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Chimay Cinq Cents

Chimay Cinq Cents

this afternoon I took the two eldest kids to the Charleston Beer Exchange (don’t worry, we also took a nice walk downtown and hit up the mall for a Valentine’s Day present, so it wasn’t like I took the kids on a beer run). The Charleston Beer...
memories of western Europe

memories of western Europe

while mucking around in my web directories, I found this page that I made seven and a half years back, and promptly forgot about – part one (though I don’t think I ever made a part two) of a chronicle of Yvonne and my adventures in Europe. This was our...
spread thin

spread thin

this afternoon I created this page on my personal web site, with links to my various profiles online – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and so on. I made it for two reasons – the first, and most obvious, is so that people who are seeking to contact me...
high fashion

high fashion

“let’s go to the Aquarium,” I suggested to the kids. “Why don’t you guys go pick out some clothes, and we’ll head off!” and these are the clothes they picked out… at any rate, we’re off to the Aquarium so Callum...

symphony

yesterday I left work a bit early to head downtown to the Gaillard Auditorium, where the Charleston Symphony Orchestra was rehearsing for this evening’s performance. A friend of mine, and a fellow Sigma Chi, is one of the directors of the symphony and, knowing...
a kids update

a kids update

the kids are well. (don’t worry, the update is not quite over yet!) Here is Callum, doing some reading on the couch (probably because he was told to, to be honest! – but hey, reading is reading) in his pajamas in a quilt that Yvonne crocheted. Callum is in...

another short story

so if only because I don’t really have anything of interest to say right now, I thought I’d post another short story. This one I wrote back in 2007 for a Machine of Death story competition that I didn’t win, so before the CD-R I have it saved on...

Johnson City

for Christmas and New Years the gang and I are in Johnson City, Tennessee, visiting Yvonne’s brother Robert. When we first got here we got to play in the snow a bit, but it quickly melted and since then it’s been pretty mild. as far as life is concerned,...
narcissism at its finest

narcissism at its finest

I find it sort of interesting that when you do a Google image search for Brian Crawford, the first image that comes up related to me in any way, is a comic I drew for work. The second is also a comic I drew for work. The third is a comic I did for Office Offline. the...

automatic updates: Restart now, or later?

perhaps the most annoying dialog in the world is the Windows XP (and potentially elsewhere) dialog that pops up once your computer has finished installing automatic updates from Microsoft. It’s a really good idea to get automatic updates from Microsoft, by the...

over there

at a party last night I met a pretty tough looking guy who, in conversation, mentioned that he had just returned from his final tour of duty as an infantryman in Iraq, and was now working for a pesticide company here in town. When I pressed him for details about what...
trains a-plenty

trains a-plenty

the two eldest kids and I are in Folkston, Georgia, Gateway to the Okefenokee Swamp. We’re here staying at the Roadmaster’s Lodge, a small one-room hotel that was built in 1889 to serve as the office of the Roadmaster in the Folkston area. Yes, we drove...

fluid dynamics

this week, our good friend Nafees is in town. Last year, Nafees won a SciTech Academy Award for his work with fluid dynamics, in particular the work he did for the movie Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (which I haven’t actually seen yet – I guess I should). As...

what’s been up?

I haven’t posted in a while, so here is a brief Q&A, initiated by myself, to answer those questions that haven’t been asked! where are you living? We’re back in Charleston, SC. where are you working? At Blackbaud, as a program manager....

FYI

you can learn a lot about a man by what he will or won’t eat after he’s dropped it on the floor.

new age fairy tales

last night I was telling stories to Callum and Mia before bedtime. Callum wanted to hear stories about trains. Mia wanted to hear stories about princesses. so I spun a fantastic tale of how Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty were having a tea party in their castle, when...
bead curtains and lava lamps

bead curtains and lava lamps

so I know I said I’d never ever get one, and I’m probably going to lose all my cool points for this (at least whatever cool points I have left), but the other day we bought at 2008 Honda Odyssey! the Odyssey primed and ready for some heavy duty grocery...

