So I'm scheduled to extend my M1 permit today - the MTO couldn't get me a driving test before my permit expires on the 24th of August (re: today!) so I have to have it extended to Sept 17th (earliest drive test they had available for M2 license)
I'd already have my M2 license already if their fuckin' website worked properly. ..
The problem started when I went online to book my roadtest to get my M2 ... I drive a limited speed vehicle (LSM) so I'm road testing for an M2 w/ condition L (limited speed vehicles go up to 70km/hr) ...while booking the road test I selected M2 and subsequently selected the type of vehicle I'd be driving ... the LSM. the website tells me that I can't book this type of roadtest at the Kingston Drive Test Centre. so I go back and select regular motorcycle ... the available appointment is August 12th @ 130pm ("PERFECT! I'm on holidays, and that's only a week away!" I thought) ...I didn't want to didn't confirm the appointment until I had a chance to go to the testing centre and ask about the LSM test in Kingston so I closed the browser session.
While on my holidays I arrive at the testing centre and pull my number... in the words of les claypool:
Quote :
Ive been to hell. I spell it...I spell it DMV
Anyone thats been there knows precisely what I mean
I've stood in line and waited near an hour and fifteen
And if I had my druthers I'd screw that chimpanzee - call it pointless
after waiting close to an hour and 15 I was told that I COULD book the M2(L) in Kingston but the earliest date is Sept 17th. grrrrreat ... so my permit expires on August 24th and you can't get me an appointment before the middle of Sept!!¿¿?? ...our gov't hard at work. The lovely young lady informs me that I can extend my M1 by writing the written test again, and if i pass, i'll be able to drive to my roadtest. they DO grant a day grace period and let you drive on the day your driving permit expires in order to get to your road test ...but they won't extend me to Sept 17th without charging me $17.50. I stated that I should be given an extension as they're unable to meet my needs within the timeframe they'd allotted for me to have a road test ... I was ready/willing/able to do the test at the time I was attempting to book it online and didn't have to wait a month to get an appointment ..."what's the hold up?" i asked. she had no explanation, just told me to come back on August 24th and renew if I wanted to drive. I love red tape.
so I wake up on August 24 and hear the news that the drive test centres are closed due to a labor dispute ...apparently the steelworkers union want a 2% pay increase for the drive test employees. go fuck your hat, you've got a job at least ...and a pretty fuckin' easy job too sitting on your ass all day marking driving exams isn't brain surgery. be thankful you've got a job and aren't on the street ...get your ass back to your cushy desk job (i'm one to talk ...i have a cushy desk job)
at least the ministry is "working on" expired permits that require testing being extended until after the labor dispute...
Quote :
FROM THE DRIVE TEST WEBSITE:
Due to a labour disruption, DriveTest centres province wide are unable to conduct business resulting in the closure of all offices. This message will be updated upon the resumption of normal services.
All road tests scheduled during the labour disruption may be rescheduled at no additional charge upon the resumption of services. If you have a road test booked within the next 48 hours, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CANCEL THIS TEST – IT WILL BE CANCELLED AUTOMATICALLY WITHOUT PENALTY.
The automated road test booking systems will remain open during the labour disruption for your convenience. Since we are unable to advise the date at which normal service will resume, we recommend that if you are booking or rescheduling a road test appointment, you select an appointment date at least four business days into the future.
If you hold a licence that requires testing prior to renewal and it is about to expire, the Ministry of Transportation is taking steps to extend your licence until after the end of the labour disruption.
ahhh... vacation. we both took a week holidays and spent some time touring around ...shopping in westport (mmm bakeries!!), cheese/cider tasting in wapous (they ran out of non-alcoholic cider bottles and are waiting to get more... bummer for steph). we trekked to gananoque to see the beautiful women project (and to shoot the speakers at the event) and went drinkin' at rowan's place celebrating colleen's birthday with guitar playing and singing (no, not me) ... and i can't forget the kickass bbq pancake breakfast extravaganza at lisa's place either. hot cakes ...hot damn they were good. not to mention the humongous pile of toast consumed ... the almond/blackcherry bread from pan chancho was soooo good. i love breakfast.
we did the candle-lit tour of bellevue house during our holidays ... it was neat to see inside the place at night but it wasn't all that i'd hoped for. it was kinda lame ...but the tour was nice...i like that house. the electric candles that lit the place were about 10x brighter than candlelight ... and they didn.t flicker
everything is good / normal on the baby front ... the lawyers say he's not causing any problems in baby prison but that he does wiggle around a lot. i imagine it's cramped in there ...kinda like being stuck inside a stretched out swimsuit cap. steph's not complaining about her back as much ... but the bed is slowly being taken over by pillows and i'm sure by the 8th month i'll be sleeping on the couch because there won't be enough room for me in there with all the pillows stacked around her, tucked under her and in between her legs. hehehe it's becoming a comical ordeal watching her to get into bed at 6 months ... uh oh ... we're gonna have to drop the bed lower soon probably.
