I Hate The Moj !!!!

Has anyone ever noticed that idiot that is on before the Canucks games on Sportsnet?
The Moj is the curse of the Vancouver Canucks, every time he makes a prediction it is ALWAYS the opposite. I am almost convinced he works for BC lotteries ... if you ever want to make money bet against what that fool has to say ... I don't think he has ever been right!

His quote is that he "lays the hammer down!" Someone on the Canucks should lay the hammer down on him. I dont' mind if he makes wrong predictions on any other team. But he should just leave the Canucks out of his predictions. Maybe he can say they will lose every game so we can win one once in a while ...

How long are we going to be mediocre for? Should Nonis have made a big trade? I'm not blaming him but we can't build a team blow it up build it blow it up forever ... at some point you will have to make a decision ... hopefully i can eat my words again and the Canucks will make the playoffs and go far ...

STOP !!!!!!!!!!

This is for the jerks out there that seem to think Stop signs are just there for display! Stop does not mean slow down from 70 or 80 and whip around the corner. It also doesn't mean inch your way 10 feet past the Stop sign and sit in the middle of traffic!
Stop simply means stop! And wait until its safe for you to proceed ... there is no time limit on when you should stop. just stop and wait until its your turn. So for that @sshole that cut me off today and didn't bother to slow down this is what is means!
If your not sure of this symbol or if you cannot understand the word STOP maybe you should get tested again because next time you do that may be your last. One day someone who is not as nice as me might not have the ability to swerve out of the way and smash into your sorry ass.
Maybe you have no regard for your own life, but be considerate of other people! Your life might not be worth the pot you piss in but other people have families and people who care about them.

It also doesn't help that i live in Richmond, not to be racist or anything but i think its time to do a mass police ticket/fines for all the crappy drivers out there! Maybe make the fines like $500- $1000! A few of those should make you think twice about being an ass on the roadways!

I witnessed an accident a few months ago in a parking lot. A lady hit this other car while parking .. she then continued to park, waited a few a while until no one was looking the left the scene. Luckily i was there to write down the license plate number and description or the person and make of the car. I left my number and told the person to call me, which they did. A few days later the police called me and i gave my statement and told him to throw the book at her 10 points for a hit and run then leaving the scene of the accident. I wish she would have gotten more!
So the next time you see something like this happen take the time to STOP (there's that magic word again) and do something about it. Because the next car or person that gets hit could be you or someone you know!!!!!!!!

A Day At The Dyke

Today we took our Kodi for a walk on the Dyke.
I got a chance to take my new camera out to take some pictures and got a chance to take Kodi for a long walk.
I got a chance to practice using my camera while getting some pretty cool shots off. There are so many things to learn on the camera that i can barely keep up. I'm always thinking of cool shots, but forget to look at exposures and stuff ... when i got home half my pictures were crap! Oh well ... at least i got a few good ones off ..

After about an hour or so walk with Kodi, she jumped right away into the car and fell asleep in about 10 seconds ... It was a pretty big day for her. She also went through her first car wash .. i don't think she liked that very much ..

Here are some shots that i was able to salvage ...








http://www.flickr.com/photos/23909847@N05/

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Dont Steal My Dog!

Today Kodi went to the vet again, she doubled in weight from the last time we brought her a month ago! She is now 22.4 pounds! It's amazing how fast she's grown, even we noticed. I'm kinda sad because she's growing up too fast ...

Today we got her micro chipped, This will ensure that she will be found if she's ever lost of stolen. It's amazing how good technology is nowadays. It took about 10 seconds for her to get micro chipped. The needle was huge but our dog was very brave, she didn't even whimper... just went about her day like nothing happened.
She also got 2 other shots, her rabies shot and distemper shots.

I don't think she even minds going to the vet, other than being cooped up for an hour in the same room, she's not scared or nervous unlike some of the pets we see in there.

After that we went to day 4 of puppy training ... ( her walking is still terrible but her other commands were great) after that we took her for a short walk to Steveston to get some fish and chips for mom and dad. I was so proud of her because she was very well behaved. I think this is the very first time we took her to a place with lots of people, other than at church and she just sat there and watched us eat. She met lots of other dogs there and was very good at being friendly! I really think that puppy socializing was a great idea and all dog owners should do it.

