Dragon, Doom and Development

The weather is warm, the sun is shining( sometimes )and the dandelions are spreading fast... it must be spring!

April 13 - Talk To Me PC

I spent a good part of today on the computer, despite it being the third of my days off... since it was raining on and off all day, being outside was not really an option( cool winds, too ). I managed to work through an entire season of Arrested Development, which was surprisingly watchable with back-to-back episodes - I usually have to tune out after a bit with some shows / take a breather, but not this one. Again surprising, as it deals with the tribulations of a dysfunctional family. Hm.

I worked on various things on the laptop, which has proven to be surprisingly versatile in handling a LOT of tasks - I was impressed all over again with my purchase, well worth it. Typing is a chore though, so I was pleased as all heck today when I received an email from Nuance, makers of Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 - they FINALLY came out with a version that works with the 64-bit Vista that shipped on my laptop. As a bonus, I could have my upgrade for 1/2 off retail since I already own the previous version, so I ordered it... and I am looking forward to all the cool things I can do with it once I have it installed.

What about my old PC? Well, it is running lean & mean, all set up as a server for my NWN project, though it is capable of a lot more. It does look rather cool now though, despite being antiquated:


April 14 - No More Drives?

After all these years, it seems fiction is finally becoming reality in terms of new tech replacing old: hard drives. This stolid technology has reached its pinnacle, where we see incredibly cheap storage readily available year after year. I have actually reached the point where I have more space than I have data, at least in terms of things I want to store locally and not just download from the net.

So what is slated to replace the spinning platters and whining motors of the ubiquitous hard drive? Why, the Solid State Drive, of course! Based on the same concept as flash memory cards, like those found in USB keys and camera picture cards, these drives have NO moving parts and are totally silent. Not to mention they use very little power and are very light in weight - perfect for laptop drives. Also, the speeds are incredible - have a look at the video on this page and note the fairly reasonable price! These things can already be found in devices like the EEE PC, tiny lightweight netbooks that are the hottest tech segment going right now. Too small for my needs, though some people are looking at how they perform for games.

April 15 - Other History

I enjoy stories that posit "What if?" when it comes to history, as in stories told by authors such as Harry Turtledove and his peers. The tales are sometimes based on fact, and that fact is sometimes hard to believe. Take the information at this link, for instance: German secret weapons from WWII that we thankfully did NOT see in action.

Similarly... well, not really, but it's still cool: a faster way to tie your shoes! Not to be confused with the better way to tie your shoes, listed at 17 Better Ways to Tie Your Shoes - great stuff! Too bad I switched to velcro years ago, despite its tendency to pick up things as I walk.

April 16 - Mid week, home early movies

Hokay... who wants some Bacon Popcorn? I know that you do... but I am not sure the 99-cent Chef would consider it an actual recipe or not.

It felt very strange to be leaving work ON TIME after 4 today, but that was my shift - many more like it, I hope! I am getting used to the no-glass thing, as I have said before... things are more relaxed with my customers, especially as my voice is MUCH lower in volume without a barrier between us. I am still somewhat leery of the cash dispenser, as it is not 100% perfect and has a slight hunger for bills... but I am learning to appease its odd tendencies.

I watched a few movies tonight, enjoying the acoustics of my new Man Cave. The 5.1 surround system I purchased a few years ago does a bang-up job in combination with the wood-ribbed ceiling to bounce the sound richly around the room. Makes movies and media most enjoyable, I must say.

April 17 - I owe you WHAT?

I am SO glad I did not take a vacation this spring... not that I planned to, or had the budget for it. Why? Well, yet another thing to blame on the current economy: trapped tourists. Seems that when Conquest Vacations collapsed, most of their clients were stuck with the bills wherever they were in the world... talk about culture shock.

Maybe they should go to WhatItCosts.com - where you can search out the cost for almost anything, from Alaskan Cruises to Weddings. They didn't have anything about what the value of a soul was though, so I surfed to the Devil's Tramping Ground to explore for a bit - creepy, in the dark.

Want to have a little fun with a website that has been bothering you? Surf to NetDisaster.com, type in the offending website and Choose Your Disaster. Minutes of fun, guaranteed - I like Meteors, myself.

If natural disasters make you nervous, head on over to StormPulse.com to keep track of all the latest on various storms around the globe. It has some excellent up-to-date weather graphics and a TON of information - since I live near the coast, I think I will be coming back to visit fairly often.

April 18 - Singing Sensations

Today I filled in again at our Colwood branch, which has the usual bulletproof glass and money in drawers. It was odd to go back to that, requiring me to shift some mental gears a bit, but easier than I had thought - especially since there is a Tim Horton's literally steps away( about 22 - I counted ). Not that I eat out much any more, but a nice English Breakfast Tea is always welcome, and as a bonus you get TWO teabags with the XL size - frugal as always, s'me.

We all like underdogs, where someone achieves success or greatness despite the odds, rising from the ordinary to the top of things through sheer talent. One such is Susan Boyle, whom you may have already heard has wowed the world with her vocal performance on Britain's Got Talent.

