Well, this is what you get when you combine a day off with being too tired to do more than sit on the couch... a link-heavy blog. Try not to let the monitor tilt forward from the weight...
March 16 - Man Caves?
As some of you know, I have a penchant for the apocalyptic... which is odd, as I have NO desire to try to survive post-holocaust mutant attacks with only roasted rat and crunchy cockroaches for food. Still, there are many ways to destroy the world with science( and even random asteroids )so you never know if something will just creep up on us all unawares...
These days, the phrase 'rec room' seems to have died off, to be replaced with things like 'home theater' or 'family room' or even the ubiquitous 'den' ... any of those describe a place where people gather to relax, to entertain themselves and to socialize.
So where does a Man Cave fit into the above categories? I have to admit, I'd rather tell people we'll be watching a movie in a home theater than a man cave... sounds like a place where one goes to hide from the world. Still, there are TV shows about the subject, and there's debate on which term to use to describe such a place( Man Cave or Manctuary ). Since the term Man Cave has made it into the Urban Dictionary, I guess it will be with us for a while... though hopefully not as long as wassup has been.
Then we have the ultimate Man Cave... well, at least if you're feeling somewhat insecure.
March 17 - Green Day! No, wait a sec...
Happy St. Patrick's Day to y'all... in case you thought you knew all about the holiday, this site has some facts about today's celebrations that perhaps you didn't know. There are a few more by this guy who is odd in his own unique way. A more official site is here, which may be more towards the mainstream taste.... if you're feeling green - I wonder if Oscar The Grouch is Irish?
I guess I have a soft spot for St. Paddy's Day, as my favourite colour is green. Though I don't have as much of a fondness for Oscar The Grouch, despite this excellent pic that my friend Mike made of me as Oscar a little while back. Maybe because I am less of a grouch than I was back then? Hmmm.
Last year, I posted about how McDonald's was bringing back the Shamrock Shake in 2008 "for a limited time" only. Have a look a little further down that page... the ingredients may make your eyes pop and your heart stutter in fear - yikes! Sadly, or perhaps not so sadly, McDonald's did not offer the Shamrock Shake to the public this year... so no memories of minty-green goodness were formed.
I guess that's what all the green beer is supposed to substitute for. Probably better, in the long run... especially in this, the age of the iPhone, where people have created programs like the Green Beer Finder to help thirsty iPhone owners out on St. Paddy's day. My, how the times are a-changin' ... though it's REALLY COOL that iPhone users now have Shazam, an app that can identify ANY song you hear playing simply by holding the iPhone up to the music! Incredible!!!!
March 18 - Super Funny
Almost everyone, at one time or another, has dreamed about having superpowers. This thread here has people talking about what superpowers they would have, if they could have them. Of course, most superhero origins are ones beyond the soon-to-be-hero's control... I can't think of a superhero in any media that chose his/her superpowers; radioactive spiders don't take direction very well, y'know.
And, since today is mid-week hump day, and I can't let a blog entry go baconless, I present... bacon porn! It's family-safe, surprisingly.
Also humping nicely along is Arrested Development... well, the series is. Put it a different way: I'm really enjoying it so far, and that's only the first season... dry, witty humour tossed around zany dysfunctional family units... love it! I'm watching it on my PS2( thanks Rene! )which is working surprisingly well with a DVD remote and looks great on the big screen... sure beats swapping DVD's in and out all the time. Too bad DVD changers were always too expensive... which I guess really isn't too bad after all, as it's lead to media being stored on hard drives and not easily-scratched or lost discs... which have to be swapped out all the time to watch things. The Rise of the PVR, friends... or TiVO in the US: trend, or Evil Plan? You decide.
March 19 - Two Calls at once!
In the midst of work's grinding fatigue, some good news today, somewhat indirectly: Crazy Lady's hubby came in today to send some funds back home... where he apparently is going too! Not that I disliked him, really, but it gives me hope that his wacko wife will follow shortly and so leave my sphere of interaction forever. One can cope... I still have flashbacks of her head starting to spin around, moments away from emitting streams of vomit while voices chanted unholy dirges in the darkening lobby... oh wait, that was from The Exorcist. You get the point.
Some more good timing: as I finished work today, later than I'd have liked( as usual )my just-now turned-back-on cell rang: it was Josh! I'd not managed to talk to him for some time, so I was delighted... except that I was trying to leave and that meant I needed to talk to my security company. So I asked him to call me back in 10 mins and hung up... only to have my phone ring AGAIN before I could dial - would you believe it was BRIAN? Imagine what the odds are that two good friends of mine BOTH decide to call me with ten seconds of each other, after months of no contact?
So that was a nice evening... I managed to talk to both Brian and Josh in detail, which was great given the time difference. Brian and I chatted on Skype, which ran rather well on my laptop... until the router choked - see the entry for the 22nd below on that. All in all, a great end to a crappy day.
