Sofas, SubSpace and SF

This space for rent – reasonable rates, plus cookies.

Feb 15 – Brian on StarShip

Right off the top, I have to mention that Brian’s cover painting for the February 24^th 2010 issue of StarShipSofa looks downright amazing. You can check it out on his website, though if you want to leave a comment, you’ll have to email him – for now. Go Brian; here’s to many more paintings to come!

If you missed it last week, here it is again: I’ve managed to fix my Vonage phone, so I can once again receive calls to my home phone instead of just being forwarded to my cell. I may even pick up a $10.00 answering machine this coming week to connect, for the times I’m at work and miss your call. Sweet.

Now here’s a crazy time-waster that I tried way back in 2001, and shockingly is still around: SubSpace. One of the first online multiplayer real-time shooters, this insane game has you jump into an arena with one of several kinds of space fighters and fight as part of a team. It’s fun for a while, but all too soon the skill levels of the other players makes you realize that they’ve all spent waaaay too much time playing it.

Feb 16 – The Glasses Games

For my day off today, I spent a good portion of the morning and afternoon driving around in Victoria, going to various eyeglasses places to get quotes. Overall I was unimpressed, as the prices ranged from the mid-300’s to over $600 – the priciest was Sears with a “2-for-1” special that wasn’t special in my eyes( pardon the pun )in any way. Though the frames there DID fit perfectly and the sunlgasses in particular( RayBans )fit me the best of any I had ever worn, I can’t justify that sort of massive outlay. So I’m still looking and calling around, as well as searching online at places like Goggles4u.com and ClearlyContacts.ca – the idea of glasses for $38.00 CAN intrigued me, but I am a firm believer in you get what you pay for... at least, that if you pay very little you usually get the same. Anyone can pay a LOT and still get crap; it’s the low end of the spectrum that offers the most challenge to navigate safely.

As for my laptop running WinXp virtually: I’ve given up on it for games use, as it’s just too slow to be worthwhile. Even an old game like Neverwinter Nights chugs along, so it looks like all I’ll be using it for is very old, very slow games that don’t rely on a good framerate to be fun. Darn it.

Are you an Olympic fan? What about a bacon fan? Care to combine the two at... BaconNinja.com?

Feb 17 – DaVinci Did It

Looking for a job? Have to update your resume? Well, we all do eventually... even Leonardo DaVinci had to put his out there to look for work, at the age of 30 in 1482... that’s over 500 years ago, folks. You can take a look at the beautiful original here, along with the translation. I have to say Leo really sells himself!

After work today I decided to head down to WalMart, as I remembered they have an optical department. While fairly small, within a minute of walking in I had spotted a great pair of frames... for half off a price that was already half that of other optical stores. A few minutes later I had placed an order for the glasses with those frames, for around $200.00 all told – 1/3 the cost of the ‘special’ at Sears Optical. I left with a smile on my face, and as a bonus the optician was going to try to patch up my broken frameless glasses at no charge as a backup for me.

Now I will sleep better at night, and not only for the lack of headaches in my near future. If you;re having trouble sleeping, for whatever reason, then you’ll want to check out the Top 10 Foods To Help You Sleep list – yes, warm milk is on there... as are bananas!

Feb 18 – Faugh on Win7

So far, my laptop and Windows7 are still unable to come to a compromise, forcing me to reboot the thing two or three times a day. I’ve taken to running a LOT of programs at once, so what when I return to use the laptop I can exit one... then another... and so on, until Win7 gets it into it’s brain that I want to DO something and lets me launch a new program of my choice, like a game or email client. Considering that I didn’t know about my 90-day technical support with Microsoft until AFTER it had passed, I still get steamed thinking about it.

In terms of software, I don’t usually plug this or that – save for the free stuff. One program I like to use once a month or so is WinDirStat, which gives you a visual image of all the crap that’s taking up space on your hard drive. So with one easy glance, you can see which hidden massive files that you’ve forgotten about are hogging precious room on your system... and delete them. Simple, and better yet: free!

A short blurb: my glasses were repaired by the Walmart optician... this is a Big Thing, as I’ve been unable to spend much time this week in front of the computer and type with contacts in; headache-inducing after a long day. While I wouldn’t want to test if the repairs are permanent, I’m treating them with kid gloves for now and thanking my lucky comets that I’ll have them as backup to the new pair on order!

Feb 19 – 4K In readers!

Today my blog passed the 4000-hit mark, which works out to roughly 6 visitors a day for the last two years or so. Not a ton of traffic by any stretch these days, but still, it’s traffic. ChurchOfTheBanana.com by comparison received over 36,000 unique visits in 2009, compared to less than 6000 in 2008 when it was created . That’s a 600% increase year- over- year, so I’m hoping that we can revive it in 2010 in some way. Those sort of traffic numbers mean that people are still hitting the site, regardless of the lack of updates it’s had.

Writing tips: One thing you can do with your original character you’ve so lovingly created is run it through the Mary-Sue Litmus test, which will give you a good idea if you’ve actually  created something original, or a horrifyingly derivative mishmash of parts. Kind of like a Frankenstein detector, if you think about it – apparently U2’s Bono scores a whopping 72 out of 100, but he’s real.

How’s this for combining creativity, an original idea and LEGO? It’s CrawlerTown... and it’s just amazing; when I think about the sheer amount of labour that has to have gone into the thing, my brow sweats.

Feb 20 – Taxing Weather

I follow quite a few online comics, as the best ones are those that I find rewarding to their readers with their continuous stories and character development. Plus humour. One of those is Looking For Group, which follows the trials and tumults of a really oddball group of adventurers; the humour glue of the bunch is Richard, an undead warlock. If you’ve never read it, pop on over, click on the first comic and give it a few minutes... your funny bone will thank you.

It was a gorgeous day outside: not a cloud in the sky, and not a flake of snow on the ground – hasn’t been for most of the winter here, in fact. While I was out earlier in the week, I saw flowers blooming all along the boulevards, though I still wonder how they survive the single-digit temperatures that are still the norm at night here. People in t-shirts were out all over today, with no wind to chill their pale arms. Which is why when I think of the snow that’s packed down on most of the rest of the country, I hearken back to the early 70’s, when you could buy a Flame Gun cheap, and remove pesky snow with ease!

After work I sat down after work and plugged in a few more numbers into my tax return online, having received the final few papers in the mail this week. To my immense relief the numbers are not nearly as horrible as I thought. I still get a twinge in my gut when I think about my reassessment that arrived this last summer for 2007 and 2008, but there’s nothing I can do about that – taxes are taxes, and you do the best you can to minimize their impact. Maybe in my old age, when I own a private island or two, I’ll drop in on my accounting department and see how things have changed in the last decade of not worrying.

