Random thoughts, ideas, rants and posts from my mind
Sometimes the funnest part of a trip or an activity is the anticipation leading up to it. Take for instance my upcoming trip to Walt Disney World. Though my wife and I are unquestionably excited for the trip and know that we will be spending 8 days of pure fun and excitement, all of the time and energy we’ve put into prepping this trip for my 40th birthday has been just as much fun. Continue reading “In Anticipation…”
Over recent years, I’ve started to become aware of a peculiar reaction that goes on around me. I seem to have some sort of effect on electrical systems. It’s most noticeable with light sources. Continue reading “Electric Mayhem”
Following my diabetic odyssey in March 2008, I had an opening of consciousness that launched me into a period of change; I went through a shift, if you will. One of the end results of that shift was my relationship with my now-wife, Isabelle. Had it not been for the life altering experience that I went through, I may or may not be married to the love of my life, to my soul mate. I honestly believe that Isabelle and I are soul mates, destined to find one another. And the Universe did all it could, repeatedly, to make sure it happened.
I mentioned in my last post that my darling wife, Isabelle, had surprised me with an early birthday present in the form of passes to the Quebec City Summer Festival (Festival d’été du Québec). She booked a hotel room for us for the nights of July 9 & 10, as the Foo Fighters were headlining the festival on the 10th. Another check off of my list… see the Foo Fighters in concert. Continue reading “Summer of Chris”
All this past week, James Corden has been broadcasting The Late Late Show from London. On Thursday night’s show he had a Carpool Karaoke with Paul McCartney and a performance by the Foo Fighters. I had been anxiously awaiting this episode all week. So Friday night, once we had settled in for the evening, Isabelle and I plopped down on the couch in the movie room and proceeded to be thoroughly entertained. (click the video below to watch)
Continue reading “To Foo or Not to Foo (or Reason #83 Why My Wife is Amazing)”
There are times when I feel that my body operates on a very different level than the rest of the world. For the past 10 years I have lived with the fact that I am diabetic. I have a physical need to inject myself with insulin for times a day as my pancreas is not producing it. As a result, we diabetics need to be mindful of the amount of sugar that we ingest.
The logical conclusion is that if minimize, or eliminate, sugar from my diet and continue with my doses of insulin, I will maintain a healthy blood sugar level. But my body seems to be blissfully unaware of this bit of logic.
As I’ve written previously, this summer marks my 40th birthday. A few years back, I discovered that I shared birthdays with James Corden, host of The Late, Late Show on CBS. Not only were we both born on August 22, but we were both born on August 22, 1978. Yes, James Corden and Chris Budd are in fact Birthday Twins! (I still maintain that’s a thing…)
Continue reading “Chris & James’ 40th Birthday Extravaganza”
The weekend of May 4-6th was a beautiful gift for me. Earlier this year, my wife registered for an online training program called Académie Zérolimite. As part of the program, there was a 3-day live event in Quebec City, to which she also had a free ticket to bring a guest along with her. Thankfully, I was the chosen one! 🙂
At what point does a job shift to become a career?
A little over 10 years ago, I joined my current employer’s ranks. I was in my late-twenties, and had just escaped from a 5-year stint working at Chapters. Escaped may be a harsh term, but I’ve never hidden the fact that I was not happy for the last 2-3 years of my time there. I had been part of the store’s management team, working under a string of seemingly increasingly inept General Managers (I think we went through 6 GM’s in the span of my 5 years there, including a good 6-months with no GM at all). We started off as a leadership team of 7-8 people and then got down to 3 for an extended period of time. Needless to say, I was burned out when I left.
Until this point, I had gone from job to job since the age of 16. Some lasted a summer, some lasted a couple of years, but the simple fact remained that they were just jobs; a means to an end. I worked the job, they paid me. Upon leaving Chapters, I then took a job at my current employer – a health insurance company. I was a seasonal hire in their contact centre and eventually ended up being hired full-time. I didn’t like the job in the call centre, but it was a job. There it is again… job.
One of my fondest childhood memories is of the countless hours that my brother and I spent playing Fireball Island. In the late 80’s, Milton Bradley had released a revolutionary (to me at least) board game. No longer was there a flat two-dimensional board on which to play, but here was a three-dimensional island board, with rivers, bridges and caves. At the centre of the island was the primitive idol Vul-Kar. The objective of the game was to reach the idol at the top of the mountain, steal the jewel and escape the island. Continue reading “Fireball Island”
