Today is the 30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. Everywhere I looked, there were tributes to the legendary musician and I thought I would weigh in with my story of where I was when I heard that he died.

I had just turned nine years old. Before school started that Tuesday morning, I sat on the cold, concrete top step outside of the boy's door of Falstaff Public School. One of the other kids once said that their mom told them that sitting on that cold step would give them problems, but I never understood what kind of problems she was referring to and I sat there whenever I felt like it. It never seemed strange either that boys and girls used a different door to get into the school, none of us ever getting to use the much larger door on the side of the school.

As I sat on the step, Robin MacKenzie, the only boy in my class shorter than I, asked me if I'd heard that John Lennon had died.

"No...who's John Lennon?" I replied.

Robin was surprised that I had never heard of John Lennon and told me that he was in a band I'd never heard of called The Beatles. Someone shot and killed him, he said. It was clear that Lennon's death meant more to Robin than it did to me and he probably had not just learned that morning who Lennon was or that he used to be part of The Beatles.

We didn't listen to Lennon's music in the house and we didn't listen to The Beatles. My dad had 8-Tracks of Kenny Rogers and Freddy Fender and to this day I can sing every word of Coward of the County and Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. I don't think anyone would argue that Kenny and Freddy were greater talents than Lennon, but they were a far bigger part of my early life.

I have to believe my parents knew that morning about the terrible news and had chosen not to tell me. They probably didn't think I needed to know that someone I'd never known was now dead. Makes sense.

I'm thankful that many years later the music of John Lennon and The Beatles became a part of my life. I was going to list my favourite tunes here, but realized the list would be much too long.

It was unfortunate that my introduction to John Lennon was on the day after he had been killed. My memory will always include Robin MacKenzie, Falstaff School and that cold, top step outside the boy's door.

Hard to believe that was 30 years ago.

Yesterday was my birthday. While I'm not yet 40, as of yesterday, I'm now in my 40th year. How does it feel to be 39? you ask. Did I have a good birthday? Answers to these and other questions are the subject of this blog post.


Soon after I was up and dressed, my wife and kids came downstairs and started to make a fuss over me. My wife had disobeyed me when I told her not to get me anything and got me a really nice coffee mug from Starbucks (for the office) with a gift card so a regular guy like me can afford Starbucks coffee. My daughter made me a beautiful card with a picture of the two of us standing together. She captured my yellow pants and her purple hair to perfection and on the card she wrote that she loved me more than 1000 elephants.

That's not a typo.

1000 elephants.

Only a parent can know the feeling of being loved more than 1000 elephants and I plan to keep the card forever. My son seemed unaware that it was my birthday, but immediately set out to make his own card for me that I would see after work.

My co-workers took me out for lunch, although technically it was the new hire lunch and not a birthday lunch. I received a nice card and a gift certificate for a night out at the movies which was for my birthday, not for being newly hired.

I heard from everyone in my immediate family throughout the day via email. My youngest brother said he was celebrating my birthday by posting secrets about me to wikileaks, but I suspect he was kidding.

My family surprised me when I got home with Indian take-out and a birthday cake. The food was delicious and it was easy to ignore the strangeness of combining Indian food and birthday cake.

My son gave me his handmade card. It too was beautiful, with a drawing of the two of us looking like paper clips with ten foot legs. My parents had dropped off cards and gifts from themselves, my grandmother and my sister. I heard from Aunts and Uncles and lots of friends. Everyone did too much for my birthday, but I'm thankful for every bit of it.

I find it a bit hard to believe that I'm 39, but I'm ok with the milestone. I'm happy, healthy, have an amazing family and feel like my life is just getting better and better.

As birthdays go, I'd say this was a good one.

Better even than 1000 elephants.

The big news in my life is that I recently started a new job. I'm now a Communications Specialist at a very well known company in my area and I'm very happy with the way everything has been working out. Since I presume that there is interest in knowing the details of my new gig, I'm going to provide as much here as I can. If I've misjudged the level of interest from my faithful readers, then won't I feel silly.