Another underdog I liked was Farscape, that sci-fi show from Muppet-master Brian Henson of the Jim Henson Company. While it never achieved a huge popularity( akin to Babylon5 )like Star Trek, I was sad to see it go, despite the fan base being pushy enough to get a two-hour movie made to complete the series. So the news back in 2007 that a new 'webisode' series was in the works was great, and just recently it appeared online - how's that for new life for old series?

April 19 - Sunday is Doomsday?

Some more morning cartoons, the best of which was Batman: The Brave & the Bold... again. Hearkening back to previous days of superhero comics, it is a good fun romp without brooding overtones - much like the old Batman show, but without the camp, odd as that may sound. Afternoon saw me doing the usual around the house, as well as painting a TV stand outside and doing some more yard tidy - MAN, things grow FAST out here, like sentient green carpets! I relaxed in the hottub for a bit, despite neighbours taking advantage of the sunshine to run all sorts of power tools - typical, but that's what earplugs are for.

Some sad news today for authors: one of our greatest, J.G. Ballard, died today. For those of you unfamiliar with his work, have a look at this lovely page here and see why you should pick up a few of his stories soon.

Today was also the Doomsday Sunday Blitz on the History Channel, meaning they played some interesting shows that were right up my alley for apocalyptic shows. One show I had on DVD already: Life After People( and the similar Aftermath: The World Without Humans ). They both posit the same question: what would happen to the Earth if the human race just up and vanished one day? Some excellent CGI and extrapolating techniques are used to show how the passing of years would affect what was left behind and how the planet would adjust to the sudden passing of humanity. Somewhat less impressive was the movie Deep Impact, which also had excellent CGI but a not-so-stellar story.

Warmer weather is moving in, which should be an interesting experience here, as the house does not have any central ducting or air conditioning - which seems to be quite common here in B.C. oddly enough. So, we will be relying on window blinds to keep out direct sun, as well as open windows to catch cool breezes from the lake.

That about does it - my next day off is Tuesday, and it's already looking rather busy... but SUNNY, so I WILL be taking time off outside. Give me a ring anytime!

Birds, Bats and Blammo

Ducks on a lake in winter... have to love that! A total lack of snow!


Feb 23 - Wurdz

This week's favourite invented phrase: Doom Loop... which was not to be found in the Urban Dictionary.

Everyone has words they've invented, private things and names they use for places, friends, things in general. Pet names, nicknames, joke names... the list goes on and on, the results of silliness, odd events or deeds or just boredom. Some sites celebrate the inevitable evolution of the English language, while others lament the loss of 'The King's English' over time. Myself, knowing that English is an ever-evolving language, wonder at how different today's version will be in a century, when words like l33t and lifequake have been part of the lexicon for a few decades. Will it rawk? We'll see.

Not much going on this week for me, outside of work... things are very busy, and I am out of the house for about 10 hours a day. While this means I do get to sleep in past 8am, the end of the day tends to see me dragging from lack of energy and the demands of the job. So if I want to get anything accomplished, it has to be in the mornings, or wait until one of my rare days off... like Sundays, which so far have all vanished all too quickly, even without any recent road trips.

Feb 24 - Southern Trawl

Brian's on a trip to New Orleans, which sounds like a blast... now that they've rebuilt somewhat. I saw a TV special today about the city and the results of Katrina's assault on it in 2005, which had a large segment on the Superdome and how it successfully sheltered 30,000 people from the storm's fury. Some of them have posted their stories about conditions inside the dome during the storm, which makes for some intense reading. I recall that a former editor of mine from university took a road trip down to N'orleans back in the early 90's, and said the thing that stuck with him most were the dozens of bullet-ridden road signs on the local roadways in the state of Louisiana. Scary.

All of which means Brian probably hasn't checked up on BaconToday.com, which is my weekly bacon blog offering. BaconToday has a cornucopia of bacony goodness, so grease up and dive into the taste!

Feb 25 - Fire logs

I've been burning fire logs in the fireplace here for a few weeks now, and in general they're great: just sawdust and petroleum wax that give off a steady flame over the space of a few hours.

Unless they break in half and flare up - whoa!

I'd bought a new style of log, called 'Crackling logs' that contained tiny bits of whatnot to make the log 'crackle' like a regular tree log would, or so I thought. Instead, the log refused to burn like the others did, becoming a sullen spongy mass of embers that gave off a lot of smoke and very little flame, taking FAR longer to burn than I had thought. After far too long, the log sagged in the middle and then the whole thing burst into a brilliant conflagration - a furnace-like flare of flame! I feared for the structure of the chimney and raced to grab the fire extinguisher, but fortunately the flames only lasted a minute or so... after that I was able to open the glass doors and spread the flaring bits apart from each other to reduce the overall intensity. NOT a good feeling, that, watching this huge fire appear from nowhere and feeling hot enough to melt its way through the fireplace. Sheesh!!!

I enjoyed the fireplaces that I had when I was living in Fonthill: a pair of wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling wood-burning fireplaces that really brought home the ancient thrill of taming fire, in the comfort of your home.

But what about if things went really south? As in, your firelog exploded with the force of a nuclear weapon? What would be the effects?

