Out with the old, in with the new
Just got back this morning from speaking to our lawyer handling our new property purchase, everything is looking great. A couple of minor adjustments are needed as our mortgage has changed since he last heard about it, but other than that everything is in place and signed so that on August 15th I can pick up the new keys to the house! Very exciting stuff.
Yesterday was our close friends Aimee and Jason's wedding (8/8/2008), and we had a blast! A very nice wedding ceremony in Aimee's backyard, and a great reception afterwards at a restaurant. It took us from 7:30am until 1:00am the next morning! We both had a great time and are really happy for both Aimee and Jason.
Tonight we'll be going out to dinner at our favorite Japanese place with some friends of ours. Note that although I have a favorite Japanese restaurant, it does not mean I have greatly expanded my taste of foods. They have a spicy chicken and a chicken katsu there that are really good (obviously, since it's chicken), and that cater to my Americanized tongue. Still trying to get used to raw fish... (shutter)...
Well that's about it for now, I suppose. Not much going on in my new politics blog, mainly because I haven't felt the need to rant or rave about anything. I may be turning it from a neutral blog to a (candidate I support) blog, but I've yet to make my final decision.
And now, Robin Hood Daffy:
New Part of the Blog
After a day or two of thinking that I want to start posting my thoughts on the 2008 Presidential Election, I realized that it probably would not be a good idea to do it on this website, and that a new, seperate website would have to be made so that these two worlds can co-exist peacefully.
Thus I have created: brianirish.com/POLITICS
I’m going to try to stay as neutral as possible while posting to that blog, as to not try to influence one candidate over another. I’ll be referencing facts from factcheck.org, a non-partisan website.
Feel free to voice your own opinion in the comments of the new blog, but please try to keep it quasi-civilized!
Anyone for tennis?
Had a good fun game of tennis this morning with my father-in-law and his coworkers, and Terence (my brother-in-law) as well. Didn't really do much else today other than brush up on some CSS coding and a little bit of work for my freelance position. It was a holiday in Canada today (Civic Holiday or something?) so I got to spend the day with my sweetheart.
Hopefully will begin populating that CSS page soon... on my list of things to do (my infinite list of things to do, that is).
And now, one of my favorite all-time cartoon clips:
Small Changes/Updates
Just completed a bit of house cleaning on the website here... removed my pitiful About page, and added a bit of information to my Portfolio page. I've also added a placeholder page for some CSS code I want to publish later on.
On the right hand side, underneath the links to other websites, there's a (totally voluntary) poll that you can feel free to participate in. I've started off with a political question, because of my interest in politics, and because I'd like to see how my visitor's will vote in the upcoming election. It's absolutely anonymous, there's no way for me to see how you have voted, so vote away! I'll be adding more in the future.
Have an idea for a poll I should conduct in the future? Write it in the comments!
Off to the Zoo!
We're off to the zoo this morning with Miranda, Karen, her parents, and of course, Maelynn and Sierra! It's Kin and Ian's anniversary (Happy Anniversary guys!) so Karen and her parents have the kids for the day. Can't wait to touch the stingrays!
Avenue Q last night was awesome. Very hilarious show and I absolutely recommend it to everyone that has the chance to see it! Thanks to Jean and Win for inviting us! And for those that really want to know, no, I unfortunately did not make it onto the stage in my birthday suit. I know, disappointing.
The food at Salad King was delicious, even though my first bite ended up all over my shirt after fumbling with my chopsticks... some Thai spicy chicken at Spicy Level 5. It was just about at my threshold for being really spicy but still being able to taste the food I was eating. Great stuff!
Okay off to the Zoo!
Update on… things?
(looks at topic of this post)... Yeah - I've used all of my creativity for the day. While we wait around to leave for the night, I guess it'd be a good time to update the blog. The video of the new house, somehow, was a success. I attribute that to Nadia's presence somehow offsetting my own.
Lately things have been going really well. We are still trying to work out a good mortgage for the new house, but any of the options look pretty decent. Some more than others, obviously. Tonight, Nadia and I are going to watch a musical called Avenue Q. Our good friends Jean and Win invited us, so we'll be leaving to go in about 10 minutes! Better make this quick...
Last night Nadia and I went to visit her grandparents for dinner and to catch up, and our cousins Miranda and Mark were there as well. We were just talking and found out that we're both going to the same Avenue Q show, and not only that, had plans to go eat at the same restaurant beforehand! Weeirrrrd... Should be a great time!
Lots of work coming in lately through the company I do consulting for... They're really great guys, most of them based around the San Francisco area, but some in places like Toronto (not only me), and New Jersey. Very motivated and very, VERY intelligent individuals, and it makes the pay only the second best thing about working for them.
Hmm... 5 minutes left. I think I'm going to cut this one short for now, I'll update tomorrow about how the show went, and whether or not I made it running onto the stage in my birthday suit.
Cheers!
New Photos!
We have some new photos of our new house to share. I took a video "tour" of the house as well, but I'm having trouble getting it onto Vimeo. Will post it here as soon as it's up.
Photos!
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- Basement
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- Staircase/Front of House
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- Basement Washer/Dryer
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- Entry Way
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- Living Room
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- Oak Staircase
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- Kitchen
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- Staircase
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- Kitchen Closeup
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- Kitchen
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- Fireplace in the Family Room
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- Back of the House
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- Front of the House
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- Bathroom Upstairs 2
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- Bathroom Upstairs
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- Master Bedroom
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- Ensuite
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- Bathtub
Cquestrate: An Interesting Environmental Idea
I've stumbled upon a website called Cquestrate, which is an "open-source" movement to bring an idea to fruition, thus solving the problem of excessive CO2 emissions in our atmosphere. The idea: Add lime to our sea waters. Adding lime will give the sea water twice the capability of absorbing CO2, and even though the process of extracting the lime via mining creates CO2, the amount it ends up absorbing is double of what is needed to extract it, thus still being a "carbon-negative" process.
They're looking for intelligent people who are experts in related fields (mining, environmental analysis, bulk transport, etc.) to submit their ideas and answers to problems to their website. Even if their method of adding lime to seawater doesn't end up working, their method of finding a solution is very creative and powerful. Utilizing the internet and patent-free ideology, they can freely tap into the enormous brain power of everyone who visits their website.
And speaking of their website, here it is!
Do you think it's a viable method of reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere? Add your thoughts in the comments below.
No More House Hunting!!!
Wow, never thought I'd actually say it: We bought a house! It's located in Markham at Woodbine and Major Mack, about 5 minutes away from my in-laws, and just a few minutes from our friends Jean and Aimee. Closing date is mid-August (!!), so we'll have time to get things gradually moved in between then and when we plan on moving in for good (around the Sept. 1st weekend). Painting is on our list of things to do and we're going to pick out paints very soon!
Before I get to pictures, here's a quick description: 9' ceiling on the main floor, hardwood almost everywhere (if not everywhere), 2 car garage, fireplace in the family room, dining area, living room, all open concept kitchen, appliances including fridge, dishwasher, stove (with flat-top burners), washer/dryer, unfinished basement, oak staircase, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms.
Pictures!
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- Front of the house
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- Family/Dining Area
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- From the Family Room
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- Kitchen
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- Living Room
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- Dining Area
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- Bedroom
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- Bathroom
We'll be visiting the house again on Sunday to have another look. I'll bring my camera along with me to get better photos. Leave comments if you want a photo taken of something! 