Where?: Large and growing company that everyone not living under a rock knows about. They have policies against employees commenting online and in blogs, so I'm going to refrain from naming them.

What do I do?: I do a lot of writing! Blog posts, emails, executive communication, letters, you name it. I also design, manage and monitor online tools such as blogs, wikis, portals and websites. I haven't done much of that as of yet, but it's coming. I support a number of different teams with their communications needs, so I've been sitting in on their team meetings and I'm ready to be a consultant when I'm given the opportunity.

The commute?: In the morning it's about 20 or 25 minutes door to door (a dream commute for me). The evening drive is more of a...ok it sucks. I leave early enough in the morning to miss the traffic and I leave exactly on time at night to hit all the traffic. Drive home takes at least 45 minutes and I've had a few drives of an hour or more in my first few weeks. It's not as bad as commuting to Toronto, but it's not supposed to be like this where I live.

The people I work with?: Are great. Bright, friendly, helpful, welcoming. I couldn't ask for more.

New thing for me?: Wearing a security badge and having to swipe it everywhere I go. I'm afraid I'll forget to bring it one day and won't be able to get into the building. While sitting in my car, security will worry that I'm blogging about them and I'll have to make a run for it.

Really new thing for me?: How much this organization cares about protecting its sensitive information. It makes perfect sense, especially since in my role I hear about some important things, but other places I've worked didn't seem to care that much. If you see me on the street I won't be able to tell you anything. There's a chance I may have to pretend I don't know you.

How's the coffee?: Not bad for office coffee.

Cafeteria in my building?: There was in the first building, but not in the second. That's right, I've moved in my first three weeks.

Dress code?: Business casual and casual Fridays. I blew it on my first Friday and didn't do the jean thing. I made up for it the next Friday by wearing a mesh t-shirt...ok, that didn't really happen.

Most embarrassing moment?: I was returning to my desk from the stairwell and took a wrong turn. I walked down the wrong hall and several people stopped to watch me as passed their desks. When I got to the end of the hall, I realized it was a dead end and the same people watched me as I passed their desks in the opposite direction. Really tough to look like you belong after you do that.

Orientation?: Yep, full day, first day. I sat with about 50 other new hires. At my table there was myself, a guy named Ray and three people whose names I couldn't hear or understand when they introduced themselves. I may lose touch with those three. One of them had just moved from India and asked me why everyone was wearing little flowers on their jackets. I don't think they celebrate Remembrance Day in India.

Best thing about my job?: Getting to do what I love to do (writing).

Which is better, this job or looking for a job from your basement?: Definitely this job. :)

So far it's?: Great. Really, really great.

We had one last day to enjoy Disney. Originally, our only plans were to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in the evening, but since we had the whole day, we decided we would also spend a few hours at Animal Kingdom. And, if we could make it to Magic Kingdom early, we could go on some of the rides we'd missed the other day, before the Halloween party started.

By this point in the trip I was so exhausted I couldn't even feel the exhaustion any longer. To pack this much into our last day seemed perfectly reasonable and I don't think I even complained.

The first ride of the day was the Kali River Rapids. Signs everywhere warned us we could get wet, even soaked on the ride. What they didn't say was that only some riders would get soaked and yes, of course that rider was me. But who doesn't like to get soaked and have to walk around with wet clothes all day? Again, that would be me.

Next up was Kilamanjaro Safaris. It's a fun ride through an animal park, and if I didn't live 15 minutes from African Lion Safari, I would have thought it was great.

Disney has done a great job of building an authentic-looking African market at Animal Kingdom (I say this as a veteran of zero trips to Africa, so it's possible that my endorsement is meaningless), and if I wasn't still soaked to the bone, I would have enjoyed the atmosphere they created.

