No Man....I'mmm Daaaaaave

Ah yes, a throwback to the old Cheech and Chong skit. Well at one point on Friday there were 6 of us yelling in the classic voices, "no man!....I'M DAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaave".

It kind of tells of the whole night. This is just the teaser. The 'rest of the story' to follow.

Dave

joan gets all the fun

I wasn't able to make it last week as something came up that needed to be attended to. I missed another teen night. they are probably thinking I am avoiding them!
don't know what they did...but it was probably fun!
i was planning on reading to them...something like moby dick....

still here!

I have not disappeared. I am still here.
As Joan pointed out how busy she was with exams...I am busy with the school year ending as well!
Back to the house on Friday and hopefully Joan and I can get back into the swing of things.

On the 12th my school came down to do a little gardening for their annual 'Mitzvah Day' (day of doing good things in Hebrew).

Last year I was keen on getting a Canuck Place entry into the Red Bull Cart Race, but failed in my attempt. This year I have my entry all planned out. I need to build a replica of the house and put it on wheels that can steer down a windy course.

That is as far as my idea has got.

Hello to runner dude! thanks for following us. we usually do have more stuff. Summer's second wind is on its way.

Malcolm

A few week's worth of blogging...

Hello everyone,

so tonight I am going to be blogging about last week (May 1 + 2) and this week (May 8), because I have been a wuss and have neglected to blog for a while...I'm blaming it on my final exams and the beginning of summer school. :P

Friday May 1: TEEN BOYS MOVIE NIGHT!!!
Man it was awesome. Alan, Mitch, Jeffrey, Dante, Josh were all super excited when Steve and I arrived. So we quickly had some delicious dinner and had to get going fast because we had to make the 6:30 showing of WOLVERINE at richmond SILVERCITY! (Too bad you were sick Malcolm!!) Transport was directed by Will, who served as our bus driver, and with all the boys buckled into place, we set off. We arrived well ahead of time and got great seats in the theatre. Dante took the longest getting settled because he went and bought some popcorn and pop with Steve first. The movie was soo good! I hadn't watched any of the other X-men movies before...so I guess it was a good place to start because it talked about the beginning of Wolverine. I must watch the other ones! The boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves, so much that on the bus back to CP they were noticeably more hyper than before and made funny noises and talked about really silly things (mostly Alan and Mitch, ahha)

Saturday May 2: TEEN BOYS EDUCATIONAL MINGLE!
So on Friday May 1 a very worried Leanne came to me and asked me to attend the mingle that the teen boys were organizing on Saturday. Leanne was so worried because she had no idea if anybody RSVPed to come, and she couldn't check because the list was on Sara's account and Sara was on sick leave! So I did go, and it was amazing! All 5 teen boys presented something special to us; Jeffrey addressed the issue of age appropriate activities, Josh lead a song guessing game, Dante presented a list of all fun walkable places around Canuck Place, Mitch showed us how to work his camera, wheelchair, and the bus-wheelchair hook, and Alan taught us how to go onto the internet on the PS3. It was really interesting learning about the things that each boy valued, and many things that they talked about will really help us volunteers in improving ourselves to be better volunteers. Jeffrey and Dante even printed handouts for us! It was so great.

Friday May 8: Quiet Night
Last night was a pretty calm night. I went a bit early and found Allon and Mike(PCA) with Kenneth in the school room. Then I found two little girls in Grandma's Attic playing Barbie! I got really excited and asked if I could join them - I hadn't played with Barbies in ages! So these two little girls are siblings of a baby patient, and their names are Cassy(8yrs) and Ava(5yrs). Then we went downstairs for dinner, where we saw Tony, Jen, and nurses, parents, and more kids : Corrine and Madeleine. After dinner Cassy, Ava, and I went back upstairs to play with more Barbie while Jen hung out with Corrine on the computer. Later, Cassy, Ava, and I went outside for a bit and bumped into their Dad and older brother, Evan. Us girls played a bit of house, swung on the swings, spun on the red-blue-merry-go-round, and even biked around the house a few times! Ava still needed training wheels, but when I asked Cassy if she needed them, she replied very matter-of-factedly "I'm waaayy past that stage!" Afterwards the girls had to go in for a bath and they said thank you to me (so sweet!) and I went to look for Jen. It turns out that Corrine was tired and already went to bed, so we went upstairs to relieve Tony of Kenneth so that he could go home to sleep (work at 5am!!)Kenneth was content just to play with a few video games, and around 8:15 it was time for him to go shower. With no more kids in need of entertainment, Jen and I were free to go home. =)

Quiet rockband night. oxymoron?

Hello everyone,

so last shift (April 10) it was Jen, Martin, and I who were the volunteers (Tony called Martin in because he was spending time with his family.) The green light was turned on. We went in and saw this HUGE feast laid out in front of us, especially prepared by the kitchen, because the hospice was expecting lots of people that night. Unfortunately, only half the expected people showed up in time for dinner, so there was lots of left over. There was even an easter bunny chocolate cake and tiramisu! I couldn't resist but have a bit of cake.

Kids in the house who we got to see - Kameron, Shawn, Christina, and little Gordon.
Christina's hair is getting so long now! That night she had it in a very looong pretty braid. And her nails are never without colour - she had pink nail polish on. =D

Little Gordon is so cute; he has a pacifier that hangs down from his bib with lots of wooden beads on it. If the pacifier drops out of his mouth, he will start to nibble on his own fingers instead!

So anyways, the main highlight of the night was rockband! (Malcolm you missed out. :P)It was Shawn on bass, and me or Jen on the guitar, voice, or drums (yes drums! they got new ones!)Even Martin joined in on the guitar and drums a few times. All throughout it, little Gordon was moving back and forth in his chair to the beat of the music with his hands sticking up in the air. Kameron was content with just listening to his iPod at a volume that I was a bit worried about. While it was still bright, we also took the boys for a little stroll around the hospice.

So you might be wondering why I haven't talked about who Kameron and Shawn are, but it's because I'm saving it until now. Throughout the night, us volunteers chatted with them in between songs, and we discovered that both boys are 18 years old. To Jen and Martin, this might not mean so much ;), but to me, it was quite something. One thing is that, them being 18, they are nearing the end of their visits to Canuck Place. The biggest thing is that they are the same age as me. Throughout the night, I couldn't help but imagine what they would be like if they don't have their illnesses and disabilities, and I also came to really admire the way they acted. Especially Shawn, he is so much more mature than most 18 year-old boys that I know. And Kameron, bless his heart, never gets tired of repeating his words until we understand and perseveres to control his own power chair even while he has some difficulty. Hanging out with these two boys was a reality check for me to be grateful for what I have and not take things for granted.

And the night ended quietly, with the boys staying downstairs with the nurses to keep the 2nd floor quiet for the very sick baby and his family.
The green light was turned off by the time us volunteers left for home.

They call me Santos...,

or Saul, or Jeffrey, or Dante. In fact we need to call him Santos Santorini de la Escabara.
Let me hearken to a previous post: "Santos broke it".

Saul, Dante, Jeffrey, and Mitch were in for a Boys Night Out weekend and we were discussing the blog and the names Joan and I create. Santos, formerly known as Steve (who broke it) made it known he wanted a new name....but I think I forgot the one he suggested....!

The boys were in for dinner and then out the door to go to a movie--Fasterer and More Furiouser--or something like that with Santos, formerly known as Steve. It was nice to visit with Jeffrey after dinner. I haven't seen him for a while.
After the boys left Joan and I remained with the little ones--Little Normie, Liander, and a later intake Enid.

