Airman

Just bought the new Eoin Colfer book titled 'Airman'. A really great read!! Finished it in a day!! This is the first time that I have seen a trailer for book on "You Tube".

Poetry in Blumotion

I discovered that the hinges on the IKEA kitchen units were actually 'Julius Blum' and googled the options available for the same. Found out that I could put dampers on them to slow down the motion of the door when slammed. The Depot wanted CAD 7.00 per piece. After a little homework, I found out that Lee Valley was selling the very same units for half the price. Avi was kind enough to pick them up for me from Lee Valley en route to Eva's place and this is how they function. Please note that the lady in the video does not stay with us or ever visited our house!!!! This video was culled from the Internet

Project Pantry

This is what we were faced with when we took possession of the house in September. I was quick to remove the door leading to the basement (what we now refer to as the lower level!) and in the bargain exposed the very exposed pantry. The first thing that I had to get rid of was the very nasty looking 'Faux Grain' plywood. This left us with walls covered in a very strange shade of peach!!

This is what we lived with for a few months. The shelves are visible from the kitchen and essentially became a dumping ground.

This is what it looks like after a very long weekend of cutting and being covered in sawdust!! Basically these are three IKEA AKURUM High Cabinets that were 15 inches wide x 12 inches deep and 80 inches in height. I had to cut the depth of the carcasses to 7 and a quarter inches including the shelves. Lynda assisted with the long cuts and I do not think she really enjoyed being covered in dust.

It's a big difference from what we had before and is more pleasing on the eyes. Also visible is a pendant lamp that we got from the local salvation army store at a throwaway price. It was brand new - in the box!!!!!!!

Bookcase - Complete!!

The bookcase is finally complete and I loaded it up with all my comics, CD's, LP's etc. The outermost units have their top halves covered by doors. The main reason for this is that the right hand doors are covering the Main Fuse Panel of the house. The left hand side had to be covered to maintain symmetry. Anyways it's a good thing as I needed the space to tuck away all of my spare PC gear.


This is what the inside of the Right Hand unit looks like with it's doors wide open. The cover for the fuse panel is off and has been sprayed white to minimise the impact that the grey colour would have had. I will be putting in shelves to make use of all of the available space.

This is a cut out I made in order to turn off the main breaker; when and if required.

Just an image showing the various cuts that I had to make to accommodate the varying profile of the fuse box and it's support.

Zero Bubble

'Zero Bubble' is a Maritime Term used specifically by the US Navy when describing a level state or calling for a submarine to be levelled out.

My bookshelves are now at Zero Bubble!!!

An amazing feat if I may say so myself; given that the floor is completely whack and that I am dealing with five individual units.


Now to screw them all together and do the final fixing!!!

It's been a great day so far, even though I've had to spend an hour and a half digging a path out of the snow for the car and having to take care of an unwell Aaliyah.

We're getting there baby!!!

Wasted Week (So Far)

The week so far has been a blur. We actually did get so much done over the weekend. We painted the walls of Lynda's studio pure white as well as all of the silly brown shelves. For a touch of whimsy, I got the 'Esquire' to hop over to IKEA and get me the 'Dignitet' curtain wire. This creates a sort of a cocoon for Lynda and can be drawn back completely when required without the hardware being overwhelming.

We also painted the beadboard white and it looks great. The fireplace has also gone completely white.

The bookcases have their new hardboard backs in place and the last one is assembled with the cutouts drawn out. I could not do the cutting with the jigsaw on account of it being too late in the night. Hop over to the Depot 2morrow for a half back and then work towards getting the last unit in place. If I can get the units bayed and affixed to the wall, Lynda will get the stuff off the ground and on the shelves.

Bookcase - Further Update

Did not really get that much done today. We did a tour of the Goodwill shops in the area and apart from Lynda getting a load of stuff for her crafting, I scored a stereo console for a future project. I do not have a picture of the unit but will get some pics in when it comes home

The bookshelves are now in and just need to get those damn backs in from the 'Depot'

Bookcase Progress

Progress to date on the Bookshelves involved demolishing the existing false wall, cleaning the poop, removing the studs and vacuuming the dust.

