Weekdays, Words and Wonders

In my previous blog, it seems like people are fighting over who induced me to leave ON in the first place... truth be told guys, I made up my mind years ago, on my own. So there.... but I still wonder every week what my friends are up to back in ON, now that I am not around to bear witness. *grin*

Nov 3 - Square Starts

It's a Monday, and it's been a while since I've written about, well... Mondays. Seems that most anyone you ask has an opinion on the subject of Monday; it seems to elicit a very strong response in most people when asked. One can imagine why ... though I try not to get the image of a cubicle dweller trudging into a corporate office on a rainy monday for another day of dull meetings and bad coffee. This video seems to sum things up for such folk quite nicely.

This fellow seems to love mondays though: HappyJoblessGuy.com, whose article was written around the same time I arrived in Victoria last year. Since I already had a job waiting for me here on arrival, I was less worried than most about raiding my savings until I managed to land a job.

I wonder what Mondays are like in Second Life, that virtual world where you can design and be anything you want, from a talking fire hydrant to a sentient stapler. I would hope that there is not a single cubicle farm to be found in the whole place, save as dungeons to be navigated by the very brave...

Nov 4 - Flu for Me, Flu for You!

I went to the doctor's office just down the road today and got a free Flu shot, as I both work with the public( ick )and have Thalessemia Minor, so the more help I give my immune system, the better. Now, I have heard several detractors argue that it iss better not to get the Flu shot, to 'build up your defences naturally' or 'It doesn't work, I got sick anyway' or just plain old "I don't want to.' Well, I have to say that these folks are fools. The WHO gets together every year after tracking influenza strains from Asia, to devise countermeasures for this upcoming cold season. Why is it we HAVE a cold and flue season anyway? Two words: world travel. You have a look here for some useful common answers to flu season questions, as well as looking here for the whole reason we HAVE flu shots: The Spanish Flu that killed close to 100 million people( est. )from 1918-1920. Back then, a flu shot would have saved millions of lives, and people would have paid fortunes for a shot, wheras today it's free or cheap.

Continuing the thoughts from yesterday, I had a great conversation with some folks in the doctor's lobby after I had had my flu shot. The one gentleman was in his 80's, and was curious as to 'my generation's' habits towards savings, considering he had lived through the Great Depression where a penny saved WAS a penny earned. I replied that today, most people are living well beyond their means, depending on credit to extend their purchasing power far beyond their actual paycheques. As an example, I mentioned all those gas-guzzling trucks sitting by the roadside 'For Sale by Owner Cheap!' that have been seen in recent months as the gas prices climbed - I bet their former owners are feeling a bit put out now that gas has fallen again, but still, the point remains: they thought the best thing was to sell, rather than try to come up with 50% more operating costs per month.

That's the thing: Monthly Income. I'd wager that most people know exactly what net dollars they pull in, on average, every month. So they juggle, cajole and tweak their budgets to allow food, shelter, transport and such other necessities... then spend all of the rest on cableTV, entertainment and new clothes. Or whatever. Saving part of every paychque seems to be an alien thought to most, though some see the advantage of socking away RRSP's for the far future as well as more immediate tax gains. Happily, I can report that just recently it was revealed that Victoria has the lowest jobless rate in Canada... which is odd, seeing as we also have a very high number of homeless here too, many of which are embroiled in fights over camping in public parks. It's a strange world we live in.

Nov 5 - Woden's Day and Magic Pans

Continuing my thoughts on Days of the Week, we have today: Wednesday, also known popularly as 'Hump Day' ... the middle of the week, and a day nobody really looks forward to at all. Well, I used to, when it was Kilt Day, also Cheap Wings At The Kilt Day, $2.50 Pints Day, and even Cheap Mussels Day.... all of the previous being eat-cheap nights at the Kilt & Clover in Port Dalhousie. Ah, those were the days, all behind me now though I do not regret the undercooked mussels or wings, some of those nights.

Back to the Days of the Week though. This modern calendar we have is rather interesting, in that the names of the days are all descended from various special observances by past cultures. My favourite is Saturday, most obviously because it comes after Friday, and also for the fact that it is named for the Roman god Saturn, and not one of the Anglo-Saxon deities such as Thor, like Thursday / Thor's Day. Those reasons, plus all those great Saturday morning cartoons from my youth... ah, wasted TV time.

Speaking of my youth, does anyone else remember going to a restaurant called The Magic Pan? They had quite a few outlets in the 80's in Hamilton and Toronto, byut had vanished well before the end of the decade. After much searching, I located this great bit of Magic Pan info, by a professor no less. I really loved those Monte Cristo sandwiches from the M.Pan in Sherway Gardens, they were so tasty! Only much later did I come to discover they were not named afer the famous story of the same name.

Nov 6 - What was that word?

Still working nine-hour shifts this month, and to be honest I enjoy them. No need to swap things over to someone else starting their shift at all; just open the store, do the day thing, close the store and go home. Nice and simple, and far less stressful in some ways. Again, I do not have a problem with working alone, which doevetails nicely with my being able to live on my own, in a new city, with only a few contacts after a year on this strange soil. Still Canada though, so that's something... I cannot imagine uprooting myself to a country where English was not the major language, or where I could not find a reasonable fascimile of a Tim Horton's or a Canadian Tire... heck, even a Walmart would do, evil as they are.

Today I discovered this great blog about some one else who has been writing about their experiences in Victoria, and best of all... they have LOTS of pictures! Seeing as I am still working on my own photo projects( that never get too far, of late )then in the interim: I urge you to go have a look!

I also found UnWord.com, a place that I did not know I have been searching for all these years. Now I can finally find a home for all the words I have made up in my head over the years, like Splink, or Tworp( already there, darn it! )and even Guzooloo... me so hapy! Damn... now I'm reegressiinng. Have to breaktake now...

Nov 7 - Focus, people!

I was very disappointed today in my new laptop, more specifically it's 64-bit Vista OS. After enduring a massive 2gb download and a long install procedure to get a program working, a little box popped up with 'Sorry, this product is not designed for a 64-bit operating system' - argh! I was trying to get my rather expensive copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking v9 to work on my laptop, so I can increase my typing speed as well as spare my fingers from my odd typing style.

At the moment, I am foundering a bit for my tech writing, as Cyberwalker has shut down new articles for the forseeable future. Nothing but good news for Andy Walker, but not so good for getting any of my articles out to the public... so understandably, I am a little adrift on that front. I had a great time working with the team though, and hope that I can be on the inside for any future projects they create.

Which just means I have more time to focus my efforts elsewhere, like voice acting and writing novels. Heck, the old 'lemons make lemonade' slogan comes to mind, though of late I have switched to iced tea... which is still too acidic for my poor cola-crippled stomach to handle. Root beer for now, folks.

Nov 8 - Butchart Gardens

The time change has me getting up earlier, for some reason, so I have put the 'extra' time to good use, like today: early laundry! One surefire way to get an empty laundry room is to get there BEFORE anyone else, so I spent the morning running loads of clothes up and down the stairs. Seems folk are reluctant to trade quality weekend sleep-in time for convenice, which worked out well for me.

I was off to Butchart Gardens at 1pm today, in the company of my parents, who have already been to this garden wonderland several times. Never having been before, I envisioned something like a larger version of Niagara's Botanical Gardens - boy, was I wrong! You can see in this video what an amazing place it is, built initially on an old quarry and owned by the same family for over 100 years, it is obvious that generations of hard work have gone into every inch of the grounds. The sun cooperated today too, giving us fair illumination through some cloud cover for most of the day - my first view of the Quarry Garden was in full sunlight, and I have to say it was simply... spectacular.

