What's on my ipod this week

I've decided I'm going to do a weekly posting every Friday about what music I'm listening to. I welcome my readers to share with me who they are listening to. I like to expand my horizons.

So this week I am featuring Vampire Weekend. Don't let the name fool you, its not what you think. They actually chose that name for their band after watching some old cheesy film titled that. They actually are extremely good. They list their biggest musical influences as classical, and you can tell. They have a more independent sound, and eclectic mix of organ, strings, guitar, drums, etc. Its really quite clever music. If I had to try and compare it to someone else, I'd have to say a loose mix between Paul Simon, the beetles, and well, never mind, I can't really compare it and do it justice. Their debut album is a current favorite of mine, and I would suggest you especially listen to the songs A-Punk, Campus, Cape Cod, Mansard Roof, and The Kids Don't Stand a Chance. In fact pretty much the whole album is great, and those are rare. So that's what's in my ipod this week. It comes with high recommendation if your looking for intelligent, fun music to listen to while you work around the house, go for a run, or are having a get together with friends. Stay tuned (play on words, eh?) for next week.

Feel Good Story # 2

Well I'm still waiting for other people to tell me about good acts of service or charity. In the meantime, here is yet another good story for you all.

In Calgary we have a local radio station that does something called "Gerry Forbes Secret Wish". Now, I'm not a big fan of Forbes. I find him to be pretty gross most of the time, but I do listen every Friday at about 7:30 am (little plug for anyone wanting a pick me up) to hear him make someones day. As annoying and over the top as he can be, he does have a big heart, and this charity of his needs to be recognized. He generally takes in donations from friends, local businesses, and the general public. A friend or acquaintance of someone in need will submit a letter into the station as to why their friend is a candidate for the secret wish. The station will then find out what needs that family has, and then every Friday morning, Gerry will call them up at around 7:30 and present them with their gifts over the air. It really is heart warming to hear, and I find myself now wanting to contribute to help his cause.

For your benefit, here is what happened today. He received a letter regarding a family where both parents have struggled with their health the last 4 years. The parents would work on and off between health problems, in entry level fast food positions, as it was the only work they were able to secure. The mother became ill and diagnosed with cancer, and recently passed away, leaving the father to care for his twin 11 year old son and daughter, all on the budget of an entry level fast food worker. So at 7:30 this morning Gerry sent out his girl to this man's house with their donations. He called and the father answered. Gerry introduced himself, gave his condolences, and offered words of encouragement. At this point the father was speechless, but said thank you. Gerry instructed him to go to the door and let his helper in, which the man did. Gerry then began to tell the man what they were receiving. He gave the family a laptop donated by future shop, so the kids could do their homework, gift certificates to get the kids new clothes for school, $250 worth of groceries for this long weekend from Safeway, and $1000.00 to help with bills. By the time he was done, all you heard on the other end was sobbing from this man, who could barely choke out a thank you. The DJ was getting choked up as well, as he wished the man a good long weekend and said he was always welcome to call the station. I'll admit, it had me feeling a tug on my heart strings, and ask most people who know me, I'm not the most emotional person. I thought it was an amazing gesture, and something that I think we can all learn from. Look around your own communities, see what charities are there and see how you can help someone in need. Like a wise man once told me, there's usually someone having a worse day than you, so let's see what we can do to help one another. Have a great long weekend!

1st Good News Story! Hurray for Football Players

To Start my quest in bringing good news to you my readers, here is my first story. Kitwana Jones is a Linebacker for the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos. Yesterday Kitwana was downtown coming back from a public appearance, when he witnessed an elderly woman being mugged for her purse. What did this football star do? Well he didn't get out a camera and start filming (see previous posting). And he didn't keep driving, minding his own business. He got out and chased the thief on foot, tackling him to the ground and "detaining" him until police showed up. The purse was returned and Kitwana Jones labeled a hero.

I love this story for a few reasons, Kitwana is a professional athlete, and his lively hood depends on his ability to play football. Many athletes will refrain from any activities outside of games where there is a real risk of injury, as it could jeopardize their jobs. Mr. Jones however didn't think twice to risk himself to help out someone who couldn't defend herself. He says in his interview posted on TSN, that God placed him there to help that woman out, so he did what he had to do. He has every reason to pull celebrity status and use it as an excuse as to why he would have done nothing, but as his teammates attest to, that's not Kitwana. He is always one to help and defend others. Anyhow, he is a pretty entertaining guy in his interview. If you can click on this link and view the video, you won't be disappointed. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=285288 Kudos to you Kitwana, for doing what so many others in this world would be afraid to do.

