Happy Centennial Grandma!

If she were alive still today, my mum's mother would have turned 100 years old today. I am lucky to have so many strong, independent women in my family, helping pave the way for my cousins and I to find a path of our own. Last year we had a Guthrie Family Reunion with all the cousins and relatives from this side of the family, and it was amazing to see such a strong group of friendly and fun people. My Aunt and uncle Pete pulled together all these old photos and documents, and compiled an amazing family tree.

Vera Florence Guthrie was born in 1912 in Edmonton, as the eldest of 9 children. She grew up in Grand Prairie, Alberta with her father working as a chef with a restaurant in town. She was quite tall, at 5'8", which is likely where my sister and I have inherited the height gene, as my mum is 5'10". Two of her brothers died in early childhood, but the 7 surviving siblings were quite close.

  Grandma and her youngest brother Bryan

Guthrie Siblings

 

Horseback riding in Grande Prairie

Family Photo 1945

She moved south to the big city of Edmonton after she was done school to work as a pianist. She had a very vibrant life in her 20s, playing an active role in the music scene and making lots of friends. At 28, my grandmother had a son who she gave up for adoption, who we had the pleasure of connecting with in January of 2005, two months before she died. As the 1940's were a different time than today, Grandma had never spoke of this and held it secret. I believe that her strength in overcoming her previous shame and embracing her son after all these years really illuminates that you can always grow and open your heart a little more, even at 92. 

Paddling

 Camping

 Grandma in Edmonton

During the war, she worked for the war effort in an administrative position and played at dances for troops. She could type on a typewriter as fast as she could play piano! She met my grandfather in her 30's after WWII and was 37 years old when she had my Aunt and 39 when she had my mum. They moved all around Canada in the following years, living in Calgary, Toronto and finally settling in Victoria in 1975. I grew very close to Grandma in my teenage years and during university, happily running errands with her and helping her around the house. Grandma was always an amazing pianist, her fingers still had amazing agility and speed into her 90's. Her hands never ached with arthritis or any other age related ailments, and other than a little bit of osteoporosis, she was very healthy and mentally strong into her 90s. Part of this is due to her walking group, getting out and staying social.

 Grandma in Uniform

 Grandma and Grandad, Heather and Laurie (My mum on right)

 Cruising in San Diego

Grandma Playing Piano

From Grandma, I learned the following life lessons that I will always carry with me:

Keep being active all through life

Make time to pursue your hobbies

Be brave and follow your heart

Follow your own schedule in life

Stand up straight, embrace your height (because you'll miss it when you shrink!)

It's never too late to swallow your pride

You can return anything

Bunsen

It's been almost a month since I brought home our new addition. If you are not aware, Niki and I got a puppy, an American Cocker Spaniel by the name of Bunsen. I picked him up three weeks ago from Victoria, where he was hanging out with the in-laws and his sister. As a side bonus, I was able to combine the trip into a hang out time with some of my greatest friends.

Bunsen is pretty adorable, a little stubborn, and likes to bite. The first night here I think he was a little sad, as he had been with his sister Pippin up until that point. The valet parking service at the Edmonton Airport really screwed things up, so it took me over four hours from landing to getting home. He handled it very well, and luckily traveling with a puppy makes everyone treat you well. The little guy is a lot of work, and requires vast amounts of attention. The first week here temperatures were around -30, so that made the house training difficult, but it has warmed up, and Bunsen seems to be getting it. We have a little bell system set up, and he's finally ringing the bells every time he needs to go out. Up until a couple of days ago, I was just taking him outside every hour, ringing the bell as I opened the door.
He seems to view Niki as a giant chew toy, so that's the next problem to work on. People say puppies are a lot of work, and that's a huge understatement. I am looking forward to him being full grown, not needing constant supervision, and out of the chewing stage.
I wish I had more pictures. We have taken a lot, but he's blurry in most of them. Wiggle wiggle wiggle.
Cheers,
Scott

Vancouver Island Christmas

Every other year Niki and I go to Victoria for Christmas. We love it. There are lots of puppy walks, good food, drinks, games and visiting with friends and family. It seems a few people decided to have a baby in the last year, so there are also a lot of baby pictures. I was finally able to meet one of my oldest and best friends new son, Niko. The little guy is adorable, and very healthy. Niki and I also found our own version of a baby, we are getting a puppy. His name is Bunsen, and he's a buff American Cocker Spaniel. I'm going back to Victoria on Jan 13 to bring him home. He was a little too young when we saw him to be taken away. His sister is going to Niki's sister Lindsay, and her name is Pippin. We're all very excited. As is tradition, we spent New Years in Campbell River with some very very good friends, the Lanyon family. We played a new to me game on New Year's Eve called Cards Against Humanity. The rules are very similar to Apples to Apples, but it is not for the easily offended. I will recommend it though, as I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time.
I didn't want to do a long entry, but just wanted to share our pictures from the holidays and say that while I didn't get to see everyone I would have liked, we had a perfect Christmas, miss everyone we saw, and love you all.
Cheers,
Scott

