Shaw SOHO Xtreme-I With Two Static IPs

Ten days ago I upgraded our Shaw residential internet to a business account: SOHO Xtreme-I with a pair of static IP addresses. We’d been having frequent internet outages, probably because we had an old Motorola CyberSURFR Wave cablemodem. The symptoms: I would be unable to ping the gateway address, I’d check the modem and the ‘cable’ light would be flashing. I’d call Shaw’s residential tech support and they’d begin asking really stupid questions. “Do you have a router?” “What kind of operating system do you use?” “How many computers are connected?” Trying to explain that the flashing ‘cable’ light meant there was a problem between the modem and Shaw’s infrastructure was an exercise in futility. After a few minutes or a few hours of interruption, the CyberSURFR would once again begin talking to the internet at large. So I did two things:

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First Appointment With the Dentist

When we brush Alice’s teeth she makes it difficult to reach the ones on the upper right. We asked her why and she told us they are sore. We made an appointment and met with the dentist yesterday. I left work and met my girls just after they arrived. Alice had brought one of her blankets with her, and took that in when it was her turn. She seemed to like sitting in the dentist’s chair and watching Treehouse on the big LCD TV while we waited for the dentist. When the dentist arrived he reclined the chair. Alice was a little unsettled by this, but didn’t get upset. It might have helped that Corinna and I were both there with her. When he turned on the light, Alice wanted her blanket to cover her eyes. Once she was well shielded from the bright light she willingly opened her mouth really wide. The dentist had a good look and said that Alice’s teeth looked fine. The cause of her discomfort: late erupting molars at the back of her jaw. There was no reason for concern, and he even said Alice’s teeth are nicely spaced. Because Alice was so good for her first dentist’s appointment, she got to pick out a toy from the toy box. Alice selected a nicely coloured skipping rope. We went for lunch at Subway, and Alice ran around the restaurant pretending to jump rope. It was pretty cute.

More Coffee

“When I get big like you I can make coffee. That will be yummy for me.”

Bye Bye CRV, Hello Element!

Before: After:

The Phrase Parents of Toddlers Fear Most....

“I want to watch Barney.”

I bought a new car!

Well, I’ve been wanting a Honda Element for a couple years now, and today I finally bought one. It’s a Black 2006 4 Wheel Drive, Manual Transmission EX Model Honda Element. It’s basically like new, only 16,000 km, but about $7000 cheaper than buying a 2007. So am I happy? YES!!!!! We took it for a test drive, with Alice in the back in Daddy’s car seat. She announced that she liked the car, so thus it was a done deal. Happy Driving!

MINI Challenge

Last weekend Don and I took the MINI challenge- a road course event at Race City Speedway put on by MINI/BMW. It was for customers who just bought MINI’s to test out the new MINI alongside their competitors. There was a VW GTI, VW Rabbit, Audi A3, and a Mazda 3 alongside the MINI Cooper, MINI Cooper S and even a MINI Cooper S Automatic, which was built just for the challenge. I got to drive the MINI Cooper S Auto, the only one of it’s kind in Canada! There were about 30 guests, teamed up in pairs to test drive all the cars. The driving instructors took all of us out on the track to explain the different sections of the course before we were allowed out on our own; there were walkie talkies in each car, so that if they had to give you any instructions (or to tell you to stop driving like Mario Andretti!) you could hear. We all lined up to take our turn driving the cars; I drove 4 and Don drove 5. At first I didn’t think I’d want to drive any, but after a couple times on the course I decided it was my turn…I loved driving around stragegically placed pylons at 55 km/hr (trying not to run any of them over- hard to do in the VW’s), the brake and avoid exercise, and my ultimate favorite, the hard right turn at 15 km/hr immediately followed by what I call the “gun it and slam on your brakes”- we had to accelerate up to 80 km/hr and when the sign said “brake”, you had to slam on your brakes as hard as you could to stop before running into the barricade. This exercise was to test out the ABS, which I can say worked very well…each time my stomach lifted into my throat, but I loved it! It was fun to drive cars and test their limits, something that normally none of us do. I learned that I could handle a vehicle in sudden situation with more confidence that I would have before the challenge. I also learned that the MINI is a mighty fine car and I’m sure glad that we own one!

Big-Girl Bed

Last night Alice slept in her big-girl bed for the first time. I disassembled her crib and we put her crib mattress on her bedroom floor, along with a few of her friends. We have a child-proof doorknob on the inside of Alice’s door. We’ll remove that once we’re sure Alice is going to consistently stay in bed when it’s time to sleep. When I went into Alice’s room this morning, Alice had a couple books in her bed. She said to me, “I’m going to read these books in a few minutes.”

You Like Coffee, Daddy?

When I arrived at Donna’s to pick up Alice, she and Logan were playing outside in the backyard. Two little backyardigans running around. As soon as Alice saw me she came running. I scooped her up and she give me a great big hug. Donna and I visited for a little while. I asked Alice if she had a good day. Silence. Did she have a little rest (i.e. a nap)? Silence. Alice didn’t say a word, she just cuddled in my arms, drinking her water, perfectly content. “She’ll probably talk your ear off once you get in the car.” Once I had Alice buckled into her car seat….. “Daddy, you don’t have any chocolate milk in your car.” Corinna usually gives Alice a small chocolate milk on the way home from Donna’s. “I didn’t have time to stop at the store and buy one for you, sweetheart.” “I didn’t have time to buy chocolate milk either, Daddy.” “Should we go to Safeway and buy some chocolate milk?” “Yep.” At Safeway Alice helped me carry the chocolate milk. She even gave the cashier the money – what a good little helper. We then went to Starbuck’s and I bought myself a coffee. Alice didn’t mind the wait, since she had a chocolate milk by then. Once we were home Alice said, “You like coffee, Daddy?” “Yes I do.” “When I get older, when I get bigger like you, maybe I’ll like coffee too.”

My Movie is Icing

Yesterday morning, Corinna and Alice returned some rented movies. There was a shelf of children’s movies that were only $1 to rent, so Alice was allowed to pick one to take to Donna’s. The movie was apparently badly scratched, and wouldn’t play very well. When Corinna picked her up at the end of the day Alice said, “Mommy, my movie is icing.” I guess Donna told her the movie was ‘freezing.’ Icing. Freezing. It’s all the same.