Yet it was the Japanese gardens that stopped me in my tracks, though for a reason not likely to snap other people out of their reality. The entrance to the gardens was flanked by giant Japanese cedar trees, whose leaves were being gently blown by a light breeze. They were floating to the ground in perfect clusters, filling the air with fluttering continuous motion - tree snow, as I called it. What made me blink was that this was the SAME image that my favourite game, Neverwinter, uses in some of its most perfect animations. I had a sense of deja-vu in seeing those leaves fall, as I experienced the same sense of perfect peace then as I did onscreen - damned strange, and damned delightful, all at once.

Sadly, I have no pictures of the Gardens, as my parents forgot to bring our camera today even with my reminder of the day before. Just goes to show I need one of my own if I am to document my trips!

Nov 9 - The Salmon Run

Just after Rene called me today, I was on the road today again at 11am and heading north and west to Goldstream Park, where the annual Salmon Run was underway. No, it wasn't a marathon( hi Lucas! )but is instead the annual spawning of the pacific salmon, in their many thousands. I drove along the Malahat Highway for a ways, deep under the incredibly tall green trees perched on the sheer cliffs all around. Getting close to the park, we noticed hordes of people doing the same thing - well, maybe not hordes, but quite a few folk were out today. We managed to secure a parking spot fairly quickly at a point well along from the park entrance; the walk was lovely in the absence of rain and a semi-cloudy / semi-sunny noon-hour.

The first thing I noticed was the smell: anyone who has visited a fishery or been down to the docks when the fishing fleet is in would have recognized this distinct stink: dead fish. We took up a viewing spot on the single bridge across the stream, and took in the sight of hundreds of salmon trying to make their way upstream. Dozens of rotting carcasses dotting the stream sides attested to the difficulty of the task, and the shrieks of the many gulls looking for freshly-expired salmon added to the charm. Once we got used to the stink however, we could more easily appreciate the efforts of the fish to make their way through the very shallow water, only inches deep across most parts of the stream.

I would have posted a few nice pictures, but yet again the high-res camera was left behind by my parents, despite my reminders this morning; I was very annoyed for a good part of the day. Even so, the dark mottled colouring of the salmon meant that they were very hard to see against the rocks of the streambed, so the light and angle had to be just right for anyone to get a nice composition.

We had lunch afterwards at the Malahat Mountain Inn, whose spectacular view was very limited initially by the vast cloud bank that had rolled into the area. Fortunately it cleared somewhat after lunch, and we were treated to a misty view of the Finlayson Arm branching northwards.

After an afternoon of reading, chores and video games, I was sitting here at 8:30 when I realized I had spent well over an hour crafting this blog - it's great! Setting down my thoughts like this is far better than a journal, in that I am not trying to document washing socks or what I had for breakfast. Instead, I can let out some of my many interests, as well as filling in folk on the Great Things that I am discovering out here in Victoria every day...

So, do you like... socks? Until next week!


Jen, are you still out there? In all the ninjas, spiders and scheming school chums, your voice was the lone spotlight of reason in an insane Commentary... come back and spin your wondrous words! Aw hell.. now I'm spouting spider-rhetoric! Argh!

One Year in BC This Week

It seems the only Comments on this Blog come from spiders... isn't that odd?

Oct 27 - I wanna be ...

As you may have guessed, when I was a wee lad I wanted, like many boys, to be an astronaut... and a cowboy, but at that age I wasn't sure how I'd be able to balance two such involving careers. Now that I have been in the workforce for nigh unto twenty years, no time of which has been spent as either an astronaut or cowboy, I've gained a little perspective. Hard, hard work folks, that's what it takes to get into space, or to mend hundred-mile fences in Wyoming, for that matter. Still, just recently Sir Richard Garriott made a trip into space, which although still a very expensive trip is not entirely beyond the realm of rich civilians... which means that Space Trips for the Common Man are not all that far away, as this concept illustrates.

Oct 28 - Art thou?

I'm always fascinated by new art forms, though some tend to take things to extremes simply for the controversy they generate: remember the meat dress way back in 1987? In any case, I stumbled across this new( is it? )method of illustrating... with water. The way the image appears in moments with an application of ink is stunning, like some kind of CGI effect. I have made a note to pick up a copy of the graphic novel that this technique debuted in, Alan's War. Apparently it is quite a good read!

Not all art is created equal though. Oftentimes, when boredom and office supplies combine, you get this as a result. Somehow, I don't see it resulting in a gallery show, but I have to give credit to the creator of this site, for combining his love of Trek and ASCII... both somewhat dead forms of art, in their way.

Oct 29 - Bacon!

Are you ready for it?

Really ready?

May I present the ultimate sandwich spread: Baconnaise!

Yes. It's true! You can now have the smoky goodness of bacon on ANY sandwich, without the short shelf life and messy preparation that REAL bacon demands! Simply slice and spread, then enjoy... it reminds me of a product I absolutely loved in my teen years: Goober. Yes, it was peanut butter and jelly combined in ONE jar, with alternating stripes of jelly goodness and peanut butter crunch. Only the folks at Smucker's could have thought of such a thing - some of their other products are equally as unique, and delicious too!

Which leads to Unique Foods, a lovely Canadian website that has some great products - my fave is Stewart's Root Beer, which my local Thrifty's carries., along with a few of the many other Stewart's flavours. For which I am quite grateful, though the stuff is as much per bottle as a 2L container of A&W Root Beer. I'm not sure why I like root beer so much; the taste is something that I just don't get tired up. I've tried to like Doctor Pepper, Pepsi, Coca-Cola... well, I was a Coke fiend in high school, drinking a 2L of Coke every few days, but I had to stop when the acid levels started making my stomach react. Now, I can't even touch the stuff; it burns like real acid when I drink it. Not that I mind having root beer as a fave; root beer floats are just so much better than anything else. Dang; I have to go pour myself a glass after writing this!

Oct 30 - Acting Up

Perfect roles. These are what happens when an actor and a character combine to create a role that defines that character forevermore, and oftentimes typecasts the actor as JUST that role for the rest of their career. Examples that spring to mind are Leonard Nimoy and Spock, Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia, and Tom Baker as Doctor Who - read his fascinating bio. Of the many perfect roles out there, my secret fave is Tom Baker... he slipped into the role of The Doctor so perfectly that it was hard for me to imagine anyone else ever playing the character, despite the fact that there have been no less than seven different actors, the latest of whom was Christopher Eccleston. The manic grin, the long knit scarf and the mass of crazy hair all made Baker's Doctor a delight to watch on-screen, despite the low-budget special effects of the time and the oftentimes swiss-cheezy excuses for plots.

Or you could just get Uwe Boll to make another film, which is like asking the Star Wars Kid to be the next Luke Skywalker... it hurts even thinking about it.

Oct 31 - Spook Time!

I love halloween. There is just something about being able to dress up as something or someone OTHER than yourself, and go out into the world for one night when nobody looks twice at a ghoul, ghost goblin or other sight walking brazenly down the street. Well, no more than three looks, anyway.

Costumes are what it is all about, so every year I have a look for the latest, greatest and simply stunning costumes that people come up with. Many are from the worldwife Cosplay community, which draws inspiration from video games, anime and many other types of media, where people dress up like their favourite characters. Some are truly inspired, while others are... less so. Still, when you have fans who come up with almost perfect replicas of characters like Iron Man( here is the movie suit prop ) or Master Chief from Halo, one must recognize the incredible talent, time and hard work that goes into such creations. Too bad you can't really wear them out anywhere other than on Halloween or to conventions... but you could also see real exoskeletal suits sooner than you think!

Pumpkins are a traditional favourite for Halloween, and there are many amazing examples of the pumpkincarver's art online.

