People, Places and Pyjamas

The word of the week is defenestration - it’s windows-related.

Oct 11 – Highway Messages

Was there Life Before Facebook? Oh wait, it was called MySpace.com, that’s right – but nobody goes there any more. Back in the day, answering machines had remote message access, so you could check them from work. Some of you may recall when for a time I changed my answering machine message daily to reflect what I was up to that day – which was really precursor to people’s Facebook Status Updates of today. Somehow I was far ahead of my time in that regard... but never got any credit for it, as it was pre-internet. Dang.

There was a distinct lack of traffic on the highway today, due to the holiday – normally the entire route is a parking lot from 6:30-9:30am ( read the comments! )or thereabouts. There’s been a lot of talk over the last few years about how to solve this Monday-to-Friday weekly problem, ranging from dedicated transit lanes and light-rail links to car pooling( my pick for least-costly ). Finding a solution to the ‘Colwood Crawl’ is something that needs doing soon – I live outside of Greater Victoria, and don’t travel in as much as I could simply because there’s no transit to where I live. Even if there was, I would have to ensure that if I had a 9-5 job in the city I would leave around 6am to get there on time... and that’s just not right, in my mind.

Oct 12 – Beans And Bones

This week I’ve been varying my visits to The Mountain Bean, as my usual time( twice a week or so )has me there in later afternoon before closing. It’s the best time for thinking, writing, relaxing and surfing, as there’s usually nobody there. Mornings are nice, but unfortunately they also tend to fill up with young mothers and young children – nothing wrong with them enjoying themselves, be it ever so... loud. Just goes to show that I was raised to be TOO quiet a kid, I think, as I seem to expect stellar behaviour from stranger’s kids... and when it doesn’t happen within a few minutes, I tend to leave them to their boisterous enjoyment which they are fully entitled to and head for more quiet climes with my tea to go.

Oooooh.... WAY too cool news for Wolverine fans: titanium bones are a reality! A new substance called ‘titanium foam’ has been developed that can be used to bond with bone and make it stronger. An article over at NewScientist.com has all the details, though for now it looks to be useful only for bone grafts and long-gap replacement situations. No word yet on making it into an injectable liquid... stay tuned!

Oct 13 – Hump Day Sucks

What a crappy day – I was called in on my day off to let an employee go today, which really stinks, as we’re not so large a company that you don’t get to know people well. In this particular person’s case, I’d tried all I could think of and more to bring them up to speed at work, as well as listening to their other problems from outside of work. Unfortunately, the personal issues proved too much, and were affecting their work to the point where my DM made the decision to let them go. I honestly feel this was the best thing for the employee, as they need to figure out what direction their life needs to take and to get things sorted out in their head. It’s going to be a stinky week for the rest of us, as we all worked closely  and wanted things to work so badly... but it was obvious at this point that improvements had to come from inside. Still sucks big-time; it was too gorgeous a day out for things to work out like they did.

If I had a billion dollars... would I build the world’s largest personal residence with it? Maybe, or maybe not – that’s a lot to spend to put a roof over your head. Yet an Indian tycoon has just completed his massive home’s construction in Mumbai – as you can see, it has 5 heliports, a staff of 600 and is over five hundred feet high. Makes you wonder about his electrical bill....

Oct 14 – Miners and Bandwidth

The last of the 33 trapped Chilean miners reached the surface today, ending a months-long ordeal that has been followed by billions as it unfolded. Seeing things come to a happy end honestly surprised me, as there was no real way to know if the miners could be reached in time in their shelter before time ran out on their supplies. I’m sure there will be movies made about this epic survival story, and one has to wonder how much the lives of those 33 miners are going to change... even 20 years from now, they will likely still be famous in some way, even if it’s just in Chile. The world has a short memory for these things... but we do like to be reminded when it comes to happy endings for people enduring fate’s touch.

Uh oh... as I mentioned above, we have traffic jams on a regular basis here in Victoria, but news today that there’s soon going to be the same thing on the wireless cell phone networks? An article in the local Victoria Times Colonist states that the spectrum used by smartphones is 10 times that of a normal phone, and if you’re on a laptop( with a wireless cell fob )then you use up to 1,300 times the bandwidth – ouch! Mind you, people are paying through the nose for massive data plans( which I think is wrong )but the bandwidth has to come from somewhere. Having an always-connected device on you can also be bad for your health, as we just don’t know enough about the long-term effects of radio waves on the human body at close range. So don’t sleep with your phone under your pillow until we know more.