Thanks to this app available for GoogleMaps, you can now look up any place in the world, and see what effects dropping a nuclear weapon( or even an asteroid )on it would have. Having lived next to the power-generating Niagara Falls for most of my life, I always wondered if it was a priority target on somebody's list, and what would happen if a nuke did go off there... guess it's the post-apocalyptic g33k in me, but books like After The Bomb and Wasteland are always on my shelves for flip-throughs every few years. Plus, shows like Jericho and The Sarah Connor Chronicles also catch my eye year to year...

Feb 26 - Bat-Dates

Today I shut down or suspended whatever online dating accounts I had, after some few weeks of thought. Considering that I've had some of those accounts for years with no noticeable results, I'm going to be spending my time better elsewhere, not to mention saving the fees from the few sites that charge for the privilege. I have to say that overall, I've been disappointed with the sites, as few people respond to even the politest of emails, and the ones that contact me are for the most part not people I would be interested in even casually. So that says I am either far too picky, or like most, simply have not found 'the right person' ... if there is such a one. Compromise? Not in the cards. Yet.

Along the lines of making you laugh, the new animated Batman: The Brave & The Bold is a great show for simply entertaining you. Hearkening back to the visual style of the 1960's Batman, this new animated series aims to entertain without the camp and without getting too 'dark' with its story. From the two episode's I've seen so far, it does a fine job and is eminently watchable.

Feb 27 - Taxing my time

Work today was insane... I'm fine working by myself, but when the taxes are piling up, it becomes almost impossible to do everything. Phone calls and other customers poke at me like hot knives while trying to get through a tax file, each of which takes about fifteen minutes to complete and send in. The next two weeks are going to be much of the same, as this is the time of the year when everyone's T4's are arriving in the mail. So that means as soon as they do, they run in to get the cash. Sadly, not everyone will get a cash return... depending on how much a person paid in taxes during the year, combined with their deductions and credits, some folk may still owe $ to the government. Having to explain this to people reminds me of digging a tunnel in concrete with an old spoon... difficult, dangerous and time-consuming.

Feb 28 - Get Busy Finding

Apparently one can't find everything online... eBay let me down in my search for a cable for my monster-sized laser printer, as did all my usual( and some un-usual )tech shopping sites. So before work today I stopped in at Boomer's computers in Victoria... and was amazed! Barely 60 seconds after I stepped in the door, I had the cable in hand... for five bucks, no less! I had envisioned having to call up every computer store on Vancouver Island, but this astounded me... like pulling a copy of Action Comics #1 out of a pile of used comics at the local shop.

Now that I live out in Langford, I find myself wanting to go and visit downtown Victoria a little less, which is odd, as I really haven't take a day to simply wander around the many great shops there are there. Perhaps when the weather is warmer I'll devote a precious day off to doing just that, stopping in at one or two of the non-franchised cafes there for lunch. Hopefully by then some of my friends here will have some free time as well, though it seems I've managed to pick a fairly busy bunch.

Which is pretty much the same story back in Niagara: everyone gets busy, weeks or months go by and suddenly you realise the last time you saw a few folk was at a Christmas get-together last year... and it's now getting closer to Christmas again. Being busy stinks, sometimes.

March 1st - For da 'boids

Birdfeeders: source of inexpensive entertainment, food and ...

Deathtraps.

Seems that a neighbourhood cat has discovered that our new birdfeeder on the back deck is a great way to feed itself. I saw the grey blur miss two birds by inches this morning, which upset my mom as she wants to watch birds feeding, not being fed upon. So I spent several hours devising a blocking defence and setting it up on the deck - basically a see-through plastic shield to prevent the cat from coming up the back steps to launch itself at the birds at the top. I have to say I am rather proud of it, as the setup doesn't block the view from inside, is weatherproof and still allows people to use the back stairs easily if necessary. I finished just as rainclouds moved in and soaked things thoroughly.

I watched an episode of Total Drama Action tonight, basically season 2 of Total Drama Island from 2007 which I enjoyed immensely. The writing is quirky, the characters are diverse and it manages to be funny at the right times... unlike the animated Clone Wars series, which five minutes in I was tempted to mute and make up my own dialogue. The narrator for the series easily has one of the most annoying voices I've ever heard. Apart from that, the animation itself is excellent - there was a trans-atmospheric battle that had spectacular visuals and effects, but those can't save the show from rather mediocre writing or plots.

I also watched Who Killed the Electric Car? on CBC's The Passionate Eye, which had many eye-opening revelations about how GM's EV-1 program was scrapped as of June 2003. The fact that the cars needed so little maintenance( and thus lost profits for things like oil changes )scared both car companies and oil companies alike, who feared for their profit margins. I also discovered that the many trolley networks that cities in the 50's had were scrapped by automakers to pave the way for expensive fuel-guzzling fleets of buses... with large profits for the automakers again. It was an enlightening hour, and I highly suggest finding it online for a watch-through. Edutainment!


Still haven't had time to get some pictures of the place yet, but I am hoping next week to get a few into the blog. Everything is basically to rights since the move a month ago, and is quite livable.