News Update

Another week has passed here on Lake Superior in my hometown. It was a week of getting back into my routines—daily driving of the school bus, and puzzling over the markets. The TSX has not progressed this month, so I'm feeling blessed to be up a couple of thousand with just one trading day to go. It's much short of my targets, but since the market has lost 100 points in the last four weeks, I'm grateful to be in the green. Bus driving has been going fine, and I'm very comfortable with my route. This week was exam week for the High School students, so they were not on the bus much; on two afternoons I had no riders at all for the High School run. We've had a little bit more fresh snow, so I was back into shovelling, but the weather had moderated so I've spent most of the week in slushy driving conditions. I've been able to catch up on curling in the Continental Cup where we prevailed over the World team, and also the TSN Skins where I watch my old favourite, Kevin Martin, eke out a win over David Murdock of Scotland. This weekend, Kevin lost out to Jeff Stoughton, so, I decided to cheer for Jeff, but he lost out tonight. I've also been following the Australian Open tennis, but was disappointed to see our Danish lass lose out in the semis, but glad to see Kim Clijsters win the final. I'm cheering for Djokovic on the men's side.

Wendy has only had a few shifts at Walmart this week, but is busy again this weekend. I'm guessing this is part of the price you pay as a relatively new person on staff. Anyway, she's doing a great job there, so I have to expect that eventually they'll figure out what a valuable commodity she is, and offer to put her on full-time. By this time, she is the virtual manager of the shoe department, but is not recognized nor paid as such. It is simply the usual dedication and ownership she takes of her job responsibilities. I am proud of her. While she is just glad I'm home to take over the snow removal duties!!

Erin is enjoying her new car. Kristian is not so sure they wouldn't have been better off with a van. He liked travelling in Great Grampa's van with its higher seating and better viewing angles. He's progressing well at school, and is off to another birthday party this weekend—more Lego, I'm sure! He had two special treats this week as he got to talk on the phone with his special aunty Erica, and then she had a brief stopover here on Friday on her way home from Toronto. He just squealed when he saw her in the car!

Trav has continued with his usual program and has taken on additional support of coaching other hockey teams just to help out. I hope to complete his top-corner targets this weekend.

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

This week marked my return to the shore of Lake Superior and my hometown. The trip was eventful, so I've given it an entry of its own. Otherwise my week was the grand range from the sublime to the mundane! On Sunday we enjoyed the fellowship of the congregation in Palm Springs where we encountered quite a number of snowbirds. Some have escaped for so long, I'm thinking they've changed species. We found former Torontonians, Edmontonians, Calgarians, even Dauphinites! Glen & Gwen Dods are working with this congregation—it was quite a surprise to find them there! We enjoyed lunch with them and Ernest Andersons before heading out to golf at LaQuinta Dunes. Finally, on Monday afternoon we played our sixth and final round at Indian Canyons. What a wonderful week! Thank you guys for a great time. The weather was wonderful with day time highs ranging from 23 to 32—the latter a little uncomfortably hot for me. The golf was quite satisfactory, although Sunday did bring my thirty-five years of keeping it under 100 to an end! Monday, I started a new streak! My luggage arrived home on Friday morning, so at least I have my clubs for the weekend!

The stock market in Canada has shown a decline this month, so I've struggled to make money. The US markets are up, so I'm encouraged that we'll turn it around. I've bought a few stocks on what I suppose to be dips! Now, I'm ready for a rally! I got back to driving my school bus on Wednesday morning. My body has now experienced +30 and -30 in the same week; I must say, it was easier to get comfortable in the -30 weather here at home. I almost quit the golf game on Monday afternoon, but finally got some relief with an ice-water cloth on my head and neck.

Wendy has been taking care of things here at home including dealing with some fresh snow. The pile on the lawn is getting quite high; I'll have to get the snowblower out and move it away from the edge of the driveway so we have more room for additional deposits. She's also been picking up shifts at Walmart where she does daily battles with shop-lifters. So far, the shop-lifters are winning!

Erin got her new car—a 2009 Nissan Altima! Kristian thinks it's a nice, big, grey car. He's continuing to progress at school, and with his speech. It was clear to hear better sentence composition after just one week away.

Trav has continued with work, contracting, hockey and Joanna; I won't speculate on the order! This week he's trying to build top corner targets for his hockey team to use in practice.

And that's about it for this week.

The Voyage Home-The Search for ?

This morning I headed for my hometown on the shore of Lake Superior. My flight was at 6am, and Dick and Kerry got me to the airport in plenty of time. It was mostly downhill from there!

I was scheduled for a multi-leg flight: Palm Springs - Phoenix - Indianapolis - Toronto - Thunder Bay, but US Airways wouldn't book me past Indianapolis. They wanted me to collect my bags and recheck there. I finally convinced them that since they were all the same big company (Star Alliance) that they should be able to check my luggage through to Canada. At that point they made the giant leap of checking them right through to Thunder Bay despite my protests that I should probably clear customs in Toronto! And they charged me for each of the bags, a total of $60. But I still only had boarding passes to Indy.

When we got to Phoenix, with a pretty quick connection, I rushed to the next terminal and gate, only to find the plane had "gone mechanical". Air transportation companies are never behind schedule—aircraft "go mechanical" or "take on a delay"! In this case, it was delayed for an hour and as I result I wouldn't make the connection in Indy to go up to TO. So, they started work on a new connection through Philly; it would get me to TO, but too late for my flight to TBay. There was still a chance my original flight would get ready to go in time to make the connection, so I waited a while longer. Then, it "took on a further delay", so I headed back to customer service. I asked them if they could reroute me with a different airline, but they said their rule was only to reroute with a different airline after a four-hour delay. I returned to my line about "all one big company", and after a bit of work on that story, they agreed to call Air Canada about the direct flight from Phoenix to TO. Yep, they had a seat available. US Airways said they would put in an order for my luggage to get moved over to that flight, and I headed to the AC desk to get my boarding cards. AC called down to the baggage area, but my bags had not arrived. They sent me back to US Airways. US Airways admitted they had not found the bags, but that they were still working on it.

