The word of the week is apocryphal. Uh-huh!
Feb 7 – Silicon Comics
Back when I used to get a daily paper delivered, before the internet came along, it was the best medium for getting news and new information. As time passed and information exploded into the information age, papers for me became quaint tools, useful for really only one thing: the comics section. For all it’s vast uses, I’d been disappointed with how difficult it’s been to get all my favourite daily comics in one place. Up until recently, that is – it seems that technology has finally conquered the daily comic, as you can now see almost all your fave strips in one place at most major papers. I now surf over to TheStar.com a few times a week to catch up – Hagar The Horrible is timeless!
Feb 8 – Kindle, not kindling
Despite its lack of signal in my room, I’ve been really enjoying certain aspects of my iPhone, not the least of which is the Kindle eBook reader app - for PC too. The books on Kindle are VERY inexpensive, usually less than $5.00 each, which easily approaches used-book store prices and take up no physical room at all. I’ve downloaded about a dozen titles so far, including both of the newest Robert Jordan novels as well as some story collections. Quite a few titles are about Zombies and apocalyptic books, I’ve noticed... seems to be my taste of late. Mmmm.... braiiins. Good reads all, though.
Feb 9 - Prelude to Eden
I wonder sometimes what path I would have taken had my talents evolved along the more visual arts, rather than the written word. I tried my hand at drawing and didn’t like the results... so much so that I veered away from the visual and gave free reign to my mental imagery instead. There are quite a number of visual artists whose work I am thunderstruck by, one of whom was introduced to me( not personally )by my good friend Mike H. That is, of course, the renowned Michel Gagne, whose work is mind-bogglingly creative. Have a gander and then find some more of his work to blow your mind again:
Feb 10 – Happy B-day Sis!
Today was my sister’s birthday, which has in the past sometimes been a hit-and-miss thing. Usually hit, with the occasional miss. I like to think I’ve made up for a few low points before with the recent gifting of said laptop to said sister, which I’ve come to understand has been a BIG life-changer for her. Having a laptop, for me, means I can write / surf / game wherever I want to, within reason – usually it means a coffee shop or local Wifi point, as I’m too cheap to spring for a mobile ‘net-stick. Back to my sister though: it’s difficult to be close to your siblings yet not BE close to them, so for all of you out there with a bro or sis far away, remember to think of them more often than not, and call / Skype them more often than that. Keep those family ties strong.
Feb 11 – It’s a UPS, via UPS!
You’d think this was a g33k / tech blog from all the technology I mention here, but hey: it’s what I like. F’rinstance, UPS arrived at my door today, with a UPS that I’d got on super –sale not a few days back. The thing weighed 11kg yet the shipping was $4.99 – bargain! This was to replace the old UPS that failed earlier this week during a brief power outage; I’ve had that one since the mid-90’s and despite a battery change a few years ago, it’s just not doing its job any more, a decade in. Good that it’s lasted this long though – the replacement is another Cyberpower, though this one has a ton of features the other lacked and is more powerful to boot. So my new PC will be much safer, even unattended. I originally bought a UPS from when I lived in Fonthill, where the power would fail once a week during the summer given the nasty thunderstorms that lash ON every year. No such storms here, but the winds that kick up do tend to knock down a LOT of trees onto power lines, so the same result happens, just less often. Hence the UPS and my peace of mind.
Feb 12 – Me vs. Seagate
So far, the Seagate Debacle seems to be working out. I’ve been using the laptop drive as my main drive for 2 weeks now in my server tower, and it seems quite happy – cool too, for that matter. I’m going to see if I can’t tweak it some to dual-boot Vista and maybe even Ubuntu Linux; there’s lots of room on it as I’ve got plans to put most of my data on other drives for safe-keeping. It’s an interesting and challenging hobby some days; as long as you’re careful about what you do it can have good results. What irks me about operating systems and the like is that it takes SO long to install things; when something goes wrong it can be days or a week before things are back as they were. I’ll be taking things slow for a bit as I work out what I want to do, but so far I’m really pleased with my computer setup that will only get better, despite the almost total loss of my rather expensive laptop. Which I will likely end up selling on eBay soon to try and recoup some of my costs.... darn it.
Feb 13 – No Spring In My Step
It’s been a quiet week; I’ve worked right through until today, with tomorrow off – finally. I’ve been tired but thankfully flu-free, despite a lot of it going around as usual this time of year. Now that the days are getting longer again, I think I’ll have more energy, especially if I get up the gumption to get out and trundle around a bit doing some exercise. Been woefully short on that, of late, which has likely contributed greatly to my lack of excess energy – no real surprise there. I think that given the incredible stress I’ve been under up until the end of 2010, I’ve had somewhat of a snap-back, where the sudden lack of stress in a few areas has left me mentally reeling a bit – in a good way, though. As I’ve said before, I’m going into 2011 trying to be positive and to set up some goals for things I’ve put off due to necessity for some time now. Healthy head and healthy body make for improvement in All Things Me, so I’ll be planning things as I always do and trying my best not to overstep myself. I need sleep - I was too tired to even continue a NWN adventure for more than an hour after work tonight, so there you are.
Not a lot going on this week; it’s February and taxes are starting up at work, so that’s a pain. At least it looks like I’ll be getting a return this year, which is always good. Plan for it early and it might work out!
