The church of basketball, books, booze, cuisine, movies, music, TV. Save me Jeebus, indeed!
Friday, December 31, 2010
KFC: Kenji Fried Candy
Some Settlers, Hey! That's My Fish and decidedly cut-throat Blokus, managed to keep us awake until the magic hour. For all of our hard partying, I'm glad all the vomiting had concluded by mid-morning.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
(Shirt) Buddies
Overheard: our 5-year old son to the 6-year old boy, "Let's hang out like real teenagers."
When I was visiting them in October, there was some chagrin that the outfit that matches mine couldn't be found. We corrected that today:
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Boxing and Scrubbing
Except I remembered that the desk drawer that I had saved for last, I didn't get to so I went in today do some final packing, report writing, and general tidying. The church laptop has been cleaned as best I could, trying to remove all trace of my computing for my eventual successor. Although the time to delete some 35, 000 files today took longer than I had time for - it seems there will be one final visit to the office to drop off the machinery.
And then, for real, I'll close the door and walk away.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Bands of Silliness
Monday, December 06, 2010
Snow Day
There was a note of explanation that followed:
Dear Ms. Davis [teacher],
I want to be perfectly clear on my child’s homework illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint surrounded by male customers with money.
I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm. This drawing is of me selling a shovel.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Harrington [mommy in question]
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Stocking Stuffer
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Croupier
We got into the doctor today who diagnosed a viral infection, suspected croup and prescribed 9 mg of steroid followed with a pudding chaser. We'll keep him out of daycare tomorrow and hope tonight's a quiet night.
With a blogpost title like this, you'd think there'd have been more gambling references beyond the casino bar.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
A New Focus
There was a panicked call to Shelley who happened to be home with Kai who happened to be home sick from school, a call to our dealership to arrange for a tow truck and a call to the airline to explain the situation. Watching the minutes tick by, I also called the hotel in Sault Ste. Marie to inform my colleague that I likely wouldn't be available to meet for supper as planned.
My rescue arrived when Shelley and Kai speedily delivered me to the airport, in time for my original flight! It wasn't until my return home that we made arrangements for a replacement car (we'd figured the cost of the next major repair would be better directed towards a downpayment on another car). We discovered with all the incentives, upgrades, and enticements, a new car would only be a couple thousand dollars more than a used one.
So after 300, 636 km, we handed the keys over in exchange for another Focus (2011 with Sirius satellite radio for 6 months - hello Radio 3!) I think I'll call it Desmond as a tribute to Paul Quarrington and Maury Chaykin.
Such was the adventure of the new car, apart from the fact that I lost my passport at the airport in Toronto...
Friday, November 26, 2010
"Taking My Talents to South London"
I have to say this came about rather suddenly. I wasn't expecting to re-locate so soon, but an opportunity arose that was too good to pass up. Given the uncertainty that many mainline Protestant congregations are facing, the proposition of a stable and viable ministry that had opportunity for further outreach into its local community seemed like divine providence.
While I look forward to being part of a staff team (children's minister, youth minister, visitation minister, administrative and custodial support), I'll certainly miss the earnest commitment and engagement of Appin and Trinity United Churches and the support they've shown to myself and my family. But such is life, full of transition with cost and reward.
Reiko's first question was when we broke the news to her was: "We don't have to move, do we?" Which wasn't really a question, followed quickly by: "So, we won't have to decide what church we're going to on Sunday morning." That was the extent of her analysis and she deemed it to be good.
All this was happening in June/July when all the Raptors were getting ready to cut ties with Chris Bosh and LeBron James was preparing for his ill-advised LeDecision. Here's hoping I handled it better than they did.
What's New?
So, what's new? New job, new car, those are the big ticket items. Also, new glasses, new school year, new user ID at CBC Radio 3, new expansion pack for Settlers of Catan...
I'll go into more detail on each of these in due course (and backfill some of the missing year too). I was looking for an opportune time to return to this cyberspace; thanks to Ursula for having a birthday giving me that excuse. I am so excite! [sic]
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Halloween 2010
Reiko as a lioness and Kai as the Autobot Transformer Bumblebee.
I'm taking the picture, dressed as Travis Ishikawa, the light-hitting, defensive substitute for the San Francisco Giants. I have on my cap (circa 1987) and ballglove (circa 1978). It's an elaborate costume for me to masquerade as a Japanese-American first baseman when everybody knows I'm more of a middle infielder!
But you don't really care, look at the kids! For your information (and our own record-keeping) the count was 108 visitors between 6 -8 p.m.