myself, thank you nobody.

Just another manic monday....

2008-12-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

I wish it were sundaaaaaayyyyyy!
Just kidding, mondays are fine by me.

8:00 Awake to a snowblower
8:20 Eat peanut butter and nutella sandwich, drink glass of mango madness juice.
8:45 Drive to mechanic to have them look at the electrical in my truck. Tail lights don't work, neither the dash lights, or the brake lights. I just thought that people were really friendly and waving and honking at me all the time.
9:00 Call Adam. Wake him up. Tell him to come and pick me up and drive me home.
9:10 Adam picks me up and drives me home.
9:20- 1:37 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
1:38 Start Sketching Up.
2:00 Realize that my computer prowess is lacking, resort to tutorials.
2:35 Call Andy because I can make neither heads nor tails of the computer stuff the computer was telling me to compute.
4:00- 5:30 Go to Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Wal-Mart= not fun. Home Depot= super fun
5:55 Eat supper, Mac and Cheese. Thanks Hon.
7:00 Read book on cabinet making. Well, not the whole book. And not really reading, more just looking at the pictures.
8:30 Give son snack
9:00 Give son bath
9:30 Give son to his bed.
10:00 Watch Robot Chicken Star Wars episode. Nothing to do with carpentry, but funny none the less.
10:48 Write this line.
11:00 Shower
11:23 Go to bed.

till morning is nigh...

Aaaaaahhhhhh Sundays

2008-12-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

9:15 Wake up. Change diaper, not mine. Feed son. Eat breakfast, vector. Drink mango madness juice.
10:45 Arrive late to church, along with 95% of the congregation.
12:30 Talked with Jon Hamm, my finishing carpenter friend.
12:32 Saw Jake from a distance, waved, but no response.
12:33 Phone rings, its Jake. Talk about the service, never once losing eye contact.
12:45-4:00 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
4:01 Read Fine Woodworking magazine, issue 177. You know, the one where they describe how to do the dovetail joints for drawers. Good times.
5:00 Go to supper with family. Boston Pizza. Ate tropical chicken pizza, drank ice tea.
7:00 Arrive home
7:30 Go out to blockbuster, rent Get Smart and Brokeback Mountain.
9:00 Why didn't anyone warn me about that movie! I didn't know Steve Carrell was in it! He's good in The Office and everything, but a secret agent? Come On!
9:01 Write this line
9:30 Shower, s and s
10:30 Check for comments on blog.
10:31 Log off and cry self to sleep, wondering why I do this. I know why. I do this for you, people. As you can tell, I am a very busy man, and I could be doing a lot more with my time than this. But no, I pour my heart and soul into this and this is all I get. COME ON!!!

My kingdom for an ergonomic keyboard!!!!!

2008-12-20T20:03:00.001-07:00

My wrists are killing me. No one ever told me that blogging was going to be so taxing on my body. But I will push through the wall of pain for you, my faithful followers.

7:00 Wake up to put soother back in son's mouth so that he goes back to sleep
10:00 Wake up for real. Go downstairs, eat breakfast. Vector. Feed son, cheerios.
10:30 Look through Lee Valley catalog. Make wish list for Santa.
11:15-3:30 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
3:31 Go to basement to change laundry, stub toe on compressor. Blinded by fury, throw hammer through wall
3:35 Fix drywall.
3:59 First coat of mud.
4:13 Phone rings, it's Jake. Talk about work and how he doesn't know how he will get through the holidays without seeing me. reassure him that the time will come when we will be together again... at work.
5:17 Eat supper, chicken fingers with ketchup and perogies with sour cream. Thanks Hon.
6:00 -8:11 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry
8:14 Write this line.
8:30 Watch some Arrested Development, "the one where they build a house"
8:31-9:30 Laugh uncontrolably
9:45 Drink some tea, eat some vanilla ice cream.
10:30 Go to bed

Goodwill to all.
P.S. How do I get more than one picture per post. I see all these blogs were they have one at the beginning and one in the middle. I want that too. TEACH ME YOUR WAYS!

