To the lost and found!

It took all of two days of school to lose something.

Today our son came home without his lunch box. We’re 99% certain it happened on the way to after school care, so he must’ve eaten!

I hope.

Seems like it should be something we can find, and I hope the big ol’ ginger kid sticker on the lunch box will spark the knowledge of who the lunch box belongs to in the bus driver’s mind. I wonder if he has the same bus driver in the AM and PM?

This should be interesting.

Guess we need to piece a lunch bag together for tomorrow. I tried to call the bus company after he came home but the offices closed at 5pm. Emailed the school teacher as well. Not really anything else I can do tonight, so I can rest easy in the knowledge that I have done all I could to resolve the issue, and not just the bare minimum.

Yay!

But that gets back burnered. Tonight, for nostalgia sake, I rewatched Scary Movie. Sure felt old while watching, seeing all the stars in their younger days, making references from my teenage years!

Noooo, I’m old!

It’s an every day reminder of growing old. Last night I got chatting with two old friends from my college IRC days. Yep, I’m an old, bearded nerd?!

It’s the inevitable return of the great white dope.

Yeah, that’s the movie credits playing. Whatever happened to the bloodhound gang?

First of the First

Today, the kid finally went to school.

It was our son’s first day at french kindergarten and what a day it was.

It’s not like I have first hand knowledge or anything.

Children are unreliable, but here’s what I was able to gleam from today’s events…

Morning was slow, and there was a demand for two waffles when only one was server. Easy fix on that one. Getting dressed seemed a chore, and getting out of the house was equally laborious. Grabbed a couple of first day sign holding pictures and we were off to daycare drop off…. which was a bust. As we pulled on to the daycare street, there we saw the bus, leaving.

Boourns!

Well we were going to meet the bus for drop off anyway so we arrived right as the doors opened! You’d imagine with timing like that, we’d be the first ones in!! Yeah, no. We took maybe 15 minutes to convince him to go in with the help of the interventionist. Good times, but a part of me deep down smiled when he had to run back and give his daddy a quick hug.

Lucky guy, who was it?! HA!

Funny guy… Anyway, he was dropped off, the pressure of getting him to his first day now in the rear view, it was time to relax. Also, with a stroke of luck, my work day only began at 9am today so no time off from work required!

Someone’s watching out for you!

No, shush you, this is not getting into beliefs. It’s about the first day! Anyway, no emergency calls from school when the day’s end arrived, and the kid managed to ride the bus! All by himself with the help of recently acquaintances anyway.

Like your new friends helping your drunk self onto a bus home on Canada Day!

Oddly specific, and also never happened, at least not to me. Anyway, kid came home and was supper full of energy. As he played outside with our neighbour, we inspect what made it’s way home with him. A completely cleaned out bento box, and oddly all the snacks in his side pouch were still there. He said mommy forgot to pack the snacks, but we told him to check the side pouch, and excitedly after school snacks were had!

Tomorrow, he will check the pouch, or so he says…

Super excited guy got to pick super as well. Boston Pizza! So happy it wasn’t suggest again. I had seriously expected it would be, so colour me surprised. So much so that I ordered a breaded chicken sandwich…

Big adult chicken nugget!

Yeah, but spicy though! And back to the bag, we found that he had been sent home with his school issued masks! And they look like legit comfy ones. We plan on getting a stencil and fabric paint to gussy up the drab black to personalize it.

Seems like a wiser choice than embroidering extra holes into it!

Supper done, and now it’s PJ time! Why not top off your exciting first day of school with your father falling down right before your very eyes! He handled himself very well, told mom I fell, and then got ready for bed while I sat and recharged next to his bed. 5 minutes later, I was back up on my feet and finishing off bedtime with vitamins and teeth brushing!

Now he is partaking of quiet time with some youtube for kids, and I hope his second day goes well.

Fingers crossed!

Hermit no more!

Maybe.

I have recently been made very aware that I only venture to and from a few very important locations, and have not seen enough of the outside world to see the changes as they happen.

Feeling like a Rip Van Winkle?

In a way, sure. But I left my house on the weekend, and traveled (inside the atlantic bubble) to New Brunswick where I proceeded to hermit inside their house…

Oh for f—

Yeah, the voyage was long when you’re not used to it anymore, and my legs sure told me about it. I think having a massage before the trip helped but it had been 6 months since my last massage.

Check your insurances and get more!

I’m sure I’m not the only one, and I only booked a 1 month follow up, and that’s what I’m going to do. I can re-evaluate after that to see I want to go with increased frequency. But lets visit the legs situation again.

Still got two of them, right?

Yeah, and they’re attached but you’re being ridiculous. They were stiff, sore, heavy, and uncooperative. My in-laws had a new bed that was practically insurmountable! And the softness of the pillow top allowed no easy purchase to sit, and attempt to swing the legs up.