My First Pics!

Finally i managed to figure out how to put my pictures online!
This is my first attempt at taking pictures, and guess who i took pictures of!



here is the link to my pics, even though i don't have many ... but hopefully i can put my new fancy camera to good use soon!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23909847@N05/

Who Can Afford To Live In Vancouver????

The wife and i were talking briefly about the housing market the other day( don't worry 1 mile radius-ers). We were talking about either knocking the house down, or buying somewhere else.

Our house is probably about 35-40 years old now, and things are starting to go wrong. The fence needs fixing, the roof had a bit of a leak(but its fixed now!) and just general maintenance stuff .. Its a bit of a pain because we don't want to spend any money on fixing the house incase we decide to rebuild. It would have been money wasted ...

I was looking into the markets a bit in the last little while and i cannot believe the prices of housing in Vancouver/Richmond. The average house is about $850,000 and that's on the low end. You would probably get something that is about 30 years old. Our house is probably about $200,000 less than that and we live in a 3 bed room rancher.

Who can afford that if you are just starting out?? Its totally ridiculous. You would both have to be working and making decent money. If you had no money down and was looking into buying a house, assuming that you could get about a 5% mortgage. You would have to pay about $4000 a month! And that's not including anything like phone bills, electricity, hydro, property taxes ... it would easily be over $4500 a month in just maintaining your house! That's insane... considering you could move out to Saskatchewan/Winnipeg and but a place for $150-200,000. Actually you could buy a few houses.

Everyone has been saying that the bubble is going to burst pretty soon and the housing market is going to burst. I haven't seen it ... I bought my house about 7-8 years ago for $246,000 and its tripled in that time. How much longer do you think this can go on for? I have heard that after the 2008 Olympics the housing prices will come down to a halt .. i guess only time will tell!!


I was talking with some friends about the Saskatchewan idea!! If i could get all my friends and family to do it then were in! We could all sell our houses and buy a few blocks! Wouldn't that be great? Who's in with me?? I wonder how much it would cost to name a street after me?

I Choo-Choo Choose You

My wife and I don't usually give gifts and such on holiday. We think we would like to be the kind of people that takes the commercialism out of the holidays.

For example: A week prior to Valentines day roses are usually about $7.99 a dozen (i'm generalizing, give or take a few bucks either way ..) but the week of Valentines day they skyrocket to $29.99 +. Not that i'm cheap or i dont think my wife deserves them but don't you think its a bit ridiculous? The same thing goes for Christmas ... and every other holiday. Stores just want to make more money cause ... they know people will pay for it.

Something that always pops into my head at this time of year is the episode of the Simpsons where Ralf Wiggims gives Lisa Simpson a Valentines day card.




It makes me laugh, for one thing it's the Simpsons. Secondly it portrays how everyone is doing the exact thing as Ralf. The go and spend lots and lots of money on things to please the other person. I think for all those people that went out and bought chocolates, roses and other big ticket items JUST because today is Valentines day are a little bit weird. If you love your partner you should be able to do these things any day of the year and not just because its Valentines day.

And for all the girls out there that celebrate today, don't forget that its Valentines day for the guys as well! Every year i ask my wife how come only the guys go out and do all these "special" things for the ladies? How come the girls don't go out and buy video games, cameras, motorcycles, sports equipment .. for the guys ??
I know my wife reads this so i hope she gets the hint ;)

Anyways I hope everyone has a great day whether you celebrate it or not!

1 Corinthians 13

Love

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Ozone Machine

Do you know that stinky smell you get when you have hockey gear? Well i play in net and today i cleaned my gear.

I borrowed an Ozone Machine from a good friend of mine, apparently ozone is used to kill mold and bacteria ... I put all my goalie gear in my bad and put the machine into it. I left the machine on for about 40 minutes and then aired my gear for about 10 min outside.

When i first took out the gear it smelled like chlorine, after i aired it out for a while i noticed that the stink was gone ... so apparently it works! It smells a lot better than when i first put it in the bag.

