Family Photos

Yesterday with the kids was kinda fun. My sisters were trying to corral the neices & nephew for lunch as I arrived in Mississauga just before noon, no small feat. After feeding the lot, the bunch were packed into two minivans to head to Brunswick Bowling for a couple of hours of bowling.

Bowling isn't my thing at all. Come to think of it, our family has never bowled at any time I can recall. Where did this bowling thing come from? Ah, well... it keeps the kiddies amused and that alone makes it worthwhile. I didn't play, preferring to cheer on the rugrats while taking the occasional photo. Here's "3 of 6" in the foreground with her husband and our Mom:


The newest spawn is, naturally, extremely cute. Anna is six months old and while she's a little freaked out by this strange guy who claims to be an uncle, she at least didn't throw up on me for this particular photo:


And while many have called me the son of satan, I am in reality the son of these two:

Family Photos

Yesterday with the kids was kinda fun. My sisters were trying to corral the neices & nephew for lunch as I arrived in Mississauga just before noon, no small feat. After feeding the lot, the bunch were packed into two minivans to head to Brunswick Bowling for a couple of hours of bowling.

Bowling isn't my thing at all. Come to think of it, our family has never bowled at any time I can recall. Where did this bowling thing come from? Ah, well... it keeps the kiddies amused and that alone makes it worthwhile. I didn't play, preferring to cheer on the rugrats while taking the occasional photo. Here's "3 of 6" in the foreground with her husband and our Mom:


The newest spawn is, naturally, extremely cute. Anna is six months old and while she's a little freaked out by this strange guy who claims to be an uncle, she at least didn't throw up on me for this particular photo:


And while many have called me the son of satan, I am in reality the son of these two:

Arrival in London!

I have just checked into the hotel in London. Alas, it's London, Ontario rather than London, England but it's all I could afford.

If anyone is looking for me, I'm at the Best Western Stoneridge Inn & Conference Center, 401 & Route 4 at the south end of town. I love the smell of free wifi in the morning... :-)

Arrival in London!

I have just checked into the hotel in London. Alas, it's London, Ontario rather than London, England but it's all I could afford.

If anyone is looking for me, I'm at the Best Western Stoneridge Inn & Conference Center, 401 & Route 4 at the south end of town. I love the smell of free wifi in the morning... :-)

Sunday's Travel Report

I was up relatively early. I haven't been sleeping well but no particular good reason. I suppose the small excitement of being back in Canada and seeing good friends again is a factor, but I would have thought being so exhausted would naturally lead to sleep. Not so.

If I couldn't sleep then I could at least do laundry. It's not exactly the same, but it needed to be done and I had some time to catch up on e-mail while the appliances were at work.

With my laundry done and myself through the shower, I said good-bye to my hosts, packed the car and headed west.

Traffic was light leaving Toronto: I had missed the worst of rush hour and since I was heading west, I was going against the bulk of the commuter flow anyway.

My first stop was in Cambridge to visit Sean & Bonnie and family. Sean and I went to high school together some 20+ years ago and was one of my best friends from that era long ago. Their daughter Kelsey just celebrated her 16th birthday; Graeme is 14 (I think). The last time I saw them, Graeme was just starting elementary school.


The kids and two of their friends wanted to go water skiing that afternoon so I joined Sean and the kids in the boat. Sean and I were able to catch up between the kids' wipeouts. I might have tried it myself but I really wasn't dressed or prepped for the adventure. I would have just embarrassed my ancestors, anyway.

Towards 4 PM, I hopped said my good-byes once again and drove the rest of the way to London for the mini-CALLERLAB convention.

The convention was being held at the Best Western Stoneridge Inn & Convention Center, a name almost larger than the building itself. Not that I have any complaints about the hotel itself: it was small but had all of the desired amenities, comfortable workspaces, nice rooms and a pretty good restaurant. I was in room 217, which seemed almost wasteful: I had an enormous king-sized bed in the most spacious room I've ever had in a hotel short of a suite. The only problem with my room is that the chair at the work desk was less than ideal but that's hardly a flaw on an otherwise perfect stay.

canseefour was handling the registration check-in. She's a natural for that task as I suspect she knows every square dancer in North America and a huge percentage of the rest of the planet. I was also happy to unload the rest of the Zip Coder magazines & subscription forms I was carrying at a table of brochures & pamphlets. canseefour even offered to take any leftover magazines & forms to the dancer convention later in the week.