Soft ned, who needs them!

I’m sure someone, somewhere does but not me. I could not get a comfortable night sleep on that thing. And I know it wasn’t the beds fault entirely. The legs, oh the legs. Picture this if you could. Stand at the side of your bed, now put your knee on the bed. Stop there because I couldn’t do that.

No?

I only ever actually accomplished that feat on our last night there, just in time to realize I would be better off on the cot the kid ws sleeping in. It was lower to the ground than I would like but you know, that bed made a great handhold to pull myself up from the ground. The boxspring was very hard and easy to grip!

Winner winner chicken dinner!

So I managed to get 3-4 hours sleep on that cot, and then zombie my way through the morning. I avoided drinking anything for a couple reasons. I did not want the caffeine in my system so I could get some sleep in the car. I also did not want a lot of fluid in my body to prevent my neurological bladder from instantly requiring a pit stop like on the way up.

The Oxford sinkhole is a lake!

Yes, the bladder told me we needed a stop, just so happened to be at the gas station with the big blueberry. If you know, you know. It’s a lake front gas station now, has probably been that way for a year or something, but again, been a hermit.

So, you’re home now, all better?

Not yet. I got an average amount of sleep but the twitching was a bit annoying. I had to sit up frequently to rub my feet and legs. You’d figure relaxing in bed would calm a body, but the calves were rocks. I think my IT band is tight.

Stop whining and do something about it!

Yes, and as luck would have it, a friend posted on one of the support group pages about an online neurological rehab class put on by NeuroSask. It’s for people with neurological issues (like MS or parkisons for example) so I’ve signed up! Looks like it’s going to be over zoom and I have high hopes for this. I want to learn and be demonstrated some stretches I can perform.

And it won’t overlap with work!

I enjoy a paycheque after all!

Oh, and if you’ve made it this far, I’ve finally tried the Aphria Churchill 510 cartridge and it is the most delicious vape experience I’ve ever had. I will have to invest in more of this one! A balanced THC:CBD fits my desired profile. I had a couple draws this afternoon and I do feel better. Well, I feel mostly better but the feet need some love.

Love your feet!

Routine found?

Well, likely not. It’s going to be a whirlwind week if ever there was one.

The kid starts school this week. Actual school. We’ve been calling daycare school to get him used to the concept, but it’s go time! So many hoops and coordinations were required for this. Tours have been done, bus stops have been changed and confirmed, and school stuff acquired… So smooth sailing right?

Yeah, you wish!

Our child is very shy and reluctant to change he doesn’t expect. We can really only hope we have prepared him as best we can. W still have time before that starts because they’re doing a staggered start, and he’s a day two guy.

Stay home day!

Yes… A stay home day. Blah. And I can’t take any time off this week because I’ve covering for someone else’s vacation! Who takes back to school week off when they don’t have kids!? OK, so luckily I work at 9 AM this week, so helping out in the morning, and even tagging along to first day can happed (to the parking lot if needed, not allowed in the school, covid and all).

Big week!

Sure, and I hope the actual day goes well. 5 and riding a bus. I am trying not to worry about it so much. I’m trying to convince myself (and my wife) that all will go well.

I hope kids can’t sense fear!

I have nothing

Seriously, nada.

I’m currently out of my house, and it’s a nice change of pace, but I am not used to extended trips from home anymore.

I suck at packing.

In my advanced age, I need many medicines throughout the day. I like to keep them at key locations so I always know where they are.

Dinner pill on the table, night pill on the nightstand.

Yeah, I thought I was well prepared for the trip, but the only medicine that made the trip was my 8am/pm ones.

Womp womp!

It’s not the end of the world but it’s likely going to throw me off routine.

I’m also off my blog routine for the day, no live chats, and I forgot my water on the other side of the house so I swallowed without water.

So glad I don’t have that MS issue!

Anyway, if you’re reading this, thanks, and I’m sorry!

Mad Libs Lives Matter!

Ahh, Mad Libs, what fun. But let’s take it with a twist…

Take any story you hear today, and you aren’t inspired to make a change, or feel like someone is wronged, then I challenge you to change the story… In a literal sense?

Banana, Oil, Farting?

No, not going for funny Mad Libs today. Let’s take Jacob Blake’s story for instance. Topical now, but let’s change the headline! “(a loved one), shot 7 times in the back.”

Well that sure sucks.

Yes, it does. And this of course is the problem. We are all humans, why do we treat anyone as different? I try not to get worked up about it too much, but what the actual fuck! Check your privilege. I know I’m not the first to say it, and I honestly don’t think I’m the last one on this train.

Treat everyone equal!

