DVD's, Dinner and Decisions

I'd ask Thought Police to actually read the blog entire, before commenting, as it only shows them to be foolish by leaving comments that ignore the blog's content.. but why bother? I'll bet they just skim, and don't actually read - keywording at work, folks. Hey, my first intro-comment link! Whoop.


Dec 15 - Scams

Low energy...

Turns out the phone calls I have been getting are from an 'Imperial Cruise Lines' ... important to note the name, as they are NOT the same company as 'Imperial Cruise LINE' - the distinction will be important later. Seems that this less-than-reputable bunch( nee scammers )use autodialers to call numbers and so determine the times of day when people there pick up. They then pass that info on to call center staff to peruse, based on data from their 'automated survey' call, which basically tells them if the mark is likely to have money to spend( nee be bilked of )on a vacation cruise. Apparently lots of people have been getting these types of calls, which often result in large sums vanishing from one's credit cards, if you are foolish enough to give such info away. Given that these scammers are taking full advantage of internet-based IP phones, which are difficult to trace and have no CallerID, it makes the National Do Not Call Lists rather impotent. Law enforcement is slow to follow up on complaints, which then means that the numbers that DO show up are already out of service a few weeks later. Reading some of the information that former employees talk about is eye-opening as well, and makes me wonder HOW this kind of company can stay in business legally? The world is not what it once was.

I watched Transformers in the evening, which was in the now-defunct HD-DVD format. Say what you will, I stick by my guns that it IS the better format - Blu-Ray has far fewer features, but had the backing of all the major studios, likely because it was cheaper to produce. Ah well. Transformers looked amazing on the HDTV, as the detail of the robots was mind-boggling. Too bad the video game stank... they should take a page from Good Old Games, which is a company dedicated to bringing the best of the older video games into today's age, making them run under Vista and the like. Oddworld!!

Dec 16 - Concepts and Movies

With the expression "Work is good for what ails ya" in mind, I set out today, my second day off, to make myself feel a little better... by organizing my place. I went through all my books, papers and sundry stuff to comb out all that which was no longer relevant to my life, which was surprisingly little. The papers took the longest, as old bills and other whatnot had to be examined to see if they were still worth keeping - the papers, not the bills. I progressed steadily through the day, cleaning, dusting, moving, tossing and the rest, until by dinnertime I was satisfied - my place finally looked like I wanted it to. All the extra was tossed or tucked away, I'd found a few things I thought lost, and in general I liked the neatness... the old saw of 'settled surroundings, settled mind' was definitely at work here.

I Stumbled across a website that is a mecca for people posting concept art; one fellow actually had his art go from concept to full-sized spaceship, built for a theme park in Germany, in only three months! Sing the praises!

Speaking of concepts, while waiting for Watchmen to come out, I came across a trailer for X-Men: Origins - Wolverine, with Hugh Jackman reprising his successful clawful role as the badass mutant. Nice that Wolvey keeps gaining popularity as the years go by.

I finished off the evening watching Iron Man, which was a great comic book movie. All the elements were there: cool superhero suit, lots of action, and even a redheaded Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, assistant to Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark. I've always liked Iron Man, though regrettably I've not kept any of the few issues I had from years ago. Apparently the newer issues have incredible writing in them, so I'll have to try and scout eBay for a few issues in the new year. Cool suit, did I mention that?

Dec 17 - What is that white stuff?

It snowed all day today, which in itself is nothing I am not used to from decades in Niagara. However, there is not even a tenth as snow removal or salting equipment here in Victoria, due to the much milder temperatures. Which means that when it keeps on snowing with low temperatures, things literally pile up faster than can be dealt with.

Tonight was a case in point. After I finished work in a flurry( hah! )of activity, I raced to the nearby bus stop, thinking I was a few minutes early for the scheduled bus. So I waited confidently, snugly tucked into my winter gear. And waited. And waited. After a half-hour, I was rather put out, moreso as I had spotted a bus in the far distance pulled over with its hazard lights on. After trying to call the bus schedule number futilely, it being busy constantly, I trekked over to the bus in the distance. The driver told me that due to the slippery roads, ALL transit buses had been told to wait until the roads were re-evaluated and the salters/sanders had had a chance to get around the main routes. So he took my ticket, gave me a transfer slip and I waited with a few others another ten minutes until we were finally given the go-ahead to proceed. I then waited with a large crowd downtown in the main foyer to Chapters, keeping warm for another hour almost until the bus I needed straggled in. Annoyingly, the driver told everyone that by that point, the ride was free due to the delay... but I had already paid on the other bus. Ah well, at least it got me most of the way home... albeit two hours late. Which was about the average wait for a cab that night, due to the virtual shutdown of transit. Thanks, snowfall.

