I Remember... Mix Tapes

Before I get into this blog, I want to first congratulate my cousin Jeremy for recently completing his 365 Trek! I know it has been a hard journey but one that is totally worth it. And to honor my cousin, I am going to swipe one of his column ideas. A good idea is a good idea! I hope he doesn't mind but by the time he finds out it will be too late.

I have been in another one of my melancholy moods where I get reflective about the past and I spend way too much time reminiscing. Combine this mood with my "I have too much crap" mood and that spells trouble. This afternoon I targeted my small filing cabinet. I file a lot of things away (schoolwork, church stuff, notes, drawings) and it was time to go through it and clean out some stuff that I really don't need. I found a small cassette insert and it made me smile.

A few years ago I threw out all my old cassette tapes. I don't use them anymore and they were just taking up room (I must have been in this mood then). I had a ton of cassettes, most of them were mix tapes. For those that are unfamiliar with mixtapes, basically you would either record (using blank tapes) music from another tape, record or even from the radio. Like I said, I had a ton of these mix tapes ranging from musical scores to Queen to heavy metal to well... ...just about everything. But there were about 10-12 tapes that I struggled to part with. These were tapes that I made when I was young and living in Canada.

Living in a big city like Edmonton definitely had its advantages. One of the biggest was their library system. In downtown Edmonton they had this huge library and my dad used to take my sister and I there quite a lot. But I was not interested in the books, I was interested in the music! They had a ton of records (of course this is really all they had since this was back in the 80's) but they also had those small 45 records that normally had only a single song on them. But they usually had the latest hits! My sister and I would spend hours looking for songs and we would come home with about thirty of them. Then the next day I would get up early and record them on to tape and make my own mixtapes. I loved spending all that time mixing music. It was like I was Dr. Johnny Fever! I made about ten volumes of music from borrowing those old 45's from the library and I listened to these tapes all the way until I started getting CDs. But now they are just taking up space so I made the tough decision and dumped them.

But I filed one of the tape covers in my files as a remembrance of those old glory days.

This was Volume One. Can you name some of the artists? And yeah, that is not a typo. I had a song called Sexcrime 1984. I don't know how that slipped past the parents.

About a year ago I found these cool USB Flash discs that mimic mixtapes. I need to get me one of these things. Aren't they nifty?

The Log Driver's Waltz

One of my favorite memories of living in Canada was the neat TV spots they would air on Canadian TV that was produced by the Canadian National Film Board. Basically these were TV spots that would spotlight Canadian culture and its nation. They had a bunch of them but the best one was the Log Driver's Waltz.

"The Log Driver's Waltz" is a Canadian folk song, written by Wade Hemsworth and is also a Canadian animated film from the National Film Board, released in 1979. Kate and Anna McGarrigle and the Mountain City Four, sung the song for the animated short film. The film is one of the most-requested in the entire collection of the National Film Board.

Occasionally, The Log Driver's Waltz appears on Canadian channels like CBC Television as filler between two programs, much like Heritage Minutes. That was one of the few films that I would stop and watch.




I still remember this classic like it was just yesterday. I know the words by heart and I can tell you exactly what happens in the cartoon. It was things like this that made Canada so unique.

Star Wars Kid

Day 169

Being born in 1974 means that you are automatically a Star Wars fan. My dad took me to see the movie after him and Jennifer went to see it. And I have been a fan ever since.

I grew up in the golden era of toys. I had tons of Star War toys growing up. I had a couple of favorite Star Wars toys that I played with ALL the time. One of my favorite toys was the Death Star playset. It was huge! It had three floors and the famous garbage disposal. I would love to rebuild it after crashing it down.

Another one of my favorite toys was the AT-AT. The best of this toy was that you can put your hand inside and manipulate the head. And I also had a smaller metal version of the Snow Speeder so I could reanact the Hoth battle.