When I got to the house little Normie was walking to dinner...yes...walking (he is usually in a chair) and he walked right into my arms for a big hug. Mum is always behind him lugging his O2 AND tube feeder tanks. Normie is a demanding little boy...not in a bad way...just a demanding way. He doesn't like to be away from his Mum and really gets upset when he can't have her right near by. Mum had a bit of a day off today and spent the day at a temple for prayers (and super good food).
Joan and I spent most of our night with Normie. First, as always, we did a little rock band without the drums (because Santos Broke them). Normie did a little guitar, then a litttle singing, then he got Joan and I to perform for him!
Baby Liander's Dad was down a few times playing Guitar Hero. Liander's mum and dad are in for a first intake and are learning a lot about their littlest boy (they also have a 2 year old) and what they need to do to look after him.
Normie had to be weighed at some point during the night and his nurse wheels in this skookum electronic scale. It had a platform big enough to take a wheel chair! In this corner Little Stormin' Norman weighs in at 11.3kg, and in the other corner...the big guy came in a 93kg. We all were weighed (Mum and Joan) but privacy issues forbid me from telling everything.

After weigh in we played a little ball, had all our meds taken care of and then it was time for bed.
Another good night!

Chrystal $50 Fishman $740

somebody...help me out here....

Chrystal : $50 Fishman: $640

Canuck Place: $690

I am astounded! I haven't even started fundraising for this event and our total is at $690 thanks to Justin's contacts. This rocks.
Thank you to my colleagues, my students parents, and friends who have already donated or in the process of donating!

Justin helps even more

Justin asked me if he could help me raise money the other day. " Of course!" says I.
We are in a study block and he sends me this email. It is rather difficult not tear up while I am reading this:

Hi everybody,

My teacher, Malcolm Chrystal, has been volunteering at Canuck Place for almost five years. He works there as a family volunteer, his job entailing spending time with the children and making their stay enjoyable.

For those of you who don't know, Canuck Place is a children's hospice. It basically is a form of palliative care for young children…yet it is so much more than that. When I was five years old, my late sister Tamryn was in the program at Canuck Place, having been diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease. The hospice did everything they could to make her comfortable…and more. I remember the grief therapy groups my parents attended at Canuck Place, who understood the importance of helping the families as well. There were even groups for siblings, where we would learn how to handle the grief and also try to keep us happy during very sad times.

This year, Mr. Chrystal is participating in Canuck Place's Adventure Challenge, covering a distance of 46 kilometres by kayak, bike, and foot. He is collecting pledges for the challenge, with a goal of $2000 in mind. All the money goes directly to Canuck Place, as good a cause as any. Please support Malcolm by following these links and donating. Then, pass the email along to friends and family.

Malcolm's blog:
http://canuckplaceadventurechallenge.blogspot.com/

Pledge for Malcolm:
https://payment.csfm.com/events/canuck_place/event_pledge/index.php?action=inputinfo&participant_id=161030891177650194

Canuck Place Adventure Challenge Site:
http://www.adventurechallenge.ca/

Canuck Place Children's Hospice:
http://www.canuckplace.org/

Thank you Justin.

Justin is in AGAIN!

One of my students, Justin, has put his two-bits in again this year. Ok...make that 960-bits.
Justin has a vested interest in Canuck Place as his family was a part of the house several years ago with his little sister Tamryn.

Thank you Justin.

Another night!

It is quite amazing how you can be associated with a place for four years and yet spend so little time there! I checked my hours of service tonight and found that I have logged about 300 hrs. That doesn't seem like much! Some people work 300 hrs in 3 weeks! My point is that you can volunteer with an organisation without breaking the 'personal time' bank account.

If it is time for you...then do something. It won't break the bank.

There were a ton of people in the house tonight! One of my students who has become a peer volunteer was on her first shift at the house. Great...she must be thinking...Chrystal again?

We had young ones, elementary aged kids, and teenagers in the house tonight. A pretty broad spectrum. Little Nelson is still hanging at the house with Mum. As there were a lot of kids, Mum decided to spirit him away and kept things quiet for him.
Steve (who broke the drumset) went upstairs with Keith, Aviva went upstairs to the Kids floor with Suzie and her friend Asha, and Joan and I hung out in the Sun Room with Jason, Ivan, and later Martin and Keith.

Everybody kept moving around and it was all as smooth as could be!

As I write this I am thinking "what a boring night". Nobody (Steve) broke anything, nobody (Malcolm) made anyone mad by being really annoying, and nobody was overly upset about anything. It was just kind of a chill night.

I think that is the way things are supposed to be!

Friday March 13

OoooOoo, Friday the 13th...how queer. Even queerer is that there was also a Friday the 13th in February...oh the queer things in this world.

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day at the hospice. As I walked in I was greeted by Karen the receptionist and one of the nurses holding a very cute baby Hannah. I peered into the kitchen and there I saw Jen, Tony, some nurses and a family. So Jen and Tony finally meet! For three months they have missed each other - either Jen was sick, or Tony was sick, but finally yesterday they were both not sick. yay!
As I said before, the house was pretty quiet - a lot of kids left earlier today, like Kenneth, who was at CP last Friday too! Too bad I missed him.
A family I had met before were there too, and I saw the mom and the sister, Stella, at the dinner table. Stella is 9-years-old and she was very eager for us to finish eating our dinner!
After we finished off the delicious meal, Stella led us up to the Art room via the elevator, which she insisted was our taxi and she was our driver, and we started playing School. We had a "field trip" down to the Volcano room, where we had a competition in building castles. I won (according to Stella) the "fastest" award, and Jen won the "most effort" award. haha!
Then we went back upstairs, and while Stella ran to her room to get some candy, I sneaked out of the schoolroom to go downstairs to meet someone I have been hoping to see for awhile - Normie! As I went into his room, grandma and aunts were also there, entertaining him with a stuffed monkey that plays a guitar. I was a little worried when I saw how tired Normie looked, and his mom said that all he wants to do is stay in bed and sleep. Too bad the rockband drums are broken now and can't help lift his spirits.
I returned upstairs to find Jen, Tony, Stella and her mom all in the art room. Stella suggested that we play a game with play-do : one person sculpts something and the other people have to guess what it is. Whoever guesses it correctly gets to make the next thing! Stella went first with a bouncy ball, then her mom with a duck, then me with a pod of peas, then Stella again with a stamp, then Jen with a canoe, and finally Tony with a pepperoni and onion pizza!
The final event of the night was..dun dun dun duuunnnn...rock band!!! Tony had to take off early, so it was just Jen, Stella, and I rockin' it out. It was pretty fun, and I got to sing a few songs too. teehee
When it was time for us to go, Stella didn't want us to leave, but her mom bribed here away with a promise for movie and popcorn. =D

Friday March 6, 2009

Greetings, readers of this blog!

