Who, What, When?

By the time you read this, the blog should have passed 1000 hits - remarkable, really, as that's about 2.1 hits a day for the last 18 months. Which incidentally, is how long I have now been in B.C. ... 'nuff said, the blog below awaits! And it is not bacon-free.

April 6 - Web Newz Iz Bttr?

A few times a week I pop in and check on io9.com, where I find news tidbits faster than say, watching SpaceNews on cable. Other places I like to stop in from time to time are AintItCool.com, ToplessRobot.com, BoingBoing.net as well as looking at what's new at WorthPlaying.com and GameSpot for my video game habits... which of late have been rather minimal. No time spent, really - my thumbs thank me. However, this image makes my stomach NOT thank me... and no, it's not gory or disgusting in any way, having come from BoingBoing.net.

And apparently this Sc-Fi news is NOT an April Fool's joke from last week. Good, or bad?

April 7 - Time travel Clockz

Time travel: everyone wants to do it, yet it still remains out of reach... for now. Unless you are Doctor Who, it just isn't possible to go back and fix that bad day you've just suffered through. Though according to current physics, you CAN visit the future if you go fast and far enough... and have a really, really good navigator. If you DO manage to find yourself travelling the timestream, make sure you have a Time Machine Cheat Sheet handy - you never know when you will need it. And if all that makes your head spin, you can just sit down and build this really cool-looking LED clock. Snazzy!

Clocks, well then...this is an old favourite clock site of mine. Another fave topic: Alarm clocks are a necessary evil, but they don't have to be. These clocks are very different, but they all contain an element of fun. And maybe a few radioactive elements too.

April 8 - Tech Progrezz

I have always kept an eye out for new ways to use personal computers, be they 3d headsets or programs for improving your desktop workspace, like Project Looking Glass. While most just pretty up a Windows desktop or extend it( like 360Desktop ), there is a new app out there called BumpTop that aims to do more. Since almost every new(-er )computer has powerful 3d video capabilities, it makes sense to take that confined 2d desktop and open it up with the new generation of hardware into a three-dimensional experience. I've been using it for a few weeks now and while not perfect, it is a fun and liberating experience - makes the 'old desktop' seem clunky by compare, though this idea for a 2d desktop app tickles my fancy somewhat.

On another tech note, the new router seems to be working beyond my initial expectations - in addition to great speed and configurability, I can get a full-strength signal on the back deck, which was something the other router couldn't manage - read my scathing review of that junkbox here. As well, the new router has a USB port on the back with SharePort technology, which means I can plug in my plethora of exteral USB drives and share their data wirelessly - recorded TV on the laptop, at last!

April 9 - Love Smellz Like...?

Today the Toronto Star ran an article that confirms what I have long suspected: when love is involved, the brain turns off - have a read through, then see this older related article here.

Not to be confused with Love Stinks, one of my more favourite songs... or the smelly mess that seems to be Victoria's( dirty little )Secret. Honestly, I had NO idea when I moved out to Vancouver Island that some basic things were so lacking... but at least I haven't notice any smells, yet.

Speaking of smells: who wouldn't want to wake up to the smell of fresh sizzling bacon?

Well, now you can, thanks to this!

And if that wasn't enough, CrazyAboutGadgets.com has a ton of things that you only used to see in such quality stores as Radio Shack, The Sharper Image or The Den For Men. Now, it's all online... which means you can't play with it in the store before buying, to see how flimsy the plastic really is on most things.

April 10 - The New Store

Just a shorter shift today, since the Millstream branch was only 11-7 for the Good Friday holiday. I just love the fact that it is less than a five minute drive from my home here in Langford - I can wake up late and STILL get to work on time! The good weather is almost here, so I will be checking out how long it will take by bike, once I feel up to it after May 29th as well.

The new branch is quite a change for me, in many ways. While I cannot go into specific details, I can talk about a few things: that there is no glass between the customers and I. This makes for a far friendlier atmosphere, though I do miss the sneeze guard / smell shield, which worked both ways. That there is no cash in the store that isn't stored in a large computer-controlled box that, creepily, reminds me of something from 2001. Put a glowing red eye on it and you'd have... well, you know.

I also had a customer tell me today that things for them weren't going so well, as they'd just... moved back in with the parents. Now, it was a young woman, a few years younger than me, and I thought "Wow, I wonder how society views that." Women at home? No issues. Men at home? Issues. Double standards, y'all.

April 11 - Sunshiny Saturday!

The clouds held off for today, shockingly - the sun sprang out and did its best to warm things up and for the most part succeeded.

I took a walk a little after noon, down to the massive CanWest shopping area here in Langford which is only 15 minutes by sneaker. While not the Pen Centre in size, the mall area still has a good selection of stores, in addition to being surrounded by big-box stores like Canadian Tire, Rona and yes, even a WalMart. I zeroed in on the A&W for lunch, as I can still enjoy their chicken grill which I have not had in several years. What I didn't enjoy: the price of nearly $10.00 for the combo... yikes! While inflation is something we all have to live with, it really comes to the fore when you haven't had a product or service for some time, and the price is a LOT more than you remember.