Feb 21 – Authoring The Sky

Oh great... just when you think advertising can’t get more pervasive, some of the brains at MIT come up with something new. Having something like that hovering in the sky at night would be a hazard to air  traffic, and I can’t see it being approved over major cities.

I had a good conversation with Brian today about things relating to StarShipSofa.com, as a vehicle for both my writing and podcast work. I was reminded of a recent posting on io9.com, which takes a mathematical look at what age popular authors were first published at.

DejaVu: the lovely weather means my head is paining me something awful today, so I’ve spent most of the day NOT watching TV, but reading, napping and popping headache tablets. At least it was bearable by the time I had to head into Victoria for a work meeting around dinnertime, which was very positive: we’re looking to hire people. With the work outlook looking brighter, my stress levels will dim – I like.

Writing the blog this week was somewhat easier, as my eyes weren’t tired from the contacts being in for over 12 hours. This time next week I’ll have my new glasses with a new prescription, so that may mean the headaches will return – at least until I get used to them.

Sneezing, Sodas and Stress

This week sort of blurred by... kind of like my vision did too. So that's the word of the week - if you can see it.

Feb 8 – Stuffed

Starting the week mostly by killing Kleenexes is not a good thing, as I worked through whatever has decided to invade my system. I didn’t get much done outside of napping, as I’m finding it difficult to focus. No sign of it being man flu though, which is good, and I’ve had my H1N1 and flu shots both. Hopefully it’s only a short-lived bug.

Yeesh... how bad is sugar for you? A recent study found that people who drank more than two sugary sodas a week have increased rates of certain cancers; not good. I myself drink only root beer, at the rate of about a bottle every week and a half. Not a lot, but looking at the study data, I should cut back. Sugar as a whole seems to be more and more maligned as part of one’s diet, though substituting other things like Oelstra might not be a good idea either...

Do any of you lovely readers out there in the wild use Twitter? I’ve not dabbled in this new medium of communication yet, mainly for the fact that I haven’t found a use for it – as someone else famously once said about the internet, for that matter. As for Twitter: does it matter to some of you? Or not at all?

Feb 9 - Surprise on a Sick Day

Riviting: we had a surprised audit at work today, and frustratingly I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. Weighted audits are like that; miss an initial or a question and the whole house of cards collapses. I understand that audits are in place to ensure you’re doing your job, yet how does it help managers who work their asses off every minute of every day and STILL have things like this come down on them? Does it improve morale? No. Improve productivity? No. It does instill an imminent sense of failure, in that no matter how hard one works, there will always be something they miss that will bring the entire house down. Which if it were an actual house, I would understand; Mike Holmes is always going on about how one little hidden error can cost thousands. Yet with my job, customer service comes first... employee development second, and paperwork third. Guess what got dinged on the audit? Yeah. My work isn’t my life, and if I make it my life in order to be the 'perfect' manager, where does that leave me? Without time or energy to do anything else - that's called a conundrum, and not a compromise I am willing to make.

At least the construction downstairs has not been of the over-loud variety in the last few weeks. They have reached the fit-and-finish stage of things, where items such as carpets and paint are being put in; all the heavy cutting, hammering and sawing looks to have been completed. As it stands right now, we are not considering moving downstairs when our lease is up, as our brief inquiries as to the new monthly rent for the lower suite has shown the price to be substantially higher than the previous tenant’s was. So we’re now actively looking for accommodations in the area that will suit our budget, and hope to have such in place well before the end of the year and our lease, as such.

Feb 10 - Old is New Again

Small is the new big, at least when it comes to new homes. At the recent International Builder’s Show in Las Vegas, smaller homes were all that people were talking about. Using the space you have wisely, maximizing its potential, is what the market seems to be shifting towards. You can also use this handy Affordability Tool to see what your future space might shape up as. Mine looks to be a cross between a moon rocket and a single-room treehouse, both of which may not be mutually-exclusive concepts...

This week I’ve popped in my copy of Undergrads to watch the first( and only, sadly )season again. The short run that the show had on television has not hurt its popularity, as it continues to gather a following through word of mouth( like this blog, fr’instance! ). I have found it to be very rewatchable, with great character designs and excellent writing that captures the college / university experience, as penned by the show’s creator Pete Williams – how could you go wrong with a first name like that?

On my own creative side of things, I’ve worked on a few ideas that I’ve had for articles this week, though neither are fiction stories. One concerns the direction people are taking when it comes to media, and the other looks at how people are forming their own social networks – both topics I have an opinion on I feel worth sharing. As for the fiction: more on that as I wrestle the creativity from its hiding spot.

Feb 11 - Better Data

I’m feeling a little better about the audit from earlier in the week, as word has come down the pipeline that Dire Things are not going to happen from the generally spotty results of the area’s audits. Apparently they were done more to gain an idea of what needs improving than to set up forms of punishment for people. Which is nice, but still stressful – but that’s life.

Ones and zeros: the basic building blocks of data. I’ve mentioned before that I plan on getting an SSD( solid state drive )for my laptop eventually... but I’ve never explained why. Now the basics of the SSD can be read about here courtesy of Gizmondo.com, and you can see why they’re the future of data storage. So your YouTube videos, vacation pictures and chain letters to friends will be more accessible than ever.

Today I renewed my XboxLive Gold membership for another year; despite my using it only a few times a week, I still like the access it gives me to friends and games, in that order. I also like the occasional deal that crops up, like this week’s ½-off sale on Turtles in Time, an update of the classic TMNT side-scrolling fighting game from the 80’s that I remember playing for the first time in an arcade on Yonge St. So... cowabunga dudes!

Feb 12 - Fragility

With my shifting around of some staff from my store, I ended up having the day off today – mostly. I went in with one staffer to open the store, and then was off to do things in Victoria until well into the afternoon – including a stop at Arby’s for a Chicken Bacon sandwich that was decently tasty, but the curly fries left something to be desired. I spent part of the afternoon sorting paperwork, filing things that have piled up over the last few months – necessary, but not very noteworthy I’m afraid. I still wish for the day when I can just feed the lot into a scanner and store them all electronically, but that is still neither practical for speed initially nor safe for the long-term storage of such documents. So far, I’ve only found one brand of CD-ROM by Maxell that guarantees a hundred-year data lifespan; not good.