7

today marks seven amazing years of being married, and I’m looking forward to many more. Happy anniversary, Yvonne!!

life in parts

part 1: Chinese food n00b today at lunch while eating Chinese food I squeezed the little plastic tub of sweet & sour sauce a bit too forcefully and it cracked open and a’sploded on me. later, while chuckling at myself for splattering myself with sweet...

salsa

I really like fruity salsa. The other day I had some peach mango salsa, and today it’s raspberry chipotle. Note that these are spicy salsas – none of that “mild” stuff. The combination of sweet and spicy really agrees with me. and in other...

random updates

meanwhile… I have been playing a little (but not too much) World of Warcraft, on the Illidan server I finished the last Harry Potter book I watched (over the course of several weeks of date nights) Ratatouille, the latest Harry Potter movie and the Transformers...
San Antonio

San Antonio

since my last post we have moved to San Antonio, Texas, where we are living in the same neighborhood as Yvonne’s sister’s family – a short walk to their place. We bought a new house, sight unseen (though we knew pretty much what it would be like as...
from this morning

from this morning

notice how our neighbour’s dock has been pulled up out of the water – in the fall everyone has to raise their docks for the winter, because in the spring the ice melts in big chunks and floats around on the lake and will tear docks off their moorings if...

CFLs

over the period of several months I have gradually replaced all of the standard incandescent light bulbs in our house with energy efficient Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs). For those of you who do not yet use these bulbs in your homes, I urge you to read the...

on breakfast

“I will need to eat a good nutritious breakfast in order to crush all those who oppose me!” – unknown conqueror there is something magical about a good breakfast. I’m talking all the breakfast food groups – bacon, sausage, eggs, home...

tappity tap

so I’m back in Canada. No snow here yet, but it’s coming! Probably this weekend! earlier today I managed to complete NaNoWriMo; I hit 50k words on my novel sometime this afternoon. I’m very pleased! It was not an easy feat to write 50k words in a...

packing

yesterday was my last day of work. It was a bittersweet moment as I have really enjoyed my time at AIB and made lots of good friends within the hallowed halls of Bankcentre and Donnybrook House. Last night during my walk home the wind and the rain were quite fierce...

progress

this year I am a willing participant in NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month that takes place every November. For those who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it is a competition held every year whereby a large group of people (this year I believe there are...

beeps

last night myself and a friend from work went to see LFO, one of the pioneering techno bands of the early 90s, and DJ Rob Hall, a DJ from the SKAM label, at the Temple Bar Music Centre. overall, it was a good show; it has been ages since I have been to a techno...

oh that’s too bad

from the Dublin Airport web site: “The following items must not be packed in your hand luggage. They must be placed in your hold baggage. If these items are discovered in your hand luggage you will be requested to surrender the items for disposal: Scissors...

handy reviews

while searching for some reviews about the 2006 BMW 325xi I managed to find two noteworthy ones – this first review I unfortunately am unable to read, as it’s all in German, but it may be the most thorough car review I’ve ever seen. Judging by the...
Ireland in pictures

Ireland in pictures

it has been quite a while since I have posted any updates; I promised myself I would take some time tonight to ftp some photos to my web site and post them to my journal so that everyone could see what we’ve been up to lately! we are still living in Dublin of...

yikes

some news from my mom: The Renfrew bypass Dad was on When a sharp curve he came upon, The road was wet, sharp was the curve The jeep began to weave and swerve. Dad turned the wheel to gain control The jeep spun ’round and did a roll, The roof of the jeep it hit...

on great expectations

There comes a point, I think, when you start to realize that you’ll probably never live up to the expectations you carried as a child, and that your brightest years are behind you. I have had some significant accomplishments in my life, and I’ve got a ways to go yet,...
Kerry

Kerry

last weekend we toured the Ring of Kerry with a friend of Yvonne’s. It was beautiful! At almost every turn there was a beautiful view of some sort to inspire picture taking. The best part about it was the varied landscape – mountains, lakes, beaches,...
Cork

Cork

first off, here is a picture of lil miss whalespout! during the past few days we decided not to take an extended trip east to Italy and Switzerland and instead to head north to northern France, England, Wales and now Ireland. We managed to move out of our apartment in...