Back from the walk, it was still gorgeous out, so I did a little yardwork. Three hours of it... amazing what needs doing when you look a little more closely. I transplanted whole bunches of tulips from a dilapidated planter in the middle of the upper driveway to the front garden. I cleaned up the driveway itself, which was littered with dozens and dozens of pine cones, giving it a diseased look - ick. I also tided up the front and rear yards, getting rid of fallen branches, leaf piles and other debris. It was great to just get out and get my hands dirty.

Finally, here are some pictures of the place, since the weather cooperated today. The last one has our cat Tristan enjoying the deck too, as there are no gaps he can wriggle through:





April 12 - No Bunnies on Easter

For some odd reason, Sunday mornings are better for cartoons than Saturdays - can it be that the old tradition of the Saturday Morning Cartoon is shifting demographics? Hmmm... not likely, it's probably just me. In any case, I enjoyed my morning relax immensely, the more so because of the rain that was drifting down outside - I say drifting, as it made no noise I could hear on the roof. Quite different from rain back in Ontario, which scrabbles noisily at shingles and windows with hard pattering fingers.

Happily, the indoor time paid off, as I managed to get my NWN server to become visible to the world... something it was apparently loathe to do for the last few weeks. Some creative use of static IP's plus a whole lot of trial and error, but it works now, so the project can move forward.

My parents and I shared our Easter dinner in the early evening with our downstairs neighbour, who was quite impressed with the spread. We again went with the stuffed turkey roll, for ease of preparation and lack of too-many leftovers - it is the Just Right size for four people to feel comfortably full. While the religious overtones of the holiday were wasted on me, I still felt that it was important to take the time to appreciate my family - none of us are getting any younger, and as we all age more and more health problems crop up. Par for the course... but still something you don't think about much in your twenties.

After dinner, we watched Ratatouille - a strange experience, as my parents apparently remember seeing a different version sometime in the last 2 years since its release in theatres back in the summer of 2007. It is a lovely film, which looked great and sounded even better in my Man Cave... despite my unfortunate aftereffects from such a rich meal. Ah well... May is coming soon enough.

Toodles - I need sleep.

Fans, Fraggles and Fatigue

I dozed off early last night, and didn't quite feel up to updating the blog until tonight. That meant I could spend some time on it throughout the day, and not struggle with it late Sunday night.


March 9 - HOW long have I been on the payroll?

I forgot to mention in last week's blog that last week marked my ninth year with MMart - hard to believe. It's the longest I've ever been with any employer, though looking back at my various terms with companies, I do tend to be at places in terms of years, not months like some. I've worked in fast food, retail, and entertainment... and have yet to find my niche, really. I have to say though, that my experience with MMart, while quite stressful at times, has provided me with a window into human social interaction - my ability to judge people's intent based on things other than words has been honed to a fine edge. While I claim no ability to read minds, I do find it easy now to tell when someone is not being truthful, or to tell when folks are presenting a face different from the one they normally wear. I've learned many things about myself as well, and generally find that something new presents itself every day of the week, though not always what I would wish to learn each day.

Modern careers are hardly that though; the notion of people spending 20+ years with one company no longer seems to be the major factor for employers. Instead, contract workers and temporary employment for workers seem to be the way things are leaning these days. I am not sure this is for the better, but in today's economic times companies have to be able to be flexible, and having the ability to quickly pare down a workforce is sadly something that many a company thinks necessary. Not to mention that today's jobs are increasingly bad for your health.

March 10 - Nerd Nesting

After enjoying living on my own for a spell back in university, as well as for my first year here in BC, I am back in the fold again, as most of you know already. While it was my choice, it is not how I plan to spend the rest of my life... at least until such time as I figure out what's wrong with my plumbing, among other things. Thoughts about living at home have been running through my head incessantly these last few months, preying on my mind about choices, of my future and things as yet to do.

Still, I am here, and will remain until I leave again. There are many people out there who have never left in the first place; some discussion on that topic can be found here, and is worth reading for the many opinions people present on the topic.

One sometimes finds oneself far from where you had pictured years ago; in my case, I am thousands of miles away from the city of my birth, away from friends and almost all of my family. I had thought I would be working as a journalist, or as a writer for a gaming company... heck, at one point I wanted to be an astronaut, like many a boy dreamed of. Now I find myself literally on the shores of a new land, starting anew in some ways and backtracking in others. Such is life.

March 11 - New Muziic

Anyone remember the old days of Napster, when the RIAA was tearing out its collective hair trying to figure out a way to stop people from illegally trading music? Well, those days are long past, in that peer-to-peer networks like Bittorrent have decentralized file sharing, making it more difficult( but far from impossible )for legal action to be taken against individuals.

But why take the illegal route? A recent newcomer to the online music scene is, well, Muziic, which is a collaboration between a father and his son. Best of it, in addition to being 100% free, it is 100% legal, as the player uses YouTube to build its file list. Try it out, you may just enjoy it... like I enjoyed Pandora, before legal issues meant that program's use was restricted to IP addresses within the USA only.

