Word of the week? Nihilistic - just try to say it five times fast!
Nov 23 - Cool( or geeky? )news
Some great news from JMS, creator of Babylon5: he's drafting a screenplay to reboot Forbidden Planet, that 1956 scifi classic that laid the foundation for so much of today's works. It's mechanical star, Robby The Robot, came in at Spot #4 on Wired's Top Fifty Robots Of All Time List – not bad for a robot over fifty! JMS is also working on an adaptation of World War Z, which I have yet to pick up. Robots and zombies both – keep it going, JMS!
Even better news: Samurai Jack is becoming a movie! Thanks Brian – can't wait for that to hit the big screen! This link to World of Warcraft papercraft is also cool.
But not as cool as this – too bad it costs so much. And is only available in the USA. Maybe I should wait for the Nerf version and cross-border shop?
Concrete canvas? What the heck is that? Check out these seven amazing materials – you can build a bunker with just a garden hose!
Nov 24 - Sizable ships
As some of you know, I like Free Things – especially games. Which is why I enjoy browsing this massive list of free online games – they bill themselves as the largest list in the world, in fact, but I always take that with a grain of salt. But... yowza... that's a BIG list!
I also like ships... well, more the design aspect than any other. Show me a good comparison chart, and my brain goes all a-whirl. This one is especially cool – the largest ships in the world compared. You'll never guess how much real estate the biggest one on there takes up.
It's been a while since I last checked, but the Earth & Beyond Emulator Project is still going, which is great to see. I still miss that game – there's still no decent scifi MMO out there. Sometimes playing in a beta can be a bad thing, if it doesn't make it to the big time.
Nov 25 - New Landlords
There's been lots of hoopla about the forthcoming 'Smart Grid' from south of border, where energy costs vary by the hour in many a state. I've enjoyed reading about how things are developing, especially in light( pun intended )of the massive summer Blackout of 2003 – cascading failures of 'dumb' power grids, in effect.
If there's one thing I'm terrible at( insert mile-long joke list here )it's making models. I've tried my hand it at over the years, and the results have been... deplorable. The best was a model of Airwolf, and that had a tragic early accident with flammable substances – the world is better off, believe me. The opposite is true of this guy's talent – models are obviously his thing. Nice work!
We've talked to the new owners of the place we're in, and it's like night and day from the old landlord. The people downstairs are moving out by the end of the month, which means the new owners will be renovating the place, adding sound insulation, among other things. So far, I'm impressed with how well they've listened to what we've had to say, as it bodes well for the near future. First thing on the to-do list? Fixing the hottub – they're in my good books already!
Nov 26 - Raising Dead Tech
If you haven't dropped by lately, you should head on over to Instructables.com – you can find instructions for doing almost anything, with pictures! I just found one today about replacing the CMOS battery in the same laptop model as my parent's old unit that's been dead for 2 years now. I'll give it a try after Christmas and see if I can't resurrect the thing as an alternative to taking along my cherished GatewayFX unit – now that it's out of warranty, I don't want to expose it to danger outside the house, at least not on a daily basis. Hence the Dell X50v PDA comes back into the picture as a lovely little handheld media player... must resist .... getting... iPhone...
I've had no reaction to the H1N1 vaccine, which means that within a week I'll have built up enough antibodies to not worry about it anymore. I still have to get my regular flu shot, which I think will be available to the general public in quantity by early December
For now, I am not going to be bidding on Swoopo.ca until the holidays are over as it's getting crazy there. People are bidding incredible amounts in very stupid ways just to get items before Christmas, so I'm bowing out of that irrational game until things calm down in the new year.
Nov 27 - Ready, Set... Consume!
Today is Black Friday in the USA, the day when most companies' accounts go from the red into the black – hence the name. It's become an important economic indicator for the holiday season, rising in importance year after year for the last decade. This year, NPD Group released their first-ever study that gathered Black Friday results – take a look, and you may plan a cross-border trip next year.!
How many credit cards should you have? I was surprised at the answer here – given that most people have at least two, and some far more than that, you may be surprised too.
Work today was a busy, busy time – the evenings are MUCH busier now due to changes with our payday product. That's good in some ways, bad in others, and I'm hoping it means that we'll be getting busier over the next while. My schedule for December is rather full, and I'm sure the workload isn't going to lighten up anytime soon.
Nov 28 - Um, is that spam?
I like a good pancake, especially with a snack-size cup of apple sauce mixed in – yum! Some people take making pancakes to the next level though, creating works of art from the simple combination of batter and a frying pan. Check some of them out here – now that is good eating!
New Year's Eve is almost upon us, and before that we have the many, many gatherings of friends, family and co-workers at holiday parties ad nauseum. Which is why you should have iDrink.com bookmarked, as it will let you enter the ingredients you have on hand to instantly list every possible drink you can create from said bar stock. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?
Well, that was effective – I sent off an email today to an e-commerce site informing them that their database had been compromised by a hacker. My mother received an email purporting to be from Scotiabank, but the html link led back to the e-commerce site. Wouldn't you know that an hour after I sent the email this morning, the site was offline, and still is 24 hours later?
Nov 29 - Birthday 4 Dad
It was my dad's birthday today, and I managed to surprise him with a new PS2 Slim: that thing is just tiny compared to the original! He was thrilled, and I've added a wireless controller so he can sit back and relax on the couch whilst gaming. We went out to celebrate by having lunch at the local WhiteSpot, which was excellent save for a very soupy chicken/broccoli/cheese dish I ordered. Apparently the blanched broocoli was too watery and the chef couldn't do anything, so I packed it up for some tweaking at home later, as it was otherwise delicious. We had a nice time there, helped by the very attentive waitress Larissa - we just won't order the broccoli when we come back next time.
Today was a decent MW2 day, with a 14-2 kill streak as a result of not moving around too much and staying stealthy. Seems to work, and I enjoy that aspect of the game far more than the run-and-gun-and-die-quickly style. I'm used to playing with a mouse( or trackball )and I just can't fine-tune the Xbox controller to dial in the shots.
I'm feeling a lot less stressed this week, which is good in many ways. The knots in my back have loosened their grip for the most part, enough so that I've gotten though the last few days without having to resort to calling on massage therapy. I also found that I've lost about 10 pounds in the last few months, which is not a good thing. I don't weigh myself all that often, so it was a bit of a shock to see where I'm at – I can only surmise the stress has been taking its toll, as I've not been feeling unwell otherwise, getting my exercise, etc.
Ah, television... it can display so many things, and what better to cheer oneself with on long winter nights than a holiday fireplace? Shaw's ch.17 is carrying the warm, flickering image of fireplace flames 24/7, which I have to say looks great on the big screen. For added authenticity, you can plunk down a small space heater in front of the TV to toast your toes to the crackle of the logs. Sweet! Now I can write up my Christmas list and mail it off to Santa in a bacon-flavoured envelope... ah, good times.
The rain here is tapering off for this week, according to forecasts – we'll see how right the weatherfolk are by week's end: sun or scudding cloud?
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