I headed back to AC gate and my 1pm flight (Original departure from Phoenix was 9:35am) only to find it had "gone mechanical" as well. It didn't take too long, but we were late getting away, and late getting into TO. Fortunately, I had no luggage, so it was a quick trip through Customs & Immigration. Then I had to go back through security, and try to get to the gate for the flight to TBay. I knew I was late, but this time, the plane had "taken on a delay" for over an hour, and I made the final leg to TBay arriving here at about 11pm without luggage! Maybe it will come tomorrow, but in the meantime, I won't be able to go golfing!!

Palm Springs

Another week has passed and I have travelled far from the shore of Lake Superior and my hometown. I have joined three friends for a week of golf in Palm Springs, and it has been great! We have been playing a round of golf each day, and enjoying the warm weather. It has been sunny every day and the temperatures have ranged from 23 to 28—almost too hot for me! The golfing experience has been wonderful, and sharing it with friends just makes it more special. We've been mostly cooking for ourselves at the condo and have been enjoying a delicious array of barbecued feasts. Cold Stone Creamery is nearby, so that has made for a featured treat as well.

I left TBay on Tuesday morning, and the trip was an experience all by itself. When I got to the airport, I was informed that I had a piece of missing information, without which, I would not be admitted to the US. I didn't have the precise address where I would be staying while in the US! Fortunately, Wendy was standing by, so I dispatched her to get an address and email it to me while I flew to Toronto. Of course this delayed things in Toronto, so I missed my flight as the US closed down security for the flight before I could get my bags and the new information to them. Fortunately, the Air Canada staff there was very helpful and rebooked my trip directly to Las Vegas and that caught me up to my original flight down to Palm Springs. I was glad to get there!

Otherwise, I spent some time each day working on the investments and that turned out well as I recovered all my losses from last week and gained a healthy profit as well. I've been keeping track of things back home and commiserating with Wendy as she shovels snow, wonders about using the snowblower... ah, what a blessed man I am!

I can't tell you too much about home, Erin, Kristian, Travis etc. but, what I have heard indicates that all is going well for them. Erin still doesn't have her new car, so she's still driving a rental.

Anyway, that's about it for this week. Next Tuesday, I return to the land of snow.

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The first week of the new year was not good in the Canadian markets, although the US markets did well. As a result, I lost over 1% as well. Fortunately, I'm less than 50% in the market, although less would have been better! Well, better luck next week! The weather has been more wintery with normal temperatures of around -20 over night and -10 for day time highs. Fortunately, the storms seem to be passing south of the lakes and hitting Toronto instead of us. I've been driving bus all week; it's going fine. We suffered through the World Junior Hockey Championship as the Russians served up a five-goal third period to come back and defeat our guys in the final game. I was back to Dr. Prowse this week, and he's not happy with an increase in my PSA; he's putting me on antibiotics for a week and then having me do the lab work over; he's hoping that reduces the PSA. He thinks it may just be elevated from chronic inflammation. If this doesn't work, he's thinking of doing another biopsy; trust me, nobody wants that!

Wendy has been working all week at Walmart. She's picked up extra shifts as well as her own, and she's tired tonight! We're also hosting house guests this weekend as Gemma and Andrew are with us while Joanna and Trav travel with the hockey team to Minneapolis.

Erin and Kristian are doing fine. Erin was in an accident last Sunday when another driver making a left turn ran her car down. The car is a total write-off, but Erin is okay. She has decided on a replacement which she's getting from her employer, Budget Rent-a-Car. It's a 2009 Nissan Altima. Kristian has been running the folks at school a little ragged with his little games, but they're starting to catch up! He is an amazing little character!

Trav is off to a hockey tournament in Minneapolis this weekend. His team only won one game, so they're not in the championship games. We expect them back tomorrow evening. In the meantime, he's concerned for his Penguins as captain Crosby is out with a concussion.

And that's about it for this week.

Happy New Year!

Another week, another month, another year has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We've had more strange weather with above zero temperatures and rain. Then as the week waned, we got freezing rain and snow. It's a bit of a mess on the streets and coated on the vehicles. The closing weeks of the markets has continued with thin volumes, but some progress in values. I managed a small profit again, and finished the month almost on target. However, spring and early summer losses kept me from meeting my goals for the year, so I shall have to work harder! We've enjoyed having some company over the holidays. Eric/A and the boys were here until Tuesday. Joanna & Trav have been over often; Kristin & Erin are with us all the time. So, it's nice! Trav & Joanna were over for New Year's Eve; Joanna helped Wendy put a puzzle together. This afternoon, we went out to Bob & Linda's and enjoyed supper with them. I'm back to driving the bus on Monday morning.

Wendy has been busy with work at Walmart all week, but not so busy that she couldn't make more tasty treats for all of us to enjoy!

Erin has been back at work, but has an extended weekend to enjoy now. Kristian has managed to get all his Christmas Lego assembled, and reassembled. He plays with his Lego stuff a lot.

Trav had the week off and enjoyed that. But his Penguins lost the high profile outdoor game tonight, and he didn't enjoy that.

And that's about it for this year—enjoy 2011!