Thank You Past Scott

Scott with lots of mass density

On Sept 5, 2011 past Niki and past Scott made a lifestyle change. We started doing the "slow carb diet" found in the book The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferris. Past Scott was feeling inspired after hearing Ferris interviewed on The Nerdist. As well, my recent birthday, and license picture that went with it, were very depressing. Normally in those situations I say, "Screw you future Scott", and don't do anything, but not this time.
At that time I was 260lbs, and well on track to eating my way to 300lbs. I feel about food much in the same way an alcoholic would feel about beer, but maybe a little more so. Today, December 21, 2011, marks the point when the scale said 220lbs. I've probably also lost around 3 inches to my waist. Maybe a little more.
My goal was to hit that before Christmas. It's a few days early, but present Scott would like to thank past Scott for making a me positive decision. Present Scott really dislikes the word diet, prefers it to me more permanent, and will keep endeavouring to make me positive decisions. Hopefully future Scott can continue to enjoy being not obese, and having clothes that don't press uncomfortably against his belly. The fact that I don't consistently shove large amounts of delicious sugar based items into my mouth are in part due to my lovely wife Niki. If you would like to see a couple of examples of the food we have been eating, you can check it out at Niki's blog "The Slow Carbavore". That is about it, I encourage anyone to start making "you positive" decisions, it feels great. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Cheers,
Scott

Less mass density. mmm pie.

New York City

At the beginning of November, Niki and I flew to NYC for a Tim Minchin concert. Just for the weekend, a sort of whirlwind trip. It was fantastic, I love New York, and can see why people would live there. I would live there. It's a huge city, with everything you would ever want or need, with almost a small town feel. The people are friendly, and so many little shops and businesses. It's odd, whenever I travel I feel like the people should be different. I don't mean, like another culture or something, I mean different like in aliens from outer space different. This always leads to a little shock and sadness when they are just like us, but with accents and odd customs.

The Friday night we arrived was the Tim Minchin concert. He was witty, funny, touching, and a great artist. Everything a person would want in a concert. He sang all the songs I wanted to hear, and few I didn't know, but am very glad he included. Minchin did two encores, and led the entire theatre in singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". He said he loved travelling America, getting large groups of atheists together, then getting them to sing Hallelujah. That got a good laugh. The crowd singing was actually a very beautiful moment. After the show we waited around to get my DVD/CD combo signed. He was very gracious, though limited in time, and signed all he could. I got to say a few words, nothing embarrassing as is usual when a person meets someone they admire, and he even gave me a spontaneous hug. The whole trip was worth that one concert, and if you can ever see the man in concert, I highly recommend him.

Saturday was our day to check out the American Museum of Natural History and Central park. After the Minchin concert, AMNH was by far my favourite stop. I especially loved the "Hall of Human Origins". I talked to a PhD fellow about the mixing of Neanderthal DNA and human, saw lots of fossils, and generally went a little science crazy. The Fossil Hall seemed like it would never end, with giant turtles and even an Albertosaurus. It was fantastic. We only spent about four hours there, but a person could spend days. It alone could be a reason for a person to love NYC. After the museum we walked back to our Hotel via a lovely walk through central park. Stopped by Strawberry fields. We were lucky, as we didn't realize it, but Sunday was the NYC Marathon, so everything would have been closed off or really crowded. Our hotel, which was very nice, was close to Time Square, so we spent a lot of time walking to or from it, catching the subway there and whatnot. Saturday evening we checked out a comedy show at The Comic Strip. The comedians were funny, but unfortunately a few in the crowd did not know how to be a good audience. Hint, when you are at a comedy club, if you do or say anything but drink and laugh, you are a tool. We grabbed a pizza slice on the way back to the hotel.

Sunday was our walking and Broadway day. We meandered from our hotel, down through Little Italy, China Town, occupy wall street, Wall Street, and finally Battery Park. It was a lovely, albeit tiring, walk. I ate like a pig all weekend, had a mini pie every day, and didn't gain a pound. I didn't see many overweight people walking around, and I think I know why. If you live in Manhattan, you walk. Lots. The Lion King we saw at night. It was a great show and deserves all the accolades it has received. We even met a performer in Starbucks before the show. He noticed my poppy, as he was originally from Toronto. Asked what we were up to, and we said Lion King. He laughed and said he would be "2nd wildebeest on the left". Very nice fellow, wish I had taken a picture with him. We capped the weekend off with a visit to 30 Rock and going to the top of Empire States Building.