Last Friday was pretty exciting, but it would have been way better if Malcolm were there! Hope you feel better soon!
Anyways, so I walked into Canuck Place and I see some of the volunteers from the previous shift helping out with dinner in the vestibule, and I spy some little kids: one with short, blonde hair, and another with longer brownish hair, a bit taller. Before I had a chance to recognize them, I am greeted by "Bomb-it Girl!! You're here!!" Low and behold, here are little Lucas and sister Gloria! So apparently after I introduced him to bomb-it, a super cool game, he's never stopped talking about it or playing it. Even his parents know I'm the "Bomb-it Girl"! I thought that was pretty cool, and I was really touched that I had made an impression on the little boy. XD
So anyways, we had take-out pizza for dinner that night because the kitchen was under some construction and cooks could not perform their magic. Regardless, pizza was good, and through out my whole meal, Lucas kept coming over and pestering me to finish eating fast so we could play Bomb-it. Then Gloria kept stealing my name tag to make funny noises with the magnet.
I forgot to mention, in my awesome rant about Lucas and Gloria that Jeffrey was also here today! He was really let down when he found out that neither Malcolm nor Tony would be there that night. I would have to do.
A new kid, Kenneth was also there on Friday. Maybe not new kid, but it was the first time I'd seen him. He was very friendly and very talkative.
Steve came in later on, and the first thing Lucas yelled out when Steve was in sight was "He's the guy who broke the drums!" Then Lucas kept on chanting and chanting until he got distracted by Jen, the receptionist that night, who was feeding the fat fish.
So the rest of the night, I played some Risk with Jeffrey, with Gloria tagging along a bit. Lucas kept playing some funny penguin game on the computer.
Then Jeffrey and I played some Texas Hold'em! I kept on winning because Jeffrey kept bluffing for no reason. Afterwards, Jeffrey showed me this cool card game that he designed called "the Stanley Cup" which is basically what the name says. We shuffled the cards, then dealt out two sets of 5 cards facing each other. Then we flipped opposite card pairs; whichever side had the higher card won that game. We flipped all the other cards and the side winning at least 3 games won the set and moved on to take on the next team! It was pretty cool.
After I wrestled with Lucas a bit and picked him up, I brought him and Gloria back to their room where Mum and Dad were waiting.
Then, Jeffrey, Steve and I tried to make some sense out of an origami book...but had no success.
So anyways, that is it! Stay tuned for this week's shift post...

Twas a Quiet Night

First off, some of the kids I'm talking about in this post have been previously mentioned by Malcolm, except do not recall what names Malcolm assigned them, so I guess I will make up my own. =D

So today I got to Canuck Place a bit late because of my Chemistry lab at UBC, and as I walked through the door, I just couldn't wait to see who was in the house today. The other volunteer there tonight was Martin, who turned out to be subbing for both Tony and Lindsay. At first I thought Tony was just being a wuss again, but he was actually unable to come because his daughter, FINALLY, voluntarily asked to go to a hockey game with him! How wonderful - that is a valid excuse. Lindsay, who was supposed to sub for Jen, couldn't make it because she is sick. Get well soon!

Kids and siblings in the house that I saw: Robin, Janine, Peter, Kay, Sofee...

Teenagers Robin and Janine, who are siblings a few years apart, soon left after dinner to watch a hockey game (i'm guessing the Canucks?) So I went into the sun room and played some Rockband with Peter, who is their younger brother. I have become quite proficient in playing Medium Guitar for Blitzkrieg Bop, Say it Ain't So, Creep, Learning to Fly...Martin watched for awhile but finally gave into playing a few songs on the guitar.

Then Kay, who was listening to us on rockband kind of fell asleep, so I ran upstairs to get his nurse and he was taken upstairs to get ready for bed. I went upstairs as well, and hung out with Kay a bit longer before bedtime, and I read a few Dr. Seuss books to him - Horton Hears a Who, Mr. Brown can go moo moo, Green Eggs and Ham, ABC something...He really liked the Mr. Brown book when I made all the animal and miscellaneous sounds from it. Then Kay started making funny noises,and I had a funny noise competition with him. It is so wonderful to see him smile.

Then Margaret, one of the nurses, said that Martin and I could leave early tonight since it was pretty quiet around the house. We left at around 8:30, and Martin kindly gave me a ride home.

So yeah! That's what happened tonight. Fun and quite relaxing, to say the least. =)

todays bike ride

All i can say about the bike ride to work is FTS

steve broke it

it wasn't me. steve did it. i think it was foreshadowed at dinner when steve said: " i have been waiting all day for this..." steve was, of course, making reference to Rockband.

i got in first. Little Normie was back in the house. Normie greets us in classic rocker fashion by sticking out his tongue and raising his right arm. Steve and I taught it to him. After dinner we played a little air hockey but his eyes quickly rested on the X-box. He was heading home soon so we played for about 5 minutes. He is such a happy little boy!

The 'incident' occurred much later.

I wasn't there when it took place but I know that Steve was drumming and Lucas was singing. Before Jackie and I went upstairs the four of us were doing our darnedest to nail Weezer's song 'Say it ain't so'. Jackie and I were on guitar. He strummed and I did the fingers, Lucas sang, and Steve drummed. First we got 25%, than 27%...32%. We hit a magic 49%. Even though Lucas was the singer Steve and I both enjoy singing more so we were all singing at the top of our voices and when the program ended the song...it was all about the high fives. We were yelling and cheering and than we did it again. We did it about 7 or 8 times! Classic boy behaviour.

Jackie wanted to go upstairs. His gum was hurting him. We got upstairs and hung out on the kids floor. One of the doc's was around and he peeked in his mouth. There was not much to be seen. I think he had maybe a little sore on his gum and those really hurt. They sting. This was stinging him and he was getting really frustrated. Jackie kept saying how frustrated he was and all the things he wanted to do to this cut on his gum. He was not happy.
Then it got worse! He had to take meds before bed. He had to have a little snack. He had to have his glucose levels checked and he had to do his insulin shots. A lot to do when you are feeling frustrated about a sore gum and 50% of what you had to do involved passing stuff into your mouth and over the thing that is causing you frustration! We were at an impasse. He had to do these things but was so agitated that he could not wrap his head around getting them done.

His nurse sent us away to problem solve.

It took a while but Jackie came up with a solution: he would take his meds crushed up in chocolate milk and inject with a syrynge PAST his owie gums. When it came time...he bailed.
Back to the drawing board. We talked alot; about his gum, about how frustrated he felt, how good he was at always taking his meds, how the nurses couldn't put him to bed without giving him his meds, how bad it would be for his body if he didn't take them, back to how good he was at taking his own meds. Then he had a light go off: "what about this? If I take my meds can I show you how I do my insulin shots?". Sounded like a good plan to me. Back up to the nurses station and we get the choclate milk, a cup of yogurt, his crushed meds and mix the meds with the yogurt. Big spoonful followed by a chaser of choclate milk. More yogurt/med combo and another chaser. Finally we got it all in and down.

Next on the agenda were his insulin shots. He handled his injections like a pro going over each step telling me what he was doing and how he was being safe. He had 2 injections to do. I could tell he was pretty happy about getting himself through all of this.

So we got Jackie fixed and it was time to go home.

Steve broke the rockband.

Time to go home.

Steve. Rockband. Broke.

TV and Zoo-reka! Friday Feb 13 2009

Whoa sorry, I did not post last friday...
now that it's so long ago I need to think deeply to recall what happened. Give me a few moments.
...
So I had a shift with Tony and Kim (Kim was subbing for Jen), and it was pretty cool. After dinner I spent most of my time with Stan on floor 2, where we just sat in his room and watched TV while ridiculing various american commercials and laughed watching the simpsons. One particular news that struck both of us was that a young British boy of 13 became a father with his girlfriend of 15. That was extremely shocking, and they boy looked like he hadn't hit puberty yet and was still a kid himself...I wonder how his family is going to work this out.
So anyways, after some choco milk and more TV, Stan was ready for his shower, and I went upstairs to join Kim and Sarah and Jimmy in a game of Zoo-reka! Jimmy was the best at it - he already got part of his Zoo while us girls still didnt have anything yet. That game was brand new! It was fun learning how to play it, and Sarah was so happy.
At the end of the night, as we boarded the elevator to head downstairs, Sarah told Kim and I, "I had so much fun with you guys today. Thanks!!" It was so sweet of her and it made me realize that there are few people in this world who rejoice in the smallest things that most others miss. Sarah is one of those few, and it reminded me of how our time spent with these kids can mean so much and be so meaningful.

