The word of the week is ... squee?
April 26 – Fungal Souls
Now how did I miss this news tidbit? I deal with people signing papers at work a dozen times a day easily, so when I say that 99% of them never, ever read what they’re signing I know of what I speak. So when I read today that over 7,500 people in the UK unknowingly sold their souls to a British gaming website, I have to say I was surprised the number was so low. What’s a soul worth these days on eBay, anyway?
I read today that there’s a strain of toxic fungus that is spreading across the north-western United States and is already here in Lower B.C. – scary when you don’t have a clue that this sort of thing exists. Scarier still is the fact that it’s been linked to the deaths of dozens of people to date and you begin to wonder how safe things really are outside your front door...
April 27 – Want a RIM job?
As part of my new role as manager of the Colwood branch, I’ve been given a Blackberry... which I’m not thrilled about. I can see how useful it could be if I was CEO of a large company being buried in immediate emails, or running my own business, or globe-trotting... but at the moment I see it as an electronic leash. At least I can turn this model off, and for now all it’s going to be used for is regular phone calls. RIM, the creators of the Blackberry, announced today that it’s planning to double the number of users to 100 million... which means going head-to-head with Apple for the market dominated by the iPhone – so that’s going to be an interesting fight.
Moving update: most of the unpacking is done, and we’ve condensed what remains into a pair of storage units in the condo basement – soon to be one unit, as I work my way through boxes deciding what really needs to stick around until the next move. It’ll be nice to have the leisure to do so, when I can pick out things I’ll need later, things that I’ll need now, and things I’ll never need again – those will go on eBay or elsewhere. My room is still half boxes, so I’m looking forward to getting things squared away over the next couple of weeks on my days off – leisurely. I still haven’t found my old pair of glasses yet – oops.
April 28 – Surviving Iron Man
In my few off moments, I’ve tuned my TV fairly regularly to whatever channel is playing Survivorman – the host Les Stroud isolates himself for a week in the harshest environments while filming himself well, surviving. It’s like a travel shop and survival instruction rolled into one, which is fascinating to watch – you get to see some of the skills that you have to have to keep yourself alive with no food and little in the way of supplies scavenged from the area around him. Very cool reality TV.
This is a neat little application: it uses your PC’s webcam to put your face into the Heads-Up Display of Iron Man’s Helmet, so You Too Can Be Tony Stark, just like in the movies. I’ve yet to see the sequel, which probably means I’ll catch it on DVD like most of the movies I’ve seen in the last year. I’ve been seeing a few here and there on The Movie Channel in the last few weeks, as Shaw gave us a ‘moving promo’ of a free month to watch... so far, I’ve been very underwhelmed with the selection, which seems to focus on two-star movies for the most part – I’ve no desire to see more of Eddie Murphy anytime soon.
April 29 – Playing Hard with Bugs
Just like when I was a kid, playing at being a knight, these guys are still doing it well into adulthood – and making a funny video out of it to boot. When LARPers attack is an look at how make-believe can go wrong in amusingly horrifying ways. Which makes gaming around a table piled high with dice, rulebooks, miniatures, chips and pop looks downright appealing by comparison...
Ask, and you might receive: in the form of a beta. Software publishers these days seem to enjoy using the public to test their software before release, which is really cost-effective when you think about it. Microsoft especially; Windows 7 was available for a year as a Public Beta before it was finalized, and they’re doing the same with the 64-bit version of Windows Home Server starting just a few weeks ago. I’m considering WHS for a future upgrade, so it’s ironic that there’s a beta out there I could test, IF I owned a newer PC – which I don’t( no 64-bit in my old AMD ). So I’m stuck, but that’s the way it goes.
