Christmas, Concepts and Crazy

The word of the week is tenuous.

Dec 20 – Wearing Presents

Only a few more days until Christmas and the feeding frenzy at retailers across the country is in full swing. I bowed out this year( and last year, and the year before )for as I mentioned I don’t shop in December. That still doesn’t stop me from surfing online for cool gift ideas, or just ideas for things to get for myself should the need( and cash )arise in sync. One area I’m keeping my eye on is wearable tech: Tom’s Hardware has a great list of Wearable Tech of the Future with some really cool things. I thought the eJOUX concept wristlet and the wearable suitcase were really cutting-edge, though again I would be hard-pressed to find a practical use for them when it comes time to pony up the asking price.

Dec 21 – Not Quite NWN

There’s a sale on this week on Xbox live, for a fair number of games. I already have quite a number of unfinished games( ie. most of my collection )so I’m more curious to see the discounts than the actual games themselves. Several of my friends have recommended Sacred 2 to me, as being very similar to NWN  - though this review states it’s more of a Diablo clone. I’m not one to spend hours a week running around trying to l00t and farm gold; I’d rather spend the time playing with my friends online and interacting with them than trying to get a Sword of Uber-Headsmacking. I think I’ll check out the trial later this week and see how it fares...

Dec 22 – Driving me Crazy( -er )

The Hard Drive Saga continues... but it’s getting better. I must have swapped out the drive at least a dozen times this past week, at one point sticking in the old drive from my parent’s laptop and installing Ubuntu 10.10 on it, just to see if there was a hardware issue with the laptop – nope. What I’ve discovered is that while the new drive goes into Sleep Mode and wakes up from such perfectly, it does NOT play well when it goes into Hibernation. So, I’ve set the laptop to ONLY go to Sleep and not Hibernate( save and shutdown, essentially )and that seems to have done the trick – for now. Some time with Seagate Tech Support next week might turn up a permanent solution, but for now I’m no longer faced with returning the drive under a warranty replacement. Unless it does turn out to be a defect...

Dec 23 – It’s an iPhone!

Telus and I kissed and made up today... or at least agreed not to sue each other. After a fair bit of wrangling on the phone, I activated a used iPhone 3G I purchased inexpensively from a co-worker. It’s under the 2-year contract that still remains in effect, with a decent data plan and features... plus a $100 credit towards a new phone up until the end of 2011. So in essence, I can use my ‘new’ iPhone for a year while I decide if I want to go Android or Apple, as well as what model of phone I eventually want... for less. Overall, I’m not really upset, except for the contractual hassles and hoops I went through to get to this point. I do not believe I will ever sign another contract again, with any cell company, for any reason – they make my head hurt. Better to go to another model of cell plan, like the Koodoo Tab( which is a Telus subsidiary, btw )and avoid contracts altogether.

Dec 24 – Merry Xmas Eve and All That

Not so busy a Christmas Eve today; I was out the door and home by 2pm, which I wasn’t expecting. It was the final of 11 days in a row of working, albeit with some of those days shorter than others. I spent a good part of the evening playing COD: Black Ops, which I admit isn’t the most peaceful way to spend the night before Christmas... but it WAS a fair bit of fun.  I also spent way too much time surfing the Apple AppStore, looking for cheap / free apps that would be useful to me while avoiding the thousands of CrapApps that clog the place. One I immediately installed is DropBox, which is a file-sharing app that lets me drop whatever files( docs / pics / etc )into a folder on my laptop and have it be sharable between all my tech gadgets, be they computer, iPhone or what-have-you. Much easier than trying to pick and choose things to carry with you; wireless connectivity at its finest. Not to be confused with FileFactory.com, which lets you host up to 500gigs of files to share with friends / family – free!

Dec 25 – Christmas, of course!

A very relaxing Christmas, spent at home with my family... well, unfortunately not my sister who is waaaay out in AB, but we talked for a while today – that was nice. We had a great turkey dinner early at 1pm( leftovers! )and ended up watching the first two Shrek movies – great family time today. While we didn’t do much at all in the way of presents, the highlight of the day was the Zhu Zhu Hamster pet that we picked up for the cat. Whoever thought up these kids toys should expand into the pet market; these electronic scamperers are the perfect distraction for cats. They make cute random noises, zoom around in random paths and have a faux-fur finish that just asks for a cat to bat at playfully. Very amusing.

Dec 26 – Boxed In

Boxing Day turned out to be a bust at work, which was fine: it was steady but not insanely busy as I had suspected it might have turned out to be. The day passed quickly enough but at no point was I overwhelmed with customers, despite news that it was fairly busy at retailers here in Victoria. I didn’t bother this year, as there’s nothing I really need / really want to spend the cash for... and certainly nothing I was going to line up overnight for, even if there’s no snow out this way. I spent the evening typing up my blog, losing it, then trying to recover it from drafts / saved caches – no luck there. I packed it in after midnight and slept, dreaming oddly of see-through high-end toilets with colourful logos... which probably meant I shouldn’t have gone to bed angry. Or ate all those cookies left out for Santa.

Yes, I’m annoyed at Windows LiveWriter, as it happily overwrote the blog entry for Dec. 13 for NO discernable reason – no setting or preference can explain why it picked the second-most-recent post to blast into nothingness. So I’m back to editing in Word until I figure out how to safeguard my blog’s contents from random deletion – another black mark for Windows and its ilk.

Due to Windows LiveWriter being helpful enough to delete my blog draft and replace it with a 'live' copy, my blog is being rewritten from scratch Monday morning.

That sucks. 

People, Pictures and... -reposted-

PLEASE NOTE: This blog post was originally published  Dec 13 2010. Thanks to the wonders of random date postings via Windows LiveWriter, it was automagically deleted and reposted the week of Dec. 26th 2010.


Moral of the story? Don't expect Windows to know what the hell it's doing. And keep a backup copy!

The word of the week is melancholy. Because a good friend noticed.
  
Dec 6 – Questions and Sunsets

Ask yourself Two Questions, in order to gain focus in your life? Sure, why not. Getting some direction in your life is always a good thing, especially if you’re not sure that what you’re doing is what you’re meant to be doing – if you’re one of those people who believe in Fate( I’m not ). Then again, there’s the argument that there’s no such thing as coincidence, that everything happens for a reason… some things in this life can’t be easily explained, and others we just shrug off because we’re uneasy examining them too closely. Have a look at the Two Questions and see if you might make a difference in your own life by the addition of simplification.
A view of the sky from atop Bear Mountain, just one of the many spectacular views from way up here in the forested heights. Don’t wander too far into the woods though; there’s more than bears in these parts…

Dec 7 – Routing Mountains

Ah, irony. I spent a few hours this morning tweaking, pleading and generally getting annoyed with my parent's router. I had it working the way I wanted it to by noon... which was when the replacement NEW router arrived with the mail. Perfect timing. The new NetGear WNDR3700 was a little slow to set up, but I was impressed not only with its speed, but the fact that I didn't have to dig around to get my Vonage IP phone OR my Xbox connected to the 'net. They worked immediately after being plugged in – something my old D-Link DIR-655 couldn't manage without internal surgery. Some hours of gaming and surfing later let me to conclude that my only bottleneck now is the speed of our internet connection, which admittedly is just fine for general surfing, VOIP and gaming, perhaps not all at the same time. I'm cheap, but when you buy quality, it shows sometimes.
The Olympic Mountains, south of Victoria across the Salish Sea( cool names, eh? ). Inspiring in their imposing might, they create a cooling effect when the wind blows over their frozen peaks. Amazing to look at from Dallas Road any time of year.

Dec 8 – Lakes and Linux

Whoops – I managed to brick two of my computers before lunch today; not a thing to be proud of. I skilfully resurrected the older laptop with a re-install of Fedora13 Linux, so it was up and running by late evening, after which I added some more programs and functionality to it. I took a break around lunch to play some COD: Black Ops with friends, having a few really great games. Sometimes I get in the groove, sometimes it gets me – there were some truly awful games today for me. All in all, it was a good second of two days off, which only a few phone calls from work. I also spent a few hours reviewing Telus' Terms Of Service, looking for things that will allow me to tweak their nose about my 2-year contract with no phone that I'm stuck in; really, really not impressed with that, as a long-term customer of theirs.
This is a lake I lived on for a year. The beauty is breathtaking; the peaceful illusion is just that, due to construction, a public park and neighbours with motorcycles. We couldn’t leave soon enough. The lesson? Check out the neughbourhood thoroughly before you sign a lease… or worse, a mortgage.