Aldo revisited

Aldo and I were sitting at the computer and I told him I had the blog. He goes "No way!". I then told him that he was in it, and he says "no way". I searched for a Star Wars reference in the blog and was directed to this one: Aldo House. Scroll down a paragraph and I start with the sentence 'Aldo is a favorite of mine'. Couldn't have asked for a better sentence to start with when the kid reading it is 'the Aldo'.
He laughed about his new name.

Friday with Aldo (aka Noodle)

Here I am with Aldo himself. We are up in the school room looking at the blog. Aldo would like to tell you all the story about him crashing in to a truck!
"Well, I was playing tag outside when I was looking back my nurse yelled 'STOP!!', and I wouldn't stop. Before I knew it I crashed into a truck. Luckily it was parked. I almost broke my leg, got a bruise about the size of a ruler, and I cried for about 10 to 15 minutes. My nose got bashed and bled like crazy, filling up my mum's hand in less than a second. The truck was dented by my chair pretty good. From that day forward I have never seen the owner of the truck. He must have felt really bad. I would like to end my story by saying, There is more than meets the eye...as the Autobots leader always says.

Bomb It and Sesame Street - Friday Jan 30 2009

Hello,
I'm sorry this post is coming so late, but I've been so busy with schoolwork all weekend that I haven't had a chance to sit down and take a break until now! (First-year is way intense.)
So anyways, on Friday (Malcolm's anti-shift), other volunteers there were Tony, Mike, and Lindsey! Tony I haven't seen for a whole month because two weeks ago he felt wimpy and called in sick (:P). Mike and Lindsey used to be bi-weekly friday night volunteers, but because they live in Pitt Meadows (so far away!), they are currently on-call volunteers. It was great to see them again!
So we checked in upstairs with the nurses and went downstairs to have a delicious dinner with family, kids, and nurses. I sat beside Kaitlyn, who has this awesome set After dinner, I spent some computer time with 5-year-old Lucas, who is one of the most animated and humorous little boys I have ever met. He wanted to play some shooting game on miniclip.com, but I decided to expand his online game repertoire and introduced him to "Bomb It" on agame.com. This game involves moving a character using arrow keys in a 2-D area and setting bombs to blow up blocks and other players using another key. At first, Lucas had a bit of trouble coordinating his hands with what he wanted to do, but he got the hang of it very quickly and started to really enjoy it!
Then it was 7pm and his mum wanted him downstairs for a snack before bedtime, so I pried him off the computer and we met his mum in the kitchen. Have you ever tried eating apples with peanut butter? I've never tried it before, but Lucas and mum were gobbling it up and apparently is very delicious. I must try sometime.
Tony took off early because he was dead beat from waking up at 4:00am, and I went to find Mike and little 2.5 year old Matthew in the art room. The little boy has a heart defect and it was important that we kept him unagitated. Regardless, he was very hyper and full of energy, and later in the Snoezelen room he was crawling all over the place. We played a game(very repetitive) where we would cover Matthew with a blanket and exclaim, "Oh my gosh! Where has Matthew gone?" and Matthew would reply excitedly whilst quickly uncovering himself, "He's here!"
Soon enough it was time for Matthew take a bath, and then Mike and I spent some time with Eliza, who was watching "All Dogs go to Heaven." Quite an awesome movie.
After Matthew was clean and in his Canucks PJ's, I sat with him on his bed and we watched Sesame Street. His attention quickly got diverted to an interesting fleece blanket on the bed though, which had clocks and flags printed all over it. He took the blanket and covered me with it, and smacked various printed clocks to make the fleece wrinkle up and said "I broke it!" Then he stretched the fabric back to smoothness and exclaimed "I fixed it!" So so so cute. I loved spending time with him.
Sooo that's it for this week! I believe Malcolm will be posting next week. =)

PS Malcolm - I noticed that you changed the colour scheme of the blog, and it looks awesome! Some words don't show up though, because they're the same colour as the background (such as the description inside the box, underneath "canuck place adventure challenge", as well as other things and headers like the dates, "posted by", or "# comments" that sort of stuff. Maybe change the colour of those words to lighter or darker?

Blogging Group

If you look to the right margin you will notice that I have established a 'blogging group' which is representing the different areas of expertise within the house. Joan is a peer volunteer and she works every Friday night. The other bloggers are not real people...yet. It is my hope that we can get regular contributions that will share different perspectives from the people who work at the house. I have thought about it before but it was an email from Meyrick Jones (http://meyrickjones.blogspot.com/ ) that provided the impetus to actually do something about it. Thank you Meyrick!

I am hopeful that we will get a good response to the idea!

Hello!

Hey everyone,

I'm Joan and I'm a peer volunteer at Canuck Place every Friday night; I get to spend every other shift with Malcolm, who has invited me to become a contributor to this blog! I am honoured.

Look forward to awesome posts by me - I will try to post after every shift. Actually, it might be a good plan that Malcolm and I post on alternate fridays - Malcolm after his shifts, and I after the shifts that Malcolm wasn't there for. yay!

Jen and Stel's Blog

Sebastian's mum Jen has been blogging for a while about their triumphs and setbacks as a growing family. Please find her blog here http://jenandstel.blogspot.com/

It is another perspective that puts faces to the lives, and deaths, of Canuck Place.
Thank you Jen.

Friday night at the House

After 6 weeks of not being the house it was nice to be back! Met my new Friday night partner Steve and Joan was, as always, here on Friday night. Joan has become the new Kyle the only difference being that she can't eat as much as Kyle could.
Dinner was awesome tonight!
There was a ton of people at dinner. One little boy, who I'll call Normie, had his whole family: aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, and Grannie! The neat thing about this is that after dinner I went into the Playroom/tv room and they were ALL in there talking, playing table hockey...and there was tons of room. Little Normie was waiting patiently for the X-box to be set up...yes...even 3 year olds like to rock it out at times.

Normie is in a little makeshift comfy rolling chair. It is an old lounging chair that has been adapted into a wheel chair! Normie was so happy playing the drums...ok...holding the drum sticks! His mum and I tapped the right drums for him! Joan rocked on lead guitar.

All this time Steve was up on the Kid's floor snuggling with Mira. That was his job that tonight. He also had a bit of a nap. One of the perks you get when you are sitting in a comfy chair with a sleeping toddler. Mira's mum and dad (and little sister) are also in the house. Mum and Dad used Steve's high cuddle proficiency to get some time to watch a show on TV.

Corrine is a young teen with not much verbal communication. She is pretty good at one word missives and grunts and shakes of the head. I don't think she likes me!!! Joan was hanging with her in the school room and she was grooving (and singing) to videos. I started to talk to Corrine (in between videos) and she was getting upset. "no!", "bed!", "No!"...finally, "Do you want me to go away?"..."Yes!"

She and Joan continued to watch and sing with music videos....I scooted back to the other side of the room!

There were a couple other girls in the house. They were with their families too.
I think tonight, more than any other night, it struck me that the house is really a family house. Nobody in the house was without their family tonight. When kids are without their blood relatives there are awesome alternatives who get to step in.
I like being a part of this whole business!

Sebastian

After this mornings post we received a note about Sebastian:

Dear Volunteers:
It's with great sadness that I share the news of Sebastian G. passing away
at 11:35 am this morning. It was very peaceful and Mom and Dad were there
with him.
Please take care of yourselves and each other.
Leanne

Friday

Looking forward to getting to the house this Friday. It has been over a month! The morning of my last shift I woke up with my uvula hanging like a swollen speedbag that had been punched at all night. Called in sick. There are enough bugs out there that the kids don't need me bringing them directly to them.
I am looking forward to seeing Sebastian and his parents. They have been at the house for 6 weeks straight. Sebastian hasn't been feeling well since the last time I was there. He is a tough kid (aren't they all?) and the family even more so. They had the big old house all to themselves over christmas.

