Dentist, again

At lunch we went to the dentist to get Sabrina's stitches in her gums. Thankfully the procedure was painless and quick.

Aftewards, Sabrina and I went to have a meal before going back to school. I think it's the best meal she's had since last Wednesday's operation.

No news from Amy our heart is with her.

Amy's Operation; Mom's

Today Amy was in the hospital for a major operation. I don't have much news but I heard it was tough going for a while. Our heart are with her and hoping she gets through and better quick.

Mom was also going for her eye today. Nick is getting an injection for his back tomorrow, Sabrina is getting her stitches taken out on Wednesday. Hopefully, that's as much hospital as we'll see in 2013.

Lazy Sunday

The day began with a pancake breakfast orchestrated by Sabrina (who can only eat plain ones because of her operation). This is the menu she made:

Mathieu took some time to read.

Suzanne took down the Christmas tree tonight. We usually bring this down a few days after New Year's but because of Disney and of Suzanne's new job, it's been a bit chaotic around here.

Ski Courses, Sophie's Birthday Supper

It's not because Sabrina had a gum transplant done on Wednesday that she couldn't go skiing on Saturday. The kids had their courses while I ate and worked at the cafeteria. I made sure I held on to my car keys this time :)

Next we went to mom's and I did a few things on her iPad. I also took a picture of a frame I like a lot in my mom's house.

We all left to go to Gail and David's place to celebrate Sophie's birthday supper. We had a great time. I stayed with Mathieu, mom and Amy while everyone else went on a sleigh ride. We then had a great supper and some really good rhum cake.

Suzanne was at her Moment Factory Christmas Party. She had a lot of fun.

Dinner with Laurie and Max

Tonight Laurie and Max came over for dinner. I had made an excellent (oh yes) beef teriyaki with noodles that even Sabrina was able to eat (the noodles shredded in little pieces). We had a great time. At one points, Laurie, Max and Mathieu were making paper snowflakes.

It's good to see Max. It's also good to see him with someone he loves. Laurie is a great person.

Hard wake up

Suzanne is on the train right now to Quebec city with Cora for a press conference for the show "Voir Grand". She had to get up at 4:30 which is a bit earlier then usual (not much, but still). Sabrina is a bit nervous because she's having her gum transplant operation around noon today.

Seems like it never stops.

My girl was quite courageous today as she underwent her operation. When she was done I could see she was quite shaken but she still managed to keep a brave face. I am so very proud of her.

Tonight Mathieu is not feeling right. I hope he sleeps it off.

"Today was my most embarrassing day" - Sabrina

Today I handed Sabrina a pair of jeans she's used the day before (hey, jeans can be reused). What I didn't do is remove the previous' day's underwear that was hiding in the pant's leg. The same pair of underwear decided to inch itself out of the jeans while Sabrina was in school, to the global laughter of her class.

I'm so sorry :)

Rainstorm - Nexus 4

We're experiencing a violent rainstorm right now and the lights are flickering, something that never happens.

Nexus 4
I'm using it to read my gmails and surf the web and while I find the screen to be not as crisp as the iPhone's I kinda like the bigger size. I like the phone it's a solid piece of hardware that excites the dev guy in me. I installed a file manager on it and I like the fact that I can easily see what's in the machine. I can do the same with the iPhone but it's less elegant and more complicated. I also love the level of details of information I can get on each app. To a normal user that's totally irrelevant but to me it's info gold.

Now if I could plug bluetooth monitors and keyboards to it, get it with 16G of RAM min, 512G ssd and use it like a workstation, I could be persuaded to change.

Karma, Nexus 4, Ski Courses and Missing Keys

I have an iPhone 5. It's new and I'm with it for 2.5 years, good or bad. But I love my phone, it's an amazing tool that allows me to do everything I need to do easily and quickly. Pascal has graciously lent me his new Nexus 4 to try out. I will avoid using the smart part of my iPhone and learn the Nexus's OS just to be able to compare both.

Nexus 4
It's a cool phone. Is Android better then iOS? After about 15 mins of play I can say that iOS is more polished. But what about usability...

So how do we turn on wi-fi on the Nexus 4? It's not in the settings, or is it? So far I can't find where I can set my wi-fi network on the beast. On the iPhone it's settings/wi-fi. Of course I could Google it but it defeats the purpose of simplicity if I have to look in a manual to do things.

Finally I figured out that I have to hold the wi-fi on/off switch for a determined amount of time I may open a sub-window. Definitely not intuitive, but neither is removing apps from iOS.

