Happy SukaDay Baconator!

BACOOOOOOOON!







Here you go,
Happy Birthday Indigo!
We wanted to give you some munny,
to eat something yummy,
and later make you go poop!
A Xtra Large bowl of vietnamese soup!

We even had rikshaw races going on.








And the kids got paid in cake and ice cream.






Someone should have reminded Lou that Wendy and Bruce moved to a new house 4 years ago.
No GPS will help you in that situation.

More photos of Indy and friends and family

Remembering Connor

I got the phone call and it still doesn't seem right. It can't be.
How can this happen to someone so small, so innocent.
Why? I don't understand.

I know this past 6 months have been tough health wise, but he managed to pull through, and it was believed that he was going to see better days. So this news comes as a shock.

It's not fair, for someone to be taken away so soon before his life could even get started.
In a world where more and more are more concerned with what they do not have instead of cherishing what they do have. Where selfishness and excess are prevalent and leading to us down the wrong path.
It is so sad that this little source of so much strength, joy and happiness is no longer with us.
Tresa, Kieran and I were blessed to have been able to share some time with you, before you moved on and we will certainly do our best in honouring your memory. We will miss you Connor.

I'm so sorry Cathy, Dave, Tyler & Mason, for the loss of your son & little brother.

My cousin is supporting causes such as the Toronto Hospital for Sick Kids, Heart & Stroke foundation, there may be others. I'll have to find out.

Connor Battah
December 24, 2005 - June 26, 2008

Summer's here

It's summer time again.
Seems like it went from winter to spring.
And then back to fall or spring. And hopefully it's officially summertime now.

Well according to wikipedia summer solstice was last Friday.
So we've had summer for 5 days now.


It hasn't actually been super warm lately but it's creeping up there. I'm not complaining about the weather, it's been great sleeping weather. No need for A/C, ie. lower hydro bills.

We took these photos 3 weeks ago after we got back from Europe where it was 30 degs C in most places except Amsterdam. This is Kieran's water park. It was really warm on June 6th, so I put this together so he can cool off and have fun.

I bought it at Wal-Mart back when it was still spring and folks weren't thinking summer thoughts. I've noticed that if you see a sled in Canadian Tire, you better buy it, because come first snow and you're thinking "hey let's go tobogganing!" There all sold out. Same goes for summer stuff.

You know the other thing about Europe. They don't have sales every week. The same store isn't having a "going out of business sale - everything must go" every week. When they have a sale, it's a real deal sale. It's not so artificial, trying to get you into the store sort of thing, more foot traffic.

To buy NOT what you need, or even want, just more stuff cause it's on sale, again it's excess. It's driven into us week after week. Most us have a morning cup of java reading our flyers looking for sales. Instead of reading the news.

2008 Nightcrawler.to

So I finally did another nightcrawler race.
I also did better than the last time, so I'm happy.
And just checking my results from prior years, this is my best time so far. Woo hoo! a PB for me in this race.
Official time: 37min 49sec.
my watch: 37min 45.35 sec
                splits                pace
mile 1:      7.44.26            7.44.26
mile 2:    15.29.08            7.45.32
mile 3:    23.05.58            7.36.00
mile 4:    30.32.16            7.26.58
mile 5:    37.45.35            7.13.19

I know that I could do at least a minute faster, but considering we just got back from Europe 2 weeks ago. This was better than I had expected.
And it's not chip timed. I had forgotten. I'd also forgotten how ugly the shirts were too. Wow...green. What left overs were these from?

The last nightcrawler I did was 2005 just after Kieran was born. That was a way nicer shirt. It's a decent colour...it's red.
I'm surprised I hadn't done one in 2006 or 2007. Prior to 2005 I did another in 2003. And there's a record of me running in 2002, but Brian ran that for me (I was injured) and he's way faster than me, so I don't count that one.

I like doing this race, if you work downtown, you can head down right after work. The route is down by the lake so it's scenic. It's an out and back and the return leg is on the boardwalk. A nice route, simple, flat and fast, there's a slight uphill on the way back right before the finish, and to reward you they give you Krispy Kreme donuts at the end to replenish your fat stores that you just burned off.

And I'm so glad the rain held off. It was pouring just before the race. But it made the temperature perfect for a good run. It wasn't too warm.

The only bad thing about an evening race in June. The bloodsucker mosquitos come out and attack all the warm bodies in spandex.

Then I saw the Wong's DB team after practice, I saw Christina on my inbound leg at Sunnyside docks - Andy, Brian, Eddie, Stella, Mawhinney, Krystal, Vegiemeister Christina and the rest of the gang heading off to Rol-san for aa after a practice replenishing of nutrients and MSG.

Happy Father's Day!

This is what Father's day is all about.

Sleeping in and watching 'teedee'.