Dec 9 – Long Days and Large Hotels

Due to staffing constraints, I worked a split shift today, opening the store and taking a couple of hours off in the afternoon before heading back in to close the store again. I headed over to McDonald's again on Island Highway, where I spent a few hours surfing and typing. Their seats are definitely designed to encourage people to leave after their meal, NOT for long-term comfort. Sadly, their fireplace is never on, as it smells of gas… but you think they’d get it fixed, especially in the winter!
An evening view of the Empress Hotel, a mighty lady who has sat regally by the harbourside here for over a century. One of these days I’ll find a few folks to attend High Tea with me there, just to be able to say I’ve done it – it’s too pretentious to make it a regular thing, and too expensive. Notice the hybrid taxis...

Dec 10 – Rainbows and Stuff

Every two weeks today: payday. For some, it’s no biggie, but for others, it’s a relief to have some money in the account again. I’ve been in both places and I have to say that planning ahead( ‘budgeting’ )is the way to go. Not so much living in denial of your debts but planning ahead for your future freedom… as well as making sure you don’t blow things by way of a flashing new car / TV / home addition. Too many people live paycheque to paycheque in Canada; I wonder how much happier we’d all be if we didn’t worry even half as much about needing a day job to pay for all our Stuff? Stuff can’t make you happy, talk to you when you’re sad, or come with you easily on a trip around the world( Expedia.ca’s gnomes notwithstanding ). It’s all about the people, people: friends, family and yes, even some co-workers( who can become like family, of course ). Don’t feed the Stuff Syndrome; be a people person instead.
Both bleak and beautiful, this is a pic of rainbow that appeared within the first few weeks of my arriving in Victoria. I’d never seen such a clear one before in my life, and I can’t say I’ve seen a larger one since – plus, it’s a double rainbow, so that’s twice as special. I took it as a sign I was supposed to be here, and I still think it means something, though I’ve yet to figure out what.

Dec 11 – Fearing Change

A whole lotta heavy this week, weighing on my mind. I know the holidays are times where people tend to become down, and I fight against that – but I can feel it happening all the same. I’ve a lot to be thankful for, as I could be in a lot worse places in life – yet it’s human nature to ignore their blessings and list all the things They Could Have or Could Have Been. Kind of Scrooge-like, in a way, where he is visited by ghosts of his past, present and future to show him he has to change. In my case, I like who I am… but it’s not doing anything for me, or getting me anywhere, so what’s the point, really? Does it matter? These and other existential questions have kept my mind ticking over into the wee hours this week, with no answers forthcoming that I can see.
This is an image I really, really like, both for the humour and for the message. Don’t be afraid to do what you want… but be prepared for the consequences. Penguins, you may note, have tiny little flipper legs and so can’t run fast at all. I hope this one has a bolt-hole in the ice ready off-camera…

Dec 12 – Life’s a Beach

A good chunk of today was used up playing COD: Black Ops, which had its moments but overall really annoyed me – seriously. I don’t know what it is, but my trigger levels seem to be lowered when I play the game and I end up feeling angry / frustrated for most of the day. Must be symptoms of SAD or emotional instability( unlike me, that )which are manifest through my getting my ass handed to me online. Which I suppose would frustrate anyone; going up against the world and finding you suck more than you win each time can be grinding to the ego. I try to learn from my games, but most times I just can’t get my game on. Suck It Up, Princess.
Yes, that’s me( before I lost about 30 lbs )leanin’ on a log on a beach on the western shores of the island, which are all full of washed-up wood. It’s great stuff: good for seats, artistic carvings and furniture, though you’re not supposed to take much of it and definitely NOT to use it for firewood. The myriad shapes lend themselves to hours of wandering and discovery, usually best with a friend or family.

Blog’s shorter this week because I didn’t feel like noting much there, other than a few of my less grim thoughts, and because Samuel asked for pictures. Obliged.

Second Cars, Smartphones and Suicidal Laptops

 

The word of the week is frustration. Because we all feel it, sooner or later, at various intensities.

Dec 13 – Flossing Cars

One of those strange days today: leave the house at 10am and don't get back until 5pm... *sigh* I went into town( early )for a dental appointment, where I was told again what nice teeth I have( all the better to bite you with! )but of course to keep flossing.. is there anyone out there who flosses every day? The rest of the day was spent trucking around various places, some shopping, some bill-paying, etc. I'm still not thrilled with the idea of purchasing a second vehicle, considering that I really want to move back into the city proper and so take advantage of the bus system / cycling paths. Second cars aren't cheap – there's a Plymouth Neon down the road for $1,700 but I'm really, really leery of that particular brand...

Dec 14 - Escapism

I won't go into why today was so frustrating, other than that a combo of work-related stupidities and personal emotional states made me want to label today 'Monday Too' ... it sucked, but it eventually ended, as all days do. Having a home to retreat to, a place of refuge safe from the world( until the phone rings )where you can put all those Things That Bother You outside the door and lock it tight: that's nice. There's a show on Shaw cable called Man Caves that I've yet to succumb to subscribing too; it's tempting, but I'm not sure I want to know how much these guys have spent on their retreat.

Dec 15 – Early Again?

Today I did the early-for-work thing again, spending lunch( and some small monies )at McDonald's. It was a rainy day, clouds frowning down from above, right up until I left. Then the sun smiled down on me while I walked to work – it was nice, I admit, yet would have been nicer to bask in while I waiting in the windows beside the Golden Arches. Can't have it all, I suppose – it was a quiet, pleasant lunch, all the more so because my timing meant that the place wasn't crawling with kids as it usually is. Understandably, it IS McDonald's, with a giant play area, so crowds of tot-toting parents are inevitable... but the occasional day without is something to be enjoyed and remembered.

Dec 16 – Telus Resolution

The crazy cell-phone saga looks to be something that will be resolved shortly, thanks to a few more phone calls this week, including one to my lawyer. Seems that Telus neglected to mention that once the LG IQ phone is 'officially' received by their Returns Depot, then the $500.00 charge on my account will be removed. AND the contract will be revoked, returning me to a month-by-month plan – which is what I wanted anyway since this all went south. Once that's done with, all I have to do is figure out how to get a new( -er ) phone without paying through the nose for it for something that I don't really plan on using more than a year or so, until the tablet market really takes off. So we'll see; I just want this stupidity with Telus to be over with and forget about the LG IQ entirely.

Dec 17 – Knowing Things

Do you know a lot about a little, or a little about a lot? If you're the latter, then you can be considered a 'Renaissance Man' ( or woman ). I'm all about the latter as well; I like to think it makes me a more well-rounded person, as I don't have my nose so deep in one speciality that all I can smell is the ink on the pages of a professional journal. Sure, it's not easy to make a living like that... but you won't be at a loss for conversation at a Christmas party, either. For those of you with an iPhone( or follow the PC links )you can look at these apps for those who need to know everything. Some fascinating stuff in there; brings back memories of Trivial Pursuit from my youth... does anyone still have that game?

Dec 18 – Vultan Lives!

Though they're doomed by the rise in smartphones, standalone GPS devices still do what they do very well – the Nuvi 250 I bought when I arrived in Victoria got me around handily until I got to know the area. Updating maps is VERY expensive for the things though, to the point where it's almost cheaper to buy a new GPS every 3 years or so. Still, there are some cool things you can do with your GPS, depending on the device brand... like adding Brian Blessed's voice! TomTom owners can hear his stentorian tones blasting out directions as they drive, as though Vultan from Flash Gordon were sitting next to them in the car. Makes you wonder about having other celebrity voices added in the future...

Dec 19 – Laptop Suicide!

Wake up, laptop... wake up! Laptop? Are you OK? Uh oh... my 2-week only drive has futzed itself, refusing to boot Windows( not that I blame it for that ). I couldn't do much until I returned from a busy work day, but a little diagnosis revealed that the drive boots up, things it's blank, and sits there – no sign of the 500 gigs of data stored on it. So... tomorrow it's a call to Seagate Tech Support to find out why their product has decided to suicide to quickly after my purchasing it, and what the recommend for getting my system back. I think I may also make it a dual-boot, so that if one OS decides to take a dirt nap, I'll still have the other one available – pretty easy to do that these days. I'd be freaking right now, if I didn't have a full backup saved from 2 weeks ago that I can use to restore the thing... in about 8 hours. I hope.

This blog was written entirely on a hand calculator at McDonald's and transferred upside-down to a notepad Monday afternoon for posting online. Don't ask about the spell checker. :-) It's a brief blog too, due to the original copy being lost on my futzed laptop... and the fact that I don't have a whole lot to say this week, really. No pictures either, for that matter.

Days off, Dames and Drives

The word of the week is perspective: it can always use a change.

Nov 29 – Call Of Contact

A day off should not start with the work cell ringing at 8am... but it did. Could I fill in at Millstream, as the manager there had injured his back and was on the way to the hospital? Sure, why not; nobody else could, as his co-worker was over in Vancouver and no-one else available in the area had training with the open-concept store. In I went, and was run off my feet for the day – of course. “No good deed goes unpunished,” as they say... also, the phrase “Nice guys finish last” keeps going through my head of late. I knew a guy in university who confided to me that he had decided to become a jerk, in order to get ahead. I met him again a few years later; he was married and had a decent job... but he looked and acted very angry. Maybe getting what he wanted didn't turn out like he thought it would, while acting like a jerk? I could have told him that.

