Gladys Marks

Yesterday, at 11:30am Vancouver time, Shannon’s Grandma, our Grandma, passed away peacefully in her bed.

I have known Gladys now for many years and thinking back it made me realize just how long I have been a part of this family. It made me realize how much we were all going to miss her. She has lived in Vancouver for as long as I have known her so my days spent with her were limited at best. I would look forward to her annual visits whether it was at our place or at the lake. With her came a warmth that made you feel as if she had never been away.

I can only describe Gladys as the perfect combination of class, wit, and charm. Or maybe that special formula of class+wit=charm. Her humor was spot on and you couldn’t help but appreciate her ageless timing.

I had a lot of fun with her when it came to convincing Mike and John that I was her favorite. When Mike called I would always refer to Gladys as “my grandma” – “Would like to speak to my grandma? I will see if she is taking calls…”

JD was even easier. It didn’t take much to convince him that Gladys had a sweet spot for me. One thanksgiving she was in town I may have mentioned my love of turkey on that particular holiday. JD was hosting dinner and of course I was just joking around with him when he unveiled the menu for the evening. Apparently Gladys had overheard and insisted that she would make a turkey for dinner as well. JD always joked that it was made just for me.

It didn’t end there. Each Christmas Gladys would send us each a box of Purdy’s chocolates. I would always call JD and tell him I received the biggest box of Purdy’s chocolates I had ever seen. He on the other end was always positive that his box of chocolates from grandma was undeniably larger than mine. I would always have Shan confirm ours was larger at Christmas dinner. Gladys loved our little banter about who was her fav.

For Gladys there was nothing more important than family. I know where Shan gets it from that is for sure. Before Bob passed away she was with him as much as she could be at that time. I am sure he will be as happy to see her, as we are sad that she is gone. We love and will miss you Gladys.

Name: Gladys Marks
Nickname (if you have one): Gladiola
Where do live?: Richmond BC
What is your favorite color?: Blue
What is your favorite vegetable?: Cauliflower
What is your favorite fruit?: Peaches
What is your favorite snack/junkfood binge?: Montreal Smoke Meat
What is your favorite restaurant?: Rooster’s Quarters
What is your favorite “fast food” restaurant?: Dairy Queen
What is your favorite drink (non-alcohol)?: Diet Sprite
What is your favorite alcoholic drink?: Gin and Tonic
What is your current occupation?: Master of all trades
What is your favorite movie?: Shall we Dance
What is the last movie you saw?: The Notebook
Who is your favorite actor?: Richard Gere
Who is your favorite actress?: Julia Roberts
What is your favorite TV show?: Everybody loves raymond
Who is your favorite band?: Dal Richards
What is the last band you saw in concert?: Richmond Orchestra
What is the last book you have read?: Readers Digest
Who is the last person you phoned?: Barbara
What is your dream car?: A buick
Provide one oxymoron?: What’s an Oxymoron
If your house was on fire what is one thing you would take?: Important papers
Elvis or Beatles: Beatles
What is your favorite sport to play?: Golf
What is your favorite sport to watch?: Golf
Most recent major injury?: None I’m almost Healthy
If you could be any animal what would you choose?: A horse
Best gift you have ever received?: My son
Best gift you have ever given?: My son
Windows or Mac: Windows
Who is the most famous person you have ever met?: Governor General Michener
If you could sit down for dinner with anyone, who would it be?: My Entire FAMILY
If your life was a cliche what would it say?: I never promised you a rose garden
Provide the details of the last time you shed tears?: Having Bob enter the nursing home
Describe the best date you have ever been on?: Going to see Mamma Mia with my son
Questions/Comments: Can I be a General (nuisance)?

Dana White

I would say that I am a big fan of Dana White. I like him as a businessman and I like the way reaches out to his fans on a personal level by being so accessible on Twitter and always giving away free tickets to the big events. He takes it upon himself to be good to the fans, almost too much in this case.

This past Saturday during the Anderson Silva, Damien Maia fight I lost a little respect for Dana when he had words with Silva’s corner. I guess he felt that Silva wasn’t engaging enough and perhaps wasn’t too impressed with the taunting that was happening in the earlier rounds. Dana gave Silva’s Championship belt to his corner because he refused to put it on Silva after he was “embarrassed” by his performance.