In all, I think we should take something from Kitwana's example. Always help out your fellow man. I'm not suggesting we all chase down criminals on foot. I'm merely suggesting we begin actively serving those around us in any way we can. Lets start sticking up for one another, especially those who can't defend themselves.

Gimme some good news

The picture has no real tie in to the topic of this post, but I thought it was a funny one, and I wanted a laugh today.
Folks, I have a problem I need to vent about, please humor me and share with me if you can.
I am a huge current events junkie, and I'm always checking out numerous news sites throughout the day looking for the latest news in the world. (No, not the tabloid trash, real news) There is an inherent danger with this though, rarely is it good news. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to me the media is always getting worse and worse in their reporting. I honestly think that true journalism is a dying art, if its not dead already. Now a days the media is focused primarily on sensationalism. Its all about who can make the bigger deal out of a story. And they don't really focus on the good, they focus on the bad, tragedy, embarrassment. I get so depressed sometimes when I read or watch the news. It's always, bombing this, overdose that, scandal here, murder there. It's a wonder we're not all on Prozac.
So what has inspired my rant? Well yesterday I came upon a video on CNN.com (notorious sensationalists) titled "strangers rescue children from burning SUV". Like a sap I clicked on the video, thinking it would be one of the usual watered down reports where they show the remains of a burnt car, interview one of the hero's, and show the token shot of the saved kids playing in a park. This time I was shocked at what I saw. It was a complete video shot by an on looker, of an SUV that had crashed in a residential neighbourhood, overturned on it's side and had burst into flames with a mother, her 2 year old daughter, and 4 year old son all trapped inside. I don't want to go into too many details as it's hard for me. The video was very graphic and disturbing to me. Essentially, in the crowd of frantic people were 2 brothers who happened to be off duty fire fighters. They got everyone out of the vehicle, most importantly the 4 year old little boy who was trapped in his booster in the back where the fire was. The boy had received burns to 30% of his body, but is expected to make a full recovery. The good news is that everyone survived, and if it weren't for these men, it would have been a disaster. However my problem comes from two things. First, what possesses an on looker to grab his camera and run down the street to film 3 people nearly burn to death? Why wouldn't you try and help those who were trying to help. Second of all, what kind of people are we where we show a graphic video of a man pulling a small boy out of a burning vehicle as he's on fire. I will not be able to get that image out of my head now, more so because I share the fire fighter's perspective as he was in that burning car trying desperately to free the boy, I saw that it could be my own son. So while this eventually ended well, I still didn't feel good by the end.
So here is what I want. I want a little less focus on the bad, and more or less to accentuate the positive. I want feel good news stories. I want stories of human charity and service. I want to hear about people helping one another, and other positive things. To those who actually spend their time reading my blog (and I can't believe you do, there must be something better to do. But thank you all the same), send me links, first hand accounts, etc of good news in our world. I'm going to research them out, and try and post a few on my blog to hopefully uplift everyone. Let's see if we can find the good in the world, amongst the garbage we get fed. Thanks all.

A Great Weekend

Hey everyone. I am finally able to give an update on the family again. Sorry for all the delay, but it's been kinda busy for me lately. This last week, work has been full and I've been having to commute to our office on the other side of the city. I was spending over 2 hours in traffic every day. So I was looking forward to a great weekend to unwind. And I got my wish. My Uncle Steve has season tickets to the two greatest sports teams in Calgary, the NHL's Flames, and the CFL's Stampeders. Last weekend he called me up, and asked if I would like to have a couple of tickets to the retro game between Calgary and Toronto. The seats were incredible, 50 yard line 18 rows up, so you had the view of the whole field, and were close enough to hear the players talking on the bench. Jody and I had a great time at the game.


Calgary ended up Shellacking poor Toronto 44-9, but it was a very exciting game despite what the score indicates. By the end of the night I had almost no voice left. Here is a shot of the view we had.

Next up is an update on our house. Coming back out to Calgary meant we had to sell our first home out in Guelph. Once we arrived here, we quickly found out that getting a house was going to be a bit tougher than we thought. Anyhow, long story short; the most affordable house we could get in this crazy recession market was a new home. A draw back of this is that we have to wait for it to be built. Currently it is in this state:

However, here is the preview of what it will look like when it is done. These were pictures we took as we toured the newly finished show home. First off, as you walk in this will be what the main floor will be like, well essentially. We will have carpet up to the kitchen, then we'll have hardwood in the kitchen.

