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!

Direction, Daleks and Dementia

The word of the week is: unfriend. If it’s good enough for Oxford, well...

Jan 4 – Crazy Costs

Castle was on tonight, and I find myself really enjoying the show – Nathan Fillion’s trademark quirky humour has just the right touch of laid-back irreverence to work perfectly in his role. The writing is smart, without a lot of technical gabble or 90-degree plot twists that don’t make sense. Add this one to the list to collect on DVD( or Blu-Ray for you cutting-edge folk )when it comes out.

In terms of cutting-edge, I am recently looking more heavily into current research on dementia, as one of my favourite uncles has quickly fallen into the terrible grip of Alzheimer’s. According to a recent study, dementia will cost Canada close to a trillion dollars within the next 30 years. Those are some scary stats, especially the part where the study states that dementia is the most significant cause of disability over the age of 65 in Canada. Seeing as my mind is my most valuable possession, and seeing the effects dementia is having on my uncle, I am quite concerned. The question is: what to do about it?

Thank goodness things are progressing in terms of research, and in ways you might not have guessed. For instance, did you know cell phones may help prevent Alzheimer’s? And here I was thinking that all that microwave radiation might have been bad for you ...

Jan 5 – Finding Friends

I like Sandra Bullock, and I’m not alone: her latest movie The Blind Side broke some box-office records today, pulling in more than $200 million USD domestically. Not bad for someone who says she’s a terrible celebrity – which I don’t believe, and the folks on LookAlike didn’t either, as they had a girl on there who could have been Sandra’s twin!

Today was a sad day for me at work: my immediate boss left the company today, which leaves quite a large pair of shoes to fill. I was incredibly impressed with their work ethic, job knowledge and professionalism when I arrived, so much so that I counted my blessings a few times that I had been lucky enough to move to Victoria and have them to report to. Now that they’re gone, I feel as though I still have a lot to learn as a manager, but I know that with the example and standards that they set, I have a very high bar to set for myself. I hope I can reach that level sooner, rather than later, if I am lucky.

So, I spent part of the rest of the day on MW2, which didn’t turn out half bad – for most of the evening I ended up with a decent bunch o’ folks, a few of which I added to my Friends on Xbox Live. It’s strange, but sort of satisfying to find ‘friends’ so easily: play a few games, listen to the banter, and the few people who don’t behave like autistic baboons get sent Friend Requests. Is this a sign of the future? Speed Friending©? Something new?

Jan 6 – It’s Just Evolution at work

The 2009 Darwin Awards are out, and the list is horrifically amusing: gold paint tops the list, and you’ll shudder to find out why... really. Every year I wait with dread anticipation to find out how the latest batch of people have removed themselves from our cluttered gene pool. I think what appeals to me is that these people did it to themselves and not through some fluke accident – they pressed the button.

Oh... my... gawd. It’s... The Republic Of Bacon.com ... Where you... *gasp* can win FREE bacon... for a decade! GO THERE NOW! They even have theme music!

Still no sign of Fallout3 at the local Future Shop, and their raincheck policy only holds for 30 days, which stinks. I’d like to get this game, but I’m not willing to pay top dollar for the privilege, so I’ll probably add it to my ‘Wait a year first’ list to pick it up for a decent price used. Or even new, if the price drops enough by then.

Jan 7 – Games and Galaxies

Not much to say about how I spent today: the morning was at a training session in Victoria, and the afternoon working until close. No excitement there, though I did have Wok Box for lunch – the portions are generous enough to double for dinner. Which I did. Yum!

Once I was home, I played the demo for Bayonetta, a wild visually stunning fighting game for the Xbox360. I’m not big on button-mashing, but this game has some amazing move combos that look fantastic with the massively magical and eye-candy-stuffed graphics. I’ll add it to my list of have-to-get-later games, along with Assassin’s Creed II, BioShock2, Dragon Age and a host of others. Where I will find the time is another thing altogether.

I know I’ve already mentioned it, but in case you didn’t catch on the first time: Watch Duncebucket. I mean, the promo has a redhead in it, fer gawd’s sake...! From dunce buckets to... Daleks? Have a look at how the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s entry on Daleks might have looked. Incredibly well done!

