Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. The service was jam filled with dozens of celebrities turning out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Cap’n Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described the Doughboy as a man who never know how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he was still a crusty old man considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy was survived by his wife Play Dough, two children John and Jane, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 350 for about 20 minutes.

(Thanks Lorraine!)

Each year, many of us resolve to make changes in our lives. We promise ourselves that this is the year we will keep our resolutions and improve our lives as a result. Too often, though, we break our promises to ourselves and let our best intentions fall victim to the bustle of everyday life. We expect too much of ourselves and as a result, we fail. Instead of resolutions, we expect revolutions. We think that we can make major changes in our lives by simply deciding to do so. Too often, it proves to be too much for us to take.

This year, I have decided to make evolutions, not resolutions. I resolve to evolve my life. I’ll make an ambitious list, but I will promise myself to take deliberate steps toward achieving them in the long term. That way, I will not have failed when I give in to temptation, or when I forget to remember my list. I will simply steer back toward the end goal, constantly adjusting my heading like navigating a boat that is influenced by the tides, the currents, the waves and the weather.

I will share my list with the world now. Keep in mind that some of the items on my list are really tasks… big, ugly “to-do” things that have been haunting me for months or years. So…. here goes nothing:

• Health: I’m currently at my highest weight ever. 230+ pounds to be vaguely precise. While the weight/height ratio charts that I have seen indicate my ideal weight to be 175 pounds, my personal goal is to break 200. I’ll do that by actually making use of the elliptical trainer that I bought 8 months ago. I’ll watch what I eat. I’ll eat more healthy foods and less fatty, sugary things. Starting Monday.
• Procrastination: I’m always putting things off. I’ve been meaning to start an exercise/diet for months now and I keep saying I’ll start on Monday, but Monday never comes. I’ll force myself not to procrastinate. Starting Monday.
• Clutter: One of the things that drives me totally crazy is clutter. I’m also the most guilty cause of this around my house. My shed, my workshop (storage room), and my desk are all VERY good examples of areas of the homestead totally under my control that are also totally out of control. This year, I vow to take steps to clean them up. I’ll throw stuff away that I forgot I had. I’ll find a place for everything and keep everything in its place. Starting Monday or Tuesday.
• Scanning photos: This is another of those big ugly to-do items I mentioned. I’ve got all of my parents’ old photo albums and all of my wife’s old photo albums that I’ve been meaning to scan, digitally enhance, organize and catalog. This has been a pet project for a couple of years and I have made some progress in spurts. Once I get that procrastination thing under control, I’ll attack this one. Starting Wednesday.
• Learning to play guitar: A few years ago, we bought our son an electric guitar for Christmas. At the same time, I got an acoustic guitar. I’ve always thought it would be cool to be able to strum a few chords, howling out an off-key tune, sitting in front of a fire on summer’s eve. So far, I’ve been able to accomplish the off-key tune, the howling, and sitting by a fire-barrel on a summer’s eve, but my past intentions of learning to play the guitar fell victim to my procrastination addiction. So, starting next week, I’ll dust off the “Learn to Play Guitar” CD’s I purchased, and finally learn how to strum a tune. Hmmm… maybe I’ll start the week after that.
• Speaking of CD’s I’ve purchased, I also bought a bunch of “Learn How to Speak French” CD’s that are sitting amongst the clutter somewhere in the house. When I find them (once I defeat my procrastination addiction and my clutter affliction), I’ll start learning how to parlez francais, eh. Non?

January 8th may seem a little late to publish a post about New Years resolutions, but I kept putting it off. I’ll have to stop doing that, starting Monday.

We spent our Christmas in Newfoundland this year and a good time was had by all. However, when we were ready to make the 30-hour drive/boat trip back, the weather forecasts for Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and all the Maritimes was such that we were forced to delay our return. We were enjoying ourselves enough, that this inconvenience was anything but that.

However, that weather that prevented us from making our trek took its toll on our Moncton hometown. In our absence, they were hit by storm after storm… four in a week, with Moncton being the hardest hit in each. Check out the photo on the left. (Click for larger view.) This pic was taken by one of my neighbours while we were gone. Believe it or not, there’s a 1992 Camry under there! That drift is about 9 feet high. Here’s another view from a different angle.

You gotta love it when folks care enough to take care of your interests without being asked or expected to. While we were one vacation, enjoying our Christmas with our families, three of our neighbours took care of our driveway after each of the four storms that hit Moncton. They shovelled, snowblowed, and even paid a professional to keep a parking space open and our walkways clear. We arrived in Moncton and were able to pull directly into our driveway, and unload our gear. There was still about 4 hours of shoveling and snowblowing out there, but this inconvenience was far outweighed by the convenience of being able to pull directly in when we arrived.

And what have you done? Another year over; a new one just begun.

Another year has come and gone. Lots of stuff happened over the last year… from marriages to carriages, makeups to breakups. Our families have seen some good fortune and our families have seen some tough times. There have been changes in scenery, conflicts, disappointments, and challenges. But there have also been good times; love, laughter, reconciliation, generosity, support, and togetherness. All in all, we made it through, respectively, in one piece.

This year, my family ventured the highways to return to the rock for Christmas. We were supposed to return on New Year’s Eve, but the weather was fortunately uncooperative and we have been forced to stay for an extra few days. As I look out the window at the current blizzard, readying myself mentally for the road trip back home tomorrow, I reflect on the good times we had this holiday season. For your entertainment, I share some snapshots of the fun and frolic, the “hilites reel” if you will, courtesy of my digital camera and the wonders of YouTube.

Happy New Year to you all.