Moving, Movies and May St

Tuesdays... what happened to updating these things Sunday nights? Well, maybe next week... I have a few more things to add to the blog, which I will do tonight - I wanted to get it posted today, so here you are:

Jan 25 - Tensity

I've been trying something different at work, to see if I can change my daily stress levels around. I've made the effort to smile and make small talk with every customer who comes in, moreso than usual, to see if the level of Friendly can be raised - for the most part, it seems to be working. This is different from the false cheer that I can't stand when I deal with some in the customer service industry, that gets turned on and off like a spigot - I'm making the honest effort to be nice and jovial despite being tired, cranky and stressed for the last few weeks. So far, it seems to be working, as I've enjoyed my time at work a lot more than I thought, even though I work alone every day.

Not that there's a lot wrong with that, really. I suppose if I was a slob, I could leave the place a mess out of sight of the customers, or not wear deodorant, or do a ton of other things that would annoy co-workers, if I had any right now. Instead, I enjoy the freedom of keeping tabs only on myself, not having to put up with other's habits, and allowing the occasional gaseous expulsion to waft free. Which has been happening far more often of late, thanks to one of these before every meal. Digestively snap.

Jan 26 - Snopes, you say?

Bacon: now for dessert... on chocolate chip cookies! Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?

Speaking about fattening... well, not really, but I couldn't quickly think of a way to transition from bacon to internet scams; did I mention I am tired? Anyway, everyone receives emails, often daily, about things that sound too good to be true: scams, offers, spam, and urban legends all clog up email inboxes, not to mention those annoying chain letter emails... If you tire of these things, just go have a look at Snopes.com to see if what you suspect is true, that the sender( if a stranger )is trying to scam you or a friend( if they are known to you )is passing along something they really shouldn't. Every known spam or scam on the 'net is on Snopes, which makes it a GREAT resource to tell Aunt Bertha about next time she fowards you a 'warning' about gangs tossing shoes onto telephone lines in YOUR area... :-)

Jan 27 - Green

Green is the way to go these days in all things... which is great, as it also happens to be my favourite colour. Nowadays, David Suzuki is feeling like he's part of the mainstream, as the rest of the world is finally waking up to the message he's been preaching for the last few decades. Looking around the globe, there are some fine examples of green architecture out there, quite aside from the R2000 home program started in the 1980's and current market trends towards ultra-green residential housing. Though what a hand-crafted wooden iPod housing really has to do with green homes is anybody's guess.

It also occurred to me that there's an opportunity for a major spokesperson for environmental causes to step forth and take up the flag. One whose very appearance both speaks for the difficult task of protecting the planet, and the consequences of not doing so. I am speaking of a fictional character, one who has a long history in the comic industry, as well as other mediums:

The Hulk. He's literally green, and gets angry...with polluters. Perfect fit, no?

Jan 28 - Comics and Tigers

Calvin and Hobbes. Who among us DIDN'T read this fantastic comic strip in its heyday, and mourn it's sudden demise by Bill Watterson's decision to just stop? Well, for all of us out there who still wish for some Wit of Calvin's, I present to you: 25 Great Calvin and Hobbes Strips - not perhaps THE Greatest Strips, but certainly some of the very best. You decide.

Which leads me back to The Far Side... did the general public really understand that comic? It was so far out there in terms of funny for its time that it made Peanuts look like the scribblings of children... though considering it WAS a comic, maybe that's a compliment. I do know the Far Side Halloween TV Special was WAY out there, but it was great to see those out-there comic panels come to life... creepy, distorted, surrealistic-in-some-way life at that. Gary Larson, we miss you and Bill Waterson both.

Of Fumes and Final Thoughts: Unfortunately, I had to go back to the old apartment tonight to finish cleaning the oven, which was the only thing that had to be done again - I'm not one for using Easy Off due to the fumes, but in this case the landlord insisted. At least he sprayed it in the morning so it had all day to work, as well as for the fumes to( mostly )clear.

Jan 29 - More on Moving

The unpacking goes well, coming along apace. I do some in the mornings, then more as I find the energy after work. My mom, though she is limited in mobility and has other major health issues, has been great as she plugs away steadily at the work - most of the rest of the house is already put to rights.

