There always has to be one

 It was Haren's birthday.  And it was at our favourite place.  Well it's my favourite place for a kids's party because there's lots of stuff for the adults to do.

And it's just so cool.
It seems like they added more stuff.

There's the basketball games.
That ball looks like it's going to be a brick.
Looks evenly matched.

1 min of pure stress for those going up against moi.





Then there's the Vegas training area.
Where professional trainers are guiding and giving direction on how to beat the 1-armed bandits.








Yep and watch out for sharp objects.
It seems like one of the Garces boys has to be under medical supervision at any one time.
Good thing I have benefits and have exceptional friends with medical degrees.  I didn't realize that because of where I cut my hand, risk of infection was high.  Good thing I'm pretty much done in the basement.

Haren's 6th Birthday party

Child peeler

Am I running a sweatshop or what?
Kieran's been preparing his lunch for school.  He chooses his meal, and veggies for lunch.  We used to let him pack snacks like nut-free cookies and stuff, but when he'd bring home his lunch box, nothing would be eaten except for the snacks.

So Tresa, stopped that practice in it's tracks.
Now almost everything gets eaten.  And Kieran helps make his own lunch.
Usually from leftovers or something he knows he'll eat.

It was kinda scary at first handing him the peeler.  I didn't want him peeling his skin along with the carrot.  Skin belongs on the kid not the food bin.  But a little guidance and monitoring, he was good.  It's in line with how they do it at school.  If the child demonstrates a capability, then they show him/her something to help reinforce that capability and extend it.  It helps develop finer motor skills, good habits and life skills, and more importantly their self confidence.

Six point five

It was funny when the doctor at the Fracture Clinic asked Kieran how old he was, his response was not 6, but 6 and a half.  The doctor was amused.  Nice fellow.

He did his math drills yesterday and this is how he signed it.
At first I thought it was some middle eastern play on his last name.  Like Sinbad or something, because when I initially looked at it, I thought the 6 was a 'G' so I read it as Ginahaf.  Maybe Garces was not ethnic enough for him.

Then I looked closer.  It reads  'KieRAN 6 and a half'.  He's reading a lot more now and soon the phonetic spelling should eventually be replaced by more correct english grammar.  But it's an evolution.  If I can understand what he's writing.  That's what is important.

Cast away

This is what happens when you wake up at 5am and are at school before 8am.  It's called crashing.
He did a line and a half of math and this is what I found slumped in my chair.

 Today we headed off to St Joe's Fracture Clinic to get Kieran's cast off.  It doesn't matter that your appt is at 8:20am.  Get there as early as possible, because the fracture clinic gets super busy - FAST.
By the time we were done, it was 2+hrs later and standing room only.

We had to wait 4 separate times.
1) get a number to wait to register
2) wait to get the cast off
3) wait to get an x-ray
4) wait to see the doctor
and there's one more...

Wait for the valet guy to move the car that is blocking your car so you can get out of your parking spot to leave.
It didn't take long.  There's a guy there and it's like less than 5 mins for him to move the car.  I couldn't believe how packed it was.  We were in the parking garage before 8am and we were on the 4th level, but there were lots of spots.  2 hrs later it's packed.





This is the saw that they use to cut the cast.  It doesn't cut skin.  Only fiberglass.  It's kinda scary, but now I'm used to power tools so to me it's like renovating.

Glad this cast is gone.  I wish we could cast it away.  Cuz it was starting to stink.  Like dirty rancid socks.  The kind you forgot was under your bed for a month.  I dropped him at school and he took his cast with him, and his classmate Joshua wanted it.

Anyways.  Skating...he needs guards.  And should probably skip a week. Swimming is good since it gets the muscles moving and provides some resistance, and the chlorine will kill some of that stink on his arm.

Elementary my Dear

Humberside Montessori 2011
Elmentary D

Real Outage

A few weeks ago, Kieran and I went to watch Real Steel at the Queensway Cineplex.  We were about 1/2 way through the movie when Kieran started moving about in his seat and looking around.  Which could only mean one thing.

He had to pee.
Off we went.  No sooner did we make it to the mens washroom did the power all of a sudden go out.
We headed back in and waited a few minutes and the ushers said that the power would be back on shortly.
Kieran was asking me all sorts of questions while I was trying to figure out if there were power outages in the area on  my iPhone.  About 5 mins later I went down to ask if they expected the power to come back on.  And they did not expect it on soon.  So they said that we would give us a pass to come back and use at a later date.

So we got back to our seats collected our stuff, gave the ushers our ticket and we got in exchange a free pass.  And we exited at the emergency exit.  Outside it was really nice.  Crisp, no hint of rain.  Beautiful.  Then we ran into Mila and her mom, one of Kieran's classmates.  Same story.  Power was out for the whole complex.

Today we finally got to see the movie.  Halfway through, Kieran had to go pee again.  So we missed a part just after Charlie got beat up.  But the movie was great.  It was a nice father-son story.