hard to believe

I just finished my final exam. 6.5 hours of nonstop writing (all in French no less). Export, marketing, strategy, finance… it was pretty tough but I’m still standing and still sane enough to hold a beer in my hand… and drink it, too! one final...
some pictures

some pictures

Yvonne took a great picture today and I just had to put it online – although it’s blurry and uncropped, it is worth a thousand words when it comes to summing up what it’s like to be the parent of two crazy kids… here it is! now that I’m...
the region in photos

the region in photos

I haven’t posted a lot of pictures lately, so I figured that today I’d write a bit of a photo-journal and include a few photos here so that people might see what we’ve been up to and what the region around Clermont-Ferrand looks like. a few weekends...
vroom

vroom

this is exciting – today our new (well, new to us) car arrived – it is a 2004 Renault Mégane (here is another picture). It had 23,000 kilometres on it, which isn’t much, really, and we got it at a great price due to having imported it from another...

we’ll get right on it

yesterday in Marketing class we were discussing marketing for homes for the elderly, and I mentioned that it would be a good idea to target middle-aged people, as they are quite often the ones who have to make decisions regarding long-term care for their parents. only...

had to happen sooner or later

winter has officially come to Clermont-Ferrand; that is to say that this morning during my walk to school I saw a good many cars driving around covered with snow. Not just a light dusting of the stuff, mind you, but a good inch and a half of hardcore, in your face...

Auvergne

this has truly been a weekend for eating. last night a friend had a group of friends from Lyon come for dinner, and we all had Raclette – it was awesome. Part of the fun was the way you eat it – since you basically melt pieces of cheese over ham, bread and...

yippy skippy

what I probably should be doing: Reviewing my Finance and Information Systems notes. what I have been doing all afternoon: Catching up on Sluggy Freelance. maybe this evening will be slightly more productive!

pasta

I am currently at my friend Carlos´apartment with a group of friends. Carlos, a Mexican exchange student doing the same program that I am doing (but in English), lives on the 5th floor of a very old building near the cathedral here in Clermont-Ferrand, and in order to...

something hard to learn

European accounting standards, taught in French. they’re just different enough for you to think they’re pretty much the same as in the States and then be thoroughly confused when they aren’t. And all of the French account names are boggling my inner...

up

today my friend Damien and I climbed the Puy de Dôme; at 1464 meters tall it is the largest of the several inactive volcanoes in the Clermont-Ferrand region. It took us about two hours to hike our way up the mountain and back down again. It was a lot of fun and a good...

baguettes for everyone

I am back in France. The trip was long (from 8AM EST yesterday until about 5PM France time today) and arduous (highlights included sitting in a tiny plane on the runway at Pearson for an hour and a half, and sitting in the train station in Paris for a good three and a...
messages in the clouds

messages in the clouds

sometimes, I think, God sends you a sign. as I have posted earlier we bought a cottage in Ontario a while back. At any rate, I have been pretty much completely happy with the purchase… but I’ve always added the caveat that the one thing that I would...
take a hike

take a hike

this afternoon I went for a 3 or 4 kilometer hike at Silent Lake Provincial Park, which is located 2 or 3 miles from our new place. I had a really nice walk; the weather was beautiful, the forest smelled crisp in that certain way that only a forest in autumn can...
scenery

scenery

I’m back in Canada until next Sunday – had some work I had to do, which has almost been completed. Classes officially start on October 12th (I managed to transfer into a better program, after which I’ll receive 2 Masters degrees – an MBA from...

where am I?

I am in France. The past two days have seemed more like a single long day of traveling to me – I flew Continental from Toronto to Newark, and then from Newark to Paris through the night. The flights were uneventful, but they could have been eventful. When I got...
big news

big news

yesterday our offer was accepted on a cottage on Paudash Lake (the same lake that my parents’ cottage is on, but in a different bay – it’s about a 15 minute drive by car or by boat). For those not familiar with the area, Paudash Lake is in the...
C&A

C&A

here is a picture of Callum and Amelia taken this afternoon at my parents’ place. Callum (who needs a haircut, I know) is saying “cheeeeese!” which he does now whenever he sees a camera (regardless of whether or not his picture is currently being...

here, there, everywhere

we’re back in Ontario, at my family’s cottage on Paudash Lake – we will be here until the end of this month, at which point I’ll be heading off to France for school. The rest of the family will follow soon afterward. it has been very hot here...

beer great

this afternoon I was overjoyed to find out that the local HEB (Texan grocery store chain) stocks three of my favorite beers – Duvel, Maudite and La Fin Du Monde. I picked up a pint of the latter to have with dinner. So good!