Boyz to Men

It has been a while since I was at the house. I have been switched from one Friday to another. I have been doing Friday nights with Tony for 4 years now and will now be working with another family volunteer.
I ended the night with the neatest conversation with a couple of the boys in the house. There is Jason who turned 19 in May and Brent who is seventeen. This was Jason's last weekend of respite care and then he officially graduates from the program. So what is next? That's when the talk got really neat. There is nothing like Canuck Place once you are an adult. There are few options...long term care (aka old folks home), full time nurse, or maintain status quo with your family. These guys would truly love a little independence and one of the ideas they had was to buy a house or large apartment and hire full time care. Of course they were pretty aware of the fact that it could cost as much as 2 -3 million to start a venture like this...but in their minds they had already formed a non-profit society (aligned with Canuck Place) and felt they could get the funds in place! They envision a place with 5 rooms, fully modified for chairs, hygiene and basic care. There would be 24hr care on hand. This would be their legacy to Canuck Place graduates and as a bed opens up in the house because somebody has moved onto bigger and better things...bang...the spot is filled!
When you have been in the care of your family for your whole life and you reach the age of majority a little independence is warranted. I also get the feeling that these guys realise how much effort their families have put into caring for them. Maybe their ideas tonight will never come to fruition. Perhaps the funds are too out of reach.
What I learnt tonight was that Jason and Brent will live their lives way beyond most people's expectations. Like all of us they make plans for their future. Being part of a hospice program doesn't phase them.
I said to Brent I can imagine the first purchase they would make is a case of beer. Not that they would drink it...just that it would seem the right thing to do. Brent replies that it wouldn't take much him being all of 20kg!

Guess what we did for the first 3 hours of the shift?
Rock Band! Jason had the best line of the night. He feels that X-Box 360 and RockBand should be covered under medical therapy. Jason has a reduced lung capacity because of muscular dystrophy. Part of his therapy has been to blow bubbles into a device; exercises to keep his diaphragm and intercostal muscles as active as possible. Singing does the same thing! Jason rocked out a few songs. Until you get out there and sing you don't realise how tiring it can be!

gift of time

wow...the numbers for gift of time were astounding....over $750 000 . wow and thank you!

Radiohead + Creep + Me + Jeffrey = 97%

I tell you. This Rockband game is da bomb! Cut to the chase: Jeffrey and I had the game to ourselves for a few songs and we nailed Creep by Radiohead. I was on 'expert' in case you were wondering.
Jeffery has become one of my followers along with Joan. That sounds a bit creepy. No Kool-Aid to be served.

Meat and potatoes for dinner. I managed to put a rather tough piece of meat into Jeffrey's mouth. He was taking forever to get it down. I told him he had NO CHOICE but to swallow it because I wasn't going to deal with the 'spit it out into a napkin' plan. So I just kept giving him some of the creamy potatoes and juice to help it slide on down. He eventually got through the piece!

Quiet night tonight: Jeffrey was in, a girl I have not met before was in with her family. Sandy got us going with the Rockband and we played a number of songs. This game is absolutely addictive. Every other thursday I run a 'meeting'in my classroom. Very fun.
Jeffrey played guitar, Sandy played drums, Joan played base and I sang my heart out.

When we finally go a bit tired we made our way upstairs and explored on the computers. Sandy was with her family for most of the time after that.
Turns out that Jeffrey can barely read the screen of a computer. This boy needs his eyes checked. Next time I see him I hope that he is wearing some new eye candy.

sitemeter

http://www.sitemeter.com/

holy crap! I thought that the google application that keeps track of the number of visits to your site was cool. not so!
Sitemeter tells you things like who referred the visit...so if you 'google search' something about canuck place and you happen to see the link to my page and click on it...sitemeter will show me that. cool!

of course it is all about vanity...but that is ok.

ps...click on the thing that says 'followers'. then i know who you are (of the 13 that have the rss feed)!!

Raffi and Me

I have a penchant for singing Raffi songs. My kids grew up on Raffi and I remember singing Raffi songs for a number of years. I think I sing in the key of Raffi. Raffi has a wonderful website:

http://www.raffinews.com/

As remarkable as it seems he has been doing this for over 40 years. His focus now is one of sustainablity and of honouring the child. He is still teaching fortysomethings to be good stewards of our earth and to each other, so that they can teach their children.

Last night all I did was sing. Sing and colour. Colour and sing. Raffi tapes were lined up in the art room, Jesse (a 6 year old girl whose baby brother is in the house), Chancy (who is also about 5 or 6) was beside me playing floppy head, Tony, Joan, and me were all doing what we do best: hanging out. No TV, no rockband, no computer....just me and Raffi (and everyone else).
I think we did this for about 2.5 hours. Tony had no idea I knew so many Raffi songs.

Go to Raffi's site. I was not at all surprised to see the direction he has taken with his work. He always sounded like a real nice guy when he sang for me and my kids. Turns out he is!

Boy's Night Out

More accurately put Boy's Night In but it appeared to be full of as much debauchery as could be: loud music, swearing, false accusations, falling out of wheelchairs, high fives, and the oddest event of the night being the whole crew sitting around the poker table watching a little Sing With Me Elmo doll sing "Shout". Not proud of that, but there is a really good reason for it.

In the House tonight for boys teen night are rod, liam, kenny, randy, saul, and jeffrey.

I was early and half the crew were in the TV room doing the Rock Band video game. I love that game. I can't sing, or play the drums but I can't help myself...I love the sound of my bad voice and I know others like it too. A couple of hellos, a couple of songs, and then off to dinner.
Awesome pasta!
Back to the TV room and a couple more songs until Poker Time.

Poker is a very high class game and must be played in the high class room: the Great Room. One day I will have to run through the house with my camera and do a bit of a show and tell. It is a beautiful house. Yours truly got to deal for Texas Hold 'Em. I don't know anything about poker, but am know well versed in the Burn and Turn, the flop, the turn and the river.

One of the prizes that went into the pot during a game of 21 was a dancing Elmo doll who sings shout. With his squeaky little voice at the end of his dance Elmo proclaims "oh boy! You really want to make Elmo SHIT!" Every time Elmo spoke the word 'shout' it comes out 'shit'! It had to be the funniest thing to happen all night....other than the time Kenny was doing a wheel stand in his chair. I was dealing and I could see him rocking back in his chair....he was holding it and had a big Elmo Shouting grin on his face...and then he started to go backwards. It was all in slow motion and he still had the Elmo Shouting grin on his face as I leapt across the room only to end up standing over him and laughing my ass off. It was the funniest thing to watch! Good thing it was on the carpet because he smacked the floor pretty good.

After poker Liam kept egging me on to go sing while he does guitar. We got Saul on the drums.
I like that game. Need one in my classroom.

Celine Dion

I never thought I would ever say this but, thanks to unknown benefactors, 60 Canuck Place volunteers (including me) are going to the Celine Dion concert tonight. As I said to Sara our Volunteer intake worker "my street cred has been destroyed...
It should be a great show...I will drive all night.

Monopolised

Very quiet in the house tonight. Bobby and Denny are in for respite care. While we were doing our thing tonight one of the most important events that occurs at the house was taking place. An 11 day old baby and family were coming into the house for an end of life stay. This must be incredibly hard to do for a family but I can think of no other place where the short life of a child is so revered and the care given to all involved is so expert.

