Luminara, Luna and Learning

In less than a week, I'll be in Niagara - booyah!

July 20 - Bees and RPG's

Bees - they're in trouble, and the whole world's been a-buzz about what may be causing the massive decline in bee populations, termed 'Colony Collapse Disorder'. Much like my mention last week about the world's coral reefs dying off, the loss of bees would mean the collapse of most plant life on earth. Today news arrived that the culprit is not widespread cell phone use, as many had surmised... but instead is the spread of a tiny parasite called Nosema ceranae. Now that the cause has been identified, steps can bee taken to bee proactive to prevent further losses and eventually protect against the little monsters. Good news for honey lovers everywhere! Update: According to Lucas, who has the ear of a local beekeeper, larger hives have often been placed too close together in an area, resulting in too little work for too many bees. How about that, eh?

Speaking of people with bees in their bonnets: Kingdom of Loathing is a bare-bones, dead-simple online RPG that's free and ludicrously funny - how can you go wrong with stick figures holding swords, where you can choose a class such as Accordion Thief? You owe it to yourself to check it out... but don't loathe me for it. In a related vein, UrbanDead is an online survival horror game, where you.... well, try to survive. It's a little like being inside a slow-motion version of Land of the Dead, but unique in that you can play a zombie - how's that for fun? Brains... need brains. Yum!

And what would today be without mention of the Lunar Landing Anniversary, 40 years ago today, 4 years before I was even born? I remember as a child looking up at the full moon of nights, thinking "Wow, we've actually been there, all that distance away... we can do anything." Then I'd go back inside and watch some more TV - what does that say about the modern yearning for exploration? Couch surfing, that's what it says - bring it to you with a remote control, instead of going out and putting boots on the mountaintop.

July 21 - Test Screening

I went into Victoria for a late doctor's appointment today, to see if any cause for my lingering nausea could be found. Alas, the specialist was unable to make a firm diagnosis, putting me on some 'test' antacid pills for a few months and booking me a 'scope appointment... in a year's time. Yeah... I hope to have that moved up somewhat, as I really want to ferret out whatever lingering cause I have for the unpredictable nausea. Ah well... at least it's on the books.

On the way home, I purchased a few lengths of 2" wide cedar from Home Depot, which I cut down with a handsaw once I was home. They are for my screen door project - I've never built something like that before, but I've thought it through and it seems really simple. The wood I cut today will make the frame, with two smaller pieces for corner supports... and a bit left over for mistakes. No time today to do the rest though... I had to look into some nice news that the PC Gaming Industry is not dead, as everyone keeps saying year after year for the last decade or so. Though the guys at EP Weekly have said repeatedly that the "best gaming value for your dollar" is to run things on a Macbook Pro laptop - who knew? Check out some compelling facts on the topic here - you may be surprised!

I also checked out RoboGames.net, which is the home of robot combat - for real. Much like Robot Wars of years ago on TV, the RoboGames have robot combat, as well as other pursuits like robo-soccer and other similar events. Yet the crowd favourite by far is when one metal machine is bashing the heck out of another - some of the designs show incredible talent and skill, not to mention the tactics used in the combat itself.

July 22 - Whadda mean, receipts?

Joy of joys. Almost 2 years since I moved, yet just now I get a letter from the CRA asking me to prove my moving expenses from back then..? Good thing I keep all my receipts, so it looks like I'll be spending a day or two gathering things together to send out as proof. Just when you think you are ahead, something else tosses itself in your path like a garden rake wanting to meet with your nose when you're smelling the roses... I wonder how many IRS agents are gardeners, in the US?

On that note, a good site to visit for tons of good free Canadian financial advice is CanadianBusiness.com, home of several magazies including a fave of mine, MoneySense.ca - pick up a copy at your local store if you get a chance, it's well worth the investment. You should also ensure you are VERY aware of the many ways that you can be a victim of identity theft these days - just recently, a local man close by to where I live was arrested and found to have been a major ID theft criminal; read about the story here. Criminals are becoming more and more sophisticated, getting organized to the point where their activities resemble that of large corporations, as this article talks about - scary stuff. Learn how to protect yourself( plus educate your friends & family )against this sublte but life-changing crime here.

Of course, you could always wait and try to win the lottery. But in this guy's case, it meant he was immediately sent to jail..!

This evening was slightly annoying, as I kept getting calls from our HelpDesk - as a store manager, I'm responsible for my store, and right now we're having... issues... with our internet provider. At least, we think it's the provider. As I'm not able to go into detail, I'll leave it at that I received a total of 6 calls tonight, on my day off... none of which I could ignore, and none of which ended with me able to actually fix the problem - that's somewhere up the pipe. Frustrating, but eventually we'll get it sorted.

July 23 - Happy Halo Daze

Happy Birthday to Simon, who is graciously hosting me while I stay in Niagara this coming week. I have quite a few fond memories of gaming days at his place, gathering with the guys for some pen-n-paper RPG adventure, or the louder & more frenetic Halo Days. A dozen guys packed into the place, beer & chips scattered amongst cables and humming Xbox consoles, eyes glued to glowing screens and faces lit by flashes of pixelated destruction - great fun! Did I mention the insults? "Pete, get your stick on the ice!" was my favourite - thanks, Dave. Too bad there's no 'duck & cover' button for any of the Halo games...

After work, I made an unscheduled stop for dinner with my parents at the Smokin' Bones Cookshack, which has been on my list of Places to Eat for some time. Located in central Langford, it's not much to look at from outside: just a place at one end of a plaza, without even a patio. We arrived at the perfect time: a little after 5pm, just before the dinner rush which meant we managed to score one of the 'spare' tables near the entrance - the rest of the 40 or so tables had already been reserved far in advance! The menu was simple, with decent prices - I chose the 1/2 smoked chicken with gluten-free BBQ sauce and garlic potatoes. It was fantastic! The meat was perfect: moist but not greasy, firm but not underdone... it peeled away from the bone with a slight tearing sound I have never heard from any roasted chicken before. The skin was a perfect blend of smokey BBQ and tasty texture, combining with the potatoes for a sumptuous taste feast, made all the better by the fact that the restaurant only uses local food sources, supporting the local farmers 100%. I had to take some home, as there was simply too much to take in all in one sitting.

Fueled by the fine meal, I completed the screen door project in a little over an hour, screwing the frame together using a milk crate as a set square. The screen went on with the help of my dad and a newly-purchased staple gun from the nearby Home Depot( conveniently located next to where I work )with nearly straight lines holding down the screen. Total cost of the project, including wood, screen, stapler, staples and screws? $42.00 with taxes... read into that what you will. All in all, I am very pleased with the results, especially as it is going to get very warm here in the coming few weeks - projected around 33 degrees with humidity, on average. Catching the cool breezes in the morning and evening from the lake, while closing up the house during the day, should keep temperatures well below the sweltering 30+ degrees we suffered through in early June this year.

July 24 - I tune, You Tune..

Work today was hectic, but several problems I had been dreading the appearance of never surfaced or solved themselves, so by the evening I had breathed a large mental sigh of relief. In case you missed it last week, you can relax of an evening watching episodes of Family Guy for free at FamilyGuyDirect.com - again I have to say, it's VERY rare to find such a site outside the USA, where media contents rights usually mean such sites are only available within that country's borders. Boo!

