Moe Digital, Moe Trips and Moe Parties

Moe Digital, Moe Trips and Moe Parties equal Moe fun in week 6
Digital Dilemma
It all started 3 or 4 years ago when we tried convincing my photo junky Mom to come to the dark side of digital and stop using her old camera. It was a long fought battle and in the end she won and stayed with her tried trusted and true, crappy picture quality, film camera. Well until this Christmas that is, when the girls and I finally replaced her then broken camera with a fancy new digital point and shoot.

I always thought that the fun part would be the printing and this week we made the trip to Wal-Mart. All she wanted to do was print a small handful of pictures that she had taken over the last 6 month, so she could hold something in her hand. “Look how simple it is Mom, we pop this little card out, slide it in this hole here and the pictures are right on the screen. Now you press this and this to look at them. And then this little button to print.” Crossing her arms she says “You do it Jimmy (she is the only one allowed to call me this!), you do it, I don’t want to break anything.” After a couple moments of fighting her on it, I jumped in and did all the heavy lifting and just like that we are done. 10 minutes standing in front of the machine, with all the prints she wanted dropped in the little photo shoot, a CD backup of her entire card and all this for just $12.00! She smiled, so I think we may have won her over too technology. Next step an email address!

Field Trips
Being off from my real job for the last 4 weeks, I have some extra hours here and there to volunteer at the girls’ school for things like field trips and this week I was treated to 4 trips on the big yellow school bus. Monday I went to Medieval Times with the grade 4 classes for a live history lesson. For example, did you know, they had plastic glasses with little flashing lights and icy drinks in them for only $10 in the Middle Ages? I was in charge of my daughter and 3 – 10 year old boys and I was just a little scared at that thought early on, but it turned out that they were a good group. I only lost 1 of them for a minute or two in a large group of swarming autograph seekers. Sorry about that buddy!

Today I was with the grade 1 classes learning about animals, outdoors and the delicate eco systems of a pond life, at the Humber College Arboretum. I had another 4 children in my area of responsibility, the team with the blue dots, and for the most part it all went smooth. No one got hurt, no one lost anything and all who left on the bus came back, so I call that a good couple of days.

Get Together
For the second week in a row, we had a school nighttime event to attend and this week it was the Parent Council’s last meeting and year-end thank you dinner. Although, my wife is on the council, I am not but because I help out at all the events and run the Kiss and Ride, they let me crash their party and I am so glad they did. We had fun with the principal, a number of staff and of course the great Parent Council members. Thanks to the Tanabe family for hosting the event and for letting all of the Carrs’ drop in very early to save us the long trip home and back again.

In Closing
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Who has not used this incredibly reliable selection method? This week after a trip to the shoe store to replace the worn and now too small shoes, from what seems like a couple of months ago, the girls select their new footwear. Nathalie is the best shoe shopper I have ever met, and when shopping with the girls for shoes it is always about the choice. They will narrow it down to usually the pair that Nathalie wants them to get and the ones they want. This week was no different! Back and forth with the black ones with the little strap and the ones with sparkles and the small little heal. After much debate of their respective merits, Julia settles on the cute black sandal style shoes with the little buckle and all seems great. All but the size, because the ones she has been trying on and modeling up and down the isle, as if it were a catwalk in Paris are a size too small. No problem, Nathalie grabs the next half size up and heads to the cash. “We don’t need the box, they will put them on in the car” Nathalie says in a “that’s the way the Carrs roll” kind of way and they did. All the way home, and all seemed great in the world.

What a difference a sleep makes. The next morning, with a very tired little Julia that hates the morning, the shoes are not right. “They are too big” and “I can’t run in them, they flip at the back” and so on says a now crying little girl. Devastated at her life and all that once was good. Nathalie tries to calm her, but to no avail! The tears are running now and when Nathalie tells her the truth about the selection, “Julia you had a choice and you picked theses ones”, Julia looks up with tear filled eyes and says, “But the Eeny, meeny, miny, moe didn’t work!” Well isn’t that the truth? Life is sometimes about seeing what you want and making a decision and not leaving it to chance… And that’s the way to roll!

Have a great week.
Jim