Oct 15 – Half as much stress is good!

I’m filling in at the Millstream branch all this week, covering the shifts that were left vacant when my employee was let go on Wed. It looks like things are going to be settled there by next week, so I’ll be taking my leave of running both branches and focusing simply on Colwood. It’s a relief to me, as I’ve been quite exhausted trying to keep my head above the paperwork tide in addition to keeping abreast of the day-to-day operations. Being in charge of just a single branch is exactly what I need to keep my energy levels stable and my mind less packed with too much needing done now. By this time next week, my worries will be solely confined to Colwood, but I have a solid staff there too that I’m very proud of to assist me in keeping the place running in top form.

Some good financial news arrived in the mail yesterday for my parents, so that’s taken a fair deal of pressure off us for the remainder of the year. I actually slept well last night for the first time in many, many months, despite the stresses from Wednesday’s situation. Strange how things tend to fall into place when you’re not looking( huzzah! )as yesterday was a good example. While in town for a doctor’s appointment, we looked in the window of the pharmacy next door and beheld a new personal walker on sale for a LOT less than we’ve seen anywhere else( after looking for a year! ). Thanks to the good news, we were able to snap it up immediately for my mother, whose non-replaced knee has worsened recently and made mobility hard for her. So within 24 hours we went from trying to budget for the walker somehow to simply being able to buy one at a fantastic price, and she’s incredibly happy.

Oct 16 - Shapes

Architecture fascinates me... not that I’ve done much in the way of designing, but I’ve come to appreciate the new design ideas that one comes across when surfing the wide world ‘net. One such design is Above Below which is featured at Trendhunter.net – it’s described as an ‘underground skyscraper’ which seems like an oxymoron until you get a look at it. There’s also a ton of other unique designs showcased on the same page at Trendhunter.net, which I happily spent a while browsing through – I especially like underground houses for their efficiency, though not as much for their views...

Hokay, I’ll be the first to admit I could be in better shape... though I’ve lost 30 lbs since I arrived in Victoria, I haven’t converted the rest into sculpted-muscle studliness – yet. Now word comes down that in the interim while my fitness routine ramps up, I can always digitally edit my image in real time via MovieReshape – how’s that??? Go have a look and you won’t believe your eyes – you can literally move a slider and watch yourself changed from blob to buff on the fly. So you can retroactively edit those not-so-flattering videos of your latest vacation to match your currently-buff bod... and ask yourself why you didn’t get into shape back then before you tried on those really unflattering swimsuits.

Oct 17 - Pyjamas

Yeah, I worry about a lot of things... not as many lately as I have in the past, but many of the same recurring themes. One of those is what happens if my laptop is stolen... which is why I resurrected my old clunker to carry around with me and that has no personal information on it. I could always encrypt my data to keep it safe, but it’d slow things down even more. What I worry more about is if someone breaks into my home – just imagine all the personal information you have laying about, unguarded, as well as the easy access to your home computer. You DO have a password on yours, right? What about your personal data, like tax forms, bank account info and yes, even lists of passwords? Have a look at what one guy learned about losing his laptop and how to protect your info from thieves – worthwhile.

I spent only half a shift at work today, with some hours free in the afternoon that I’d hoped to spend with Renee – she and I had coffee for a few hours yesterday. However, I ended up going out to The Station House pub for dinner with some friends from work, and their friends, which was great as I haven’t been getting out much lately at all. We all spent a good few hours enjoying each other’s company and I left a few of them there still, talking about a drunken pyjama party... unfortunately, not something I could really attend in the capacity as their boss, despite their entreaties. I also don’t own any pyjamas, come to think of it... ah well. Still a great time.

No news on the dating front this week due to a cold – maybe this week, when I might have ticket news about me heading back to Niagara as of Oct. 25^th!!!

Scores, Sandman and Starship Sofa

The word of the week is prescient. Are you?

Oct 4 – That’s a lot of Texting...

Have you seen the Cigar Guy internet Meme yet? If not, go have a look – it involves Tiger Woods, in a peripheral way, and may serve to boost his career... again. I find it fascinating that we live in an age of such instant communication that a simple picture can launch a thousand tributes... or a song can launch a career, such as with Justin Bieber. Given the choice, I’d take Cigar Guy on the TV any day of the week.

