Weblog and Playground of Gord Fynes

First up, the archive pages now looks somewhat like a proper page rather than just a big ol’ centered, scrolling list on an otherwise blank page. Perhaps I’ll get the CMS happening over there for next month. Or not.

What better way to kick off a stay-at-home vacation than to have a hacking, snotty, drippy three-and-a-half year old to spend it with. At least this time he hasn’t got a fever and it’s nice and sunny out, so we’ll be able to get outdoors and kick this cold’s ass once and for all. Just in time for allergy season.

Happy belated birthday, Canada. You got your minority government as an early present this year. Just don’t look the gift horse in the mouth. Even though it’s the same colour, you should be flattered that it’s a few sizes smaller. Sorry about not getting you a card. It would appear that Hallmark doesn’t make one for that occasion. Yet.

UPDATE: Okay, the timing of this article is just too weird after just hearing about Brando. I know they’re something like 16 hours ahead of us, but that doesn’t mean that Australians can predict the future. Although, they would’ve known who shot J.R. before North America did.

So, you’ve noticed the slight change in appearance going on here. I’ve decided to get rid of the access keys to navigate around here as it was looking like shit in IE 5 on the Mac. It’s probably the most popular browser for those that haven’t made the switch to OS X, even though there’s diddly-squat in the upgrade department. To each their own.

Another change is the page layout, which has been expanded to make the very text you’re reading this moment flow better on the page, er, screen. Things were looking pretty cramped around here for quite some time, non?

Thank you for your patience and understanding while we take the time to make your stay with us all the more enjoyable. If you should have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact us via the link above. The operator may be standing by.

After several months of really getting comfortable using an SLR camera, starting to train the eye and mind to work in sync within a certain photographic style and making the time to scan a bunch of slides, a new and slightly improved photos page has been posted. It now incorporates that good ol’ javascript slideshow feature, just to keep things fairly simple. Think of it as a work in progress.

Enjoy!

Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

The same goes for all my dad-friends.

No, I didn’t get a tacky tie or a pack of socks from the boy. I’m having waffles and coffee made for me this morning.

Last, but not least, Happy Birthday wishes to Laura – Fox’s mom, the foxy mom. Have a good day and a great year!

UPDATE: With Laurel’s help, the boy sent me a couple of animated e-cards for Father’s Day. He picked ’em and dictated while she typed. One included this beautiful prose poem:

Sun
Sun is a funny word
Putty, putty
What-y, what-y
Pointy, pointy
Chicken fire
Truck, truck

As beautiful as it was to receive, all I could ask was WTF?

If this technology is still around in, oh, say ten years or so, I’ll have to ask him what Mom put in his juice that morning.

It’s the second day in a row home with the sick boy. I can only watch Wallace and Gromit so many times! At least we got a screening of _Yellow Submarine_ in yesterday. Months back, ’twas his all-time fave.

In between screenings, I’ve made time to organize the piles of papers, magazines, etc. that have been cluttering up the place this week. I’ve now got a small pile of books that I’d been hoping to get to, but between the jackhammering happening on the street behind us and the call of the boy to put on the next episode of W ‘n’ G, it ain’t happening.

Over the weekend, I popped into the record and book store up the street from where I get my coffee beans. For the first time, I walked out with no CDs or LPs, but only books. They were:

_The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis_ by José Saramago
My favourite author over the past few months.

_The Devil and Sonny Liston_ by Nick Tosches
Because I had to. Tosches is awesome.

_The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz_ by Mordecai Richler
I’m such a bad Canadian for never having read anything of his, although my Mom showed me the “Gene, Gene built a machine” rhyme from something of his when I was a kid.

I’ll hopefully finish the Mr. Show book I started during the last days of Chretien and get around to that last few pages of the American Splendor anthology before bringing even _more_ stuff home.

On a completely different note, I realized this past weekend that those delicious Licks Nature Burgers have been available at just about every supermarket in the GTA except the one across the street that I usually shop at. I’ll now be able to enjoy ’em at home and not worry about ordering one of those expensive milkshakes.