at the garage

getting the car repaired, and they have Internet access, so here’s an update. I bought my plane ticket to France – I will be leaving for Paris on August 30th. The family will follow me there two weeks (or so) after that. During those two weeks I’ll...

the goings on

spent the weekend in San Antonio. It’s fun to see Callum interact with my sister-in-law’s two sons, one of whom is a bit younger than Callum, the other a bit older. Callum is talking up a storm – every day he brings new words into his vocabulary. And...

active lifestyle community

I have created a new community, Active Lifestyle. A lot of people have been posting their walking and fitness regimens, and I believe that doing so serves as a fantastic motivator for a self and for others. I plan to post about the rehabilitation of my (hopefully...

deep in the heart

last week we made the 28-hour drive to Austin, Texas, where we are currently staying. One of Yvonne’s brothers and his wife lives here, and her older sister and her family lives in San Antonio, so we have been largely hanging out with them. Austin seems to be a...
2

2

happy birthday little guy!! here is how a quick primer on how to properly eat your birthday cake… step 1: blow out your two candles. step 2: eat your cake without using your hands. step 3: start your afternoon with “cake...

the GWN

my family and I are currently up in Canada and have been for the past little while – my first year of school officially ended last week of February and my father came down the following week to help us drive our stuff up to Ontario. We completed the trip a few...

tea and coincidences

funny coincidence yesterday – I went to the DMV (my favorite place, and yours too!) to get my driver’s license renewed. It turns out that the lady behind the counter shared the same birthday as me – not just the month and day, but the year as well....

love is…

… sitting on the floor with your 20 month old, sharing a big plate of fresh strawberries and watching Dora the Explorer and Boots outwit Swiper the Fox (albiet using the same method they use every episode).
lately

lately

the other week my parents came down from Canada to see their kids (my sister, who lives in Charleston, and myself) and also to see their grandson of course, which was really great – they don’t get to see him nearly often enough. They looked after him for a...
good times

good times

went to a law/business/medical school Halloween party at the Armory last night – it was pretty fun. See if you can find me in this picture: on another note, I had another MRI this morning. Once again they rolled my body into a big metal cylinder and subjected me...

rar

a fellow student’s 2 year old daughter had this to say about dinosaurs: “There are two types of dinosaurs. There are fierce dinosaurs, and there are scared dinosaurs.” I think she may be on to something.

stories 1 & 2

this evening before heading out to the bookstore with Y&C I decided to change my contact lenses for some reason. So I threw away the old ones and got a new pair out. When I put the first lens in – ouch! Burning pain! So I rinsed it with some more saline...

always an adventure

since returning to school I’ve been pretty low on cash. How low? well – the other day I didn’t have any money for lunch – but there was some free food left out on a table in the IMBA office area from a career information session that took place...

Dr. Brushy Teethy and Professor Pasty Face

yesterday was a not-so-great day. Aside from having to turn in one group assignment for decision analysis and two income statements and a balance sheet for accounting, to take a test in economics and to complete some work grant assignments, after school yesterday...

connected

I’m on my laptop at Cool Beans, a coffee shop near the horseshoe at the University of South Carolina that has free wireless access. We have finished classes for the day and I’m working on a few things that I need to get done by Thursday. Here is an...

Wilmington

after my final on Friday Yvonne and I took a trip to Wilmington, North Carolina to meet up with Yvonne’s two brothers, Robert and Fronz, plus Robert’s roommate Gerry, to celebrate Robert’s birthday on Saturday. We took a tour of the Bellamy Mansion...

weekend

Independence Day weekend was quite fun. We took a trip to Charleston to attend a baby shower at Pete’s house for our friends David and Ana, who are to have a baby girl in September. After the baby shower was a cookout featuring many old friends. Richard took a...

second term

well our first Chinese class is completed – though it has only been a month, 7 hours of Chinese a day means that we wrote our midterm approximately 15 days ago and our final yesterday. It is pretty amazing how quickly the time has flown by. Already we know how...

update

my first week of Chinese language lessons is over – and it is amazing how much we have learned after only 5 days of classes. Mind you, these were 5 full days of intense Chinese lessons starting at 9:00 AM and ending at 4:30 PM or so each day (and this does not...

the value of value

it is interesting that some things have tremendous value well beyond their buying price, and other things have negative value that exceeds even the money you wasted to buy them. for example, I bought some decent Thule roof-mount ski racks for my (then) Honda station...
BfD