What did ppl do before email, texting and Facebook to keep in regular contact? I printed up the family Xmas letter today for my mom, spruced up( hollied? )with some nice colour graphics and tucked into cheery holiday envelopes. I can't recall the last paper letter I wrote to anyone( especially since I write this blog that anyone can check on at any time )as it seems like such a slow way to communicate. Nowadays we count the minutes from the time an email or text hits the 'net – we consider it the height of rudeness if it takes until the next day for a response! Weird.

Nov 30 – Dead Phones

I filled in at the Millstream branch for the second day in a row today; so much for a day off. I was late in getting there, as I had an appointment to go see someone about funeral arrangements – yes, I know what you're thinking: morbid. But I think about these sorts of things( insurance, wills, etc )to ensure my family is taken care of in case I'm suddenly out of the picture; responsibility. It wasn't as expensive as I thought: for about $100/month over a few years, a plot of dirt was all mine. I'm not for leaving a lot behind, as in a few generations the only people coming by would be those seeking to trace ancestors – I'd love to stick my head in a freezer, but that's incredibly pricey and there's no guarantees. I don't want to end up as some component in a future tax preparation bio-computer or something... and now I know about the costs involved.

I called Telus again later in the evening to see about brokering a phone deal – they said no dice, suckah: yer on a contract for 2 years so man up. Guess it's back to my old phone, which isn't ‘smart’ but gets the job done. Oh, and the cheap little bluetooth keyboard I bought from eBay doesn’t work with my old phone( it's fine with a co-worker's newer iPhone )but doesn’t matter as I’m not texting much any more at all to a certain someone. No smartphone needed for me now, though I’d like to have one sooner rather than later, before I get a tablet in a year or two. *sigh*

Dec 1 – No Malls For Me!

Welcome to the Christmas Crazy Time; I'm so glad I’m not part of it any more. My personal rule for the holidays is if I haven't already purchased presents by today, then I don't set foot in a mall for the rest of the month. Big box stores are all right, but again I won't go near a mall for the entire month – the stress, the traffic, the harried looks on the faces of both shoppers and clerks alike... no thanks. I've been shopping online for years, and I don't have very many people to buy for now anyway; I've never really done a Secret Santa with friends, or even Xmas cards. Odd, now that I think about it – time to start a new tradition, maybe?

After work today, I felt a little worn out, but oddly inspired to do some tech work. So I burned a bootable copy of Fedora Linux 13 and installed it on the old laptop. Tada! Now I can dual-boot the old crate in about 120 seconds, compared to the 15 minutes it takes Windows Vista to haul itself into the system's hardware. Linux runs a helluva lot faster and is perfect for websurfing or word processing... heck, there's literally millions of free programs out there for the Linux OS. When I get some time( make some time )I'll acquaint myself a little better with the OS, as it's tricky to get your head around things like mounting disks, command line parameters and the like. So now the old laptop is the perfect coffee-shop companion: pop it out, boot it up and be surfing in seconds, not quarter-hours. As it should be!

Dec 2 – I met a girl; she was nuts.

Well-met... I think? My day off started with an early appointment at a local mechanic's to get the flat tire fixed and the brakes seen to. Just as I saw down to wait, a gorgeous girl walked in( let's call her Tia )with car problems. Since it was going to be a while for both our cars to be worked on, we got to talking... and ended up taking a walk over to Starbuck's, along with her dog. In briefly getting to know her, I got some sobering perspective on life's problems, as she had some doozies – she was sweet, beautiful, friendly... and had more personal issues than anyone I've ever met. A biggie was religion, which I won't get into here... but by the time a few hours had passed, my own problems seemed to pale in comparison to this lovely girl's,  such that I was shocked she could function day to day( she doesn't / can’t work ). A lesson in perspective, indeed; seeing the people I do at work every day also reminds me that I don't know much about them, or their own stories, just those things that come up when we interact. So there you go: look outside the box of your life.

What did I do with the rest of my Only Day Off? Well, I popped a new hybrid 500gb hard drive into my newer laptop, achieving success after some hours of tricky work – now I have space for things again( like iTunes shows! ). I didn't have so much luck with putting the old drive I’d removed into my parents laptop, mainly thanks to Vista's quirks... many hours of copying data were wasted due to a poorly-documented TRIAL version of a bit of software I used; damned freebie luck. I soothed my frayed nerves by playing NWN for a great few hours, which were like old times thanks to the arrival of an old friend: Gwen! Years rolled back and we adventured like of old... it was very special.

Dec 3 – Glowing Soap?

Oh, fer; stop it, downstairs exercise nut! Why someone feels the need to use a treadmill at 12:15am, I have no idea. Sure, it's a free country, do what you like... but if you wake your neighbours, they'll get cranky and Do Something about it. Grrrr. I assuaged my anger by getting dropped off for work early and having lunch at McDonalds( a nice healthy chicken wrap and root beer! ). Did you know they've tricked the place out with contemporary colours, lots of stone, even a fireplace... plus free WiFi set at the WPA encryption level? Nice! I happily sat at the window watching cars go by under the cloudy sky, in the relative quiet of the post-lunch rush in the very spacious restaurant. It's fairly close to work, cheap, and I can get Things Done there. They even have a patio heater outside, though I'd save that for a less-wet day in-season. All in all, a pleasant lunch.

To distract you from days like today, I suggest surfing on over to PerpetualKid.com – they have tons of things that will make you smile as your inner child squeals with glee. Take for example, their Bacon section, or my personal favourite: Radioactive Soap. Just imagine leaving said soap for a house guest to find in the morning; joy!

Dec 4 – Minty Fresh Lighted Truck Laptops!

Finally! After waiting for a year, Mint.com is now available in Canada! For those of you unfamiliar with the site, it’s designed to integrate tightly( and securely )with your bank accounts online – all of them. It’s the perfect way to centralize all your finances, so that Mint.com can see the Big Picture and help you make your finances work for you. I was a bit leery when I first heard about it 2 years ago, but after using it this week I have to say it’s easy, powerful and has given me new insight into my personal finances. I’m sure that as time goes on, I’ll use it more to get a better handle on my financial future. Best of all? It’s free!!!

After work, I was home for a bit, getting my parent’s laptop data backup started – I’d given up trying earlier in the week until I found a decent program to do it: Paragon Drive Backup Pro. About 2 hours and the drive was backed up; I set it to the task of restoring the saved data to a faster / larger drive I’d pulled from my own laptop and headed out. Where, you ask? Well, I walked down the mountain( for the first time! )about 4.5 km / 3500 steps( thanks, iPod Nano! )to go see the IEOA Lighted Trucks Parade that takes place every year in Victoria. Dozens of heavy trucks are decorated to the nines with lights and paraded all across the lower island, ending up at the Western Speedway just at the base of Bear Mountain. I arrived a little after 8 after nearly an hour’s walk; perfect timing as the trucks arrived soon after I got there. Everything from big-rigs to dump trucks to delivery vans to fire engines cruised past, all individually decorated. I recorded it all, though the low-light limits of my camera meant the subtle details were lost. It was a cold but enjoyable few hours outside, and I certainly got my exercise climbing back UP the mountain later. Whew!

Dec 5 – Another Day Off Derailed

The life of a manager stinks most days; today was a good example. My newest CSR called me at 9am saying she( and her mom )have stomach flu... so she can’t work today. I keep track of these things, so I took her at face value and got ready to go in. Turns out it was a busy, busy day and I got very little ‘extra’ done for all that I tried to take advantage of an ‘extra’ / early day of work this week. It’s frustrating to be told to trim hours, avoid O/T if at all possible and ‘run lean’ ... yet on crazy-busy days what does one tell the customers who are kept waiting due to a lack of staff? Hypocrites – you can only save so much for so long by running lean before people will go elsewhere rather than wait for 30 mins in line. At least I was home for dinner and didn’t have to stay late again to catch up after the whirlwind...

Tonight I watched Up with my parents, opting for some oft-put-off family time. It was a stellar choice; I wasn’t expecting the film to be as sad and poignant as it was – I purposefully hadn’t read up on it as I’d heard it was great and so didn’t want to spoil things.

I’ve switched from using MS Word to create my blog posts to the Windows Live Writer this week. So far, it’s powerful, takes less editing overall and lets me connect directly to the blog. More as I get to using it; now it’s a-bed for an early day. *yawn*

Routers, Rain and RIP

The word of the week is argh, with all its various spellings.