Celebrate

2008-12-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze until 6:30
6:30 Roll out of bed. Adam calls. Oh ya, Adam. It has been a few days since I have had to think of him this early in the morning.
7:00 Pick Adam up. Start the hour long fight on the road.
8:15 Arrive at site Everyone else is there, even Tag.
8:30 Andy- "well, we didn't come here to B.S."
8:31-9:10 Failed. The B.S. was flying.
9:11 Rolled out. Apparently things grind to a halt when I am not there. They weren't even done the basement yet. Walls were framed, ceilings dropped, garbage thrown out.
10:30 RRRRRROORROORLLLLL UPPUUUPPPPPPPPPPPP! See what a motivation I am.
11:00 Start driving to Tim Hortons. I had a sausage breakfast sandwich, a french vanilla, and an apple juice.
12:30 Lunch. Luckily Timmy's shares the parking lot with the Senachie public house. So we met there for lunch. Tag was already there, waiting for us it seemed.
1:00 Mike McDonald showed up, as did Ted, the lumber guy. We laughed, we cried, it moved us. Jake gave us our paychecks, chuckled and told us "don't spend it all in one place" HAHAHAHA, and "don't cash that right away" HAHAHAHAHAH, and "I want a PS3 for Christmas." What a kidder.
3:15 Said our goodbyes for the Holidays.
3:18 Told Adam to start my truck as I went to the bathroom. When I got out to the parking lot, he was still standing outside of my '88, wondering were the keyless entry button was on my keychain. Youngins, can't live with them, can't leave them standing alone in the middle of a parking lot on a day that has a -38 windchill.
4:30 Arrive home
5:30 Eat supper. Baked chicken with country mushroom rice and cauliflower and cheese. Thanks Hon.
7:00 Feed son
7:15 Give son bath
8:15 Put son to sleep
8:45 Get a call from Kevin McInnes wonder where his son was. I told him Adam was putting in overtime, and that I would have him home soon.
8:46 Drive to Senachie, hoping that the little guy is fairly resilient.
9:46 Drop Adam off, wish him good weekend, happy holidays and the like.
10:03 Write this line
10:30 Shower
10:45 Go to bed

Well there you have it, all the nitty gritty from music city.

Ok, this is getting old.

2008-12-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

And I'm not talking about my blog. I am talking about the weather. Still freezing, still snowing, still sucking.

6:00 Wake up. Knowing that I had an hour drive ahead of me, I thought I would be all smart and responsible and get up early.
7:00 Start driving. Should have been driving at 6:30. Awe well, Jake and Andy are loving, forgiving chaps.
8:05 Arrive to site. Still freezing, still snowing, still sucking. Heaters blowing luke warm air. I didn't even think that doing carpentry could brighten up my day.
8:15 Jake and Derek decide to show up. Coffeeless might I add.
9:07 Start rolling out. I had some more walls to build. So I built them, and my day seemed to lighten up. Nothing like a framing nailer freezing to your hand to warm the soul.
10:10 Coffee. Kevin and Derek went into town and they brought us back french vanillas and chocolate bars. I had an O-Henry. I also had some water, yogurt, a banana, a package of vanilla sesame snaps. And three sugar cookies. And a brownie. And a tart of some kind. And a minty cookie. And... well it is the holidays.
11:10 Back to work. Still working by myself, still doing twice as much work as Kevin and Cristoph (sp?) together. Of course.
12:30 Del calls Andy from Revelstoke to let him know that I need to go to the other site because trusses were on their way. So off I went, forsaking lunch for the sake of the job. Well, I had an apple as I drove. And some water. And a rice crispy square. And a coconut wafer. And a chocolate crunch cookie. And 7 toffifees. It's a long drive ok. Stop judging me.
1:22 Arrive at other site. Supervisor Adam was already there supervising, nobody. He did unlock the gate though. That was a weight off my shoulders. The delivery truck arrived shortly therafter. Which shocked me, because normally when the lumber company ( I can't name names because they have a better lawyer than I do) says that something is on its way, they mean that they are just on their way to their supplier, then back to their yard, then tomorrow sometime they will get it out to us. But low and behold
1:26 there it was. A truck full of trusses. So I help the guy unload them. Well, his truck did most of the work, but I "supervised".
2:45 Leave for home. Not that I didn't want to go back to work, I just didn't want to blind the rest of the crew with my awesomeness.
3:43 Arrive home. You may be asking, "Todd, why does it take you an hour to drive everywhere you go?". My answer is...because.
4:45 Go to mall.
6:45 Leave for Adam's "Never Ending Party of Eternal Awesomeness"
7:45 Arrive at McInnes residence.
7:46-8:53 Party like it was 1999.
9:53 Arrive home
10:00 Give son bath and put to bed.
10:45 Write this line
11:00 Shower, s and s and go to bed.

Toodle's

Snow way dude!

2008-12-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hello from the coldest place on earth.

