Back... From vacation.

Returned last night / this morning about 2am from an 8 day cruise with the family. My wife, 2 year old, 4 month old, and my wife's parents hit the
high seas for food, fun and... well... sickness. Oh well. It happens.

I'll have to sum up the week in a post, but this happened on our ship, not to us, thank goodness.

One of the passengers aboard the Carnival Liberty, a man in his 70s, broke the neck of an armed robber, killing him, according to police in Limon, Costa Rica.
A group of 12 tourists from the Carnival cruise ship Liberty, who were attacked by three armed muggers in Costa Rica last week, made it safely back to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.
One of those tourists, a man in his 70s who has not been identified, broke the neck of one attacker, killing him, according to police in Limon, Costa Rica.
The other two assailants ran off and none of the tourists were hurt, despite the fact the muggers were armed with at least one knife and a gun.
The story received national attention and reporters and photographers waited at the exit gate of Terminal 19
in Port Everglades early Sunday, but the ''hero of the Liberty,'' as he has become known, didn't identify himself and avoided the media.
He has been described as a former U.S. Marine who is thought to be from Ohio.
The van he and the other passengers had hired was attacked by the three men in ski masks just as it arrived at a nearby beach, according to the cruise line.

After the incident, the passengers had the van take the injured mugger to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
He was identified as Warner Segura, 20.
Costa Rican authorities ruled the killing was self-defense and did not press charges.
Other passengers said the ship had left Limon about 90 minutes late Wednesday after the incident.

Many of those passengers said they had walked around the city without trouble. ''Me and my friends walked about 12
blocks and had a beer on every block with no problem,'' said Bob Dancy, 69, of Indianapolis. ``If it had happened to me I probably would have done the same thing. And I probably would have gotten shot.''

So now it looks like all the cruise lines are pulling their stops in Limon, Costa Rica as a result and will be going to Hondras instead. How pissed would you be if you were the President or Prime Minister of Costa Rica and as a result of these 3 hooligans, you loose the tourism dollars from the cruise lines. Time to clean up crime in that area, eh? I'd be furious. I'd find jobs for the youths and put the country to work earning back the trust of the cruise industry. No more guns, no more violence, base your ecomony on tourism and SHARE THE WEALTH!!!

Why does this seem SO wrong...

Peter Forsberg is now a member of the Nashville Predators.

I'm still trying to come to grips with the fact that Lord Stanley's Cup resides in Tampa Bay and Carolina. If Nashville wins the cup, I don't know what I'll do.

Nashville???

Nashville???

It just doesn't make sense.

Thanks to Metro Mama.... I had always wondered.

Your Porn Star Name Is...

Jason Jizzy

What's Your Porn Star Name?

Valentine's Day

Has come and gone again...

6th year in a row now that UrbanMummy gets the following items - lest I screw up this holiday - Chocolate heart, flowers (not roses, she hates roses - but loves Calalillies), a card from me, a card from our son and new this year a card from our other son too, a gift - something thoughtful if at all possible, and this year, like last year a gift from the kiddies - each card came with a mini box of chocolates. I also got her this cute figurine of a mummy holding a little baby, which goes with the mummy holding the toddler she got for Mother's day last year.

It's like a mission, Valentines Day is... You can't screw it up and leave it to the last minute. It needs time to prepare.



It's -30 today with the windchill. That's really fucking cold. Too fucking cold to be walking around without a hat. I need a hat. I'm cold. So cold that I'm just getting feeling back in my ears. Hmmmm. Only a few days and I'll be going from -30 to +30. CAN'T WAIT!!!!


Only 45 Days to Wrestlemania.
(Break it down)


One day... One paper left to do before vacation. I've barely touched it and I'm already half way done it. It needs work. A lot of work.


My Valentine's Day surprise from UrbanMummy... Besides a beautiful card from the kiddies and a super-yummy dinner (wheres the soup?) I was floored by the ultra-sexy hair cut my wife of almost 6 year got. Yumma Humma.

CANCER...

A very scary word that has no doubt touched each and every one of us in some way. I've always known it best as being what killed my mother's best friend, after she battled breast cancer for 16 years.

Yesterday, the disease hit somewhat close to home when I received and email from my friend's wife - whom I have known for about 10 years, he played on my ball hockey team with his brother - that simply stated that he has cancer. No details were given because none were known.

SHOCK.

They have a baby a few months older than the Happy Boy and they are expecting their second child very, very soon.

SHOCK.

As someone who tries to keep his emotions in check - never get too high, never get too low - this email has been most disturbing for me. You see, me and death do not get along very well. Quite frankly the concept of death I understand and am cool with, but the who concept of being dead forever (if that is what you believe too) is what disturbs me most. I try to put myself in his shoes and imagine what is going on in his mind, and then I stop. There is so much to think about and so much to do.

It's all very sad.

