Eric Bailey's

Well, I just finished a short training session for bus driving on special needs awareness. I kind of think that I should have been exempt from this but I would never say it - I'm amazed that I am even typing it. I have worked with people with developmental disabilities, I had an uncle with Down Syndrome, I actually kind of know a little sign language (I haven't had to use any for so long that instead of remembering words, I remember that I have forgetten the words). Finally my own son has autism and so I knwo some things about these special needs kids. I mentioned to the instructor that I worked with people with disabilities before if they are interested in some help with this kind of thing.

A worry that has been on my mind for a while, but more so since Saturday is my dad. He had knee replacement surgery a couple of weeks ago, and he has since had it reopenned and cleaned out. Also he has had some kind of trouble - chest or stomach pain. Mom thinks that he may have damaged his heart during this process and this leads me worry. I am not sure what to do about this and I do not have my mom's phone number anymore to call her and ask about what is happening now. A part of me is ready to hop into the car and drive to Regina to check up on mom and dad. Driving Bus and working for the church takes up my time right now, especially since I am going away in less than two weeks. With my vacation coming up I just fel guilty about asking for any other time off, and I definitly feel guilty for not going like I would have a year ago. For now I have to content myself to sit and worry.

Whenever there is talk about electrical work, I am always reminded of my warehouse days and the summer I worked with an electrician called "Sparky". He earned the nickname as far as I could tell, and he did not seem to dispute it.

I spent one summer (I got a raise for this part of the job) travelling with an electrician, and a plummer going all over southern Saskatchewan replacing equipment and cupboards in 7-11s. It was a fun summer and I learned things about electrical work and plumming that I have long forgotten. I used to be able to do most of the electrical work to set up the machines (not the work in the fuse box though. I also did a lot of jobs with the plumming.

We understood the electrician's name when we were working in a 7-11 in Saskatoon and while we were putting in the cupboards we saw flashing lights from the backroom. It seems he had a 7-11 employee holding some wires away from the fuse box while he worked up above. When he finished what he was doing he said okay, planning to come down and start attaching the wires that were being held. When the 7-11 employee heard okay, he let go of the wires which flew into the fuse box and melted a lot of things back there. There was a bit of a fire, but no one was hurt. We actually shut down that 7-11 for a couple of hours. Sparky. The plummer told us that his job was better because if you make a mistake, you get out a mop, but when an electrician makes a mistake ...

Yesterday we had our whole fuse pannel replaced. Our house was shut down for the day, and we did not have any electricity. We decided that we would have the fire place on during this time to make sure that the house did not get cold. I guess I closed the flu at some point because the house was filled with smoke and we had to open windows and doors to let the smoke out. Everything settled down and we got the house fixed up, and the fire place working. Now when there is a problem, it throws a breaker instead of a fuse. I think that it is much easier that way. While we can't call this electrician "Sparky", we may be able to call someone here "Smokey".

The start of a new week. I guess that was yesterday, but anyway there is lots to write about. First of all there was an election yesterday which was good and bad. The good is that the NDP got more seats than last time, they had a good showing in many other places too, and the two ridings that are in my area were close and at times last night the NDP reps were actually leading in the polls. The bad is that they did not win, and once again locally we are under the reign of the liberals. I don't understand why people would vote so much for a party that repeated showed serious lack of character.

There seems to be a change blowing in Canadian politics, this is two elections in a row that led to minority governments. I think that this is good for Canada and that if any country should be able to work together across party lines for the good of the people it should be Canada. I hope that we will continue to elect minority gov'ts and make the parties get used to the idea of listening to the other voices, the NDP, the Green Party and others who represent other portions of the population besides the big business, and the rich that the Liberals and Conservatives represent.

My wife is away for the week so me and the boys are on our own (with grandma, grandpa, Auntie, cousin, and G). My youngest was bugging me to take him to the gym this week, so we will be going there soon after I am done writing. This trip will make it three weeks that I have been back at the gym. I hope that I can continue and make this a habit. I also hope that this will give me the ability to skate more at hockey. I feel better about my energy last week (I had to work in front of the net and in the corners - it is very tiring digging for the puck and fighting for position).

I wish. The streets have been getting worse and worse over the past couple of days. The main roads stay plowed, but the side streets are horrible. They have lots of snow, and if you are lucky they have ruts down the middle that you can use to get around them. The problem with the ruts is that they don't generally fit the bus. I find one crescent to be particularly bad on a consistent basis each (heavy) snow fall. I almost got stuck in it today. Some how I got through these roads and cresscents only to get stuck when I parked the bus this morning. After about 45 minutes of work I got it unstuck and parked, ready to go for this afternoon.