Jan 8 - Direction

This morning I was up and on my way to Victoria( again )for an 8am work meeting with the head honcho for all of BC. It was a directional meeting, unofficial but intended to give direction for this year for our operations and to answer other questions we had. I have to say, I came away from the meeting impressed and relieved that things are on track for us as a company – lots less stress, with more work, but that’s the kind of trade-off I like.

Today I also saw that something new coming to Xbox Live: The Game Room. Yes, now those who still love old-school games like Qbert, Gyruss or Pac-man can get their fix courtesy of their Xbox360’s, though you will have to pay for the privilege. Considering that many of those games are available for free online, the only appeal I can see is that one can earn MS Achievements for scores and accomplishments, which you couldn’t do back in the day.

After work, I walked home, which was actually rather nice. It takes about half an hour, along a route that for the most part has a path or sidewalk and is well lit. For the parts that aren’t, I have the usual reflective clothing, as well as LED lights – I’m surprised at how many pedestrians outside of the city of Victoria do the smart thing to remain visible at night.

Jan 9 – Electric Snowmen

Now why haven’t I heard about this before? I’ve made mention about how battery technology needs to be updated for today’s power-hungry devices – so why not make one that runs on sugar?

There’s no snow here, just rain – and I like it that way. Think, though: if there had been no snow around where Bill Watson was drawing Calvin & Hobbes, we wouldn’t have these snowmen scenes...

Which leads me to Five Rules for turning Your Idea into a Screenplay, courtesy of io9.com. Some great tips here, especially for people who may have a great idea but don’t know where to start. While I’m not sure how you’d sell it via an agent after you had your screenplay, the point is to get it written first. Maybe something about wolves in some kid’s walls... yeah, that might work. Or a fish.

Jan 10 – Bringing it Home

I spent a good part of the day playing( you guessed it )MW2, which was a mixed bag to start with. Then our group merged with a really cool bunch of players, and we had a blast from that point on. Unlike this fellow, who raised a lot of valid points about how MW2 can drive you crazy, the afternoon of gaming today was among the best I’ve yet had playing multiplayer. No griefers, no real campers, just a group of people out to have fun and not worry about the score too much. It was great.

Another part of my day was spent going through the storage bins in the basement, gathering old electronics for recycling. Here in BC we have a provincial system in place for recycling all things electronic, funded through a fee added to all new electronics sold in the province. No more hanging onto those old bits either, just take them to the local depot for disposal. Are you listening, Ontario?

For the most part, the first week of the year has me feeling less stressed and more positive about the future, both near and far. I’m still seriously considering taking up a more permanent residence in something like a tiny Tumbleweed home, which would mandate my checking out smaller land parcels around the area. Making sure it has room for a comfortable entertainment setup would be key though, as my current den runs to ten foot wood-panelled ceilings and is sixteen feet front to back. Hard to pack into a small house, but hey: it’s a rental anyway. Right now, affordable housing is a hot topic here in BC , with incomes generally not rising as fast as the cost of having a roof over your head.

Next week...Malapropriate© explained, courtesy of Brian. Maybe.

Scams, Subs and Santa

Dec 21 – It’s in the blood

Today is the winter solstice, the longest day of the year. Little light, lots of dark and a whole lot of looking at your watch while grumbling about where the sun has gone. Ironic how the longest day of the year is also a Monday, no?

Just ten days to go until the new year – does anyone out there have any special plans? Myself, I’ve decided to make it a quiet one at home; so far all my friends here have not finalized any plans, and I dislike last-minute car trips on busy nights with the heightened possibility of drunk drivers – I’ve already had two close calls over the years avoiding drunks trying to kill me, so that’s enough incentive there to stay in.

I’m still astounded at my doctor’s news last week that I don’t appear to have Thalassemia Minor – I’ll be making another appointment to confirm the results, which will mean a change in my diet. I’ll be able to add iron back in, along with some other things( more bacon! )and that means I may actually feel more energetic day to day. I’d like that.

Dec 22 – Scam Artists

Looks like I’d better get out and take more pictures of the trees around here while I can. A report today from the Sierra Club states that BC’s old growth forests are disappearing at an alarming rate – must be all that moss buildup that gets people confusing the old with the new trees.