Feb 7 – Silicon Comics
Back when I used to get a daily paper delivered, before the internet came along, it was the best medium for getting news and new information. As time passed and information exploded into the information age, papers for me became quaint tools, useful for really only one thing: the comics section. For all it’s vast uses, I’d been disappointed with how difficult it’s been to get all my favourite daily comics in one place. Up until recently, that is – it seems that technology has finally conquered the daily comic, as you can now see almost all your fave strips in one place at most major papers. I now surf over to TheStar.com a few times a week to catch up – Hagar The Horrible is timeless!
Feb 8 – Kindle, not kindling
Despite its lack of signal in my room, I’ve been really enjoying certain aspects of my iPhone, not the least of which is the Kindle eBook reader app - for PC too. The books on Kindle are VERY inexpensive, usually less than $5.00 each, which easily approaches used-book store prices and take up no physical room at all. I’ve downloaded about a dozen titles so far, including both of the newest Robert Jordan novels as well as some story collections. Quite a few titles are about Zombies and apocalyptic books, I’ve noticed... seems to be my taste of late. Mmmm.... braiiins. Good reads all, though.
Feb 9 - Prelude to Eden
I wonder sometimes what path I would have taken had my talents evolved along the more visual arts, rather than the written word. I tried my hand at drawing and didn’t like the results... so much so that I veered away from the visual and gave free reign to my mental imagery instead. There are quite a number of visual artists whose work I am thunderstruck by, one of whom was introduced to me( not personally )by my good friend Mike H. That is, of course, the renowned Michel Gagne, whose work is mind-bogglingly creative. Have a gander and then find some more of his work to blow your mind again:
Feb 10 – Happy B-day Sis!
Today was my sister’s birthday, which has in the past sometimes been a hit-and-miss thing. Usually hit, with the occasional miss. I like to think I’ve made up for a few low points before with the recent gifting of said laptop to said sister, which I’ve come to understand has been a BIG life-changer for her. Having a laptop, for me, means I can write / surf / game wherever I want to, within reason – usually it means a coffee shop or local Wifi point, as I’m too cheap to spring for a mobile ‘net-stick. Back to my sister though: it’s difficult to be close to your siblings yet not BE close to them, so for all of you out there with a bro or sis far away, remember to think of them more often than not, and call / Skype them more often than that. Keep those family ties strong.
Feb 11 – It’s a UPS, via UPS!
You’d think this was a g33k / tech blog from all the technology I mention here, but hey: it’s what I like. F’rinstance, UPS arrived at my door today, with a UPS that I’d got on super –sale not a few days back. The thing weighed 11kg yet the shipping was $4.99 – bargain! This was to replace the old UPS that failed earlier this week during a brief power outage; I’ve had that one since the mid-90’s and despite a battery change a few years ago, it’s just not doing its job any more, a decade in. Good that it’s lasted this long though – the replacement is another Cyberpower, though this one has a ton of features the other lacked and is more powerful to boot. So my new PC will be much safer, even unattended. I originally bought a UPS from when I lived in Fonthill, where the power would fail once a week during the summer given the nasty thunderstorms that lash ON every year. No such storms here, but the winds that kick up do tend to knock down a LOT of trees onto power lines, so the same result happens, just less often. Hence the UPS and my peace of mind.
Feb 12 – Me vs. Seagate
So far, the Seagate Debacle seems to be working out. I’ve been using the laptop drive as my main drive for 2 weeks now in my server tower, and it seems quite happy – cool too, for that matter. I’m going to see if I can’t tweak it some to dual-boot Vista and maybe even Ubuntu Linux; there’s lots of room on it as I’ve got plans to put most of my data on other drives for safe-keeping. It’s an interesting and challenging hobby some days; as long as you’re careful about what you do it can have good results. What irks me about operating systems and the like is that it takes SO long to install things; when something goes wrong it can be days or a week before things are back as they were. I’ll be taking things slow for a bit as I work out what I want to do, but so far I’m really pleased with my computer setup that will only get better, despite the almost total loss of my rather expensive laptop. Which I will likely end up selling on eBay soon to try and recoup some of my costs.... darn it.
Feb 13 – No Spring In My Step
It’s been a quiet week; I’ve worked right through until today, with tomorrow off – finally. I’ve been tired but thankfully flu-free, despite a lot of it going around as usual this time of year. Now that the days are getting longer again, I think I’ll have more energy, especially if I get up the gumption to get out and trundle around a bit doing some exercise. Been woefully short on that, of late, which has likely contributed greatly to my lack of excess energy – no real surprise there. I think that given the incredible stress I’ve been under up until the end of 2010, I’ve had somewhat of a snap-back, where the sudden lack of stress in a few areas has left me mentally reeling a bit – in a good way, though. As I’ve said before, I’m going into 2011 trying to be positive and to set up some goals for things I’ve put off due to necessity for some time now. Healthy head and healthy body make for improvement in All Things Me, so I’ll be planning things as I always do and trying my best not to overstep myself. I need sleep - I was too tired to even continue a NWN adventure for more than an hour after work tonight, so there you are.
Not a lot going on this week; it’s February and taxes are starting up at work, so that’s a pain. At least it looks like I’ll be getting a return this year, which is always good. Plan for it early and it might work out!