I think that we kind of do this in our lives (maybe I should be saying "my" here instead of "ours"). We plow the main road, taking care of what we need to so that we get by but we don't take care of the side roads, the places where we live and exist. There is so much of ourselves that we ignore to the detriment of our lives, and those around us who exist with us on those side roads. I know that we are in a hurry and there are lots of roads to plow, but maybe we ought to take the time to plow some of the crescents of our minds, of our lives so that we can live better.

Maybe I'm stretching things too far. Some of my side roads that I have been neglecting are:
• Reading - I have started a few things but not really finished them. I am in the middle of Searching for God Knows What (for about 8 months), Connecting, Answers to Pastors' FAQs, Why I Am A ... (by Brian McLaren), Autistic Thinkin - This Is The Title, and Circle of Light 2: Faragon Fairingay (this belongs to one of my brothers but I have had it for years and never read it). I need to start finishing some of these.
• Writing - I often start things, but finishing is another matter. Right now I have writing something small each week for our church program, so maybe I am starting to hand shovel this crescent out.
• Prayer - My prayer life is sporatic and I sometimes say that this is natural for who I am, and I sometimes just beat myself up for not being able to form routines better.
• Physical fitness - I have finally started goiong back to the gym last week after have stopped going for about 6-8 months. Hopefully this will help with feeling better in general and also with the sports that I play, I will be better able to compete.

I'm sure that there are more that I am just not thinking of right now. Plowing these roads may make the main roads of my life better to travel too. I better go to the gym now or I will start putting it off again, and we all know where that cycle leads.

It is back to the routine that we started last November. I am back up at 6:00 am and running out of energy by noon (looking for a nap). I get to go again at 2:00 and finish at 5:00. The middle of my day I am now running around. Today I went to the Chriropractor, and then took care of some insurance issues (so that we will stay covered). Now I get to watch parts of Hitch (a funny movie). I guess that only shows my lack of taste in movies.

I am trying to make sure that things are set up for the big family trip to Disney World in a while. I have prepared at one job, but I have to make sure that the othere job has things covered for me while I am away. I guess I better talk to some people.

Whether I like it or not I am back into writing articles. We have articles in our weekly church program (bulletin?), and for now I am writing a few. I hope to draft (he he) some more writers, and avoid downloading articles (but I like what some of these people have to say). I am considering how to have an interactive part of these articles, such as posting them on the discussion board or starting a blog for these articles. Then people can respond to what is said. Just thinking for now.

I have changed my internet, I now use a wireless connection that just plugs into my usb adapter. I like not being tied to a cord. I am now reconsidering the purchase of a battery for my laptop then I would really be free to wander. Right now the battery only has a couple of minutes in it. This D-link usb plug seems great right now. I think that it is a little slower with my computer right now but I suspect that part of the problem is that I am in the basement while the port is upstairs. I'll have to ask my wife about her computer speed. Now, if only I could get the same thing for the palm pilot.

The boys room is painted as my wife posted on her site, and now the floor is in, the beds are up and all their toys are still in the living room. I guess things are not completely done, but pretty close. We may change some of the funiture, but we are not in a rush to change things unless the right thing captures us. I hope the room is really finished soon so that we can get people into our living room again.

I guess I should write about what has been going on since I haven't updated lately.

We went away on Christmas eve (we were rushing to get going after the Christmas eve service). We drove through fog and mists but had no trouble with the roads or finding our way down there. When we finally got up in our little villa that we were set up in, we fed the boys some cereal and milk and slept some more. Then we got up got dressed went over to the "in-law"s villa (where they had four adults and a baby staying) to eat pancakes, bacon and then to open stockings. It was a fun Christmas and the hit gift of it all was the sponges that we each got and the boys played with. They drew faces on the sponges and played all week with them.

After a couple of days we drove into Minneapolis to visit the Mall of America. Since it has three different levels, it is not a much walking as West Edmonton Mall (also because it is not as big as West Ed.). The high light of this trip is that we went to an aquarium. They had sharks. My son was extatic. He has a book on sharks and he was talking about the different sharks as we walked through the aquarium. There was a special tank where you could touch a shark, and a ray. My son, after a while, touched both. He and his mom watched these fish swim and feed and then "petted" them.

The boys went back a couple days later with Gramma and mommy to go to "Camp Snoopy", that is the rides. They had fun while I enjoyed a quiet day. It was a good break. We came back fairly refreshed.

Now we are working on the boys' room, finishing the painting and putting in new flooring and setting up their new beds. If you visit my wife's blog you should see a picture of the finished wall painting. Still lots of work to do on the floor, though.