Before we get rolling, all I have to say is "what the heck?" Since when does Calgary get this kind of weather at this time of the year? Maybe if we were in Winnipeg or Iqaluit. Maybe all those scientists are right and I should put the catalytic converter back on my truck.
Anyway.

7:30 Slept in again. It was supposed to be cold, so Adam and I decided the night before to wait until it was light out and a little warmer before heading to the site. Instead, I wake up to snow and 50 KM per hour winds.
8:05 Leave for Morgan's Rise. Jake and the other guys are eagerly awaiting my arrival, getting the heaters going in the basement, brewing a coffee for me cooking me crepes.
9:15 Arrive at the site. Should have been a half hour commute.
9:16 Start framing the basement. Join Kevin in wall building. I cut blocks and got studs for him, and then nailed the wall in when it was in place. It was exhilarating.
10:30 Coffee. Andy went to town with Kevin and bought us french vanillas. I don't care what Jake says about him, that Andy is a swell fellow (who has a truck for sale, btw. Click on his face to contact him, tell him Todd sent you). I had a banana, yogurt, vanilla sesame snaps, and orange juice. I drank it in liquid form.
11:30 Back to work. Kevin goes to work with Cristoph (sp?) while I lay out plates. Derek nails in backing blocks while Andy builds walls and Jake talks on the phone.
12:20 Taggart graces us with his presence. He knows it is just before lunch, yet he doesn't even invite us out. Well, I know someone who isn't getting a Christmas card from me this year.
12:45 Lunch. Leftover spaghetti, an apple, some sort of chocolate baked thing. No water, it is frozen solid in the back of my truck.
1:45 Back to work. Keep laying out plates, Kevin keeps building with Cristoph (sp?), Andy keeps building walls, Derek keeps installing backing blocks, and Jake keeps talking on the phone.
2:00 My phone rings. It's Jake, calling to see how I am doing. It is a big basement you know.
2:56 Finish laying out. Apparently Kevin has found a "nbff" in Cristoph (sp?) because he didn't come back over to work with me.
2:57 Start crying in the corner
3:02 Compose myself, find the strength to be independent. I cut my own blocks, got my own studs, built the walls myself, and stood them by myself. It is like I am a machine who's sole purpose for existing is to do carpentry, and to kick ass at it.
3:03-4:30 Kick woods ass.
4:33 RRRRRRRROROROOOOROROOLLLLL UUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP! So we do.
4:50 Leave for home
6:00 Get home.
6:15 Eat supper. Pulled BBQ pork sandwich, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. Thanks Tony Roma's
7:30 Gord and Janice arrive. Talked until 9:30.
9:33 Give son bath.
9:45 Put son to bed
10:44 Write this line
11:30 Go to bed dreading having to get up and go to work in -30 weather

Things just got wierd

2008-12-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hello,

8:30 That's right, I got to sleep in. Tripping on ecstasy, quickly brought down to earth with a phone call from Adam. "Can you come pick me up, my car is buried under two feet of snow." (To be read nasaly).
9:05 Leave for Adam's. Arrive shortly after.
9:20 Go to Timmy's. Get 4 french vanillas, a yogurt, and a breakfast sandwich. Not all for me, Del.
10:20 Arrive at site. Del and Kevin already shoveling.
10:25-11:30 Move 4700 cubic metres of snow.
11:30-12:00 Roll out tools and stand around.
12:00-12:30 Install insulation stops, nail beams, nail hangers, pack floor sheets. I'll be honest, I did none of those things. But you better believe I watched Adam and Kevin do them.
12:30 Lunch. Lasagna, courtesy of Mama Michellina. An apple, a banana, some yogurt, vanilla sesame snaps, and frozen orange juice. I drank it with a spoon. Kevin was complaining about a sore back and said that he would pay a hundred dollars for a good half hour massage. Adam immediately replied with "take your clothes off, lets do this". I looked at him hoping that he was joking, but the look in his eyes told me he wasn't. I know the recession is hitting us all, but come on!
1:30 Back to work. Everyone still has their clothes on. Start sheeting the flat roof (see photo).
2:00 "Lets go home, it's cold outside". (everything in quotes to be read through your nose, except for the things I say, which should be read with the deepest, manliest voice you can imagine).
2:01 "It's warmer in Tim Horton's"
2:02 "I can't feel my feet"
2:03 "My back is sore"
2:04 "The nail gun is frozen"
2:04 "Are your hands broken?" Boomed I
2:05-4:00 "Wa wa wa wa wa cry cry cry wa wa sniffle wa snort.........."
4:01 "Can we go home early?"
4:01.25 "Yes, in ten minutes" said I
4:01.56 "wa wa wa wa cry cry cry cry......."
4:15 "You can go home forever if you don't shut up" threatened I
4:16 "wawawawawawaawawwawawawwwawawawawawawa....."
4:20 "RRRRRRROOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL UUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP". Screamed I over the whining.
4:30 Started driving home
5:15 Dropped Adam off
5:45 Arrived at my home. Thanks Calgary for driving with extreme caution. It's not like it snows here often or anything. It's like we live in the LOWER MAINLAND OR SOMETHING! COME ON!!!!!
6:00 Eat supper. Spaghetti. Thanks Hunny Bunny.
7:00 Feed son snack
7:26 Give son bath
8:00 Brush his teeth
8:05 Put him to bed
8:05.01267 Start surfing the web
9:05 Write this line
10:00 Go to bed
10:05 Get out of bed to surf the web
6:08 ( the next morning) Wake up with drool and keyboard stuck to my face.