Nov 22 – 12 Hours At Work

Argh – more snow! I opened the branch today and by noon blinding white flurries were creating havoc on the roads. Neither one of my employees could safely make it to work even by mid-afternoon, so I ended up spending 12 hours in-branch from open to close. Luckily my car had its tire chains added, so I could safely make it back home up the mountain tonight – no hotels for me. Did you know that regular tire chains limit your speed to no more than 50kph, making the car vibrate like you’re riding continuously over rumble strips? No? Well, they do – I hadn’t considered that, but it’s a safety trade-off I was willing to make. Especially when I watched two impatient morons in large pickups pass me at high speed... and both of them started sliding. Idiots In Trucks – there has to be an IQ cap to own one.

For those of you wondering about my recent FBook status updates involving stew, here’s a brief explanation. Stew is a metaphor for a few things: a hot bubbling mix of different things, usually yummy, that also has the possibility of going bad despite best intents. Stew can also stand for Stressfully Taxing Emotional Weirdness, which is also appropriate. Given that the holidays are usually a stressful time of year, I’m not surprised that I’m feeling it... but I hope( hope! )that the new year will bring some relief. It’s not nearly as bad in some ways for my parents and I as it could have been this month and next, so for that I’m grateful – I’ve just switched my stress focus, I guess, and have to deal.

Nov 23 – Boxxes And Wimmin

The jury’s still out on the Boxee Box – it’s a great idea with very little goodness out of the box for Canadian owners, if you’ll pardon the comparative pun. I’m not convinced it’s my answer to my media needs, so I’m still looking to price out a nice media server in the new year. Windows Home Server’s still looking like the winner, but I may run Boxee’s software on the thing. I wouldn’t be so eagar, but since my HDMI port on the laptop seems to have died along with 2 of the 3 USB ports, there’s not a lot of cheap options to stream media right now from my still-cool laptop. Well, it’s cool-looking, but it runs hot. You get the idea.

I use MSN for communicating with a good number of my NWN friends, and the thing pops up an advert every time I connect listing the ‘top stories’ at MSN.ca – good and bad. For the most part, it seems to be journalistic pap, much of the kind you find glaring at you while standing at the supermarket checkout. Case in point is this article about The 12 Types of Single Women, which caught my eye as I thought “Hey, here’s something perhaps I don’t know.” Turns out I shouldn’t have bothered; have a read and let me know what you think – the article entitled Ten Things To Know Before You Get Engaged is a lot better, IMHO, though still somewhat derivative. My fave? Check out the quote from Lucille Ball – right on!

Nov 24 – My Juice Tastes Like Bullets

Aw, man... another of my childhood memories tarnished. Or in this case, leaded. Those collectible glasses that Burger King and other fast food outlets put out in for Star Wars and the Muppets are just packed full of lead. It doesn’t stop there: according to the article, pretty much every collectible glass made in the last 50 years has toxic levels of lead and cadmium in them. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t end up holding onto them; makes me wonder if they’ll be cheaper now on eBay? Hmmm.

At my day job, I deal with more than my share of fraud-related things, including quite a few people who come in who are being duped by internet scammers. I do what I can to help them and educate them to ensure they don’t fall victim to the international scumbags running the scams, but people just keep naively believing the damnedest concocted stories. So I was glad to stumble across a site that strikes back at the scammers: 419eater.com, where users post their scam-the-scammer stories. My favourites? The one were a savvy user scammed a scammer into carving a full-size wooden Commodore64 , and the one where the scamming scumbag gets a tattoo – with the 419eater’s usename on it! Hilarious!

Nov 25 – Cookies, not Stew

Well, well, what’s this? A day off, despite other stores calling me( evil magic, that )to see if I can work? No can do; I need my day off – spent at home, as it snowed a LOT last night( and kept doing it today )so I wasn’t going anywhere unnecessary. It was well-spent on Things Relaxing, such as COD: Black Ops( which I was royally smacked around at, ah well )and writing a bit, plus the traditional trip to the Mountain Bean. Which was really great, as I spent a couple of quiet hours parked in front of the giant stone fireplace with tea and cookies at hand. Plus some football game or somesuch on the giant TV that I ignored. The evening was a bit of a letdown, as I stewed( just a bit )on the topics of Life Fail, Love Fail and Work Fail but came to no real conclusions. Apart from realizing that more cookies CAN make things better, but only in the short-term. Maybe I should make some bacon cookies soon?

A bit of nostalgia, then a bit of Way Cool: remember Hot Wheels, those semi-indestructible die-cast toy cars? Of course you do – we all had a few of them; some had more than a few. This guy has 1200 of them, and he’s made an incredible automated work of art of all those cars in continuous motion. Mesmerizing! Plus, in my books, a whole lot cooler than turning your basement into a giant train set. Enjoy:

Nov 26 – Futurama and Fone Fury

Telus: a phone company who apparently can’t master the complicated art of a three-way call, which has only been around for a few decades now( they kept disconnecting me ). I called today to return my LG IQ phone, as I’m extremely disappointed with it – the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS stinks. I’ve had to pull the battery from the thing 5 times now as it won’t shut down / reset; I can’t connect to the WiFi any more( despite it working fine, if slowly, early in the week ); the battery life is marginal... and it’s just darn hard to get a grip on. In the main, the OS is the deal-breaker, as I’m flabbergasted that LG would release a product with such obvious glitches. Anyway... they’re sending a mailer to me to pack the LG IQ in to send it back. I’ll be re-activating my old LG Shine for the foreseeable future( under the new monthly plan, which is fine )as Telus won’t cut me a deal for the HTC Desire. There’s no way I’m going to pony up $350.00 to get a phone for a 2-year contract – I’m definitely going to wait for a tablet, however long that takes. Even shopping on eBay 6 months from now probably won’t get me a much better price... but it’s the principle of the thing. For the amount of time I'll use it, I want a free phone on a long-term contract or no deal.

All right, time to damp the phone fury and turn back to the funny. In case you’ve been missing it, Futurama’s sixth season is available to watch FOR FREE from GoodnewsFuturama.com – just pick your episodic poison, max the window and enjoy every animated moment of Groening goodness. Ahhh....

Nov 27 – Routing Cars and Data

Good news, everyone – well, everyone who gets stuck in traffic around here near Victoria. After years( and years )of talk, word has come down that the BC Government has earmarked a whopping 500 million bucks for rapid transit systems outside the Lower Mainland( ie. Vancouver & area ). So Victoria should get a good share of that to put towards ironing out the snarled mess that Highway 1 turns twice a weekday. They also mention overpasses, which we really don’t have here – unlike the QEW in Ontario, which has overpasses everywhere to keep the traffic flowing uninterrupted on the highway. Only makes sense, right?

Argh!!! Does that express it? Dead routers SUCK, but wonky ones are just as bad: neither one lets your data stream smoothly at home. I was gaming on the Xbox tonight and noticed a LOT of lag, so I logged into my D-Link DIR-655... and lost the internet. Hours later I gave up trying to fix it and plugged in my old Linksys WRT54G, which has been smoothly running my Vonage VOIP line for years – still works great. I’ll be trying to diagnose things on my next day off, but I suspect some lingering problems I’ve been having with the 655 router are signs that a new router is in the cards. The speed I had expected from the 655 never materialized, and the setup was somewhat of a nightmare to get everything talking. So we’ll see when this ends up, and when – not that I’m thrilled about spending more money I didn’t want to... I’ll see if a firmware update fixes things.

Nov 28 – Farewell, Leslie Nielsen

One of my favourite actors passed away today: Leslie Neilsen, best known for his starring role in the Naked Gun movie series. He was also in one of my favourite movies of all time very early in his career: Forbidden Planet, a film that has influenced science fiction since its release decades ago. I’ve always enjoyed films with Leslie in them; he brought charm, humour and dignity to roles that nobody else could have pulled off. I’ll miss him more than I realized, but he’ll live on in the roles that he played so well on screen.

It’s cold outside, it’s dark... but at least it’s raining! Yes, the forecast here for Vancouver Island( at least the southern bits )is a return to normal temperatures starting tomorrow – goodbye, snow! Despite doom-and-gloomers saying it’s going to be the coldest winter in decades, I’m just looking forward to the rain – check out some of the amazing facts about Victoria’s mild weather here. The rainiest month is December, and the driest is July... with very little snow in between. Sounds perfect to me!

Next week? Rain. I’ve learned to like it a lot – you don’t have to shovel it, or slide on skates over it.

Snow, Sanity and Sales

The word of the week is aimless.

 Nov 15 – Interesting Love Ages

Falling in love has been on my mind of late( unsurprisingly )as has the vagaries of the relationships that we sometimes take for granted that form the fabric of our lives. Friends, family, co-workers... if not for these varied social webs that weave our lives, where would we be but ships passing each other in aimless circles on the sea of life? I remember visiting my great-grandmother at her care home in her last years when I was in high school, and being stuck by the aimlessness of age. Most of one’s accomplishments( and failures )are behind you, your children( if you had any )are grown, and a fair number of your peers have already passed on. Are you marking time, or making the most of it? Similar to a mid-life crisis, when one realizes that younger folks are able to perform better in sports, rise faster in a career path or other such troubling things. A healthy body AND a healthy mind are the twin pillars to support oneself throughout life – have a look at  Longevity-And-Antiaging-Secrets.com’s emotional health section for some interesting points on the subject.