Layla is not squeamish regarding dirt and poop, so she has been an invaluable help from actually demolishing the wall to riding the vacuum cleaner. Granted that the latter was not helping 'per se', but a kid needs to have fun as well. She has sort of owned this project and I find that amazing from a six year old. Unsure if this is the right tack that we are taking with this child - but who cares.

I need to make time today to go to the 'Depot' and get new hardboard backs cut for the bookshelves. The 80 unit came with a cardboard rear and the backs of the 60 units seem to have been lost in transit.

By tomorrow I should have the first four units in place.

Insh'Allah!!!!

The Complete Peanuts 1950-2000

What will probably be the most ambitious project in Comic publishing history is "The Complete Peanuts" series spanning all of Charles Schulz's creations from inception till 2000 when he passed away.

The first album was published in 2004 and went straight to the New York Times Best Seller List. The last album will be published in 2016. In total, 25 books will have been published.

I managed to get my hands on the first 2 albums which are now almost out of stock and hope to work my way through the collection.

Remember, Birthdays - Anniversaries - St. Athanasius Day - Christmas - Hanukkah - New Year, This is what I want!!!!

Indiana Jones - Omnibus 1

In the run up to the May 22 release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Dark Horse comics will be releasing 2 Omnibus publications - the first in Feb and the second in time with the movie in May.

Got to get both as I missed out on the original releases of the individual comics which are now out of print and not so cheap on Ebay.

Size IS Everything - Or Measure Your 'Billy'

Having based all my calculations on the Billy dimensions from the ikea.ca site, I worked out the following configuration for the bookcase. 80-80-40-80-80. The top portion of the last 80 would be sacrificied as a false panel for the Electric Switchboard with the last shelf of the 40 unit being the incomer for the gas line.

Yesterday I pulled out the 3 Billy units that we had carried with us from Bahrain and which in their previous life held Lynda's shoes. I assembled one unit only to find that it was 60 cms. WTF????? A quick dash to Google reveals that this was from their now discontinued line. Inter-esting!!! Thankfully apart from the widths, the heights are all the same.

Anyways, rehash the entire project. The 40 unit becomes spare and I need to get myself to Ikea to grab the Billy unit that I saw in the AS-IS. I will now have the configuration 80-60-60-60-80 with doors only on the bottom parts of the 80 units.

C'est la vie!!

Lesson learned. Don't leave things up to chance. Constantly measure your Billy!!

Sheepskin

So I did the Lee Valley (Cheap Screws), Tirecraft (Avi's shredded tire courtesy Theresa) and IKEA run this morning. It was bitter cold, -25 with the wind chill but clear as a summers day.

Lynda needed one more sheepskin throw for the bay window. The cashier asks me what it was. 'Sheepskin, I said'. 'Is that the name', she asks me. 'No' I say 'it is the skin of a sheep'. A minutes silence followed by 'I thought wool was curly'. 'It's probably treated' I reply. 'What do you use it for'? she asks. 'Well' I reply 'it is a throw, but we are using it as a seat pad in our bay window'. 'Wow' she replies 'that is such a cool idea'!!!

To her benefit, I was probably her first customer and her brain had not yet thawed from the cold.

Shouldn't IKEA be giving their staff an orientation on their product lines?????

Poop!

In an older house that has been lived in by various families (Second-hand; some might say) one tends to find all sorts or surprises when renovating. What one does not expect to find is Poop. Yes you heard me right. Poop!!!!!

So I'm in the process of removing the false walls that were built by one of the POs. We still do not understand the need of a false wall that robs the basement of a foot of floor space.

Anyhoo.. I digress. So I tear out the wall and there is a load of petrified poop behind the entire wall. Unsure how that got there or what decade it is from. It too big to be from a rat so....

Did not show it to Lynda as she would be squeamish about it. Craftsman 5.0 HP shop-vac - How I love thee!!!!!!