This is really amazing: a sketch that a co-worker made of me a few months ago. I’ve only now been able to get a picture of it and post it. I just love when people do sketches of me, for some reason – I don’t mind pictures, but there’s something about an artist taking time to render an image that speaks to me. Plus, somehow I always manage to look cool – go figure!

Here’s a show about sketchy people you might want to catch, either on a local channel or on YouTube: The Real Hustle. This is a British import, where three hosts expose some of the most popular scams and hustles that the public is likely to encounter on a day-to-day basis. I was shocked by one scam, where a woman poses as a homeowner who has lost her keys. She gets a locksmith to open a non-alarmed house so she can loot it at her leisure – yikes!

Dec 23 – Blue Screen of Sexy?

It’s been 2 months since Windows 7 was released into the wild, and I’ve been using it for about as long. So far, it’s been a mixed bag: faster than Vista, hogging less resources and with a lot of features added or refined since the release of Vista. On the bad side, it has numerous small glitches, like programs refusing to start and an annoying penchant for refusing to come back from Sleep Mode. I hope these small things will be ironed out in the inevitable future patches from Microsoft...

If it’s the holidays( and not Windows )having you feeling blue( from the cold, or a lack of holiday spirit )then check out this survey over at io9.com: Who is the Sexiest Blue Woman In the Universe? Heck, even Smurfette made the list!

I suppose it all depends on what level of seriousness you have – today, for example, we lost our 134^th Canadian soldier in Afghanistan. His name was Andrew Richard Nuttall, a Lieutenant in on patrol who was killed along with An Afghani soldier while on foot patrol. He was born here in Victoria, and kept a blog with updates from the front, including mention of IED’s. Brings things into a bit of perspective.

Dec 24 – T’was the Night Before...

Ah, Christmas Eve... stockings hung by the fireplace with care, cookies and milk left out for Santa, and all that. But what about... Santa Traps?

Looking at the many different possibilities of Christmas gifts, I’ve wondered what the most popular items of the decade have been – the lists go year by year, but nothing stands out overall. I think if you went simply by the Cool Factor, then you’d end up with... the iPhone. Which I’ve decided against getting for the time being, for myself – it just costs too much, and I don’t want to get locked into another contract just for a phone. I mean, the things are $799.00 CAN by themselves –for a freakin’ phone! It’s not a laptop.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, I’ve always loved toy submarines – I wanted to get one when I lived in Port and had a pool, but they were just too expensive and I’d have got little use out of it overall. This guy has turned it into quite a hobby – he’s made models of famous spaceships and turned them into remote-control submarines: what a great idea!

Dec 25 – Happy Xmas

This Christmas was a very, very quiet one for myself and my family. We had a turkey dinner... for lunch, as my dad was working in the afternoon. It was quite a sunny day, with no snow and a lovely lack of traffic everywhere. I enjoying spending a good part of the day online with my friends playing MW2 – everyone was in a good mood and the gaming was good.

On the gift side, we’ve been pretty minimal for a few years now, given that we got rid of a lot of stuff before moving out west. This year, I purchased a simple digital picture frame for my parents, loading it with a few thousand photos – the resolution is a decent 800x600 pixels, so by downsizing individual folders of photos to that scale, I managed to fit every digital photo they have onto a single 2gb mem card – with room to spare for more. Sweet!

Another thing I love about Christmas: cookies! You can check out the best cookie recipes of the last 50 years to see if any tickle your fancy; my faves were always the ones with holiday shapes – of any flavour.

Dec 26 – Boxing Day! No Gloves!

Up at 5am today, to stand outside BestBuy for when they opened at 6am. The lineup was about 100 people long when I got there, and tripled by the time the doors opened. It was quite cold, but people were in a good mood as there was no snow – unlike last year. Once in, I easily found the 2 things I had lined up for and headed to the cashiers – Batman: Arkham Asylum and a Turtle Beach X1 headset for the Xbox.

In case you wonder where Boxing Day had its origins, look no further than here – you may be surprised at what you don’t know. I always am.