Dec 18 - Bacon and Wall-E

A little late now to order in time for Christmas, but as a companion to my earlier blog entry I present: bacon ornaments! That's right... now you can hang your fave food on your tree for the holidays! And, in case you didn't already know about it, ILoveBacon.com is up and running for all your bacon needs!

Speaking of greasy, I made it home from work in the usual half hour, as the buses were running on time today, for a wonder. Seems it just takes them a day to get used to snowfall, which according to the locals has not been this heavy since the Blizzard of 1996, the year when Victoria held the record for all of Canada for the most snow accumulation in 24 hours... ouch. Not as much snow as the White Death, when Niagara and Western New York State got buried in snow in 1977. The sledding was good that year. Shades of The Day After Tomorrow, really, but without the bad acting. Or the wolves.

I headed over to my neighbour's place, in the next apartment on the same floor, for dinner and a movie. This was the first movie night we'd had since springtime earlier in the year, so I was excited... my social calendar here in Victoria has had few outings of this type at all, to my regret. We watched Wall-E, the Pixar CG-animated movie... it was fantastic! The graphics, as expected, were top-notch, and I was impressed that the producers did not try to go for a 'true-human' look as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within did( mostly successfully )back in 2001. What impressed me the most though was the personality that the animators managed to imbue into the robotic characters, mainly done without dialogue. Watching their antics on the screen, I was reminded of the silent pictures of the early film era, where gesture, expression and body language had to convey the totality of expression in the absence of words. Charlie Chaplin, we miss you.

Dec 19 - Fuzzy Friday

Listening to the radio at work always helps the day go faster, or at least not suck as much. The station I have tuned in here, 100.3 'The Q' seems tailor-made to my tastes: lots of oldies, classic rock and the odd indie song tossed in, without any rap, dance, techno, metal or other related... stuff. I am almost always pleased with their selections, even the esoteric ones I've never heard of - rare is the time when I flick off the radio in the back when I can't stand the choice of song. So that's a good thing here.

After a long day, I was feeling rather woozy - dizzy even, at points. I've been taking digestive enzymes on my doctor's recommendation, to see if they might assist with bringing my plumbing back to normal... but no results as yet. So, I packed my bags and spent the night visiting my parents, who put me up in their spare room. I slept very well, and our cat Tristan was delighted to see me for such a long stretch, so much so that he barely left my side all evening. I didn't eat much, as usual, apart from a slice of pizza and a buttered bun - I have been using liquid meal replacements at work for the last few weeks, as they avoid the nausea that has inevitably followed eating solid food. That cannot continue forever though, as I need to find the reason for this problem and not just continue to treat the symptoms.

Dec 20 - Decision

I woke up to the toot of a train horn somewhat after seven AM, just one of the lovely things that living in Esquimalt forces you to get used to. At least the stench of diesel over the entire Inner Harbour is much less on the weekend, as there are fewer commuter flights leaving. Also, this is the off-season for tour buses, who show up three or four at a time during the summer to loudly proclaim over the views.

But, enough about that. I was still feeling burned out, as I have been for the last many weeks, due to whatever is causing my illness. Part of the symptoms is that I do not feel hunger, even after not eating for 12 hours or longer - I just don't. So I have to remind myself to eat, and watch that I don't eat too much at once... I've taken to having four or five smaller meals a day, as that seems to work around the nausea I get an hour after a regular-sized meal. Taking digestive enzymes helps, and I am still able to function fairly normally, despite a few dizzy or nauseous episodes a day, which only happen after a meal... for the most part. So that's only three times a day, really, when you think about it. Every day.

Which is why today I had to make a choice: to continue on my own, or make plans for my near future.

Plans, you say? Yes. I have to consider that I will not quickly figure out what is going on internally with my plumbing, nor that my doctor will find a simple solution - he hasn't yet, and I am going to be getting a few more specialist's opinions in the new year. So with that in mind, I have decided to hedge my bets in case I am unable to continue working or functioning on my own in the coming year.

Discussing things with my parents for the last few months, we have co-ordinated our searches for an alternate residence, and today we went to see a house in Langford that hit all the checkboxes. It is about a fifteen minute drive from Victoria, on a good day, is located on a lake with a view, close to many amenities and has plenty of room for everyone and our 'stuff' too.

We loved it, and immediately sent off an email to the owner that we would take it.