After much annoyance, I finally managed to get an iTunes account working with my credit card( seems many people are having problems with iTunes and their cards )so I can now use it with my new iPod Shuffle( won it @ work free a few weeks ago! ). I also snagged a year-long pass to Stoked from iTunes, not wanting to wait for it to pass me by on Teletoon at odd times of day - I am three hours behind here in BC, y'know. Sweet! Definitely be sure you check out some of the episodes on Teletoon.com if you haven't already; the animation is stellar( hi Mike! )and the show is just plain fun to watch.

Ever since Dr. No, people have wanted to hug a nuke. Now, you can. Sweet! And here I thought post-apocalyptic themes were all doom & gloom...

July 25 - Luminara Windows

Do you hate Windows Vista, or even just dislike it more than the next person? There's a good article at TechRepublic that covers 10 Reasons Why Vista Haters will Love Windows7... which I have preordered, so we'll see how the final version turns out - it was recently announced that it's on track for an October 2009 release. C|net also has a nice video that talks about how nice Win7 is... but then we heard that about Vista previous to it's release too, didn't we?

For the Mac users among you: here's a YouTube video demo of someone running the Windows7 beta on a Macbook Pro - very cool!

Sooo... if you're brave enough to upgrade, you should know by now what you should do: Back Up Your Data. I have four external hard drives here, plus a few others kicking around, and I still find myself looking for a bit more room some days( though recent advances in 1TB drives means things are a LOT faster under the hood ). Yet eventually every hard drive will die on you - if you're lucky, it will only be corrupted yet still spin up when powered. In which case, it would be damn handy to have a USB stick with a few data recovery programs on hand to rescue those pictures of your kid's first steps, that recent birthday party, or what-have-you. Because it will happen to you - losing data is an experience you only ever do once, because once it's all gone you never, ever want that sort of thing to happen again.

Until the next time you put off that regular, boring monthly backup... especially if your area is experiencing extreme rainfall, causing flooding - like the last 3 days in Southern Ontario / Niagara! It rained here tonight, which was a welcome respite from a month-long dry spell - forest fires are a very real danger here in the summer, with tons of dry fuel just waiting for a spark. I actually heard some rolls of thunder last night too, for a few minutes - very unusual here,

Tonight was also the annual Luminara Festival in Victoria, which quite literally was a washout thanks to the rain as mentioned above. Which is too bad, really - it's quite a nice night event, but I didn't attend this year as I don't really have anyone to go with. Last year, all I did was wander around with a camera trying to capture the lovely images with a device that wasn't really suited to the low-light conditions.

July 26 - Hot COD4 and Civ!

Hoboy, it's hot out today - highs reached 30 degrees, plus humidity thanks to the rain yesterday, lots of moisture out there to bake out of the ground and plants. My screen door's proving useful, though again only in the morning and evenings as it's too hot to let the wind blow through the place - it'd just add to the heat, so we try to limit the hot airflow during the 10am-4pm period. S'working well so far...

The heat hasn't stopped the crowds from gathering in the park next door though - once again the dock is packed with people baking themselves silly in the sun, where the smarter few of the bunch soaking in the cooler lake waters. A few of them will likely get sunburned... and perhaps develop some skin problems because of it. Which, being in Canada, means that our health system will foot most of the bill - unlike in the USA, where 46 million people don't have any form of health insurance. That's a scary thing folks; even scarier is that within 50 years, projections show that the majority of the United State's GDP will be going towards supporting pensioners and the failing health care system, easily outstripping defence spending. What kind of a country that will create is beyond my imagining right now.

I want, SO want, one of THESE for my next birthday. The big questions: where to park it, and when to use it? In the meantime, I still want one of these too.

Typical plan for my Sundays off is... Morning: do stuff around the house, play a bit of COD4. Noon: sit out on the deck, read a bit until the Noise Next Door gets too distracting, then inside again. Afternoon: work on the blog, watch some shows like DottoTech TV, which is a great ongoing show whose genial host Dotto goes over useful new tech for the g33k in all of us, and best of all: it's a 100% Canadian show.

In the late afternoon, I played a game of Civ:Rev with Lucas & Nigel... at least, we tried to. The 4th game lasted the longest, though Lucas was eliminated early on - payback for the Spanish Debacle! Connection problems caused the last game to tank though, so we gave up for the night on that - disappointing. Bill, Matt & a pal of his and I turned to COD4 again for a few hours and though we didn't do so well, Matt showed me a few things about different game matches I didn't know, plus some tips on using some familiar weapons in different situations - very helpful, thanks! For those interested: the M16A4 has a 3-round burst, very useful when paired with a red-dot sight on most medium to long-range boards. Quick and accurate, it really helped me balance my score in several matches, though I still have to work on my close-in game. Matt also suggested a UAV Jammer paired with a silencer, again a winning combo for the Lone Wolf Assassin. A few more minutes downloading some things from XboxLive, and then I turned in for the night.

Next time I update the blog, it will be from Niagara! Yee-hah!

Heatwave, Home Depot and Health

A week spent mostly off my feet; bliss! Well, mostly.

June 1 - New Month, New Aches

I was feeling sore and tired today, but less so than on the weekend. The weather is simply lovely, though it looks to be a HOT one this week... which just goes to show: be careful what you wish for! I had hoped for some good weather this week, but all seven days? Unprecedented... so I should have suspected something was up - boy, was I right!

Things on my mind this week included... wills. Which, I might guess, most of you reading this do not have. Hence the need to read what Neil Gaiman had to say on the subject, relating to writers( of course )but important nonetheless. Since I don't happen to have a house, car or secret Swiss Bank Accounts, it's not as important for me as for those with more to disperse - but then, I don't want all my hard-earned swag to end up at an estate garage sale. That'd make my spirit restless, y'know?

Today, BioWare released a trailer for their upcoming massively multiplayer online game Star Wars: The Old Republic. It is unbelievable: watching it, one forgets it is a game trailer, as it is as spectacular as any movie trailer I've seen in many a year. Can't wait for the game to come out; I've not the time now to devote to an MMO like World of Warcraft, but for T.O.R. I might just find a few hours a week.

June 2 - Niagara News!!!

Today was spent mostly outside on the deck, coming in for 'cooling breaks' every few hours. I relaxed: snoozing, reading and typing on the laptop, as the mood took me and the energy levels allowed. I mainly kept to a semi-reclined position, using anything BUT my abdominal muscles, as I mentioned last week. The weather outside was gorgeous, but I had to be mindful not to overheat - sitting under the umbrella in a lounger was the best idea, as the cul-de-sac area back under the skylight by the kitchen window was like an oven when the sun moved to shine in it, despite the occasional breeze.

Some GREAT news today as well: Martin emailed me my flight ticket info! Here's the dates:

July 31st - Arriving Toronto at Terminal 1 @ 2:10pm EST

August 8th - Departs Toronto from Terminal 1 @ 4:30pm EST

... which means yes, I will be coming back to Niagara this summer, thanks to the generosity and support of my friends. Again, I feel so lucky to have such good people in my life - all the better that I can visit them again this year!

Vampires are alive and well in today's media, believe it or not. A recent news article revealed that none other than Avril Lavigne is taking steps to hide her bloodsucking nature from the world. As trivial as it may be, I think it's actually true - I've seen her Canon camera commercial a few times since, and if you look closely when she smiles, there are no incisors visible! Coincidence? Not in Hollywood! And while I actually find prominent incisors attractive( depending on the person )they are only so if they are natural - wannabe goth vamps: you have been warned.