As for my day: I worked the evening shift... in costume. Seeing as nobody out here had seen my barbarian outfit( with goatee! )yet, I recycled it again for this year and it proved to be a hit! Many people asked me where I had "bought" it ... they couldn't believe that it was a cobbled-together outfit from different materials I had done myself. So that was nice to hear; makes me wonder what I can put together for next year? After work, I went for a walk with some of my pirate-themed neighbours around the neighbourhood here in Fairfield, which was damned quiet after 10pm; apparently the downtown is quite the zoo, and there are lots of parties all over town, but that wasn't my thing this year. It was enough to check out all the great Halloween decorations on many houses - see this and this as examples of the fine work people put into decorating this year.

We ended up wandering around the edges of the Ross Bay Cemetary, one of Canada's oldest and largest surviving Victorian-era cemetaries. We did not go in, as it was heavily patrolled by security tonight, for obvious reasons, plus they seemed rather heavy-handed and disinclined to allow anyone in at all. Still, it was fairly creepy, as any cemetary is a much different place in the dark and morseo on All Hallows Eve. Not being supersticious myself, I still felt a reluctance to wander amongst the dead on a night when all things supernatural are celebrated, in a tradition that has survived its origins from the Feast of Samhain started by the Celtic Druids over two milennia ago - more on that here.

Nov 1 - One Year in BC !!

Well, what to say? I've been here for a year, and I have to say this place now feels like home to me.

Some people would( and have )moved out here only to find shortly that they could not bear to be away from family, friends and familiar places. Several people I have worked with here in BC have done exactly that; unable to create a new life or reconcile it with their roots, they decided to return home and give up on trying to make something new here.

How am I finding it, my own experience here on the West Coast? Honestly, I would have to say that most days, I have no regrets. I knew moving out here would mean changes for me, in many ways, but I am surprised at how easy it was to settle in here, especially knowing that my parents were nearby enough to both keep an eye on and to help out as needed. Having a support network is vital, especially for one's mental balance; knowing that your nearest family is thousands of miles away would have been very hard on me, given that I have such a close relationship with my parents and sister - something I am extremely grateful for and try never to take for granted, knowing how rare such a thing is.

Personally, I have been pleased my my development outside of work, in that I have managed to well, manage my time better. As odd as it may sound, I am enjoying having more 'me' time to do with as I see fit - I had been annoyed back in ON that I never seemed to get the time I needed each day to get MY projects fully seen to. Indeed, I would not have been able to write this blog back in ON, I think, simply because I lacked both the time and the perspective to put the work INTO it. Having something NEW to say, every week, without retreading old topics, is a challenge I have enjoyed meeting this year.

Having my own place, unshared accommodations, is a change and a challenge as well. Not that I never had my own space, but the fact that I do not have to accommodate other's needs in my daily activities makes a difference in making the most of my time.

I think the hardest thing has been to be so far away from my friends. I've come to realize I have a LOT of friends, which is humbling when I really think about all the fantastic people I know and have known in my life. Listening to a few folk I have worked with and gone to school with, I now understand that most people tend to have a few good friends, some work/sports club/gaming associates, and those peripheral folk you run into in the mall once in a while and ask how their dog is doing. Since I make an ongoing effort never to categorize people as 'peripheral' and instead put everyone into 'friend' it has amazed me the number of fantastic folk I can include in my life. Well, included a little more often when I was back in ON, but you see my point. Not being a social butterfly, as well as being very able to spend quality time for hours with only myself as a conversationalist, I still find myself missing those weekly trips to the Kilt, or Steebs, or any of the innumerable fun things I did in Niagara.

Yet what did it add up to? I have to ask myself this, as I have perspective( yes, that word again )out here after a year now. The urban horror scenario of working at the same job, with no real room for advancement, doing the same things month after month, year after year... I am not sure if you can call it ambition, but perhaps better label it as a need for Change. Some years ago, quite a few in fact, I was struck by a sudden vision: a ten-year veteran of MMart, plugging away at night on a novel, hoping to be published, yet never feeling like I was accomplishing anything or getting any OTHER work or interests covered. Apart for the glow of friends and family support, one year would tend to seem like another.

So that was when I decided I needed a change. My parent's retirement was coming up, and considering all the incredible trials my family had been through up to that point, I was still unsure as to my own direction / habitation / general life plan. Thus, I dug in and started to seriously research places to live in Canada, with an eye towards new careers and / or affordability. After a lot of looking, I had settled on three places: Victoria, Edmonton or Calgary. The latter two were chosen for their rapid economic growth, and Edmonton as the location of BioWare, a game company I would have dearly loved to work for BEFORE they were bought by Electronic Arts - smart choice, not moving there after all!

Then the wheels were set in motion, slowly building up to my move date of Nov 1st 2007. And here I am, writing this blog a long, long way from where I grew up, in many senses of the phrase. Pleased, for all that, to be able to do so as I am.

Nov 2 - The Day After

Some thoughts brought on by another visit from the Crazy Lady... who astonishingly was NOT crazy today, though I thought I saw her head spin around once from the corner of my eye. Stressful? Yep.

After dealing with the public for as long as I have, I feel I have developed a decent understanding and cognant opinions of How People Tick. Apart from the need for food, shelter and emotional satsifaction, I find that many people can be( generally )categorized into either a) Nice people who CAN be nasty or b) Nasty people who can be nice. Nice people have their bad days, and a lot of people have thin skins, enough so that even a modicum of daily stress can make them snappish, rude and prone to bad decisions. Generally, dealing with Nice people is not a problem for me, as my skills are such that I can both improve their day AND get them what they need( maybe even want, too )without too much trouble.

It is the Nasty people that generate 90% of daily stress for others; they do it simply by being themselves. Selfishness is the root cause: what THEY want matters most, so any means justifies that end. In order to facilitate not getting their noses broken by everyone they meet, Nasty people usually hide behind a facade of Nice, just long enough to determine a situation's parameters. In customer service, they can come right out and Be Themselves, as the 'customer is always right' policy of most businesses these days means that Nasty people can walk all over staff within reason, dispensing with common courtesy in favour of Getting What They Want as quickly as possible, so they can move on and bother someone new. Unfortunately, most businesses NEED business to survive, and given that Nasty people spend money as freely as Nice people means that staff members have to grit their teeth and only imagine broken noses shocking some manners into the Nasty people they have to deal with. The fact that many companies make it very easy for Nasty people to file complaints about 'difficult' store staff is another stress factor for customer service employees: if a Nasty person doesn't Get What They Want, then they simply call a company head office, rant for a bit in their natural state, and cause grief for hard-working employees simply because they can... and for some Nasty people, this is a source of enjoyment, much as bullies enjoy being able to attack others with impunity, again and again.

In any case, I got through my day well enough, and the time change meant that I was headed home in the dark... but only for a few more months before winter begins its retreat. Now that our branch is open 11-7 most days, I can sleep in and get home in time for a decent dinner hour. 10pm dinners don't do it for me.


Okay, we have another week down... who knows what lies around the corner? We shall see - after all, Christmas is coming...

Steebs, Sun and Savings

Fall is here...

Oct 20 - Petty Thoughts

I happened to hear on the radio that today was Tom Petty's birthday, so he was 58 today, almost the same age as my parents. Well, not quite, but the same generation. I have not heard any of his more recent things, but some of his videos are just amazing, all the more so considering that they run fully-animated for the entire length of the song - not easy and not cheap to do. Watch 'em!

I may have mentioned it before, but the main radio station here in Victoria plays a LOT of the music I like. Quite a few classic rock oldies, plus groups like Barenaked Ladies, Matchbox20 and of course, a ton of Tom Petty. When I was listening to 104.5 or 99.9 FM in Niagara, I'd be lucky to hear one Petty song a week. Here, I hear at least one a DAY, if not more - fantastic! Plus I never DID manage to get a call through for the damn ChumFM Jet vacation contest...