How interesting are you? How do you measure such things, anyway? I found a quiz on BlogThings.com that was somewhat informative, and a different one over at OKCupid.com, but there doesn’t seem to be any consensus out there. Being a nice person isn’t the same as being Interesting; quiet people and extroverts can both be dull in different ways to different people. I suppose you can use the idiom ‘Like Finds Like’  ( which Googles some random results, by the by )in that people of similar interests, attitudes and personalities tend to gravitate towards one another. Opposites attract too, but I can’t think of anyone I know who is so unlike myself in several ways as to be grating on each other’s nerves. Not a one. Can you?

Nov 16 – Wind and Houses

What a windstorm! The winds were howling all day, but in the evening they really picked up – I could hear the howl through the armoured glass inside, so it was real nasty out there for sure. Not being able to see much after dark didn’t help, but the few folks who ventured in said it was terrible. I finished my shift around dinner time, got in my car and drove out of the lot... just as the power for the entire area failed. Perfect timing. So I turned around and went back into the store to help my new CSR close things up, as I’ve done this sort of thing before. Made my shift 10.5 hours thereabouts, but we managed to get everything important done and closed off for the day, thanks to my creative use of a UPS battery backup and flashlights – the emergency lights failed at 3mins and the second at 30 mins, respectively. Overall we worked over an hour and a half in the dark, to ensure that the morning staffer didn’t have a hairy trying to take care of things – also we didn’t know if the power would be on by then, either. A meh day all in all.

I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t get the idea of tiny houses out of my head. Which is odd, as I still have a moderate amount of Stuff that I consider Good For My Lifestyle( apart from a bed, tv, bookshelves, clothes, etc ). A bachelor apartment might be just the ticket for me, if I can’t find a good spot to build a small house – one guy in Japan just built his new tiny home on a lot the size of a parking spot. Cost him a cool half-million dollars, and he still lives with his mom... neither of them good options for me. I’m thinking something in a corner of a city somewhere, away from noise, most people and close to Quiet Places To Write, Ponder and Just Be. Not too much to ask, really.

Nov 17 – New Cell and New COD Game!

Lots of phone calls today, to hither and yon and back again – what else are days off for? The main thing I did was to call Telus and confirm the rate plan I was getting a deal on was actually a deal, point by point. I did this by comparing it to a corporate rate plan through work that I found out about yesterday( it pays to ask! )and as it stood, the deal directly from Telus was better in that I get 1gb of data download per month( trackable on the Telus website so I don’t go over )and 300 minutes a month, on top of a Fave Five listing. Seeing as I don’t make all that many local calls beyond about 5 numbers, this makes more than the usual amount of sense, especially for $50.00 a month, even on a contract. Add a work phone to the mix for all my work-related calls and my cell costs are well under control, even given all the new features that the LG IQ has to offer. Now if I can just get the email program to stop copying me on everything I send, I’ll be much less confused... good ol’ Microsoft Windows at work again.

Oh, and I bought Call Of Duty: Black Ops today for the Xbox 360 – the game uses the Cold War over the period of several decades as a setting for guns-blazing goodness. I wasn’t thrilled with the $70 price tag after taxes, but if that’s the price one has to pay for gaming with one’s friends, then that’s what I pay. Lucas showed me a few Easter Eggs in the game, consisting of several mini-games within the game that are accessible from the main menu – cool and thanks! The game itself took me a few hours to get used to, getting my butt handed to me for a few games until I adjusted to the ‘new’ weapons. After that I started to hold my own, but faded again as I tired... seems to be happening to me more lately, so I need more exercise and more light therapy to cancel out the cloudy gloom that has hovered here in BC for the last few weeks. Definitely affecting my mood, maybe a mild case of SAD... bleh.

Nov 18 – Fbook Friends And Cars

Yesterday was National Unfriend Day, as posited by Jimmy Kimmel – I’m happy to say that it doesn’t look like anyone on my Friends List noticed, as I’ve gained a few friends this week. Always good. For those folks who have hundreds and hundreds of friends on their FBook lists, perhaps a little pruning would help. A recent study found that the average person has about 150 people in their social circle – the entire circle, including family. That may not seem like a lot, but have a look at the study. I recall reading years ago in the Toronto Star a study that said on average, a person will meet thousands of people( depending on their profession, etc )and about 1,000 of those people will become friends of some sort. Which means that, according to the ‘150 study’ that out of every ten people you become friends with, you’ll only keep one... no mention of how long a friendship lasts, or other data that is essentially unrelated between individuals. Makes you think about People You Know vs. Friends You Know and the difference between the two. Myself, I prefer Friends – definitely.

Out of habit, I’ve worked on a new budget to see what things would be affordable when I’m out on my own again... as well as figuring out when that will best be made to happen. Right now, if I went out on my own, I’d be without a car but otherwise... decent, financially. No frills, no major purchases and no weekly trips to Vancouver, but it’s within the realm of possibility. However, the budget doesn’t allow for any major repayment of debts... so I’m forced to concede that if I want to be on my own with minimal financial stress, I’ll still have to wait a while, or find a much better-paying job. The latter sounds like the better option, so I’ll be actively looking for the foreseeable future as work is annoying me more each week. Not having a vehicle to myself complicates things some days, but still doable – I managed while I was in the city of Victoria proper, and I can do so again if need be.

Nov 19 – Traffic Jams and Starbucks Solo

Ergh... an early, early day today: up at 6am and on the road for a 7am doctor’s appointment( flu shot, among other things ). Even at this ungodly hour, the volume on the TransCanada southbound was packed; it was just light enough to keep flowing smoothly but I’d hate to be on it again in less than an hour. Coming back, it was indeed a ribbon of headlights stretching for 15 km all the way back to where I started onto the highway an hour previous – why do people do that to themselves every day? I’d go bonkers after a week of sitting in my car, inching along at 15km / hr knowing that in a few hours time the highway would be wide open again. Almost all single-passenger vehicles too; car pool, people!

Anyway... due to my own car constraints, I was dropped off 3 hours early for work at a Starbuck’s down the road( there’s no transit on Bear Mountain, as I’ve said ). I sat and shopped online, looking at inexpensive things that I’ve sort of wanted and sort of needed for a while now; my budgetary constraints have meant that I now continuously think of the cheapest way to get something. If I can’t get it for a great( not even good )price, I do without – wait for a sale, keep checking prices weekly, check on eBay. Keeps me busy... yet my bargaining skills are not on the same level of my co-worker, who managed to talk a FutureShop manager into selling an $800.00 open-box camera for ... $80.00. Yes, 90% off – I have YET to discover how he pulled THAT one off, as he doesn’t know the guy and isn’t a psychic.

Nov 20 – Snow and Bacon Seltzer

Snow, snow and more snow... living on a mountain north of Victoria has its downsides sometimes, and today was an example. It started snowing last night: big wet flakes that kept on coming, turning the roads into rinks – Victoria itself simply got chunky rain, no white stuff, per usual. I barely made it up the mountain, edging past a dozen other cars that had given up to wait in hope for a sander – my tire cables ordered weeks ago failed to arrive as promised today. My winter experience in ON got me home, but I stayed in this morning until things were properly cleared by noon. My dad had to get a hotel in Victoria last night, as it was too dangerous to even try to get down the mountain to pick him up from work.

Over the last few months, you may have noticed a dearth of bacony goodness: this has been intentional. I’ve mentioned quite a few Things Bacon over the years in the blog( go ahead, search for them! )so I’ve cut back a little. However, every once in a while something really new and cool rears its Bacon-related head and I toss it into the blog. This time, it’s Effervescent Bacon Tablets that let you add bacon flavour to ANY drink. Good for times when plain water just isn’t enough, or when milk needs a bacony kick!

Nov 21 – COD, Sucks and Sales

You guessed it: hours of Call Of Duty today until the early afternoon, when I just slumped onto a bed to try and rid myself of a sudden-onset migraine. I managed to work it down to a mild head-pounding ache by dinnertime, thanks to the miracle of ibuprofen tablets and earplugs. Before I went over to the Mountain Bean for a before-dinner tea and cookie( yum! )I picked up my parent’s Christmas gift to themselves: a new vacuum cleaner from Future Shop. My dad’s been having problems using the inexpensive-thus-very-heavy Dirt Devil we’ve had for a few years, so I soused out a $100-off deal online last night, did a new budget and concluded they could afford it. It was incredibly easy to assemble, extremely lightweight and it sucked big time – I think the Dirt Devil will be crying in the closet corner from now on.