June 3 - Home Depot

In the early afternoon I had to lie down for a few hours, as I suddenly became weak and shaky. I don't think my energy levels were quite up to dealing with the heat outside, which even in the shade was over 30 degrees C. Inside, the house is bearably warm... except of course, in my front room. Maybe I should have built myself one of these, which is a water-powered air conditioner for the budget-conscious. Love those kinds of ideas: low cost AND effective( I even own the same model of fan! ). Though it does waste water, but the Comments section there does describe a closed-loop system possibility, which appeals to me all the more.

Home depot was visited several times today, for various things including a 20' ladder necessary for cleaning windows and reaching various parts of the house - backsplits are like that. And the stepladder that came with the place was far too short to do more than reach the eaves in the front. Why a ladder today though? See tomorrow's entry - today was simply purchasing the hardware in the evening for the upcoming job. I was exhausted and grumpy by the time I got back home again... there wasn't room in the car for both myself AND the new ladder, thanks to the silly design of the Mazda 3's interior. You'd think the split-folding seats would favour a straight pass-through, allowing one side to remain up and so allow the possibility of passenger in the back seat? Nope - the larger folding seat section is behind the driver, not the front passenger - so if you have something like, say, a ladder... then both back seat sections have to fold down to accommodate it. Dumb design - I wrote Mazda a note, but don't expect to hear back.

The local politicians also voted today in favour of moving forward with plans for sewage treatment in the region, voting to go from zero plants to four plants in operation by 2016. I still find it incomprehensible that the capital city of the province has existed so long without any sewage treatment plants whatsoever, just dumping waste into the ocean untreated... I grew up next to a sewage treatment plant in the north end of St. Kitt's, so I knew what it was all about from an early age. I think it prepared me to put up with the crap of later life, in some ways...

June 4 - What the blazes?

In the morning after breakfast I was up on a ladder in the front hall, putting up a curtain to neatly cover over the skylight and so reduce the blazing heat of the sun that we've been getting this week. It will stay up all summer, and hopefully reduce temperatures in the front area of the house( where I spend my time )from oven-like to merely warm. I managed to do it without falling over, though with frequent breaks, a fan aimed up to keep me cool, and sunglasses - it was damn bright up there. Also, I rigged up a screen for the front door to allow it to remain open and increase the airflow through the house. Combined with the skylight curtain, the house was noticeably cooler today, though I still had to retreat to my bedroom for a few hours at the worst parts. A secondary curtain out the back under the deck skylight also cut the blazing sun's fury to manageable levels, creating a decent retreat during the later hours of the afternoon. Still too hot to sleep outside though.

Blade Runner is a film I have always loved( and now own the 5-disc HD-DVD Complete Collector's Edition, which has all 4 official versions of the film plus the rare actual workprint, plus 9 hours of extras. It was on sale too, so that helped add it to my shelf. Nothing compares to seeing Blade Runner in HD with the sound wrapping around you - bliss.

I wonder if in such a future, they would have healthy bacon? No joke - apparently they have special pigs in Spain; have a read.

June 5 - Heat Relief

Today was not as unbearably hot as the last few days have been, thankfully. A nice wind all day from the lake to the north kept the air moving through the house, which was much cooler thanks to yesterday's adjustments. We're also under water-use restrictions here on Vancouver Island, which limits outdoor watering for the summer to just 6 hours a week, total. Not a lot to keep your lawn green, though you are allowed to hand-water as much as you like - no way to I feel up to that yet.

In September, I am really looking forward to seeing Tim Burton's 9 when it comes out... on the 9th. 9/9/9, get it? Today, a preview of one of the villains from the film was released: the Seamstress. Scary, spooky apocalyptic stuff - I can hardly wait!

Boring is bad in my books, and few things are as boring as urban garage doors. Luckily, you can now spice things up: Style Your Garage.com has large stick-on images that turn boring into badass. This one is my favourite - sure stands out from the boring grey alley-doors next to yours in downtown T.O. - they do regular doors and windows, too.

I've been a little frustrated with my laptop of late, but I am still very pleased overall with my purchase - especially as the CPU is upgradable, unlike most laptops. I was also pleased to see it rated here at the top of the mid-level CPU's out there. Which means that if I want to upgrade in about a year's time, the T9800 CPU may eventually drop to an affordable level, and I may add some faster memory too, as it seems to be the weak link of the laptop's performance chain. Never have I been so pleased on a "bang-for-the-buck" purchase of mine, especially as I use it every day for many tasks... even the occasional game or two, go figure.

June 6 - Invasion of Noise

I woke this morning at 6am and couldn't get back to sleep - might have had something to do with some odd dreams I'd had, or maybe the barking dog that kept going for 2 hours.. or the minor earthquake we had. Very neighbourly of people to leave their animals out early, given that everyone around them likely has their windows open so they can hear the precious pet complaining that the sun's been up for hours now yet he hasn't been fed. Another reason for me not to like dogs as pets - like young kids you can't reason with, as they don't speak English or remember things very well from day to day. I'll bet they didn't even know today was the 65th anniversary of D-Day, which one veteran has said that the film The Longest Day captures best, save for the smells and the sheer terror of being there. A world is grateful for their sacrifice.

Work had a nice surprise for me when I walked in the door today: water damage. At Mmart, we are trained to be careful of anything out of the ordinary when we enter or exit our branches - common sense, really. So what was I to think today when I walked into the branch to find carpeting pulled back everywhere, and large fan units blasting air across soaked said same? Luckily, I'm not the panicky sort, and understood what had happened was not part of some weird tunnel-rat burglar group in the night. Though I was miffed that nobody had bothered to TELL me on my first shift back in a week. In any case, it made for an interesting day drying things out, on top of catching up on a week's worth of work. By day's end, I was beat and my stomach hurt from sitting upright for so long in the chair - no couches here. I was glad to get home to relax with a few hours of Civ: Rev. Which I lost ground at and gave up on in favour of sleep.

The Internet is full of memes - great things like "It's a trap!" for which you get 10 Geek Points if you can name both the film AND the character who spoke it.

June 7 - Sunday slipped away

Today sort of sped by - I was feeling tired, so I slept, read and watched some DVD's... no energy for much else.

I had my first multiplayer game of Civ:Rev in a year in the early evening, with my good friend Nigel... who after a slow start took the ball and ran with it right to the endgame. Those of you who may not be familiar with the Civilization series of games, there are several ways to win a game: economic( the most gold ), cultural( the most cultured civ ), military( kill everyone else )or capital

A friend and I worked on a demo trailer for our NWN project, to be used to promote the world once it's released to the public. I was impressed with the demo presentation that my friend had worked up, which was basically a PowerPoint presentation with music and text. Once we're finished I think it will be an impressive addition to our PR portfolio.

Tonight also saw me remove the bandage covers from my sutures, which turned into quite the production. Apparently they use Super Extra-Sticky bandages for these sorts of things, which only begin to be removable after a hot shower and an hour of slow, patient work. Thankfully I had the assistance of my parents, as I was not quite up to staring at my own upside-down belly with a flashlight to get the damned things off. I was infinitely relieve to see most of what I thought was scar-tissue buildup come away with the bandages, though it will be another week before things get back to normal enough to tell if there will be scars. Which I hate.

The rest of the evening was spent working on the blog, while watching Stargate: Atlantis Season 4 commentaries. I just love that every episode of the entire season has a commentary, with some very good insight into the process( which I have mentioned previously, yes ). I also discovered a very talented new actress in the episode entitled "Outcast" by the name of Emma Lahana, who turns out to be from New Zealand. Again I curse the fact that both Stargate TV shows wrapped the same year I moved out here, as I would have loved to try to visit the sets at least once. Ah well - there are plenty of other shows filming in Vancouver of late.