DIY Decora Speakers

In my quest to keep the girls' computer workstation as streamlined as possible, I tried to source out miniature in wall speakers to install on either sides of their monitors. These do exist if only from one retailer and at 50 bucks a piece (times 4) is a little bit too dear for my liking.

So I got myself 2 pairs of Logitech S-220 speakers at clearance from Canadian Computers, 4 'Carlon' Old Work Boxes & 4 Generic Decora wall plates from the Home Depot. Total price - less that 50 CAD.

I sealed the cable ingress with silicone sealant and have left it to dry out and air out for a couple of days. After that I will make 4 face plates for the 2" speakers from the Logitech Satellites and then fabricate some sort of grille to cover the decora face plates.

The Logitech unit comes with a wired controller that has in addition to the volume control, a power switch as well as a headphone jack. This will be installed onto a blank faceplate in line with the rotary dimmers (sort of echoing the rotary theme)

Watch this space for updates on the build.

Pimp My Billy

Thanks to 'Billy' from Ikea, Lynda and I will finally be realising our dream of having a wall full of bookshelves in the basement. For just 100 CAD more, I will add one 80 cm width and one 40 cm width units to our 3 existing 80 cm units.

Lynda would like to have a ladder and therefore I am compelled to find a way to put one in.

I will be adding moulding to the top and bottom as well as fluted trim to covered the bayed seams making the wall look like a custom built-in job.

As usual, halfway through my current project, I am already making plans for the next one and the ones after that.

Can't slow down!

New Windows

Our new windows went in this morning. Ivan and his assistant (whose name sounds like a grunt) did a fantastic job of getting the three windows including the Bay installed and trimmed by 2.30. Here's my attempt at time lapse photography.

It's Baaaaaaaaaaaaack

Wow. Just when things were going well enough..... Things get better!!!!!

American Idol is back!!! January 15 & 16.

The best part is of course the auditions with all the tone deaf losers.

All in a great show that we can all sit down and enjoy as a family!!!

Better still. It's on CTV. And it's free to air.....

Stick that somewhere, Mr. Rogers!!!!

Avi came Home

Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home. Avi came Home.

Lynda's Work Area

While moving towards Lynda's work area with the flooring, I decided to pull out the false window + crayon scenery that had been put in by the PO*. I managed to get Lynda another 16" of space. Come summer I will recover yet another 17" of dead space after I get a technician to reroute the AC condenser lines and I reroute the dryer vent.



For Lynda's new desk we will repurpose a stock 8' Kitchen countertop in matt white from the 'Depot' supported by the walls at either end and by a single leg in the centre. The top section will be shelves that I have lying around the place. I plan to install fluorescent lighting at the rear of the bottom shelves to wash the work area with light. I would love to go with LED's for the entire project, but I fear that the light will be insufficient.



The work hit a sort of a stop this weekend as I had to get down to IKEA to get myself an additional 3 boxes of Laminate flooring. Full speed ahead on Monday.



Below is a before picture followed by a current picture of the area in question.




I am going to town on this space to give Lynda every possible convenience that a Crafter could possible dream of!!!!! Dad's Typeface drawers never did have a better raison d'etre as much as they do now......

Autopsy of a House

It's great to be able to tear this house apart. You tend to see a timeline of what was done to the house over the past 30+ years.

For instance, I found out that the laminate in Lynda's area was installed without a vapor barrier. That's a no no when installing laminate in the basement.

Worse still, the wall that I attached my work surface to and that is now holding all of my electronic gear is actually unsupported!!!!!!

As for the wiring....... less said the better.

I have a fairly optimistic vision for this house and I intend to get it there sooner than later.

Can't wait to pull down the old ceiling and redo the lighting!!!!!!

Perfection is a Curse

So Lynda decreed that we would do one major project over the Christmas holidays. We both agreed (Lynda, for me) that the basement floor needed attention as it was downright depressing and we envisioned spending most or all of our spare time down there.

After measuring (twice) and doing a real time mock up in Excel, I went to IKEA and bought the laminate so that it could acclimatize to the conditions in the basement for two days.