Bobby is a veritable senior citizen of the program and is in for his very last admission. Bobby turned 19 and has therefore graduated from the program. If I am not mistaken this is the third Grad I have known. I would have to think that it is both exciting and sad to graduate from the house. If you have to leave the house because you are too old is a fantastic event, but not being part of Canuck Place and getting their special care would be an absolute bummer.

Denny is a boy from Penticton. He has Duchennes muscular dystrophy. He is the monopoly in monopolise. After dinner we all (Denny, Bobby, Joan, and me) went up to the school room to continue a game of Monopoly. We played for a long time. Bobby was whisked away by a nurse...maybe for bed?
Denny made sure that he put Joan and I into the deepest and darkest realms of debt. Even when Joan tried to concede he said no and made her sell him every last piece of property she had mortgaged to the bank. Only then was the game over.

After a trip to the Kid's floor for a potty break we were upstairs for a game of Scrabble.
Yours truly kicked fanny.

Gift of Time

This is a time to share your wealth: The Gift of Time
If you are feeling particularly flush and would like to seat a table of 7 of your close and personal wealthy friends $2800 will do that wonderfully. Bring your chequebook. An auction for many beautiful items will take place.
Entertainment for the last three years has been Chantal Kreviazuk, Jan Arden, and Amanda Marshall...who's next?

Finally..a night at the house

Wow...it has been a long time...I think. I was all by my lonesome as far as volunteers go (Tony sprained his ankle and Jen is naming limpets after Tony and I in Bamfield), but certainly not alone in the house. In the house tonight were a handful of kids...Grenadine (I know...bad name...) and her mum, sister and brother from the island, Stephen's , mum and dad, brother and sister (Brady and Insia), Jerrold and Eliza.
Dinner was awesome. Meat. I love meat.
AFter dinner I went with Stephen's brother to the Sun room. Rock band was calling our name. With Isaac and Ophelia in tow Brady and I kicked Rock Band proverbial butt for three songs. Brady kept choosing the most difficult songs. I really do sing better when I know the words.
I had promised Ophelia and Isaac that I would read them a story so I went to find them. They were upstairs with mum. Ophelia was painting in the art room. I helped set Isaac up for a paint. Elsa was with us as well. Isaac found a broom after he painted and it looked suspiciously close to a NIMBUS 2000 so I taught him how to fly on a broom.
After our time in the art room we went next door to the Schoolroom. I was bound and determined to read tonight...and we did. I haven't read a John Burmingham book for so long and we read Would You Rather... and a bunch of others. I miss reading to kids. I am so glad I got to tonight. Isaac's mum came to take him for a bath and I kept reading to his sister and Insia then it was Ophelia's turn for a bath. Insia's mum came and took her away for bed. I mosied down to the kids floor and found Eliza watching The Aristocats. I hung out with her for a while. Jerrold joined us ...he must have woken up from a nap. It was time for some of his meds so I helped the nurse. I helped keep Jerrold kind of upright while he was being "steamed" a cortizone steroid to help his lungs. ELiza got quite anxious when The Aristocrats ended. One of the nurses put the next movie. I think Eliza has watched thousands of movies!
My night ended and I quietly said goodbye to those who were still awake and around.

There are times when you feel that life is tough and you feel crappy. I am so lucky to share part of my time here. It makes me feel better. I hope that a little bit of what I feel rubs off on those I am with.

RESULTS AND PICS FROM THE CHALLENGE

Yea!

1 metre ahead of me is a rock.
Thank goodness these are plastic.

I have never had so much fun on a bike.

I have had better runs.

Final  Bib                             Final        Kayak        Bike       After Bike      Run         Final

Place  No.  Name of Competitor       Pos   Time   Pos   Time   Pos   Time   Pos   Time   Pos   Time   Pos   Time    Team Name

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



1   861  Mark Coates                1 3:28:25    3   49:15    4 1:36:58    2 2:26:13    4 1:02:13    1 3:28:25   Team mc bah            

2   860  Billy Adams                2 3:28:25    4   49:16    3 1:36:56    1 2:26:12    5 1:02:14    2 3:28:25   Team mc bah            

3   864  Nicole Akeroyd             3 4:27:30   20   59:32    7 2:29:30    9 3:29:01    3   58:29    3 4:27:30                          

 4   865  Malcolm Chrystal           4 4:34:31   19   59:22    5 2:17:30    3 3:16:52    8 1:17:40    4 4:34:31                            

From 23rd to 4th! See what riding to work can do for you? Next year I vow to run a bit for training!

death is hard to understand

I have been at Canuck Place for about 4 years. Many of the house's kids have died in that time. Some I have known a little and some I have never met, but no matter who it is, they are somebody's baby girl, big brother, little sister, or grandchild. As a volunteer we are informed of when a child at the house dies. Recently there were two little boys who passed away with whom I was able to share a night holding, cuddling, and singing songs that I can't remember the lyrics to. When I read of their deaths there is just that little bit more familiarity, a clearer face to put a name to, and a little more sadness. It pales in comparison to what a family member feels.

On Sunday, my wife lost her little bother. Very suddenly and very unexpectantly. He is also an uncle, a son, a husband.

I have never experienced the death of anyone close to me. What I am feeling I am not able to express well. As I watch my family deal with the death of Chad it is clear to me I have no comprehension of what they are feeling.
I can see what they have lost: I have shaken his hand, hugged him, laughed at his corny humour, and danced his silly clotheswasher dance, but I don't know what it is like to lose someone who has alwasy been a part of your life, or you theirs.

When we hear of a death at the house it is from Leanne. She always signs off by saying "take care of yourselves, and each other"
Do that. Always.

Canuck Place Video

This is the reason I volunteer at the house:

Garghttp://canuckplace.com/news_events/video_gallery/articles431.phpoyles, Grotesques and Chimeras Gargoyles, Grotesques and Chimeras

Race Day Over $201 000 Raised

What a day! Absolutely freakin' fantastic! Calm waters, cool bike, and the run was ok too. Cramping legs for me and a number of others today!

I get to introduce to you the 'Adventure Cam'.

Images of the bike trails from a very deftly mounted camera atop the handle bars of "The Bike".

This year I think I have an idea of how I did compared to all these young, agile, and superfit individuals in the race. Last year I had know idea what happened and was very surprised when I won the 'Solo Mens' category. This year 'The Bike' was a tool of absolute precision and awesomeness. Thank you to Leslie and her guys at Dizzy Cycles who did some things to 'The Bike' for $90 and made it run like a $150 bike and made all the difference in the world. Mercer...I will get you the $90...soon!
If my oxygen and electrolyte depleted body figures correctly: 2 young guys completed this years race way under 4hrs as a team. In third place there is Nicole who is a Thursday Night family volunteer at the house (so she wins the Women's Solo), and then me who represents the Friday night family volunteer shift (and I win the Men's Solo!). The house was well represented on the podium!!

Leah from North Shore Orthodpedic massaged my legs after the race....and she kept telling me I was "damaged". The massage helped to get the post race gunk out of my achy legs but that I needed way more massage therapy....damaged....sigh....

I raised over a thousand dollars this year again. Next year I hope that I can do even better in raising funds. There were 3 or 4 racers who raised over $8000. Top fund raiser did over $11 000.

Thank you to anyone and everyone who helped in sponsoring a competitor this year.

The House is an magical place where the kids are the magicians. The staff and volunteers get to be assistants in a wonderful show.

Ps If you missed doing a donation before the race it appears the sponsor page is still open (!!!).