Oct 21 - Series-ously, folks

As I am browsing through YouTube, I keep finding myself looking up old forgotten TV shows to see how many episodes have made it onto the site from people's private archives; VHS quality still looks OK at regular YouTube resolution, despite it being an analog recording.

One series I recall with fondness is 'V' - which was really an eight-part miniseries that evolved into a not-as-good followup series. Amazingly, despite the massive budget overruns of the original series, serious consideration was being given a few years ago to doing a new take on 'V' for TV. My favourite writer, J. Michael Straczynski, even wrote a pilot treatment for the new series, which is fantastic - you can read it in its entirety here. Alien lizards, giant spaceships hovering over cities, cool laser weapons... I loved 'V' for those things and more... as well as scratching my head over things like the 'Starchild' and other gaffes that can only be attributed to bad TV Exec interference in the series. Ah well, I was a kid then... TV politics and budget realties were well beyond my scope of the world.

Speaking of things I liked as a kid, I really, really wanted one of the Imperial AT-AT walkers from The Empire Strikes Back. I was given a choice at the time though: the Milennium Falcon( the COOL new, customizable and vastly improved 2008 model is here )or the AT-AT, as a one-off birthday gift. I chose the Falcon, and in hindsight I think it was the better choice, as I got a lot more play value out of it... despite its fragility. Still, the thought has crossed my mind over the years to pick up a cheap used AT-AT on eBay or somewhere... until I saw THIS. Guess I should have opted for more Lego instead, eh? Still, I JUST discovered that someone is selling models of the alien ships from V: The Series... I always wanted one of those, since they never officially released any sort of toy versions back in the 80's. I envy kids nowadays though, when they get toys like this- but I must admit that the majority of purchasers will be collectors, who are really just kids at heart.

Oct 22 - Sketchy Steebs

A lady today, who introduced herself as a sketch artist, came back to the branch after a first visit to cash a chq, and asked if she could take my picture. I was flattered, but had to refuse due to company policy about pictures being taken in the branch. She said that she had not seen my particular combination of curly dark hair and greying goatee before, which amused me. I spotted her later on in the week while I was out and smiled, but for some reason she didn't recognize me... which means I am not all that distinctive after all. Huh. Perhaps the TV / Film career I had planned might best be put on hold, despite my proximity to Vancouver... which is ironic, as I managed to move out here JUST as both SG-1 and SG: Atlantis got canceled, both of which filmed in Vancouver. D'oh!

Once I was home, I headed out again shortly afterwards to the Cook St. Starbuck's to try and take advantage of the sunshine. I managed to get in about an hour of decent, if chilly, patio time before the light waned enough to bring on the real chills, then moved indoors for the remainder of my two ours of free internet access. I had also set up a VPN connection with my home PC, which I tested while I was there - worked like a charm! I was able to securely access any shared folders from my home PC, negating the need to carry duplicate files around with me. Getting Mp3 files to stream fast enough eluded me though, so it is a work in progress but still nice to see work... for free!

While I was on the patio though, a bit of serendipitous luck happened. An older gentleman in line had commented on my Paul McCartney Steebs card, which he had only seen once before way out east. He struck up a conversation with me again while I was out on the patio with my laptop; turns out he is from a company that designs aviation software and who are looking for a technical writer to update / expand their manual. While not comitting to anything or overstating my own qualifications, I settled with getting in touch with him fairly soon to discuss the matter. Which also meant I had to update my Soronos.com site for the first time in... 5 years? Longer? Darn it, these things sneak up on you sometimes!

Oct 23 - Free Budgets

I have been looking at various ways to stretch my savings and lower my monthly budget pain, as you may have guessed from my decision to remove cable TV from my bills - for now. I have also discovered that my computers heat the place rather nicely without any additional help, given its relatively small size, as I mentioned in previous blog posts. Given that my electric bills have been rather low, and my gas bills correspondingly small, the plan seems to be working this far; with average temperatures at night here hovering around 6 degrees and interior temperatures at around 24, with no additional heat sources, I find things are balanced quite nicely.

Another place I came across with tons of great savings ideas is The Dollar Stretcher. This site is packed with great ideas to make one's budget stretch, and does not involve anything drastic such as growing your own vegetables in the bathtub or living by flashlight once the sun goes down.

One thing I have always found exorbitantly expensive is... MS Office. Even the Student Edition is far too expensive, though it HAS come down( a little )since my university days. A fantastic FREE atlernative is OpenOffice, affectionately known as 'OOo' on the 'net. This is an open-source, community-driven alternative to MS Office that does ALL the same things... for free. Better yet, it can read and save MORE formats than MS's product can, and is constantly being updated, again for free. So if you balk( like me )at spending money every few years for MS's bloatware, give Open Office a try... I've been using it for years and can attest it works as well as MS's products. Without the cost.

Oct 24 - Here's a tip

Someone left me a tip today at work, something that has very rarely happened in all the years with the company; they are officially discouraged for various reasons which I will not get into. Despite my protests though, a gentleman left me $20.00 when all was said and done, stating that he enjoys the fact that I am "Always friendly, efficient and well-spoken" when dealing with him. I thanked him and said that if he took a comment card with him to fill out to that effect, it would make my day. Hopefully it reaches head office, where it may offset the next insane person who walks in the door... more on that concept a few paragraphs down from here.

Again on the subject of cost savings, I am debating cancelling my Vonage line in Niagara... somewhat. It sees infrequent use, with few people to date using it to call me for free way, way out here in BC. I understand everyone's busy; so am I... but for now I am still on the fence about maintaining an easy link back east, unused as it is. Ah well.

Oct 25 - Lunch? Couch?

I had lunch today at The King & Thai( pun! )in Cook St. Village with a friend of a co-worker; the Thai restaurant is part of a mini-food court at the Village that will be expanding shortly. While the prices are not cheap, the portions are good, the place has two sunny patios AND best of all: it's good food! We ended up chatting about all sorts of tech topics over at Starbuck's until well into mid-afternoon, when the sun finally arced down enough to splash Steeb's patio with some warming rays. I have to admit, I am still adjusting to the concept of 'outdoor weather' here - people seemed perfectly content to sit outside in ten-degree weather, as long as the sun was shining, even if it was without much warmth. Dressing in layers and taking advantage of every decent weather day seems ingrained in folk around here, whereas I am used to holing up somewhere warm, or dashing from home to places with good heating and back again to a warm car.

In the evening, I worked on a few projects, including a little more on what I am tentatively titling "Half Lives" which is the story idea I had this past summer. I have several outlines plotted for it, and have been searching them for clichés on the 'net to avoid retreading ground others have written already. More on this as I develop the structure and get at least five chapters solidly written out... once I decide on WHICh chapters to write as a test, that is!

Late in the evening I nodded off for a while, which was nice as I did not know I was that tired: bonus nap! I haven't done that in a while, not since we sold off the extremly Comfy Couches that we had hauled around for years. Damn, I miss those couches... light, easy to move, and very nap-friendly.

Oct 26 - Sunny day, grumpy people

The fourth Sunday in a row I have worked so far has again turned typically beautiful outside, but since I was out for so long yesterday in decent weather I feel little longing to do the same today. Aside from the usual instinct to be anywhere BUT stuck at work, that is... but we all feel that way, most days.

Days like today tickle memories at the back of my head, of school days and crisp weather with winds tossing leaf piles to and fro across the ground. Bright sunshine and autumn colours always make me smile, for like Christmas, this time of year I find it easiest to summon memories I thought forgotten.