For a kid that almost had every Star Wars toy I could be a little difficult to shop for. My Aunt Margo wanted to get me something special but she didn't know what Star Wars toys I had a the time so she gave me this:

And I still use them. In fact, sipping soda out of that Empire Strikes Back mug is one of my favorite past times. I never put those dishes in the dishwasher, they need to be hand washed so they are not damaged. I never drink anything hot out of it either. And no one, I mean NO ONE is allowed to drink out of that mug but me.

Ahhh... memories.

Life with Logan: Suicide is Painless

Day 38

That's quite the title isn't it? Do I have your attention now?

Quiz time! Can anyone tell me what the title of this column and the picture have to do with each other? The answer will come at the end of the column.


After Logan was born, I quit school and stayed home to take care of him while Kristy went back to work teaching school. This wasn't the way we wanted it but it was her insurance that paid for the delivery so it was something we had to do. And I am a better dad for it. Logan and I were able to spend some quality bonding time.

I would feed Logan around ten in the morning and usually he would fall asleep after eating. This happened day in day out for weeks. And then I discovered something. One of my favorite TV shows M*A*S*H* would come on around ten also and I would watch it while feeding him. Whenever the theme song came on he would stop crying or stop eating. Basically he would stop everything he was doing to listen. Once the song was over it was back to the usual. Which normally was crying because he was hungry.

This phenomenon continued when he got older. I was at home watching Logan and he was playing and I was watching the morning news. M*A*S*H* came on right after and Logan stopped what he was doing and watched the beginning. Once the opening theme was over he was back to business.

Quiz Answer: The name of the theme for M*A*S*H* is called "Suicide is Painless".

Pic of the Week: My Grandma Anhder

Day 35

My mom kept her pictures in this orange cardboard crates (the ones that Mandarin Oranges used to come in) and I loved looking through all the pictures. That old box has now been replaced by a large red bin. The box may not look and feel the same but it still contains the pictures I loved to look at as a kid. Getting this bin of pictures has been great, especially for this blog.

This is a picture of my Grandma Anhder and I when I was very little. I don't remember this at all but that is okay. I have a ton of other great memories of my Grandma. Today would be my Grandma's birthday. Even though she passed away years ago, I still have fond memories of my Grandma.



-Playing Racco and other card games.

-Eating her delicious Chicken Casserole.

-Hearing her tell her favorite joke
How can you tell a happy motorist? They have tons of bugs in their teeth.

-When her and Grandpa came to Edmonton for Christmas. I still have those two Star Wars figures she gave me.

-Visiting her with Kristy and Logan and eating from Big J's.


-Watching the Jazz play basketball and hear her complain about the refs and the other team. But she complained more about Mark Eaton and how he always brought the ball down too low.

-Making her so happy when I would compile a list of NFL players that were from Utah.

-The awesome huge quilt she made for Kristy and I for our wedding. She was always quilting.

-The Black Cap Jam and the Pickled Beets. She was so awesome for making them and sharing them with me.

Grandma was such a neat lady. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to live with her and my Grandpa. It was something that I would never trade for anything. I had the greatest Grandparents.

Pic of the Week: Baddest Living Biker

Day 28

My wrists are hurting and my fingers have been worn down to a nub. Today has been the first day of my challenge that I have not felt like writing/typing. I still have loads to say but as the saying goes "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak".

My wife Kristy is soon to be joining the madness of the 365 Challenge starting December 1st. Her idea for the blog is to post a picture a day and write something about it. Whether it is a current picture that she took that day or something from the past. I like this idea so like a good blogger, I am totally stealing it. So today I am unveiling a new Saturday column called "Pic of the Week". Basically it is the same column as hers only I am going to do it once a week.

