The Origin of the Incredible Hulk

Not realizing that high intensity camera flashes emitted small doses of gamma radiation. The increasing number of photos I had been taking with my Speedlite 420 EX flash was affecting Kieran. I was unknowingly bombarding him with gamma radiation, in a blink of an eye, he would change right before me, turning into something difficult to describe.

You can see the changes in the individual frames taken with my Canon G5 at 15 frames / sec.
In one image he was happy go lucky Kieran, and in the next frame he turned into the baby Hulk. He flexed his muscles and tore off his hoodie and was turning slightly jaundice or was that just the reflection from that green boogey that was destined for the lower part of my shirt.

All this before getting to daycare.

Gong Hei Fat Choi

Happy Chinese New Year, PIGS!

That's right it's the year of the BBQ pork..

Basically everyone in APAC is on vacation, for a month.
Try to avoid buying anything made in China at this time of year, if you do. Get the extended warranty.


We got together with Willy, Edwin, Jean, Leo, Carmen and Peter and all the kiddies at the Happy Jade Seafood Garden or something.
It's near Dundas and Dixie. For those folks that get hungry after reading this post.



We were late as usual, but there's a standard Chinese new year menu, so that expedited the food to the table which made it really convenient for us, because we'd spend about 30 minutes trying to find some non-seafood or canadianized chinese food for Tresa.




All in all the food was good. Fish was very good. Didn't taste fishy and wasn't too bony.
There was also lobster, breaded scallops, bbq pork of course and chicken for the turf-lady, which by the way was done really well. They sprinkle on diced garlic, which looked like nuts.

But the only nuts were these guys.

Service was to be expected. We ordered a bowl of rice for Kieran cause the fried rice, although very good, had egg in it. Then the waiter was nowhere to be seen. So we figured he went to the rice fields to get the rice.
The washrooms are about par for Chinese restaurants. But at least they didn't stink.
And the place was full of asians, with their nintendos.
Some white people made it in through the door, but I think they were there by mistake or they had no choice.

Hello chinese new year fotos...

How to get rid of telemarketers

This is what we do. We hand the phone to Kieran and let them talk to him.
Actually he was talking to my sister, but I thought we could give the phone to him if telemarketers do call.
Especially the ones that give you 40 questions about politics and who does the shopping and how far you drive and then ask you if you are interested in the Globe and Mail for free during the week and you only pay for weekends.

Subliminal Trains

What is it with these trains?
Thomas the Tank Engine is over 60 years old and Kieran is just crazy about them.
Is there something subliminal in the videos?
Are the eyes on the trains hypnotic? Instructing kids to get their parents to buy this and increase the profits for the toy company?

He even dreams about them. We hear him say "zzz...Thomas...zzz" at night.
If you look carefully in the background you can see some of his toy cars and bus and he puts them all in a row like a choo-choo train. Except he'll call it choo-choo bus.
These trains aren't cheap either. We got a cheapo one wooden one from Ikea for 17.99 or something for Christmas for him. Not sure how much the real one costs at Toys-R-Us. But at this age as long as it's a train. It's considered Thomas.
He got this one from his Grandparents. He spent a week with them and he must have been going through some Thomas withdrawl.

So this is what happens in the morning and he asks for Thomas, we don't always put it on, but it helps him to eat and he sings and is happy. So I put it on so I can get our stuff together to get him out the door to daycare.
I just wish that they could make a video that would tell kids not to put food all over their face. That one I would buy.

The tax man cometh

Actually it wasn't the tax man, although he did take some of my money away. But we're hoping it comes back with some heavy duty returns when we retire.
This is Marcello, the RRSP man doesn't have the same ring.
You should have seen this guy when I first met him.
He's shed 40+lbs and a couple of sizes to boot. I think he's had to replace his entire collection of suits.
I'd like to think that it was my influence. He's done 2 half marathons. The Toronto in the fall and the Mississauga Marathon in the spring time, in the past couple of years.
But I didn't have anything to do with it. He knew I was a runner and played a lot of sports, but never talked much about. Except that when I retire, I'd like to be able to play a lot of golf and hopefully an ironman or 2. But that's about it.
So Marcello is a fellow runner.

He paid us a visit to get our RRSP's in order.
So we're all set for 2006 and have re-assessed our portfolios for 2007 and onward.

It's the first time he's seen Kieran, but Kieran has no income. So his assessment was easy.

Just so you know, those aren't Kieran's pants. Just before I picked him up at daycare he had a blowout. So it's a loaner from the Daycare lady's daughter.