After lunch we rode Expedition Everest. The highlight of this ride is climbing very high to the top of their imaginary "Everest," only to stop, then race backwards down the mountain, through a darkened tunnel where some riders were horrified to see the legendary Yeti nearly attack our vehicle. I was not horrified, as by this point in the trip I was quite tired of racing through darkened tunnels and was staring at the floor, fighting a growing feeling of nausea. I'm sure the whole Yeti experience would be more fun if I wasn't still soaking wet.

The last ride for us at Animal Kingdom was the DINOSAUR ride. In this ride, prehistoric creatures attack you from all sides as you race against a giant meteor that will surely kill all dinosaurs and Disney patrons if we aren't able to get out in time. I found this ride to be extremely frightening and not great for young kids. To be honest, it was almost more than a soaking wet, nauseas dad who only moments before not seen Yeti was prepared for.

We took our leave of Animal Kingdom and I noticed that our Wal-mart stroller was beginning to fall apart. Although we had spent very little money on the stroller, it did seem to me that it should last more than a week. As this was our last day, the idea of abandoning the stroller completely at the end of the day seemed to be growing on me.

Here's what I know about what happened next. We arrived at Magic Kingdom. We went on some rides we had enjoyed earlier in the trip. We also enjoyed some rides for the first time. I've completely lost track of which rides belonged to which day, so I'll only talk about those that have not been discussed in previous blog posts. This problem could have been avoided by blogging closer to the time, but what can I do about that now?

In no particular order we enjoyed Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (very funny live show), Stitch's Great escape (great special effects, but frightening for the kids) and Space Mountain (pitch-black tunnels, head down, when will these things end???).

The park closed for all but those of us who had purchased a special ticket to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. The kids changed into their costumes (my son was a skeleton and my daughter was a corpse bride) and we made the rounds to collect two full bags of candy. There was a Halloween parade, led by the headless horseman, and the kids just loved it. The magic castle was the scene for a show featuring all of Disney's villains and if I wasn't really tired at that point, I would have thought it was fabulous as well.

Somehow I was able to convince my wife and the kids that we should take our tattered stroller and head back to the hotel. We had packed as much into this day as was humanly possible and could say that our entire Disney experience had been wonderful in nearly every way.

We slept well that night.

Thank you Disney...we'll be back.

There are two water parks at Disney: Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. We weren't sure we were going to have time to visit either park, but decided the day before that it might be nice to cool off and do something different, so we put Typhoon Lagoon on our agenda.

As with all things Disney, Typhoon Lagoon is huge. There are slides for little kids, not so little kids, adults and really foolish adults (little did I know that I would soon fit into the last category). They have the world's largest wave pool, with six-foot waves that sweep you away every 90 seconds.

But the thing that really drew me to the park was the opportunity to snorkel with sharks. I have been fascinated by sharks for as long as I can remember and I've dreamed that someday I might actually get to swim with them. I should note that many of these dreams are nightmares where I'm attacked by a great white, but the fact remains, they're dreams. This was my chance and I could barely believe it was happening.

There was however a small problem.

I. Can't. Snorkel.

If I'm getting stuff off my chest, I also can't talk about blood or needles without feeling faint, I've never been able to see the hidden image in those pictures, no matter how long I look with unfocused eyes, and I can't iron a shirt to save my life. But none of that mattered on this day, except my inability to snorkel.

Snorkelling is defined as "the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn. Use of this equipment allows the snorkeler to observe underwater attractions for extended periods of time with relatively little effort."

My own definition is somewhat different: "Snorkelling is the practice of putting on a mask and inserting a snorkel into my mouth and immediately starting to hyperventilate. Any and all attempts to calm down will be met with escalating hyperventilation and all details of underwater attractions will be learned only through the reports of other snorkellers."

And so it was at Typhoon Lagoon. My wife and the kids put their masks on, faces in the water and were eager to swim with rays, colourful fish, and reef and hammerhead sharks. I put my mask on, face in the water and began my comical act of trying to drown. There was no way I was going to make it work, so I got out of the water and watched my family live my dream.