Text messages are becoming my bane; Renee prefers them as a method of communication. Sadly, my LG Shine phone from a few years ago is great in many ways, but does not have a QUERTY keyboard. I’m considering an upgrade to a new phone soon anyway as my contract expires in a month( I despise phone contracts!!! )so I’m looking at low-cost models with a full keyboard for texting . I don’t really want to splurge on a ‘super smartphone’ right now, as my instinct tells me that there will be a MUCH better offering on the market by this time next year, so I’m looking for suggestions / deals with Telus phones. No iPhones either, though a used one may be just the ticket... but it’d have a virtual keyboard. Can’t win with that.

Oct 5 – Long Day, Creeping By

A long day today; one of the girls from the Millstream store had trouble opening the safe this morning, so I trucked on down there to help... in the process witnessing a fender-bender at a stop right in front of me. A new driver failed to wait for a truck turning left in front of her and rammed it, fortunately not at any great speed – the sound of metal boxes slamming together is quite distinct but fortunately nobody was hurt. I left my name and number as a witness and scooted to work, where I then took 2 hours off due to demands on the car and spent the time at the local library – I read Neil Gaiman’s The Kindly Ones, a Sandman graphic novel. Spectacular. The rest of the day slid by solidly until I closed the store.

Most of you out there know that I am very, very careful about what personal information I put up online – FB is a good example, as I don’t use my real last name, just my pen name. It’s just too easy to put bits and pieces together from sources all over the ‘net that as a whole can be damaging in various ways. I was reminded of this today, as a co-worker asked if I had ‘creeped’ anyone online via FB or Google yet – the thought hadn’t occurred to me, but apparently that’s what everyone does nowadays...?  I can see the merits in it, as you might get lucky and find out a bit of info, but on the other hand, what if you find out something that you don’t like? Tough choices.

Oct 6 – Starship Sofa Super-ness!

Congrats to Brian for his ramping up of his uber-involvement as Art Director for StarshipSofa beginning this month! Way To Go Buddy!  Brian’s been with S.Sofa for some time now, and put me onto listening to his Hugo-Award-Winning audio magazine... my iPod Nano’s full of episodes that I listen to whenever I can; there’s always a good story in there and the host Tony C. Smith does an amazing job every show. I highly recommend a listen!

Hmmm... having Wednesdays off worked out this week – the weather was perfect! Of course, life couldn’t let me have perfection, as when I walked over to The Mountain Bean a little after lunch for a few hours relaxing outside... they were closed, with an apologetic note in the window. So I brewed up some tea and settled for my balcony instead, complete with peanut butter cookies. Earl Grey with Vanilla is spectacular, by the way – very smooth and definitely a different taste.

Oct 7 – No Niagara News, Just Local TV

Still no word about the plane tickets to Niagara, and my vacation at the end of October is fast approaching. I’m hoping that they will arrive this week, so I can let everyone know that I’m heading down – right now, it’s still up in the air. *ba-da-boom* I’ll send out an email ASAP once they arrive!

This doesn’t happen every day: my mom was on local television today, being interviewed. She’d written a letter into the station about the lack of transit( of any kind )here on Bear Mountain... and today they sent out a reporter to record an interview with her on the subject of interest! Have a look below( sorry about the audio, Blogger.com seems to have converted the video w/o it. Working on it! ):

Oct 8 – Writings and Workingz

Does anybody out there keep a journal? A diary? A mini-blog? A private stash of letters to themselves that nobody will ever read? I’m curious; as I’ve been writing this blog for almost 3 years solid, I’m wondering if anyone else out there does anything similar. I know there are some obsessive cases of people documenting their entire lives, but as I’ve said before in this blog, mine’s not interesting enough to put down that much detail day to day. Maybe some future sociologist will revel in collecting the textual detritus of blogs into a comprehensive picture of our current Cultural Age, but I doubt any of my entries will be there. Who can say how long Blogger.com will stay online? A decade? A century? Will it be archived for posterity in deep underground Google Vaults? We’ll have to see what the future brings.

Fridays at work are much better than they’ve been, with four people scheduled for the day. It makes things so much easier when the lobby fills up, and the customers are happier that they have less time spent waiting in line. It also helps that I have a fine crew, who keep improving their skills day to day and get along famously with each other – no prima donnas or woe-is-me types at all. Makes me smile!