Yesterday was supposed to be when the old Daylight Savings Time for the fall season kicked in, but with the new DST brought into play back in 2007, it won't take effect until Nov. 2nd. Nice to see that we are keeping time with the USA so easily... good old Canadian sitck-up-for-itiveness. You can check your correct local time easily at TimeAndDate.com, which is detailed enough to take into account things like those few cities in BC that do NOT use DST - yes, there ARE places like that still around.

A bit of grim elderly humour today: I heard a faint rapping coming from the front area, yet the doorbell had not gone off. Going up front, I saw an elderly man standing at the front door with a walker, tapping his keys on the door. I motioned for him to come in... and spent the next 15 minutes trying to get him to use the unlocked front door. Apparently his strength, if you call it that, was not such that he could easily open our front door... a first, in my experience, for this location. Even writing large signs on scrap paper did not help, as it turns out he could barely see. Finally, after a few well-choreographed pantomimes of pulling hard on a door, I managed to get him into the branch... where he promptly complained that if I saw him having trouble, why had I not rushed out to help? I explained the concept of a secure area, but I think he was not really interested in any answer I was giving him. I hope that if I get that feeble in my years, that I will recognize my lack of strength and take steps to ensure I never spend time tapping at open doors, waiting to be let in... grumpily.

On that note, I headed home in the dark, eagerly awaiting NEXT Sunday, when I will be able to head home in something other than total darkness. Some NWN time, as well as listening to SG: Atlantis commentaries while typing up the blog... and here we are.


It seems we have a dearth of comments of late - I can see that people are reading the blog, which is GREAT... but few comments. Is it that I cover all the bases, or are people so stunned at the end that they forget to comment? I just can't tell.

Weirdos, Writing and Weather

No mention of spiders in this week's blog... though there IS a new entry in my Nemster list...

Oct 13 - Humans... and not.

Newt and John, a webcomic by my good friend Mike, reached their 20th episode milestone today. I've greatly enjoyed their adventures so far, as their antics capture the hilarity of two roomies dealing with bizarre adventures. I should also mention that I have a great custom image of Newt, John and myself in a spaceship, that Mike made as a going-away gift for me last year when I left for B.C. - it hangs proudly by my door, so I can get a grin every time I arrive or leave my home.

Along the same vein, I give you: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. Not to be confused with Human Idiocy, or even the silly things people do when they think No-One Is Watching. One VERY early internet List I love is the Evil Overlord List, which manages to combine villainy, cliches and stupidity remarkably well... if you don't laugh, then you haven't thought hard enough about how to take over the world. You should watch a few episodes of Pinky and the Brain, just to see how NOT to go about it... especially if you're two lab mice.

Which brings up movies. Now, I've already posted about how I MUCH prefer to watch movies at home nowadays, so I won't go into that. Here, I will instead briefly blog about Things That Only Happen in the Movies... like every car explodes in a fireball when it crashes, or how locks magically vanish from doors with a few quick shots from a pistol. A show that has done its fair share of debunking movie myths is the much-loved Mythbusters, who by and large have managed credible experiments to test the accuracy of many a Myth. If you visit their site, you can see the many myths they have discussed but NOT brought to the show to test, for various reasons. I guess testing to see if humans mutate into anger-driven giant berserkers after massive gamma-ray exposure would be one of those off-air theories... darn.

Oct 14 - Hard work and gadgets

I had an interesting thought in the shower today, and it was entirely unrelated to hygiene. It occurred to me that everyone who achieves success always includes the phrase "it was a lot of hard work" - we hear it so much but it makes little visual impact. I had the image of a chain hoist pop into my head, like the ones mechanics use to hoist engine blocks. The analogy almost writes itself: the huge, complicated engine needs lots of work and know-how to run, but the initial process of GETTING to it is the hardest work. Each long pull on the chain hoist raises the massive engine a tiny bit, so long minutes of hard work are needed to raise the final product fractionally until one reaches the point where the detail work can begin. It is an analogy I like, and I hope to employ at a future date.

As for the future: I love gadgets, and one of the places I loved to go to FIND gadgets years ago was The Sharper Image, which had a store at the Walden Galleria mall in Buffalo NY. You could wander in, and on every shelf or floor display was a gadget you had never before imagined, or knew you needed, until that moment. Looking back, it is easy to see how most of it was overpriced and usually fufilled only a single, quasi-time-saving. That and Smithbooks were the two main reasons I liked to visit the Walden Galleria... as well as the fact that most of the food there seemed damned cheap compared to Canadian restaurants at the time. Lower standards or higher volume consumption? You decide.

Oct 15 - Writing, yep!

I have been plugging away at various writing projects, but progress has been slow of late - low energy and higher stress levels do not bode well for the creative spark. Still, I have been trying to keep various bits of writing advice in mind, including 'use your mood' to find different aspects of character and story that one would not find if you are feeling happy, energetic and relaxed... none of which relate to grim stories, villains or dire plot threads. So, with that in mind, I have been plugging away at outlined plot points, as well as tossing together little 'pastiche' bits to try and capture the mood at various points in my Novel Story.

One amusing place I have come across is How To Write a Best-Selling Fantasy Novel. Go see it.

Among all the great advice given, one common thread seems to be "You won't likely get rich from writing," which is fine by me... Fame, Fortune and Respect do not always go hand in hand, with J.K Rowling as the glaring platinum Ideal of Writing Success that everyone else has to try to follow. I figure if I can say what I want to say, in a way that other people want to read, and that brings in a little income, then all for the good. Like the other writers state, everyone is full of great ideas, so it is the few who learn to use the TOOLS of writing to HONE their skill, that will bring those with Talent to the top of the heap... with a little luck. *grin*

So if you cannot tell your adjectives from your adverbs, or what narrative perspective to use, or even notice why your page-long paragraphs seem to be boring people... then perhaps writing is not in your cards. So go be a professional poker player instead - from what I hear, your odds of success are much higher!

Oct 16 - Triad Thursday of Stress

Well, today COULD have been the day from hell, but it worked out nicely when all was said and done, despite a lot of unavoidable stress. Right after I opened the store, who showed up but... a company auditor! We had been warned that this week was a likely time for an audit, which they do quarterly( or more often )so I was not as dismayed as I could have been. Still, it meant I spent most of my day worrying that we had forgotten some detail that would crash our overall score - not having a manager at the branch will make you thing like that.

Adding to the joy was a visit by the head honcho for all of BC for our company, attended by our district manager. He was nice, but I got the impression of laser eyes noting every tiny flaw in the branch, and likely an unconscious urge to slip on a pair of dapper white gloves to run along the counters for dust. Still, I was busy enough that everyone stayed in the background doing their thing and not underfoot or looking over my shoulder, which was nice...

Did I mention yet that Crazy Lady came in today TOO? Yes, she managed to add to the Stress Triad today by coming in for NO reason other than to ask the most inane question I've heard YET. Apparently her sister, which she sent the money transfer to last week, is not in the UK but Zimbabwe... so she wants ME to call Western Union to ensure the transfer is 'held' ... and ALSO she did NOT want ANY calls made to HER residence about it! Apparently she is doing this on the sly... which I do not care a whit about, only that she vacate the branch and stop bothering me. Especially with inane questions and demands that I have NO ability( or desire )to fulfill, even if I wanted to. Amusingly, the Head Man from Head Office( heh )tried to break into the conversation, but backed off quickly as the Insane Gaze rolled in his direction... kind of like seeing that normal-looking dog in the park turn around to reveal the foam dripping from its jaws. Yeah.