Laters

Hurray, it's the 15th!

2008-12-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone out there on the "net". Hopefully you had a good weekend. As you all know, I did.
Moving on.

6:30 Wake up, Adamless once more. I'm starting to like this day already.
7:00 Go outside to warm up truck. Scrape windows as tears freeze to my face.
7:45 Arrive at site. No Del. Slacker.
7:50 Del arrives, supposedly stuck in traffic.
7:51 Unlock trailer and roll out cords to plug in trucks and then run to basement to the warmth of the heaters.
8:00 Feeling returns to head, neck, chest, face, and arms.
9:00 Get to work. We had sheer walls to build in the basement before the slab was poured, so...
9:01 - 12:00 We built them. Sometimes I would cut and Del would build. Sometimes Del would cut and I would build. You know, spicing things up a little.
12:00 - 12:45 Cut MDF for my closets at home that I started 6 weeks ago and promised I would have done 9 weeks ago.
12:46 ROOOOOOLLLLLLL UUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!
1:00 Meet the rest of the carpenters and Lloyd (who used to be a carpenter) at Limericks Public House for some lunch. I had a Philly cheese steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. Del, Adam, Jake and Cristoph (sp?) had steak sandwiches, rare to medium rare, with fries. Andy, who had forgotten all about the lunch, had fish and chips as usual. Lloyd had a steak and mushroom pie. Kevin, or Mr Fru-Fru Pants as I like to call him, had a salad. Thanks Lloyd and Limmericks Staff. More meat next time in the appies though, tightwads.
3:30 Leave for home, but not before getting valuable sketch-up information from Andy.
4:15 Arrive home. Go on sketch up. Call Andy to review.
5:30 Give up computers forever.
5:31 Realize that the internet now controls my life and that I can't stay away.
6:00 Feed son
7:00 Give him bath
7:30 Put him to bed
8:00 Do dishes
11:14 Write this line. I know its late.
11:30 Go to bed

Sweet dreams all.

Its still the weekend

2008-12-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

7:00 wake up Adamless
8:00 Go back to sleep
10:00 Wake up again. Eat vector, no coffee.
10:00 - 4:00 no carpentry
4:01 Use sketch-up to design cabinets.
5:25 Realize how much I suck with computers and want to throw monitor out window in fury.
5:30 Calm down and eat supper. Sloppy Joes, sloppy, sloppy joes. Thanks Hon.
6:00 Do dishes
7:00 Try to start my truck in -40 degree weather
7:25 Starts only after I get into my truck using a mallet.
8:30 Put son to bed
10:04 Write this line
10:36 Go to bed
10:37 Wonder if it will be warmer in the morning

Looking into the future.......
7:00 am following morning.... No it is not warmer. In fact it is colder, and my tears are frozen to my face.

It's the weekend

2008-12-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

8:14 Wake up. No Adam. No carpentry.
9:30 Have coffee, vector with milk.
9:31am-1:30 pm Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
1:31 Look through the Lee Valley catalog.
2:00 -10:16 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
5:26 Have supper, pork roast with potatoes and mixed veggies. Thanks Snookums.
10:17 Write this line
11:00 Go to bed

Hokey schnikees

2008-12-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hola!

