Part-time prevaricator
I shot some photos of the moon through the branches using my longest lens (55–250mm), and was quite pleased how they turned out.
Then I retreated indoors (it’s frickin’ freezing out there) and wrote about 800 words in a new Prairie SF short story. First contact with a farmer. We’ll see where it leads.
James Gillis Johanneson passed away January 4th, 2017, in Ste. Rose du Lac. He was 70 years old.
Jim (“JJ” to his students and friends, “Jimmy Danger” to his sons-in-law—ask them why!) was born in 1946 in Winnipegosis, MB, to George and Jeanne (née Gilliam) Johanneson. He married Theresa Hrushowy in 1970, and they had three children: Patrick, Nicola, and Susan.
In his late teens Jim worked up north, in Hay River, NWT. When he returned south he took teacher training. He taught Industrial Arts (ie, shop) and Computer Science classes at Ste. Rose Collegiate Institute (later Ste. Rose School) for over 25 years, and then, later, taught shop in Lac Brochet, MB. He was a well-loved teacher, the favourite of many students. He had an approachable, down-to-earth manner with everyone, students and fellow teachers alike.
In addition to being a shop teacher, he was a carpenter and all-around handyman. If something needed fixing—plumbing, electrical, insulation, you name it—he could generally fix it. He undertook several major renovation projects at home, and also did a lot of work at his kids’ houses. (Ask Nicola about the bathroom mirror, or Patrick about the siding and deck.)
Jim served on the Manitoba Teachers’ Society executive for years. He was also a dedicated volunteer with Westman Media, creating tons of content for the local Access TV channel.
He loved to read, and the house in Ste. Rose was full of bookshelves overflowing with science-fiction and war novels. He enjoyed camping, and in summer 1981 some of the extended family made a month-long convoy trip across western Canada to Whitehorse, Yukon.
Jim loved kids. He would often go for walks with his children and (later) grandchildren, pausing to check the level of the river or teach them to skip stones at the beach.
In the last part of his life, Jim was afflicted with dementia, and he lived the last six years in the Dr. Gendreau Personal Care Home.
Jim is survived by his wife Terry; their children Patrick (Kathleen Kalberg), Nicola (Joël Parent), and Susan (Jeff Walden); grandchildren Julian, Isaac, Cedric, and Genevieve; brothers Brian (“Oscar” to all), George (Brenda), and Bill (Bonny); and his uncle Bill and aunt Phyllis Johanneson. He is predeceased by his parents George Sr. and Jeanne Johanneson, and his parents-in-law Nicholas and Regina Hrushowy.
Memorial donations may be made to:
A very special “thank you” to all the dedicated staff working at the Gendreau Home; thanks to you, we never had to worry about Jim’s well-being.
This is my dad, Jim Johanneson. “JJ” to his students, his co-workers, and his friends. “Jimmy Danger” to his sons-in-law.
A couple days ago, he left this world. I miss him but I know he’s not feeling any pain now.
I will surely say more later, but for now: Thanks, Dad.
If you’re interested in making a memorial donation in Dad’s honour, here are the charities we as a family have selected:
If you’re interested in sending flowers, please, spend the money on one of the above charities. If you want to leave a note of condolence for us, the ones left behind, you can do so on the funeral home’s site.
Just finished registering my new toaster oven (or “mini oven” as the company would have it). On the last screen, where I’m encouraged to set a password for my new account (one more I’ll probably never sign into again), I was asked two questions:
Uh…
Curious as to why they’d be interested in my situation vis-à-vis Nespresso™, I did a quick Google search for [company name] nespresso. Turns out that the company makes compatible landfill-choking pods for the Nespresso™ machine.
Live and learn.
Found some doodles in my father-in-law’s French reader.
Here are my wife and I at Christmastime (shortly before we headed off for Midnight Mass).
Thanks to my brother-in-law Joël, who took the photo.
Another day, another short story rejected. (It’s actually the same one I wrote about earlier.)
I sighed, and then opened up The (Submission) Grinder to find the next market to send it to.
Wish me luck!
One of my all-time favourite Christmas carols is “Ça Bergers”. (Most of my favourite carols are French, since I came up in a French immersion school. It makes it hard to find them, living as I do in a predominantly English part of Manitoba. Oh well.)
Every year I look it up on YouTube. The first year, there was one version, not a great one. It sounded like it’d been recorded in a high-school gym onto cassette, and probably was.
This year: There are plenty of choices. Here are a couple for you. (Well, for me.)
(with altered lyrics, natch)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxZjA7cao3Q
Which do you prefer?
For those that didn’t care for yesterday’s Giger delights, I offer this.
When I was a kid, we had this song (along with the other two Snoopy vs. the Red Baron tunes, and a bunch of Royal Guardsmen songs on the B‑side) on an LP with a pink cardboard sleeve. I must have come pretty close to wearing the record out over the years.
I actually still have the record (thanks, Mom!) but a) I don’t have a record player and b) it’s pretty badly warped now, so the last time I tried to listen to it, it sped up and slowed down to a degree comparable to the songs they play on Lip Sync Battle.
Fun fact: As a kid I assumed the sound effect on the line “The Baron then offered / A holiday toast” was a toaster popping out toast. Now I know it’s a champagne cork. Ah, youth.
So yeah. If you’re offended by the idea of someone mangling “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”, then move along. There are many other posts here that you might enjoy.
For those of you that remain: H. R. Giger[*] reads “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”.
[*] Not really H. R. Giger.