Anyway, she left, the rest of them left... and then I left, to sprawl at home in a daze before relaxing with a few episodes of Atlantis. The second season has a commentary for almost EVERY episode, which is amazing - some of the details and directorial chatter is simply fascinating, as it shows how MUCH thought goes into every episode, and how you never catch some of it as it goes by so fast on-screen.

Oct 17 - Is it Day-ta or Dah-ta?

The morning vanished quickly getting the usual household doings done, then it was off to work. Fortunately, it was another nice day out; I have yet to run into the chill combination of very cool weather and rain, so cross yer fingers, as biking in that is no fun at all.

I found out today that the branch hours will be changing again in November, which will be for the better in several ways. Not the least of which is that I can sleep in EVERY day now, and manage to get home early enough to catch an hour or so of daylight around dinner - nice in the winter!

I've been looking at some storage options for my data for some time now, as I always like to have backups handy in case of disaster. Up to this point, that has always meant storage on an external hard drive, or putting critical files like family photos on DVD; annoying given their 'small' capacity, which meant a few years ago after a PC went wonky that I used THIRTY DVD's to back up and then restore my data. Impossible today, as I have ten times the data stored now as I did back then.

One solution may be a FREE service called aDrive.com, which gives ANYONE free online storage - 50 gigabytes worth! Their business model is based on duplication; they predict that among their entire userbase, many users will have copies of the same file, so all that aDrive has to do is determine that yes, two files ARE the same, and store just ONE copy while allowing both users to access it. In this way, the 'actual' space used by files such as MP3's or YouTube videos is greatly reduced. Nice, and if it keeps the service FREE, then I am all for it!

Oct 18 - Leafing Sunny

Cold this morning, not TOO bad at 7 degrees C, cold enough to see your breath though. The leaves are falling in small drifts along the roadside, though many trees are still quite green and leafy. I did see the most massive Canadian maple leaf today - the thing was as large as my two spread hands together! Wow! It could almost serve as a plate of sorts, though being dead and slight decayed might put a person off.

The sun is blazing outside, albeit without a lot of warmth... and people are smiling! I've always been fascinated by how people's moods and the weather are related, so today goes a long way towards adding data to that file. Without exception, every single customer today has been smiling, even the usually dour regulars, and all of them are busily scurrying about Doing Things.

It's amusing to see how quickly we get busy when the sun comes out... and odd how busy we remain when it is raining - my theory is that people don't like being 'trapped' at home on rainy days, but instead want to get out and shop or socialize at a mall or coffee shop. Group social dynamics is a fascinating field, which has elements of psychology and statisical analysis that combine in interesting and unusual ways.

Oct 19 - Sunday Harry

The third of my Month of Sundays today, and it was Not Too Bad. Relaxing, actually, as it was steady enough a flow of customers to make the clock move nicely towards closing time. I still love the fact that I have such a great view - the branch is located near a major intersection, and I have previously mentioned that a bus transfer point is next to the plaza too. Lots of activity to watch, which is great - no view of the mountains mind you, but it beats hell out of the backside of a building.

My neighbours are HUGE fans of Harry Potter, so when I ran into one of them on the stairs today, of course the topic ran to old Harry. Seems the latest film has been delayed until spring 2009, which still gives us( my neighbours )time to 'catch up' on all the previous films in HD - thanks for the sale, Amazon! I still find it odd that so many HD-DVD's are still so pricey, even six months after the annoucement that Blu-Ray had won the DVD War in early 2008. Which annoys me still, as Blu-Ray is still quite feature-sparse compared to HD-DVD; being able to pop up a scene menu WHILE still watching a movie is immensely liberating, as were other features of HD-DVD. Again, the Market Has Spoken, not the techs... too bad. My experience has always been that people will buy whatever's cheapest, and learn to live with it - hello, Dollar Stores.

Notice how the links tapered off towards the end, and the last entry had NO links at all? Ta!

Searches, Spaghetti and Satchels

Being weather-sensitive has its ups and downs... so right now, with all the blah weather this week, I am feeling distinctly lacking in energy and verve. Good thing I have a sunlamp!

Oct 6th - Crazy Foreign Folk

Ah, Mondays. When you want to start off the week right...

Today marked the return of Crazy Lady from the UK. Yes, the same one who made my day a living hell back on Aug. 26th returned today to send some money back to the poor bastards who have to admit to knowing her across the pond - maybe they exiled her here? She was relatively restrained today, though regrettably not in a straitjacket. I was sweetness and light while serving her, in hopes of getting the hell out of the branch before her eyes rolled back in her head and the vomit started spewing. Still, she managed to complain that the branch "didn't smell right"( we have an Irish Cafe and a Chinese Restaurant on each side, respectively )as well as trying to start an argument about how... *ahem* Yes, I have to write this: how I had not properly underlined the rate of exchange.. which is a courtesy, as it's plainly printed on her receipt. Valiantly, I stopped myself from rolling my eyes - instead, I simply circled the relevant section and moved to the next customer. Would you believe she stood at the counter for another five minutes, trying to think of something else to complain about, before finally leaving? The man I was serving waited until she had left, then said "If she was any unhappier, the rain would be following her around." I grinned, but said nothing, of course.

One little factoid for you about money transfers: in Italy, getting a telegram is considered by many to be a Bad Omen, as most telegrams are notices that a family member has died. Telling someone you are receiving a wire transfer is MUCH better, as saying "I'm waiting for a telegram" will get you some shocked looks. Unfortunately, I have a feeling this is related to people who think black cats are bad luck... and in Italy, being a black cat is likely to lead to a shortened life, again at the hands of the ignorant. Some more Italian Superstitions can be found here, sans tomato sauce.

Related to that, we have this gallery of people who just don't care about others... when they park. Seems the world is full of folks who couldn't give a crap for their fellow man, or at least not while they are in a hurry to shop before the store / mall / beer store closes.

Oct 7th - Hauling Out the Pack

Ironing. Why, you ask, do clothes still need to be freed of wrinkles, decades after the invention of the Leisure Suit? As you may have guessed, I used part of my day today to catch up on the ironing, and it was not nearly as bad as I thought. There is something soothing about seeing a wrinkled mass of fabric turn into a smooth set of planes demarcated by buttons and seams. Modern fabrics are catchup up though, but still it is a slow road to the elimination of the iron from today's household.

I also went through the storage locker at my parent's place and found a few more 'missing' items, including my beloved Spalding satchel, not to be confused with a rucksack( the German word for backpack )or a messenger bag. This green bag( my fave colour, btw )got me through university and innumerable gaming sessions carrying extra-heavy loads of books, and is still in amazing shape. Now I'll be using it mainly as a laptop bag, which is a form of retirement, I guess... going easy on the satchel after all those years of hard work.

Though... maybe I should have bought a backpack back then, given all the shoulder strain involved. Kids today have it even worse, as this CNN article shows. Which is why I am all for projects like OLPC, which aims to give every child in the world a laptop, which in part would eliminate some of the heavy books toted to and from school. Along the same lines, Better World Books aims to raise social awareness while preventing thousands of books from being wasted - all from the work of two college students. Given the fact that many online book companies are merging, like the merging of local Victoria AbeBooks and Amazon.com, it's good to see smaller independents remaining, well, independent.

Oct 8th - Mad Max Lives!

For some reason Mad Max has been running around in my head this week. Perhaps the dated news that Mad Max 4 is in development, or that I found out that a die-cast version of the Interceptor is now available for fans... who knows? As I have mentioned before, apocalyptic stories, movies and related paraphernalia appeal to me, and the Max Max series of films was always well-realized. Other favourites of mine were the Wasteland game for the venerable AppleIIe, followed by its incomparable( and unofficial )sequel, Fallout. A fairly complete list of such games can be found here, and a great place that compiles all sorts of apocalyptic media is, well, Post-Apocolyptic Media.

