Out of The PIT

Laz forwarded this news post from the Beaverton regarding Canada's BattleMech development .

So it has been ten years today that I got my eyes fixed. I do not need reading glasses yet, but I am told that I will need them in ten years time. I certainly think that it was one of the best investments that I made. The fact that I did not have to purchase any prescription glasses in the past decade has helped offset the cost of the surgery. But more importantly, the convenience of not having to need to wear glasses all the time, to not go blind by walking into a warm humid environment from a cold one, to be able to go to the beach and not get lost, etc. is really something hard to put a price on. Indeed, for me these types of conveniences outweigh short term costs, and I do plan on enjoying these improvements for decades to come. It has been ten years (plus three days) since I had my teeth rearranged. I really did not need to do this, because only I noticed my teeth issues. The improvements in convenience I gained by losing my glasses were slightly offset by the additional time an

This morning I got onto the highway and was greeted by a sight I see fairly rarely: a pair of sun dogs ! These guys were extremely bright and really caught my eye. The sun rise and the sun dog. They were there during the entire commute and even started to grow a bit as the sun rose. I took a picture of one of them (the other hand disappeared by the time I took the picture) when I got into the office. Only one dog with this sun. This contrasts with the picture I took when the sun was setting last week. The sun setting. Still a nice sight though.

So MJNL and I will be moving back downtown after baby is born. This to give her parents a break from the screaming and sleepless nights to come, and also to get us back downtown where we belong. We were lucky enough to be able to rent a place from someone we know for a very good price. Lucky that it had not been snapped up beforehand and lucky enough that they were still in the middle of renovating when we started seriously considering the option of going back downtown. To top it off, they live more-or-less down the street! Potential baby-sitter material I can imagine.. *rubs hands in anticipation* We had checked out the place a couple of weeks ago just to see if it would work for us, and this past Saturday we went down to take some measurements before having dinner with said couple (plus family, plus several other families). Instead of heading back to the house for dinner, MJNL wanted to do a bit of a tour of the area, so I started driving around, turning left, left.. I got tired of

So for those in the know, I will be a dad in the near future. The first thing that most people tell me after they hear the news is: "You're going to be a great father." Really? How can people be so sure about that? What have I done to make myself "great father" material? It is not like I have had practice raising a child. I never even had a pet. In fact, the only pets and plants I raised died pretty quickly under my watch. Something I wrote about time and again and again . I have certainly spent my fair share of time with children big and small, short and tall, young and old, and the kids and I generally have a good time. But, these kids are not mine, and when dealing with a child that is not yours, you can have liberties that do not have when dealing with your own spawn. With someone else's kid you can fill them up with sugar and candy and not have to worry (too much) about potential disciplinary consequences down the road. It's the job of the paren