More Adventure Cam:

thank you

thank you to absolutely everyone who has donated.
today i received an veritable flurry of donations. my sister in law barb, my principal russ klein, and ....to mr bob murphy! No offense intended....but who is bob?!!!!

bed time!

apology to kyle

I teach science, not English.
Everybody should be like Kyle because he did NOT forget to sponsor me before he left for Med School. It just came out funny below!
Sponsor me.

one week before the race

Less than a week before the sure to be eventful Adventure Challenge. Get on the bandwagon and sponsor me here:

SPONSOR MALCOLM

Your heart, the kids, your tax credit and I thank you!

The race is at Panorama Cove in Deep Cove on Saturday morning.
Training? I need to thank my most awesome wife Cindy for getting me to the pool everyday this week, otherwise I would have done absolutely nothing. I know there is no swimming unless I tip the kayak but stranger things could happen!

Don't forget to sponsor me...like Kyle...peer volunteer extraordinaire who has left BC to become a doctor. Rumour has it that he will specialise in pediatric oncology. Every kid in the future will benefit from him going down this path. Kick Alberta behind Kyle.

A quiet night at the house

There was no Garage Band tonight! Pretty quiet at the house as they are gearing up for the annual shutdown and renovations. The Kid's Floor (aka Nurse's Station & Main floor) is getting a makeover for a little more room. It can get pretty tight in the alcove when there are more than 2 or 3 kids that need, or want, to stay close to the best nurses on this earth.

In the house tonight were Carol, Nichole, and Gaston (where do I get some of these names?) who represented the older kids, Richie and Mathew are about 2 and under. Mathew is full of beans and doesn't stop for much despite having a ticker that holds him back. Mathew's dad is in the house for a bit and this is the part that makes Canuck Place so awesome. It will be the first time that they are leaving Mathew in the house by himself. He and his wife are hoofing it out of town for the weeked for a little relaxtaion. Not an easy thing to do when you have never left your child for a night, but that is what the house can do for families.

After dinner Joan and I took Carole, Nichole, and Mathew outside to the playground. Gaston's sister Leyla joins us after finishing her book. A little bit of hockey, and little bit of ball, a little bit of spinning on the merry-go-round. It sounds a little strange to say that your are playing hockey with a couple of girls who are in wheelchairs, non-verbal, and have limited or no use of there hands but sometimes you can catch a glimpse of something in their eyes that tells you they are playing too.
One by one the kids are rescued from us by a nurse. Joan, Leyla and I are left with Nichole outside. I have a great idea! There is this strange sit down contraption that you can move with little tiny wheels that rotate independently. Very difficult to use. I challenge the girls to a race around the house! Joan is up first and finishes in a painfully slow 6m 15s. I dominate and complete the course in 2:45 (or was it 3:45?). Leyla kicks Joan's butt and finishes in 4:30.

The last hour of the night I got to sit with Richie. First, while he had to wear a 'vapouriser' that steams in meds for him to inhale and then while he got his dinner (via his tummytube). It came as an awful shock to me that I have forgotten the words to almost every song I used to sing to my own kids as I struggled to put together enough Stompin' Tom Conners songs to keep me singing along. Sometimes just sitting with the little ones is my favourite time.

Back to the House!

Wow!  It has been almost a month since I have been at the House.  The bike accident preventing me the first time in August.  Since I was unable to work I took advantage of the time and went to Penticton and the Cariboo.

The Race approaches!  Having done no training in the last month it could be very interesting!  I hope to set up my camera so I can take pics while on the ride and run.  SInce I am not so good at at the Kayak...I might leave it on shore!

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Me hit. They run

After over 2500km this year on my bicycle the inevitable event happened: I was involved in a car accident. Not just any accident! A HIT AND RUN!

This car decided to turn left in front of me while I was travelling East on Fourth Avenue. It was the slowest turn in the world. He had NO idea that I was there. I smacked into his side rear and catapult over the back end of the metallic blue car. I can confirm the metallic blue because I pulled a paint chip out of my cut finger. I landed about 7m from the point of collision only to find that the car had decided to continue his forward motion and DRIVE AWAY! Yes...I said drive away. I was way to foggy to read his plates as I attempted to chase the card down the road fueled by nothing but adrenaline I was so mad I was yelling profanities not to be recorded on this report and I sensed that the driver was seeing if I was ok. I guess I scared him because he would NOT stop.
My wife came to collect me and take me to the hospital.

I am angry. Bruised, cut, stitched, x-rayed, tired, and incredibly angry.

ps yes. I was wearing my helmut

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The Tally

The total funds collected to date: $995!
A big thank you to everybody who has donated! The bad news is that I will not, at this point, be able to participate in the big race. Very sad. I do not know what I will do now. I suppose I can find a fiver somewhere. Am I able to make $1500 this year?

Cheques found!

I have found the missing cheques safe in my knapsack.

Big news of the day is the $50 I am dropping on 'The Bike'. I phoned a former customer of mine, Leslie at Dizzy Cycles, and asked her if she could help me with 'The Bike'. She is a little hesitant as I gather that everybody and their dog is always on the lookout for a freebie, me included. Nonetheless I took 'The Bike' down to her and she gave it the once over. She is going to do a service on it and hopefully a little bit more! In the end I will have to fork out $50 on 'The Bike', but still a bargain after the mileage I have put on it! Now I am going to ride my Craparotti road bike for the next week. Whoo hoo! Skinny tires!
Back to the house on Friday. I always look forward to going to the house.

More Donations...but where did i put the cheques?

Phillipa and Gordon Wenstob have also bucked up $100 for the Adventure Challenge (Thank you!!) but I appear to have a small problem. I can't find the two cheques from Judy and Phillipa. Yikes!

Whoo-hooo! Big Day for donations!

Whoo-hooo!
First of all I would like to than David Long, CEO of The Terminal City Club of Vancouver for their $150 donation. Secondly, Judy Walsh who donated her $100 BC Carbon Credit to Canuck Place.
What an awesome idea!

Thank you David and Judy!!

Garage Band on Friday

It has been a month since I had been to the house and I always feel like I am missing something, and I was: GARAGE BAND!
In the house tonight were Karina, Jeffrey (who seems to be there the most when I am there), a couple of little ones, Lucy and Ricardo. Ricardo is new to me. He is another boy with DMD (Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy) and we had some fun!

Tony was away tonight and Joan and I held the fort. Roberto the chef had to go home so the Nurses ordered out: Chinese food galore! After we stuffed ourselves silly Jeffrey got ready to go the Football game with his dad leaving Karina, Lucy, Ricardo, Joan and me to play Kick the Can.
I got Karina (who can't speak but sure laughs alot) and Joan got Lucy. Ricardo runs a powerful chair so he was on his own.
Believe it or not it can be quite challenging to find a boy and his chair in a big garden. When we (Karina and I ) did find him...we had to race to the tether pole. I kept losing....


A little later we made our way into the house to fetch the Garage Band game...holy crap is that fun. Joan and I had to sit back for a little bit while Ricardo did his drums solo. Boy did i want to play. Lucy hung out beside Joan who got to do Ricardo's bass drum for him. Karina and I just held hands while I tried to sing to guns n roses.
Finally we all got our turn when I masterfully sang to Radiohead's 'Creep', Joan struggled with guitar AND Ricardo's bass drum, and Ricardo kicked fanny on his part. Joan left early and Ricardo and I played for another hour. Karina just kept smiling and smiling.

I love playing at the house!

red bull rejection

I cannot believe it. I am truly devastated by the decision of the RedBull Pit crew to reject the Canuck PLace Soapbox of Doom plans outright. Depite the email candor developed between a rep of the Pit Crew we were ungraciously dumped with a "Thank you very much, P.F.O." letter and 4 RedBulls.