But as a generally non-religious person, I said a prayer for him this evening and will probably do so every day until he gets through this ordeal. He needs everyone's support. I look forward to reporting in my blog in the future of his progress, for the sake of his wife and children and those around him who love, care for, respect him and are his friends.

Get well soon!!!

My 100th post!!!!

WOW.

100 posts.

For those who said I would lose interest, you were W.R.O.N.G. Mind you, now that I have reached this milestone (I'd like to thank my wife and children... This will be the last post ever. LOL. Just kidding!!

Tonight we had our neighbour and her son over for dinner and play time along with a girl from The Happy Boy's school and her parents. It was really nice! Plus... With UrbanMummy cooking, I knew it was going to be something special. The pasta was yummy, the salad and garlic bread most complimentary. A nice evening was had by all.

Now, I'm just cleaning some dishes, updating my iPod and re-writing my assignment. Rest up everyone.

:)

Success!!! At last!!

Nearly 2 years to the date that my lovely wife bought me an iPod - which means my birthday is rapidly approaching... again - I have managed to not only have iTunes installed, but also easily and quickly managed to put music on it.

My music.

Good music.

Guns 'n' Roses, Velvet Revolver, Korn, Rage Against the Machine, Queen, Def Leppard, Kim Mitchell, Green Day.

Sweet.

Back to work... Whoopie!

I knew it wasn't going to be so easy to go back to work when I decided to go to bed at 10:30 - after the Weed's dream feed - so as to maximize my sleep in preparation of his waking up at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5am as has been the patter over his little life so far. He did not disappoint. This meant we awere all exhausted in the morning.

I brought the little guy back into the bedroom to be with Mummy at 7:15 just before I raced out the door to try and walk to the subway. The Happy Boy was awoken by the Weed's crying so into Mummy's room went to little passengers, and down I continued to take the car out of the garage - a task that UrbanMummy is incapable of, or afraid of doing (giggle). My mystery back / piriformis ailment still bothering me, I figured I would try the 15-20 walk to the subway and see how I felt. Mistake. Minus 20 weather with the windchill and the damn walk took me just over 30 minutes. Sigh. Frozen and tired, I arrived at the office to find out that nothing had changed. Still hated being there. Don't like the people I work with, don't find the work challenging and found that the smell in the place makes me stuffed up. I might actually be allergic to the office. :)

So since I've been warning my boss that I would be coming back, I gave him a list of things that needed to be done before my first day so I can jump right back into the swing of things and not have to wait around wasting time and money, but I got into the office with no access to me terminal, or my desk, and when I managed to get partial access, I no longer had an inventory. Ugh. Time to start looking forward to break.

Break... was fun, cold but fun. Gotta love Tim Hortons. Large Double Double.

I came back to my desk and there was one phone message... from my wife??? NO. It was from my Doctor. She had my MRI results. My "back" problems... They are real. I have a herniated disk in my back. In the L5 area (lowest disk). The disk has a moderate to large herniation and the disk is pushing outward, not to the side as was expected, hence my numbness in weird areas.

Joy. Out of all the sports injuries I have had, ranging from stitches, seperated shoulders, broken toes, broken and cracked ribs, sprains, strains, torn rotator cuff, tendonitis, cuts, welts... Never a back issue... Until now.

So while break was ok, lunch was not.

A few of us went for lunch (my sister - who works for the smae employer as me) bought, and I found that after lunch it was sitting on my cvhest, like I had really overeaten (I had not) or that something I ate did not agree with me. By the time I got back to the office, it was worse and I was getting really sleepy, that I actually considered sleeping at my desk (I did not). I left work 20 minutes after the office closed and made my way home, where I skipped dinner, and proceeded to sleep through my online Human Resources Management class.

That night I threw up. Often, but nothing really. Not good when suffering from a herniated disk in your back.

So Wednesday, I slept. All day. I remember a comment from my wife just before bed. I believe she said something to the effect of, "Must be nice to be able to sleep all day". "Not really, I replied". Well who knew that she would be felled by the same virus (I swear she gave it to me in the first place), and she would be sick until early Sunday morning. Me? I started to feel better Friday. Not great until Saturday, but not like her. She was sick, sick, sick. Couldn't eat, drink or keep anything inside her. Our poor baby got sick too, but she somehow managed to stay hydrated enough to keep him fed, and herself from the hospital.

Me??? I swear I carried that 16 pound boy around for the past week. The longer I held him, the more I felt my back hurt and as a result, my foot go numb and my big toe hurt (the nerve). Wont he ever sleep!!!

So that was my shitty week. Literally. Ended it today with a Super Bowl (yawn) party at the In-laws and with some funny emails from Shroomie chalk full of Valentine suggestions. LOL.

Going to hit the sack and wait for the wailing wake up from the littlest one between 5-5:30am. That is when my day will start all over again.