So I had to find the perfect picture to blog about and I think I have a winner. This picture (or cover I should say) was taken way back in 1987. My mom and I were moving to the States, leaving my dad and sister behind. So I spent the weekend before we moved with my sister Jennifer. I crashed at her apartment and we hit the sights of Edmonton. We ate at the Progi House (YUM!) and hit the world's largest mall (at the time), West Edmonton Mall. Jennifer spent a ton of money on me and wanted to send me off in fashion.


Aren't we bad? It was such a perfect gift, I couldn't forget my sister after making the cover of Biker Lifestyle. We took another couple of pictures while at West Ed too. I know, I said I would post ONE pic a week but these were just too good not to pass up.

FUN FACT: Can you spot the glaring typo? Drives me nuts to see that this would be misspelled.



I had a lot of fun and I didn't think I would miss my sister all that much but I did. It was a long time before I got to see her again. Now, she lives just blocks away and I am glad I have her in my life. Thanks sis!

My Dad was a Beatle!

Day 23

Did you know that my dad was part of the Beatles? I love this photo of my dad and I am sure he will kill me for publishing it.



On my sister's blog last Saturday she blogged about some of her memories about our dad in celebration of his 38th birthday. Strange, he has been 38 years old for YEARS! And I am only a few years behind!

I didn't want to step on her toes and steal any of the thunder from her fun column. But a good idea is a good idea! So this column is dedicated to my dad!

In future columns I will share memories about hunting and fishing, bowling and recycling, the Star Wars rides, and some other fun times. This column will be what I learned from my old man. He has taught me a lot but these are the ones that stand out the most.



Hard Work. My dad taught me the importance of hard work. The guy can certainly work hard. There have been times where he has worked many jobs just so he could earn money. He takes great pride in his work. I have had two great opportunities to work with my dad. He helped me get my job at Dutro and it was fun to work with him there. I worked in the evenings but I still got to see him for a couple of hours in the afternoon when I got to work. What impressed me was when I would ask people around what they thought of Paul (not knowing that I was his son) and every time, his co-workers said the same thing. Very nice and hard working. Dad had the respect of all those that worked for him. It doesn't matter how fast you are, it matters that it is done correct. I also work with him now and I cannot express how thankful I am for this time I get to share with my dad.



Showing Affection. My dad was never embarrassed to show affection, no matter how old I am. Funny story, Kristy and I dropped in on Dad at Dutro to tell him that we were engaged. I warned Kristy that he would hug her and she kinda laughed it off. Sure enough, in the middle of everyone, he hugged and kissed us both! My son will never have to wonder if I love him, just as I felt (and still do) as a child.

Details! Details! Details! I used to love watching (and scaring) my dad while he worked as a Landscape Architect in the basement. He was so precise and careful. My dad pays attention to the details in everything he does. Some say he might over analyze things but at least he pays attention to the small stuff. I remember when he helped me with a school science project about Mars. Unfortunately, I informed the family of it the night before (Ugh... ...Killarney again) but my parents helped me get it all finished. I was satisfied with what I had but my dad was not. We worked way past midnight and finally got it done. And I scored an almost perfect score, all because of the my dad. He gets the details and has taught me that the details are important.

Like I said before, my dad has taught me a lot. One of them, surprisingly is music. Why is that surprising? Because Jennifer and I used to make fun of ALL the music my dad would listen too. From Hugo Montenegro to the Shirelle's to the Bellamy Brothers to the Four Tops to Trini Lopez and to some classical music. And guess what? I have them all on my iPod. I have learned to appreciate all types of music and I find that my tastes in music have been heavily influenced by my dad. I am lucky to work with him at nights, we have very similar tastes in music and it is fun to listen to the ol' classics.



I could go on and on but I don't want to embarrass the guy. So I won't bring up the Cranberry pie or Lentil Soup. Or that time when the bat scared you. Or that other time I put a firecracker on the bathroom door. Or your strange dreams about snakes. I would say more but I still have over 300 more columns to do, I need to save some of those!

Thanks Dad! I appreciate all you do for me and the stuff you have taught me.

Love ya!