Nuclear Medicine

On Thursday, November 15 (what is that, two weeks ago?), a group of us went to the hospital to visit Kevin Way, who was one of our Scout leaders back when I was about 16 years old. He has consistently set records for being the nicest person I know, as well as being the sickest person I know. At some point in his life, he has probably been stricken with every malady you can think of, usually several of them at once. Some more prominent conditions are leukemia, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. The most recent addition was pneumonia. In fact, he has considered himself to be living on borrowed time for the last 20 years.

Through it all, he has remained upbeat, cheerful and thoughtful.

He was great at finding common interests with us, and since we were a bunch of self-absorbed teenagers, he took interest in the things we liked. He came out to countless sporting events, concerts, presentations and awards ceremonies. So, it was the least we could do to come and visit him in the hospital.



The leukemia had diminished his red blood cell count to the point where he had no energy left and could hardly get out of bed. After doctors tried giving him a blood transfusion, he was suddenly invigorated. By the time we came to visit, he was feeling much better. He's lost a lot of weight, but he's still got that same big heart.

Geek Content: Almost Two-Thirds

63% Geek

I have to admit, I made a wild guess on the Star Trek question and nailed it. Also, I've never watched Firefly, but I read a newspaper review once so I knew enough for that one too.

First Swim

There comes a day in every boy's life when he needs to leave the safety of his bathtub and venture into that great expanse of the public pool. Wednesday was Scotty's big day. R got a last-minute invite from her sister J to go to the pool with a crowd of young mothers -- all relations of J's by marriage (or so I hear). Scott's big dip should have taken place back in September, when R and J went on a failed mission to an outdoor wading pool. Sadly, they were a few days late and the pool was already drained.

Sometimes life is like that -- empty pools and unfulfilled dreams.

Wednesday's pool of dreams was filled to overflowing. Reportedly, the water was pleasantly warm and must have soaked Scott's swimming diaper in a comfortable fashion. Despite the cozy diaper, Scott was slow to warm up to the new experience. He always clams up in public. Before too long, however, he was splashing at every toy in sight, quite pleased with everything. He even went down a waterslide (with his mom).

I only wish I could have been there with them, instead of sitting in the fourth row of Financial Accounting 601, pretending to listen to a discussion about amortization methods while I typed up some research about small-cap potash companies.

Eventually, I will also have my day in the sun.

Baby's First Veggies

First on the menu: Peas.

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You know, he didn't seem to like it that much at first, but that changed quickly. Speaking of veggies, here's a little sweet pea that is so cute you just want to eat him up.

Nose Hill

Today we had a few minutes before we needed to be at a family dinner / birthday party, so we stopped along our way at Nose Hill Park for quick walk. It was very quick, because we only had about 15 minutes, so we didn't get very deep into the park, which is about 4 kilometers wide. However, we got far enough to snap a few quick pictures of Scott in his sweet fleece snowsuit thingy. It was great for keeping him warm, but the hood really got in the way when he wanted to look over his shoulder at all the doggies out for walkies.

Perhaps you didn't know, but Nose Hill Park is "one of the largest municipal parks in North America." It's not exactly Central Park -- it's a wide grassy hill. It's nice and high so you can get some great views. I think one of the best spots is on the East side, just off 14th Street, where you get a great look at downtown Calgary. We were on the West side, where you can't see much but grass.

Next time we're going East.

The Big Three-O

I'm sure everyone is interested to hear about my birthday. Okay. I'll tell you.


Friday night we got the boys together for a night of nostalgia, revisiting the glory days mainly through the medium of video. When we were teenagers, our favourite pastime was to make home movies -- mainly in the car chase and stunt genre. Several of these films have been immortalized on GoogleVideo, including such favourites as Bike Chase, Paint It Black, and Stunt Movie. There are a few more analog films floating around out there that are shortly going to make their online debut.


At the party we also created three new short films that will appear shortly, as soon as editing is completed. We expanded our efforts into new genres, such as science fiction, hospital drama and cop drama. What these films lack in script development, they make up for in creative costuming. Above is a shot of us converting party decorations into space gear that would make Mr. Spock jealous.


I share the same birthday with my friend KW, so it was only fitting that we sing to him as well. We jammed all 30 candles onto his piece of cake, which created a surprisingly large fireball.


My actual birthday was on Sunday (not Friday), so we got a double dose of cake and fun. The Calgary clan gathered at R's parents' place for the traditional Sunday meal -- plus a Dairy Queen cake.


Here's a shot of Grandpa M enjoying some time with the boys. Can you spot the person in this photo who's missing a soother?