Since I hadn't yet found time for dinner, I indulged in a sizable plate of chicken alfredo at the hotel restaurant before dashing off to the opening session of the convention.

The opening comments and information by Barry Clasper and John Marshall were cogent and brief --as they should be. The other guest panelists Bill Harrison and Dana Schirmer along with co-organizer Tim Crawford added some extra info about the value and services of CALLERLAB for the benefit of those not yet members, and I suppose a useful reminder to folks who were longtime members.

The conference itself was an intimate affair: we had about 30 registrants plus a few spouses. I knew nearly everyone by reputation if I hadn't already known them from prior dance or caller events.

Following the opening remarks, there was a schmoozing session at the bar. I chatted up a few people --including Dana, to get information about music licensing for the 2009 IAGSDC convention-- but creeping fatigue whisked me away to my room by 11 PM.

Sunday's Travel Report

I was up relatively early. I haven't been sleeping well but no particular good reason. I suppose the small excitement of being back in Canada and seeing good friends again is a factor, but I would have thought being so exhausted would naturally lead to sleep. Not so.

If I couldn't sleep then I could at least do laundry. It's not exactly the same, but it needed to be done and I had some time to catch up on e-mail while the appliances were at work.

With my laundry done and myself through the shower, I said good-bye to my hosts, packed the car and headed west.

Traffic was light leaving Toronto: I had missed the worst of rush hour and since I was heading west, I was going against the bulk of the commuter flow anyway.

My first stop was in Cambridge to visit Sean & Bonnie and family. Sean and I went to high school together some 20+ years ago and was one of my best friends from that era long ago. Their daughter Kelsey just celebrated her 16th birthday; Graeme is 14 (I think). The last time I saw them, Graeme was just starting elementary school.


The kids and two of their friends wanted to go water skiing that afternoon so I joined Sean and the kids in the boat. Sean and I were able to catch up between the kids' wipeouts. I might have tried it myself but I really wasn't dressed or prepped for the adventure. I would have just embarrassed my ancestors, anyway.

Towards 4 PM, I hopped said my good-byes once again and drove the rest of the way to London for the mini-CALLERLAB convention.

The convention was being held at the Best Western Stoneridge Inn & Convention Center, a name almost larger than the building itself. Not that I have any complaints about the hotel itself: it was small but had all of the desired amenities, comfortable workspaces, nice rooms and a pretty good restaurant. I was in room 217, which seemed almost wasteful: I had an enormous king-sized bed in the most spacious room I've ever had in a hotel short of a suite. The only problem with my room is that the chair at the work desk was less than ideal but that's hardly a flaw on an otherwise perfect stay.

canseefour was handling the registration check-in. She's a natural for that task as I suspect she knows every square dancer in North America and a huge percentage of the rest of the planet. I was also happy to unload the rest of the Zip Coder magazines & subscription forms I was carrying at a table of brochures & pamphlets. canseefour even offered to take any leftover magazines & forms to the dancer convention later in the week.

Since I hadn't yet found time for dinner, I indulged in a sizable plate of chicken alfredo at the hotel restaurant before dashing off to the opening session of the convention.

The opening comments and information by Barry Clasper and John Marshall were cogent and brief --as they should be. The other guest panelists Bill Harrison and Dana Schirmer along with co-organizer Tim Crawford added some extra info about the value and services of CALLERLAB for the benefit of those not yet members, and I suppose a useful reminder to folks who were longtime members.

The conference itself was an intimate affair: we had about 30 registrants plus a few spouses. I knew nearly everyone by reputation if I hadn't already known them from prior dance or caller events.

Following the opening remarks, there was a schmoozing session at the bar. I chatted up a few people --including Dana, to get information about music licensing for the 2009 IAGSDC convention-- but creeping fatigue whisked me away to my room by 11 PM.