Instead of ending the blog this week with another diatribe on my emotional yo-yo-ness of late, I thought I’d mention that I managed to resist purchasing a Very Cool Gadget, on SALE no less! I’ve mentioned before that I’d really like to get an Android tablet like the Samsung Galaxy, but that I want to wait until the market stabilizes AND the prices drop to reasonable levels. Well, there’s an alternative in the meantime: take an e-book reader like the PanDigital Tablet( colour display and WiFi )and hack it into an Android tablet. Considering that FutureShop had one on sale tonight for $150 before taxes, I was sorely tempted... but I still can’t think of a GOOD reason to have a non-phone-capable tablet right now apart from that it’s Very Cool. So tempting though... but I have enough to do without spending hours on trying to figure out how to hack the thing. *sigh* I spent a happy few hours after dinner gaming on the Primordia Nordock NWN server... just like old times.

The new cell phone is cool, lots of features... but it’s slippery; I’ve dropped it three times now, fortunately in each case not far. Cases are apparently rather rare for it, so the hunt is on. An early night Sunday for me too – my head is killing me.

Feet, Fems and Fancy Phones

The word of the week is empty.

Nov 8 -  My Left Foot

Some things will never make it into this blog, most of them very personal things that many of you already know about and some things that just aren’t appropriate( or interesting enough )for the world to know about. I’ve considered closing off this blog, if I could figure out a way to transfer it in its entirety )and posting it solely in the closed group I’ve created elsewhere... we’ll see if that happens. Again, as I’ve said, this is a Journal as much as it is a source of news for friends / family as well as being a place to keep my writing skills sharp... or at least from atrophying.

Hopefully my left foot won’t atrophy either; I managed to trip over my laptop power cable last week, and bent several of my toes back WAY further than they should go. It’s been painful to walk on( duh )and there’s some lingering numbness. I checked with the doctor down at the walk-in clinic today, and while nothing seems broken, he said that it may be a month or two before it’s fully healed. The lesson? Wear socks or slippers all the time if you’re klutzy, as it keeps your toes together in case you trip up...

Nov 9 – No Vacay Days

Yeah, work dragged for me today – surprising, as I thought it would yesterday, so there you are: you never know when life will grab your brain and squeeze. It wasn’t so bad, really, but my heart just wasn’t in it. I have a good crew though; they saw I wasn’t in good shape and took pains to try to cheer me up, which I really appreciated. It makes all the difference when you work with the right people; after all, you’re spending 40 hours a week with them most times, so if you all get along then the week flies by fast. For various reasons, I’m no longer taking a vacation day a week this month to use up my vacation time more quickly before year-end. At this point, I’d rather be working and busy than at home more.

Nov 10 – New Phone 4me

I ‘slept in’ a little today until 7:30am, which was good as I was up until 1-ish for various reasons. Turned out to be a fairly sunny day until mid-afternoon; I spent a good part of that inside making phone calls as I wanted to cancel a few monthly payments for additional insurance and the like that I’ve been carrying for a while now. Now that my parents have finally found their footing, I can cut back on my preparedness in case I was suddenly out of the picture for whatever reason – here in BC, a simple Power of Attorney on file( but not active )is all that is needed instead of a will, for someone like myself without substantial property or investment holdings( yet! ).

One of those calls was to Telus, to broker a deal for a new phone. Yes, after weighing the options and dithering for a few weeks( since my 3-year contract for my LG Shine is up this month )I decided that the LG IQ was the phone for me. This video review( see above! )of the phone cinched it for me, along with the feature set – I plan on adding SPB’s Windows Mobile Shell to the phone should make it a killer replacement. Sure, it’s not Android, but I don’t plan on doing TOO much with it while I wait for the mobile tablet market to shake itself down in the next two years( coincidentally the length of my new Telus contract – sigh ). I got a great deal for my voice / data plan with a lot of options thrown in for not a lot per month, so that makes me happy. Sitting over at the Mountain Bean for a few hours, I simply enjoyed the Me Time I had there and thinking about how much progress tablets will make over the Samsung Galaxy Tab by the time 2013 and my contract starts to wrap up again. Friggin' contracts...

Nov 11 – John Candy Smiles

Today wandered around rather lost; I didn’t end up going anywhere, as I had no plans – it’s a day off. I did this and that, gamed a little, read a little, wrote a little, spent more than a little time under the sun-lamp( s’bright! )and generally tried not to look at the clock. I did catch all of Only The Lonely with John Candy and Ally Sheedy, which had some eerie parallels to my current life in it – strange how that happens with TV movies, no? Later in the day I also commented on a lovely photo Mike posted to FBook – windows peering out of an ivied wall. Somehow a poem popped into my head as I looked at the image, and I quickly scribed it into words on-screen... with only a little editing. My mind words on wondrous ways sometimes, and I need to learn to give myself more time to listen TO myself. And not worry o’ermuch.

Nov 12 – Busy Day, Blasé Night

Dang days keep disappearing on me; today was no different. At least I don’t have to worry about two branches worth of crazy-making now, which makes most days at work bearable... or at least manageable. The cold, early-dark rainy days of this week took a break this afternoon, so we were treated to some hours of sunshine that lifted everyone’s mood, it seems – t’was nice to see! My own mood threatened to waver all over the map though, so I took a firm hand and simply concentrated on work, which was easy today – it was so busy that I stood at the counter for nigh over nine hours straight. I left the branch in good hands and to happy smiles from my staff for staying the course without complaint, though I felt wretched inside – probably something I ate. Yep. I’m not sure where the evening went, but I flaked out after spot-napping through an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, which is on every weeknight at 11pm, so I try not to miss it, even if I’m tired. Sleep was dreamless, and distant.

Nov 13 – Stardust and Dragons

Well, apparently I needed sleep, as I woke up close to 10am – that never happens any more, save on the weekends( someone usually calls from work anyway ). Not today though, which was nice. I posted some questions about various things for a few hours on various websites, then popped an HD-DVD( yes, I lost that battle )of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust in for a nice few hours. Later, I popped over to The Mountain Bean, where I happily talked shop with the manager about strategies for keeping the place hopping in the winter – for some reason they listen to my advice there, which I trade for the occasional cookie. Yum! In the evening, I watched another movie, one I hadn’t yet seen: How To Train Your Dragon. It was fantastic! The story moved fluidly the whole way through, the characters were diverse and interesting, the writing was upbeat and funny in many parts... overall it was a great 90 minutes, well spent! I’d definitely watch it again, and since I bought the Blu-Ray combo-pak, I’ll be able to in Hi-Def... once I get around to purchasing a Blue-Ray player, that is. Not going to be anytime soon, I think, as I don’t want to pay an average of thirty bucks a movie – who the hell would, to create a ‘new’ library of movies they already own? Sheesh.

Nov 14 - Meh

It’s a fairly frustrating place I’m in this week, figuring out a lot of things. I find it horribly amusing that when one problem is no longer an issue( ie. parents retirement )then another one looms suddenly out of the fog just as large and just as stressful – there’s balance for you. I’d kick Fate in the shins if I knew where to look, I swear. I’m taking stock of things, looking to branch out my interests and generally get on with Doing, rather than thinking – thinking’s just making me sullen and angry this week, which isn’t me. Not having much of a social life isn’t helping either – now that I have some time, I’m looking to join a few clubs, see a few places and generally get out more than I have in the last few years. Whee. My mood’s all over the place; good thing I have a lot of practice in emotional control or I’d be a mess. As it stands, I’m posting the blog around dinnertime – I really don’t care what I do the rest of the evening, as I’m feeling very, very down in general. My thoughts are grim, my mood twinned to the dark fingers of the forest poking through the fog all around my mountain home. My future seems to be chained by my past choices, and in all that I can take no comfort in that doing what was necessary has still led me to the solitary path I have been walking for a long, long time.

Meh. Guess I need to become more interesting... no tattoos though.

Update 11pm: A long phone call with my sister( luv ya sis! )put some( not all )things in perspective - simplification helps, as I tend to analyze possibility and causality branches to the nth degree. Which combined with my lack of experience in some matters means I end up spinning in recursive loops. K.I.S.S folks ... and no, I'm not being ironic. I need sleep to let my brain heal and emotions level.

Wow, a dull week that flew by. Maybe things will pick up for me in January. And thanks, Samuel. :-)

Love, Laughter and Levels

The word of the week is... surprised.

Nov 2 -Bearing it

My last day of vacation I took it easy, catching up on some email( only a few work-related to clear space, as they send HUGE files )and generally lazing about. I tried to go over to the Mountain Bean, but they were closed – labour problems, as they’ve been struggling( like all the Bear Mountain businesses )with low traffic levels. The stalled development of the area means that businesses who opened a few years ago anticipating ever-increasing customer flow have had to face up to the fact that things may not improve for years, and so mean their bottom lines may bottom out. I hope this doesn’t happen to the Bean, as I really like having a cafe at my doorstep, similar to the one on May St. ... which ended up closing.