Today ended on a low note: while I was watching television in the evening, my glasses decided to quietly divide themselves in two and fall off my face. They are a frameless design, and I wouldn’t recommend such a design to anyone as of now, due to their inherent fragility and the virtual impossibility of easy repairs. So for now, I’ll be using my contacts at work, and the taped-together pair of glasses while at home, at least until I find a cost-effective location to purchase a new pair.

As to that television I watched:  I tuned into the opening ceremonies to the Winter Olympics despite myself. The spectacle was hard to resist, with huge numbers of cast, colourful costumes and my favourite: special effects. The projected images, lighting effects and overall production standards were incredibly impressive, and I found myself smiling throughout the show as I watched it on my big screen.

Feb 13 - Hurty Head

Due to having yesterday off, I worked today instead. Overall, it wasn’t half-bad, being fairly steady but without any crazed-rush periods that seem to mark Fridays of late. People are getting their T4’s this week and next, so we should start seeing lineups for taxes any day now; a good thing, but not if people all decide to file their taxes at the same time of day. One problem we run into as well is that some folk rush to file their taxes as soon as they get a T4 slip... instead of waiting until their other T4’s arrive. Which then causes problems when they sheepishly come back in a few weeks later to try to file again...

By day’s end, I had a migraine that I largely attributed to eyestrain, from my being unused to wearing contacts for a prolonged period – it’s been more than three years since the last time I regularly used contacts. Luckily I had kept the backup contacts I had left on hand, as they were ones that I received along with my glasses that have now failed. The lot expires later in the year, but that means I can still see until then. For now I’ll be sure to JUST wear the contacts during work shifts and take them out as soon as I get home, as I’m not really thrilled with the headaches they’ve induced. They are the proper prescription, but the focal distances are disparate – the eyes focus at a different distance with glasses.

Thankfully, I seem to be mainly over whatever it was I was coming down with this time last week. My slaying of Kleenexes has lessened to the point of a few an hour, and I’ve managed to begin regular breathing through my nose again – the world of smells has returned. Which given the stale indoor air of the winter season, is not saying much. I’ve yet to see most homes convert over to fresh-air heat-recovery systems, which would see home air quality improve a great deal, given the well-sealed state of most homes in Canada. Except for those in BC, where just having insulation in the walls gets you high marks.

Feb 14 - I Heart Blog

Given today’s date, of course I have to write about love. Over the years, I’ve been a member of all the various online dating sites( mostly the free ones, of course )and found very little of substance there. Like it or not, the only way to meet new people is to actually go out, but in that context I’ve always found bars my least favourite place to do so. For the nonce, I’m busy enough that adding another half to that equation doesn’t make sense, but as always the best laid plans usually fail fastest. So no plans, either for today or the near future... and as for the far future, who knows? Maybe a Futurama-esque Lucy Liu?  Should you settle? No. Should you despair that you haven’t found someone yet? No. My theory on this is the longer you are alone, the greater the reward of finding that special someone. My theory, anyway.

Today marks three years since Ryan Larkin passed away. He was a visionary animator from the early 70’s, whose work revolutionized animation and inspired a generation of creative animators. Larkin was the subject of the 2005 Oscar-winning 3D animated short simply entitled Ryan, where his life was examined via CGI for his influence on the genre and his state of mind was brought to light. Lovely work.

I think it’s appropriate to end this week’s blog with a site that offers links to all things bacon. For those who love bacon, what could be better than a list of dozens of places to sate your heart’s desire? Maybe I should also link to a few sites that have cardio-exercise programs too, for that matter... mmm, bacon.

Nertz – my head is again killing me tonight, so I’m going to do some quiet listening to some Starship Sofa podcasts, I think, with silent thoughts about the future.

Sins, SciFi and Sofas

The word of the week is back, and it’s man flu – okay, two words so we’ll call it a term. Happy?

Feb 1 – Safe as Houses

Today I was fooling around with designing homes at FloorPlanner.com, which lets you create a design of your own - for free. One of the nice things about web-based applications now is that they are just as good as software you can buy in the store, and sometimes better. I know that I download 99% of the programs I use, but that number is falling with the advent of cloud computing – log onto the web and there’s everything you need, waiting. That seems to be the future of the netbook.

Work is going well; we’re gearing up for income tax season to hit its stride in a few weeks. That’s always fun, as it’s surprising how many people have no clue how taxes work. Let me spell it out for you: did you pay the government too much in taxes during the year? If so, you get a refund. If you didn’t, then you owe them some more money. In my case, the government saw fit to reassess my moving costs from when I moved to BC, so thanks to them I owe a fair chunk. Just goes to show that no matter how well you think you know your own finances, there’s always some more you can learn to save yourself cash.

One month from now is the RRSP deadline for your 2009 tax year : March 1^st. Having had an RRSP for some years now, I’ve been slowly educating myself about how to best take advantage of it for tax purposes, as well as learning other tax tips to try and maximize my savings each year. For RRSP’s, there’s no better general reading than The Seven Deadly Sins of RRSP’s, where the common mistakes people make with their RRSP’s are outlined. Read it; better to learn now than when you’re ten years closer to your planned retirement... you did start saving early, right?

Feb 2 – Winter’s Not Dead Yet

Today is Groundhog Day, when people hope that a furry rodent will predict an early end to winter. Such was not the case this year though, when Punxsutawney Phil predicted another six weeks of winter... at least, for most of North America. Here in Victoria it’s been raining a lot, with the temp climbing into the low teens when the sun is out and hovering in the high single digits when it’s not. No sign of the massive snow we had last year, nor even any ice for our troubles. Most days I walk home from work, it’s a little cold but quite pleasant with a medium jacket and some earmuffs – no boots or winter coat needed. I predict an early spring here on Vancouver Island, but I’m not a groundhog so don’t bet on it.

There has also been much written on the subject of predicting death, some of it good( The Seventh Seal )and bad( Final Destination ). Now comes news that death can be forseen by... a cat? Too bad I couldn’t predict the death of my old laptop( well, my parent’s actually )but one of these days I’ll get around to resurrecting it. Once I figure out what killed it in the first place, that is. Might have been obsolescence...

As you may have also foreseen, I watched Groundhog Day in the evening – that’s my tradition, and I like it. So do a lot of other people, as the writer of the movie mentions here.

Feb 3 – Data Comas

Here’s hope for those in comas: you may still be able to communicate. Of course that’s assuming that someone wheels you out into a multi-million-dollar CAT scanner and leaves you there every time you want to communicate with the world – but it’s a start. Being trapped inside your own body? Scary.