On a totally different note, I’m pleased to say that there’s almost a total lack of spiders here in the winter. When I lived on Westgate near the ravine there, the spiders were present year-round in the corners and crannies of the house. Here, despite the mild climate, the house has had almost no noticeable spiders make appearances. For which I’m grateful; the huge mothers who came to visit at my May St. place were more than enough to make me keep my windows closed at night, thanks.

Dec 27 – Not Boxing Day

Yep, you guessed it: I spent most of today playing MW2. Badly. My stats are slowly sliding downwards, millions of other people are playing the game better than I am... but there is hope: the new X1 headset! Yes, now that I am no longer distracted by the cramping pain of two headsets on my head, I can finally concentrate on the game and not crackling cartilage!

A good thing that the new X1 headphones cover my ears completely – the renovation racket from downstairs today was louder than usual. They’re making massive changes, and the sounds of power tools at work reverberate throughout the entire house, leaving nothing to do but leave or try to block it all out. Thankfully MW2 does a fine job of distracting me. J

I’m pleased to see some folks making use of the Comments for the blog, latching onto some of my words and bandying them about. Well, beating me about the head with some, but that’s why I put the phrases online, for people to ... enjoy? Make use of? Barbeque? Keep it up! Plus, did you know you can use the Search Tool on the top left of the blog to scan back through for keywords? I bet you didn’t...

That’s all. This week’s blog was a tiring one, but flowed fairly well once I left it to it’s own devices. So there!

Renos, Redheads and Rainchecks

Dec 14 – Bailing Tools

Let's start out with something very cool. Until now, only humans and their related simian cousins have been known to use tools in the animal kingdom. Today a video was posted about a sea creature that uses discarded coconut shells as a mobile home – can you guess what kind of creature? Watch the video and find out!

From cool to whew! The world's markets stabilized significantly today with news that Abu Dhabi is footing a $10 billion bailout for Dubai. Weird to see that though, as the oil money isn't supposed to run out for a few decades yet.

Too bad this guy didn't learn to bail out... but it's funny all the same.

Dec 15 – Doozers!

Fraggle Rock was( and still is )a fave show of mine from when I was growing up – as was most everything Jim Henson did, in fact. Strange that I don't have any episodes of The Muppet Show on DVD; I'll have to look for that in the new year. Fozzie, Kermit, Miss Piggy - good times.

Another thing I really enjoy is cutaway art – that is, drawings akin to technical blueprints that show the insides of vehicles, buildings etc like this one. I most enjoy fictional topics, especially the Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections series of which I have a few books – the foldout Star Destroyer is especially magnificent, and captures the imagination just as it did on the screen when I saw it for the first time. This selection of cutaway drawings isn't quite the same thing though... but they MIGHT glow in the dark! Finally, this one is my favourite from when I was but ten years old – can you guess why?

A third thing I enjoy: bacon. Since the Bacon Mushroom Melt has yet to make it's appearance this year at Wendy's, I've debated trying out the new Applewood Smoked Bacon Deluxe. Fortunately, there's already a review of it from BaconToday.com – and they love it! Time to head down to Wendy's this week or next, I think, and chow down.

Dec 16 – Seeing Red

Sacrilege! Shocking news today for redhead fans around the world: a British ad was banned today for suggesting that redheads are unattractive! Incredibly, it was from Virgin Media... flabbergasting that redheads, the rarest of beauties, should be so shamed by such a large company. I'm swearing off anything Virgin from now on.

My Christmas shopping has been finished for quite some time now, but if you're still looking for a few more gifts, it can't hurt to check out DealNews.com – the place reports the best deals to be found from all around the internet. It's US-based though, in case you're wondering when your order( from whatever site you check out the deals from )will arrive.

The rain came today, in copious amounts which washed away all the snow – what little there was, actually. All that was left was... this.

Dec 17 – Surf's Up!

Hurray! I received an email today informing me that a NEW episode of Stoked was available for download from iTunes – just goes to show you have to make mention of something to get one's wheels greased, or somesuch. Now where's my elephant?!?!

Form large to small: who doesn't like hobbits? A while back I ran across this rather nice design for a model hobbit house, though it was obviously made with a smaller budget than the movies had. Today I ran across a rather larger version – it's in Switzerland! Built into the side of a hill, it's just darn amazing to think that someone lives there... very, very cool, even if it doesn't look much like Bilbo's place does.

