C'mon Kumon

I always seem to have trouble writing on here after I write a eulogy.
I remember when Mike died it took forever for me to get something up here to take the place of his picture. I guess I just don't feel like writing much in times like these.

But I have to say that recent events have cheered me up alot. I'm still pretty pissed off about alot of things in the last 6 months or so, but in the last week things have taken a turn for the better. For awhile there it seemed like bad things kept happening, and I kept saying well it can't get much worse - only to see things get worse... and worse.

I actually applied for a job up in Ottawa last week, but the following day my boss offered me a substantial raise along with full time status, so it looks like I'll be stickin around London for awhile. I was thinking it might be time for a change, but I suppose a change that big will have to wait.

I've also had an unexpected rise in the female presence in my life. It kinda came out of the blue on me, to be honest.

In completely unrelated news, I find it incredible that this is the logo for a fuckin learning centre for children:
Are kids supposed to be proud that they attend this fucking place??
It looks like a bewildered and retarded kid without a nose. Who the hell though that up?

Not much else to say beyond "holy shit it's hot in my lab".
27 degrees today. What a piss-me-off...

The loss of an icon.

This past weekend my family, and the town of Penetanguishene, lost a great man.

My father's older brother, Henry Bisschop, passed away from cancer.

It was his third battle with the disease in the past five years, and each time he beat it, he couldn't come back as strong physically. But he always remained positive, even in his final days.

Henry was the type of man that everyone respected.
He was a straight shooter; always completely honest with anyone he came into contact with.
He was also a no-nonsense kind of man; very practical, and always productive. Even in his retirement he was extremely active in the community and with his family.
He was compassionate man who didn't discriminate or judge people.
He was a man of high morals and values.

He was the kind of man that had no enemies.

Henry was a teacher, a principal, a hockey coach and referee, a family man, a member of the church, a Mucker (the Mucker, in fact), a great story teller, and man that people loved to follow. And he was an amazing uncle who taught me many lessons as a child and as a man.


My dad was probably his closest sibling, and I know he's going to have many tough days ahead of him dealing with this loss. But my brother and I are very proud that our dad was able to give a heartfelt speech at his funeral. I really can't imagine how tough it must be, but I know it affects me too. I'm usually a rock with this kind of thing, but I've never lost someone this close before. I guess every rock will crack if you hit it in the right spot.

I could go on about how many people loved him, but the short list is as follows:


And that doesn't even scratch the surface of how many people's lives were touched by the man.

I can only hope that I'll have hundreds of friends and family members standing in line in the rain (because the funeral home was too full) just to pay their respects when I die.
I hope I'm able to raise my children as well as Henry did.
I hope I'm able to live my life with the same character that he always showed, even in the tough times.

Henry used to laugh that I never called him "Uncle Henry", it was always just "Henry". He used to say "I've got 45 year-old nephews that call me Uncle, but not Travis!"

Well I have to say Henry, I've never been anything but proud to be your nephew.
I hope you're resting peacefully now.

May Two-Four

Before it escapes me entirely, I'd better make a quick post about this year's May 24 weekend.

The weekend was supposed to have started on Thursday up in Bayfield at a couple of friends' cottage. I had taken the Friday off in preparation for two nights up there, followed by two nights up near Honey Harbour with the Muckers up at MacCrae.

But with all the knife-in-the-back bullshit the week before, I decided to hold out and come up on Friday with a few buddies who weren't involved in all of that shit (a few people who actually were involved were at the cottage Thurs night, so I think it was a good idea to hold off).

Friday night was good, but after a long day of drinking, and a big game strip flip-cup (in which I was crushing red wine instead of beer) I got blackout drunk and ended up falling on my ass when KP tried to grab a piggieback ride from me. I was put to bed shortly thereafter. hahaha

The next day James and I had a devastating 3 hour drive to Barrie, which started at about 8:30. Once we got there, he had another two hours to his cottage, and I had another hour or so in my parents' car followed by a 20 minute hike through mud and rock to meet the Muckers.

Fortunately the rain had only come on the Friday night, and held off for the rest of the weekend. But fuck me was it ever cold. So cold you didnt want to touch many of those cold beers. The wind was the worst part of it. Add up all of the bullshit back home, and I really didn't drink much at all for the rest of the weekend. Wasn't really in the mood...

Caught a ton of fish though. One little ballsy mofo was about the size of my lure:

My Bro ended up winning the trophy, but it was a small crew of guys up there this year, so the winning fish wasn't exactly a behemoth.

If I can remember now, I think we had: myself, my bro, my old man, Sean, Pun, Pun's bro, Neil, Baz, Overdrink, Zif (and his badass dog Aero), Anders, Jamie Doe, and Eddie who had to leave early cuz he got sick.

Scale of mintness for your typical May 24: 4 out of 10