Ever since I saw the second Planet of the Apes movie, I wondered what sort of information had survived the centuries after the apocalypse. The more recent version of The Time Machine had a library computer that managed to stay online for thousands of years, somewhat improbably powered by fusion.  There’s a good brief on the subject here at io9.com, worth taking a look if you’ve ever wondered where your digital vacation photos will be in thirty, fifty or one hundred years.

On the same topic, an organization called The Long Now is looking at ways to preserve information over the span of millennia. They have some interesting ideas, and thankfully none of them involve harrier jets in storage... yeesh.

Feb 4 – SciFi Stinkage

I’ve been disappointed with the television  offerings for SciFi of late, as listed here courtesy of io9.com. Lost is finishing up this month, as is Heroes... and I don’t care a good golly about either of them. Two shows that started out very cool now get a cool reception from a lot of former fans, and I’m feeling the same way about V – I mean, when you know the main plot of the show is basically the same as borrowed from the original, why would you watch?

More fiction-y goodness: Some Neil Gaiman news today! He’s going to be writing an episode of the new Doctor Who – incroyable! Thanks for the link, Brian!

A while back, I mentioned YouParkLikeAnA-Hole.com, to which readers can submit their pictures of parking faux-pas ’ and so relieve some of their anger at their fellow drivers. Along similar lines I present to you: YouDriveWhat.com which has photos of the many strange vehicles people encounter along the roads they travel. My fave is the jaguar motorcycle.

Feb 5 – Take Heart

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland comes out a month from now on March 5^th, and with Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter promises to be a real visual treat. Which reminds me, I have a few movies to catch up on – I missed seeing 9 in September, as well as Avatar though I’m hoping it comes to IMAX soon in 3D; THAT would be an experience to behold!

When it comes to bar fights, the Brits have come up with a way to make them less deadly: shatter-resistant pint glasses. Similar to the shatter-proof beer bottle here in North America... that was patented in 1974. Feeling a little behind the times, Britain?

Does being mentioned twice in one blog win you a prize? Not here, but I wanted to say thanks to Brian for sending me the links to StarshipSofa.com – I’m working on a few bits o’writing for the site, as time permits. More as I get closer to finishing, naturally, once I check my work for the smell of turkey...

Feb 6 - Worldbuilding

Sometimes you need a little perspective on the world... or you could just build your own. Yes, each of the photos on the previous site is taken of a diorama built by the site’s creator, they are not actual photos of landscapes. While one or two look a little suspect, the rest are simply amazing model-building work. Kind of along the same line of work as this compositing animation which dares you to pick out the CGI from the real-life imagery... gorgeous stuff.

So far  I’ve been enjoying is Sins of a Solar Empire, which has a decent learning curve and rewarding gameplay. I also love the fact that the game is highly moddable, with a lot of good mods available including Stargate and Andromeda – very cool. Plus, it just looks gorgeous on the big screen.

I spent part of my evening gaming online with my NWN friends, some of whom are in the UK – they have odd sleep schedules, so we can actually connect if we time it right. We found a new server to game on, as an interim spot until our own project has more free time available. I was impressed with the place, and the people there were impressed with the RP skills we brought to the game – a good time was had by all and sundry! I should also mention that NWN made it onto the Top 5 Most Moddable Games Ever!

Feb 7 – Fix it, don’t break it

I love the idea of wearable computers, but as with any portable technology the Achilles heel has always been battery life. Recharging my cell phone every other day bothers me, which is why I was fascinated to hear about a material that generates energy as you move – your clothes could charge your tech!

Tech talk alert: I managed to fix two things myself today, after months of trying. First my Vonage phone, which my router had not been passing calls through to at all – just to my cell phone. I finally configured it properly, having to give my Linksys Router a static IP and forwarding some very specific ports... but I got it to work; dial tone! The second thing I fixed was more of an adjustment, again with my router: ensuring my Xbox connection speed was as fast as it could be, as it’s been said that my system tends to lag when playing MW2. Ironically, we’re not playing much of that game of late, so my fix is, er... too little too late? Bah.

Borderlands was a bit of a disappointment today, as we ran into the ‘too many levels difference’ problem with online games. This happens when people use characters that have been played for different amounts of time, resulting in a mismatch of levels. Which makes the game revert to each person playing their own characters again, while chatting as a group party. Not so much fun.

I spent most of my day off today( Mon )filling Kleenexes, as I seem to have caught something over the weekend. I was fine Sunday, but this morning my nose took off running – ick.

Apple, Animation and Art

January 25 - Tech Wars

Novels of the ‘soft apocalypse’ seem to becoming popular, about what happens after the world ends.  I mentioned A Canticle for Leibowitz, which is on the list at io9.com that examines some of the best soft apocalypse fiction ever written. It’s quite impressive, and I’ve added a few books to my to-read SF list.

Wargames have always been a favourite of mine for the PC, though I’ve not been very good at actually winning them. Like a lot of things, time is not kind to PC games, especially ones meant to be played online. Thankfully, places like The WarZone exist to cater to retro online multiplayer games, where you can still find someone out there to humiliate and conquer... or just provide an amusing diversion and entertainment too, more likely.

The new X9000 CPU chip has been humming away in my laptop for a week now, and it’s running GREAT! When totally idle, the thing actually goes into the negatives for temperature – now THAT is COOL! The virtual WinXP PC software is also working great, but I still have to gather together all the older games I have and start installing them under XP... should be great, as there’s some I’ve been waiting to play for quite a few years now.

January 26 - Old B5 and Bikes

Mass Effect 2 was released today, so that means I’ll likely pick it up about this time next year – see if I don’t. Massive RPG games aren’t meant to be finished quickly, and I tend to get sidetracked a lot in them.  Strangely, the cancelled Sierra B5 Space Combat Sim website is STILL online 10 years after Sierra cancelled the game. That they could kill a great project that was 95% complete, and yet still leave the website running perfectly really, really annoys me in ways that end in yelling.

The phrase “Renting out your dreams” popped into my head today, and I can’t seem to get it out again. I think it may relate on some odd tangent to the film Total Recall, which I still haven’t really figured out to this day if it was a dream, or reality. Googling my phrase didn’t help either, though “Renting your dreams” did turn up one single hit out of the entire internet: buying property in Mexico. Is someone out there in the Great Big trying to tell me something via my subconscious? If so, I’d wish they’d just pop in some winning lottery numbers and stop being so obtuse about it...

I like bikes, though I’m not one to try out some of the really odd recumbent ones. There’s a ton of cool bicycle designs listed here: some really radical designs, and I love the ones with the really high-tech look to ‘em.