we've got the paint now, but the baby's room still isn't painted ...my gear is still stacked up in there ... i'll get to that eventually. where does the time go....
wow... that's the sickest we've been in a very very long time. steph got hit with the sickness on monday ...felt a little queazy in the morning at home and then puked all over the sidewalk on the way home from the midwife's office. street puking isn't her forte ...she coated her feet pretty good. i felt awful for her ...she couldn't keep anything down for a few days and each time she puked, the baby would punch her in the ass (her choice of words). Then on Thursday morning I started puking at my desk and had to go home sick ...was out of commission all weekend (i'm way more of a whiner when i'm sick than steph is by far ...even pregnant she rarely complains about being sick, just goes about being sick) ...i kept her up most of the night moaning and groaning ... she's gotta get used to that anyway i figure.
while at the midwife's office there was a bit of confusion over who was who ... our midwife reviewed our most recent ultrasound with us and said everything was fine and the expected due date was the 8th of dec ... we had calculated the 13th of december ...no big deal. then when she started to review stephs weight for the chart there seemed to be an issue with how much she weighed ...then the midwife realized she was reading the wrong chart. a few minutes later she returned with steph's chart ... all the while we worried about whether or not OUR ultrasound results would be as positive as the ones that were read to us.
turns out the little dude is just fine too ...they didn't get a good shot of his backbone (he's a figgety little guy) so we've been scheduled for another ultrasound to see if they can get a proper shot ...everything else looks just fine they say ...just a formality she says ...and a good excuse to peek in on the boy again hehehe. that's this coming tuesday (while we're on holidays)
...our first family trip to the zoo is planned for the holidays, if it's not raining that is. if it rains the boy will get to go to the science centre for the first time (startin' him young on enjoying the animals and the sciences like ma and pa). and some cheese and cider in the county on the wine tour ...i've gotta paint the baby's room at some point in time soon too. i should get to that.
the verdict is in ... we're having a boy. my mother will yet again be disappointed ...she was looking for a grand-daughter to offset the two sons my brother has. sorry mom... heheh
i bought a 10'x20' black background this week on ebay and set up in the garage to shoot now that the baby has completely taken over the room once known as the spare room. it gives me a reason to get the renovations started each time i enter to shoot pictures in my dingy garage soon to be office/rehearsal space. it works pretty well though ... so i shouldn't complain that much. i like dirty. mmmm...dirty.
diana and issac came up this week also so i could take some maternity shots for them ... into the dingy garage we went and ended up with a few great shots ...it was a lot easier to shoot in the garage vs. the baby's room. way more room to move around for me and the lights.
i was bombed sick on monday/tuesday this week so i took time off work and sat on the couch tidying up diana's mat shots and the last of nancy's headshots (got some great shots of her on the white background ...what a model she was!) and i think we finally nailed the headshot except the background i was using for the series was completely wrinked so i've got my work cut out for me editing it. i hate background removal... but it's such a great shot i thought that it'll be worth it in the end. i'll post a few in my gallery shortly after she approves them.
i did manage to drag my sore / sick ass to the hospital with steph on monday for "ultrasound number 2 ... the verdict". we ran into our friend coup (you might remember him from my forum that doesn't work STILL) and his wife michelle ... who are expecting their first child shortly after we have ours. was good to see the man in person again... we'll be setting up a photography mandate soon. he just returned from the deifenbunker (again) with some terrific shots... i love that place. he's in my flickr list if you wanna check out the shots.
steph's feeling pretty good ... except the little dude (who remains nameless at this point as we discuss a couple of options) is moving around so much that steph's back is bothering her from time to time. i got to feel him move around for the first time this week too. steph says he's kicking like crazy already ... i keep checking to ensure it's in time. when it comes to names, i'm kinda torn, but sorta partial to the one she has picked out but i keep teasing her that i don't like it. the name comes from a character in one of our favorite movie series... and it's not star wars (there was NO WAY she was letting me name our son chewbacca... the cat would be even more confused than she is already.)
me, i'm feeling ok. thinkin' about doin' something with myself again ... i'm bored these days and need to prove myself wrong.
some of you that read my blog might not know that we're expecting a baby. long story short ... after i almost died last year steph and i changed our minds about bringing a child into the world. i'm still rather indifferent to the entire thing as it's not what i was expecting to do with my life ...but things happen to change that. life is about change ...
i'm pretty confident that i'm not going to win any awards for parenting ...especially with the amount of b.f. skinner that i've engulfed in my life as a behavioral science guy (people frown on raising your child in a box) ..but we figured if jay/tanya can do it successfully (their kids are great), we can probably pull it off half as good and still come out ok.
in the 15 years i've lived in kingston my mother has visited me a handful of times ... since we told her we were having a baby it's been regular visits and gifts being dropped off randomly. she's trying to bribe us into having a granddaughter (as my brother has two boys) and i'm her only hope she says. we told her on mother's day by surprizing her with a 'you're the best nanny' card ...to which she thought i was being a smartass until she read the inside of the card.
to those we hadn't told yet... SURPRIZE! we didn't mean to keep it a secret ...we're still shocked ourselves and just forgot.
i started shooting weekly pics a few weeks after we found out ... i held off until now because there wasn't really much to show.
my drums and photography gear have been moved out of the 'spare room' making way for a crib / stoller / highchair and dresser/changetable/toybox ... but i set up in there to shoot the weekly photo so the kid will recognize both mother and the environment around him/her ...hehehe. i really have to get my garage done this summer/fall so i can have a spot to make the bangy bangy and the clicky clicky ...