5:45 Wake up on my own, that's odd
6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze
6:15 Get out of bed, look outside to see no snow, and no frost on the windshield
6:16 Begrudgingly get dressed
6:30 Wished that someone out there in internet land would have an overwhelming desire to by a 92 Skyline so that I don't have to see Adam this early in the morning everyday.
7:00 Pick up Adam. Start driving
7:30 Arrive at site, talk to the guys about how nice it was outside. Clear skies, 0 degrees. Curse you Spence. "It's not gonna snow" someone proclaims.
8:00 Load up the zoom boom with all the fixins
8:15 Start working on gable fascia. Jake feels bad for neglecting me his angelic harmonies, so he breaks out into "When a man loves a Woman". Finally.
8:18 Work work work work work work, work
10:00 Coffee. Pattern developing. Kevin, not in his truck driving to get us coffee, but sitting at the fire enjoying himself. Eat 2 packs of sesame snaps, an apple and something else. Drink some water. The sky is now covered in clouds, temperature dropping, and a strange, white substance starts to fall.
11:00 Back to work. Things are slipperyer than before. Del for some reason thinks that its a good idea to not do work of his own, but come over and critique our work, thus spurring my daily incurrance of wrath.
12:30 Lunch. everyone else goes to eat and they leave me 4 stories up on a slippery gable end.
12:35 Solid ground feels better after risking life and limb. By now there is an inch of snow on the ground, Cristoph (sp?) barely visible across the fire, the only thing defining his presence his wacky french accent. Andy saves the day with the best tasting french vannila I had tasted this day. Eat left over pizza, bitter taste left in mouth. Banana and nature valley bar too. No bitter taste from the latter.
1:30 Taggart graces us with his presence. Charming and whitty as always. Stood around actually contemplating going back to work when the hiss of air hoses disconnecting brought us to our senses.
1:35 Trailer closed. Never have we moved so fast. Kevin was basically at the highway by the time we had the lock on.
1:45 -5 degrees and 4 inches of snow. We say our farewells and away we go.
2:10 Some lady spun out in front of me on Glenmore. Pushed her free by myself, HGH paying off.
2:25 Filled truck for only 76 dollars!
3:30 Arrive at other site. Unload truck, boost some guy, wait behind people stuck on a hill.
5:00 Arrive home
5:30 Eat supper
7:00 Feed son snack
7:30 Give son bath
8:00 Contemplate doing dishes
8:55 Write this line
9:00 Start "Fred Claus", laugh hysterically
11:46 Go to bed

Doyeeeeeee!

2008-12-11T22:41:00.000-07:00

Good day friends. T-Rod here again. Let's kick it.

6:15 Alarm goes off. Smile on my face knowing that Adam is on his way here, not me there.
6:45 Out of bed. Look outside and see him sitting in his car. I take my time making my peanut butter and Nutella sandwich for breakfast. "For Breakfast!" you ask. My logic is that it is just two pieces of premature toast.
7:00 Watching Adam scrape my frosty windows.
7:03 Driving
7:31 Arrive on site. Greeted by friendly faces. Can't remember the story, but Derek suddenly says "Doyeeeeee!" We laughed, we cried, it moved us. And then we tried to incorporate it into all our conversations.
8ish Zoom Boom loaded up. Plywood, 2x8, Smartboard fascia, Jake at the helm.
8:23 "doyeeee" says Del
8:23.68 Laughter. More wood gets cut, roof gets built.
10:00 Coffee. Kevin tempts us with thoughts of going into town to get us coffee, but he fails us. Ran out of yogurt, instead 2 sesame snaps, vanilla flavored of course, and apple, banana, and an O henry bar I took from Wyatt. Don't tell him.
10:45 Back to work. Still working on that same, screwed up roof. Someone's gotta do it though.
11:16 Still fairly cold outside. I thought we should hug for warmth, Jake wasn't into it.
12:30 Lunch. No 4 wheeling, just pasta rose, another apple, a raspberry nature valley bar and some olympic styled trail mix. We started a fire in the back yard using wood scraps and old house plans. Huddling around IT for warmth was ok, I guess. Convinced Kevin to go for coffees. Suddenly, tragedy struck. No French Vannila! Settle for a hot chocolate.
1:30 Back to work. Finally finish that blasted little roof. So onto the next task, more roof.
2:16 "Doyeeeeee!" says Andy
2:16.415 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAAHAHAHHAAAHAHHAHA hoooooo...
2:17 "Doyeeeeeee!" says Adam
2:17.001 awkward silence and stares from the crowd
3:00 Lifting Valley sets into place for Del and Kevin.
4:30 "Rooooollllll uuuuuppp!" So we do. We look to the west at the setting sun and talk about how tomorrow it is supposed to be fricking freezing and about the much anticipated snow storm.
Overjoyed "See you guys tomorrow" ring out.
4:45 Drive home. Order pizza
5:23 Half the order arrives. Thanks Pizza Hut.
5:24 Yelling at the teenage girl who works at the Pizza Hut.
5:26 Talking to the manager
5:28 Getting a free pizza voucher. (I learned from the best, xbc)
7:00 Feed my son snack
7:15 Give my son a bath
7:30 Do dishes
7:53 Read some books
9:00 Wife comes home
11:21 Wrote this line
oh ya 8:30 shower, s and s
11:30 Bed

