Sunday 8 February 2009

Comments, Cable and Cars

As you may guess, it's not easy coming up with New Stuff every week... kind of like when your favourite TV show comes up with a 'Clip Episode' that reuses a ton of stuff from the past season to make up for the fact that they've either run out of money or ideas, or both. So far in this blog, neither seems likely... heck, I'd LOVE to be paid for writing this. Some Ideas have already been forwarded... any more?


Feb 2nd - The Day After Groundhogs

I like Groundhog Day, both the event and the film starring Bill Murray. There's just something about the film that speaks to me, about an imperfect guy who gets the chance( once he recognizes it )to become the person he's always wanted to be, through simple trial and error. Though there are no consequences to his actions, as he repeats his day over and over, he doesn't turn to violence but instead turns outward to help others, as well as inward to better himself. A lovely thought, and too rare... this site gets into some great detail about the messages of the film. Though I wonder if Bill Murray's other film with groundhog cousins in it may illustrate that most folk don't know there's a difference between the little furballs.

Each year around this time, I try to re-watch the film, but this year it will have to wait until later in the week - just too busy and too tired with the move. There's always something to unpack, move around or put on a list to purchase when its discovered that we're out or simply don't have it, like phone cords or the like.

This has to do with the whole darkness / winter thing that people go through every year: Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD for short. Unless you're a Gremlin, bright lights usually help keep folk from feeling down. I'm lucky in that my workplace faces towards the west, so I get light all day long and even a peek at sunset through the masses of windows that enclose my corner-built branch. Sunshine! Not the film either, which I just bought this week - who wouldn't want to get within hugging distance of a star?

Feb 3rd - Russian Empire

The Death Star - who wouldn't want to have the keys to this Ultimate Weapon, floating in orbit just waiting to blast a planet or two into dust? Uninhabited planets, of course! I've always wondered just how much it would cost to construct. Now, someone has come up with a dollar figure, based on the materials contained in the moon-sized battlestation - can you guess how many times the current U.S. National Debt the figure is?

On a related note: Darth Vader helmets... as re-imagined by top artists, on display at the Warhol Museum.

The Russians know a thing or two about breakfast, as well as how to build really big things - maybe someone should have suggested a Death Star to them in the 70's ? The gigantic construction in the photos is known as the Woodpecker, an early-warning radar system developed during the Cold War that could see missiles over the horizon. It got its name from the tapping sound it made on radio sets all over the world at certain frequencies. Thankfully, it was shut down and abandoned decades ago... leaving the giant metal skeletons to rust slowly in obscurity.

Feb 4th - Car Confidence

My parents had been looking at perhaps getting a new vehicle this week, a Mazda 5, as my mother has been having trouble getting out of our Mazda 3 lately, due to several medical reasons. They had been dealing with Pacific Mazda in Victoria, the same ones that they had purchased their current car from. Sadly, even given the current economic climate, the salesfolk at Pacific did not proceed with my parent's best interests in mind... which I deduced from what they had told me up to this point. So, I went in today in the morning to sit in on their appointment, and was rather annoyed with the indifference and vagueness of the sales pitch - it was as though the staff expected to spout off a few numbers and then watch as my parents signed on the dotted line, dazzled by the opportunity they were being given to throw their money at the dealer in large wads.

Needless to say, the sale didn't happen, and after work today I went into detail with my parents about how a lot of the car sales industry works, relating it to the techniques and information presented by Pacific to them this past week. My favourite was the 'Flow Chart', a vague collection of scribbled half-numbers in circles joined by lines criss-crossing the page - supposedly outlining the value of their trade-in, package options and 'discounts' being offered. My parents won't be going back to Pacific except for service, as they are the only Mazda dealer for fifty km in any direction, which likely explains their 'Only Game In Town' attitude they took with their sales pitch. I know it's a game, and that the rules are subtle... but neither side should ever assume the other are ignorant of ANY common sense.

Feb 5th - The Cable Returns.. or re-runs?

Moving on towards the end of the week... I will be SO glad to get a day off work, at home...