Whew... quite the week, and not quite the vacation I had hoped it would be. I did get the time I needed to recuperate, and I hope that this week will see my energy levels return to normal. Adios!

Accents, Atlantis and Asprin

Well well well ... another week, another blog! Seems to be quite a few of these here; all the more to catch up on in one's spare time...


Sept 30 - Just Watch Me

YouTube - anything you want to watch, in ten-minute bites. As I've mentioned a few shows in the past in the blog, I thought I would share something different this time: spoofs. For your viewing pleasure, may I present Monty Python's Spamalot from the Holy Grail... done in Lego. Then there's ... Shining, which is a trailer that spoofs The Shining, all done with original clips. For those of you strong in the Farce, there's a never-before-seen clip of Darth Vader being a smartass - I can relate. Lastly, there is the incredibly funny Lemon Demon Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny...

The above video bring to mind old things made new... which of course can easily lead to a cliché. The Cliché Finder Database can help you avoid such things; as a writer I find it invaluable for testing my 'new' ideas to see if they've been done-to-death already. So, you're welcome.

I spent some of my time today outside on a patio at the local Starbuck's, soaking up a lovely sunny afternoon with a soy drink at hand and lots of people parading by. Being able to sit on a patio and not be smoked all over was a breath of fresh air, literally. Much as I espouse equal rights for those who want to commit slow suicide by cancer stick, I do not want to breathe in their chemical clouds from three tables over, thanks... so B.C.'s tough public smoking laws are a boon to patio-goers here.

Oct 1 - You Speak Me?

One of my interests is language; not to get too technical, but the fact that SO many different lanugages have developed on a single planet, among members of a single species, fascinates me. Accents among members of the same lingual family are an offshoot of this interest; this site lets you test what sort of American accent you have in the English language. Then again, you could always learn to speak Klingon or, my favourite: Atlantean!

Speaking of which, I've begun watching Stargate: Atlantis on DVD, which is great for enjoying both the writing and special effects at one's own pace. I've also just this week discovered the Stargate Atlantis Blog, which has tons of inside insights from the creators of the show. Too bad it just got cancelled. :-(

An old man on a bike caused me to experience a Scooby Doo Hallway moment today near my home. He was just another cyclist riding by, albeit on an old bike; not a classic, but likely from the late sixtie's and in questionable shape. He was by and gone in a few seconds as I crossed the street and waited for more traffic... and then he went by me AGAIN, from the SAME direction! I did a double-take, for I had last seen him turning into a driveway just up the street... and as far as I knew, there was no back alley or other laneway beyond. Yet there he was, the same old man with the same spaced-out look on his face, going in the same direction. Another day I am going to look into his route, as I want to reassure myself I did not experience some sort of spatial distortion...

The Church of the Banana project took another big step forward today, which I am glad to see. With a number of talented people working on it feverishly, new and good things are happening - stay tuned!

Oct 2 - Hit Shows

YouTube can give new life to many an underrated show long after it has vanished from TV channels. One such is Duckman, starring the voice of Jason Alexander from Seinfeld TV fame. The writing is sharp, satiricual and scathingly funny, much as many a good show is that gets cancelled too early due to audiences not knowing about it - this episode is a great example. Another show I enjoyed was (brace for the title, it's a doozy) Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles, which was an early CGI sci-fi cartoon with some surprisingly mature themes underlying the saturday-morning appearance. Which would explain how the show is developed quite a following despite being off the air for nearly ten years and despite the series ending before all the episodes were completed.

The Hit Counter for this blog reached 400 today, which was a milestone. Since I started the counter in February, it has tracked an average of 50 people per month checking out the blog. Not huge numbers, but it is gratifying to see that people are reading what I write. With a few comments scattered here and there too, for good measure.

One thing I haven't done in the last month is play Civ: Rev at all... seeing as nobody else is playing, getting my civ smacked about by the computer isn't nearly as much fun as attacking a human opponent. I suppose I could find some online gamers to fight, but it's not my thing to take strangers to task unless it's in something like Halo3 or COD4 ... less talking, more shooting, really.

Oct 3 - Smallest Houses

Seems I am stuck working every friday evening this month, which thankfully does not impact my social calendar much - yet. All things considered though, I like working the morning shifts better; there is less a sense of wasting an entire day working when you can be home by late afternoon - lots of time to do other things. Like laundry - apparently someone has discovered yet another amazing new way to do it.

The leaves have started falling from the trees along St. Charles Ave this week, meaning that Fall is inevitably here. It is odd though, seeing so many trees still green, and gardens that will remain in bloom throughout the winter months here - the City has planted pansies in many of the public gardens, so those will be colourful right through and into Spring. Nice thoughts for the chillier months.

Something on my horizon is home ownership - sooner or later, we all put down roots, save for the inveterate travelers among us. One concept I am keeping in the back of my cluttered head is Tumbleweed Homes, which can fit almost anywhere on lots too small for traditional homes. An added advantage, apart from the much lower cost of ownership, is the house can be moved at a later date if necessary - just try that with a 2000sqFt bungalow! Considering the sky-high cost of homes in Victoria in the current market, a small, personal-sized dwelling that isn't a condo has great appeal to me.

Oct 4 - Hey, where did...?

I continue to be impressed by the capabilities of my laptop - yes, it's the geek in me, but I try only to let myself G33k out at home. Really. *ahem* So what has my inner geek grinning? HDMI. Yep, the laptop has an HDMI port... and since it ALSO has a top-notch dedicated video chipset from ATI, I can pop in an HDMI cable and get 1080p - true HD output - from the laptop to my big-screen. Not only that, but the little laptop can use BOTH displays simultaneously... something even the techs at BestBuy said it could NOT do. So stick it, you wannabe-g33ks.. I got it to work with a minimum of electric shocks, soldering and cursing. Boy, does it look good!

I had the day off today, and as always it vanished FAR too quickly. I was out for lunch and about town until well into mid-afternoon... just in time to be REALLY rained on, more rain than I have ever seen in Victoria to date. The expressions on people caught outside without umbrellas were priceless... unfortunately, the sudden shift in air pressure meant my head wanted to explode - again, just like last week. I managed to get some work done in between doses of asprin, with two more articles for Cyberwalker.com nigh completed and more work for the CoTB.

Oct 5 - Sun-daze

Nothing really amazing today, just went to work and back again. The sun peeked out a few times during the day, then vanished again as quickly, but at least the rain held off save for a few drops here and there. People's moods were generally sunny today though, for some reason, despite the weather; something I appreciated given a few other days this week.

Sometimes you really need a good sense of humour, as well as patience. How else would you learn the many ways to shoot elastics at the Guide to Shooting Rubber bands? Seriously, there's just a little TOO much information there. So instead, to put your curousity to bed, there's the Red Button Page. Just try to stay away...

One thing that may knock your mood a-kilter, is this. What are people thinking in the name of fashion? Tattoos, piercings... those things I understand. Even the fad from a few years back for dental jewellery, along with other funny stories from the world of teeth.


Soldiering along towards Christmas we go... no comments last week, so I must be doing something right. Soon enough it will be time for ghouls and ghosts to roam the streets, and I still am not sure what I am doing for Halloween. Maybe I should go as a blog writer... all pale and twitchy?

Coraline, Car Wars and Colds

Seems I am playing catch-up with the Blog, yet again another entry finished on a Monday morning instead of a Sunday night. Still, it's DONE, so that's all that matters... words on a page, not a blank 'Under Construction' banner of old.

