Saturday, September 26

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been cooler with some rain, but we're enjoying sunny weather this weekend. I think Wendy has completed her weeding program, and things look much better in the yard. We donated our old ski boat to Teen Challenge, and they were here to haul it away on Wednesday. We surely enjoyed a lot of trips to the cabin and a lot of skiing with that boat. We have continued our preparation for India, and have now chosen themes and developed materials for most of the situations. We learned of the passing of an important friend of our lives—we extend condolences to the McMillan families and relatives on the passing of their matriarch. The markets have continued to the red; the TSX is now down 8.6% YTD. I am thankful to have some good gains this year, but that didn't happen this week, and I've now fallen into red for this month as well, sigh! I continue to hope things may bottom out and manage to establish a bit of an uptrend before we head off for six weeks in India! I won't be following things very closely during that excursion. The Jays continue to play well; they clinched a playoff berth yesterday, and continue to work toward a division championship. The Riders are set to host Montreal tomorrow—Go Riders, Go! Pre-season hockey is underway as well, and everyone is a contender at this point in the season! 

Eric/A and Haaken carry on with life and work in Prince Albert. This weekend they enjoyed exploring in Prince Albert National Park. 

Erin and Kristian have had a quiet week in Regina after the birthday festivities subsided. We received an update on his school work; that looked very good! Good work, Kristian! Erin is a big time Blue Jays fan, so she's delighting in their play, and in the prospects of post-season play. 

Joanna has flown down to Burlington to assist the PuckShots efforts to break into the market down there courtesy of Lorraine. It's tough sledding! Travis has been busy with the scouting for his new team. Now, the draft is over and tomorrow afternoon the practice sessions begin to build the team. Gemma is happy to see that a young man named Matthew has been drafted to the team! Andrew had a tough week fighting off a cold. 

Saturday, September 19

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather continues to be beautiful, even unseasonably warm and we've even resorted to the air conditioning on occasion. We had a thunderstorm one night with a good downpour of rain. Wendy has been very busy weeding in the back yard and it's looking much better, but there remains more work to do. I've cleared the thistles from behind the back fence, and readied the boat for donation to Teen Challenge. I've also re-engaged the battle with the ground hog who seems to have taken up residence while we were away. The neighbours trapped one and moved it out of town, and we were hoping this one would leave of his own accord, but so far he's not taking NO for an answer! I've also been working on repairs in the house. I managed to replace the faucet in the kitchen sink, and then installed a garburator and redid the drain pipes—big improvement there! The markets have continued to struggle while we waited for the Fed decision, and then tried to figure out how they would react to it! I had a small gain for the week, and am just short of quota for the month so far. We've made some progress on the lesson preparation for India. Technology allows us to coordinate with the remainder of the team despite that they're spread from Regina to Salmon Arm to Yellowknife. The Riders played Ottawa this evening, and enjoyed having Kevin Glenn back at quarterback, but they still lost, sigh! It was another close one, just 3 points, but rats! The Blue Jays have opened a bit of a lead in their division, but lost today; that didn't help.

Li-Luigi!

Liam came home for the weekend. He said he's home to visit, but there are suspicions that he's just there for Comic-Con in Saskatoon. His costume may have increased that speculation! At least he's having a good time in high school so far. Erica returned from her trip early Friday morning. This is just in time to host friends from Kenora! Eric continues with work; Haaken continues to look for work. 

Erin and Kristian had a big week since it was Kristian's birthday week! I don't quite get it, but it seems that these days a tenth birthday qualifies for a full week of celebration. He is delighted with his big gift of an Xbox, and shared the experience with his friends on Friday evening and night! 

Trav & Joanna continue to be very busy. Hockey season has begun for Trav, and he's been scouting the prospects in training camp for his new team. They have also extended their team photography business moving into other sports this Fall. Gemma and Andrew maintain the usual school schedule and an active social life, so we don't see much of them. 

And that's the kind of week it's been. 