I suppose I should talk a little about the place: it's on the shore of Langford Lake, about ten minutes north of Victoria. Langford itself is a bustling place, with a lot of new construction and a ton of things going for it, with all the amenities including a huge 'power center' for shopping in addition to a vibrant downtown.

The house itself is a large backsplit, nestled down away from the road tucked between neighbouring properties and so sheltered from noise and weather both. The lower level is given over to another apartment, whose occupants we've met - friendly, quiet and accommodating folks. The upper level is more than spacious, with a giant kitchen flanked by a living room and dining room. The front has a sunken living room for my use, that has to be seen to be believed - pictures coming soon. There are two bedrooms, plus a master bedroom, two bathrooms( one of which with a massive skylight )main floor laundry, double garage... and a hot tub on the rear deck that faces the lake - what a view! All of this means plenty of space for my stuff, as well as privacy.

Jan 30 - Boxes Are Evil

Now that most of the boxes are either emptied or relegated to the Toss In Storage Pile, the place is looking mostly livable... except for my den / living room. I just haven't had the energy to get all the books onto the shelves, or do more than hook up the TV and the 'net routers to the cable connection. Which is odd in itself - the cable, that is. When I first attached MY cable modem earlier in the week, the blasted thing didn't work and still doesn't - naturally it's the one I bought, whose 1-year warranty expired two weeks ago. The one from my parent's place works fine, thankfully... and it's the one they're still renting, 'natch. *sigh* I swear electronics come with Warranty Suicide Chips.

While I am not exactly in the business of Evil Lair Decorating, there is something to be said for Evil on a Budget... which also segues into setting up a great Evil Lair. Yet what use would be an Evil Lair without superheroes to defend it against? Here is a list of the most popular superpowers that wannabe-heroes of today are wishing for. Strangely, being bulletproof is not high on most people's lists...?

And if you want to see something truly evil, have a look at this - "Roxanne" by the Police as sung to the tune generated by Microsoft's Songsmith program. Ouch, my bleeding ears! The horror!

Jan 31 - End of the Old

The month wrapped up in a blur today, which was even busier than yesterday. Again, I find it odd that I can go an hour without any customers, then five show up all within five minutes. There is no common thread I can discern, as they don't do it at lunch hour, or all get off the same bus, or show up just after picking up the kids from school... damned odd, but it keeps me on my toes.

Do you ever get the feeling that things are being recycled in Hollywood? Or in the entertainment world in general, mining old hits for new viewer ratings? While I usually deride such mediocre efforts, sometimes a few of these reworkings work out, like BSG and (hopefully) the upcoming The Prisoner too.

There are a few movies I am looking forward to seeing in the next few months: Coraline, of course - it's Neil Gaiman, why would you NOT see it?? Also the Transformers sequel, plus one I'd not heard of before this week with a catchy title: Monsters Vs Aliens - no word on a cameo by a Predator though.

Feb 1 - A New Month, a New Place

Sunday found me crawling around the new place, puttering and poking into odd boxes to find things. While I kept a numbered list of box contents, there are still quite a few things stuffed into various odd boxes and other places to try and find. I found myself in dire need of relaxation today, as the week has been simply exhausting with the move and the very very busy month-end at work. Fourteen hour days are no fun for a week, especially when time not spent earning a wage is spent hefting boxes around and cleaning. When was this even fun, I wonder? I know I enjoyed moving to Port Dalhousie, but after that things just became a chore... good thing I was able to do a lot more under my own power back then.

I went to my delayed company Christmas party this year, which was a subdued affair - since we had our budget cut in half, only two stores( plus me )were able to get together, compared to last year, when everyone met for dinner... darn economic crunch. We all met at Nautical Nellies, which is a steak and seafood place downtown which bills itself as "the Best restaurant in Victoria BC." The food was very good in decent portions, if a big pricey - similar to the Keg, which sits on a corner as well just a block down the road. It was nice, in a way, to just sit at a large table and talk with people, as I don't see much of any of them while working on my ownsome. I left after only a few hours, heading home in the rain as I was rather tired.