Stuttgart & Metzingen

All that driving was making me feel like a fish in a fish bowl.
I was glad to have returned the rental car and back walking around.






It was a tiring Tour and a latte was what I needed.
And a nice relaxing breakfast, I was getting tired of hotel food, and eating every other hour with a beer or coffee. I was stuffed.





Other than Martin and Andrea, we were here to visit another guy.
Hugo Boss.

This was the factory outlet in Metzingen. It was huge. And we managed to come out with a lot of nice stuff from there. We didn't buy a lot, but what we did buy, was nice.





Ya, we did alright. Thumbs up.
Thanks Martin for taking us around. He's a good husband.







We went to a scenic point, where there was a young couple there also enjoying the view, but I think they preferred if we weren't there.







We had a super time in Europe on this trip. We got to see lots of family. And experience the culture there first hand. We were very fortunate. And we ate lots of schnitzel, beer, wine and coffee.

North Americans as a whole could learn a thing or two from the Europeans. Driving is one thing. And not being so excessive with buying everything is another. I think we have so much space here in North America that bigger always seems better. Remember it's quality not quantity. Be more green and take care of the little space you have and it'll feel that much larger.

And on top of it all I got to see the center of the universe.
It was time to head home.

Click me for more photos

Tour of Duty - Moravske Toplice

This was our home base while we were in Slovenia.
This is where Tresa's family would stop by to have dinner or swim in the pool.

Moravske Toplice a small town basically made up of hotels on a thermal springs.



I was the only asian in the hotel that was a guest.
Other than the thai folks running the thai-spa part of the hotel. There was no other asians for 300 km. The ones I saw in Bled.






And this is what we did most of the time we were there.
Food in one hand, beer in the other.

It was a nice place. Kieran loved the pool, there was even a kiddie pool for him. He learned to float on his back by himself.
There was a 50 m pool to do lengths in. The stinky petroleum smelling pool (mineral bath) where as soon as I walked into it, people would leave. I could only really sit in there for about 5mins.


Today was our last day there and we were recovering from the sunburns and resting up for the long drive back to Stuttgart.






I was hoping I'd get a chance to meet this guy in person, but it didn't pan out. So instead he sent me photos of himself and his family.
He is the number one Sukaboy Euro fan. He checks every day, whether there is a post or not. Plus he leaves comments and signs his name.

Next time Izidor.


Click here for more spa photos

Tour of Duty - Maribor, Slovenia

This is Maribor.
I saw only a limited bit of it since we were behind schedule and we needed to be back to the hotel by a certain time for a treat. Food from the Prekmurje region where Tresa's dad's from.

I thought that we had been eating food from his region. We stop for coffee and a snack and then a little while later we stuff ourselves with something else, plus a beer.



This ice cream shop in Maribor was really good. The ice cream was almost a bit like gelato but way better.

Kieran was happy.





We almost ate out of a vending machine cuz we were behind schedule.

We ended up eating at Tresa's cousins.





This is Maribor. Tresa's cousins took us on a gondola ride to the top of this ski hill which is open for downhill mtn biking in the summer. Looks almost like the Maribor map I took a picture of in the morning.

We stopped for coffee here too.



And when we took the gondola back down to the base we had supper.
And a beer, and wine.
It was a lot of food. Plus we had to be back at the hotel to eat some more.

Maybe I should have bought a larger suit?

Anyways we made it back, but I was stuffed, and it the Prekmurje night wasn't exactly what Tresa's dad expected. There was a wedding reception that night too was higher priority. So the Prekmurje spread wasn't as big as he would have liked. Not sure how he could have eaten any more we just ate a big meal less than an hour before.



Then we had more wine and coffee and Kieran had an ice cream, usually they have it as part of dinner, but tonight because of the wedding they didn't and so we had to buy an ice cream bar.



Click me for more Maribor photos

Tour of Duty - Postojna & Bled, Slovenia

Day 3 of our Tour of Duty. And we traveled about 300km to see these caves and the area of Bled with the island church and asians other than myself.

But first things first, we can't deviate from our schedule.

We stop to have a coffee.



When Tresa's dad said we were going to see the caves I thought it was the caves that those people so the virgin mary.

But these were just regular caves. Apparently they were discovered by accident when someone fell in a hole.



These caves are huge. The second largest in existence, from what the guide said.

Some of the stalagmites are 65 million years old.
I think she said they grow at 3mm every 10 years. Almost as slow as the guys taking pictures with their digital cameras with the flash going off every 5 seconds.

You know, if you are going to ignore the sign that says "No photos allowed", take the flash off and learn to use your digital SLR in a mode other than 'auto'.

So we visited another church. There's a statue of Pope John Paul the II outside.

Inside it is pretty majestic. It seems so much larger inside than outside.



Tresa's dad took his 7th photo of the trip.
I think he's the only person I know who could probably make do with the 32MB card that comes with the camera package when you buy it. 4GB would take him 5 years to fill up with the rate that he takes photos.