Which meant that I also contacted my own landlord and gave notice today, which broke my heart... because I love my current apartment. I've rhapsodized about it many times in my blog, so let me just say this: as I look around while composing today's entry, I am again struck by how comfortable and perfectly suited this place is to me, in so many ways: the size, the location, the neighbours, the way the sun lights the whole place all day long... that I can write in peace here, with my independence and all that I need at hand. It is everything I wanted in a place of my own.

Now I have to leave it, by my own choice albeit forced by circumstance. Which means that I will be moved out of this location by Feb 1st, 2009. Bitter is that taste, to have found a place that is all that you wanted and be forced to leave it by your body's betrayal. Bitter, bitter a taste indeed.

Dec 21 - Sunday Slush

The splash effect of slush on semi-cleared roads should not be understated, especially where temperatures have not solidly frozen roadside accumulations. I watched several people eat flying slush as cars zoomed past on the somewhat cleared main roads today, waiting for the bus on Fairfield Rd. I passed quite a few folks out on their Sunday morning to clear their walks; there must have been easily a dozen people flailing away with shovels, not to mention those who had already cleared their walks and the sidewalks in front of their homes too. I am sure that many an enterprising youngster will make a good few dollars today with no more than a sturdy shovel and a penchant for ringing doorbells all day.

Which made for a slow day at work. I've brought in a humidifier, as the air here hovers around 35%( or less )humidity, which is uncomfortable to work in. Cracked skin on one's hands and the occasional nosebleed are things I try to avoid adding to my list of winter enjoyments, so the added moisture, although not substantial, helps to keep these minor scourges at bay during my work day. Not to mention that the lobby is at least 15-20 degrees cooler than the heavy-glass-insulated teller area, so whenever the heating system comes on, cold air is displaced from the lobby and blasts into the teller zone... can you say, "My hands are frozen?" I knew that you could. Now thaw 'em out and count change.

I watched the DVD extras for Iron Man after getting home from work - amazingly easy on a Sunday night, as the bus goes directly from my branch to the stop outside my front door. Maybe a hundred steps total from work to home... and I won't be doing that ever again, in little more than a month. Though I will likely still be working every Sunday... I'm tempted to get religion, just for the day off.

Ahem. DVD extras... there are a LOT of them with Iron Man, all top-notch and informative. Must be the hundreds of geeks involved in the creative process... they know what sorts of things they would like to see on these things. Great gobs of CGI graphics, diagrams and interviews - when I was finished watching I felt like I had been on the crew for most of the production. I'll have to pick this one up.


And on to the Comments... if any. Will there be spiders?

Stories, Swedes and Snow

Well, l'm not sure what to make of Brian hijacking my blog... my thoughts are akin to watching a chihuahua try to chew my leg off: good luck, little nipper. Though it'd be cute to watch him try, with those beady little eyes and that yappy noise he makes. Oh, the chihuahua, not Brian. Really.

Dec 8 - Butchart and Goldstream

Off today, but busy nonetheless; left in the late AM to travel north to Goldstream park. The stench of dead salmon was still strong despite the cool air; you could smell it from the road just as the trees began to close in from the park proper. But I was not there to see the dead dish, no - I was there to see eagles. Not just ANY eagles either: bald eagles. Yes, you heard correctly... this is the time of year when the bald eagles flock to cleanup duty, when the streams disgorge their cargo of dead fish into the estuaries and the eagles feast.

We ended up at the far end of Goldstream park, which was mercifully free of crowds, being a weekday and after the Salmon Run died off weeks ago... literally. The weather was great, illuminating the trees and their mossy coverings. We stood outside the Nature Lodge and watched at least a dozen bald eagles, both the parents and the young, in trees across the expanse of the 'Quiet Zone' which is an area where humans are forbidden to trespass or make noise - this has brought larger numbers of eagles back every year for years since its institution at this end of the park. Once I knew what to look for, the bald eagles were easy to spot( hi Brian! )as their heads looked like white golf balls against the green trees. Really - they looked just like that. Only, well, eagle-ish. Having a pair of good binoculars helped bring things close, and they were amazing to watch - there are live cameras accessible through this site here, which has cams for other wildlife parks in the area too.

On to lunch at the Waddling Dog, a bar with a great name, good food and mediocre service. Apparently, the bar is named after a mascot dachshund, whose bigger-than-life-sized image stands ready by the far entrance. They're up to John the 6th apparently, who spends most of his time sleeping under the counter by the main entrance - we didn't see him, as we arrived around 2pm and didn't want to bother the sodden crowd gathered around the sports scores at the main bar. The food was good, in decent portions, but the whole time we were given the feeling that the waitress would rather be anywhere else... she was easily the most inattentive and least personable waitress we've had in years. Not rude... just indifferent in large doses. Ah well... that's what tips are for, or in this case, lacking thereof.