What now?

the super duper plans

Here is the final engineered drawings I sent to the RedBull people.
Thay are crazy if they don't let us in!!
PLANS FOR SOAPBOX ARE HERE

No house tonight

I was a busy boy today and did not make it to the house. I wonder what happened?

I was riding my bike home today after a day of hard labour** shredding trees into mulch and realised that I have ridden my $10 bike more than 2000km this year. Last year for the triathlon and Adventure challenge I think I cycled about 140km in preparation!

I will be at the house in two weeks. I am sitting on pins and needles waiting to see if the Canuck House Soapbox of Doom is going to be accepted into the RedBull Soapbox Derby. I am going to figure out how to post my plans....

**i am available for hire. i do hard work that nobody likes to do...but it costs money.

Summer Solstice Night

What? No pagan ritualistic ceremony celebrating the longest day of the year event?

We met a new peer volunteer tonight and her name is Brittany. She goes to the same school as Joan and is in Grade 11. See Kyle...they need to replace you with not one, but two peer volunteers.

In the house we have Aldo, Jeffrey, Julian, Vanessa, Emily.
I have known Julian for a while. He has been in Children's for the last couple of days and is in the house after being released from there. His mum and dad are with him and they watched the EUFA World Cup together on the Kid's Floor.

Some neat things happened tonight.
First off a great idea came from a conversation about chairs. Brittany suggested an event called "Pimp my Ride". I was complaining that few of the kids take their chairs and really do them up. Other than a few stickers they are very cool rides without the panache. What about lights? Sound systems? Most have hydraulics so they are already in the low riders category. I think that we can have a teen night for both boys and girls to do up their chairs. Get some sponsorship for the event and I see great things happening!

After dinner we went to the TV room to figure out what to do. Brittany had asked what we do on Friday nights because on Teusday it is Movie Night. Movie Night? There is a Tuesday Movie Night? WHat about Friday? I told her that we hang on Fridays. We figure out what the kids want to do and go from there.
Vanessa, being a nearly 15 year old wanted to escape the grounds, Jeffrey is pretty much keen to do anything, Aldo wants to play on the computer, and Emily is just hanging. How far can we go? Vanessa just wants to roll down any steep hil so she is thinking about getting to Granville and Broadway as a destination. A quick check with the nurses lets us take off, but we had to leave Aldo and Elisabeth at home; both are still having supper through their tummy tubes. Aldo, Tony, and Joan caught up with us a little later.
We made it all the way down to Strabucks where Vanessa bought a tea for herself and a hot chocolate for Jeffrey. Then we turned around and made our way back up the hill. Vanessa's chair is not a power chair so I got a bit of a workout going up Granville!

Back at the house we ended up in the school room playing a trivial pursuit Disney game: boys against girls. It was all going in favour of the boys until Aldo joined the dark side. His final answer won the game. I thought it was boys against girls?

Soap Box Update

It is early days yet to report on the advancement of the Red Bull Soap Box Derby idea but Leanne has taken the idea from her computer and written it down on paper...to be ready to meet with the movers and shakers of the house...i hope we get the support we need!

An Idea.....

Here is an email I sent to Leanne at the House...I hope it works!

Hi Leanne,

I am trying to convince my friend Mark to enter into the redbull soap box derby with me.
Our biggest challenge is finding the components to build a super duper soap box derby cart...herein named 'super duper soab box derby cart for canuck place'.

Why am I emailing you and Ian?

You first...you are the contact lady....you know everybody...one word from you can create a veritable cavalcade of support.
Why Ian? He looks like an 'ideas man' and the house might be a really good place to build the cart known as the 'super duper soab box derby cart for canuck place' and since he is the master of the house...his support really counts!

This is the race: http://www.redbullsoapbox.ca/the-race.php

I have no idea why I want to do this other than the fact that it looks like fun and the dangerous stupidity appeals to me.
Why Mark? He is the buffer zone between stupidity and serious injury. He has raced cars, is a professional stuntman, and is truly an ideas man when it comes to figuring out and building things.

Why Canuck Place? Any opportunity I can seize to put the Canuck Place banner up is a good opportunity for me.

How can you help? Help me spread the word that components for a super duper soap box derby cart for canuck place are needed: sturdy set of axles and wheels, devices to control steering and stopping, and some thing to mount them all onto.

what a stupidly good idea....right?? I can try be a media whore as well and try go through red bull marketing and drum up support for the house!

Let me know your thoughts...and share mine with everybody at the house who likes to do things like this!
Malcolm

Stellar Bike Modifications

I have decided to commit The Bike to the race (unless a bike benefactor comes forward). I am truly excited by the modifications of this classic BRC Bonzai. The Bull horn handle bars are gone. I cut them off and moved my brake levers in to the middle as much as possible. Now these sleek lines will allow me to drive by things without fear of catching the handle bars on a tree or side mirror.

thrilling news!

I received an email from Stephani the Adventure Challenge Coordinator stating that I had won the early bird prize draw for fundraising !! Guess what it was? A signed Canucks Jersey! Going to pick it up today!
Thank you Stephani!

Friday Night

It was a very quiet night at the house. Tony and I were both on hand and we have with us a new peer volunteer. Joan is a grade 12 student from a local private school. Our old peer volunteer has left us (we think) and did so without us saying goodbye! We do know that he has been accepted to med school...somewhere.

RIBS!! Ribs were on the table and I had a huge stack of them! Tonight there were more PCA's, nurses, and volunteers at the table. Janice and Daria were with us...snacking a bit and getting plugged into their tummy tubes. Janice was restless...really restless. I opted out of my RIBS(!!) and went away with Janice. Word on the street was that she absolutely loves Barney...the purple dinosaur. I though that Barney was outlawed years ago. Having opted out of my RIBS(!!) I opted out of Barney. Instead we went upstairs to the art room.

Janice is about...oooh...she could be anywhere from 6 to 9! I just don't know. Janice doesn't speak but communicates just fine with her face and eyes...and some unique sign language to which I am not privvy to what the signs mean! Earlier in the day Janice unclipped herself from her seatbelt and tried the quick crawl away from Melissa, a Friday afternoon Family Volunteer.
The prospect of painting piqued her interest so I got her suited up with a smock, some paper, paint and brushes. Not bad technique, until the paint brushes started to make their way to Janice's mouth. Time to put them away and do a bit of a clean up. That was fun! Janice liked washing her own hands in the sink. We did that for about 10 minutes.
After clean up we went outside to play some hoop. Janice could catch the ball with a very gentle toss onto her lap. She had more fun rolling it to the bushes than back to me. A bit later we went to the swing, and then we wandered the beautiful garden.
While we were talking Janice would use a couple of signs whenever I mentioned Sponge Bob on her shirt. She would stick her left arm out straight and place her right arm on her left shoulder. Then she would rub her nose with her knuckles...just like my buddy Buck did all the way through highschool with his itchy nose. Then she would giggle. I copied her everytime hoping that it didn't mean she had to go to the bathroom.
Dalia, Tony and Joan came out for a walk.

Soon it was time for her bath and a PCA came out to find us to take her in.
The three of us continued walking, Tony and I talking while Joan pushed Dalia. A few laps around the block and it was time to come in.

There was a family in the house with their son. Mum and Dad and Dylan made it down to the TV room downstairs...they has X-Box on their mind and we joined them in a ROUSING contest of the NEED FOR SPEED X Box race offs. This is the only time I have been successful against anyone in the house. Usually the kids kick my sorry rear end on every game.