Which is fine for me, since he always gets me to print out his photos. You have to fill in the gaps between photos with what he describes.




So finally this is Bled. I've seen photos but this place is beautiful. And so clean, probably because there aren't any asian's around. Wait I saw an asian tour bus. I was surprised to see some non-white folks.


Well, it was a close one but we almost didn't make out to the island to visit the church there and ring the bell.

The only way across to the island was by paddle boat. It was the end of the day and we saw several boats returning.

They normally take 10-15 people to the island per boat, but we were hopeful that someone would take us there.


We were fortunate enough that someone was going to take us. There were 7 of us including Kieran going so that was enough fare to make it worthwhile for the big brute paddling the boat to take us to the island.

And this is what we saw. A silly kid who just woke up from his nap and had one too many gummi bears.



Before heading back to Movraske Toplice, we stopped for coffee and ice cream at the hotel right by the lake.

I needed the coffee for the 3hr drive home.
Kieran was all set with his spinner toy that we picked up at the Brezej church and the turkey thing was in his ice cream and Madagascar on the player.

He fell asleep in this same position clutching all three things.

Click me for more Jama and Bled photos

Tour of Duty - Grad & Kuzma, Slovenia

Day 2 of our Tour of Duty: Slovenia.
Dobra DAN!

We were on our way to the center of the universe. Our guide was checking every map he could find to point out where we were.



It didn't matter that I had a GPS with the latest maps that could tell me where I was on the planet within 10 meters.

Today we visited a castle in Grad. Doesn't look like the ones on Discovery Channel or in Braveheart or any of those King Arthur movies. But this was Slovenia.



This is what we visited.
It's like a museum, with some exhibits of how things were way back. A lot of the artifacts have been stolen, but I think the plan is that it be renovated to be a hotel.






There were school kids touring the place. But I think they were caught off guard by the brown asian dude and the kid with the funny eyes. So they were a little distracted.

I was hurting from too much sun and swimming from the day before. I don't think the beer helped either.


See that jug on the left. That's what they use drink beer in. It's a Slovenian pint. Which reminds me.
Guess what? Surprise, surprise were on schedule to visit another church in Grad and right beside it is a pub, so we stopped there and had a beer and sandwich too. Can't be going off the plan you know.


Here's the church. Apparently this is where Tresa's dad when to church as a kid. Walked there No shoes. And it was Uphill both ways.

The little pub where we stopped for coffee and a beer was just beside it.




This is it. The center of the universe. It was so impressive Tresa had to break out a new diaper and wipes - for all of us.

On the GPS I marked this point of interest in it's own category - "Kranjec".

Basically it's the intersection of three roads.
One way goes to Austria, the other goes to Hungary, and the last goes toward Murska Sobota.

I was ready to pass out. I had taken some advil in the morning and needed another I was so overwhelmed. The 30 deg C temps was great, but it was a painful day. If I wasn't suffering from heatstroke I'd have had another beer. Instead I had water and had tried to eat as much of the Slovenian lunch for two, that would have fed a family of 5 back in Toronto.

In any case it was great to see this place and go back to where Tresa's dad was born and grew up. It was cool.

This is his older brother. Notice the family resemblance?
The Kranjec genetic sequence for the nose and sternbrau is pretty strong.


Through all the fatigue and it ended up being a pretty good day. We even got to shop today. Tresa's dad had me punch in the coordinates to the Mura factory outlet.
I'd never heard of Mura before so I didn't know whether it was good or not. But they produce Hugo Boss suits. I checked the Boss suit I have and it has a 'Made in Slovenia' tag.
So...I tried on one really nice silk suit, the jacket fit fine, but the pants were a little too tight, I couldn't even sit down. I think when I tried, I split a seam. Anyways I put that one back. The size number is a little different than what we have in North America. So I found the right size but in a different style.

Tresa was Euro-styling me. The only suit I was only ever allowed to wear after we got married was my Hugo Boss suit that we got for our wedding. Now I have a second one I'm allowed to wear. Woo hoo!

As soon as we got back to the hotel I hit the sack. I was beat.

Click me for more center of the universe photos

Tour of Duty - Murska Sobota, Slovenia

Official Day 1 of Tour of Duty: Slovenia.
Dobra Dan!

What can I tell you?

We visited a church.
Beautiful church. I think it's well over a hundred years old.
It was clean.




We had coffee and a bite to eat.
Can you see a pattern emerging here?

We had beer and wine at the spa.

The priest on the right visited Tresa's parents just around the time Kieran was born.


And we saw the tree that Tresa's dad had climbed as a kid to win a pencil and book.
But he had to fight other kids for the honour of climbing it.

Bet you if he climbed it now it would bend like a sapling.


Click here for more photos of Murska Sobota