The Wire

Kate and I just finished watching the 1st season of The Wire on DVD. It has to be the best "cop show" ever. So much grittier than NYPD or Hill Street Blues (both good shows in their prime). What makes it fantastic is the moral ambiguity. No good guys and bad guys. No preaching. Great, deep characters amongst both the cops and the drug-runners. I love having a new show, and now we have three more seasons to catch up on.

Photos from the weekend

Pregnant Kate laughing as she orders me to paddle harder.

I'm the one with the Varejao hair.

Ultrasound

We had our regular ultrasound yesterday and all goes well. The kids are already each about 3 1/2 to 4 pounds, which is pretty much right on track. We saw Molly give a few jabs to Kate's bladder and a kick to her brother's head. Then Jacob went all kung-fu on the ultrasound wand. We also saw, for the first time, their little lungs pumping away. Altogether very cool.

May Two-Four

Great long weekend at Julia's folks' cottage up near Huntsville. Kate got me out in a canoe (photos to follow) and despite being 31 weeks pregnant with twins she still insisted on sterning (apparently a wedding dress is the only valid reason for her to ever sit in the front). I also got in 9 holes of golf, keeping warm for an upcoming showdown with dad in Montreal.

And for those of you still holding your breath about the disaster-potential of my BBQ-building, I did the deed on Monday afternoon without a hitch. I won't say how long it took me, but since Home Depot would have built it for me for $25, let's just say that my labour is valued considerably below the minimum wage.

Since I Was In the Neighbourhood...

Surprise visit from Kate's brother Dan last night. He was in Ottawa buying a car and figured he might as well drop by Orillia before driving back to New Brunswick. I love Canadians and their concept of distances. What European would contemplate driving from Paris to Naples (also 1600km) to buy a car and drop in on relatives? Anyway, great to see him (and not just because he emptied our basement of all his boxes!).

Is That You Mickey?

I've now killed four little mice in traps in the pantry. Each rigid corpse has looked up at me with sadder, more mournful eyes than the last. I'm just about ready to share my Cheerios and try to live in harmony.

Last night's slow-cooked pot roast turned out well. I guess I don't have the same qualms about dead cows.

Make Dinner Before Breakfast

I'm trying out my new Slow Cooker today. I put in a pot roast before breakfast and it should be ready for a late dinner. I love that something can be marketed for how slowly it does something. The 80's were all about the microwave saving time, but now we're supposed to re-invest that time back into enjoying our food. It's a good thing I quit my job (and that twins won't take up much of my free time).

Saw Music and Lyrics last night and it was abysmal. Kate says it delivered exactly the treacle that it promised, but this was not just a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy - it was painful to watch. Definitely Hugh Grant's worst movie, and with Mickey Blue Eyes out there, that's saying something.

We are also watching the first season of Weeds - really good, and not just because I always thought West Wing's Josh Lyman was better off with Mary Louise Parker than with Donna.

I'm off for a run, while dinner continues to cook...slowly.

The Manhattan Project

Hopefully all our new neighbours have their fire insurance paid up. My next project is to put together our new BBQ. The instructions make it look like you need an engineering degree to build it. My education was all about talking, not so much about building.

We had a great weekend in T.O. with Greg & Jo and Ben. I was introduced to the famous Ice Cold Beer guy at the Jays game on Saturday (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI0zAq0c2xA). And the sad sack Jays even won.

I love this photo of my dad testing out Sean & Erin's new scooter.

On The Occasion Of My 36th Birthday

I'm told that I'll have my hands full post-birth so I'm setting up the blog in advance (although I understand that babies sleep 18 hours a day and with twins that should mean 36 hours per day of peace, but whatever).

Today seemed like a good occasion for the first post, given that my 36th birthday coincides with us being 30 weeks pregnant (for the edification of those not married to an OB, a normal pregnancy is 40 weeks and twins average 36 weeks, so we're looking at end of June or beginning of July).

So, what does a stay-at-home guy do who has quit his job but doesn't have anyone to parent yet? Fulfilling my destiny - playing handyman. I've been building furniture (my Ikea furniture ends up looking fairly similar to the picture on the box), "fixing" things (installing a gate latch that now won't close, hanging a mailbox that now won't open, failing to turn on the outside water tap, too scared to try fixing a leaking sink in our bathroom, etc.). I figure it's all good practice for me not knowing what I'm doing when the babies arrive.

I know people only go to blogs to see baby photos, but I'll see if I can figure out how to post photos of our Europe trip and new house instead.