Nov 3 -Seattle Sci-Fi

Back to work today – not much to say about that, apart that I’m proud of my team for keeping things running, even if they missed doing a few things I’d left for them. The fact that I didn’t get a single call on my phone all of last week is proof enough that they’re solid, so props to them for holding on their own. I should really plan another vacation soon, as the Seattle SciFi Museum just scored the ultimate exhibit: The Battlestar Galactica Experience! I don’t know anyone in Seattle, nor know anyone around here who would want to go... so I may end up taking a solo trip just for the halibut. I have higher hopes for this show, as the Star Trek Experience in Buffalo in 1997 was a major letdown overall, aside from the poorly-lit show props. Much cooler is Project Rho, which has real-life star maps pinpointing all the locations from all of one’s favourite SciFi shows – Babylon 5 notwithstanding, it’s a great g33k resource.

Nov 4 –Mean Green Cars

Green is my favourite colour, and some of the car’s I’ve been looking idly at on dealership lots have also coincidentally been green – not slime green though, that’s just crap to look at. Then I saw this fab ad for the Skoda Fabia, and suddenly I saw green in a whole new light, like Hulk Smash Green – that’s cool for a car. I’ve still no idea if I’ll be needing a car in the new year, or where I’ll be by this time next year... out on my own again, I hope, though at this point that’s still a singular experience way out here in BC.

Nov 5 -Minding Media

The jury’s still out on my purchasing a Boxee Box from D-Link, which runs the software you can download for free at Boxee.net. I’m still considering just purchasing a basic PC, as it will have room inside to stick all the hard drives I’ve collected over the years, plus a few new large spacious ones. Having a bunch of external drives all tangled together doesn’t really appeal to me, but for those who only have a couple of large drives, the Boxee Box may be the perfect media solution as it still provides a direct link to the ‘net to let you watch whatever you want on your TV. With a lovely remote that even has a QUERTY keyboard on the back. Media convergence at its best... it may mean that at my new place( whenever that happens )that I won’t bother with cable.. most of what’s on bores me anyway.

Nov 6 -Breakup

Renee broke up with me today.

Nothing else to say about that here. I went to work, then went home. Evening was a wash.

Nov 7 -Photo Shoot

Most of my morning was spent in bed, as I couldn’t seem to muster the energy to do more than have breakfast – even SpongeBob failed to do more than crack a smile. I did get up and over to the Mountain Bean for 11am, where I sat in my favourite window seat for a few idle hours. No story ideas came to mind. It really is beautiful outside, with the trees shining orange and red against the still-green pine trees and the rocks of the mountain. It turned sunny just after lunch, enabling a photographer to make good use of the fall colours in a mini-shoot with a couple of coat-clad coffee-clutching models seated on the benches in the courtyard area outside the Bean. They looked very stylish and well-taken care of. Work was brief and uneventful. Same for the evening.

I’ve created a group in FBook that will contain the links to this updated blog weekly. This will allow me to open up my FBook Status updates to all my friends, including most of those I work with, yet still keep the privacy of this blog to those who are close friends. Even though I don’t put a lot of info here regarding work, I still don’t feel comfortable sharing it with my employees or co-workers locally. There you are.

Warm Hearts and Cold Hands in Niagara

The word of the week is friendship - obviously. Three years in BC as of Nov. 1st.

Oct 25 -Travel Forth

Today started off early – really early: my cell rang at 4:48am. It was a friend from ON jumping the gun, wanting to find out how my day was shaping up to see if we could connect. I wasn’t upset, as I would have been up in a couple of hours anyway... after a few minutes chat, I went back to bed. A few hours after that, we left for the airport, where I found out at the Westjet counter that my standby reservation had been improperly booked – naturally. No problem really, as I simply had to have my boarding pass printed at the Calgary counter – whew! I made my flight with plenty of time to spare, landed in Calgary a little after 4pm local time and met my sister about half an hour after that. We had an hour’s visit, which was lovely – I hadn’t seen her for over 4 months; she’s a busy, busy girl and quite happy in Calgary. My plane left the city a little late at 6:15pm, climbing into the darkening skies and right into a whole lot of cloud cover. I snapped a picture of the post-sunset sky when we moved about that, then set about enjoying the flight with some TV and chatting up my seatmate Dave, who was travelling with his young family. Turns out we’ve both not been on a plane for a year, as well as having similar travel experiences, so it was a pleasant few hours passed in the hum of the darkened plane cabin.

My arrival in Hamilton was low-key but wonderfully warming despite the chilly air: Brian was there to greet me! He looked great and we were happily chatting on the road by 1am, heading back to Niagara. I arrived at Simon’s place before 2am, to tumble into the spare room’s bed... my OWN bed, as it happens. When I moved to BC, Simon was pleased to have my old bed for his spare room, so whenever I have visited it literally is like coming home. How many people can say that they sleep in their own bed when they travel? I’m a lucky man in many ways, and I try to count even the small ones whenever I can...

Oct 26 -Rental Oopsie

A bit of a hiccup this morning: I was at Enterprise car rentals by 9am, but apparently their internal policies aren’t all in sync. When I reserved over the phone from BC, I was told no deposit was necessary... but guess what they wanted when I arrived? Yeah – didn’t budget that, but I did have a reserve set aside for just such silliness... so I had to wait until Wed for that to show on my credit card. So I they dropped me back Simon’s where I unpacked and then walked on down to the A&W on Lake St for a late breakfast – the place was packed with nothing but seniors; I think the grey hair in my goatee let me blend in fairly well. More walking over to the Fairview Mall- the weather was quite warm, so much so that I was sweating after only a short time.

Where else could my first evening back in ON be but @ the Kilt? Lucas picked me up from the Fairview Mall and we were there in a flash for beers and dinner – it was just as cozy as I remembered. Especially as I missed the ambiance for over a year; there’s no place like it... no TV’s blazing sports scores in your face, just good people talking to one another with alcohol and good eats close at hand. Josh and Rene came by, as did others... stellar to see them all so soon! I was back at Simon’s after 9 though, as I was tired and the beers were doing their work.

Oct 27 –Honest Frankie

Ah, breakfast with friends – this time it was at Frego’s on Lake St, with Josh and Rene. The place is new to me, as it’s changed hands quite a few times – is there an app or a website for that? A ‘Google Time Machine’ that lets you pop in an address and see all the places that have ever been situated there? If not, there probably will be one day soon. I had a great time chatting with Josh and Renee over bacon and eggs – the breakfast menu at Frego’s is both large and varied, with tasty dishes to tempt tongues! After breakfast I puttered a bit, then went down to the Falls to visit my good friend Ray at the dealership he runs – I’ve known him since my 21^st birthday and still have the ‘I Am 21!’ pin he and his wife gave me that day. I spent a happy few hours out in the afternoon sun, watching leaves swirl around the cars and trying in vain to spot a cloud in the perfect blue sky. It was a blessed way to spend time with a friend.

The evening saw me at The Kilt for 8, where a ton of people showed up – amazing! It was Honest Frankie’s night to play, which I didn’t want to miss for the world, despite my usual flubbing in asking for songs... though I DID manage to get the request for ‘The Scotsman’ correct! Lucas, Katie, Brian, Mike, Dan, Shawna, Nigel, Rene and Josh all came... and if I’m forgetting anyone, please let me know! It was as if I’d never left – the songs, the people and the warm laughter all went straight to my heart as if to tweak it a little, reminding me of what I had left behind, by choice... hard as it was. The beers did nothing to my head either, for which I was grateful indeed; I’d been afraid that my total teetotaler lifestyle in the past year would rebound on me this week, but my head remained in perfect peak condition. It was well after midnight when I headed out, well-sated with the smiles and shared stories of friends.

Oct 28 -Steebs and Co-Worker Catchup

After an A&W breakfast( coupons! )the early afternoon saw me ensconced at Starbuck’s on Lake St. with Dan and later the redoubtable Mike. The place is new, being much larger and less busy-people-packed than the Fairview Mall. Large tables and tons of power outlets make for laptop-friendly latte sipping, as does the free WiFi. Now, you should ALWAYS have your WiFi network secured, that’s common sense – C|Net just had a GREAT article about all the horrible things that might happen if you don’t lock the wireless door. Scary stuff, people. Same goes for FireSheep, which makes sitting at a Starbuck’s( like today! )a far more creepy experience and NOT in a good way. That someone could hijack my web browsing session so easily on an unsecured public network like Starbuck’s makes me think that the pendulum is going to swing the other way again towards people paying for secure logins on public places, just to be sure their data is kept private.