Prep - The carpet came off rather easily with the underlay disintegrating into a fine yellow dust which I tried hardest not to ingest. The second carpet was the most ugliest Green with and even uglier and degraded underlay, more noxious than the first. Finally there was vinyl tile that came off in places but for the most part, refused to budge. In hindsight I could have gone over the vinyl tile with the Laminate flooring, and forgotten completely that there was vinyl beneath. But I would know and I is hard to please.

So trip to the 'Depot' was on the cards, where I picked up a floor scraper and spare blades. 4 days later, I vanquished the old vinly and started laying the Laminate.

Three quarter of the way through, I decided (all by my lonesome) that if we were going to do the basement, then it was all or nothing!!! So out came Lynda's work area. That means another trip to IKEA to pick up more floor.

Work is still in progress and photos will follow.

I'd like to say that it looks good so far, but that would be doing myself a disservice. It looks spectacular!!! This is one of those times when anal D'Souza genes are most welcome!!!!

BTW did you know that Ingvar Kamprad is the 4th richest man in the world??? Dude!!! I made you that way!!!!!

A Comment worthy of a Post

This was Dinesh's comment in response to my Post "To Dinesh - My Brother". I thought that it was very post worthy!!!! I have taken the liberty to explain what may initially seem pure "Dineshness", but actually does make sense. This time!!

A laugh (mostly laughs)
A few tears (from laughing too hard - about all those aqueducts on the way to Mt. Abu)
A box on your ears (I remember this clearly - me trying to read the one remaining unread book over your shoulder)

A chipped tooth (1982 - Gorbandar - 221 Bus Stop - You convincing me to allow you a test of your strength - Me stupid - Rest, history)
A big ball
Or two? Can't recall (Just the one actually - of what I remember you unceremoniously lifting my gown to a coterie of confounded Cathay cabin crew)

But Of this I am sure
And I'll make this quite clear
I love you - little brother dear

And I you!! My dear Brother. And no harm done really, just galvanized me into bigger better. You will see when you come here. As it was said, "If you build it.... They will come....."

To Dinesh - My Brother

I used to record my 'inventions' in a diary - until Dinesh one day got hold of it and laughed at me. I believe it was regarding one of my more inane imaginations entitled 'Blinker'. A simple rotating can with strips of insulating tape demarcating the live areas. This was to make a filament lamp blink. I believe the same could have then been achieved with a circuit that would've fitted on the head of a pin. But I did not know better.

But hey!! It was MY invention and you laughed at me!!!

Anyways, from the ashes rises a phoenix etc. etc.

I have bigger and better inventions now. But alas no diary for you to peruse and laugh at!!!

Just you wait Mr. Higgins - Just you wait!!!!

Things that I'm Grateful for!!!! - 2008 edition*

I've a lot to be grateful for. (* - Some things that I'm grateful for may be subject to change at my own discretion)

For starters, Family - Immediate and Extended, without whom moving to Canada would've have been a traumatic experience. For my Cousins, close and far; some physically present, others mentally absent!!!

For securing my full Graduated Licence on the 2nd day of 2008. जी हा!!!

For Lynda, who lights up my day and keeps me giddy headed enough to convince me that I still need to impress her with everything that I do. And I believe that I do!! Impress her, that is!!

For Aaliyah and Layla who have been unwitting volunteers for routine testing of my patience and parenting skills.

For my Mother and Father who redefine 'Work Ethic' and who have given me the best that they could afford, topped with copious amounts of Love as well as Patience and Understanding that any set of parents having a Son like me would need.

For my brother who is everything that I'm not. And I am so thankful for that. Two anal people in one family would just not do.

And then there are other things that I'm sort of grateful for -

Lipton Yellow Label - Tea Bags Edition

This potent herb, wielded by the right hands can take you to a whole new level!!! And it does!! We are so thankful for this being available in Canada.

Tintin

If I must explain this.... then you would not understand. Let's just say that everyone needs one (at least) Fetish!!