January 27 - Grapes of Wrath

While playing Borderlands, I managed to activate one of the hidden easter eggs after getting the “You’re On A Boat” Achievement – opera music, fireworks and people riding fish ensued. There’s also a great interview with the developer that talks about how the game came about and where it’s going: it all sprang from a system designed to create millions of unique guns for the players... and some cool art.

I combed through the four web browsers I use daily( Chrome, Opera, Firefox and... ick.. IE8 )to make sure each one had as many of the more useful browser add-ons installed as possible. The most useful?  xMarks – this synchronizes ALL of your bookmarks across all the browsers you use, which may not seem like much but it means you can use any PC on the planet and still have access to your saved faves. The best part? ALL of the extensions I use are FREE... talk about bang for your click.

Gra’pples – they’re not bacon. Has anyone tried one of these? I keep forgetting to pick some up locally; I think they carry them at the Superstore nearby.

January 28 - Apple Causes Wrath

Today, the iPad was announced... leading to quite a lot of debate on the ‘net: is it the Next Big Tech Thing, like the iPhone was? Or not? In my opinion, Not: as in, not so revolutionary... I see it as just a larger, less-portable iPhone. C|net had a great 10 points on Why Netbooks are Better than the iPad; for one, the iPad doesn’t have Flash enabled... so 99.9% of the websites out there in the world today won’t display content correctly. Well done, Apple... and thanks for making it so affordable too.

Have you ever hear of the Antikythera Mechanism? It’s a 2000-year old mechanical creation that was dredged up from the ocean a century ago and is only now being fully understood by scientists. It was built in Greece and contains revolutionary mechanical gearings not seen again until Leonardo’s time.

A different kind of old: Today I found out that the Chinese Terracotta warriors are coming to Victoria in 2011, and that we are only 1 of 4 Canadian cities chosen for that singular honour. I haven’t been to a museum display in... well, I can’t remember when the last major exhibit was that I attended, but I’m marking this one down. Sometimes you get to see such things only once in a lifetime, as 90% of the artefacts museums have get stored away from the public, often for decades or longer. Make the time, if you have the chance to go.

January 29 - Cool Animation

Twenty-three years ago today, the Blizzard of 77 was in full swing. I remember parts of the aftereffects very well: there was a LOT of snow, more than I had ever seen before or since. There was so  much that when we went to the corner store to get milk, my sister and I were riding on a sled being pulled along the center of the street we couldn’t see the houses on either side from where we sat. It was all white piles to either side, made very surreal-looking by the bright sunshine in the bitter cold. I recall it well all these years later, as it was a fun end to what had been a deadly time of winter weather.

Batman: The Animated Series is back on television on TeleToonRetro, and I keep on forgetting to record it, which is all the more annoying as it isn’t repeated at all afterwards. Watching it again, I am reminded of how cool it was when it came out in 1992, about the same time as Gargoyles was on television. Now it does seem dated to me, though I am glad to see it back on TV again; so far, I have not seen Pirates of Dark Water on anywhere, which is a shame. Heck, I even enjoyed an old episode of G.I.Joe on TTRetro tonight called “The Viper is Coming” which was a play on a very old( and very bad )joke. Still funny! What’s even funnier? Cobra: The Musical, that’s what!

Another show that's caught my eye lately is Superjail! which is a far-out, almost surreal take on popular culture through the eyes of a futuristic prison. It's hyper-violent though, so be warned: not for the prudish or the young-at-mind. Very, very funny though - reminds me of Duncebucket, actually, which this review said "...was the funniest of the lot and a no-brainer for a series."

January 30 - Winter Smog Stinks

Today I bought some new shoes for the winter, not boots... which is only possible here in Victoria. Which is why I’m glad I didn’t choose to move to Edmonton: for the first time I’ve heard of, that city has smog in the wintertime. What’s up with that? Year-round pollution might be the wave of the future?

Two great lists from the early days of the internet are 50 Fun Things to do in an Elevator and The Evil Overlord List, which people have managed to keep going all these years despite the actual websites changing hands quite a few times.? If it does, head on over to CrazyThoughts.com, where questions like “Can you cry underwater?” and “How fast do hotcakes sell?” are listed for your puzzlement.

The evening saw me dividing time between Borderlands, online chat with some of my NWN friends, and incessant phone calls from work – apparently no other managers were answering their phones, so I was it as the last resort. Which was fine; I’d rather avoid a customer service failure or at worst, lose an employee because they couldn’t reach a manager, especially as they’re hard to reach elsewhere on a weekend. It did play merry hell with my Borderlands game though; so much for hours of unlimited loot.

January 31 - Shooting Softly

Ideas about mortgages have been floating through my mind of late, and I’ve taken it upon myself to edumicate my brain all about the fun facts and many, many pitfalls that mortgages have to offer your average Canadian. I did find a great site for general ideas here, which gave me a few ideas of my own. Which are far, far removed from such shows as Fantasy Homes By The Sea or Million-Dollar Broker on HGTV – who wants to watch shows about rich people spending money they don’t really care about?

I’ve always liked Nerf dart guns, which are even cooler now than ever, but they’re no longer seemingly aimed( pardon the pun )at kids. The TV commercials I’ve seen show teenagers trying not to hit each other in the eye with DayGlo Nerf darts, with no kids in sight at all. Marketing switch to the better dollar-buying segment perhaps? Anyway, my point is that the guns they have now have belt-fed ammo, which just looks cool no matter how you shoot it – beats the hell outta rubber-band guns, I think.

My evening drew into watching a few shows on TV as I worked on the blog and caught up on emails. Wedding Crashers was on, which I had never seen. So I ended up catching the whole thing and surprised myself by liking it, as I’m not one for romantic comedy. Rachel McAdams could have been the reason, as she looked fantastic in the film. And everyone likes Vince Vaughn, though he seems to play the same character a lot – he was essentially the same likable guy from Dodgeball as he was in tonight’s film.

My closing thoughts this week? Sleep is good, when you’re tired. How’s that for good advice?

CPU, CRA and DOS

The word of the week is: fettle. And it is fine...

Apparently there is concern that some Google AdSense ads are causing a false positive for users of Kapersky Labs AntiVirus today, but it’s not a virus, folks. Have a care when forwarding emails around about such things, as you are only compounding the problem without providing context or a solution. Similar to urban legends, people tend to react first and not actually look into the matter for themselves – when you receive a ‘Warning: Watch Out For...” kind of email, do yourself a favour and take a minute to look into it at places like Snopes.com before you pass on the message, if at all.

Jan 18 – What you hear...