Oct 9 – Savings and Scrubbed Dates

I know I keep throwing them out there, but I do find a lot of interesting and useful sites for your edification: SparkSavings.com is no exception. You can register to use its free financial tools, which are great for budgets, calculating spending habits and learning from other people’s experiences with finance – for free! I’m all about the free, as I’ve said before... with the ‘net at your fingertips, you can find tons of great advice. You just have to learn which bits to take, and which to ignore. Simple, right?

This evening was a bit of a wash, so I spent it in - talking on the phone, mostly, for the later part of the evening right up until midnight. Not a date night, though the weather was rather calm and balmy, for all that.

Oct 10 – Super Score... 42?

Seeing as I worked today, there was little chance of my catching a few games online with my friends on Xbox, as we usually do on Sundays. But, to my surprise, Dave was still online when I logged in after 8pm, and we jumped into a solid few hours of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The last game of the night was a long drag-out fight with tiny 4-man teams that took the better part of 45 mins – I had the highest score I’ve ever dreamed of from it! 29,743 in total, with 26 pins that included a TON of long-term experience earnings... I was flabbergasted, really, and will be hard-put to ever equal that again. So I mention it here and now – huzzah!

What an auspicious date today: 10/10/10 – the perfect score in many an Olympic sport or contest, and just plain lucky to boot. Today is also ’42 Day’ in celebration of that legendary number from The Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – rather an awkward name for a day, really, but it gets the point across. Seeing as I recently missed Talk Like A Pirate Day, I’ll be sure to mark this one on the calendar... and check it every 42 days, give or take. Thanks for the heads-up on this one, Brian... I’ll send you a nice towel as a thank-you. Oh, and it’s today’s date as 101010 in binary that turns out to be the number 42. Cool, eh?

And... that’s all for now except for: Newt And John! Have you checked it out this week yet? Stop reading this blog and go now! It’s the Silent Treatment!

Starships, Shadows and Surprises

The word of the week is facetious, as its use surprised and thrilled me during a film this week.

Sept 27 – Niagara In October? Really???

Really, really exciting news, folks: a friend of my sister’s has come forward to return a big favour that she was able to help him with... and he works for WestJet. So you can see where this is going: I might just be getting tickets to let me visit Niagara- just in time for my vacation at the end of THIS MONTH!  More on this breaking news story as it develops... I’ve scheduled myself off from Oct. 23^rd to Nov 1^st, so I’ll likely be going from the 25^th to the 1^st inclusive – I’m so excited I can hardly stand it! So I sat down to write this.

Some things are too good to last, darn it. Such is the case with Xmarks, a free service that syncs bookmarks across ALL browsers on ALL the computers that you use – until you use it, you can’t imagine how great it is. Being able to pop open any browser( Chrome, FireFox, IE, Opera )and have access to the same bookmarks, even ones you’ve just updated, is very liberating. Until the news comes down that Xmarks is closing up shop soon due to a declining business model – read the sad story here, and lament its impending loss in 2011.

Sept 28 – Minecraft starships?

Jeepers, something I’ve thought about doing( briefly and without much aforethought ): building up a spaceship in a 3D modelling program for my own amusement. Well, someone’s done that one better plus a million - he built a 1:1 scale model of the Enterprise-D inside a game called Minecraft, which makes it easy to make things out of meter-square polygon blocks. Check out the video below, and the comments section on the link( if you click it ) – it’s stunning to ponder how much time this must have taken!

For all those with some spare time who are aspiring writers out there, of all walks and words, here’s something I ran across:  How To Write A Book. It’s technical in parts, but it has some excellent advice, including the bits that every writer should know, like patience and perseverance. Oh, and have something good to talk about – nobody wants to read a book about socks, unless you really, really know socks. Write what you know, right?

Sept 29 – Finances and Family Thoughts

What do you think about parenthood, those of you who are parents? I’ve had a thought jogging around in my head for years, that’s had no solid answer – it’s about liscencing. We teach people to drive and certify them with a liscence; we issue a liscences for fishing, for firearms and for medical practice. Why, then, don’t we liscence people to have kids? Now, before your brain clamps down on that thought, think about it: we all know people who would make lousy parents, as well as people who make great ones. Who’s to say that basic courses in parenting might not make the world a better place? After all, kids take similar courses in high school; why not make things official with a Bureau of Parenting? Any thoughts?