I think they have one of those machines at Sportsexchange, some people say they are great some say it doesn't work. so far it has worked quite well for me, but we will see in a few days.

On another note, i cant believe how big Kodi is getting. She seemed a bit heavier when i picked her up. When we first got her she was only about 6 pounds, when we took her to the vet a week and a half after she was 13 pounds and now i think shes about 20!!! I hope she doesn't double her weight every week or else she will be as big as Clifford the red dog!!.
This week was her second week at puppy school, sadly enough i think she thinks shes a human. She doesn't really like to play with the other dogs. Maybe shes scared because she is the youngest and smallest in her class ... We took her to a good friend of ours who also owns a dog, and she seemed to be a bit better there.
Yesterday a few friends of ours also brought their dogs over to the same friend and they played well together ... Kodi wasn't as scared but she was also the biggest ... hopefully thats all it is .. and she only scared at puppy school cause shes the smallest.
Its hard to know if dogs are just playing or if they are fighting ... sometimes it seems like they are playing really rough but they keep going back for more.
I wish i could read her mind!

Here is a short video of our puppy!!

Stupid House Stuff

They should come out with some sort of manual when you buy a house!

Lately i have had to do some stupid house maintenance stuff that you never think about ...

here are some examples, hopefully they will help someone out.

Clean your gutters!
this year i had to do that and i scooped out about 50 pounds of crud sitting in my gutter, never thought of doing that until it was too late. we had a little leak in our roof and i checked out just about everything until i cleaned my gutters!

Flush your hot water tank out.
your suppose to do this every year, who knew?? We had to get a new hot water tank this year because i never once thought that you would have to clean it. Apparently stuff builds up in the tank and takes years off your hot water tanks life away.

Turn your water off to faucets that are outside
luckily our winters here are not cold enough, but this is something you should so your pipes dont freeze over. This can be messy when the water in your pipes start to defrost

Clean your Furnace
This is something you should do every other year, so the dust and crud in your air doesnt circulate

also dont cheap out on useless maintenance stuff, but it once so you dont have to keep buying it over and over and over again. you spend the money to do it properly this will save you lots in the long run!!

im sure there are tons more stuff but these things recently happened to me, im sure there are tons more ... (sigh)

This has nothing to do with house maintenance but here are some regular maintenance stuff you should do.

check your tire pressure
change your oil regularly
clean your freezer and fridge! ( i throw out old stuff all the time ..)

im sure brushing your teeth, showering, combing your hair ... ect ... are all in there somewhere too but you would figure some people wouldnt know it.

let me know if i can add to the list ...

Gung Hay Rat Choi

Happy Chinese new year to all!

Today was the first time i left Kodi alone for more than a few hours. When i got home she was really good. no barking no crying ... she just came out and scratched on the back door ( her way of telling us she has to pee or poop. And tonight we took her for a walk and she is learning how not to pull on her leash as much. i think shes getting it but shes so excited to run around and play she forgets that shes on a leash.

On top of that i finally got a camera!! I have been wanting one for a long long time and finally decided to do it. I purchased a Nikon D200 ( which wasnt the one i wanted, it was too expensive) but i managed to get a really good deal. it was only about 175 more than the one i wanted. I really wasnt even looking at that one cause it was way our of my price range but when i was at the store, it happened to be the last one, and the new D300 came out so the 200 is being discontinued and the manager didnt really care. I think this camera is too complicated for me but i will take a class and learn. I'm pretty happy with my new purchase! It's not the lens i wanted but i think i made a better financial decision.
Its a hard thing for me to do, i never really had to "watch my spendings" when i was younger cause i had money. Its not that i dont now, but i actually think more about my purchases ... it guess its the good influence of my wife.
I feel a little bad/guilty if i spend too much, even though i know we can afford it. I guess its a good thing ...

all in all i had a pretty good day!

New Tricks!!!!!

I love new tricks, and Kodi is sooooo good at them!
We have had her for a little over 2 weeks now and i dont know if she's brilliant or if were good teachers!! My wife sure knows how to pick dogs!! I knew Labs were smart but i am still surprised at the rate she's learning!

