We do! We do! We do!

Hello friends. It's almost the holiday season! Well, if you ask me, it's been here for a while. I started listening to Christmas music a couple weeks ago. In the last two years, there have been some great holiday tunes put out there.
This year, it's my favourite songstress, Rosie Thomas. This album (available only online at this point, as far as I know) is spectacular. The track, 'Why Can't It Be Christmastime All Year?', is probably my favourite fun song. Her re-arrangements of 'Silent Night' and 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel' are incredibly moving and display her skills well. The other one I like an awful lot is 'Christmas Don't Be Late', which you will know as a classic silly Chipmunks song. With Rosie, it's a ballad that grows and grows into a choral of hope. You can hear the whole album for free online here! My family is heading to Pontiac, Michigan to see her on her Christmas tour on December 6th. My sister is a big fan and has never seen her so it'll be fan-holiday-tastic!

Happy birthday last week to my boy, Bill Power!

A couple weekends ago, Melanie and I went to Amherst, New York (just outside of Buffalo) for our fourth anniversary/Christmas shopping. A good time was had by both. Not too much shopping was done, though much time was spent in the mall. I thought we had more to buy but, evidently, we didn't. That worked out well since the Canadian dollar has not been doing too well. I think we have everything purchased that we need now. Woo hoo! Simplifying is fun. We decided we would spend $50 for each person and also gave some of that $50 to charity in some cases. We are also not buying presents for each other. We buy stuff all year long when we want/need it so it feels weird to get 'Season 3' of My Name Is Earl on DVD wrapped up when I would have bought it if it were June. Besides, there is that whole 'poverty' thing in the world that I keep hearing about... Join in the Advent Conspiracy!

Talk about hyperbole...

"These men here, these brave superheroes, they've raised money for Children's Hospital and it's going to help us build a brand new hospital," said Joanne Newman, the philanthropic officer at BC Children's Hospital.

This was the most incredible, fantastic effort ever made to assist other people. Never in the history of humankind have two people went to such amazing and risky lengths. I'm being entirely sarcastic. I found this article on Relevant, which used the phrase 'black market' to describe the chocolate bars and was laughable. That quote ruins any reasonable credibility this woman ever had at anything, if you ask me.

I had the privilege of hanging out with Matt Traxler on the weekend. He was kicking it in Toronto for a couple days, Melanie had to work and I had fossil fuel in the tank to burn. Matt and I exchanged e-mails way back but had never had a face-to-face. People are so much better in real life, that's what I've found. We wandered the streets of Toronto, visited Andy at Pick Your Poison, picked up some cheap CDs at Criminal Records, visited the Eaton Centre and chowed down on delicious vegetarian cuisine at Fresh (the one on Spadina, though). When I went home to see my wife, Matt experienced the wonderful Toronto night life. Hot nuts! Thanks for hanging out, yo! Happy birthday last week too!

My friend, Rick, is putting on a benefit concert next Thursday for Shifra Homes. He plays with Darin Martin, who we had dinner with on Monday. D-Mart's wife, Sarah, joined us at the future home of Darren & Nicole Salmond. Nicole reminds me that she's not married yet. Like it matters. Anyhow, this is the second year Rick has done this fundraiser. Shifra Homes provides a much-needed service. Go support them. Bart Wang gives his blessing.

It's snowing outside. I have an appointment for work in a half hour. I'm working at home and took time to fill you in on some shizzle in my life. I can't wait to talk to you soon.