I am not going to get side tracked on this one. I also know I’m not perfect. We all struggle to grow in the environment we’re thrust in as children. I was picked on because I was different. I had different colour hair, I spoke differently, and if I could remember all the barbs from the schoolyard days, I’d list them here but I can’t.

Seems pretty minor.

It sure seems that way with the other big news items of the day, but it all starts somewhere. And in that vein, I hope we raise a fine human. We have exposed him to any and all “kinds” of humans. I think we’ve introduced him to all sorts of things.

Except religion.

Not going to touch that one today! All I know is I don’t want to force my child into a box. He will be whatever he wants to be. And yes, he has told me he was a boy. And if that is his choice for now, and it’s different in the future, then she’s cool with me. I want empathy to exude from this tiny human.

But hey, I’m trying to raise my human right. Who hurt you with lies? Sure hope it wasn’t me! I can’t tell you how to spot the lies and half truths, but don’t trust the first thing you hear. It may be hard to unlearn, but it’s not impossible!

And stay safe out there. Life isn’t fair, but I hope someday it is!

I want my privacy back!

Alright, clearly that’s a different take from my usual stance of being an open book, but I can be both!

I am a private and shy person.

I do not like large groups, and prefer intimate conversation.

I don’t know if any of that is believable, but it’s true.

I have today off, and I am spending it at home, with minor social interactions planned throughout the day. That’s not to say surprise visits or calls are unexpected or unwanted. They typically fit into that small, private, intimate conversation category I find comfortable.

OK, so you may know me a bit better now. Yes, I am dropping thoughts all over the internet, expressing myself in this socially introverted way. But that’s not what I want to write about today.

Privacy.

As we go further and further into the interconnected future, where did our privacy go? And who stole it! Well, stole is a bit harsh, but truthfully it boils down to it. I have used Facebook as soon as I was able to get invited in. I have used many other past social media sites, and if I named them, some would get nostalgic.

But today, let’s think about how the privacy thing would fit into the #humanFramework!

First, assume that you have all your personal info, all yours. Hoard that stuff! Now, here comes big bad Facebook, basically harvesting all that juicy data about you.

And that’s fine.

Wait, what?

Let them harvest info, but make that unidentifiable data.

But how?

I’m thinking about it, but there is always going to be problems with this ever evolving world. So let’s say I am “Human A”. I sign up for Facebook, or “Company Z”. What do they “NEED” to know about me, really?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Human A signs up for an account at Company Z, that relationship can be given a unique identifying number that is stored by both parties. From there, Human A can choose what identifiable info is displayed on the website, if any at all!

But, it’s facebook, how will I be able to find my friends?

That unique ID, you give it to someone, they can add you as a friend. A friend request outside of Company Z’s control. Human A and Human B are friends, and as both active members on Company Z, they can then get the ID shared between each other and then added to Company Z’s website. Now company Z may know Human A and Human B are friends, and provide its service accordingly. Show me Human B’s wall posts.

Now let’s get topical! TikTok was recently targeted by the Trump whims and a lot of creators flooded their videos with “Follow me on <platform>” messages. This seems awkward, and counter-intuitive.

What about this…

Human A follows Creator Q. This could be like a friendship bond with different attributes. I guess I could be Creator Q in this respect. So, if I have social media accounts (shameless plug http://ubbus.ca/) then I could populate the social media platforms I create on, and it would be a separate relationship than me as Human A.

I would also propose that only Humans can “follow” creators. And blocking a follower would block a person from interacting with the creator across all platforms. “Human D” for instance can be a real dick to other followers, spewing hate or propaganda. Creator Q then ends the follow relationship. Human D will be unable to create a new account and troll away as “fake-Human D” because they’d already used their “Human D” unique ID to create the follow. The follow would be generated from the creator ID and human ID to create the follower ID. Creating a new user account with a new name won’t fly.

So anyway, no company “needs” any information about you.

But how will they make money and keep the lights on?

Well nobody said they couldn’t have advertising! Let them display ads in a way they see fit. But ads again wouldn’t have your information from facebook. That would be another paradigm to explore, in a future post.

OK, fine, but how do you get your privacy back? Well, clearly we would need some form of privacy inquiry and review the information they already have, and reappropriate it to the user. Give them back their photos, videos, and whatever. No stored info for hackers to nab. Just a bunch of IDs and that’s it. They don’t even mean anything to anyone outside of Human A and Company Z.

Kinda sounds like some communist hippy socialist bullshit to me…

And those are just words and concepts to motivate by fear. I’ll be that communist hippy socialist whatever if that makes you feel better, but know there is no reason to fear my thoughts. I am a voice you don’t have to listen to.

This feels long to me, so I will end here. My Apple Music New Music playlist is over and there is day to live. I’m out!

Substitute U

Over the past could weeks, there have been many reminders of the upcoming US presidential election, and it will be a concerning one for us north of anarchy.