Everyone knows the story of Sir Isaac Newton and the apple, yet I never knew that the story had been written down originally by a friend of Newton himself. The Royal Society of Britain made the original manuscript( among many others )available online today here so you can see for yourself how Newton described the incident as it happened, nearly 350 years ago.

Speaking of Apples, there’s a lot of buzz about their upcoming tablet computer. Much like the iPhone which has conquered the cell phone world with its ease of use and massive support, a table computer may be the Next Big Thing. Which would be good, as the Apple Newton failed miserably when it came out – ironic, eh?

I almost forgot the bacon - how about some bacon fashion clothing?

Jan 19 – The New CPU arrives!

What should I find arriving at my door this morning( my day off! )but the new CPU I had ordered from eBay last week? The X9000 arrived in a sealed box in perfect shape – nobody had sat on it or done a lot of the other things I’ve seen in the years of ordering by mail. I was very lucky to get it; it was the ONLY one of the OEM X9000’s left on eBay from the last year of watching and waiting. I wasn’t about to order some of the more questionable ‘test’ and ‘sample’ chips from Taiwan or elsewhere, especially for no real difference in price. It took about two hours to install, most of which was spent patiently cleaning the old thermal paste from the bottom of the copper CPU die – it had to be done with rubbing alcohol and a lot of patience, as the copper would scratch easily if more vigorous methods were used. Scratches and expensive CPU heat dissipation are a BAD combination. Once it was installed according to some helpful online instructions, my laptop booted up perfectly and it’s running MUCH cooler while being much faster. I’m VERY pleased, as the old CPU ran FAR too hot even when idle during the summer months here, when there’s no A/C to be had. Considering that the X9000 CPU was only available in top-end notebooks costing $3000( or more )when it came out in early 2008, I’m pleased that I managed to get one for a LOT less than that 2 years later – thanks, eBay!

Something I wish had been cheaper at first blush were Google stocks a while ago, when they were first offered. Now there’s a site that examines Google’s IPO five years later here – interesting to see how things have developed since then.

And who knows where some people will be in five year’s time, especially celebrities. Given the fickleness of fame, one has to wonder if the world will remember even a fraction of the currently-famous flocks. For example, who the heck is Emmanuelle Chriqui? I hadn’t heard of here until I saw the 2010 List of the Most Desirable Women in the World; apparently she tops it rather well for someone I’ve never heard of until this month.

Jan 20 – Taxing SAD Jokes

We started taxes today... though nobody actually came in to do theirs, as most people will be waiting some time for their T4’s and related slips to arrive. I’m not thrilled this year about my own tax situation, as the CRA saw fit to re-assess my moving costs to BC from two years ago. I suppose it could have been worse for the overall amount, but I’m peeved that the tax software I used online didn’t mentioned a thing about LIMITS to moving cost claims – and of course the fine print about “money back guarantee” applies only to fines levied due to errors, and not reassessments from the CRA.

Subject to many a joke, the life of an RPG gamer is rife ground for comedic relief and especially amusing to those who have player an RPG or two in their time. King of RPG’s examines the amusing anecdotes that pop up during game sessions, when players try to stare down the DM and the DM tries to remember what he said the blacksmith looked like in the last game session. Apart from being a battle of wills vs boredom, gaming sessions provide a fun way to forget that your store is being audited on Monday once the weekend game session is over...

Which is why I’ve been enjoying walking to work to relieve stress and have some quiet thinking time for myself. More often, I am walking home afterwards as it only takes about 25 minutes and I don’t arrive in a sweat – at least not in the winter. Cycling is better when it’s warmer and drier, especially if there’s the possibility of ice... so far this winter, not a whole lot of that, thankfully. Also, walking doesn’t make your face red from the windchill, which happened to me when I was riding to our Fort St. store last year, necessitating some aloe applications a few times a day. Not fun.

Jan 21 – Beat the blahs

Living in Langford has been pretty good so far, as it’s rather quiet in the winter( nobody in the park next door save the occasional all-weather fisherman )yet we’re a ten-minute cycle ride from the Westshore Mall. Everything here is brand-new, all built in the last 20 years, as the area used to be just dirt roads and cow pastures. Unlike the precious fruitlands in Niagara that are under threat from developers, land here is mainly covered in trees and nothing usually goes up on the many hills save the occasional house – and it’s a long steep drive up to get there every day.

I’ve been using a small sunlamp during the winter for the last few years, on those days when the sun is nowhere to be had and I’m while I’m not feeling SAD the winter blues are hovering around. So far, it has kept my energy levels up when the sun hasn’t been around to help. I do enjoy the fact that my workplace has floor-to-ceiling windows that let in a LOT of light, at least when I’m up the front – no working in a windowless cubicle all day.

January is the perfect time to beat those winter blahs with Bioware. Games like KOTR or the more recent DragonAge can easily pull you into a gamespace far removed from the cold, dark days that dawn so often when winter is around. Some BioWare games are cold and dark too, like BioShock( and BioShock2 is released on Feb 9^th )which I haven’t yet finished – like so many games, I find the journey is more fun than the destination. Which can be said for a lot of things, when you think about it.

Jan 22 – X, Y, Dr. Zed?

Who knew that men’s chromosomes were a powerhouse of evolutionary development? I certainly didn’t, especially after hearing a few jokes that Y chromosomes are simply defective X chromos that caught Mother Nature’s fancy a while back for amusement. Makes me wonder about things like male nipples and women’s unwanted facial hair...

In terms of change, the human condition itself tends to change very little. One of the more seminal works of fiction on this is A Canticle for Leibowitz, which is also about life after the apocalypse. Relating the novel to The Book of Eli is done very well in this article, which has an excellent series of comments tagged on it – worth a look.

Tonight saw an unprecedented amount of Borderlands being played, as we had a total of 4 players: myself, Glitch, Lucas and Salizhar – it was a blast! The game takes a little getting used to when playing with four people, but it speeds up completing quests a lot when one person can traipse off to cash in while the other three head off on the next quest – not to mention the extra firepower making a difference in zapping bad guys and the bigger boss battles. Always better with friends.

Jan 23 – Fowl Weather

Ouch – the barometer here on Vancouver Island dropped quite a lot this week to 98 kpa from 102, like the one ON used to do on a weekly basis like a yo-yo. So my head has been rather uncomfortable, despite the application to Tylenol. The upside? Sunny weather is a-comin’ when the barometer swings the other way, so that’s always a change to look forward to. Just don’t yell when it starts happening please...

