Cameron Edmund Buhler was born on Tuesday tipping the scales at 7 pounds 14 ounces. Liz and Cameron are home and doing well and I am off to Cypress Mountain tonight. “What?! Kevin are you crazy?” Well, yes I am, I went skydiving a few days after Gibson was born so this is a tame celebration compared to that one.
The new hospital in Abbotsford had many perks for our enjoyment: a Starbucks and a TV to watch the hockey game before and after the delivery, but what was really fun was having John and Christy down the hall from us. Liz’s brother’s wife had twins a few days before us and it was really nice to camp out with them at the hospital. We could visit and compare notes whenever we needed to and it felt like we had some extra support close by.
It’s weird how you can forget things so quickly; Cameron is a little miracle, such a joy. Amazing and exhausting, a great experience and… I can’t wait to get snipped.
Special kudos to my awesome wife who is such a trooper and a champion baby birther.
With Let The Great World Spin in mind, I watched the Academy Award winning documentary Man On Wire. It documents Philip Petit’s “artistic crime” of walking a tight rope between the World Trade Center towers in 1974. Man on Wire is shot like a heist film, like Ocean’s Eleven or Ronin, which may seem a little odd, especially since you know the outcome going into the movie. I still found that it worked though, building tension and emotion throughout.
The logistics of the walk are CRAZY, sneaking past security with all the necessary equipment, praying that the weather cooperates and then actually walking between two structures 1300 feet in the air that are built to sway up to 3 feet in the wind.
As with Anvil, it’s the character of those in the film that really make it something more. Philip Petit himself is a wing-nut, I guess you’d have to be to attempt such a feat. Although most of his friends share his passion for the project, it is Philip’s quirk contrasted with the more sedate and steady emotion of those friends that really stood out to me. Over 30 years later, they were all still quite invested in the retelling of a risky event that was motivated by art and friendship rather than money.
I found Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann on a top of 2009 list that Chapters sent me. It was in position number one and sounded interesting to me, so I gambled a bit and threw some of my Christmas money at a hard cover.
It is a novel of different short stories co-existing with a historical dare-devil at it’s core. In 1974 Phillipe Petit walked a tight rope wire between the World Trade Center towers. Amazing as Mr. Petit’s accomplishment is, it is not the subject of the book, but rather a backdrop for a variety of New York stories, one that periodically pops up to tie them together.
I was immediately intrigued by Let The Great World Spin, mainly due to the first character we meet, an “undercover” priest who befriends hookers. Corrigan cares little about his own well being, appearence or possessions, but really goes all out in serving the down and outers. Living in a run down apartment in the Bronx, he leaves his door unlocked at all hours so that the girls have a place to go to the washroom. I was so into his story and those around him until… well his role in the book grows smaller.
After Corrigan, each chapter is from a different characters view and tells their own tale of despair, friendship or triumph, usually with the tight rope walker appearing in the background. The problem for me was that some stories worked for me but most did not, I really could have cared less about their ups and downs.
I recently read about one literary professor who upon starting a book asks, “Why do I care about this character and the story?” If after five pages she doesn’t have an answer she drops the book. She asks the same question after 50, 100 and 200 pages. A good question me thinks.
I think I stopped caring at about the 200 page mark, but I really have a hard time quitting on a book. I always feel like I might miss out on something, plus I dropped like 30 bones for it, what kind of Menno would I be if I didn’t read every word?
I’ve been a little ‘underwhelmed’ in the area of blog inspiration lately. So to give some kick start my heart action to my creative juices, I thought I’d just post this cool short I watched. It’s about a dude who gets smacked by a meteorite, enjoy! Or don’t.
Sunday was filled with some big highs and lows in parenting. Let’s just stick with the highs for now, shall we?
Gibson learned to ride his bike yesterday, it brought a grin to my face and a sort of hysterical laugh… I couldn’t believe it! Once I properly inflated his tires and raised his seat a little he was cruising around like Lance Armstrong and it really wasn’t that difficult to teach him.
Last week I removed the training wheels and pedals from his bike, I had him just use his feet to push his bike and then once he had a little speed told him to glide. Then to go a little faster, I put my hands on his shoulders and pushed him, instead of holding the back of the seat which doesn’t teach him to balance. We did this a couple times and then on Sunday morning he told me he wanted the pedals back on, so I thought “Why not?” But I didn’t actually expect him to do much. I pushed him from the shoulders for maybe 15 steps, then let go and off he went, presto! Once again the internet is the solution to all life’s problems (except my daughters temper), check the video for more.
Cameron Edmund Buhler was born on Tuesday tipping the scales at 7 pounds 14 ounces. Liz and Cameron are home and doing well and I am off to Cypress Mountain tonight. “What?! Kevin are you crazy?” Well, yes I am, I went skydiving a few days after Gibson was born so this is a tame celebration compared to that one.
With Let The Great World Spin in mind, I watched the Academy Award winning documentary Man On Wire. It documents Philip Petit’s “artistic crime” of walking a tight rope between the World Trade Center towers in 1974. Man on Wire is shot like a heist film, like Ocean’s Eleven or Ronin, which may seem a little odd, especially since you know the outcome going into the movie. I still found that it worked though, building tension and emotion throughout.
I found 
