New Dad Stuff

Sarah keeps laughing at me about how involved I am in planning things for the baby. I was the one who found the crib, I've been looking at bedding and strollers online, I even made a 3-D mock-up of the nursery on the computer yesterday so we could look at different paint colour options. Sarah loves that I am so involved but as I say, I think she finds it a little funny too. And based on the online research I've been doing on strollers, crib safety, etc, everything out there is targeted at the moms, not the dads, so I guess maybe I'm not the norm.

I guess I just want to contribute somehow. Sarah is doing all the hard work carrying the baby. She's right in the middle of being a parent already. It just feels to me like the only fatherly thing I can be doing right now is things like constructing furniture and installing new carpets. It's how I feel involved, even though I prefer the design process to the time when I finally lug all of my office stuff down to the basement.

A friend asked me yesterday if I was freaking out yet about being a dad. I haven't freaked out yet, but when I actually allow myself to start thinking about all the little things I easily could freak out. I'm pretty good with kids, they usually tend to like me (especially Westman children for some reason), but that's when they are a little bit older. I'm not as good with infants, so that will be a whole new experience for me.

But for now, the construction side is all I can do.

Why I Love Mennville

Mennville really is a great place to live. Even though many of us are not within easy walking distance of each other, there is a true sense of community that I absolutely love.

I thought I'd share a few experiences of mine to highlight just why Mennville is so darn awesome.

The other day my car started making a nasty noise as I was driving through town. Del happened to be on the street as I drove by, and he offered that I could bring the car over to his place and he'd take a look. So over to Del's I went, and after picking up some parts I went back the next day and we worked on the car. I have pretty much zero skills when it comes to fixing a car (I know where the gas and washer fluid go, does that count?), but Del took the time to actually show me how to do things, even when he was probably so frustrated with my lack of skill he wanted to punch me (which I said he could do if he needed to). Del never lost patience with me though, he just helped me when I needed help and let me work away when I didn't. I pretty much cemented my "least manly man in Mennville" post while working on the car!

At the same time as my car problems were going on, I posted a request on Facebook to see if anyone was going to be in Arborg with a truck, since I needed to get my now-fixed lawnmower home. I quickly had three replies offering to help me out, and Corey brought it home for me in the back of his van.

My car is still in Del's shop, so a phone call later and Lindsey said she'd drive me to work!

I don't know how I'd survive living in the country without such great friends and neighbors all around.

Another act of kindness that struck me as being awesome was again a result of Facebook. Jared had put up on his status that he could really go for a cold Pepsi, as he was out combining in a field. Shortly thereafter, Anita offers to bring him one and from what I could see on Facebook she did just that.

So for all of my fellow bloggers that live or lived in Mennville, I put this challenge out to you; why do you love Mennville? Let us know!

Help the Guilty, Forget the Victim

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2010/08/18/15062266.html

I read this story today about two 11 year old boys who attempted to rape an 8 year old girl. That got me angry enough, but then I thought a little more about the article.

Quote:

Sentencing them to three-year supervision orders, the judge Justice Saunders said: “I do not accept that what happened was a game but I do accept that you did not realize how serious what you were doing was.”

He said that to impose any sort of custodial sentence would be “counter-productive” and not in the best interests of the boys, the Press Association reported.

Okay, I get that rehabilitating these kids, especially at this age, is the way to go. I don't really have a problem with that, though there should be some punishment to go with the rehabilitation.

Quote:
“Because you are so young, the court is mainly concerned with doing what is best for you with the aim of ensuring that you do not do anything like it again. That means you must be helped to understand the seriousness of what happened.”

So here we are, talking about what is best for the boys who attempted to rape this little girl. The judge then comments that he is not forgetting her and says the following.

Quote:
“Everyone will sympathize with her for what she has gone through. Not only what happened to her as the victim of these offences, but also to have to give evidence about them.

“I hope that she will be given all the help that she undoubtedly deserves to get over her experiences. I very much hope that she and her family will not be forgotten by the authorities.”

So here we have two attackers and a victim. The attackers are given court ordered supervision to look out for their best interests. The victim will "hopefully get help". How about the boys' families being ordered to pick up the tab for that poor girls therapy, or whatever means she needs to recover from such an attack?

Unbelievable. Court ordered best interests of the attacker, and nothing but a best wishes to the victim. Absolutely terrible.

The Awesomest Awesomeness in the Known Universe

I love 40 year old foreign superhero films!