The rest of the day was much better. We spent a lot of time in the wave pool, the kids being thrown backwards, disappearing under the water for what felt like an hour, emerging with huge smiles on their faces and saying "let's do that again!" Now that I've been to a wave pool with waves every 90 seconds, every other wave pool will seem like a giant bore.

The water slides were lots of fun and the kids never tired of running up yet another set of stairs to hit them all. The lineups were short or nonexistent and we raced each other to the bottom.

The main attraction is a slide called Humunga Kowabunga, where riders shoot down five stories in a pitch black tunnel. Neither of my kids were able to ride (height restriction for my son, cowardice for my daughter), but they somehow convinced me to do it and report back.

I wasn't aware of the "pitch black tunnel" component until it was too late, so with water pelting me in the face, I travelled at ridiculous speeds and half hoped that I would die before reaching the bottom. When the tunnel spit me out, I was partially on my side, trying hard not to flip onto my face, with my bathing suit nearly ripped off my body. I'm sure I was a sight and a half and the kids screamed "Daddy, do it again!"

Fat chance kids. Fat chance.

Day 6 was going to be another very busy day. We had been told that Magic Kingdom was best done over two days, but we were going to do it in one. We're like that.

As we prepared to leave our hotel room, we realized that my daughter had lost her new Minnie Mouse hat. It was likely left behind the day before at DisneyQuest during one of the many virtual reality experiences.

The hotel gave us the number for Disney lost and found and I called as soon as we arrived at Magic Kingdom. I was immediately placed on hold and stayed there for about fifteen minutes. Considering roaming charges on my cell phone, I'm quite certain the cost of the call far outweighed the cost of buying a new hat, but I decided to complete the mission. I'll have to live with the irony. The hat had been found and I would pick it up sometime later.

We were ready for Magic Kingdom.

I don't remember a lot of the details from my previous trip to Disney, as a 12-year-old, but what little that stayed with me is mostly Magic Kingdom. I remember the Country Bear Jamboree. I remember the Pirates of the Caribbean. I remember it's a small world. It was special for me to go back and experience these rides again with my kids. However, I didn't realize that the Jamboree is really lame. When I first went on Pirates, I didn't see Jack Sparrow hiding around every corner. And when I went on it's a small world, it wasn't closed for refurbishment. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that animatronic bears and pirates had lost their ability to wow me. I guess rides need to be updated. The kids yawned and we found other things to do.

Lunch that day was at The Crystal Palace where we would meet Winnie the Pooh and friends. I hadn't had an all-you-can-eat meal yet that day, and was noticeably weak as a result.

After lunch, we rode other "must do" rides such as Dumbo the Flying Elephant and The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. These rides are slightly better than what you'd expect at your local fall fair, but we can say we've done them. The kids really enjoyed The Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There were no lines for many of the rides, so we went on again and again.

Disney does a fabulous job of putting on live character shows. Dream along with Mickey was excellent and the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular was well worth staying up past my bedtime.

Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 3D theatre show and although it has been around for a long time, it's still excellent. My son somehow missed the grand finale where Donald Duck flies over the audience and crashes into the back wall and shared his disappointment with us for about four days. Maybe someday he'll return with his own kids to see the show and know the true meaning of disappointment.

A very forgettable dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe and we were ready to call it a day. We hadn't been able to do all the rides, but not to worry, we decided we'd come back for a few hours at the end of Day 8.

I guess you really do need more than one day for Magic Kingdom.

I know I'm going to get in trouble for writing this, but it must be written. My wife always packs too many activities into every "vacation."

So it was all I could do to keep from laughing when she told me that Day 5 would be "an off day." The only plans that we had were to take a shuttle and a monorail to a different hotel, have breakfast with Mickey and friends, come back to the hotel, take a water taxi to Downtown Disney for some shopping, have lunch at a restaurant called T-Rex, maybe spend a few hours in a place called Disney Quest, come back to the hotel to get changed, then go to yet another hotel for the Hoop-De-Doo Musical Revue that evening. Oh, how I had hoped to hear the words "nap" and "hammock," but they were nowhere to be found.