That is a quick summation of the weekend. It was a great trip, and I could probably type for pages on all the little reasons I love NYC. I suggest just planning a trip there yourself. More pictures below. :-)
Cheers,
Scott

August and Wedding Tips from Moose Jaw

The month of August has ended. This summer has gone by way too fast. I turned 32 sometime in there, which was a shocking reality. Niki had a book printed of all our blog posts so far, as my present. It's nice being able to turn the pages, see all the pictures and what we've done since we got married. Speaking of married, we went to Moose Jaw for a wedding of our friend Colin and his beautiful lady Kimberly. Even though we don't get to see him much, Colin is one of my favourite people. It was a very fun trip. The hotel we stayed at happened to be the location of the last Peter Gzwoski morning-side broadcast. Which made me all sorts of excited! My favourite morning side episode is his interview with Carl Sagan. I strongly recommend listening to it. We did the Chinese tunnel tour. Canada was not so nice to Chinese immigrants, holy racist batman! If you can ever do the tour, we highly recommend it. Most of all the wedding was great, the way weddings should be. I laughed a little more than usual, as Colin is prone to make me do. Fortunately, he didn't giggle uncontrollable through his vows. Thankful for that, would hate to be at a wedding where the groom did that...*cough* *cough*

Anyhoo, sad to see summer slowly winding down. Going back to my birthday, on that fine day, we ate some super hot wings, saw a fringe show, and generally had a good time. My car decided to catch fire. Saturday had a nice, it was my birthday, visit with the Klassens. As my womb evacuation day was on a Wednesday, we had a get together at my parents on Sunday, where Niki made a chocolate/raspberry trifle. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. My favourite liquor store in the whole world also imported some beer I had been requesting from Denmark, so I drank that. All in all, a good month. September is gearing up to be even better, with Lindsay(sis-in-law) arriving tomorrow, so I should get back to cleaning the house.
Cheers,
Scott
PS - As always, more pictures can be had by clicking on this link and going to our Picasa pictures. 
PPS - Here is a video of very special song being sung at the wedding. It's apparently a tradition. I would say it's the best tradition ever. Unfortunately, I didn't get the whole explanation on why it's a tradition.

Edmonton Folk Music Festival 2011

The Secret Sisters

The Hill from the top

Mr Matt Andersen

Deep Fried Oreos

Our favourite fellow volunteers

     For the second year Niki and I volunteered as Liaison Security for the EFMF. It was fantastic. I had forgotten how much fun it was. The constant music, the colour of the hill filled with tarps and people, the food, and the general fun atmosphere. If you have never been, I suggest planning for next year. Tickets sold out in two hours this year, so it will definitely take planning. Or you can just try and volunteer like us. They feed you and you get to go to the volunteer party afterwards. Delhi to Dublin played this years party on Friday night, and we had so much fun dancing to their music. Made us instant fans. Niki and I also had dinner with Peter Brown one night in the volunteer tent. We very much enjoy his radio stylings and humour, so that was a treat. I was very excited, but tried to be cool. On top of hosting Radio Active, he is the producer of CBC's 'The Irrelevant Show'.
If you asked me for a quick list of my favourite performers from this year, I would say: Matt Andersen,  Brandi Carlile, KT Tunstall, Delhi To Dublin, and The Secret Sisters. I could name quit a few more, but those are the ones at the top of mind. I would suggest going to these artists web pages, and if they come to your town, go see them. Matt Andersen gave me goose bumps and no one does a Johnny Cash cover like Brandi Carlile. More pictures can be found here.
Cheers,
Scott

Edmonton Sunset

Hovan's Birthday Trip

All our tix

At the beginning of June I went to Victoria for a little trip to visit my friend Hovan, for his birthday. He's a proud new father, and as such doesn't get out much anymore. For his birthday his lovely wife let us watch movies, play video games, and generally do the things working and parenting full time don't let you do. We ended up seeing every movie playing at Silver City in Victoria. Hangover II was probably my least favourite, while I enjoyed all the others. That's a picture of all the movie tickets. The island seems to be fertile ground, so I also got to see some new babies, and see some about to be new babies. Feeling the baby who was going to be Niko move around inside my friend Yarrow was amazing. I've never felt a baby move around like that before, it was brilliant. All in all it was a good trip, and I am very much looking forward to Christmas when we get to go out there again. We did a stop at Phillips Brewery in Victoria too. They do this thing called a growler, and I got one and brought it back to Edmotnon. Alley Kat fills it up for me when needed, so that has me pretty happy. As always, more pictures can be found at my picasa albums.
Cheers,
Scott