Popular Science & Popular Mechanics

I have been reading these magazines since 1976 and maybe even before that, courtesy of my good neighbour Mr. Robert Dango. Later on I picked them up from the second hand store enroute to the bus stop at Shivaji Park. I recall Grandma giving me some pocket change b4 Christmas and Summer for painting her walls in Dadar. All of that went towards the mags. Still great reads.

My Rotel RB991 & RB993

Never has one man loved 2 Amplifiers this much. 1kW of power can do that to weak willed souls!! You see now why there is no upper limit to my fetishes!!!

Parts Express

For having what I want, when I need it!!! Just 2.5 years my dearies and I will personally make the Pilgramage to Dayton Ohio!!!!

Downtown Toronto!!!

We spent all day downtown thanks to Avi and Eva who thoughtfully gifted the girls tickets to the "High School Musical - Ice Tour". Drove to Yorkdale Mall, where we parked the car and took the Subway the rest of the way.

The show was really great and we were thoroughly entertained. After that we took the Subway to Eaton Centre where we marvelled at the Svarovski Tree and the decorations in "The Bay" windows.

All in, a very nice day and so many thanks to Eva and Avi for getting us out of Suburbia for the day.

We've decided to make Downtown a 'Once-a-month' family affair. There is truly so much to see and do!!!!!

A Whack of Indian Culture

Nothing spectacular!

Just a 5 pound Indian carving that fell on my head!!!

I was Culture Shocked, but thankfully not concussed!!!!!!!

Nice Rack!!!!!

I have wanted to do this for the longest time. There is nothing more amazing than having a wall full of equipment, but recessed into the wall. This is only the first draft and I will photograph the entire wall in relation to the rack later.

The rack will be painted white so as to minimise impact on the room. The equipment is merely on the shelf right now and not hooked up to anything. Once I get the LCD on the adjacent wall, I will work out routing the connections.

As with everything that I do, there will be no visible wiring anywhere.

More to follow.

He Schutz - He Scores

Lynda and I had declared a moratorium on blogging after Avi's diagnosis of the tumor. The 18th came soon enough and after being operated on by Dr. Schutz and a team of 5 surgeons, Avi is well, walking, talking and more importantly joking!!!
Dr. Schutz is the Medical Director of the Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga and by the attending surgeons' own admission - among the 5 top neurosurgeons in North America.

The Rainbow Orchid

In the same 'Graphic Novel' vein, an online strip entitled 'Rainbow Orchid' by Garen Ewing has now been published in a limited edition run of 50 copies. Yours Truly is getting one!!!

It's a nice strip that chronicles the adventures of one Julius Chancer in his quest for the elusive Rainbow Orchid.

Written in the European 'Ligne Claire, Bande Desinee' style similar to Herge, Bob de Moor etc.

Looking forward to getting my hands on it come December.

Take a look at the strip online at http://www.garenewing.co.uk/rainboworchid/webcomic/stripIndex.php

Artemis Fowl - The Graphic Novel

After becoming (by my own admission) the first 38 year old to finish reading every Artemis Fowl novel within the first two months of 2007, I was quite pleased to that Eoin Colfer had released a Graphic Novel of the very first 'Arty' book.

While it's not as detailed as the novel, it's a great effort and really nice to see Eoin's rendition of the characters.

Now that Harry Potter is complete, Artemis Fowl is a nice distraction to look forward to!!
Bring on book No. 6, Mr. Colfer

Next project on the 'Wishlist'

While there is still so much to do on the house, I cannot help myself but dream about all the 'NON ESSENTIAL' projects that I want to do.

Next on the list is back lit house numbers. Not your standard sized house numbers, but at least a 18 inches in height, black anodized aluminium mounted on a Plexiglas substrate that will contain a multitude of tricolored led's, essentially enabling me to obtain the complete visible spectrum. So I can have Orange for Halloween, Red for Canada Day, Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness, Red/Green/Blue for Christmas etc. etc.

After agonizing over how I was to achieve the color control, I found this great instructable from Dan that seems to suit my purpose to a T. Here's the link and look forward to us wearing our heart on our porch.

http://www.instructables.com/id/RGB-Color-Controllable-High-Power-LED-Room-%2b-Spot-/

Truly 'Cordless'

I'm back! No explanations for my brief departure. Been busy. Doing things!!!