Aug 18th - Failure to Launch

The shift today was frustrating; yet again another Monday Product Launch, and for the second time in two weeks nothing worked correctly. The promo contest managed to crash the system two times out of three, and resulted in reams of wasted paper as multiple print commands were sent for every transaction. Seeing as we do not have the fastest PC's on the block either, this resulted in some rather long transactions as I had to start them over several times each, hoping for success.

On a lighter note, I was browsing around a few of my thousands of bookmarks and came across this place. I collected Playmobil as a kid, and though most of it is lost or sold off, I still fondly remember the amazing Pirate Ship I got for my eighth birthday - wish I'd had a pool to play with it in, but one can't have everything; it was still a damned cool toy. Seems something just as cool has come down the pipes again: a Roman Colosseum! Something else that I do not have the time or space for, which is a pity, as the Roman Empire was another bit of history I really enjoyed as a kid, and still do today. The chariot race in Ben-Hur still stands out vividly in my memory, despite the fact I have not seen it in many a long year. Playmobil chariots...

Aug 19th - Neil Gaiman

I was digging around YouTube, and stumbled across quite a few videos of Neil Gaiman, author of such works as "Neverwhere", "The Sandman" and the movie Stardust. Neil is a mesmerizing speaker when reading his own works, as I had the privilege of hearing at the Torcon2003 SF convention on a Sunday morning. The room was packed to the gills as he read an excerpt from "A Study in Emerald" in which Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft merge universes in a world that seems all-too chillingly real - download the free Mp3 of the story at the bottom of the blurb here. Near the end of the Torcon reading, an usher tried to signal Neil to "wrap-up" quickly. Neil paused, looked around at the sea of rapt faces and told the usher "You had better let me finish, or they WILL kill you," he said with a gin. The usher promptly vanished as we all laughed and waited eagerly for the end of the story.

More good Gaiman News: a stop-motion version of Coraline is coming out, being done by the creative genius who did A Nightmare Before Christmas, Pete Kozachik. You can see a preview of it here - looks amazing! You can read more about Neil Gaiman here, in his own words - he keeps a daily blog. Mesmerizing!

Aug 20th - Car Wars

Evening shifts are day-eaters, in that by the time the noon-hour rolls around, one has to get ready for work - and that's the end of the day. I much prefer morning shifts, as I get home in the early afternoon and still have the evening to do as I please - I always feel rushed if I only have the morning to work with; maybe its the open-ended versus the have-to-be-at-work-by-this-time schedule thing. It's just so odd not to give specifics in this blog, but then I understand about security concerns for my workplace. Knowing that my blog is monitored is somewhat stifling, but it presents a challenge to me as a writer to convey my thoughts without compromising the security or integrity of my employer... not easy to do if you want to make it more than pablum-fare to read

Speaking of fare, it seems that the old B-movie classic Death Race 2000 is being remade. The video preview of Death Race 2008 is out, starring Jason Latham of The Transporter fame. Fans of the old tabletop Steve Jackson game Car Wars, such as myself, might wonder if this will actually be the first film to come close to capturing the phrase "Where the right of way goes to the biggest guns." Crude, but an interesting analogue to today's society. Interestingly enough, Car Wars predicted a fuel crisis in the year 2000, followed by various other disasters that resulted in an altered history in which oil-based fuels are rare, airships powered by electric fuel cells ply the skies, and the roads are ruled by cars touting machine guns and spikedroppers... are we there yet?

Aug 21st - Fleet Week and Star Wars

Another morning shift today, with the weather turning grey again. The ride to work is always showing me something new, though I really wish the one yard I walk by would stop using such large amounts of pure organic fertilizer on their flowerbeds - phew! Even under cloudy skies, the walk is relaxing despite being uphill. Homes are well-kept, unique unto themselves and surrounded by lush greenery, the result of lots of TLC and abundant rain obviously.

The annual Fleet Week down the coast in San Francisco is coming up in a few months, where the US Pacific Fleet comes back into port for its yearly stop. - the Snowbirds will be performing this year too! Apparently a very talented wag decided to make this video showcasing what would happen if the Imperial Fleet of the Empire from Star Wars made a showing instead... very well done, subtle and seamless - makes all those hundreds of Star Wars Kid videos seem cartoonish in the extreme.

Aug 22 - Getting Bugged

Worked the morning shift today, feeling a little rough. Seems I've managed to pick up a bug this week - my nose started jogging yesterday and is in full run today. Good thing I made sure to have kleenex on hand at work just in case of such things... when the facets really start to leak, the handy roll of TP just doesn't cut the mustard. Sad to say. For some reason I thought that tonight was the night for the local Jazz Festival, but apparently it is next week, or at least that was what the ticket says - go figure. So I had the evening to rest up, and I did in a big way - I practically fell over after dinner, with brief moments of consciousness until a wave of weariness carried me away well before 11pm. Erk.

Aug 23 - Sweating a cold

Glad I had the day off today, so I could spend it resting up and trying to get rid of this bug. I kept the heat theory in mind, and the apartment was a toasty 29 degrees, with the windows open just a crack for airflow - the PC and Xbox put out a lot of heat both. I ran a summer party today online today in NWN, which had been in the plans for a few weeks. So I spent most of the day around the TV, chatting with people and getting other things done in conversational lulls. It was a little odd, being home sick but at the same time talking with dozens of people as they dropped by my 'online tavern' - yet another use for the internet nobody foresaw back in its early days. A good time was had by all, and at least my online nose wasn't a kleenex-killing machine.

Aug 24 - And on the Third Day He Sneezed

I took today off as well( thanks Meaghan! )as I am still feeling clobbered - the nose is under control but the throat is touch-and-go. Still using the Heat Theory, that a little sweat is good for the soul and bad for bugs. A few games of COD4 were all I got in before several of my Niagara friends lost power due to a thunderstorm in the area which knocked them offline for the day. So I played a few games of Civ: Rev, the first ended when the game crashed, and the second was a clean sweep for Lucas - payback for a similar game I won some weeks ago. Well done.


And done is what I am, for another week. Hopefully I get my energy back enough to get some work done this week, as the weekend past was a total wash. At least the struggle with Blogger was a little easier this time, popping back and forth between Opera and FireFox seemed to do the trick; about an hour's work.

Cookies, Subway and Sadness

This blog ran a little late in being posted... see the Aug 11th entry as to why. No pictures either, but they ARE on the way. I'll let you know. :-) 300 page-views since I started the counter back in January.. amazing!

Aug 11 - Cookies and Stress

Today was a five-cookie day. Nearly ten hours of continuous stress….yeesh! We rolled out an update of one of our major products today, Victoria being the test-market for the rest of the country. Can you say ‘fiasco’ with me? Repeat ad nauseum… it was horrible. Bugs in the program meant that my first customer, who had the patience of a saint, spent 45 minutes in the lobby while I tried desperately to get the product working. It finally did, after a band-aid solution was found to work around the issues. It was like that all day long, and I finished the ten-hour-long day with my teeth gritted in a solid mass. Doesn’t do much for headaches, that – I try not to grind them, which is foolish.

I’ve noticed that stress hits me differently these days. In years past, I would wind up a bad day by ending with incredibly tense neck and shoulder muscles, to which I quickly applied a fantastic Homedics back massager ( looks like E.T. ) – made a world of difference, and I still have it for the occasional use. Now, stress tends to add up over a few days, where I will have a day where its just a struggle to get some energy and focus on things, even relaxing. Different from the end-of-a-single-day stress, and more difficult to deal with, as I don’t get anything done at the end of one of those days – staying focused at work takes it all.

