Fourth Race Around The Track

My youngest turned four today. 

I'm not sure how that happened so fast. All at once, it seems so recent that I was showing Ada her new baby brother lying in the crib in the hospital room, and that it was months and months ago that Connor was learning to use the potty. 

Connor has been an absolute light in our lives for four whole years. 

Of course, some mornings, the light needs to be turned down for an extra hour or three. Like this morning, Connor was up and out on the couch at 5am... Let me say that again. The little monster was awake at FIVE AY EMM!! Sitting on the couch, playing Switch... Claire found him when she gave up trying to stay in bed with the pains in her shoulder. 

I cooked pancakes and crispy bacon for his birthday breakfast, but made the critical error of not having it done before he unwrapped his birthday present. His visiting grandparents got him a set of Hot Wheels race cars, and Claire and I got him a Hot Wheels track set. Once he laid eyes on that, nothing else existed in the entire universe. 

The track set we got him has a launcher system and ramps and my entire morning and early afternoon was to the tune of *slap, shunk shunk, slap, shunk shunk, slap, shunk shunk, "Yay! I did it!" slap, shunk shunk, slap, shunk shunk, slap, shunk shunk...* Mistakes were made. I needed painkillers by noon. 

We picked up big sis at 3pm and went to a nearby activity center for some fun and play, and then went out for dinner together. The visiting grandparents joined us for all this too. Cake was just before bedtime, which could have been another mistake, but exhaustion soon over and the birthday boy was asleep as soon as his tired little head hit the pillow. 

It's hard to imagine that I'm signing Connor up for school this year. Next September, my youngest will be starting kindergarten. What am I going to do then? 

So much freedom...

Secrets Revealed

For weeks everyone knew. But no-one told me. No-one let it slip, or even drop a vague hint that suggested what the big secret might have been. After, everyone asked if I knew, if I even could have guessed. I really didn't. I knew it must have been amazing if everyone was so paranoid about spoiling it for me. Plus, I had been told that the "wrath of Claire" would be great on he who so much as hinted towards what it might be.

When the day finally rolled around, I was impressed to see how many people turned up. Were they here for me, or to finally see whatever this thing was? Probably a bit of both, but more of the latter! Honestly, I was distracted by babies for the afternoon to care. My day was already looking terrific before most people had even turned up!

Claire arrived home and bundled something into the spare room, causing everyone to head in that direction one by one. They all returned to the room smiling broadly, telling me I was going to "freak" when I saw it.

At some arbitrary time of her choosing, when the majority of people were in attendance, Claire made me face away from the door and brought in my birthday present. The following is a video account of my speechless reaction.


Special thanks to Quinn for recording that moment.

I was truly awed. Never in a million tries would I have guessed this. Ok, maybe a million. After exhausting "A comic-book Spider-Man costume" and "a six pack of Vanilla Coke", I might have stumbled onto this as a possibility. But I certainly didn't think of it before my birthday. In the past, Claire had talked about upgrading my digital camera, but I had that guess shot down when one person who knew the details told me she had to look up what the gift was because she hadn't a clue if it was cool or not. While she may not be the most technologically minded of people, I was pretty confident that she knew what a digital camera was.

But this?!? This was amazing! The Master Replicas Rocketeer Helmet, licenced by Disney and limited to 2000 pieces. I have number 243. It is better than anything I could have imagined, though a six pack of Vanilla Coke does come a close second.

So many people chipped in to get me this. I don't even know who exactly, but if you're reading this, then "Thank You!" You made my 30th birthday a very memorable one. I have no idea how I'm going to get the thing to Canada, but it sure ain't staying here stored away in some wardrobe!

Finally, if anyone has photos from the evening, I'd really like to post them on my Flickr account to share them with everyone. I'd really appreciate if you emailed them to me, or gave me them next time we meet. Thanks. You guys are the best!

One Awesome Day

Thanks to a lot of amazing friends, I had an unforgettable birthday. How awesome was it? It started at 5pm Friday evening when the first guests arrived and ended just minutes ago, at 3am Saturday morning.

Longer post to follow. For now, bed.

Three Hundred And Thirty

Happy anniversary to me!! No. Not "Denis me"; "One Terrific Day me"! My blog turns 300 with this post.

Three hundred posts. Wow. I never thought I'd do it. And in a fraction over four years as well. Not bad. It's nice to think I stuck with this thing, and continue to do so.  I've had a good time, and had a lot of readers. My Google Analytics stats tell me that there are loads of people all over the world stumbling into my little piece of the world wide web. Here are some interesting facts from Google about my blog:

• I average around 20 page visits per day, peaking in the last 30 days with 31 views in a single day.
• As I write this, there have been 699 page views, which suggests that the first person to read this on the site could be the 700th viewer! Congratulations, whoever you may be.
• The vast majority of visitors are from the United States, at 180 visits. Ireland comes second, at 62, almost a third of the US! Inexplicably, India, Brazil and Germany are in my top ten! Hi there countries I've never been to or written about!
• For the longest time my post titled "I Miss World Of Warcraft" was at the top of the pageviews leader board, but my recent review of Splinter Cell: Convictions co-op story mode has blasted to the top and seems to be gaining speed. The single player review is also ahead of WoW already. I should do more game reviews. Apparently, they make good reading.
• Google sends me almost 50% of my total traffic. Thanks Google. Thoogle.