"bad parents don't worry if they're going to be good parents or not" ...we plan on doing this thing at home (our midwife heather is a super nice lady) and i'm scared pretty shitless about being a father and doing it at home (more nervous than getting on a stage) ...but neither of us are puking regularly, so i think we'll be ok.
just because we have a large driveway doesn't mean you should block it with your oldman car everyday.
something bad might happen to it ... i have friends that might not see your boat blocking our driveway and could potentially run into your precious car.
this is the same old man that when we moved in three years ago, asked if he could park his car in our driveway because he has two cars and only one spot at his apartment. "that sounds like a personal problem, do not park in my driveway" ...so he's taken to blocking it instead.
WOOHOOO ... I haven't seen Tool since 2002 in Ottawa (see below for 'the grudge' from that show)
we can get TOOL in kingston but for some reason we can't get a fucking Bob Mould show to happen here. someone needs to fix this problem (Bob could easily fill the Ale House with people from all over the province ... we travel to Toronto to see him and boatloads of people come from further away than us)
Bob, we need you in Kingston. But i'll settle for Tool in the interim.
and a little bob mould acoustic for good measure (and you can never have enough bob mould i say)
I've maintained a pretty steady vegetarian diet for almost my entire life (although that peperoni on my slice of pizza counts as 'meat') and I've always had a strong distaste for any industry or small business that is only interested in profit and not bettering society (be it the music industry / fast food / clothing manufacturers and even a few of my doctors!). I like profit too, don't get me wrong ... I like making money ...but there's a line between profit and profiteering where social responsibility should take precedence over individual greed. unfortunately this doesn't happen (repeat after me ... VISA / MasterCard /Banks)
I'd heard about this movie a while ago from some friends ... finally found a trailer online and I guess I'll have to wait to rent the dvd from netflix because this movie will never make it to Kingston. I'd say download it but that's illegal and immoral, right?
i asked myself how the fuck we ended up with salmonela poisoning in SPINACH or PEANUT BUTTER!!
so i've had my M1 license for a week now ...100km on the scooter as of today's ride home from work, but the fucking rain won't stop. i went to the bike shop to look at rain gear but everything is heavily branded with the harley davidson or honda racing logos (and not little logos either ...big full back patches and arm bands with the co. logo)
i absolutely love driving this thing ... it's a riot on the ruckus i tells ya.
after some serious consideration (like 15 years of thinking about it) i've decided to get my M license and buy a scooter. steph has been encouraging me to get a license and a scooter for a while and we'd looked at vespas/piaggio and yamaha ...but finally decided on the 50cc honda ruckus. mostly because the yamaha dealer never bothered to get back to me (you'd think in times of recession that dealers would be hounding you to buy instead of ignoring your requests for information).
i wanted to get something with 125 or 150cc to drive it on the highway (#2 not the 401) but the ruckus will get me around town ...and that's all i really need.
more to come ... i still have to pass my m1 90 day learner's permit test on monday.
i haven't posted in a while so i figured i probably should on this holiday weekend ... shot this picture of steph the other night using a multi light set up... green gel flashed background on the sunpak 383 and softbox in front of her camera right. i was trying to get the background a bit darker ...but i was happy with what i got.
i bumped the saturation and contrast a bit in CS4 and added some lipstick / enhanced eye color a bit.
I'm a relatively lazy bastard these days, so the thought of having to clean out the junk from the garden shed wasn't exactly a pleasant one.
Junk Out made it a pleasant one though by coming over and very cost effectively removing my junk. The garden shed was full of crap we'd tossed out / broken / torn down, and the old shed in the back yard had been torn down and waiting to be removed since well before i went into the hospital last summer. eek... it's been looking like sandford and son's junkyard in my back yard for a while.
I called on Saturday - they arrived as arranged on Monday and quickly removed everything i had sent pictures of (yup - sent him an email with pics of what needed to go and he did it while i was at work).
Mark (the Junk Out guy) was super friendly (i came home for lunch and he was just about finished loading up). i highly recommend his service (also because he gave me a "full trailer contractor discount" of 10%) - http://www.junkout.info or call 331-JUNK (331-5865)
So I'm scheduled to extend my M1 permit today - the MTO couldn't get me a driving test before my permit expires on the 24th of August (re: today!) so I have to have it extended to Sept 17th (earliest drive test they had available for M2 license)