For those who like moving reading, I suggest Ebon Musings, where the author digs deep into the Bible for his own amusement much akin to the spirit of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. If God is watching, I don't think He would be amused... but I know He WOULD want a word with His editor about doing a Revised Bible. Or maybe a Coles Notes version?


All for now - next update Sunday night, since I have Sundays off. For now.

Memories, Movies and Morals

Last year at this time, I was incredibly busy with settling into our temporary home over on Douglas St. So much so, that I had to catch up the blog some weeks later, based on my notes and what I could recall. How useful then, that the first thing I set up was my PC, to record such things... *grin* As it is, we broke 500 hits this week for the blog... wowsa!

Nov 10 - Spam and Urban Legends

All of us dislike spam email, and I daresay most of us dislike chain-letter emails. Myself, I find those various warnings 'passed on to your friends' to be VERY annoying, as I have often received the same warning year after year after year... about the same fictional topic, like Bill Gates giving away free money. One way to cut down on this waste of 'net bandwidth is to check with places like Snopes.com first, before forwarding something onwards... a common theme among these Urban Legend emails is to tug at emotional heartstrings or religious beliefs, like the 'Professor and the Dropped Chalk' legend. Which is why I like Snopes; it debunks a LOT of common urban legends, along the lines of the great Mythbusters show... one of the few things I miss about cable TV of late.

Bonus: What YOU can do to help Kill Spam Dead.

Nov 11 - Remember



Ninety years.

Nine decades since the end of the First World War, called the Great War, the War to End All Wars.

Yet it was followed only twenty years later by the Second World War. Did we learn anything?

Both wars saw horrific loss of life. Great evil was performed by mankind, in ways that still shock in the telling today.

The Veteran's Affairs website has simple, touching information about all the reasons we should never forget the sacrifices of the few, for the many. How the world came to be the way it is today, when ordinary men and women stood against tyrrany, often giving their lives so that we future generations could live in peace and never know the horrors of gobal war.

Here you can read about an American woman's visit to Belgium during the war, in 1916, with photos.

Perhaps this is why I am so fascinated with post-apocolyptic themes; I see the world as it could have been if history had taken a different turn... as it could have at any point in both wars, or before.

I am pleased to see television taking a less-glorious view of war in the last few decades; shows like Tour of Duty and even Space: Above and Beyond pulled no punches when it came to looking at the moral and visual horrors war brings to the human condition.

Never forget.

Nov 12 - Watch the Movies

Though it has been some time since I last saw a movie, I sill enjoy looking at what is coming out soon. Plus, there are some things that all of us can relate to when it comes to movies. For example, movie endings. Some movies end in ways that leave a lot of questions unanswered, or in a way that the viewer thinks is odd compared to the rest of the film. One place that looks at how movies SHOULD have ended is, well.. How It Should Have Ended.com - check out how Lord of the Rings and the original Star Wars should have ended.

Speaking of Star Wars... being the cultural icon that it is, for the last thirty years, much has been made about it, by many people. Some of it funny, some of it bad... some of it just silly. For your viewing pleasure: Darth Vader does the Muppet's Mahanamahana song. And here is the original too. Heck, if you remember Cops from the early Fox Network days, then you'll love... Star Wars Cops!

As for movies coming up... check out The Watchmen, based on the famous graphical novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons some twenty years ago. Amazing stuff... as is the new Terminator movie concept art.

Nov 13 - Who is Harlan?

I have a lot of books on the shelves here, too many according to some people - I try not to listen to those folks. Other than living in an actual library, I cannot imagine any home of mine without a few shelves full of books. I remember reading an article a few years back about illiteracy in America, written by a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman who wrote that in 9 out of 10 homes he went to, the most 'literary' thing he saw in terms of reading materials were a few scattered magazines, in all the homes he was invited into over the years. He said it amazed him how few books he saw, in homes from all walks of life, which disturbed me, especially when he said that the TV was always in a prominent spot.