So I got myself this cordless wonder that has 4 handsets enabling us to have extensions all over and more importantly without running wires all over the place. Unfortunately the main unit needed the incomer from the phone line as well as the power from the transformer. And it looked something like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This would not fly. So I set about making the phone truly cordless. The phone line was already run from the basement to the wall jack on which the phone sat. All I had to do was run the power line through the floor and up to the wall jack. After putting it off for a while, I realised that the phone line in place was a 2 pair, with just one pair utilised for the phone. I then proceeded to chop up the transformer cord in half, splice one end to the top two spare wires and the transformer with cord down in the crawl space. Put it all back together, and Lo and Behold - 'Cordless' Cordless Phone!!!!!

It's a good thing!

Measuring Output Voltage across the spare wires. Unsure what 1 Volt can actually do!

Wires stripped and ready

Jack hanging out of the Wall Plate (Apologies to Bauer)

Power socket in the crawl space for the PSU. Telephone line is visible going through the floor.

Days 1 through 5 - Amsterdam in Pictures

I've just been informed by Lynda and Belle that my numbering system is skewed!!! Apparently I had not counted the day that we arrived, so we're actually on day 5 - 3 more to go!!!!

Unloading all the spare change from Lynda's voyages at Schipol

Blogging from the Coffee Shop at the Moevenpick whilst waiting for our room

Layla feeding the pigeons at Dam Square

Belle & Aaliyah at the HeinyExpy

Asleep (or trying) at the Museumplein

Layla feeding the ducks at the Vondelpark

Lynda and the girls in from of a DHL TukTuk

Day 4 - Amsterdamn this is a long holiday!!!

Today was mostly walkies. We took in the 9 Streets. It was cold and Aaliyah had not dressed herself suitably. So enroute to a shopping area we chanced upon a Vintage clothing store where we (the girls and I) all got ourselves Jean Jackets for 40 Euros total.

We had a nice sit down lunch this afternoon in stark contrast to other lunches which were mostly mobile.

Then mostly walking through the shopping areas where the girls vanished through stacks of clothes and I took off for a vintage map store across the street. Did not find anything that I liked but I did not spend too much time there. Turns out the girls were not exactly waiting for me.

Lynda scored herself a pair of Cowboy boots at 50 Euros. Really nice buy. I wanted one as well, but explain this to me - How come Ladies boots on Sale start at 40 EUR and Men's boots on Sale start at 150 EUR???

I believe that men will get the better deal in heaven!!!!

Day 3 - Amsterdam

Did so much yesterday. We took the tram to the Rijkmuseum. We had to make a changeover of trams. It was pouring and we were just across from the Old Heineken Brewery. We made a snap decision to take in the Heiniken Experience in honour of all the Alco's in my life, namely Dinesh, Shane & Marc. The experience was really neat and there were 3 beers per person included in the entry fee. Sorry guys, but at the end of the tour, we returned 4 unused tokens!!!!!!

By the time the Heinyexpy was over, the rain had stopped and we walked over to the Reijkmuseum. The stuff was really neat and Rembrandt's 'Night Watch' is etched in my mind's eye forever.

From the Reijkmuseum, we stopped at the Museumplein for Sandwiches and Ice Cream. I fell asleep by the water and the girls dipped their legs in the water.

Then on to the Van Gogh Museum. Now I know that Vincent's works are to die for, but Lynda does paint better!!! So!!! Vincent apparently shot himself at age 37. Me thinks he finally corrected his vision and saw his paintings!!!!!

From there we took the tram to Albert Heijn supermarket, where we picked up wines breezers and other acroutments for dinner.

The sky was really overcast by the time we got to the hotel and we were treated to a downpour the likes we would only see in India. It was great!!!!

Slept early as we were all knackered!!!!!

Day 3 - Amsterdam

Belle awoke earlier than us this morning - Had breakfast early and set out for NEMO, the science exhibition just a stone's throw from the Movenpick.