Saturday, September 12

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been beautiful, and we're enjoying that. We've managed to get some things done in the yard, but there remains a lot to do and little time to do it! We're feeling pressured by the list of things we would like to take care of before we leave for India. We're not scheduled to return from India until the end of November, and we could have snow here by then. The markets have remained troubled. The TSX is down another 2.7% this month, so I'm finding it a real challenge to find good investments. Wendy and I have been working on material to use on the India trip. We plan to deliver some classes for children in the schools, and Ray has also assigned me to speak on several occasions. On Thursday, I visited the dentist to get two teeth repaired that I had chipped off over the summer—expensive and painful, and painfully expensive! The Riders won the Labour Day classic over Winnipeg—yay Riders! Today, they played the return engagement in Winnipeg, called the Banjo Bowl—it didn't go well! The Jays continue to play well, and have opened a nice lead in their division. Today they won a double-header over the Yankees to extend their lead. 

Erica is away on a vacation trip to the US west coast, and seems to be enjoying herself very much. Eric and Haaken are holding down the fort at home in PA and not enjoying it quite as much! Liam is at school in Caronport. 

Erin & Kristian are enjoying life, work and school in Regina. Erin visited with the staff at school who work with Kristian, and she's encouraged that he is starting into a good year there. 

Travis and Joanna continue to operate on a very busy schedule. Gemma and Andrew are well into another year of school; this is Andrew's first year of high school. It seems to be going well for the whole crew. 

And that's about enough for this week! 

Saturday, September 5

News Update

Another week has passed, and it finds us back on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown—it's good to be home! The week has gone well. The weather has been great, until it turned to rain today; so, we left! We packed up, and left early this morning; we drove east and arrived just after midnight. We'll worry about unpacking tomorrow. The markets have tossed and turned all week, and took a final turn downward on Friday as Goldilocks failed to come through. The US economic and job data was too hot with GDP strong and unemployment dropping to 5.1%. Investors there decided the Fed would raise rates this month, so, they decided to sell. Here our economic data was too cold, as we entered another recession, and unemployment rose to 7.0%. Investors here decided to sell as well! Friday was not a good day on the markets! However, I had a great week despite my low buy in, and managed to cover quota for the week, and recover a couple of weeks of August where I had failed to make quota earlier! Wendy and I continued with work on Erin's place, and completed the assigned tasks for this time! The Riders failed again in their game with Ottawa. So, they finally made some changes, dumping head coach and general manager. We'll see the new look Riders tomorrow against Winnipeg—go Riders, go! The Jays continue to thrive and are in first place in their division. August fundraising data for our India mission sees me looking at in-law support! I see funding from a father-in-law, two brothers-in-law, and three sisters-in-law! It's more than a bit curious don't you think? I'm suspicious they're trying to get rid of me!! Actually, we are humbled and very appreciative of your sponsoring us. Thank you, thank you! We have about half of our funding in place already. 

Eric/A and Liam brought Haaken home last weekend and combined that with a family trip! Once special event was a visit of the Ghost Town at Three Valley Gap. The arrived back to Prince Albert at 5am Sunday. Travels continued to be the watchword this week as Eric took Liam back to school at Caronport on Tuesday! Liam was not excited about school, but seems to be enjoying friends and is looking forward to voice and drum lessons. Eric has submitted his forms to be registered as a Marriage and Family Therapist. His required hours have been completed, so we hope the process goes smoothly. Erica left on Friday for a holiday trip to the US with some girlfriends. She is looking forward to a real break during which she is no on call! 

Erin and Kristian have had a busy week with school start up added to the daily agenda. Kristian seems to be enjoying his new class, and especially that his best friend, Owen, is in his class. Kristian has his first male teacher; we're all hopeful about how things will develop. Of course, they have been hosting us all week, but now that we're gone, Erin can begin developing a new list of errands for us to work on next time! 

Travis, Joanna and Minnie greeted us on our arrival. It was good to see them again after three months. We are looking forward to catching up on all the Thunder Bay events starting tomorrow! 

And that's enough for this week!