Every so often I throw this back into the blog, as I think it’s vitally important that people take the time each week to think about their finances. Not planning ahead, even a little, can easily lead to a fiscal stumble when you least want or need it. Free Financial Advice.net is a great place to add to your fiscal toolbox, even if it’s just to perk up your basic budgeting tips. Sadly, most people would rather book a dental drilling appointment than make a budget... which would tell them they can’t afford a dentist. Ironic, no?

Sept 30 – Date Numero Duex

Being in a rush is not a great way to start a second date, but tonight timing( as always )was everything. Rush straight from work to clean off the car, rush home to freshen up, rush out to grab a bite to eat on the way to the movie theatre... in plenty of time to meet the lovely Renee to see Inception. She had already seen it twice before but was eager to see it again, due to the high level of complexity to the plot – it’s enough to warrant its own visual Inception infographic, based as it is on multiple levels of dreams. We had a great time talking about the film, especially the concept of limbo and dreams, and we definitely want to see each other again. Now it’s just a question of when, and where. Hangliding, maybe? Maybe not; not a lot of opportunity to talk, there. We shall just have to see!

Yes! News today that the 2003 game Beyond Good & Evil is being re-released for the Xbox in 2011! If you’ve never played the original, you’ve missed out as it’s a fantastic game – and I’ve missed out too, as the darn thing never wanted to get past the first chapter on any of the systems I’ve installed it on. Good ol’ defective discs, but at last I’ll be able to enjoy it in HD-quality when it comes out next year. The voice acting in the game was stellar, so that will be a highlight to experience again in 5.1-ish sound – I’ve packed away my Logitech stereo while I am in my current place, so headphones will have to suffice. For now.

Oct 1 – No Clouds and Cars

What a gorgeous day it was today outside – I saw it well through the many windows at work! Seems that Summer decided to grace us with some stunning sunny weather outside; it went up to 23 degrees outside and hordes of people strode by just soaking it up. Since I worked a split shift, I took a few hours off and sat outside myself, enjoying some root beer at the nearby Colwood A&W while watching the world go by. As days go, it was about as mellow a start to the month as it gets – thanks, Mama Nature! You can see how kind she is to Victoria here – we get enough sunshine that we export it some years.

Those of you who know me well, know that I have a fascination with combining cars and guns( and rockets and minedroppers and... )inspired by the old Car Wars game system. So when I heard that there’s soon going to be a direct-to-DVD release of Death Race 2, I was rather jubilant. The fact that it stars Ving Rhames( Surrogates ), Danny Trejo( Machete )and Sean Bean( Lord Of The Rings )is just icing on the bullet-riddled napalm-soaked cake. Can’t wait for this one; pass the cheese!

Oct 2 – Warrior Clay and Characters

Oh, fer cryin’ out loud... I was looking forward to next year’s Chinese Terracotta Army exhibition at the Royal Museum of BC here in Victoria, but I found out today that China has decided to cancel the tour after it finishes this coming year in Montreal. This is very disappointing, as the Terracotta Soldiers are some of the most amazing artifacts discovered anywhere in the world this century. I recall several visits to the ROM in Toronto as a child, to see Egyptian mummies and dinosaur skeletons; those exhibits filled me with a wonder about the world that I still carry with me to this very day. Maybe I can plan on a trip to Montreal before next summer? Hmmm.

Tonight, I retired an online persona, one I’ve used for some years online in MSN and a character some of you may be familiar with in passing: Nichneven. It’s been a blast to use her as an avatar, but as the years piled on I felt it was unfair to my NWN friends to continue to use a facade instead of my ‘real’ persona, despite many aspects of Nichneven being my own – the offbeat sense of humour most of all. In the end, I simply folded Nich away like a well-loved set of clothes and put her away for a while to rest, with the help of a good friend in MSN. We’ll see when she comes out next, but for now I am happy to just be myself... moreso than I have been for a while.

