Wow, I've updated my web site a few times and assorted other blogs, but have sadly neglected this one.  A lot has happened since the October election and I suppose I could have put in my two cents worth but really, politics (with the exception of the wonderful election of Barak Obama in the US) has gotten pretty crazy nearly everywhere.  But then, the world has gotten crazy.  I've been loving the gas prices going down (here to about 60 cents a litre) but sadly it's going up again - the stations I passed by had 82.5 cents.  Still, it's much better than $1.40!

Our silly election resulted in the Conservatives coming back in, then a coalition between the parties that combined have a majority but individually weren't enough wound up being nothing after Parliament was prorogued (i.e. suspended for a while) and during that time the world had an economic meltdown.  In the US, the amazing election of Obama and the flurry of changes that were signed in during the days after inaugruation is refreshing if a bit mind boggling.  In Canada, our own budget (which likely will be passed this week) is radically different from previous ones.  Will it help?  I don't know but if it means that the government will put their foot down on horrendous interest rates that credit card companies can charge here (25% anybody?) that would be good.  I read the budget, didn't see anything that specifically said they would curb that, but a new financial overseeing officer (or something like that) may offer some hope.

Little guy is having a stellar year, signing up for swimming, taking level 2 then next term saying that's too easy can you test me?  And being put in level 5.  So far so good, and he is really trying in sports, so much so that he is going back into gym class at school this term.  His determination is strong and he is understanding a little better the importance of rules and following direction in sports and so now he is in skiing (and doing very well!) and trying out for the basketball team.  That's a who knows thing (after all there are tryouts and they pick the best so if he's not in well, he should practice over the summer if he's interested in being on the team and doesn't make it this time around).  A very good year for him on many fronts and we're all very proud of how well he's doing overall. 

Also in big news was the sale of the house in Mississauga and the move of daughter and dad to Ottawa in November.  We were fortunate - the house sold days before the crash and prices of houses falling in the area.  While there were legal issues that meant there wasn't much left over in terms of profit on the sale, it was enough for dad to get a fresh start and me, well, to pay a couple of bills.  Someday I hope to get my full portion but that's a lesser issue than the fact that we are finally close together geographically.  I was busy helping them do that - while dad and daughter were packing and painting and dealing with potential buyers, I was hunting down a place for them to rent (and in a very short time frame, the closing date was less than a month from the acceptance) and once I found a place I was pretty sure they'd like, was the inbetween for the paperwork for ex and agent, then went down to Mississauga for the last few days to help pack and sign papers and stuff.  That was a month!
They are very happy with the place I found though, so that's good.

What wasn't good was that shortly after they got here and daughter was accepted into a school that wasn't on a semestered system (like her old school), the busses here went on strike.  For 51 days.  No car and daughter's school was on the other side of the city.  She took taxis for the first couple of weeks of the strike but thankfully her aunt stepped in and has been driving her.

For me, it's been a world of book publishing and editing.  I Ching Jukebox is up on Lulu.com as a hardback and a pdf download and will be up on CafePress as a Canadian edition paperback (written by Genève Blue) and my poetry book that is currently on CafePress as a paperback will be on Lulu as a hardback and pdf shortly.  I Ching Jukebox will also be distributed through Amazon.com soon - the formatting is tricky and there's one more fix that needs to be done before it'll be acceptible for them (the Lulu hardcover version is good though so if anyone wants to get that it's okay to read - it's a slight difference between the size of the margins that is the problem).  Two people have read it and told me they really enjoyed it, so maybe this little novel is going to do well.  The one I'm editing now though is called Off Air and that is one story that I think is really special and one that I think others will agree too.  I am my own worst critic I think but that's good, that means what will eventually be for sale will be worth the wait I hope.

I've started another university course finally - Operating System Concepts (it's the hardware end of things) so that's a hopeful thing too.

And a happy thing:  while little guy isn't taking piano anymore as of the end of December, the reason is wonderful.  A very big congratulations to Scott and Heather on being given permission to marry and for Scott that meant a move to the US.  We wish you all the best and little guy thinks taking drums and then guitar are going to be his next musical forays, which should be interesting .

There's more I could write about but I think I've tired everyone's eyeballs enough, so that's it for now.

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