BfD

watch Kitten Cam! They’re getting a checkup at the Vet today so you will have to wait ’til later to catch them. Until then you can stare at a couple of empty bowls if you so wish. today we had a going away lunch at work – for me! We went to Sakyo in...

voyage

our trip to Canada turned out to be a successful one, and upon returning to Charleston, we moved house. we had a good time at my parents’ cottage in Ontario – we managed to pay three visits to my grandfather, who as mentioned in a previous post was...

trip

yesterday Yvonne, Callum and I woke up at 4:00 AM to catch a 6:15 AM flight from Charleston to Ottawa, then drove for three hours (through some very light, peaceful snow – the first I have seen in years) to my parents’ cottage at Paudash Lake, just outside...

one man’s junk…

we just had a garage sale – and even though in the newspaper we put 7:00 AM as the time that we would start selling, we had one guy show up at 5:30 and at least 20 other people show up before 7:00 (we realized it would be this way). I only had about 3 hours of...

a walk in the neighborhood

resplendent in faded jeans and a t-shirt a small boy rolling happily before me rubber wheels jostling over sidewalk cracks a mop-covered head peering over one side cool air bitingly fresh and clean golden reeds waving from shimmering pools moist buds blistering on...
snip

snip

yesterday Callum got his hair cut! Now instead of looking like a little sheepdog, he looks like a little boy. here is a picture from yesterday, and one from this evening. he turns 10 months in 2 days – it is amazing how time flies. in other news, we have been...

more characters

it is interesting to see Chinese characters now that I have been studying them for a while. A lot of Chinese art has characters painted upon it – to actually know what something means when I see it is a lot of fun. for example, today Yvonne found a small candle...

what really counts

a lot of times I think about the good old days when I used to write science fiction for an hour or so every day. I really got into it – in fact it was something that really helped to define who I was as a person. I wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages, and I...

characters

I always thought that writing Chinese characters was going to be the part about Chinese that I disliked. There are tons of different characters and none of them seem to make any sense at first blush! But after practicing them for a little while, I find that I really...
happy holidays

happy holidays

here is hoping that you and yours have a safe and happy holiday season. here’s Callum showing his love for the big guy in the red suit. (well hey – he was teething – and the picture was just too classic to pass up!) Merry Christmas...

IMBA

I received some good news in the mail on Friday – I have been accepted into the University of South Carolina International MBA program. The program starts in mid-May and lasts for three years; the reason for the extra year of school is due to the fact that I...
RotK

RotK

I’m really looking forward to next Wednesday, the day that Return of the King comes out in cinemas. On the other hand, it also means that I’ll have to re-read the Return of the King novel before that date, as I have done with the previous two novels that I...
motion

motion

so as I mentioned last post, Callum has learned to crawl. Yvonne and I thought that this would mean a bit of relief for his weary parents (us!) as we figured that his being able to crawl around and explore his surroundings would make him content. We were right –...

Happy Thanksgiving

happy American Thanksgiving. For lunch today Yvonne (I volunteered to help but she insisted on doing it herself) roasted a turkey with gravy and also prepared some stuffing, candied yams, and green bean casserole, plus there were toasted buttered buns and some sweet...
baby update

baby update

as of November 18th Callum has been crawling all over the place, which has sparked the rapid babyproofing of our house. Furthermore, today was the first day that he went from lying down on his stomach to a sitting up position all by himself. His crawling skills are...
the goings on

the goings on

so baby has been learning to eat solid foods. This has been going quite well. Right away he mastered two out of the three steps involved with eating, as follows: 1) I bring the spoon full of rice cereal (aka mush) to his mouth. He opens his mouth wide. Good! 2) Callum...

car rant

I saw something on TV the other day that frustrated me. before the Emmy Awards last night (I didn’t actually watch them) I noticed that The Buick Rendezvous is the official vehicle of the 2004 Emmy Awards. I am sure that securing this distinction cost GM a ton...

talk like a pirate day

arrrrrrrr, ye sorry sons of biscuit eaters, I be loaded te the gunwhales on clap o’ thunder, and I don’t be plannin’ on spendin’ the night in the gibbet cage, so man the six pounders and run a shot across the bow. If ye sorry scrogs don’t...