This now, is the basement. In our house, the first half will be finished, and all that light comes from the huge bay window that continues in from the main floor to the basement.

Here is a picture of Colton going into what I guess he has claimed as his room. He loved it because they had it all decorated with cars. He was angry when we made him leave. The other bedroom is similar size.
Finally we have the master bedroom, behind the picture there is a walk in closet, and an en suite.
And as a bonus, this is similar to what the outside will look like.
We are planning on having some fun BBQ's once it's finished, so keep your schedules open for the end of September. Well that is if it finishes on time.... which they generally don't, but we can hope right?

Wrap up of Stampede week

Well Folks, you can close yet another chapter in the Calgary Stampede. It was actually my first Stamped in a little over 3 years, and I have to say, it hasn't changed much. except I think I have changed. I remember dying to go to the Stampede and ride the rides until I could ride no more. I would go online and make a list of all the bands I wanted to see on the Coca Cola Stage, and I would eat deep fried food to my hearts content. However, as I've gotten older, I've started to lose my desire to go and try and fight through massive crowds, rowdy drunks, and punk kids trying to act like their the coolest thing. However this year was a bit different, as it was my son's first time to the Stampede. Having a kid to take to the Stampede renews your spirit in the fun of the Stampede. We have to go earlier in the day, so as to make it home for bed time etc. So the crowds aren't that big, and there is a lot of kiddie stuff to do there, that as an adult; hasn't appealed to you since you graduated elementary school. It was a blast to watch my son discover so many new things. He was thrilled to get up close to animals he's never seen in real life before. It was fun to eat new foods, and play in new play places with lots of other kids. And of course, who can pass up the opportunity to meet one of his all time favorite TV characters, Cookie Monster. It truly does bring in a whole new perspective, and it makes the Stampede fun again for a guy who doesn't drink, gamble etc. All the things that the Stampede is known for, for the adult crowd. Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good things for adults to do at the Stampede as well. Jody and I went down for a night for a date. We went to the exhibition center and checked out all the latest products people are hocking. We also went to the round up center to see the art exhibits. With Jody being a photographer, that was special for her. We had the opportunity to meet one of the photographers who had their work displayed. He told us about his work, and the lengths he goes to to get his pictures. While not exactly the same niche Jody is interested in, it was very cool to hear. She is hoping to get her work entered in next years exhibition, for anyone who may be interested. We also took in some of the food, and took a Farris wheel ride to cap off the evening before we headed home. But the biggest highlight for us was a singing competition she entered in for one of the local radio stations. She was chosen to be in a group of ten finalists to compete for the grand prize. She got the opportunity to belt out a favorite tune of hers in front of a crowd of a few thousand stampeder's and had a great time. If anyone wants to check it out click on the following youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5_YJhdPkZA&feature=channel and enjoy. The song is Anyway by Martina McBride(hope I spelled that right), and I think she did fantastic.
All in all it was a pretty good time. Now comes the fun of enjoying whats left of summer, as we prepare to move into our new home once it is finished. After that comes settling into our new life here in Calgary and meeting new friends while we enjoy some of those that we already have.

Stampede

This week was the week of the stampede. For any of you who aren't aware, it a large fair that Calgary has every year for 10 days. It's a celebration of Calgary's western heritage, and it can be a ton of fun. We were especially excited to take Colton this year. It all started out with mommy getting him dressed up in his little western attire. We then took the train down to the grounds where we started out by getting a hot dog lunch. After Coley finished stuffing his face, we got to work. We saw everything from horsies (one blew his nose all over the boy), to cows, a bison, a duck herding dog, goats, and..........

The coup de gras, COOKIE MONSTER!

That was actually the whole reason we went on Friday was to see the greatest cookie eating Muppet ever. It was hilarious, once he saw Cookie monster, he paused and stared for about 2 minutes with his mouth open. Then he snapped out of his trance and began to point and get excited. He then tried pushing out of my arms to get over to him. So Mommy got in line while I tried to distract him. As we got up to the front of the line, Cole started getting really excited and trying to squirm away so that he could rush Cookie. Then it was our turn to get up there. As we got up there he just got excited and reached out and grabbed Cookie's fur. He briefly touched Abbey's face, before turning back all his attention to Cookie. He sat there playing with Cookie Monster until the split second that the guy called his name and caught this photo. It was like meeting a rock star. Definitely the highlight of the day.

We checked out some other things until he wore right out. Finally to cap everything off, we bought him his first cowboy hat and took him home. It was a great day. Yee Haw!