Elections, elections, elections, blah blah blah.

Boring? Maybe. Important? INSANELY IMPORTANT! We have some elections in our near future, but those cause nearly no anxiety compared to the colossal farce of an “election” happening down there.

OK, but what are you talking about here today?

How the “humanFramework” would fit in of course! One of my main ideologies is a uniformity of social interfaces. Sure, I may not even know exactly what that means, but it sounds like a nice buzzword.

Buzzwords eh…

Alright, stick around while I try to put words to…words… Brain power go!

First off, voting system: Single Transferable Vote. The best example I can think of for giving this voting method is the 2016 Republican run. I’m sure ol’ Trump wouldn’t have made it nearly as far, and a choice the people actually wanted could’ve been their nominee. Now this form of voting wouldn’t really apply in a 2 choice election, but hey, why be so divided, get more parties!

I like parties… small ones.

This was a thing we want in Canada. Wish the party in power would just pull the trigger on that. We already have multiple parties. We likely split votes here and there and the choice of the populous isn’t chosen.

Boourns.

I believe that things will be better with electoral reform. I never really liked the current system with the multiparty elections I would see growing up. I couldn’t really compute why someone with 31% of the vote was a good thing. With the STV, that would balance out vote splitting from the left or the right. I honestly veal like rational voting would return instead of the majority of bi-partisan voting we get in North America.

But <insert counter example here>!

Yeah, I can’t argue with myself on this one, I don’t know of a bad case scenario for this. Has it been tried anywhere in Canada or the US? I’m not acting like we’re the centre of the world, just kinda the centre of my focus these COVID days.

We’re all looking side-eyed at the neighbours coughs!

Anyway, it’s late, go vote, early if you can! And be a proponent for change in a positive direction!

And Trudeau, if you’re reading this, change the damn electoral process already! I didn’t need legal weed, I already had it!

Oh snap, I blinked!

The fall is creeping ever closer and closer, and like a fog horn, my wife happily exclaims at the top of her lungs…

IT’S SWEATER WEATHER!!!

As a person with a chronic illness that really hampers any love for the summer heat, I’m excited as well. The seasons change, that’s all well and good…

Now where’s my pumpkin pie!?

Soon, but guess what happens next? I’ll have a kid starting primary!

Shit, another white hair?

No, I’m not worried, and yes I’m getting older. This is actually an exciting time and it gives us something to prepare our little one for. We received a video tour welcome video to his school tonight and we excitedly watched it together. This coming Friday he will get to have a real tour and meet his new teacher!

What fun, are you going?

Sadly not. In a perfect, pre-COVID world, I would gladly go, but the time slot for the visit is limited and I am not the most speedy person to accompany the child. I floated the idea of FaceTime to tag along, but we’ll have to see if that’s feasible.

We have the technology?

Yeah, but do we have the data? Well sure, we have generous packages, and that really isn’t the issue. It’s more about people’s comfort levels on the whole thing. If it’s cool, great, if not, I guess pictures/video!

Stop dwelling on the tech!

OK! I can be passionate about that as well you know. But keeping a shy and anxious kid excited for school is one tough task! Not a band-aid rip, pick up and toss into a pool solution! We got stories, videos, and pre-meet. I think we have a toolkit that should work!

I hope.

We have been drilling the idea of germs into his head, and how they can make Daddy sick. Part of his trauma possibly stems from one or more of my ER visits. It’s been a rough go for me, and especially him. I don’t know how a young kid can handle all this, but as always I can only hope to make him an empathetic person.

Aww, a full time job.

As it is for anyone trying to raise a child. Do your best, hope for the best, and learn. Crap… We really do have to keep learning, forever and ever. I honestly thought my brain would get full of useless trivia knowledge but yet somehow I keep learning things!

Alright, bedtime is here, quiet time is over, I must sit outside the child’s door and tell him when Mommy gets home… I hope for her sake he falls asleep before she gets home!

Yay Update Day!

Well this is a welcome surprise. I wasn’t exactly expecting this, but baked into the new iOS is the contact tracing app! I’m actually excited that more phones will have this feature.

Got an iPhone? See if you can get an update, and then check your settings for the new feature.

Exposure Notifications

Inside it provides a link to the Health Canada app, if you don’t already have it installed, and you can toggle a few alerting options.

Exposure settings

The actual Health Canada app provides a good explanation of the data that isn’t collected, and if you get a positive COVID test result, you enter in a one-time code, and the cell phone ID number as an exposed device. Then your phone downloads the exposed devices and checks if you’ve been near them for any period of time.

So far, I can see I’ve got exposure to other mobile devices, and chances are they are my wife’s phones. Now on top of wearing a mask, this is a way to tell strangers you’ve been exposed and they should be wary as well!

Get the app, wear a mask, eat cake!