Aug 12 – Reboot Revival / Zeroes2Heroes

One of my favourite shows from the 90’s is Reboot, the first computer-animated television show. It ran for three seasons, as well as having two two-hour movies, which were actually the fourth season cut down a bit when the series was nipped short. Recently, I have discovered that a ‘ReBoot Revival’ is underway. This makes me happy, as I very much enjoyed the series for its characters and its story; the third season was a non-stop thrill ride with an ending that did not disappoint at all. No ‘kiddy show’ by then, I tell you! Too bad the DVD’s are incredibly difficult to get, which I find odd.

A movie pitch was made for a ReBoot idea, on a website called Zeroes2Heroes where anyone can put up their creative ideas… with the possibility that they will be picked up and produced, in some form or another, by a major entertainment company! What I find fascinating is that anyone at all can submit their ideas or art, and the community of registered users will vote on it… to the point where it may be developed! Sure beats the heck out of trying to find an agent and getting them to add your manuscript to the massive piles of slush that are an editors cross to bear daily. Nobody likes slush piles.

Aug 13 - Subway

Work is going to be interesting in the next month, and not in a good way. With the departure of one of my co-workers earlier in the month, and the news that my other co-worker is leaving, I will be the ONLY staff member at my branch – not good. My DM has already asked me if I was willing to cut short my vacation and start working almost as soon as I return from Niagara – since this is the sort of thing that usually happens when I take vacations, I agreed, as it’s either that or close the branch for the rest of the week… seems it IS hard to get good help in a lot of sectors these days, as it’s a buyer’s market. Too many people are staying only for a few months, then hopping to ‘better’ jobs – which is good, as it indicates a strong economy, but bad for employee retention. Yep.

While having a chai tea with my neighbour over at the Cook St. Starbuck’s, I noticed something new going in just down the road: a Subway. Amazing, as that was the only thing that my neighbourhood did not already have – kind of freaky actually, like wishing for a new toy and finding it some months later by the side of the road. Well, not exactly like that, but you get the idea. Made me wonder how careful I should be about wishing for a movie theater down this end of the city… don’t want to wipe out a block of homes! A library might be nice though, as the nearest one is downtown, where I don't usually go. Too much to ask for with all the other conveniences around here, so I'll stick with my own massive book collection.

Aug 14 - Sadness at a Distance

I found out that a friend’s father passed away today, and that he had been sick for some time… damned hard news to take, especially from this far away. Coming from a large Italian family, I can remember much of my youth was spent going to funerals( or weddings )so my feelings are still quite strong on BEING there for people...

Distance and friends are always hard to juggle. Though the internet makes it easy to communicate, it can’t help when you need to BE there for someone – phone calls just aren’t the same, it’s just a voice on the line and not a shoulder to lean on.

I wonder, in this coming age of rising fuel costs, if travel will become a barrier again. I recently wrote an article for Cyberwalker about webcams and videophones, the latter being something we STILL can’t buy down at the local FutureShop as easily as we would a regular phone. You think that someone would come up with a simple, reasonably-priced unit that uses compatible standards so ANY videophone would work with any other manufacturer’s unit… but no. To date, it’s still webcams and fond wishes, which annoys the heck out of me – I had those back in the 90’s, and they’re only marginally better for the non-techie to set up and use, despite a decade of ‘progress’. At least theyr’e cheaper, and no longer suffer ‘pixel burn’ from bright light sources like sun on snow through a window… I learned THAT one the hard way during a call to Mexico one day.

Aug 15 - Writing practice and Civ

In writing this blog, I have been getting in some good practice with my word-skills, and just recently realized than on average I am writing about ten thousand words a month just for this blog alone – surprised the heck outta me, that did. It is also rather difficult to keep this blog flowing along, in terms of never retreading the same topic as well as not just creating a boring play-by-play daily journal on washing socks. No, I try to put in something different, something amusing, every week – my thoughts on various subjects, my observations about Victoria and even the occasional profound thought as it scampers pell-mell through my mind.

I played Civ:Rev for far too long this evening, trying to win the game in specific ways yet being frustrated as usual by random chance that set my plans askew. I have also noticed that the game is not as polished technically as I would have liked for a console game. Graphical glitches, slowdowns, slow access to some features and odd sound-level variances all make me wince on occasion; I hope that Firaxis Games is hard at work on a patch to smooth things out. While the glitches do not interfere with gameplay, they are annoying.

Aug 16 - Overtime and Bad Gameplay

I worked an overtime shift today at another branch, to help out. It always amuses me to work somewhere else, as the regular customers usually ask “Oh, are you new?” to which I always reply “Why, yes!” just to see what they will do. Some of the slightly sneaky ones will try to convince me that they are ‘allowed’ to do something that tries to get around our work policies… which again amuses me, as I let them go on for a bit before snapping them back to the reality of how things really work. It never fails to amaze me how people will try something with a ‘new’ person that would never do with a ‘regular’ staff member. But I guarantee they’ll never try it again when they see me next.

Surprisingly, I had a bad experience on NWN tonight, though in hindsight the stress of work this week perhaps provided a tipping point for my frustrations. Given the unstructured nature of a NWN-run gameworld, every DM running ‘quests’ is there on their own time, volunteering to run people around and tell their own story in the overall framework of things. As an aside, this usually works, but give the ‘catch-as-can’ nature of unscheduled events, some nights there aren’t a lot of people around, and other nights you can miss out on an amazing experience by but a few hours if you are unlucky – annoying, that is.

Well, in a nutshell( before your eyes glaze over )a few friends and I were out to do what seemed to be a simple rescue… but turned out to be a Mexican Standoff. I grew very frustrated at the seeming lack of options, and when the NPC ‘hostage’ was lost, despite our frantic efforts, I grew very angry – the first time that has happened to me in an online game. I quickly cooled down, but this clarified the problem that a lot of online games have compared to well-crafted single-player games: good gameplay structure with MULTIPLE means of problem resolution, most of which are NOT too difficult to distinguish – it should be hard to MAKE the choice itself, not to just SEE it initially. In any case, I logged off after chatting with both the DM and other players, to ensure this sort of thing did not reoccur and so frustrate people who would be less better able to deal.

Aug 17 - Heard the Thunder

I felt a little better about working the weekend through( again today )as the weather was nowhere near as sunny as promised earlier in the week – go figure. Again, the rain here doesn’t last, similar in some ways to rain in Florida: it rains for a few minutes and moves on, though the sky may be cloudy for most of the day. A week of get skies and rain is unheard of here, just like thunder or lightning; some people here have never SEEN lightning before, if they grew up in Victoria.

Amazing, to think that something so common in Ontario is a rare wonder here. Good thing too, as it’s damned dangerous… and that so many fools take so little note of that. I’ll never forget a violent thunderstorm that hit Niagara some years back, while I was staying at the Prince. The winds blew the rain horizontally so hard that it penetrated into the building( since sealed )and managed to cause my bedroom ceiling to partially collapse – we ended up having to move for three months while the unit was repaired, including new carpets. No, what got me was DURING that storm, a family of crazy fools was IN the pool, with lightning strikes flickering in the sky all around. They huddled for shelter, all of them still IN THE WATER and UNDER an overhanging tree as the wind and rain whipped all around. I remember shouting out the window for them to get out of the water, but the noise of the thunder and rain was too much. Incredibly lucky they were, as lucky as they were stupid! Dumbest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time, I tell you... and I work with the public.

