Weekly Update

I have been doing pretty good lately posting to my blog regularly. My goal is to do a post at least once a week. So allow me to catch you up on what is new in my life.

One very exciting thing is that I am getting back involved in Scouting. I will be serving as a Venturer Adviser. Venturers is the level after Scouts At this level the youth really run their own meetings and activities. I am just there to consult and guidance. I am very excited to get back into the movement.

On top of that I have managed to convince Louisa to go camping with me sometime. She has never been and was a bit skeptical about the whole thing. I borrowed a DVD from the library called "The Beginners Guide to Camping - A How to Video for Campers Who've Never Camped Before". The video was very basic but well done. Louisa watched it with me and now she is excited to give it a try. First she wants to try sleeping in the back yard in a tent before we go somewheres for a weekend. And we have to go to a campsite with showers and washrooms. But at least she is warming up to the idea.

We have to buy a lot of equipment though before we go camping. I have a sleeping bag and thats about it. We saw a Coleman stove on sale at Canadian Tire so we picked one up. Have to start somewhere. Another thing I have is a Flashpan. I brought home a sample from work to test out. It is a grill of sorts that uses solid fuel tablets instead of propane. Much safer. Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/64f9az

Last night I took Louisa to a 1930's style carnival called Carnivàle Lune Blueu. They have a bigtop with a Circus troupe similar to Cirque de Soleil. In fact, the bigtop they are using is the original Cirque de Soleil bigtop. There is a real freak show in the 10 in 1 tent. They have a ferris wheel and merry-go-round, and all kinds of cool stuff. It is on for one more weekend so if you are in the Ottawa areas I suggest you check it out. If you can't go there are some cool videos you can watch online at http://tinyurl.com/6e6nyc and http://www.carnivalelunebleue.com/rogerstv.asp.

Lawnmowers and shelving units

This sure has been an interesting week. First of all let me say that I am feeling great. I was limping on Monday and Tuesday but by Thursday I was playing Volleyball at the company picnic. Everyone was real concerned because I had an operation on my heart only a week earlier. But I felt fine and everything was good. I also placed first in the apple bobbing competition. hey, you got to be good at something right. Reminds me when I was in grade 3 and I won a pie eating competition at the local community center.

Louisa finally broke me down and we purchased an electric lawn mower this week. Last year when we moved in I insisted on getting an old fashioned push reel mower. It is a lot of work and takes forever but I was happy with it. Last weekend I was unable to cut the grass because of my operation. I was going to pay the neighbor's kid to cut it for me. Louisa decided she wanted to prove to me that she could do it, even though I didn't want her to. She practically killed herself but she got it done. She vowed that we would get an electric lawn mower. After much convincing we finally did by one at Canadian Tire.

We also went to Zellers and bought a 6 cube console for the kitchen. Louisa built it with my guidance. I interpreted the instructions and she did most of the assembly. So Louisa learned the joy of assembling furniture. We even had to disassemble it half way through because we put a couple pieces in upside down. All part of the experience. It was a lot of fun. We hadn't taken the time to do something like that together for some time.

Louisa and I spend so much time together we sometimes forget to take time to do simple things together. We commute together, we work together, we take break together, we eat lunch together... we are together almost 24/7. When we come home from work typically I spend the evening in the basement and she stays on the main floor. Sometimes I think we spend so much time together that we tend to take each other for granted. As a newly married couple I think it is important that we don't let that happen.

Last nights furniture assembly was a nice reminder that we need to take time to enjoy each others company. So tonight we are going to Carnivàle Lune Bleue. It is a 1930's style carnival that is in town complete with sideshows, a big-top main event, and authentic 1930's midway. I can't wait.

Louisa and I have been going through a lot of hard times since our wedding. There has been so much illness with us, friends, co-workers and loves ones. We are constantly worried about someones health and well-being. Our surgeries may be behind us but there are many people close to us who are not out of the woods yet. We pray for them daily.

Changes to my website

I have been making some changes lately to my website (http://www.joevautour.com). I have removed some elements that were just cluttering things up and moved some things around. I have not done a major overhaul, just little changes here and there. I would love to know what people think. All feedback is welcome.

Sometimes I am asked why I spend so much time on the site, after all it's not like I have a ton of loyal visitors. I do get a decent volume of traffic, mostly from search engines. Two of my more popular pages are my Nunavut page and my cartoons page. I have had a number of people who have been thinking about moving to Nunavut email me with questions. It is very rewarding when that happens.

Mount Olympus

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Safe and Sound

I am happy to report that my surgery yesterday was a success! The doctors were able to isolate and eliminate the extra pathway in my hearts' electrical system. For those unfamiliar with my condition allow me to explain.

The first time I knew there was something wrong I was in high school. My heart started to beat funny. Of course by the time I was able to go to the hospital it was back to normal and they had no idea what had happened. This would reoccur every so often. It wasn't until I was living in Nunavut that I finally had it diagnosed. The instances of my 'attacks' became more and more frequent and severe. I went to see a cardiologist in Winnipeg. It found out I had paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (Try to say that ten times fast) or PSVT for short.

The doctors in Winnipeg performed an ablation but were unsuccessful in correcting my problem. An Ablation is a process where they burn your heart in an attempt to create scar tissue to prevent the electrical signals of the heart to from going the wrong way. Although they did not succeed in curing me, I did experience an improvement. My 'episodes' were less frequent and less severe.

But over time they came back and it became a problem again. A team of doctors here in Ottawa agreed to give it another attempt. This time they feel confident that they fixed it. They tell me I should not have any more problems. You don't know how happy this makes me and my family. I have been living with this for 12 years and finally I am cured. I feel like a new man.

Sad News and Crazy Times

I received some very sad news today. A man that had a major influence on my life has passed away two days after his 66th birthday. Bob MacVicar was one of my scout leaders, but he was more than that, he was a friend. Bob was a very good man and he will be missed by many.

In addition to being involved in scouting over 30 years, he was very active in his church and the community. Bob started as a volunteer firefighter with the Lancaster Fire Department in 1964 and joined the Saint John Fire Department in 1966. He was a district chief when he retired.

Bob was the best story teller I knew. I never grew tired of hearing him retell the same story over and over again. I learned a lot from that man. He taught me many skills and life lessons that make me the man that I am today. I would have to say that aside from my family he influenced my life the most growing up in Saint John.

I wish I could be there in person to pay my respects. But alas I am over 1000 km's away in Ottawa. Not only that but the funeral will be held on Thursday and I am scheduled to be under the knife. Yes thats right, my operation has been rescheduled finally.

Also today Louisa and I said Goodbye to our Japanese exchnage student. She and her classmates are on their way back to Japan. She was only here for 2 weeks but it was nice having her around. Bee Bee will miss her for sure. I think we will definatly look into hosting a student again but for a longer term stay.

So my life is in a bit of a spin right now. Lots going on at one time. Fortunatly for me I have Louisa to comfort me. She is my rock.