Sweet – some Left4Dead2 news from the co-project lead himself! It's a brief interview, where among other things the possibility of vehicles is mentioned – how much more sweet would that be? Driving over zombies... the heart flutters!

Dec 18 – Feeling Blue?

Avatar opened in theatres today, with ten-foot-tall blue aliens prancing about the screen to draw your eye to the incredibly expensive special effects – word is the movie cost close to $400 million USD. Staggering! I can't deny that what I've seen from the trailers is mind-blowing, and the reviews at RottenTomatoes.com look quite favourable. I'll have to make the effort to get out and see it, as I haven't been going to the movies much these last few years – the last one I made an effort to go see was the new Star Trek, and I missed the latest Transformers release. Ah well – that's what DVD is for.

Today on EP Daily, I saw this: Hard Drive, an online comic that looks rather cool. Digging into a bit of the background, a lot of the art is created in interesting ways, including heavy use of 3D models – unusual for a 2D comic medium, even an online one. Worth checking out.

Some major health news today: while I was at the doctor's today to get my regular flu shot, we discussed some blood work results from a few weeks ago. I had asked him to retest me for Thalassemia, and today I got the news back: I do NOT have Thalassemia. In fact, my blood work came back as normal – how's that for a kick in the pants after 30+ years of thinking you have defective platelets?

Dec 19 – Nuclear Tongues

Strange how my days off tend to vanish if I don't pay close attention, much like today. In between catching up on household tasks, talking to a few friends online, watching episodes of Stargate: Atlantis and playing Left4Dead2, it was evening before I knew it. Lucas called with a heads-up for MW2, so I hopped on after dinner and blasted away merrily for a few hours – didn't do too badly either.

Still no sign of Fallout3: Game of the Year Edition, it's sold out all across the area. I stopped in at F.Shop across the road after work today just to check: the last shipment was supposed to be in Dec. 11^th, a week ago. So there's going to be a few disappointed people this Christmas when it doesn't come in. Not me though – I have a raincheck( or is that raincheque? )so I can wait for the stock, as the price is right.

Have a mutant tongue? Why not wreck a nice beach and check out these tongue twisters. There's some real mandible-manglers in there!

Dec 20 – Well, shoot...

The new landlords were busy from 9am this morning, noisily redoing the downstairs again today. They've moved the main entry door, added a steel fire door at the bottom of the stairs, cut away walls... it's quite the reno downstairs. I've had a few peeks in there while they've been working, as well as when they've done some work on the rest of the place – it's MUCH improved, and they're not even half begun yet!

MW2 today was hit and miss... aw heck, who am I kidding? It was mostly miss. I was lucky to have two or three games where I had more kills than deaths – those ones weren't half bad. For the rest, I struggled not to snap my controller in half in some games where I'd barely get a few steps before getting mowed down by players I'd never even see. It was a rather frustrating experience.

Still, it can't be as frustrating as this guy's marriage... to a video game character? Only in Japan, I guess – I just hope he signed a pre-nup.

That's about it – I hope you found this interesting, as I work hard to ensure that I don't repeat myself. For over 2 years, every week, I've kept that promise to myself... and to my readers. Ta!

Stoked, Swiss and Space

Dec 6 – Stoked?

Have you ever wondered about what's happened previously today, in history? Check out today's date at Brainy History.com – sadly, today is the 20^th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, but I'm sure there are far more happier events lurking in the lists than that. Though if we fail to learn the lessons of history, we're screwed – to paraphrase things a bit.

Last week was a long, long week at work getting my new employee up to speed with things – three days clocked in around 11 hours on average, with phone calls off-shift adding to the total. Still, I'm pleased with their progress – I am confident the details will follow as they get more experience with the open-concept branch operations. Tiring though - very tiring.

I'm still waiting for the rest of Stoked to become available on iTunes... my Season's Pass seems rather worthless to me, with only TWO episodes available for the ENTIRE 'season' for download. Very, very frustrating. For now, I'm going to cruise through all the shows that MetaCafe.com has to offer( for free! )since they're not US-based and so don't deny most everything to people outside of their borders.