Winterized

I figured I may as well get all the car stuff out of the way so I can focus on other things.  Like my life!  Damit.  Man there is just not enough days in the weekend to do everything.

So I decided to put on the new set of Gislaved Nord Frost 5 tires that I just got in late September.  My old snows were deafening.  Even my old Khumos were loud, replaced those with the Hankooks last year. And since I've now done a coolant flush courtesy of a failed hose clamp and a new power steering pump and new front brake pads, I figure I should complete the job before the temps fall below 0 deg C (that's freezing point of water for the US folks who get a brain cramp when trying to convert metric to imperial).

So on they went.  They are brand spanking new.  I have separate steel rims for my winter tires.  That's because every time you take a tire off a rim and put it back on it wears down the bead of the tire.  If the bead is worn then it has to be repaired otherwise the tire will leak.  And changing a flat in snow, sucks.  I've never done it, but when it's cold outside you want to be inside your car.  And not on the side of the highway changing a tire, like my friend Howard.

Checked the rear brake pads while I was at it and they look fine.  I'll re-grease them in the spring.  The rear brakes don't do a lot braking.  90% of a cars braking is performed by the front.

I also replaced the weather stripping that I got off of another Subaru that the guy was selling parts off of.  You'll need some nylon pry bars to do this work.  Using a screwdriver will scratch your car.

You're supposed to put on snows when the temps start falling below 7 deg C on a consistent basis.  It'll be a high of 11 deg C today, but the trend is steadily downward and I just didn't want to do any more work out side when it's cold and dark.  Plus I'm getting old. 

Washed the car and engine and now we're prepared for Old man winter.
I even adjusted the pully for the power steering pump.  The belt was squeaking a bit.  Hardly noticeable, but I noticed it.

Not quite sure how much longer we'll keep the Subaru, but we got new snows, and it's running well.  No rust, since I have rust proofed this car from the beginning.
If it's still going, we'll keep driving it.  Unless we win Lotto 6/49 or LottoMax.  Then we'll be getting my porsche.  And I'm going to be taking some porsche maintenance training as well.

Until then...well, I'm happy with the Sube.
It's like a lot of things, when you take care and maintain it, it'll take care of you. When you neglect it, sooner or later, something will fail. We live in a disposable society, with everything relationships included instead of fixing it, we go and get something new.  We tend to throw the baby out with the bath water.   Sometimes something new is the way to go.  But I've learned the lesson of taking care of my things and the things around me. When I invest time in it, it becomes more valuable. Basically I work harder to make the grass greener on MY side.
Click me

Slide slider

 I was thinking this would be a simple procedure.  I was servicing my front brakes and greasing the slider pins.
All was well until I got to the driver side brakes and the inside pad came apart.
See that right pad.  It's supposed to be attached to the plate. 

AW man!  More unexpected work.  So off I went to get some new brake pads.  Now I have to change all 4 pads.  So I would have to redo the passenger side that I just did.






The problem was this lower slider pin (on the right).  It wasn't sliding as well as it should and it's because the boot (beside it) wasn't tight anymore and allowing the grease to dry out.

Those pads were relatively new.  I think 2 years old.  The passenger side still had lots of material left.  But that inside pad on the driver side was 75% worn.
Slider pins and boots are cheap.  $20.00 for a pin kit and $15 for a boot kit.  Re-grease and you're good.
It'll save your brakes.
You know if you go to a Subaru dealer to get them to do this job.  It's called their spring brake tune up where they take the brakes off regrease it and put it all back.  They'll charge you $300.00.  Now if you need new parts...well. 

I'm getting good at it now though.  It's easy if you know how, and if you have gumption.  I look at this as training for when I get my porsche.

Click me

Steering wheel whine

 There was a whine I had first noticed several months ago but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from.  It had been getting louder and louder.  Finally after doing a search, and having my brother stand in front of the car as I turned the steering.  It was my power steering pump.
The bearing was probably shot.  It was an original part and this car is a 1998.  But I think there was a leak and this probably lead to the bearing to fail.


 In any case, it wasn't hard to do. The pump sits right at the top beside the alternator.  It takes a few hours but it's helpful if you have a service manual.  Since it tells  you the steps to do for removing the pump and re-installing it.

It also helps to have good neighbours.
Sam always helps me with my car.
I'd be stuck and he'll come over and get me going again.

After a couple of bumps and drops of rain, I was able to get it all back together again and no more whining sound from the engine.  And it feels like new again.

More important than saving $$ that would normally go to a mechanic, is the ability to learn how to do this stuff on my own, and realize it's not rocket science, but takes some gumption and patience.

Click for photos

Keeping up with the Kusins and the Pirate Monkey

 It was a day of Best cousins and the Pirate Monkey.

Grryphindorrrrrr!  Even the sorting hat made it's debut.

And then there was the Flash!
He's tanned from running so fast that it's like permanent sunburn.


Click for more kusins and the monkey.





50 years and counting more Tiffany's stuff.