At least I do not have an early morning tomorrow; we’ve scaled back our hours on Mondays and Tuesdays, so( for now )it’s guaranteed that I can sleep in, even to 9am, on a Monday – how many jobs can you say that for? Mind you, there’s a lot of other things that balance that out about the job, but since I rate sleep rather highly( never getting enough of it )then anything that increases sleep time is good in my books. Reminds me of someone I worked with, a long time ago: a figure skater, who told me that due to the incredible demands that that sport puts on a person, she needed to sleep at least eight to TEN hours a night before practice or performances – incredible, since I feel logy if I get more than eight hours… or less than six, which shows there’s a balance needed too.

Another week blogged and logged, and that makes TWO weeks without comments... has Anonymous given up? Or is he plotting some fiendish comment campaign the likes of which this blog has never seen before? Tune in next week for another exciting episode...

UPDATE: we have a NEW commentator... a holy figure, no less! Welcome to Comment Christ. We'll find out if he's just cross, or if he can really nail those comments in coming weeks... and thanks Jen - glad you keep coming back for more! Surprising, but welcome!!!

Tea, Tickets and Raw Food

Just a reminder that anyone can call me at the local 935# I have set up in Niagara. It will ring both my home and cell at the same time; if I don't answer, it's because I am at work... but leave a message anyway. :-)


June 16th - People Watching and Tea

Opened the store today, another lovely one by the looks of it. One thing I like about this branch's location is that it is at a busy intersection, with a major bus stop out the front. As a bonus, there is a coffee shop and a tanning salon in the plaza; all that combined means there is always steady stream of people passing by. The big windows here means that people-watching is very easy and often fascinating. Today, for example, I saw a little old monk go by in his brown robes, at a steady pace with his walker which he does regularly. Too, I saw the unhappy woman with her drawn face, whose hair is in a perfect pageboy-bob every time. Then there is the older woman with the small child she takes for walks each day, who claims she is the daughter of Paul Sr. from the TV show Orange County Choppers - she comes in for laundry change fairly often. These are a few I know of the many passers-by, quite a few of whom I admit are very pleasing to the eye. Especially those who frequent the salon: a fitter, sleeker bunch I have not seen.

I took my parents out to the James Bay Tea Room( see the Virtual Tour here ) today for High Tea to celebrate Father's Day - a day late, but so it goes when we both work a weekend. It was a new experience for all of us, though I am sure it would have been absolute heaven if we had been monarchists, given all the images of British Royalty that covered the walls. The place was very relaxing, with a nice view along the road and a tasty assortment of finger-sandwiches for each of us.

June 17th - Clouds? No Sweat

The weather changed today, clouds rolling in from the west and the sea as they always do. I am pleased to say that weather changes here do not cause me nearly as much grief as they did back in Niagara. There, any major changes in air pressure would set off headaches; in Victoria, I feel a little discomfort most times and that is a wonderful change. Also, the temperatures are milder in the spring and summer; as I have mentioned, it seems COLD here, but I would still rather that than have to sweat my way through each day to and from work. Heck, I do that already... I might pass out if I had to do it at thirty-plus-degree heat. Not to mention the usual humidity that plagues Niagara most days...

June 18th - Daze Off

Again, I awoke early around 7am and started the day running... well, not literally. Lots to do, including getting my book collection sorted, finally - they're all grouped by genre, instead of haphazardly tossed on the dozen bookshelves I have in this place. It's been frustrating to go back to read a series and have to HUNT for the next book in line all over the place, but no longer... THAT took a few hours. Later in the day I helped out my mom with some maintenance at her condo, including some back-straining blind-swapping to make it easier for my parents to reach the cords. Some of these are half-million dollar condos and you'd think the details like that would have been better designed. Also, securing bookshelves and tall objects against earth tremors is an ongoing job; we had a small 4.0 shaker today, which I didn't even feel.

Amazingly, it was past dinnertime before I got home to relax...

June 19th - Ticket Miracles! Writing Wonderment!

HOLY COW - What a deal! My mom sent me an email late last night about a 2-day sale from Sunwing Airlines, a company I'd never heard of. After checking it out, I almost broke the phone this morning, I dialed so fast - $99.00 from Victoria to T.O. One-way with NO fuel surcharges? After the dust had settled and I had secured a round-trip ticket, the total after all was said and done was less than $400.00 ... 1/3 what I had been expecting to pay given current rising prices( heck, even the Russians are worried ). I was so happy I did a jig on the sofa... and didn't fall off, for once. YAY!!!!

On another happy note, I have been contributing steadily to Cyberwalker now for almost a year, and I am pleased to say it has been a completely lovely experience( thanks Mike! ). Knowing that one's articles are being published on a website seen by millions of people a year is a heady thought, and the fact I can write articles to both help and educate others is very liberating. Along with this blog, it has helped to hone my writing skills, as has my growing ability to dissect and learn from the many written works that I devour every week as time permits.

June 20th - Raw Food, and a Raw Deal

After opening the store today, I stopped at the local Thrifty's to pick up some veggies - I was invited to a raw food potluck by my downstairs neighbour and I had to pick up something to bring As it turns out, I picked the perfect things( mushrooms and broccoli ): there were a TON of dips and little else to dip with. It was a wonderful evening, as the most interesting people showed up to talk, including one young guy who travels Canada as a storyteller. His memory astounded me, as he recited numerous works, composed himself, with only his mind's eye as a record. We're going to correspond, as I am eager to see how he relates his first-hand knowledge of our fair country using the written word.

And did I mention that for the entire night, we were ALL throwing puns around? I was in heaven... and I held back, so as not to overdo things. Wonderful....

Of course, there has to be balance... as I found out when I finally returned to my apartment after four hours downstairs. I discovered that the NWN Nordock storyline had had a MAJOR EVENT while I was at the potluck, wrapping up the last year's major plot line WHILE I WASN'T THERE. Needless to say, I was ticked.

June 21st - Savory Saturday

Still feeling full from last night, I took an extra shift today( overtime! )so I had to cut short my first visit to the Moss Street Market, that runs 10-2 every Saturday just up the road from me during the warm weather. One of these days I'll do more than just drive by.

Reading through the local tourism mags has been very educational for me - there is SO much to do here that I feel guilty some days for not taking advantage of it all. Well, the free stuff anyway; I've yet to wander through Beacon Hill Park, or along the shore at Clover Point( some lovely pics here ) - the breezes there are PERFECT for flying kites( check out these two pics ). Given all that there is to do here, from art galleries to restaurants, parks, cycling trails and dozens of other activities, I am going to have some serious free-time angst, hence my decision to cancel my cable - I just can't justify spending time inside around here. Heck, with my PDA, I can compose articles anywhere I feel like it, except in the parks when it's raining.

June 22nd - Sunday Revolution

My only real day off this week... and of COURSE I woke up early. I put that early wake to good use though, getting my laundry done before anyone crowded the machines, as well as finishing all the usual home-chores by noon and so freeing up the day. I spent part of the afternoon playing Civ: Revolution with Lucas, as we actually got the multiplayer part of the Xbox360 demo working - on the first try too! It was fun, and the second game left us on a cliffhanger: my capital of Rome was poised to be invaded in a HUGE fight... when the game crashed. Argh! I was reminded of the old PC game Empire, back in the days of DOS...

