I'll make it public so that maybe I have a chance at achieving it. My friend Joel and I have agreed to a "six-pack by summer" challenge. We are both reasonably muscular, reasonably athletic people but have never had a six pack. I've always had a nice layer of insulation although, maybe like everyone, I can feel my hidden six-pack. We've decided to help each other achieve this goal with a formal challenge.

Here are the rules: On or before July 1 2008 we both need to have a visible six-pack. By visible we mean that we need to clearly and undeniably see at least the vertical and one horizontal cut. If we achieve this then our two families will go on a reward weekend to NYC. If only one achieves this then the reward is gone but the one who did not achieve has to pay a penalty to the other, which has yet to be decided. The goal is for BOTH OF US to make it.

We started about two weeks ago. My stats at that time were as follows:

• Weight: 192 lbs
• Cuts: 0
• Pants: Tight after Christmas. Cannot slip a piece of paper between tummy and pants.

Approximately 14 days later am at:

• Weight: 185lbs
• Cuts: 0
• Pants: Loose.

Approximately 1 month later am at:

• Weight: 179 lbs
• Cuts: Am starting to see the top two of the pack!
• Pants: Belt at smallest notch and still loose.

 Approximately 6 weeks later am at:

• Weight: 179 lbs, about the same as before, but I think some of it is net gain of muscle.
• Cuts: They're not mythical anymore.  You can definitely see them starting to come.  Top 4 are or can be made visible under most lighting conditions.
• Pants: Belt at smallest notch and very loose.
• Energy:  High, have increased the excercise.

My strategy has been to restructure the diet. Eliminate simple carbs and reduce volume of food, substituting protein and fibre mostly. Increase excercise (although I haven't scheduled this much yet). So far these results have come almost entirely from the intake side of the house.  I expect to strongly increase the excercise over the next month as the weather starts to allow safer running.

I'm off from work for a week and staying at home alone with the kids. Weather outside is very cold and Bogusia has the car so we're pretty much housebound. Here are some of the super fun games we play. Includes the Dangerous Snake, the Fiery Crash, the Moron Game, the Scaring Game and the Victim Game.

Well, another 20+ cms of snow today. I just spent nearly two hours on the driveway. To be honest, I love all this snow. Last winter was no good, but this winter has more than made up for it and there is still nearly half to go! I put together this video of snow, which I think turned out rather well due mostly to Nick Cave's excellent Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow. Press play if you want to see a lot of snow.

Karolina has a toy Santa that sings and dances. Robert also dances, as you can see.

Christmas Eve this year was celebrated in Sherbrooke, about an hour and a half east of Montreal near Magog. We recently met a Polish family, Artur, Beata and little Karolina, which moved there just a few months ago. Artur has a post-doctoral position at the University of Sherbrooke working on top secret nanotechnology to efficiently harvest solar energy for use in satellites (really!).

We arrived about noon on December 23rd with the whole family including dogs. First thing was to have a cup of tea and then head out for a dog walk before daylight ran out. Parc du Mont-Bellevue is a large natural area bordering the University. A loop about 5km long provided us a couple of hours worth of dog sledding, luge practice, canon balls into the snow and plenty of go-fetch.

Upon returning it was time to get to work with preparing the next day's feast. The responsibilities were divided as follows:

• Beata: Dough for perogies, soups, cakes
• Artur: Cooked fish, helped with home-made noodles.
• Bogusia: Perogy stuffing and herring.
• Alex: Stuffed buns

This year I figured out that making the bun-stuffing a day early was what I was missing from my dad's recipe. Beata made perfect borsch and the best home-made noodles, but unluckily her cakes fell down every time.

Jakub and Robert loved to play with their new two year old friend Karolina. Karolina's mother talked to her all the time and she picked up cute comments that didn't sound like they should come from a toddler: "Oh how wet the dogs are." "Oh what a huge meal". "Oh what a big racket." She's a delightful and intelligent little girl.

Robert loved all the musical toys in the house, especially the dancing santa. He danced with Mr Clause for hours. During the rare times that santa got boring there was always the house with all the real-life sound effects.

Dec 24 was all about finishing the food and then eating it. Everyone was pretty tired for some reason and we were moving a little slower than the day before. When the kids had their nap we also wrapped all the presents to put under the tree,

Another Polish couple and their boy came over for dinner. They brought desert including a delicious "Poppies and Macaroni", which was some kind of a sweet layered construction topped with whipped cream. I think I'll try to recreate it in the future. My aunts deserts from the Calgary Christmases were still king in my opinion, but these were pretty yummy.

We quickly gave up trying to make a dent in the food. I am not exagerating when I say that after everyone had gorged the serving plates looked practically as full as when they started. They must have had leftovers for weeks.

Then came presents, which just turned into a crazy free-for-all. There were two remote controlled cars. The fathers tried to handle the remotes, but the kids handled the cars directly.

All in all a great Christmas for two families alone in Quebec. I would go for it again next year!

Melanie and Joel got Jakub a very excellent Christmas present this year: A Build-a-Bear! They gave him a gift certificate and took him through the store to select his own custom bear skin and clothing. There was so much selection! He wanted to go for a dinosaur theme first, then he got fixated on pink dancing shoes, until finally he saw the butterfly wings that he settled on. The bear even came in a nice keeper-box, which made a perfect cocoon.

For the next few days Jakub and the bear were inseparable. This video is Jakub showing off his bear and giving a big Thank You to Melanie and Joel.

My friends and I went to a football game at Olympic Stadium. The sound people turned the volume up to PAINFUL and the players turned down their level to BORING. So the last quarter was spent by me and the kids exploring the various ramps and hallways of the stadium.

For google

For google

Found this old video of when Jakub was learning to crawl.