Shawn Sorichetti

This morning while getting ready to head to the local mall. Linda was brushing Megan’s hair and noticed red spots. Quick body search revealed more spots with blisters. First thought, Chicken Pox.

Linda took her immediately to the local clinic to confirm. Immediately put in an isolated room, and 2 hours later confirmed. Megan has Chicken Pox.

Upon their return home, we contacted the people who we had plans with for tonight. One to ask if they had already had Chicken Pox and what they wanted to do about the evenings festivities. But more importantly 2, their daughter had spent the night here, during the contagious period, and we needed to give them a warning.

The end result, we’ll be spending New Years Eve at home with the kids. First time in 4 years we’ve had plans to do something, and at the last minute, they get squashed.

Most importantly, Megan is doing fine, and giving her brother lots of hugs.

Luckily I did check Best Buy and Futureshop last night. Both stores started their sales at 6am EST (online they started last night). With a couple things still on my Christmas list that I received gift cards for, I made plans to do a little shopping. Gift cards are only redeemable in-store.

Seeming how these weren’t door crasher items, or new releases I figured getting up at 6:30am and heading directly to the store, I’d be able to pick up all the items without having to line up to get into the store. First to Best Buy. the parking lot was packed, but I managed to find a spot a little ways away. Walking into the store I overheard tales of people walking out, who had been in line since 5am.

Entering the store, it was wall to wall people everywhere. Lineups to checkout circled the store and filled many isles. It wasn’t hard to make it to the Xbox 360 game isle, and even pick up Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Gears of War. Although I had to buy the Limited Edition Gears of War and ended up paying full price.

Futureshop was my next planned stop, for a second wireless controller, directly across the road from Best Buy. It had started to rain, and still the lineup to get in, a full hour after the store opened, is around the corner of the store and the PetSmart that’s attached to it. No way was I waiting in the rain.

Instead I came home, and popped in Gears of War.

Here it is, 10 minutes until Boxing Day, and I have no Boxing Day flyers.

Normally we receive a town newspaper every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Every year the last paper before Christmas day is HUGE with Boxing Day sales flyers. This year, that paper would be delivered on Christmas Eve. No paper, no flyers.

I didn’t hold out much hope that we’d receive a paper today, and we haven’t.

I’d much rather read the flyers over a morning cup of coffee, but now I’ll have to surf the web. I’m positive I’m going to miss some deals. The retailers can blame Whitby This Week, or our local delivery person, for the lack of my business.

This is not the first time we’ve had issue. We’ve missed grocery flyers, one day sales at Toys ‘r’ us, and a number of other great opportunities. Numerous complaints have been filed, and it looks like I’ll have to file another.

Christmas has always been good to be, and this year was no exception. Here’s a list so next Christmas I’ll remember what I got, after it’s all been integrated.

DVD List

• Pirates of the Carribean - Dead Man’s Chest
• The Whole Nine Yards

Clothes

• Waffle Weave Long Sleeve Shirt w/tshirt
• Baseball Shirt
• Blue Waffle Weave Shirt

Misc

• Wired Magazine subscription
• Back Massager

Photography

• Optex Tripod

Toys

• Indoor RC Helicopter
• R2D2 Potato Head

Appliances

• Magic Bullet
• Ice3 Pop Dispensing Fridge
• Paper/CD Shredder

Xbox 360 Games

• Lego Star Wars II
• Lord of the Rings - Battle for Middle Earth II

Gift Certificates

• $50 Best Buy
• $50 FutureShop

Board Games

• Simpsons Clue

We bought our 98 Pontiac Grand Am in 1997, brand new. It was our first “grown up” vehicle. It was to be our family car, for a family that had just barely started. It was the car to go out in, to take trips to the cottage in, a trip to Myrtle Beach, and numerous trips to Lexington Kentucky. It fit this roll well, only to have these duties relegated to a new van when the family grew again.

The Grand Am became the secondary vehicle. Used for single person drives, never more than 60KM. Only seeing multiple occupants during weekly office lunch outings, trips to Karate class with Megan and I, or if the van was in for servicing.

With a 3.1L 6 cylinder engine, midsize body, and the ever increasing costs of gas (a whole $0.65/litre), my eye started to wander toward a smaller vehicle. I had become fed up with North American automobile companies, their lack of quality, and customer service. I started looking at the Volkswagen Jetta. The rule of only 1 car payment at a time held me to only looking.

While on her way to work this past August Linda was involved in an accident in the Grand Am. Linda was the first car in a 3 car pile up, where the tail car pushed an SUV into the back of the Grand Am. Linda was fine, but the Grand Am suffered damage to it’s rear. Thoughts of “write-off” entered my brain and my eye did more than wander. I had chosen a black Jetta TDI as a replacement.

The insurance company had other thoughts in mind. The Grand Am was deemed fix worthy and after 4 weeks of repairs it was returned to us, but it wasn’t the same. With the dwindling lease on the van, the time was ripe to replace the Grand Am.

On October 20, we signed the papers and the search began for the exact car I wanted. 2006 Jetta TDI, black, black leather interior, apparently hard to find, but the dealer thought they had a line on one. On October 27 I was informed they didn’t. The ones they had a line on were spoken for, my car wouldn’t be available until December 13.

November 8th I returned from taking pictures in the fog at the duck pond to a message from the dealer waiting on our phone. They’d found my car, and better yet it was on their lot ready for me to pick it up as soon as the licensing was done.

After amazing feats of getting money transferred, getting insurance, and pushing the dealer to get my license plates transfered, I now have my car, and I love it.

more pictures

I used to be one of those people who thought backups of CDs/DVDs were not required. I take really good care of my media. Always putting it back in a case, and if a case isn’t handy placing it gently in a spot that’s free of debris. There was no need for me to make a backup copy of any media.

Enter my wife and kids.

The realization that backups of CDs/DVDs started when I was asked to switch out the Toy Story DVD and put in another movie for the kids. I glanced at the bottom of the DVD and could see nothing but finger prints and dirt.

A couple weeks back I was handed a stack of CDs. Not in cases, backsides facing each other, again covered in smudges.

On our recent vacation my wife was switching DVDs out of the van media player. Thumb firmly placed on the underside, index finger across the top. BIG thumb print on the bottom.

Today, I’ve been re-ripping a number of CDs in our collection. I’ve adjusted iTunes settings to give me a higher quality AAC (when did iTunes start including VBR as an option with AAC?). Grab Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway, stick it in the PowerBook, immediately it’s ejected. Check the bottom, just covered with scratches and finger prints. This being one of my daughter’s favourite CDs.

So making backups piracy? Hell no. It’s required to protect your investment.

Today was to be the first mowing of the year for our lawn. Normally this would occur well before now, however vacation and lots of rain kept this from happening.

Today’s excuse for not mowing: lack of footwear. I have 2 pairs of shoes that I will mow the lawn in, both have gone missing over the winter.