An inevitable fallout of the Nuclear Crisis of the Sixties was the fallout shelter. You can read a little about these rad rec rooms at BadFads.com, which also compiles such things as the HackeySack and... the Leisure Suit! I think what I find fascinating about such things is that we can look back with the perspective of years and ask ourselves "What the heck was so great about it?"

Well, cheer up - have a look at an end of the world scenario, with zombies... and Lego!

Oct 9th - Churches That Aren't

Again with the Mad Max today... though it was due to the weather. The cold, actually: it was only five degrees outside whilst cycling to work, and let me tell you, that's not pleasant. Though most of me is fairly well covered, my face isn't, so cold air plus windchill equals a rather rosy nose and cheeks... which have been staying rosy for hours, ouch. So I popped on my smog mask, purchased a few years back for the joyful Smog Days of Summer in St. Catharines, and that seemed to do the trick. Though I looked a lot like one of the bandit drivers from the Mad Max movies, I was in good company: four Olympic cyclists showed up in Beijing last August wearing smog masks.

On a special note: the Church of the Banana v.2 went live, and will be continually improved as time permits. With our massive creative time and powerful drive for success, we should see our traffic double in no time... or within a few months, we hope. Tell your friends!

Some of you may remember back in May of 2005, that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was born. Though the Church of the Banana was not sparked from the same kind of debate of Evolution versus Directed Creationism, it can be said that the COTFSM was inspirational in that it still exists today, and inspires others to fight against society's stupider elements, some of them religious, some not. I mention this because I actually SAW a COTFSM 'fish' symbol today on a bumper of a car at a stoplight, and I managed to grab a picture of it. Hilarious! Take that, Jesus Fish... even the Darwin Fish has not the Hilarity Power of the COTFSM!

Oct 10th - Virtually Yours for the Asking

Thinking lately about superheroes, I found a useful site for those who find they have far too many enemies to deal with, and that their secretaries keep getting turned into lime jello by various death rays. Nemester.com is a wondeful place for a hero to compile a list of their dastardly counterparts.

Another site I have not visited for many a year is AskJeeves.com - which seems to be part search engine now, as well as a huge database of answers to questions on many topics. Back in the day, this sort of interactive database was new and shiny; many folk were thrilled just to see an answer pop up to their plain-english question instead of having to parse it word-by-word! Reminds me a little of the hype that surrounded Ananova.com, where a virtual talking head would read out the latest news in a 'realistic' simulation of a newscaster. Stories about how this sort of 'virtual actor' would replace traditional humans sprung up all over, but the tech quickly proved to be far behind the hype. Still, the subject is far from closed, and has ramifications for all of us, famous or not - if there is an image of you somewhere, does it belong to you, or someone else? Just for as long as you are alive, or for all time?

On that note, we jump from talk of virtual actors in LOTR to... Muppets and LOTR. If that appealed to your tastes, this candy version of the Battle For Helm's Deep will appeal even more. Enjoy!

Oct 11th - Searching for Life?

Considering I first heard the phrase "Google it!" from Spider Robinson at Torcon2003, searching the web is something I have managed to develop into a decent skill. Which means basically, that I do not waste too much time DOING my searches, as I arrive at results fairly quickly. For those of us who shudder when we see the phrase "1,450,000 Search Results" Google offers some basic tips. You can also find a more comprehensive guide here - you can amuse yourself by searching these three keywords: French, mlitary, victories ... and seeing how many results pop up.

While searching something local, I found this interesting tidbit from the past. Sixty-nine years ago today, a Victoria woman by the name of Ethel McCall had her story run in the Victoria Times Colonist on October 11th, 1939. It was about the early days of the submarine war from WWII, when the Germans in the early days of the conflict behaved much like their counterparts from more civilized eras. Too bad it degenerated so quickly into the modern mess we all know today.

On searches too: For a few years now I have been running a program called BOINC, which utilizes unused computer time to help with various computing projects around the world. Since I usually leave my PC on, I just let BOINC use it when I don't, to help search for cures to various diseases. I used to run a SETI@Home search program, but that's been doing very well recently. Now that the cool weather has moved in, leaving the PC on all day doesn't run the risk of overheating it, and the warm air really helps to keep my apartment cozy at the same time - I'll likely not turn on my gas fireplace until well into December, given my large south-facing windows and the extra insulation I've added to the walls of the place.

Oct 12th - Tic, Tac, Time

My, how time flies... or gets scribbled on bits of paper. Already the end of another week, and still so much left to do. Though one has to admire folk like Kate Kelton, whose claim to fame is... TicTacs.

Work was interesting today, in that a steady, simple day with just dull rain outside turned unusual at about an hour to closing time. Without warning( is there ever? )a massive power outage hit the Island - over 200,000 homes and businesses were affected, which included most of the South Island and so all of Victoria. It was off for over an hour, which was well past the branch's closing time. Of course, we had the usual brightsparks who peered in the darkened door both before AND after the posted closing times, looking confused. Perhaps they didn't notice the little clue that the WHOLE CITY was blacked out, and that maybe, just maybe, most places of business would NOT be open without power for little things like lights? Sometimes I wonder about how observant the general public is... then days like today confirm my already low opinion.

Though I did get a ride home, so cycling on the darkened streets was not to be...

Dang - I forgot to mention yodeling! Oh well... it's late on Thanksgiving Monday, and I just want to relax for a few hours tonight. More on Turkey Day next week!

Accents, Atlantis and Asprin

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


Sept 30 - Just Watch Me

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

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

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

Oct 1 - You Speak Me?

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

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

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

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

Oct 2 - Hit Shows

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

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

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

Oct 3 - Smallest Houses

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

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

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

Oct 4 - Hey, where did...?

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

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

Oct 5 - Sun-daze

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

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

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


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

Luggage, Lunch and Links

The week just sped by... it's suddenly Sunday evening, and Blog Time!

Sept 22 - SciFi

I ran across several sites today worth noting, at least if you like SF/F. If not, scroll down...

So, for those of you still with me, here are a few gems: The first is The SF Site, where you can find more on SF than most anyone can read up on in years. Of course there is always SciFi.com, where you can find all the latest media SciFi info. Then there's the bad SciFi, which you can now buy on DVD from Amazon - Harlan Ellision must be gnashing his teeth with this news of an upcoming DVD release.

Some folk manage to combine hobbies and SF in fascinating ways. Take this fellow for example; his woodworking skills have caught the eye of notables such as Stephen Hawking! But if you want hobbies, have a look at my friend Bob's blog, Ruined Niagara... he's got an amazing photographer's eye!

A little note for my no-cable thread: there is Fancast.com, a site which lists full episodes of TV as well as movies for watching... free! They do not have a complete database by any means, but you are almost certain to find a few things you'd like to watch,

Sept 23 - Need a favour?

I sat outside on a patio this afternoon, which was bright and sunny - for a few minutes. I was at the Starbuck's at the Bay Center, which has a great outdoor raised patio, perfect for watching the busy traffic pass by on the street. Pedestrians and cars alike wander past at slower speeds, with many a rubbernecker taking in the sights. I can attest that there were quite a few things worth looking at too; the sunshine seems to bring out the beauties, or at least so it seems to me. A surprising percentage of them seem welded to their cell phones, which does not bode well for phone radiation dosages...

While I was cogitating on the scenery and enjoying the remaining sunshine, a website I had visited years ago popped into my brain again. Curious, I typed in a close analogue of the name... and lo, there it was: FavorVille.com. Imagine a website where you can post your needs, or your offerings, to your community... to connect favours with those who need them. Simple, yet the idea of neighbour helping neighbour seems to have been forgotten in the last few decades... I blame it on several things, including the shift from cozy suburbs with front porches to locked doors in apartment buildings with only a door number to differentiate one dwelling from another. When was the last time you went to borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbour? Or they from you? Some things should never have been let dwindle... or be changed for the worse.