Interesting and true!

This all happens at an oddly appropriate time as well. Next Friday, just six days after One Terrific Day turned 300, its writer turns 30. I am living my last week in my 20's. Am I worried? No. I don't feel 30. I certainly don't act 30. The friends I have are the best I've ever had. I love my job. I am married to the most extraordinary person on the planet, and the only one that will have me. I am healthy, happy and hungry... oh. I should probably get some food.

Before I go, there will be fun and games at my place next Friday, the 28th. Of this I am aware. As the 28th is the actual date of my arrival to this pitiful planet, it will probably involve cake and lots of Rock Band. Everyone is invited. Everyone. Bring friends. I don't care if I don't know them. If they can 100% the guitar solo in The Final Countdown on Expert, then they're welcome. It should be a blast.

What I am not aware of is what will be happening on Saturday, the 29th. There will be something. Claire has been organizing it. You will have to contact her or any of the people she has informed for further details. Do not ask me. All I know is that a small amount of driving will be involved, though there should be lots of room for car-pooling.

See you all soon!

Terribly Terrific Twos

Today celebrates the second birthday of this humble web log. Not only that, but entirely coincidentally, this very post happens to be my 200th!!

Two hundred posts in two years! That's a lot of writing! Of course, 200 also means I slowed down significantly over the past twelve months. On my first birthday, I was at around 120 posts, adding only 80 more since then. But while quantity has dropped, I feel that quality has increased! I have a touch of continuity in my posts, with nutshell reviews, RPG run-downs and hilarious life stories! Hahah! Funny stuff... It's also my second anniversary on Flickr! Sweet!

One of the really nice things about having a blog for two years is looking back on older posts. I've forgotten so many good times that I've posted about here, but re-reading them reminds me of some special moments with friends. I was almost abducted by aliens (they took Bob instead. Blast), I confessed my love for murder mysteries, I complained about not having enough hours in the day (a lot!), I've gone on a rant or two, I've talked about being with friends, and missing them, I've made mistakes, I've broken promises, I've shared victories, and failures, but most of all, regardless of what it's about, I've just been writing. And I'm grateful now that I have. Through all of these, I have many fond memories to look back on.

Here's to another fine year of posting ahead, and many more besides!

Another Year Older And Deeper In Friends

Woo! Look at me! Still alive, still kicking it! Still buying toys, still reading comics, still writing this blog, still taking photos, still in college... crap. Well it was good while it lasted.

Last year I was kinda depressed as the clock ticked over midnight into my birthday, and this year, I was feeling similar. Don't know why. But I'm guessing it was to do with a lack of food or something. Anyway, I'm feeling great now as the day draws to a close!

I had another exam today. Child Health and Paediatrics. Went well, I felt. Over all, very happy with it. On the way there in the morning I took some really nice photos. It was a very bright morning. Then I got home with a chocolate cake and took the photo you see above, which was fun to do, and a bit different. On checking Flickr, I found my good friends that I've made there had posted lots of cool birthday photos for me, involving all sorts of toys! How cool is that?

So what's another year? Last year, I was really just getting into this. Over the past 265 days I have met a tonne of new people across the Internet that I will be forever proud to call friends. I still have the best friends in the world in real life, I'm still with the only person I want to spend my life with (no, not Spider-Man... Claire! Sheesh!), I've started some interesting projects and I'm almost finally done in UCC, even if I have some more time to spend in college. But at least I can get a job for a while and have money again!

Bouncing Blogger Baby

On this date one year ago I started "One Terrific Day". To be honest, I'm not the best at keeping things going, I tend to start a lot of things, and I'm lucky if I see two of them through to completion. I'm just happy that this time this was one of the two.

I've enjoyed the past year, and having this blog is a great way to look back at fond memories that are already starting to cloud in my mind. I'd have to say, out of over 120 posts at least 118 of them were upbeat and positive, something I had as a goal from the very start. Things like Bebo and MySpace are full of depressed posters complaining about sucky lives, blissfully ignorant to the fact that simply having enough money to afford access to the Internet as well as all that black clothes and make-up puts them above 80% of the people on the planet already! I wanted something different. Something people could come to and enjoy, either through reading my often crazy antics, random ramblings, or whatever I've chosen to review this time.

Mostly I admit the last year of blogging has been pretty meaningless to anyone apart from myself. Even more of them are uninteresting unless you're one of the people involved in the story. But I guess that's alright! I'm not trying to have a readership in the thousands. I started this thing as a place for me to put my own thoughts down. That said, I love the fact that there are a few people who read this that I've never met! It does feel kinda cool being able to reach anyone with similar interests!

So that's it. A year of blogging behind me, and 120 posts and counting. Here's to many more!

And to everyone that's been reading, I hope you've found something worth seeing every now and then. Thanks.