Finally, we got to Butchart Gardens, arriving in time for me to actually get some pictures in daylight this time. Now that the winter is here, the flowers are in short supply, but there is still a lot of green everywhere; the lawns are full and lush despite the low temperatures, which surprised me. We took a walk through once while the daylight was waning, then set out again more slowly to capture the Christmas lights in all their glory - they go all-out here, with tens of thousands of lights strung all throughout the Gardens. They had the Twelve Days of Christmas done to the nines at various points in the park, like the Five Golden Rings here and here, seen after dark. You can see some other folk's pictures here, along with the IEOA Lighted Truck Parade that took place last week, which I missed due to work - again. Ah well... they have it every year, so I'll see it eventually.

Dec 9 - Frankly G33k Decorating

I spent a good part of the day moving my Blue Frankenstein from one side of my apartment to the other, which involved a lot of wire untangling and general cursing. It really made the place look bigger and less cluttered though, now that it is ensconced next to my couch and no longer a hulking, glowing focal point for the room. Quieter too, with fan noise being muffled by proximity to the fabric and not stuck out in the open to reflect off surfaces, like hardwood floors. A technical challenge though, to get the HDMI signal across the room to the TV, which a long cable solved... sort of. Once I had everything hooked up and turned it on, the video flickered, went red, and then went to static. A problem...

Which is the kind of thing I enjoy solving. After some head-scratching and cursing, I surmised that the signal being output by my video card simply wasn't strong enough to wend its way through twenty-five feet of cable and arrive all fresh and happy at the TV... hence the odd colour-then-static failure. So I grabbed a few extra cables and ran the signal through a handy HDMI splitter I'd purchased for other reasons... lo and behold: a perfectly strong boosted signal. Stick THAT in your tech support, ATI! I am bitter about ATI's total inability to solve my antiquated All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro video card issues, despite several years of emails... but since Microsoft can't solve my Xbox360 HDMI issues either, I have to make do with what I come up with.

Dec 10 - Swedish Shelves

After moving things around yesterday, I got down to the business of bookshelf-building today, as the final shelf has sat in a box in my bedroom for almost 11 months now awaiting space to be cleared. It took but an hour to put things together and set it up under my TV next to the fireplace, and I must say the room has a completed look to it now that the pile of PC cables and gear never gave it. Perhaps this is what things are moving towards: hiding the home computer out of sight so that only the interface, like wireless keyboards and a TV display, are visible. Aside from the PC modder community, I think this is how things will be for most folk, as nobody likes to see this taking up space in their living room or den. What with having a laptop now, the old PC has taken a back seat, mainly existing to heat my place in the winter while processing the latest BOINC files, as well as gather my email and serve media to the TV... not a bad life, as retired computers go; things could be much worse. Especially since in the ten years since this article on computer recycling was published, not much has changed - the only province in Canada to charge an environmental levy on electronic purchases is B.C. - how ironic! I love the fact that you can go to this RCBC website and look up available recycling methods for almost any product... lack of knowledge often results in things being landfilled that could otherwise be recycled.

On a completely unrelated note, the Swedish Chef has been on my mind of late. Nothing got me laughing faster while watching TV than an episode of The Muppets with the Chef on it. The way things always progressed from simple cooking to bizarre disaster was always creative and uproariously funny as well as being a new twist every time, guest stars aside. As befits a scion of St. Catharines, one of my favourite clips is the Chef showing us how to make a donut.

There is even a Swedish Chef Translator, which apparently has been around in one form or another for over a decade... who knew? Go ahead, use the Borkifier and see what happens!

Then there is the related Theory of Swedish Meatballs...

Dec 11 - Short Stories

Does anyone remember "The Storyteller" ? It was a great series designed to present fairy tales to modern audiences, created by who else but Jim Henson. It starred John Hurt, and was a great show to curl up in front of the fire with, so to speak. Other shows along the same lines were Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone and the live-action show Dinosaurs, again by Brian Henson.

My DVD copy of the Robotech Protoculture Collection arrived from Amazon.ca today, a used copy that was mailed to me all the way from England. Considering that a new copy is currently running around $150.00 CAN plus shipping, I got quite a sweet deal. Now I can erase all 80 or so episodes I recorded on my DVR last spring, which will clear a LOT of space, I tell you. Though since I don't use it to record much TV of late, the extra space isn't really necessary... again with the irony.