After that we set off for the Spui area where there was to be a Sunday Artist Market. Enroute we passed some nice streets with even better houses and chanced upon the Sunday Flea Market at Nieuwmarkt. Picked up some excellent LP's at a Euro each.

Finally found the Spui and the Art Market.

For dinner we packed up some sausages, cheese and wine and sat at the dock.

The sun sets at 10.10 - Nice.

Wish everyone could be here - Amsterdam is tolerant - No one judges you for what you are or what life choices you've made.

Amsterdam still remains our no. 1 city to visit.

Day 2 - Amsterdam

Very tiring - We ended up setting up a small refugee camp in the Coffee Shop. Amhed, the bartender was very understanding and he plyed us with tea, chips and juices. We finally got into the room by 11 and I could take a warm shower.

Belle's plane was late taking off and therefore late coming in!!! We finally got out at 4. The city was crowded but quite an eyeful with OMGWWSW, DSDITD, PDA & WTFWT.
Translation (Oh My God What Was She Wearing, Did She Dress in the Dark, Public Display of Affection & What the F**k Was That)

Anyways, Aaliyah was a bit unwell and lynda returned home early. She had a mild fever attributed to an extremely busy Thursday with no sleep or rest. She's better now.

Today we hit some of the sales in the market and also take a Canal cruise. By evening we try to get ourselves to the Vondelpark.

Friday the 13th - Amsterdam

Day 1 - Movenpick Amsterdam

Just arrived at the hotel. Requested an early check in and we have to wait a couple of hours b4 they get the room ready.

The train ride from the airport was nice. It's so great to see all the greenery around. The movenpick is a stone's throw from the City Centre. We wait for our room, dump our stuff, wait for Belle, nap and then hit the Town with a vengeance.

More updates to follow.

We're West baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Talking about 'Pace'!!!!

Our lead packer is named 'Momentum'

enough said!!!

And so it Starts.....

A month ago we set a ball in motion that is now rolling at an incredible pace.

I along with Lynda resigned our posts and set about the process to finally immigrate to YYZ. The decision was not easy, as I believe most are not!

We're at D-7 and counting....

The packers are in today and are in the process of decimating what took 2.5 years to put together. Our house was always WIP and if we stayed here for another 5, the work would still not be complete.

We are now entrusting the contents of our lives to a group of packers and I have to watch like a hawk to ensure that all goes well. At some time this month, the very things that have defined us, will be in a 40' container, one of thousands, on a vessel, most probably repaired by Goltens, manned by cadets and the like waiting for the next port of call to get their rocks off, engineered by a clueless Chief Engineer and piloted by a half-drunk Captain.

And yet I'm confident that all will be well.

Faith is a funny thing. It's gotten us this far in life with the very best of experiences, acquaintances, friends and of course family. I'm a lucky guy. Hey - I've got a gap between my front teeth to prove it. The other gap, I've been told, is between my ears.

And so, my friends, it starts....

Captain's log. Star Date 5th July, 2007 - Bahrain - Earth

Been Too Long.......

I'm baaaaack!!!

It's been too long. far too much going on in my life. This does not seem to have affected Lynda as she continues to post unaffected.

In a nutshell.
I resigned my post on the 25th of June
It was hectic getting to grips with giving up a respectable (??) position in an established company and a guaranteed income.
But it's been done - no regrets. we leave Bahrain on the 12th for a short (7 day) stint in Amsterdam. Joining us will be my cousin Christabelle from Bombay.
We touch down Toronto on the 20th of July 2007. Mark that on a diary somewhere. I believe it will be memorable!!!!

We spent the weekend in Dubai and had some enjoyable (and one not so enjoyable) lunches & dinners with old friends and family.

Met up with my boss and went over to the workshop to bid everyone a fond farewell. 15 years in one company leaves you with a lot of memories.

Jita gave me some cool gear that I plan to integrate into the Vintage Murphy Radio below. Unsure whether I can complete this prior to our departure, but will attempt to make the most of our time here on the island.

More to follow!!!