The Dark Side

Small creatures coming at me from every direction. Actually, more little additions to ever increasing ocean of Milton. At this rate, they'll have to build a whole new school in this town. Also sadly, missed two 3AM deliveries this week.

Best delivery yet, mother was involved in motor vehicle accident on the highway...arrives unharmed relatively in the morning...goes into labour on arrival and has baby girl by the late afternoon...best of all, father's beer breath nearly knocks out the nurse and myself.

Watched the new star wars flick. Best of the new films but this isn't saying much. Nice blending of technology...proto-type X-wing flyers, appearance of the Death Star. The birth of Darth Vader as a Frankenstein creature was particularly noteworthy as was the climatic battle with Obi-Wan. The down side...the worse birth scene in cinematic history. One moment they announce that Padme needs an operation and next you see her pushing out the twins. Also lost opportunity for Lucas to explain the significance of the names Leia and Luke. Worse of all, the transition from troubled and tormented youth to cold blooded lethal killing machine is quite abrupt. Anakin goes from trying to apprehend Palpatine/Darth Sidous to killing younglings (toddler Jedi) in about zero to 60 seconds. Well at least there was some Yoda philosophy: "fear of losing those you love is the path of the dark side." No fear in losing the memory of this film.

Very funny political caricature in the local paper. Stronach's defection to the Liberal party is portrayed as a defect of Princess Leia (Stronach) defection to Darth Vader(Martin). Luke (aka Harper) has a light saber in his back. Not sure why the vilification of Stronach is so strong...suspect that this may be because she is woman in Canadian politics.

Born to mow

With the return of spring, there have come new responsibilities with the new home...Yard or lawn work. Now, having grown up entirely in apartment buildings and condos, this is a new concept. Must like the previous winter experience of shovelling the snow.

The mower works much like a little car...engine, engine oil, gas, spark plug and ah yes, the blades. Nevertheless after spending countless nights discussing with neighbours, friends and co-workers, the pros and cons of self-propelled versus push mowers, key start versus pull start, rear wheel versus front wheel (yes indeed this was key point in the decision), mulching versus bagging, emissions testing standards of the various brands and finally, the maintenance package. Well today, the new mower was charged up, gassed up and fired up....Worked like a charm. Now have discovered new calling in life after medicine...Lawn mowing. Actually the procedure is reminiscent of other surgical procedures I perform but that is a another log entry.

For now, the sweet smell of fresh cut grass gently passes through the house as the evening sun sets whilst I enjoy a little margarita on the deck. Ah, the simple pleasures of spring.