Some of the rest of the day was spent watching B5( of course! )and doing some writing... though that tapered off fairly quickly for some reason. A few hours of NWN brought me to the close of the day, where I updated this before bed. Tada!


All in all, a pretty good week. You should also know that I do put some thought into the daily titles, to try and reflect the events of each day. Reflective...

Plain Naked Janes, Bikes and Ships Ahoy!

I've posted a new FB album with many of my favourite shots from the last 6 months from the Victoria area. I may add some more, but for now those are the ones I like. I'll be adding a separate album showing the 'city' shots, both old and new - soon. Plus: Lots of Links!

June 2nd - Happy Birthday Mom!

Doncha hate working in the mornings? What is it about Mondays that make one feel this way? At least my morning sickness seems to be a thing of the past( insert jokes here )as I've cut out dairy completely from my diet. Let me tell you that soy-based cheese products are NOT the same in any sense, unless you count just the visual. But if it means no nausea, then I'll have to suck it up just like when I discovered those lovely gallstones. Cold turkey again, literally.

I took my parents out for dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday today. We went to the Penny Farthing Pub in lovely Oak Bay, on the same block as The Blethering Place - both places are iconic locations in Oak Bay, as well as being Properly British in all the right ways. The gravy, for example, was proper thick British gravy that smelled like a meal unto itself. Yum!

June 3rd - Headphones and Bikes

I've just learned that wearing headphones while riding a bicycle is illegal in B.C. - great. While I agree in principle, I have to ask if it's necessary to pass such a law to protect those idiots who want to remove themselves from the gene pool by cranking up the volume such that they block out the rest of the world, including traffic. Then again, considering my job and who I deal with sometimes, it's perhaps a rhetorical question. But, it means my headphones will get used a lot less.... maybe I can bundle them with my HD-DVD player and sell them for $19.99 on eBay. So my rides to and from work will be less entertaining, in that regard.

June 4th - "Are you thinking what I'm thinking...?"

I've been recording episodes of 'Pinky and the Brain' and I have to say, it's great. Hailing from the mid-90's and running for 4 seasons( didn't know that, did you? ), the show garnered numerous awards, including several Emmy's. One thing I've been looking for( and not found to date )is a compilation of all of Pinky's non-sequitur responses to Brain's famous line: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?" - most of them are fall-down funny, folks: "I think so Brain, but the scratching just makes it worse." *grin*

Just an evening shift today, but some good news: seems I've been doing a good job of late, as I've had no less than THREE positive comments sent in to our Head Office this month, one of them from a customer known to be, er... difficult. Nice to hear, after all the other annoyances I've had to deal with of late at work.

June 5th - The Pennsic War

The other day I was reminiscing about 'The Good Old Days' and recalled that during my time in the SCA( back in my early university days ), I never managed to attend the Pennsic War. This huge medieval camping event was quite amazing in many ways, not the least of which was the feeling of going back in time( see photos )with thousands of others to the Middle Ages( or other eras )for a few weeks in the summer. But as with all things, time has moved me on other paths.
Though I do hope to take up my archery once more, as time permits me here in Victoria. It's good to have a hobby, and this one beats the hell outta stamps.

June 6th - Happy Frosty Friday

DAMN but it's COLD here. The nights have seen temperatures drop down to hover near ten degrees C, and not much more than 16C plus sunshine during the day. Being used to steaming-hot weather back in Niagara, it's been eye-opening to bike to work while shivering...

Lucas sent me an invite today about the new 'Civilization: Revolutions' for the Xbox360. Though I barely played the rest of the series over the years, I may pick this one up, as the multiplayer aspect looks to be a good fit with the rest of the game. Where to find the time though... oh right, I can stop playing NWN. Like that's going to happen. Maybe I can give up some sleep... ? Hmmm.

June 7th - A Busy Sat and ... Naked Bike Ride?

I forgot about the Moss Street Market today; a shame, as I only get every other weekend off to attend. Two weeks from now, I'll set myself a reminder, as this is something I want to do soon.

Speaking of which, I came across this List of 100+ Great Things to Do In Victoria. Some really good suggestions on this, so I'll be trying to cross off some of these as the summer ticks on.

I attended the Oak Bay Tea Party 2008 today with my mom. It was very similar to the many summer carnivals that usually dropped into Port Dalhousie during the spring and summer. Fewer people though, in a smaller space... so the effect was much the same. Lots of lineups for rides and food, with a loud( but good )band blasting away at the crowd. Surprisingly, the beach was not crowded at all. The walk through the neighbourhood there and back was great too; I know I rhapsodize about the gardens here in Victoria, but I say again: they have to be SEEN to be believed.

From there, I went for a walking tour of downtown Victoria with a co-worker's boyfriend for a few hours. We started from a spot next to the Victoria Conference Centre, which was appropriate given it was the first thing in Victoria that I took a picture of( and so sits as the title picture of this blog ). We walked north along Government Street, with its many century-old English buildings, most of which have been preserved. The area is very pedestrian-friendly and a delight to the eye with its varied architecture. The brick sidewalks are nice too.

Of course, I have a great sense of timing. Apparently, my walking tour time coincided precisely with.... the World Naked Bike Ride. Shortly before 3:30 pm, a pack of screaming naked bicyclists tore down Government street heading north, leaving stunned locals and picture-snapping tourists in their wake. Boring, this city is NOT, I tell you. And it has some HAIRY cyclists too!

After that bit of fun, the rest of the tour seemed to fly by. My friend( who has lived here 15 years )and I walked as far north as Chinatown, returning along the harbour walkway. I learned a lot, and my friend did as well; the tour pointed out several small details he did not know about his city, such as the fact that Waddington Alley is still planked with the original creosote wood bricks it was made from a century ago.

We finished up at Milestone's Restaurant on Wharf St, sitting right on the water downtown( see the link's photo ). After a refreshing pint of Stella, we slugged down some gelato ice cream for dessert before heading our separate ways - I got home around 8pm, with the sun still shining and a cool southern breeze blowing. Again I was amazed at how QUIET the Fairfield area is: on the walk home, the loudest sounds were the trees rustling in the wind and the birds singing. Sweet!

June 8th - Tall Ships on the horizon

My only 'real' day off, so I'm catching up on a lot of things today, including this blog. I uploaded an album to FB with quite a few pictures that I have been picking and choosing from over the last long while. One thing I've noticed is that there are very few pictures with ME in them, so I'll try to rectify that in the future - apologies to those who have enjoyed the lack to date.

After reading a bit more thoroughly through the Oak Bay Tea Party brochure, I discovered to my dismay that the air show was TODAY at 2:30p♦m - nuts! I'm a sucker for aircraft of any kind, so I'll have to find another fix. But all is not lost: the Tall Ships are coming to Victoria THIS MONTH! I've already got my ticket, and rest assured I will be posting many amazing pictures as soon as I disembark.

A little COD4, at which I tanked badly every game. Then, some BSG. After watching the latest Battlestar Galactica, I have to say the CGI sequences are stunning. The story is good too, though it's a little hard hanging onto the thread - I mean, all of humanity's on the line, and they're working WITH Cylons to get to Earth? Seems damned strange to me. Anyway, finished the evening off writing... the weather outside being sunny and bright after 9pm - have to love Summer. :)

You may have noticed that this blog had no mention of B5 in it at all. This was to avoid overload; a good blogger knows when to back off from week to week. But not to worry, B5 fans: more next week! And I am glad you liked this week's blog, 'Anonymous'.... 72 out of 77 eh?