T-diddy out
P.S. it would make Derek feel really special if every one started using "doyeeee!" in everyday conversation. Hopefully one day it will be the tag line of a hit sitcom.

Rise, O Morgan

2008-12-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Good day all. Todd here again. Thanks to all you who enjoyed my first posting. Here we go again.

5:46 Alarm clock ringing. Thinking "I'm going to be early today!"
5:46 1/2 Hitting snooze thinking "Screw that"
6:30 Jumping out of bed, scrambling to get dressed, overjoyed that I get to pick up Adam again.
7:30 Arrive at the site. The air smells of sweet spruce/pine/fir. The silence and beauty broken by the sound of a diesel engine roaring to life. Crew slowly arrives. Kevin, slow as usual.
8:15ish Gather 16 foot 2x6 for fascia, some 12 footers, some studs, some 2x4, some scrap.
10:00 Coffee. No coffee yet though. Only yogurt, a banana, vanilla sesame snaps... and some water. Kevin goes into town and comes back with some coffee. What a saint.
10:30 Back to work. Trusses aren't fitting properly. How could this be. Could this day get any worse. All hope thought lost.
1:00 Lunch. Shepherds pie. Still delicious. An apple, some water. A cookie. Del wants to go snowboarding. Fire up the truck, put it in 4wd, get some rope and a board, and nearly rip Derricks arm out of its socket. He's a trooper though. Back up and through the field. Del saves the day again.
2:00 Back to work. Finish the hips, install eave blocks, then sheath. Exhillerating.
4:20 Roooollll uuuuupppp! So we do. Shoot the breeze. Truck still in 4wd, so try to climb a dirt mound. Fail. Or suceed 50 %. Potato, po-tah-to. Drive me home. Make Adam walk home from my house.
5:15 Start eating supper. Pasta a la rose pour le vous au shrimp et spinich. Thanks Honey.
6:45 Feed son snack
7:00 Give son bath
7:16 Put son to bed
7:18 Realize that I worked with Jake all day and he didn't sing to me once.
7:19 download Barry Manillows greatest hits onto IPod (TM)
8:00 Do dishes
9:06 start blogging
9:40 write this line
10:15 go to bed with visions of circular saws and nailers dancing in my head.

Frosty Walls

2008-12-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. My name is Todd, and I am a carpenter. Some would say that what you do for a living doesn't define you as a person, but here I am.

This day started out like most of my days. Alarm going off at 6 AM. Me hitting snooze. Me shooting out of bed in a panic at 6:45 needing to be driving at 6:30. I had to pick up Adam today though. That was exciting. Not.
7:30 at the site. It was cold out so we headed down to the basement to sit in front of the heaters. 8:30 rolling out, starting work. We are working on a house with a flat roof. We started joisting.
10:00 Coffee. I had yogurt and a banana and some sesame snaps. No coffee though. Only water.
10:30 Back to work. Still cold outside. More joists to put in, hangers to nail, wood to cut.
12:30 Lunch. New England Clam Chowder, an apple and some trail mix. Water too. Talked politics, made fun of Adam.
1:30 Back to work. Kevin stapled Adam's tool belt to the floor while he was in the outhouse. pretended to work in anticipation of Adam trying to put his belt on. It was hillarious. We laughed. Wood was cut and nailed. Realized that my favorite angle to cut is 45 Degrees.
4:20 Roooollll uuuupppp!!!!! yelled Del. So we did. We also cleaned the site in case of snow. Locked the tools up. Started my truck, and drove home.
5:15 Jake stopped by to drop off a drill. Talked a bit, laughed a bit, he sang to me.
5:30 Ate supper. Shepherds Pie. Thanks honey, it was delicious.
6:47 Fed my son snack
6:59 Gave him bath
7:20 Put him to bed
7:50 Read some books
9:30 Started this Blog
10:08 Wrote this sentence.
10:30 Will Go to bed

Goodnight all! Hope you had as good a day as me