Category Archives: Misc

19 years

So today Maggie and I celebrate our 19th anniversary and my god where does the time go!  She’s the best wife & partner one could ask for and I always feel lucky to have Maggie in my life.  Thank you for everything and I look forward to what the future brings!

2024

I’m not typically a doom and gloom guy on my blog but I have to say I have a pretty bad feeling about 2024.  There are so many conflicts & potential conflicts that could flare up around the world, I get why aliens don’t visit us.  Our political leaders act like children on the world stage and it’s maddening that they wall want war.

Sigh, I weep when I think of all the lives lost needlessly so far and those that may lose their lives in the stupid fights that may pop up.  Also do not buy the narrative that one side is the bad guy and “our side” is good, it’s much more complicated than that and what’s occurring didn’t happen in a vacuum.

With that said as an individual in Canada, I have absolutely no ability to sway things so I’m just going to do my best to try and make sure my family is as insulated from any shocks that may come.  I hope I’m wrong and that this year turns out to be peaceful so we’ll see what’s in store.

Wishing you the very best for 2024!

Toys are fun!

I’ve always liked radios & communications gear and back in my airsoft days after jumping from radio to radio, I finally settled on a Motorola XTS 2500 Model 3.  It worked great and I absolutely loved how durable it is, being a klutz not breaking when I fall on it is a big deal. 😉  Anyway recently I picked up another, this time the model 2 without the keypad but meh good enough.  I like the fact it has digital output and ADP encryption (my original is a military version with AES 256 but my new one is from a Washington state police dept) so people can’t snoop on my messages, easily anyway.

The Motorola ASTRO 25 CPS software is not easy to use, I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise and it took me about half a day’s tinkering to get everything working properly but yeah now these two are good!  Due to different firmware and hardware options, I couldn’t simply clone one radio to the other so I had to compare settings and there are so many, it can make your eyes gloss over.  I still have some Baofeng radios, used those when I was still a Scout leader and while I’m not really active, or need radios for anything I still want to get a few more.  Just in case right… 😉

Gunshots!

Brandon was a bit bummed out that his hike tomorrow was cancelled so I took him to walk around Darlington provincial park for a walk this morning.  It’s a nice park and while we were walking the trails, in the distance we could hear shotguns go off.  It’s waterfowl season and hunters can hunt in a small area of the park.  Didn’t bother either of us obviously we’re use to guns and what they sound like, just a nice distraction from the droning highway off to the North.

With the heavy rain yesterday, the park was clear of people which was nice.  The paths were a bit muddy but both Brandon and I know rain is just another form of weather and can be enjoyable.  Didn’t rain too hard while we were out but it wouldn’t have mattered as we were dressed for the weather.

It’s the little things like going for a walk with my boy in nature that I love, it may have looked gloomy outside but it was all sunshine and rainbows for me. 🙂

No wonder

As a species we fight over the stupidest things, no wonder aliens don’t visit us.  While I find the clips coming out from the Hamas attack, Israel retaliation & footage from the ongoing Ukrainian war, it makes me so sad to see the needless killing.  What is this all for really, all the fighting does is harden all sides in the conflict making peace less likely.  As much as some may dislike politics, it’s a necessary evil to help solve our problems and only when we talk and address the root causes of the problems in our world will we move forward and make things better.

BRANDON IS 13 ALREADY?!?

Man how time flies when you’re having fun, Brandon celebrates his 13th birthday today.  I’m so lucky to have such a great son, it’s been a wonderful journey so far and I am excited to watch him grow into a man.

Happy birthday son and here’s to many more!  We love you more than you can imagine.

Maggie’s gone to China

Maggie left for China yesterday and is currently waiting on a connecting flight in Seoul, South Korea.  Her father has a massive blood clot in his brain and she felt it was best if she returns home, he’s a good man so we all hope he pulls through.  He’s not that old, early 70s but has lived a hard life and this isn’t exactly a surprise but sad none the less.  He’s alright right now, I’m not sure if he’s had surgery yet or is still waiting but yeah scary stuff.

It’s just Brandon and I at home for the next month to month and a half, I guess we’ll see how things play out but my father in law is in our thoughts.