Sept 24 - Movies

I realized today that I have not been out to see a movie at a theater since I arrived in Victoria... and for some time before I left, for that matter. I think it is mainly because I dislike having to share my enjoyment of new entertainment with the general public, who by and large are not nearly as respectful of each other as I am of them. Cell phones, crinkly wrappers of food snuck into the theater, heads in my line of sight... there are many distractions to the 'theater experience' that I can do without. Especially the idiots with cell phones, who simply cannot turn them OFF. *ahem* In any case, I much prefer to wait and see movies in my own 'theatre' setup... which is good enough to really enjoy the experience - how many theaters have a fridge at hand, and will pause the movie when nature calls?

Looking forward to upcoming movie releases, I can honestly say the only ones I am interested in are ones like Transformers2, Venom and yes, Wolverine. There's even a prequel in the works for I Am Legend, which would feed my need for post-apocalyptic films quite nicely, thank you - the release of Death Race 2008 on DVD may entice me to pick it up, being a Car Wars fan of long standing. I have no desire to see the badly-titled new Bond film 'Quantum Solace' ... sounds like a documentary on the Large Hadron Collider that's sparked such an unneeded internet-fueled debate about the end of the world. It's just science, people.

Sept 25 - Exercise Plans

Outdoor activities for me in Victoria have been limited to my riding my bike around the city; sad, but that's what happens when everyone's so darn busy. I'd like to try activities such as kayaking, or even hiking a nearby trail. Since I've recently found out the waiting list for gallstone surgery will be up to 18 months, I can start my plans to get into shape now, so I'll have a shorter recovery time from the operation - which itself is not as massively invasive as in years past. So it looks like I will be cracking out the exercise guides, shopping for some free-weights and eying a gym membership with necessary distaste. I'd prefer to avoid the gym altogether, as I begrudge the time spent to get there and back; I could be doing other things. Still, we'll see what I can find that's decent within riding distance.

I still have not found a local (or Canadian, for that matter) vendor for the X-Wing Kite. Sadly, I will likely forego looking for it until the spring, as the cool factor will be severely diminished if one is flying it on cold, cloudy days by the ocean side. Joggers and dog-walkers wrapped in many layers might find a kite-flying amusing, if out of place, in the cold winter months here in Victoria.

Sept 26 - Cheap Cooking and Cars

I discovered a cook today after my own heart, one whose menus are 100% influenced by their cost: the 99-cent Chef. Yes, that's right: this chef only uses ingredients that list for 99cents or less... and he doesn't use expire-the-next-day items either. Some of his receipies are really good, and have inspired me to shop with a new viewpoint, somewhat similar to the "Shop the Perimeter" theory of grocery-store purchases; by staying OUT of the center of the store, you avoid all the high-ticket low-nutrition items that the store wants to sell you to boost their profits and lower your life expectancy.

Time to leave for work came too quickly today, just as the weather changed - again. Sunshine mocked me for a few hours until clouds rolled in suddenly in the late afternoon; amazing how the changes happen so quickly here. I did amuse myself during the inevitable lulls with some arts and crafts at work - yes, a pair of scissors cut a swath through some paper cars as part of an internal contest we're having. I found a whole bunch of great car designs at Papercars.net, all printable, as well as other printable items at this site. There was even a great site devoted to one of the many Hanna-Barbera cartoons, the Wacky Racers - you can download printable designs at this site, though be warned they will take quite a bit of time to build.

Sept 27 - Inventions and Lunch

I've had quite a few ideas over the years for new (and sometimes even useful!) inventions. One such was my idea for a GPS luggage-tracking system, way back in the 90's when cell phones were just coming into general use. I envisioned a tracker that would lock onto local cell towers, wherever it was in the world, to determine its postion and then send a txt msg with the lattitude and longitude of its position, Imagine: much like the VISA commercial where a remote pops out wheels on some lost luggage and zooms it across the world to its owner, this would enable one to locate luggage anywhere.

Unfortunately, someone has already created the device of my fervent imagination. The folks at MicroTrakGPS have developed a device that does just what I mentioned above, and is even halfway affordable. I have thought of several refinements though, that would make it more airline-friendly... nobody wants a GPS activating at 30,000 feet to cheerfully cause interference with a jet's controls. Unlikely, but you don't want to take that risk.

I had lunch today at the Oak Bay Marina Restaurant with my parents, which was a very pleasant culinary and visual experience. The restaurant is circular, with a commanding view of the marina and the bay itself though floor-to-ceiling windows. We were seated in a curved booth in the middle of the restaurant's inner circle, whose elevated height swept our eyes across the other diners to the vista beyond; the sunny skies made the view a spectacular one. The food was excellent as well; I had the Chef's Special, which was a seared sole fillet with tomatoes, potatoes and goat's cheese. The taste was subtle and varied, depending on how one combined the cheese with the other elements. Expensive though, as expected, but a treat nonetheless.

Afterward, I trotted down to the Cook St. Village Starbuck's and spent a pleasant few hours on the patio outside, which I discovered has a heating system akin to that of the Kilt's in Port Dalhousie. Winters at Steebs are on the schedule now, especially given the mild climate here. I was amused by dozens of Green Party supporters canvassing the Village as well; many people stopped to chat with them, all of them friendly, which again jut blows my mind... where else would you see people HAPPY to slow their cars down to shout encouragement, or even pull over to talk? The weather likely helps, as everyone loves a sunny weekend. Sadly, I forgot half of the power ensemble for my laptop, so my work was cut short by a flashing power warning... but the sun still shone, regardless.

The rest of the evening blurred, as I fought off a migraine whilst getting caught up on various neglected tasks around the homestead. Tidying turned out to be its own reward: I finally located my long-lost Futurama DVD's! Seasons 1-4 had vanished in the move, and I had feared they had been stolen along with my Olympus camera by those charming thieves at Multicities Moving.

Sept 28 - Ancient Internet

Way, way, WAY back in the day, in the heady days of 1994 when the Internet was just a few hundred machines linked together by string and tin cans, the Cool Site Of The Day debuted. Racking up an electic mix of sites offered, yes, daily, the CSOTD continues to THIS day to be a great browse. Surprisingly, some of the sites listed from back in the early 90's are still online, including the Lurker's Guide to B5, as well as the Mystical Head of Bob. One of the first dozen sites listed was.... the CIA main site. People STILL wonder if back then the CIA logged and investigated each hit on their site... despite the occasional hack attempt, they may still be doing so.

Along with that, may I present: The Acronym Generator! No longer do you need to struggle to come up with an appropriate acronym for your world-dominating organization - the AG does it for you! Before l33t-speak, acronyms were quite common in internet chat rooms, where slow typists would make up for their lack in, er, speed... with phrases like the ubiquitous LOL, UR2COOL and GMAFB.

A working sunday... so I sleep in and get home in time for dinner - not a bad deal overall. I suppose I won't be going on any tours of Victoria's interesting places in the next month, unless I am able to wrangle a free Saturday to nab a vehicle. Touring on bicycle is only good in the good weather; something about being rained on takes some of the shine off being a tourist, though in Niagara Falls that just meant you were standing too close to the Gorge.


Well, that about sums things up, for now. I have a few vacation days coming up before the end of the year, so I will be madly sorting through my photos and updating my blog, finally. There's just so many, I have to just finish searching while comparing them to each blog entry... but since ImageShack seems to be doing the trick, I can include photos more easily in the future - if I manage to take any good ones, that is.