Ah, Port Dalhousie... I miss quite a few things about Niagara and Port ranks right up there with many of the fun memories I have with friends. I just read today that Chicken Chucking is becoming an event unto itself in Niagara, part of the Fowl Fest being organized this year by Port Dalhousie merchants. So if tossing frozen fowl on a( hopefully )frozen pond while enjoying the company of friends sounds like a lot of fun, head on down there – I enjoyed the event years ago, though I didn’t score much except a T-shirt for Best Event Player Name. No plaque or trophy though.

An idea I had a few years ago but didn’t have the programming skills to create has now appeared online. Cooking By Numbers takes what you have in your fridge and cupboard and turns it into a recipe for you to use. Great for those who don’t like to cook, are bad at cooking or just too busy that particular day to pop back out to the store for a few more ingredients.

Jan 24 - Spaced

This week I picked up Sins of a Solar Empire, which is a highly-moddable 3D 4x game( in the sense of movement and battles )like another classic 4x space empire game fave of mine, Homeworld. Which was also like the old DOS game Ascendancy, whose only claim to 3d fame was a wireframe rotatable model of the ‘universe’ which may have consisted of some sixty-odd solar systems to explore overall. You can actually still get Ascendancy here, where there are also a TON of old DOS games to browse for FREE - my favourite kind of game! (the free ones, not the DOS ).

I’ve really got to go and see some movies in the next few months, before they disappear from the big screen and I’m forced to watch them in the comfort of my own home away from the general publ... hey, wait a sec there! Why subject yourself to that? I’ll look for Legion, The Book of Eli and even Alice In Wonderland on DVD later this year – who wouldn’t want to see Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter?

I’ve been experiencing some annoying Blogger.com glitches while posting my blog from MS Word the last few weeks: Word has a blog feature where you can publish from inside the program with a single click, but Blogger.com apparently thinks that means replace a RANDOM blog entry, not ADD a NEW entry. So I’ve had to reconstruct the last blog entry every time for the last few weeks, which is annoying to reformat etc. I’ll have to find another way of doing things, as it’s become more trouble than it’s worth despite the ease of typing within Word and not a web-based window that can blank with a misclick... inducing a lot of screaming and hair-pulling. Ouch.

For those who asked: The links you found above are for things that interest me specifically and are not random searches. My blog concerns things that concern me, my thoughts, interests and various hobbies. While I’m not a windsurfer, woodcarver or waterclock maker, I DO find a lot of things that catch my interest – hence my writing about them in my blog. If you enjoy even a few of my words, then that’s all I can ask. :-)

Time Travel, Terminators and Television

The word of the week is: kibitizing. Let me tell you about a time when...

Jan 11 - Another Monday; in the blood?

Now this is a little premature, I think: news today that Spiderman is being rebooted in 2012. It's been less than a decade since the first Spidey film hit the screen with Tobey McGuire, so why are the rebooting it again? Is it a sign of the times, that any idea that makes a lot of money is slated to be redone over and over until the public is thoroughly sick of it?

I'm still researching my Thalassemia Minor condition, as the results of a blood test last month told me that I was misdiagnosed as a child and do not have the condition. I'm looking far more deeply into the results of my tests, examining the meaning of my platelet counts etc before I make an appointment for a second opinion. If that turns out negative, then I'll be changing my diet slightly, which I am also in the process of re-examining to try and determine if I have a gluten allergy or similar trouble with certain foods.

If you've never had a serious look at your fingernails( say, when someone's boring you out of your mind and you need to indicate disinterest subtly )then you might want to. I wasn't aware of how much your fingernails can tell you about your health – kind of like when you have that fuzzy coating on your tongue, and it's not from last night's binge at the local pub. I've got a pattern of weird dents on one nail on my left hand, and apart from suspecting it's some sort of alien tag similar to a bar code, I've wondered lately what it could indicate, as my doctor said it's "just something you've done to it, maybe?"

Jan 12 - Wet Baconquakes

Today the world shook... and it was Haiti that suffered the most. One of the most impoverished nations in the world, the disaster that struck has thrown the entire country into chaos. The world has responded admirably and speedily to send aid, and current technology has given wings to the average person wishing to help: texting donations. The ubiquitous cell phone has proven its might, allowing any mobile user to donate $10.00 to aid Haiti via a text message – so far close to $10 million USD has been raised in four days alone via text, perhaps ushering in a new era for worthy causes to gather donations and ushering out the era of the telethon? Right now the critical 72-hour window for survivors is closing, so aid has to reach Haiti soon in order to save the maximum numbers possible. Then the real work of rebuilding will begin.

It's raining a lot here in BC... again. Some parts of the Island are flooding... again - luckily I don't live anywhere near any of them. One place that you don't have to worry about the weather is under the sea, traveling in a( yellow? )submarine or living in an underwater habitat. One sub design I've always liked is the Nautilus from the 1950's Disney film version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea – it's steampunk Victorian design anticipated the steampunk movement by several decades. A place worth browsing: a HUGE and detailed gallery of Nautilus designs that span the last century.

I was told this week that the perfect bacon sandwich is the bacon butty, which is eaten most everywhere in Britain... for breakfast, what else? Most people have not had the perfect bacon butty, but I have managed to find such a recipe here for your bacon bliss experience. Let me know if you do make one, and how it tastes!

Jan 13 - Farm your pants off

In terms of games, the buzz this year is all about Microsoft's Project Natal, which you may have already seen some TV ads for. While I'm a little sceptical of the group of people sitting on the couch, each tapping away at an imaginary keyboard, I do applaud moving towards the elimination of wires, keyboards and the like. We might even find it amusing in a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy way, with everyone waving their hands at the television to vie for it's attention - that's kind of creepy, actually.

And what's up with Farmville? I mean, what the hell could entice over 70 million people a day to play a silly little game on Facebook? I've seen Farmville updates galore on my friend's FB Status pages, but just presumed they were playing it a lot at the time – I had NO idea that it was so incredibly popular. While I enjoy many different types of video games, the one type I have NO use for are those that fall into "The Sims" category. Enticing simulacra to go to the bathroom or earn their keep washing cars is akin to stabbing myself in the eye with a q-tip every morning after breakfast, as I equate it to owning a tank full of short-lived sea monkeys that I will soon lose interest in after they all expire in a month. No thanks.

If you want fame, not farming, you should try out for American Idol. That's what "General" Larry Platt did and he's now an overnight internet sensation due to his song "Pants on the ground" – he's even scheduled to appear on ABC's The View next week. Which says volumes about the power of television in conjunction with the internet to make anyone a star, even at age 68. Whether he makes any money at it is another matter altogether, although Susan Boyle is certainly well on her way to long-term fame and fortune based on her Idol appearance.