March 20 - Watching the weather
Today was the first day of spring, and it was a doozy. Sun, rain, wind... all within an hour's period. I've heard a few of the long-time residents here say "If you don't like the weather in Victoria, wait 30 mins." It's true: living on an island, large as it is, does make for changeable weather. Plus, having the massive heatsinks of the Olympic Mountains to the south keeps things cool sometimes, if the wind is from that direction... brrr! Some people disagree with this assessment however; this one in particular, who like me lived in the Great Lakes region for a long spell before moving to Victoria.
Also, Watchmen opened 2 weeks ago, and apparently hasn't done as well as everyone had expected. Perhaps they should have released this alternate trailer... which has footage from Wall-E set to the music from Watchmen. It clicks rather well, actually... a dark, edgy Wall-E? Come on, you wanna watch it...
March 21 - On Gaming
I was thinking recently that I don't have anyone to game with out here, and that it's been years since I last gamed with a group. My last gaming group kind of fizzled out, for various reasons, and I've missed it - I grew up playing things like DnD, Heroes Unlimited and TMNT. I can see that part of the reason I liked gaming was being able to tell a story as much as participate in one... the interactivity between the storyteller and the audience was very personal and fulfilling, at times. Other times, it was intensely frustrating and quite often boring... but then, life is like that too, right?
There's quite a few things that've been written about gaming, that are out there in the wilds of the 'net. Some are funny, and creative. Others aren't.
Then again, when things get a little TOO nerdy, this happens.
March 22 - On Routers
I went out and purchased a new router today, as I've HAD it with my Belkin N router. Over the past year that I've owned it, it's become increasingly flakier: for no reason, it will lose connection to the 'net and I'll have to reset it. This is VERY annoying when gaming, downloading, surfing... anything, really. So after the router did it to me several times a day for the last week, and didn't respond to ANY of the tech tips I dredged up from various support forums, I packed it in - apparently I'm not the only one who's had issues with this model. Good riddance; I now have a new, expensive doorstop.
The replacement? Not this one by Dlink - while I'd love to splurge on it, I won't use a lot of what it is capable of. Instead, my pre-purchase research led me to the Dlink DIR-655 - not much of a name, but it's a solid router with a lot of good reviews. After a fairly simply setup, getting the other PC's hooked in and the other routers configured was less painful then I had thought, and the results speak for themselves - holy speed increase! If I was a twitch gamer I'd be dancing for joy, for my ping times dropped down into the teens, legitimizing my claim( if I wanted it )as an LPB. Which, back in the early days of cable modems, was around 50ms... snail-slow these days.
TTFN...
March 16 - Man Caves?
As some of you know, I have a penchant for the apocalyptic... which is odd, as I have NO desire to try to survive post-holocaust mutant attacks with only roasted rat and crunchy cockroaches for food. Still, there are many ways to destroy the world with science( and even random asteroids )so you never know if something will just creep up on us all unawares...
These days, the phrase 'rec room' seems to have died off, to be replaced with things like 'home theater' or 'family room' or even the ubiquitous 'den' ... any of those describe a place where people gather to relax, to entertain themselves and to socialize.
So where does a Man Cave fit into the above categories? I have to admit, I'd rather tell people we'll be watching a movie in a home theater than a man cave... sounds like a place where one goes to hide from the world. Still, there are TV shows about the subject, and there's debate on which term to use to describe such a place( Man Cave or Manctuary ). Since the term Man Cave has made it into the Urban Dictionary, I guess it will be with us for a while... though hopefully not as long as wassup has been.
Then we have the ultimate Man Cave... well, at least if you're feeling somewhat insecure.
March 17 - Green Day! No, wait a sec...
Happy St. Patrick's Day to y'all... in case you thought you knew all about the holiday, this site has some facts about today's celebrations that perhaps you didn't know. There are a few more by this guy who is odd in his own unique way. A more official site is here, which may be more towards the mainstream taste.... if you're feeling green - I wonder if Oscar The Grouch is Irish?
I guess I have a soft spot for St. Paddy's Day, as my favourite colour is green. Though I don't have as much of a fondness for Oscar The Grouch, despite this excellent pic that my friend Mike made of me as Oscar a little while back. Maybe because I am less of a grouch than I was back then? Hmmm.
Last year, I posted about how McDonald's was bringing back the Shamrock Shake in 2008 "for a limited time" only. Have a look a little further down that page... the ingredients may make your eyes pop and your heart stutter in fear - yikes! Sadly, or perhaps not so sadly, McDonald's did not offer the Shamrock Shake to the public this year... so no memories of minty-green goodness were formed.
I guess that's what all the green beer is supposed to substitute for. Probably better, in the long run... especially in this, the age of the iPhone, where people have created programs like the Green Beer Finder to help thirsty iPhone owners out on St. Paddy's day. My, how the times are a-changin' ... though it's REALLY COOL that iPhone users now have Shazam, an app that can identify ANY song you hear playing simply by holding the iPhone up to the music! Incredible!!!!