In a roundabout way then, this brings me to one of my favourite authors: Harlan Ellison. Famous not only for his works but also his acerbic attitude, I recently stumbled across a piece about Harlan's creative process. This article talks about how Harlan and a Polish surrealist artist combined their talents in a unique book; have a look at the article, as the paintings are incredible in their detail. Incidentally, he was the technical consultant on Babylon 5... another feather in that show's cap, in my opinion. Damn good writing.

Nov 14 - Wasted Tech

Ahem: GeekSpeak warning for those of you who avoid such... skip the below paragraph, and instead bemuse yourself with: CrazyThoughts.com - lots there to cogitate on!

Before I left Ontario, I had to divest myself of many old pieces of electronic and computer hardware that I had kept for various reasons. Mostly, I wanted to see if I could save or recycle moot of it instead of consigning it to the dump for the simple crime of being obsolete. In fact, I managed to salvage three PC systems which I gave to friends, after reformatting them with Ubuntu, a simple form of Linux that makes even old PC's run like new again... at least as basic email, media and web terminals. Thanks to Arthur for putting me onto Ubuntu; he was( and likely still is )a big Debian Linux fan. I like Linux for its flexibility and low overhead, but it still does not like to play with Windows...

Back to the old tech: a recent C|Net article tells how 60Minutes examines the awful human suffering that is behind a lot of the current efforts to recycle high-tech garbage, a lot of it going on in China. While some North American programs are in place, they are small and find it hard to turn any sort of profit with the current tech sector slump - not good news for my tech career aspirations for that matter either.

Nov 15 - My company is doing what?

A busy day at work, which is good; no customers means hours get cut, and too much of that would mean serious consideration put towards closing the branch. Not that it is anywhere close to that, but traffic this month has been light, given the economic downturn and the pre-holiday lull.

Along the lines of last week's cubicle blogging, anyone who has worked for a large company knows of the inevitable charts, graphs and other organizational clutter that evolves as management from many levels try to justify their salaries. A thought-provoking website, City of Work, looks at this with unique charts of their own, like this Productivity chart that makes sense to me in a very cynical way.

A somewhat dated Report on the 14 most Evil Corporations is an educating read. I remember hearing about some of this back in my first year of university, when I attended a world conference on corporate crimes held at McMaster University, as a reporter for The Brock Press. For me, it was eye-opening to learn about all the evil things that were being done by companies on a global scale, those same companies who sold their products in Canada with a squeaky-clean image that is blissfully unattached to their other activities.

Nov 16 - Fall Leaving

Yet another Sunday spent working, earning a wage instead of idling playing XboxLive games with my friends. Hardly fair, really, but I suppose we all cannot have every Sunday off... being the Day of Rest and all that. At least today was less busy than yesterday, so I had rest of a sort... and as an added plus, Crazy Lady was absent all week - something I was heartily grateful for. My last day of six in a row is tomorrow, a Monday( of course ); working all week by myself has been educational, in some ways. I've realized I work well on my own, don't need all that much company, and I don't have to close the door to the washroom when I feel the nature call. The last bit is nice, but unnecessary.

Cycling to work in the fall weather here is a change from what I am used to as well. There are tons of leaves on the roadside, literally piles and piles of them. What with all the trees around here, I am surprised that we are not knee-deep in leaves by now - rakes must be as common as dirt here to keep the piles in check. Which makes cycling around corners a little tricky in spots, as the windblown leaves tend to get smeared in a slippery layer sometimes. Yet the visuals here are spectacular... and me without my camera to get my own pictures, of course.



Fall in Victoria, B.C.

Coming home today, I could really smell the sea's salt tang in the air, as a light fog had rolled in. Just enough to flavour the air and give a tiny halo to each passing light, as well as bring out the rich, damp smell of the masses of leaves piled all along the roads... the smell brought back memories of times from my youth, when I would adventure in the ravine that ran along behind Westgate Park Drive in St. Catharines. The rich, damp earth and tall trees still echo with me today, in my love of forests and wild places... but not so much with the unpleasant aspects of camping and hiking. More of an abstract, wanna-hug-a-tree but don't want the mess of the bark, or the long trek to get there...


Damn, it's hot in here - ten degrees outside at 11pmPST, and twenty-five inside with the heat off. Great for the gas bill, though TerasenGas must hate me. Until next week folks, take care...