Jan 14 - What Not To Do. Or Eat.

Here's something for those seeking a job: we were doing hiring this week for all the branches in the area, so I was tasked with my share of resume's to go through to arrange phone interviews. None of the candidates I called made me want to set up a personal interview, but I did have a girl come into the branch and drop off a strong resume' with a good personal impression. I called her today to set up a personal interview, but got her voicemail and as I was leaving a message she called me back... to tell me she couldn't talk right then and she would call me back in an hour. Going on three hours later, I was done for the day and headed home, and this girl had lost her opportunity for an interview having demonstrated her disinterest in getting a job – which was too bad, as she had many good qualities otherwise.

I wasn't at home long, as I had to head into Victoria well before dinner. While I was there, I checked out Chapters for the first time in almost six months( amazing, I know, that I could go so long without a visit to a bookseller! )where I picked up some short story collections. I also had a look at Leviathan, but was put off by a clerk who told me it was in stock... in the Young Adults section? Apparently Chapters decided that since the book had a teenage protagonist, it was meant for teenagers, which I definitely did not get from the review. So I'll wait to check it out from the library, I guess – hardcovers are still too expensive for my budget to collect in any great numbers, and they take up a lot more packing room too.

My evening was spent at the Fifth Street Bar &  Grill in Victoria, where all the area managers gathered with our new pro-tempo boss for a meet and greet. I'd only been to the Fifth Street once before for lunch, so dinner was a pleasant surprise. I especially liked their chicken wings, both the maple garlic and the honey lemon pepper, which were a little dry but perfect inside. They even have a bison burger on the menu, which comes highly recommended by several people who have eaten there before, so I'll probably try it the next time I'm in town with time to spare – likely June.

Jan 15 - Doom! Gloom! Boom?

No, the world isn't ending today as the sky goes dark: it's just the longest solar eclipse in the last thousand years. You can watch a video of the event here, as well as some very cool graphics explaining it. Too bad it was far too cloudy today to get a look at it here, and we would have to have been FAR closer to the equator to see much of anything anyway. A giant blazing ring of gold in the sky...

On the same world-ending note, here's some good news: The Doomsday Clock was moved back by one minute today, to six minutes to midnight – reflecting reduced world tensions. So while we might not live under imminent threat of total destruction at our own hands( but still have terrorists to worry about )there's always good ol' Mother Nature, as Haiti has shown to us this week.

I wrote last week about mental health being a serious challenge facing Canadians these days and moreso in the future. Now word has come down from a McGill University professor that video games could be very beneficial to a person's mental health – just look at the popularity of games such as BrainAge and all those Sudoko puzzles.

Jan 16 - My Metal Machines

I've had an HDTV for a little over 2 years, which I've been very satisfied with and plan to keep using for years to come. Unfortunately, this is not good news for TV manufacturers, who need to sell enough TV sets each year to not only stay in business but to make a profit too. Hence their need to continually add new features and new products to their lineup, like "240Hz refresh rates" that supposedly make sports broadcasts and action films "less blurry" – not something I really need to lay out big bucks for a new TV for. However, the Next Big Thing is 3D Television which will from all reports be a quantum leap in viewing experience. For those of you unfamiliar with what 3D TV will bring to your living room, check out the excellent C|Net's 3D TV FAQ which answers all the major questions you may have about seeing fish floating above your coffee table.

By the time you read this, the sale will be over, but it's still worth mentioning due to the incredible price drops it represents in computer hardware. For $299.99 CDN, you can get a quad-core computer including case, CPU, RAM, 1 terabyte hard drive and power supply( monitor not included ). Considering I paid ten times that in the mid-90's for my Pentium I PC, it's stunning that in less than 15 years prices have dropped to the point where a speedy home PC is now considered to be a commodity – but since everyone wants a netbook nowadays, I'm not sure if the home PC will be around in any recognizable state in another 15 years. Especially since TV's are now being made with internet access built-in, and laptops are the norm for any self-respecting( gag )computer user. Heck, as I write this I'm sitting at my local Starbuck's sipping on a chai tea, listening to the tap-tap-tapping of others on their laptops... who are probably playing Farmville.

In terms of machines, The Sarah Connor Chronicles was cancelled too soon, I think. I picked up both seasons a while back but only started watching them in the last few weeks. So far, it's been very good, which is surprising considering time travel, terminators and television don't seem like a viable mix for more than a few episodes. Though I suppose if a show like 24 can cover a single span of 24 hours and stretch it out for an entire season, anything is possible. I like TSCC for a few reasons, including that it has Summer Glau( and later on Stephanie Jacobson )cast in the show – both excellent reasons to watch.

Jan 17 - Bring the Rain

I've mentioned small houses in a few blog entries, as some of you have noted already. Small is the way to go, as even 'normal' houses are prohibitively expensive in some parts of the country. Vancouver, for example, is grappling with a booming population with limited land space. Rather than take the route of Toronto, which has seen massive suburbs surround a dense urban core, Vancouver is looking at infilling, specifically allowing 'laneway' homes where people could live in a landlord's backyard. I'm not big on big; why should I pay for a home with 2 bedrooms, a living room kitchen possibly 2 bathrooms etc etc when at present it's just me? Sure, the future is never certain, and while the concept of home equity appeals to me, the huge outgoing expenses do not.

Of course I played MW2 for a good part of the day, which has been a MUCH better experience of late due to having a 'critical mass' of friends to play with. My friends list has more than doubled in the last month, mainly from gathering in players who are( in a word )fun to play with – a sense of humour and quick wit go a long way online. We don't tick each other off, play fairly well and generally all get along together – this is essential to the game experience, as some of the game sessions so far have seen close to 2/3 of the players all knowing each other. We could always play Private Matches, but as MW2 doesn't award ANY XP for that, nobody bothers; one of the flaws of the game. Still, I've had a lot more fun of late, especially trying to unlock the many special Titles and Emblems you can earn for performing various feats during gameplay.

The winter out here so far is more along the norm for BC: lots of rain, the occasional sunny hour and sometimes mist in the morning and evenings. Here's what winter in BC smells like: wet wood. Like a logpile that's been rained on for a few weeks, with moss growing on it in places; they have quite a few moss-removal companies here, and roughly 1 roof in 5 has some moss growth on it. I just like winter here as you generally don't slide around on ice underfoot, but instead pack an umbrella every day. A much better trade.

This week's blog was more effusive than usual, as I wrote the majority of it while sitting in a Starbuck's on Saturday morning to escape the reno noise from downstairs. Which was a nice break from the house environs. Next week: Coraline!