In summary Anderson Silva came out early taunting and picking apart Maia. When the fighters did engage Maia would repeatedly try and pull guard and Silva would just stand over him and motion him back to his feet. For whatever reason Dana has no problem with this as a strategy but took offense when Silva backed off in the later rounds of the fight knowing full well he had dominated his opponent.

In the fourth round Silva backed off completely and circled the ring waiting for Maia to attack. When he finally did attack his attempts were lack luster and Silva easily avoided any damage. It was then in the fourth round Dana got up in disgust and brought Silva’s Championship belt to his corner and told them they would have to put the belt on Anderson themselves because he wasn’t going to do it. He then left the arena for the first time in his career. I think it’s interesting that Dana knew Silva had won that fight as early as the fourth round. Everyone did, Silva did, and that is exactly why he backed off. Why put yourself in a position to take damage when you have already won? Sounds like a smart fighter to me.

In an interview after the fight Dana says Anderson laid back after the first couple of rounds and spent the fourth and fifth running from Maia. Fact is Dana White is concerned for the fans, the good old entertainment dollar. He wanted Anderson Silva to finish the fight in exciting fashion with a knock out. Instead he danced around the ring taunting and didn’t come to fight at all. Although it looks like Maia was in a fight…

The problem for Dana is that in the post fight interview Maia certainly wasn’t quoted as saying “you should see the other guy…” because Silva stuck to his game plan and came out with nary a scratch. That is by far the most brilliant fight strategy there is. Dana would have liked to see Anderson rolling around on the ground with Maia in a brilliant display of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. That would just be stupid, but a great PPV.

I will admit the taunting is a bit much for me as well. They said that Ali was a big influence on Silva and you can see it in his game fersure. But just like Ali, Silva can afford to be cocky because he is at the top of his game. He can stick his face out and cross his arms and do the chicken dance because there was never any doubt that he was winning that fight. He knew as well as we all did that Maia wasn’t a threat to him, especially if he stuck with the stand-up. When Silva is faced with a fighter he respects you will not see the taunting of late. See Rich Franklin, and Dan Henderson.

I was appalled by Dana’s actions and reactions to that fight and think he needs to stay out of the drama. I don’t think he is qualified to tell Anderson Silva how to fight. He never said boo about our beloved GSP taking Hardy to the ground and grinding him with his jock for 5 rounds. It would have been way more entertaining to see GSP stand with Hardy than drag him down and have his way with him on the ground like a practice partner. The fact that Anderson could pick apart a guy in the first 2 rounds and win the fight is far more impressive than knowing GSP can’t submit a guy to save his life.

Lost At Lucky Charms

Those of you who have babies know that sleep is scarce. Of course it gets better over time and you end up going from an hour or two per night, to a full nights sleep. What people don’t understand is that most parents sleep with one eye open. It doesn’t matter if it’s 2am and I have been sleeping for 4 hours, if Lexi farts, I hear it. I hear it enough that I usually open my eyes and wait for another. So, even though Lexi technically sleeps thought the night, Shan and I haven’t had a restful sleep in over 14 months.

We decided that for Spring Break we would book a couple of nights at Country Charms Resort. So Wednesday afternoon we took Lexi to day care, got a couple of pedis over at Giselles, and rented the Complete First Season Of Lost to take with us. We picked up Lexi from daycare, gave her some kisses, and took off.

Country Charms is a couples only resort about a 10 minute drive from Steinbach so it took us no time at all to get there. It resembles a nice trailer park actually built along the shore of a man made lake. I am sure that in the nicer months the lake adds a lot of charm but in between seasons it isn’t much to write about, although you could see the potential.

There are some different themed cabins you can choose from. We chose the one with the theater room (#3) and although it was a little bit dated, it served our purpose just fine. We wanted to eat, sleep, and catch up on some TV. There was a TV in the bedroom above the fireplace as well as a large screen in the theater room. You could see the bedroom TV from the hot tub so we had all the angles covered.

We basically watched LOST and ate Lucky Charms in between naps for two days straight. It was awesome. Not sure what is up with that LOST but I like it. Can’t believe I have gone this long without seeing a single episode. Shan and I put in 16 hours so far and don’t have a clue what is going on.

I have to admit we fought the urge to call Lexi and say goodnight the first night and ended up calling her when we woke up the morning. Mind you it was almost 11am by that time.

It’s nice to be back home today with Lex. Big thanks to Grandma’s and Grandpa for watching her while we were away. Grandpa was here on his birthday and assured me that when he got his kiss goodnight it was all worth it.