The cable guy was at out new place this week, and gave us good news: the signal into the house is plenty strong enough to support all the TV's in the place, plus a few more if needed. This can be an issue depending on the quality of the signal in your neighbourhood, as happened to us in Fonthill, where an extra line( at no charge )had to be run in to ensure a stable signal for all the outlets in use. This bodes well for fast internet speeds, assuming things stay working, which they haven't so far.

Now that I have cable again, I find myself reluctant to watch TV - odd, but I consider it mostly a waste of my time now. Considering I am out of the house for at least ten hours a day now, my time is becoming even more valuable, especially as work is getting busier with tax season and the ton of daily details that being a manager entails.

Still, there are a few shows I want to catch up on: BSG, which is in its final season & final episodes right now, plus The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which continues to surprise me with the quality of its writing as well as production values. The Terminator franchise, which is releasing Terminator: Salvation this summer, has often made me wonder about the intricacies of time travel. Someone has helpfully looked into how Skynet could make better use of its resources in killing John Connor than sending back machines shotgun-style to be mangled in various desperately-contrived ways. So, assuming that Skynet is listening, we're all doomed....

Feb 6th - Smiling... ack! Zombies!

The evening piled on, with a nice ending: my last customer of the night, a regular, gushed at how she loved coming to my branch because I was so efficient, friendly and professional. When I joked she should tell others, she surprised me by grabbing a comment card and stating firmly that she would send it in Monday with glowing comments. Needless to say, after having had several other customers( bad apples all )send in not-so-great cards, this response left me with a happy grin until I left for the night.

Apparently other people wanted to leave people with a smile a few weeks ago in Texas: hackers altered a few road signs to produce amusing messages. Go have a look. Makes me long for the days when things were hacked for the fun and the challenge, and not in order to make money, cause disruptions for millions of people or to plain old cause damage.

Feb 7th - Books I've never read

An interesting place to visit is Privacyworld.com. They have a ton of useful info about keeping YOUR info safe, as well as educating yourself. Though I am very well-versed on keeping my info private( it took someone ten years recently to find me again! )there were things I didn't know there. Worth a look!

Tonight, I looked through my collection for that rare bird: a book I've never read yet owned forever. The result? The Hero and The Crown by Robin McKinley, which won the Newberry Award in 1985. Apparently I've had the book since around that time but never got around to reading it, which amazes me - looking over my collection, I can recount at a glance when I've last read almost every one of them. Still, there are still a few that I haven't read, or finished reading.

Makes me wonder where the nearest library is around here...

Feb 8th - Day off? Work 8 hrs at home!

I managed to sleep in today, and it felt great. Though this house is not perched in a sunny spot, it has two huge skylights in the roof, one of which is in the main bathroom. Sunshine splashing, soon enough....

After spending all day in my living room, I had all both the couches and the chair cleared off, and all the electronics working properly. The TV is hooked up, the DVD players work, and the surround system sounds great. After long experience organizing masses of wires, I have it down to a fine, if slow, art - now that it's all in place, I can use any piece of media and have it displayed on the TV, with the option of the sound going to the surround or just headphones. Once I have the rest of the room to rights, I'll be able to enjoy the room for any form of entertainment... even relaxing, by gosh!

The only thing that gave me trouble today was configuring the wireless internet connections. This is always a tricky business, and for the entire week I have had trouble with things interfering with each other. There are a total of four routers now sitting on top of my shelves, and after today they're finally programmed to play nice with each other - one for the downstairs tenant, one for my parents, a faster 'N' version for me, and a non-wireless one for my VOIP Vonage phone. Not for the faint of heart, that.

Good news about my own cable modem too: it's not dead, just not programmed for the new place. Whew!

Looking around as I write this blog late Sunday night, I have to say I am pleased with my setup, moreso than at my May St address. Here, I have room for my entire 3-pc couch set, surrounded by shelves at a good distance without crowding, plus a nice see-through wood burning fireplace. The room is sunken, and paneled on the ceiling with wood, with large windows at the front. It is a calm, relaxing room and I am looking forward to spending a lot of quality 'me time' in it... I don't get enough of that.


Comments, we had comments last week - yay! Well, one was more of a personals ad / sticky note, but the others were good - Trevor, I will email you, and Anonymous: The story proceeds... slowly. Thanks for asking!