Dinner was at Patrick Sheehan’s with Jen, Rose and Jackie all of MMart fame – only one of them still works for the company. I was thrilled that they were all able to come out for a few hours, which we spent blissfully catching up. Again I was struck by how fortunate I’ve been to work with so many wonderful people, that we could remain in touch despite the years and distance between us. I was happy to hear that all of them were doing well, pursuing their interests and living life generally as they wanted to – not everyone I know can say that. The best news was that one of them was expecting in about 5 months, so perhaps by the time of my next visit there will be one more reason to gather!

Oct 29 -Friday Friends

Breakfast was at the Sunrise Cafe with Matt L2K; the place was as busy as I remember but we snagged a table fairly quickly. I simply had the Sunrise Special, as I was eating fairly soon again. We talked for a bit about life and work and how the two can really get tangled up sometimes... but he’s got his head on right with some recent changes he’s made – I’m a little jealous. Damned good to see him though! I was visiting relatives for the afternoon, first at a face spot of mine on Martindale Rd for lunch, then off to Grimsby and then Hamilton for a visit with my aunt and uncle. It was stellar; he’s having some age-related issues but we all spent a happy few hours visiting together, remembering shared family memories and talking about their last visit to Victoria. It was worth the trip back to ON just for that.


In the evening, I went to the Kilt with Josh and Rene( thanks for taking the time from night shifts, guys! )to sit in the Video Booth – it has a video picture frame loaded with images of Kilt Days Gone By, including a disproportionate number of de-kilting events. Our most animated discourse was over the D&D campaign I ran for four years back in university, which saw Josh’s character Zartan miraculously survive all the way through – the only one with the unique distinction, I should add. I still have copious notes from the campaign, all dated, so I really should get back to putting them into story form. I’ve tried several times to try to get the narrative POV correct, but only written about 40,000 words before it goes all squidgy. I’m certain there’s an entire novel in those pages, so given the joy I saw in their faces as we recalled magical moments from the campaign, I will have to give writing it another shot as soon as I can.

Aside: I should mention that the jet lag I’ve been expecting hasn’t surfaced, as one of the great things about coming back to ON is that my body clock is 3 hours ahead of the game. So I’ve got that working for me... and as I’ve already said, the relatively large number of beers this week have done nothing at all to my head, something for which I’ll have to thank the Beer Gods for when I get back to BC. Same goes for the Weather Gods, as the first two days in Niagara were both warm AND sunny. Later in the week things clouded over and went rather chilly, as though snow was moving in... but no major rainstorms or snowfall showed up and by the end of the weekend the sun was again brilliant in a lovely blue sky. Strangely, my hands have been cold all week, so I'm glad I brought my gloves along.

Oct 30 -Wonton Soup

A bit of a lazy morning, with another Grey Power Breakfast at the A&W... then a lovely lunch at The Feathery with Jason and Ruth-Ann, whose wedding I was at two years ago in Niagara( see the blog on that! ). We enjoyed some fine food there, in a setting reminiscent of an old English pub... but with more windows and less squishy bits underfoot. Jay showed me his very swish Samsung Galaxy tablet... well, the Chinese-knockoff version anyway, which doesn’t have a phone but does do WiFi. In essence it’s a larger-than-an-iPhone image viewer / web browser that’s smaller than an iPad and costs 20% as much. Cool stuff, and it let me get a handle on the size /weight of the much more expensive( and still to be released )Samsung tablet. It was a fine few hours of lunch well-spent, especially given that by Christmas, Ruth-Ann will be welcoming a new addition to the family – I’m so very, very happy for them both!

In mid-afternoon I was at The Kilt again, gathered with Lucas, Brian, Pierre, Mike and Trevor T( whom I’d met only once ). It wasn’t at all crowded so we stayed on for dinner – I had a 7oz NY steak for the first time in years, with no trouble at all thanks to some extra enzymes. And beer. Tom was also there; it was his birthday, so it was great to chat with him a bit since I so rarely see him – even after all the years of knowing Lucas. Later on, Mike, Brian Lucas and I went over to the Lake St. Starbuck’s to chill for a bit... and Sarah was working! That was an unexpected bonus, as she’s one of the happiest people I know – being able to see her smile of surprise when she saw me really made my day! A lot of catching up again, along with the usual taunting, as nothing makes it easier to take teasing digs than comfy leather chairs, a cheese tray and some good coffee.

After 10, Lucas and I headed down to the Falls for a low-key party at Ryan’s – Angie, Nancy, Kara, Bill, Paulino, Wang, Lucas, and Brian were all there. I had a capful of Screech for the first time, which made my ears spin and my brain swirl lazily around inside my head like a shaken snowglobe – yowza! Hard liquor and I are going to keep our respectful distance, thanks very much! Some very pleasant hours later, a group of us went out for “some of the best wanton soup ever” – at 2 in the morning. Downtown Niagara Falls sits a small donut shop that somehow also serves wonton soup, so six of us sat down to some steaming bowls... only to immediately become embroiled in a potential fight with two idiots at a nearby table. After some minutes of chest-puffing banter, followed by some not-very-well-received calming banter, the idiots left – sans soup. The people next to the now-vanished idiots told us that the pair had come in looking for a fight... and almost found it. I was not impressed that I nearly ended my trip on a sour note, and won’t be going out for soup to that place again at that hour – not worth it, especially when I net 4 hours of sleep towards the end of my trip atop a really stressful nightcap.

Oct 31 -Sunday Dinner

Breakfast at The Duck was just like old times with Rene, Dave and Lucas – except that the food took almost an hour to arrive. The pancakes proved to be perfect, being light and fluffy and worth the wait / light-headedness from hunger pangs. I zipped back to Simon’s to carve a single eye from my pumpkin, then zipped to the Falls to have lunch at my aunt’s, along with my cousin whom I’d not seen in years. We then went up to Grimsby to visit at my other aunt’s place as they were bringing my uncle back home for a few hours – the first time they’d done so in a year. So it was a very special afternoon spent in the company of my relatives, reminiscing and trading updates on the extended family.

The busy week came to a slow idle in the evening, as I went over to a friend's for dinner with Lucas as well. The turkey dinner they put on was splendid, and I was thrilled that they had invited me to share it with them. I was able to visit for many hours as their new daughter played happily( and cutely-possessively! )with a pumpkin and her toys whilst the doorbell rang with the occasional trick-or-treater – it was a slow night. I was also educated in the breathability of wines after mistaking a decanter for an oddly shaped bottle... well, a vase, really. Lucas presented me with a bottle of award-winning red wine as well to take back with me to BC, and I was really touched by the gesture. All in all it was a grand evening spent so well with friends – the perfect end to a week of highlights for me.

Nov 1 -Back In The Air

Up before 8 and off to Frego’s for a farewell breakfast with Rene – the apple cinnamon pancakes were VERY filling and very tasty! I was on the road to Hamilton by 10am, amused to be following an outdated GPS map to the rental drop-off there – it was MUCH easier during the day, as everything is open! It was a cheap quick cab ride to the airport that saw me seated before noon in the empty lounge area to relax and work on my blog... like I planned it, eh? Apart from the distracting TV blasting ‘The View’ it was great, but once the WestJet wickets opened up I was registered and through security like a flash to get away from the babble.  While waiting I received a call from my parents, the gist of which made me want to caper in joy – it looks like the remainder of 2010 won’t be the usual struggle for us this year, which made MY year when I heard it. Some planning to do, of course, but it means I’ll probably be able to visit Niagara again in early 2011, if I play my cards right – something that I’d have thought impossible yesterday!

Here’s the perfect travel anecdote for modern airport travel, so laugh if you wish. In Calgary, I had about 20 mins before the boarding began for the second leg of the flight, so I thought I’d use that time to, er, inspect the facilities instead of using the ones on board the plane. All was well until it came time for the business to end... then the horror began. Modern airport facilities use IR sensors to detect when you are... finished and moving upwards, so things flush. Apparently someone thought if water pressure equals clean, then dialing things up to ten times normal water pressure means really clean. Meaning the entire stall gets sprayed with... used facility water. So there I am, using copious amounts of TP to keep dry as I move madly around the stall to avoid the evil black eye of the IR sensor, thinking “I’m going to be soaked sitting on the plane, oh crap, the plane is boarding now!” and so forth. I made it to the gate on time and dry overall, even with a flash-stop for a Subway sandwich for the trip. Crazy Calgary... strange thing is, I took this EXACT same flight three years ago today out to Victoria - same schedule, same stop, same Subway sandwich. It was like deja-vu all over again...

Needless to say, I took a shower as soon as I got home. :-)

There’s a bird inside the Hamilton Terminal, flying around and looking for dropped scraps. It’s not a large terminal by any stretch of the mind, so I hope it finds its way out soon. It’s a boring place to be trapped... but it's not forever. I'm happy I could make it out to ON and see as many people as I did... as Mike said, it's like I never left...