Dad

​I'm not going to have a story, or an anecdote, or anything like that. Instead, I'm going to talk about how I feel. ​We're all made of star dust. This amazing thing that we have and call life started out in the infernos of exploding suns. Can you imagine that? It's not even something we can question, it happened. It's real. We are star stuff. We so take it for granted how lucky we are to be where and when we are. I got to be. I got to be the son of Pat and Nola Milum. Of all the people in the universe, of all of the places my atoms could have assembled they did so here, in me. ​I don't believe in an afterlife, or spirits, or anything like that. Believe me, for the last few days I really wish I could. Instead, I believe in life. It's what we have, it's real. We live in this terrible universe, it's cold and uncaring. Life is a struggle wherever it happens. People like us are lucky though, we have brains and societies that foster caring and love. While I'm alive I want to give and receive as much love as I can possibly handle. We have such a short time, and the best we can hope for are some beautiful moments to help us carry on. ​My dad gave me beautiful moments. Buckets of them. I remember being a kid and going for rides in the logging truck with him. Waking up at 4 in the morning and sleeping on the swamper side until daylight. I cherish the time spent out on the lakes (be it Blackwater or Loon, or whatever lake) fishing rods in hand, quietly waiting for a fish, but mostly just enjoying the time together. We look similar, I've been told; and I guess I can see the resemblance. There was a picture, I saw it once at Nanny's house a long time ago — I couldn't find it for today — When I saw that picture, I looked at Nanny and, I think I said something like, "When did we take this picture? I don't remember it". I didn't remember because it wasn't me, it was dad. All of these little moments of his life, and countless others, I will carry with me for as long as I live. I can only hope that I give my family the same kind of beautiful moments that he gave me.

From my iPhone...

So, I got myself a new phone finally! The lovely iPhone 4S no less. It's pretty good so far. No glitches or anything. This is my first "big ticket" item from Apple that I've owned and I hope that it everything I'm expecting. I also hope that I'll be able to get AppleCare+ when I go to the US on Sunday!

Book Binding

So, I've been thinking of trying this out for a little while, I need a hobby that takes me away from the computer for a little bit. Linds had suggested it once or twice in the past, and we've looked at websites about the process and processes. Today I dove in and gave it a try. I just used some cheap printer paper for this test, and Lindsay printed off a card stock cover and this is what we came up with: [caption id="attachment_400" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Signatures and bone folder"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_401" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Four Signatures"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_402" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Bound Booklet"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_403" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Open Book"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_404" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Cover Shot"][/caption]

Mo' Money and all that jazz.

I cut up my credit card this evening. It all started at about 6:00PM today; a young man came over to our apartment to purchase one of my guitars that I don't really play. I got a cool five hundred for it, and that's pretty sweet. Anyways, I drove over to the local bank to deposit the cash... you know, so that I'm not carrying a whole bunch of money on me. In goes the card... nothing... What, the, heck. I look at the screen of the ATM and it's now flashing "This machine is currently unavailable" at me. "Strange," I think to myself. Of course, while I'm reading this my card pops part way out and then goes back in like some sort of taunting schoolyard bully. "Ha-ha" the ATM seems to be saying in a Nelson Muntz-esque sort of way. I wonder if I can get that card out, so I dig another card out of my wallet and poke it in behind my card... keeping a firm grip on it the whole time so as not to lose a second piece of plastic to the bastard machine. No love. So on the phone I get to my lovely banking institution, since it is after hours. Of course there is no option for this type of an issue, so I get to mash zero until I get a human. That is my preferred method of dealing with automated phone systems, by the way, mash zero until something happens. Anyways, I get a human on the phone and explain my predicament. She offers to cancel the debit card so that if it kicks out in the later on it won't be scammable by any bastard with the time and inclination to try to guess my PIN. Since they were doing this, she mentions, that I won't be able to access any banking services tied to that card until I get a new one, so if there's any online banking I wanted to do later I should arrange this through her. Done! I need to pay my electric bill, so lets do that while you're here. Then of course while this human was digging around in my accounts she notices my rather substantial Credit Card debt. Le sigh. Yes I have that. "What are your plans for this debt?" she asks me, innocently, though I'm pretty sure that she's going to try to sell me something, and honestly, I'll buy it if it will help with the debt. "I plan on paying it, I suspect," are my approximate words in reply. I should state for the record, that I actually have pretty okay credit. This is kind of surprising considering how abysmal my money management skills are. I should take a hint from the blog of someone I know, and learn how to take care of this stuff better. The reality of it is that budgets piss me off. Watching numbers on a spreadsheet may be really helpful in seeing the problems, but I don't think they fully address the habits that cause the problem in the first place. So the human bank phone person says, why don't we see what we can do to lower your payments, interest rate, and time you have before you're debt "free" (quotes are mine). So we talk about lines of credit, loans, and other options. Transferring my balance to another card would be foolish, because other cards also have ridiculous interest rates, or low rates for limited periods of time. I won't really qualify for a line of credit of the scale necessary, so maybe a loan would be in order. Also, how about a TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account, for those who aren't aware) while we're at it? Good Idea, I think. "That sounds pretty okay," I say. The Loan interest would be less than half of the Interest I currently pay, and the bi-weekly payment would be less than I currently pay, and I'd be paid off in 5 years instead of 25 with the credit card. And this is a pretty sweet step in the right direction. I'll probably be running this by that aforementioned blogger too. I have a lot of respect for her skills (Dolla' dolla Skillz, Yo!)

Things to do for free in Calgary, Alberta.

After some extensive research (A.K.A ten minutes on the Google) I have developed a comprehensive list of all of the fun and amazing things a person can do free of charge in Calgary! 1 - Go for a walk somewhere. There's a lot of parks. 2 - Go for a walk somewhere else! ... And, that's it. Fuck

Brownies.

I'm making them. At Lindsay's  behest of course. I just remembered, after putting the pan in the oven that I didn't oil or flour the pan. Sadface. I imagine they'll be delicious though. In them is Flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, maple syrup, agave nectar, water, coconut oil, vanilla extract and heat. A vegan delight I imagine. It's funny, I love baking, but I rarely do it. It's fun in a mad scientist sort of way; and I get to eat the results, unlike Dr. Frankenstein.

Happy birthday, Freddy Mercury.

This is a fantastic video by the Googs to celebrate the 65th b'day of Freddy Mercury.