Dec 12 - Silly people, locks are for hicks!

I thought today would start out horribly, as I had no sooner arrived at work and locked the door behind me than Crazy Lady showed up wanting in. A too-long mime session later, she got the point that no, we were NOT open, that she could come back at 11am, and that the hours posted on the door DID actually apply to her as well as everyone else. Amazingly, she went away and only came back once to rattle the door at 10:50 am, ever so briefly, before coming back at 11:10 to act totally normal when dealing with me... not even a peep of derision for not opening the store immediately when she arrived. Perhaps she was discovering that Canada did not run to her schedule of needs, and that she might actually need to consult a bus schedule or read posted business hours once in a while?

Nah. She's crazy. That's all I have to say about today, as the rest was pretty normal.

Dec 13 - Snow. Yes, it is exciting. For some.

Late in the evening, well after I arrived home, it began to snow. Now, this is no big thing back in Niagara, but this is the first snow of the year for Victoria. For the last week, talk on the radio, among customers in the lobby, passers-by and total strangers can all be summed up with the question: "When do you think it will start snowing?" - again, it felt odd to me, but people here get excited. Not to mention silly, for a few simple cm of gently falling powder makes people cower inside their homes.

Which are not all that warm, with single-glazed windows and an almost total lack of insulation. Again I am astounded at the difference my insulation efforts have made to my apartment, as I have yet to turn on the heat despite the mercury dropping to a few notches below zero. Comfy inside? You betcha!

Here's a poem I wrote to keep up the spirits of one of my co-workers, as the heat failed in their branch today and they were wrapped up like an Eskimo in a meat locker:

Cold days should be warm, filled with happy thought,
Of hearth-warmth and the smiles it has brought.

Kettle's whistle brings cocoa in hand-warming mugs,
Curled up by the fire, stocking feet tucked in snug.

Snow flutters outside, silent piles of white,
As friends share stories on cold winter's night.

For the critical among my readers, I invite you to see this link on the world's greatest poet. The choice may surprise you. Or not. I know this poor guy would love to have been considered for the title above.

Dec 14 - Rocks Fall... no, not asteroids!

Well, the roads are covered in snow finally, but the stoic acceptance that is so Canadian meant most people simply piled on a few more layers and sauntered out into the weather. I was amused to see how some of my neighbours cleared snow from their yard: she with a shovel, he with... a garden hoe. Hoe, Hoe, Hoe, as the holiday Santas say.

Work was very quiet, and nobody bothered to come by in the last hours after the sun went down and things really started to chill. Though again some folks had different opinions on what 'cold' meant: the girl from Alberta, wearing only a blazer jacket, was used to -40C temps, and the guy from Saudi Arabia went on about how nice it was out compared to the sunstroke-inducing temps of his native country.

I was reading through an extremely funny online comic take on the Lord of The Rings saga, which looks at things as though the whole story was being played as an adventure by a group of gamers. Feel free to skip it if you've never played an RPG before, as you won't get most of the jokes. It's funny, trust me.

Erm, back to the point: one phrase mentioned in one of the comics is 'Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies.' Now, this is a phrase that any old-school RPG gamer has heard at one time or another... but nobody seems to be able to put an origin to. Along of the lines of such phrases as 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey', the Rocks phrase seems to have sprung into being at the beginning of RPG lore. Funny as well too, as it is basically a cop-out, where the person running the game is tired of his player's whining and simply kills them off by saying the phrase. The look of shock on the players faces is usually worth it, but the whining almost never stops after that point. Speaking of which, did I have a point here somewhere...? Ah yes: obscure origins of phrases are endlessly fascinating. Well, to some, they are... and thanks to the 'net, there is now the Slang Dictionary - go read it before I break your crayons. Or something.

I was dead tired after work today, so much so that I kept falling asleep while typing up the blog after a late dinner. Perhaps the week just caught up to me, or I was just feeling warm and cozy curled up with the laptop tossing out heat like a hot brick - seriously, this thing can melt ice cubes in less than a minute. Which is not all that useful, but if you have nothing better to do you could look at this site, which compiles the Top 10 Time-Wasting Sites on the internet today. I wonder how much time it took to compile that list...?

Thanks to all those who sent their well-wishes during my last few weeks of illness... oh wait, nobody did. Well, thanks to those who might have thought about it, then forgot; after all, especially at this time of year, its the thought that counts. And chicken soup doesn't keep hot long during shipping... too bad.