March 18 - Super Funny
Almost everyone, at one time or another, has dreamed about having superpowers. This thread here has people talking about what superpowers they would have, if they could have them. Of course, most superhero origins are ones beyond the soon-to-be-hero's control... I can't think of a superhero in any media that chose his/her superpowers; radioactive spiders don't take direction very well, y'know.
And, since today is mid-week hump day, and I can't let a blog entry go baconless, I present... bacon porn! It's family-safe, surprisingly.
Also humping nicely along is Arrested Development... well, the series is. Put it a different way: I'm really enjoying it so far, and that's only the first season... dry, witty humour tossed around zany dysfunctional family units... love it! I'm watching it on my PS2( thanks Rene! )which is working surprisingly well with a DVD remote and looks great on the big screen... sure beats swapping DVD's in and out all the time. Too bad DVD changers were always too expensive... which I guess really isn't too bad after all, as it's lead to media being stored on hard drives and not easily-scratched or lost discs... which have to be swapped out all the time to watch things. The Rise of the PVR, friends... or TiVO in the US: trend, or Evil Plan? You decide.
March 19 - Two Calls at once!
In the midst of work's grinding fatigue, some good news today, somewhat indirectly: Crazy Lady's hubby came in today to send some funds back home... where he apparently is going too! Not that I disliked him, really, but it gives me hope that his wacko wife will follow shortly and so leave my sphere of interaction forever. One can cope... I still have flashbacks of her head starting to spin around, moments away from emitting streams of vomit while voices chanted unholy dirges in the darkening lobby... oh wait, that was from The Exorcist. You get the point.
Some more good timing: as I finished work today, later than I'd have liked( as usual )my just-now turned-back-on cell rang: it was Josh! I'd not managed to talk to him for some time, so I was delighted... except that I was trying to leave and that meant I needed to talk to my security company. So I asked him to call me back in 10 mins and hung up... only to have my phone ring AGAIN before I could dial - would you believe it was BRIAN? Imagine what the odds are that two good friends of mine BOTH decide to call me with ten seconds of each other, after months of no contact?
So that was a nice evening... I managed to talk to both Brian and Josh in detail, which was great given the time difference. Brian and I chatted on Skype, which ran rather well on my laptop... until the router choked - see the entry for the 22nd below on that. All in all, a great end to a crappy day.
March 20 - Watching the weather
Today was the first day of spring, and it was a doozy. Sun, rain, wind... all within an hour's period. I've heard a few of the long-time residents here say "If you don't like the weather in Victoria, wait 30 mins." It's true: living on an island, large as it is, does make for changeable weather. Plus, having the massive heatsinks of the Olympic Mountains to the south keeps things cool sometimes, if the wind is from that direction... brrr! Some people disagree with this assessment however; this one in particular, who like me lived in the Great Lakes region for a long spell before moving to Victoria.
Also, Watchmen opened 2 weeks ago, and apparently hasn't done as well as everyone had expected. Perhaps they should have released this alternate trailer... which has footage from Wall-E set to the music from Watchmen. It clicks rather well, actually... a dark, edgy Wall-E? Come on, you wanna watch it...
March 21 - On Gaming
I was thinking recently that I don't have anyone to game with out here, and that it's been years since I last gamed with a group. My last gaming group kind of fizzled out, for various reasons, and I've missed it - I grew up playing things like DnD, Heroes Unlimited and TMNT. I can see that part of the reason I liked gaming was being able to tell a story as much as participate in one... the interactivity between the storyteller and the audience was very personal and fulfilling, at times. Other times, it was intensely frustrating and quite often boring... but then, life is like that too, right?
There's quite a few things that've been written about gaming, that are out there in the wilds of the 'net. Some are funny, and creative. Others aren't.
Then again, when things get a little TOO nerdy, this happens.
March 22 - On Routers
I went out and purchased a new router today, as I've HAD it with my Belkin N router. Over the past year that I've owned it, it's become increasingly flakier: for no reason, it will lose connection to the 'net and I'll have to reset it. This is VERY annoying when gaming, downloading, surfing... anything, really. So after the router did it to me several times a day for the last week, and didn't respond to ANY of the tech tips I dredged up from various support forums, I packed it in - apparently I'm not the only one who's had issues with this model. Good riddance; I now have a new, expensive doorstop.
The replacement? Not this one by Dlink - while I'd love to splurge on it, I won't use a lot of what it is capable of. Instead, my pre-purchase research led me to the Dlink DIR-655 - not much of a name, but it's a solid router with a lot of good reviews. After a fairly simply setup, getting the other PC's hooked in and the other routers configured was less painful then I had thought, and the results speak for themselves - holy speed increase! If I was a twitch gamer I'd be dancing for joy, for my ping times dropped down into the teens, legitimizing my claim( if I wanted it )as an LPB. Which, back in the early days of cable modems, was around 50ms... snail-slow these days.
TTFN...