Photoshop

The other day I was inspired to play around with images of the actors in the upcoming Avengers movie. Since I can't draw to save my life, playing with existing images is the only way I can visually express myself. :)

Book Review: "Superman: Sunday Classics 1939-1943"

The other book I read over our camping trip, this is a collection containing all of the Superman Sunday newspaper strips from 1939-1943 done by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster themselves (well, themselves or by their studio of artists). This book does not contain the daily strips, but that doesn't hurt the reading experience since the Sunday strips are completely separate story-wise from the dailies.

Superman was a very different guy back in the day, let me tell you. He was still the most powerful guy around; in all of the strips I don't think he himself is ever actually in physical danger. He is literally faster than a speeding bullet, though it's hard to say how fast he really is (the narration at one point says he is moving faster than the speed of light, but I think that was hyperbole). He's really strong, invulnerable, has his extra-sensory powers, but I have to admit I had to remind myself he can't fly. A lot of his poses look like flight, and only the narration and the fact he often observes people hanging from telephone poles and window sills gives away that he isn't flying. Based on the art I'm not surprised he eventually gained the power to fly, since he looks like he's doing it all the time instead of leaping tall buildings in a single bound.

At first I doubted how good these strips could be; how much dramatic story can you pull off in a single Sunday comic? I have to admit, Siegel and Shuster jam-packed their strips with content with amazing skill. These guys are like the anti-Bendis, getting important information out in as little space as possible. It doesn't feel forced though.

A standard story isn't done in a single Sunday strip though. Rather, we get to follow the story over the course of I'd say between 6-8 strips (I forgot to count). Superman isn't waging galactic battles or fighting to save the planet, he's helping the common man mostly. Outside of a group of men in armour (believed to be robots at first) and one super-powered foe (who was a real push-over, he had some crazy weakness), Supes spends his time taking on gangsters and mysteries. It was really refreshing. Lex Luthor did show up for one story, which was great to see.

I don't think anyone would call this Superman a boy scout. I admit, one of my favourite panels has Superman saving some potential drowning victims. He swims up to one, who is calling for help. Telling him it is for his own good, Superman decks the guy right in the face before saving him. A later panel says it was because he was thrashing about and panicking, and the guy bears Superman no ill-will, but man I laughed when Superman decked him.

I got a few other chuckles out of the book too. For example, while Superman is trying to help a race car driver who is getting targeted for death, the rival race car driver is none other than "Pete Parker". Alas poor Parker didn't survive the story.

While Superman battles valiantly to save civilians, those of the criminal persuasion die regularly. Some of them Superman could have saved if he wanted to, others he actually killed himself. A plane was waging an attack and Superman jumped up and piledrived the thing into the ground, smashing it into an accordion shape. No way the pilot survived that.

I really recommend checking this book out. I don't know if I'd read anything by Siegel and Shuster before, but man, they were good. I give this collection 4 tall buildings out of 5.

Book Review: "Crimes & Punishment: Life as a CFL Official"

While away on our anniversary this past week-end, I brought along "Crimes & Punishment: Life as a CFL Official" to read. I picked this book up while at Value Village awhile back, for the low low price of $2.99, and decided to give it a re-read.

The book is about the officiating story of Neil Payne, a long time CFL official. Payne has served many roles as a CFL official, everything from a "stick man" to an officials supervisor. He holds nothing back (or at least I hope he didn't!) in this tell-all book about the hidden world of officiating.

Payne tells various stories of the sacrifices and less-than-glamorous lifestyle of the CFL official. Staying in the cheapest hotels possible (he tells one story of a fellow official showing up at his regular budget saver to find it has been leveled to the ground), drinking with Polish sailors on their cargo ship, Payne paints quite the picture of the men in stripes.

I picked this book up because I myself am a sports official, though not in football. I am certified to officiate soccer and volleyball, but I figured there would be plenty of similarities anyway. Tough teams, tougher crowds, I could relate to a decent amount of the material, if on a much smaller scale.

I found that on my second read through I was able to keep all of the different officials he mentions throughout the book straight. Referees don't tend to be household names, so you really have to pay attention to who is doing what. I also found that some of his references would be lost on you if you are not a CFL fan (for example, he compared a woman hitting on him on a plane as "Chris Walby's bigger sister", or something along those lines). As this book is a few years old, Walby is one of the most recent CFL stars you will see Payne mention. If you're not familiar with CFL football, you will miss some of those references, as they are not all explained.

One of my favourite things about the book is Payne is actually from Winnipeg. Therefore a good number of his stories deal with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, which I appreciate as a Bomber fan myself.

I did find that the book seemed to meander across different time periods in his career at times, but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

If you're a fan of the unseen world of pro sports, this book is great. Payne passes on things you never see or hear about on the news or in the paper. However, if you are not a CFL football fan, I'm not sure how much enjoyment you would get from the book.

3.5 Flags on the Play out of 5. Repeat 1st down.