April 30 – Stupid Bass Mentals
Last night I had a total of 3 hours of sleep, thanks to the party-crazy bass-loving folks downstairs, who started their highly-audible music at 11:15pm and didn’t stop until 3:45am. We contacted the RCMP shortly after midnight, but the officer dispatched went to the wrong building – apparently the place up the hill is the one that gets all the calls, not ours, so he mistook the address. I waited downstairs in the lobby for him until 3am, then called again... at which point they sent the officer out again and I waved him down at the traffic roundabout outside. He was quick to put a stop to the noise, I have to say – from what he told me the people below us had “just moved in” ... which doesn’t fly with having loud music in the early morning. Anyway, the officer encouraged us to call again if there was a repeat offence then bylaw tickets would be immediately issued – which he’d also informed the Downstairs People about. I was impressed with the way things were handled, as well as the quick responses we received today from the Condo association as well as the Strata Corp that handles our condo rental – everyone was very concerned that the problem be handled to our satisfaction and that we were assured it wouldn’t be a continuing issue, which we were worried about... we’re quiet people and just want to sleep at night.
Yet again, I’m not impressed with warranties – mainly the things that are considered ‘consumables’ which in electronic terms means lamps and a few other fairly expensive parts. Which is what happened to my parent’s TV: the Sony simply faded to black today, so I called the warranty replacement number( since we had a ‘blanket’ warranty from The Brick )and was told that the lamp was NOT covered under the warranty, so we could arrange to pay $200.00 for a technician to come out and replace it... the labour was covered, but I was incensed that such a fragile part would last barely 2 years, fail and then render the warranty useless for another year longer. So I’m looking at getting something else... as well as writing letters to quite a few places to talk about Full Disclosure at Time of Sale. Blackguards!
May 1 – Putting a Foot Down Badly
This morning was crazy: I had to drive my dad to the hospital for 7am after he awoke to find his foot swollen to twice it’s size and a bright red colour – VERY SCARY. I had to leave him there for my mom to tend to as I worked at 8am at a Victoria store, covering as usual until 2pm to make our schedules function – it’s the last time I’ll have to do that for the foreseeable future with our new hires coming fully online in the next few weeks. I was worried for hours until my mom called with the news that it was an infection that they could deal with, and were sending him home after treating him with massive doses of several medications. By the time I got home around 3pm, his foot had shrunken almost back to normal size and had gone down to being merely slightly pink, he was resting comfortably in the sun lounge we’ve set up that overlooks the golf course. Cellulitis, as it turns out, is a damned serious thing and it was wise of us to take my dad into the hospital when we did.
It’s a new month in a new place, with a branch for me to manage... heck, it’s all kinds of new for me! Damned busy though; looking back at my schedules, I realized today that my last day off was April 2nd... a month ago. Add the move in mid-April to that and there’s good reason for the raccoon eyes I’ve been sporting lately, along with the weight loss. Thankfully, my next day off is coming up on May 6th so it’s not TOO far away... and I can really use it.
May 2 – Is Hoguetastic Better than Slave Leias?
Booyah – the next episode of Newt and John is up tonight! Thanks Mike – go check it out, people! Yet I’m torn between keeping an eye on the duo’s antics and continuing to watch this amazing car wash video... why the heck didn’t I ever hear of anyone doing a themed car wash before today? Sheesh.
Today I expected it to be busy at work, and it was – I gave the other staff the day off to rest up after their long hauls and trials of the last few months before starting fresh in May. Good for them, not so good for me getting anything done, what with the continuous stream of people through the door. Which was good for keeping the store open, so I really can’t complain. I hunkered down at home, watched most of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on The Movie Channel while trying not to wince – good thing I didn’t get around to pay to see it in theatres. That was followed by Doomsday, a 2008 romp along the lines of Mad Max but starring Rhona Mitra, who reminds me of Kate Beckinsale somewhat. Anyway, all good things to distract oneself whilst writing a blog
This week should be the last one where I work more than 5 days, so I’ll be getting some rest and days off very shortly. Meaning I can take some time for myself to do things I want to( like write )and not just try to unwind and keep up with events every day after work. That’ll be very, very nice. As are all the Comments on the blog of late – love to see your verbal activity, folks!