March 12 - Bust and Boom

I went in to Subway today and received a small disappointment: no more Daily Specials. I can only surmise that this is a result of the current economy, but to have it manifest in such small things really tweaks my sense of personal.

I did however, find something that had been eluding me for years, something that I had looked for on and off since I saw it on the 'net in the late nineties. I laughed long and loud when I saw it last:

Safety grenades.

Yes, that's right, it's an oxymoron... and it's based off an old Star Trek meme: that of the exploding control console. The ones that go up in a shower of sparks every time there's a battle, tossing red-shirted crewman across compartments and bridges without regard to physics. Read it and laugh, for I am glad that the person who reposted it managed to track it down again for others to enjoy.

Speaking of tracking things down: this was found in a pond recently in England. Is it proof that aliens have landed, or that Doctor Who was based on things not entirely fictional? You decide.

Lastly, good news on the battery front: engineers from MIT have discovered a new way to build batteries. If the research pans out, then it means batteries can be recharged in full in a matter of seconds, not hours, thus solving the major problem with today's high-tech devices: the blasted batteries just don't last.

March 13 - Feeling lucky punk?

Today is the second month in a row with a Friday the 13th, and there's one more coming up in November, for a total of three this year. For some, it is an unlucky day, but for others, luck finds them ... in spades. I try to keep up with news from Niagara, and the rescue today of a jumper over the Falls struck me as proof that dumb luck can be right up there with superstition on days like today.

The unknown can be quite scary, but I've been able to sleep better at night knowing that The SCP Foundation is working hard to keep the world safe. Much like the Men In Black and The Plumbers, it is secret organizations like these that ensure that the world never falls under the influence of things that go bump in the night. Hard to apply for employment though, and one has to wonder about their medical plans... do they include bacta treatment?

Sometimes though, one needs protection from the smaller things in life, like those annoying scratches that build up on one's car over time. Whether from rocks of the road or inconsiderate parking lot passersby, protection has usually meant waxing and polishing a few times a year, as well as trying one of hundreds of scratch-fixing products on the market. Well, it seems that scientists have been busy this week, as a team has come up with self-healing paint for vehicles - rejoice, car owners!

March 14 - Windy like Oz, Dorothy!

Homelessness is a hot-button topic here on Vancouver Island, when people see it every day in downtown Victoria. While Stew Young, the mayor of Langford has often stated that his city will not tolerate homelessness, he does not have a plan for solving the problem other than exporting it to other municipalities. Several people have commented on this policy of late, though again no real solution has been found, for like most cities these days homelessness is on the rise. Alberta has thrown down the gauntlet however, announcing a 3.3 billion-dollar plan to end homelessness in the province within 10 years - quite a challenge, and one the western world will be watching closely.

After work tonight, the winds from the north picked up, blasting across Langford Lake at up to 90 km/h ... which tossed a lot of branches around, though not as badly as when I visited Niagara back in September. I was mainly concerned about the cat-shield I had built for the back deck, to protect the birds who come to the birdfeeder. As you can see from this picture, the setup proved to be rather robust, as it flexed in the winds but did not break under the strain. I'm quite proud of it, as it shows I'm capable of putting something together to meet a need that won't fall apart in the real world.

March 15 - Not a Fan of Meetings

Today is my Saturday - as in, I don't have to go to work, like most people do Mon to Fri. I can't complain really, as I start work most days later than most, at 10:30 or so. I do enjoy watching a few of the new crop of 'toon shows Sundays of late, though I still have a soft spot for my perennial favourite Reboot - it makes me grin to see that it's now a staple of the TeleToon Retro channel, right alongside Superfriends and Fat Albert. Fraggle Rock is on there too, a show I loved watching on Sunday nights down in the family room... the wacky humour and upbeat singing always picked me up for another week at school the next day.

I spent a few hours today replacing all the fans in my Blue Frankenstein PC, as the ones inside had all begin to rattle or simply stopped working due to age. Sadly, while most fans list a MTBF of around 50,000 hours, my experience has been more like 10,000 hours, which equates to about a year of 24/7 operation. Since I leave my PC on to run things like BOINC, this is rather annoying to me, so I will be keeping an eye on these new ones from CoolerMaster - at least they aren't all that expensive. The main benefit is that my PC is now almost completely silent even when running at top speed - the fan noise is faint enough that I can read a book on the couch next to it and not be irritated by the sound.

I had a meeting tonight at work, from 5-8, for all the area managers - I just love meetings on my days off. While I can't of course go into details, the gist of it means more daily stress for myself and others. Every minute of every day at work will be spent at a multitude of tasks, juggling like a madman... already I find it wearing, and I hope that once the tax season slows down then I will be able to catch a breath. As it stands now, I come home every day exhausted, and only the fact that I am able to go to bed early and sleep in has staved off accumulated fatigue. Add that to my plumbing issues, and I begin to dream of vacations more than anything else of late... my pictures of my trips to Mexico and St. Maartens are now making their way across my PC monitor to ease my mind's eye.


All for now... looking forward to Spring next week, I can tell you that! I am not alone in that, I am sure.