First stop, breakfast. As we were taken to the table, the hostess motioned toward the all-you-can-eat buffet that would be our first diet-busting-free-for-all that day. Several days of stuffing myself were catching up to me and I was concerned that even breakfast had become a gorge fest.

The kids were excited as the characters came by our table. I temporarily put my fork down as Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald and Daisy Duck posed for pictures and signed autographs. Perhaps in a food induced coma, I found it hard to tell Goofy and Pluto apart, but kept that to myself. I noticed a defibrillator on the wall, not far from my table, and silently felt some comfort.

Throughout the trip, my son made it a habit to go to the washroom about 200 times a day, so it was no surprise that he left the table three times during breakfast. I had also come to realize that his longer than normal trips involved flushing the toilet multiple times and washing his hands using soap from every dispenser in the washroom. I don't know where these habits come from, but I guess the Disney experience is going to be different for every child.

Despite loud protests from the kids, we left without enjoying any of the breakfast desserts. Forgive me kids, but the day you need dessert at breakfast is the day you really have a problem.

We arrived at Downtown Disney and my daughter hoped she could use her own money to buy more stuffed Disney characters. My son hoped he could use more of my money to buy yet another pirate gun or sword. As silly as some of these items seemed to me, I couldn't forget that as a 12-year-old, I bought a fake arm cast, a spongy fake rock and a five foot long rubber snake as my Disney souvenirs, so I was in no position to question them.

Lunch at T-Rex was noisy, but fun. The kids loved the animatronic dinosaurs on the walls and I enjoyed a 3,000 calorie cheeseburger with potato chips.

Next up was DisneyQuest, a four level interactive theme park. My son enjoyed some of the video games, but my daughter was drawn to the more active games and I soon found myself playing alongside her as a human pinball. Apparently, I was born to be a pinball as I easily beat all the other players in the game. My clogged arteries made exiting the game somewhat difficult and my daughter seemed alarmed that I was covered in sweat (a condition which lasted about three hours). Lucky for me, I was then able to assume a boxing game already in progress and, while feeling the onset of a stroke, badly outpointed my opponent.

What better way to keep the feeling going than to play some virtual reality games? All of us had helmets strapped to our heads and collectively battled virtual enemies by swinging wildly at them with swords. The total attack on our senses had been too much for my wife, and she spent the next hour or so lying on the floor and various benches, hoping she wouldn't be sick.

So it was just the three of us. We strapped on more helmets and rode virtual magic carpets looking for virtual treasures. The game allowed players to look left and right to see the other players in the game, but as soon as the ride began I couldn't find my kids and assumed one was off washing his virtual hands and one was off buying virtual stuffed toys.

A virtual raft ride and a pirate adventure later I knew I had to call it a day. We took the elevator down to ground level and my son asked, "Is this the tower of terror?" confirming that we have indeed scarred him for life.

My wife was able to nap off her sickness at the hotel and we were ready for Disney's Hoop-De-Doo Musical Review. It's a dinner-show that is both hokey and fun. The actors sing and dance and mingle with the audience. Aside from having to worry about being pulled up on stage, I had a great time and the kids laughed and sang along with the show.

The meal is (you guessed it) another all-you-can-eat affair. Buckets of fried chicken and ribs were delivered to our table. Cornbread, baked beans and a steamed vegetable, that seemed laughably out of place, completed the meal. I ordered a draft beer with my meal and they left a pitcher on the table.

We rolled out of the show and went back to our hotel for a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, at 3:00 a.m. I had a bad case of Hoop-De-Heartburn and stared at the ceiling for about an hour and wondered what I was doing to myself.

Sometimes these off days take more out of you than you might expect.