Dec 7 – Northward Travel

 

Today I worked a shift at our Duncan store, which is less than an hour away( on a good day )from Langford on the Trans-Canada Highway. It was a nice drive up during the day... on dry roads( and signs are up now stating cars in winter on the Malahat MUST have snow tires or chains ). It was a different story on the way home: the scenic Malahat is a twisting, curving ribbon of road that is extremely hazardous to your health in bad weather, or at night in good weather. Here in BC there are far fewer guardrails on major roadways – as I've mentioned before, it seems that all these trees are meant to subsitutute for said safety features. It's still not nearly as dangerous as the Yungas Road in Brazil – I saw a TV special on that earlier this year that made my hair stand on end.


Tm Horton's was in the news again today, this time in the town of Kingston ON, which has it in for the franchise's drive-thrus. Seems that Kingston doesn't want all those idling cars polluting, and is battling Timmy's over it. Weird, eh?

Maybe they should flip a coin to settle the matter – or not! Today a study was released that showed the traditional coin-toss is far less impartial than you might think. According to researchers, only a few minutes of training with a person was necessary to adversely affect the results of coin tosses, so much so that some people could achieve incredibly skewed results. Darn it.


Dec 8 – Spaceship 'splosions!

What's with all the rebooting? According to io9.com, these last ten years could very well be called the Decade of the Reboot, with the huge number of old shows and movies that were mined to create new profit and further the franchises therein.

Space battles... ever since the days of colour television, they've steadily improved along with visual effects technology. Io9.com has a great article( with video examples! )of some of the best space battles of all time, and why we love them so. I've been playing Gratuitous Space Battles on and off a few times a week, as new ship design ideas come to me – so far I've beaten most of the battles and am concentrating now on the 'infinite' scenarios to try and get my fleet to survive a little longer each time.


With my recent discovery that my eyes are changing focus( again ), I found my thoughts turning to other aspects of the inevitable aging process, including memory. Ironically, I remembered a site I bookmarked a long while back, called MindTools.com, which has a great set of articles on how to improve your memory. Worth a look, so don't forget to check them out – you can also try this interesting flash game designed to test your ability to separate words from colours; it's harder than you think.

Dec 9 – Touch The Apple
 News came down the pipe today that Apple is launching a handheld touchscreen computer in Spring 2010, looking to compete with the recent e-book readers that have come out from Amazon and Sony. So instead of an iPhone, you will get a much more functional machine... that is less portable. Kind of like an Apple Netbook, but with a touchscreen instead.

Here's something else that is quite portable: the Swiss Bike. Over the years, I've often wished I could just toss my bike into the back of the car some days, whenever the situation warranted my needing to use the car and not the bicycle – like driving to a great park for an afternoon of trail riding, for example. With the Swiss Bike, the whole thing folds up to stow neatly away in the trunk... and for a not-unreasonable price, compared to quality bikes costing thousands that are frankly more than I'll ever need.


This one's for you Mike: collectable fast-food glass sets from yesteryear. Ah, the glory days of Star Wars, when Vader was evil AND cool, and not a whiny teenager gone bad...

Dec 10 – Mechs? Bricks? Aliens?

 Who doesn't like giant robots? I mean, they're just... cool. Nothing But Mech is a great blog that has lots of amazing mech / robot material posted on it all the time – check out some of the designs there! Those robots may be running on batteries though, as to date nobody's been able to figure out a way to power them. For about ten years now, I've been using rechargeable batteries for most of my electronic gear, starting with Pure Energy AA and AAA's from Walmart. Unfortunately, Pure Energy products tended to fizzle, fade and even explode messily after a few years, so after moving to BC I switched to the Hybrid Rechargable batteries from Rayovac. These Hybrids are unique in several ways: they can be recharged in any battery charger, can be charged thousands of times, have no memory effect and most importantly retain their charge over periods of 6 months or more between charges! So far, the last claim has proven to be quite true, as I have flashlights that I use once every few weeks or so that take many months before needing to be charged again.