Security fails. I went to install the Blogger app so that I may edit my posts from my phone but when I looked at all the permissions, I backed down. Modify or delete the contents of my USB key? Retrieve running apps? Why? Full network access? That could be dangerous. Add or remove accounts? Blogger, that's definitely not of your business. The problem is, as opposed to iOS, I can't opt out on install for some of these services (or I didn't find the way if there's one). There's probably a place somewhere where I can tweak those but it's a lot of work just to install an app.

Now to tether to my phone...

Ski Bromont
The kids and I went to Bromont for a day of skiing and their courses. Basically, I skied while they were learning how to do it properly. They loved it. I went all over the front of the mountain, staying on black and double-black diamonds. I'm really going to enjoy these courses. The following pictures are from the Montreal:

Missing my keys
The only hick is that when we came back to the truck, I couldn't find my car keys. Fortunately, someone had found them and brought them back to customer service. Since we never were inside the chalet, it does mean I lost them outside somewhere.

Karma
Interestingly, Mathieu found a set of keys somewhere on the slopes a few weeks ago and we brought them back to customer service. Karma can sometimes be a bitch, but she can also be an angel.

Walt Disney World 2013: Day 7 -- Bye bye, Disney World

Tuesday January 15th is our last day at Disney World. We were all tired and a bit sad to leave the place. We made it home for dinner, back in our snowy world. 

A last look at our room

Someone with a heavy heart

Not much happiness here

On the way home

Getting there

Hello beautiful Montreal

Thank you for getting us home safely, AC

A souvenir from Epcot

Walt Disney World 2013: Day 6 -- Epcot

We decided to spend our last day at Epcot. The kids had their hand fans signed in every country and we got to visit the World Showcase again. The day ended with some time at the pool and marshmallows at the campfire. 

Going through time with Helen

Weren't these guys cruising my wife a few years back? I'm checking you!

Testtrack was really fun.

Finally an ice cream, and a cappuccino.

Found in an English Shoppe. Emily is Mathieu's girlfriend.

Unfortunately, Alice was too busy to meet 

A bit tired

But another excellent cappuccino, in Italy

That's a beautiful castle. Blows my $800 Custom's allowance

A Troll.

Oooh la la. I'm dating my own Minnie :)

Last night at Disney World, eating Marshmallows around a camp fire.

Walt Disney World 2013: Day 5 -- Animal Kingdom

Mickey at the Tusker's House

What better way to begin our visit in Animal Kingdom by going on the Kilimanjaro Safari Express. We had an amazing adventure in an old truck visiting African animals in their habitat.

The safari is on an old expedition truck. See the rhino?

Lot's of giraffe's to be seen, one this close to the truck.

If these guys decide to charge...

I heard from other passengers the ostrich decided to attack a truck that day.

It was followed by a train ride and a walk to a smaller part of the safari.

A train ride to a hidden place in Animal Kingdom. This once did we get to see some of the internals of the park.

Mathieu makes a boat with a leaf and a twig.

Poumba

This little guy was very entertaining

Our lunch at the Tusker House Restaurant was excellent. Everyone made acquaintance with the restaurant’s owners, Mickey Mouse, Daisy Duck and Goofy. Mickey even proposed to Thelma. What a guy!

Waiting for our reservation

What a chick :)

A guy's guy

He's probably as wild as Prince Harry

A real CEO

He proposed to Thelma.

Wouldn't leave without having a picture with me. 

The cafeteria part of Tusker's House. The food is actually good there.

After a few rides on Dinosaur and on Expedition Everest, we got to enjoy both the Dino Park and Asia. In Dinoland USA there’s a great play park the kids love so much.

Suzanne, Thelma and Mathieu on the dino ride.

At the play park.

Mount Everest

Mathieu and Suzanne.

Me and some guy

I personally liked the ambiance in the Asia area. We liked watching the monkeys go from structure to structure, and the tiger that just laid there by the pool. Too bad the Kali River Rapid ride was closed. Next time, Sabrina.

Someone's coming down. Could be Suzanne

Monkeys were having a great time.

Through a street.

If you go to Animal Kingdom, you have to watch Mickey’s Jamming Jungle Parade. The costumes are great and inventive, the mood fun and exciting. A great experience to have.

Guys on stilts.

I love this bird. I'd like to build one for Halloween

Minnie

Goofy

Mickey

We completed the day watching the great musical: Finding Nemo. We then had dinner at the Yak & Yeti restaurant. Our reservations were a bit late though, and we got to close the restaurant and the park. It was a bit eery to walk alone in the dark at Animal Kingdom. We were almost alone on the bus too.

The Nemo show. Excellent!

Decorations in our restaurant.

The Tree of Life, all light up in a deserted park

We got the bus to ourself, almost.