So far the tricks she knows are Sit, Lie Down, Roll Over, Watch Me, Leave It, Speak, Beg (that's a tough one for her) and Dance! Thats averaging 2 tricks a day!

She loves to learn but i think she loves her treat treats more!!

She is getting a little better at walking but is still pulling on her leash, its getting better so practice makes perfect i guess.

Daddy loves to teach her new tricks but the credit all goes to her for being able to do it! It takes her an average of 15-30 min to learn a new trick, and the good thing is when she gets tired or doesnt want to do it anymore she lets me know, so i dont push her too much.

Eating my words

What a fantastic finish to the SuperBowl!
I am eating my words, i said that it would have been a blowout. New England cant be beat ect .. ect ..
I have to admit that was one of the best Superbowls i have ever watched. Congrats to the Giants. I really didnt think they could do it. I thought it was just a matter of how many point the Pats wanted to score.
I think im not the only one that counted the Giants out, i dont think the rest of the word gave them much of a chance either ..
I was amazed how disciplined they were, Brady had an ok game but the Giants scored when it counted .. i am still in shock at the outcome of the game. Usually SuperBowls are overatted and all hype but this was a great game

Puppy Obedience

Being the good parents that we are, we enlisted Kodi-May to her first puppy obedience school. When we arrive, i was quite hesitant. There were about 8 other dogs and their owners and believe it or not, Kodi was the smallest of the them all. Some dogs just towered over her!

I have to admit i did not like the socializing part, even though mommy was ok with it. She played quite well with the other dogs, but being so small some of the other dogs knocked her over while they were busy playing with the other dogs. She got picked on a bit but managed to defend herself quite well. She told some dogs off but still managed to have fun.

To be honest if i was at the park and some dog was picking on her and biting her i wouldn't hesitate to go over and give the other dog a quick boot. I think that the puppy training is beneficial not only for the dogs but its also very good for the owners!

I dont know how im going to ever do it if we ever have kids, i am very protective of Kodi and really dont like it when she gets picked on. Even though i know she has to socialize ... (sigh).

I am pretty excited to go to the next class cause i know that Kodi is a lot smarter than the other dogs! Maybe she will even get an award at the end of the 6 week lesson. She knows many tricks now. Sit, Lie Down, Roll Over, Speak, Watch Me, Leave it, Off .... it's pretty crazy how much she knows. She recognizes Me and My wife and when she is asked where mommy and daddy are she perks up her ears and comes looking for us.

We have only had Kodi for 2 weeks but it seems like she's a big part of our family, i cant wait to see her when she's gone, and i'm excited to see her when i come home. My Favorite part of the day is when i have a blanket and she crawls underneath and snuggles close to me! When my wife gets ready for work in the morning i sleep on the floor for an hour with Kodi, she's all excited when i bring the blankets and pillows on the floor because she knows that she can sleep with dad for an hour before work.

Day 1 of puppy training is over ... we will definitely enroll Kodi in many more courses . Even though she doesn't need it ;)

The Not so Superbowl

If you plan to check out the Superbowl this week you will be disappointed!
It's not whether the Patriots will beat the Giants, its a matter of how many points they want to do it in(the Vegas spread is 12.5 right now). The Perfect season will happen! The greatest team ever to play the game? its quite possible! The scary thing is they will do it again next year. Maybe not a perfect season, but depending on injuries its still quite possible.

I dont even think the giants think they can win from the interviews i have seen on TV. If you go into the game with a lack of confidence its already over ...

I will probably end up watching the game, but its hard to get excited if you know the ending to the game.

Has there been a great final in the last few seasons? The Superbowl is just a reason to have your buddies over for some food and drinks and hang out. The game usually is just in the background.

I would trade the Superbowl for a 7th game of the NHL, or a Canadian gold medal Olympic game. For those people that don't watch hockey it is the greatest sport in the world! And its the hardest to win a championship!

So my hats off to the Pats for another Superbowl win. Hopefully i can post on sunday and be wrong. But the thing is at least i will be witnessing a part of history