A blast from the past today too: it seems that an old Amiga gaming favourite of mine, Alien Breed, is being brought to Xbox Live Arcade on Dec 16^th. Called Alien Breed: Evolution, the game is from the same folks who made the original back in 1991: Team 17. Check out this short video comparing the two – the quantum leaps video game technology have made in twenty years are quite apparent.


And what's with this? Apparently someone stole a brick from an art gallery in the UK ... an ordinary brick that's worth thousands of pounds, accoding to the artist. Reminds me of the hubbub about Voice of Fire back in 1989, when the National Gallery of Canada bought it for $1.8 million... your tax dollars at work.

Dec 11 – Mall Fallout


This wouldn't fit into the news from yesterday, so I'll mention it here: Natalie Portman( a fave actress of mine )will be starring in, and producing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which is exactly what it sounds like. I mean, Portman and zombies? Excellent... too bad I had to hear about it from Variety magazine – I feel like I was standing in line at the grocery store for too long and picked over the mags on the rack at the checkout. Ick.

Fallout3: Game of the Year Edition went on sale today at Future Shop for $29.99 – an incredible price! Which explains why they were immediately sold out, offline and on... of course. I'll see if I can pick it up later in the week, which means I'll have to check daily to see if any stock comes in – no rainchecks and no competitors will price-match if there's none in stock. Of course.


Part of the apocalyptic theme today: Ghost Malls of America. Yes, you read it right... creepy, and they'd make a zombie feel right at home.

Dec 12 – To the Moon, Alice!

Tonight I finally got around to watching Stargate: Continuum, which was the second of the Stargate SG-1 made-for-DVD movies to come out( the first being The Ark of Truth ). Overall, I thought the special effects were good, the story so-so, and the acting excellent.

Closer to reality: the first commercial space flight service was announced yesterday by Virgin Galactic. Slated to start in 2011, the one-hour flight has a ticket cost of $200,000 USD, which is incredibly cheap compared to the millions previously paid to date by private citizens to get into space. I'll add it to my 'Things to Do When I Win The Lottery' list.


Christmas this year is going to be a quiet affair; my sister is unable to visit and we are not going anywhere ourselves as all our relatives and friends are back east. WE're not big on gift-giving, and if anything have scaled down even more after moving out west. Still, a few small somethings will change hands, and I've been looking at digital picture frames as one of the things to get for my parents – they have literally thousands of pictures that they don't look at as often as they'd like to. What better way than to have a digital display? My own television can display pictures via a USB key, but it's wasteful of power to leave it on all day displaying images in a room they don't usually go into. Some of those frames are rather pricey, and the cheaper ones have so-so resolution, so I'll have to shop carefully to avoid getting a dud... not to mention TEST it first to find out of there are any stuck pixels.

Dec 13 – Let the Renovations... continue!

The new landlords got to work early today, getting the renovations running downstairs at 8:45am. On their list today? Knocking a hole in the east foundation wall to make room for a window, allowing a second bedroom to be added in the apartment. According to local bylaws, bedrooms in any addition HAVE to have a window, or cannot be used as such. So for most of the day, there was banging, jackhammering and generally loud goings-on down there, which drove my parents out of the house. As for me, I was too busy all day playing MW2 to really notice, save for the jackhammer vibrations every so often, and the few times that power had to be shut off while they checked connections in the wall.

On the weather side, it snowed here for the first time today – until now, it's only been a layer of frost on the coldest mornings for the last few weeks that's vanished as the morning warmed up. Today it took until noon for the snow to say goodbye, and the skies remained leaden grey all day long – a sign that we may have a white Christmas here after all. I hope that we don't get as much as we did last year around this time as I mentioned in my blog then – we'll see. It might mean I'll be spending more time indoors – but not as much as today, when I spent around 12 hours sitting on my couch overall – yikes!

Overall? This week was over before I noticed – quite a few days had me going solid from sunup to snooze-time and everywhere in between. My energy levels have held fairly steady, though I've noticed that my lack of cycling( it's cold out there! )has brought things down a bit for me. I'm still exploring various food options, and may even look into a more balanced alkai diet, depending on my consultations with my doctor. For now, it's sleep, de-stressing and some sunlamp time for the winter.

zzzzZZZzzzZzzz