Oct 3 – Shadows and Silliness

This morning I watched Man On The Moon with Jim Carey, which was quite different than I expected – Jim’s manic energy really came through on the screen in his depiction of comic genius Andy Kauffman. It was hard to tear my eyes away from the screen in parts; separating the joke from the reality was very difficult and the old “Never Cry Wolf” adage came to mind at the end, when his cancer was announced. Definitely not a date movie, that’s for sure – I’ve been compiling a short list of those of late. *grin*

Aha, found at last! As I was digging through what I thought was a bag of newspaper clippings, I stumbled across a whole pile of books and magazines from my childhood. Fondly remembered is the February 1983 issue of Epic Illustrated, for its mix of great tales and fanciful illustrations, along with... my cherished copy of Ambassador Of The Shadows! I’ve been searching for years for that book( even on eBay and elsewhere! )yet all this time it’s been residing safely quiet between stacks of old papers – I had the foresight back then to bag all my papers with desiccant paks, so there’s not a hint of must or mildew from their long storage. I’m settling in tonight to read through Ambassador, which was echoed a decade later in the storyline of Babylon 5 – strange how life works like that, sometimes. Go nostalgia!

Sometimes things startle you; this weekend I bought a few new pairs of jeans for the first time in a long while, as I’ve dropped down to a 32 waist this year. Amazing what stress and exercise combined can do to a person. Not that I’m thrilled with the reasons, but it’s nice to be trimmer than I’ve been for a bit.

Dates, Demises and Dr. Ned

The word of the week is sanguine. For various reasons.

Sept 20 – Planets and People

Just this week, I’ve finished watching the third season of The Guild, a web-based show that I like very much – not only because it’s writer / star Felicia Day is very engaging, but also because it has been made outside the traditional Hollywood system. Being financed almost on a by-the-episode basis for the first year, it’s engaging to watch knowing that it was created by a small group of people on a tiny budget, yet manages to make itself seem so much larger in scope. No cheesy CGI either, for that matter – heck, they even made a great music video:

Tonight was cool and clear, perfect for stargazing – planetgazing, in fact. It was perfect for a viewing of Jupiter, which made its closest pass to Earth since 1963, allowing people with simple telescopes a rare opportunity in the sky. With a little patience, we managed to zero in on the Planet of Storms – the sky was crisp enough that we could even see four of it’s moons as bright dots around the planet itself! Being able to see part of our solar system so easily, right from home, brought a connection that I found quite intriguing – knowing that people may visit the planet within my lifetime sent a shiver down my spine.

Sept 21 – Media Crossed

To tablet? To iPad? To iPhone? While I’ve been considering writing an article on why I don’t need any of these recent tech toys for my own life, for various reasons, another writer has written about his experience with the iPad over the last 5 months. He makes some interesting points about trends in accessing media, which seems to be the way things are going now – the Boxee is an excellent example of a device that lets you get at your media collection easily. Heck, even Netflix has arrived in Canada this month, so I’ll be checking that out soon enough, though I think I may have to up the bandwidth for my ‘net connection to make it really shine – the ‘light’ version I have isn’t really good enough for all we do here daily.

Ah do love a good cross-section: seeing a piece of technology rendered in a three-quarters view with all the internals displayed is just fantastic, I could look for hours through books of those kinds of drawings. Which I do, as I have a fair number of the Star Wars Cross-Sections books, as well as a cherished large matte posterboard of the Enterprise D – with some technical glitches included. So when I saw this article on io9.com about Robocop cross-sections, I clicked faster than I had in some time... and was entranced. ED-209!!

Sept 22 – First Date!

I had the day off today, which I feel I spent very well: I went on a date. For lunch, over at The Black Stilt cafe in Victoria – but I didn’t actually get to eat any lunch, as I was totally absorbed in conversation. Her name is Renee, and spent almost three hours seated at the window, chatting about all sorts of things. It was a really great first date, one that I felt only a little nervousness on. It ended far too soon, but she was definite about seeing each other again; she plays the flute! It was a lovely, charming day for me – and for her, from what I could tell.

I spent the evening at home, checking out a book I’d bought from Munroe Books across the road called Career Success Without A Real Job by Ernie J. Zelinski. It brings up some great points about working for a living, working for corporations and finding out that you don’t have to do both to be happy / successful. Since I’ve been considering the freelance writer’s life, as well as other non-regular paycheque income streams, it’s very interesting reading. Especially when I consider my lack of need for a ‘large’ income to support a big house / car / family / kids ... there’s some freedom there that can’t be overlooked by me. Sure looks like a better path than trying to get my head around the weird world of management...

Sept 23 – Energy and Zombies

Things have been on more of an even keel for me this week, moreso than in a long while - a new staffer has come online at work and is working out fantastically, so that helps a lot when trying to get work done. I’ve been adjusting my sleep schedule as well, waking up earlier and going to sleep well before midnight most days to try and stay on an even keel. I’ve even dragged out my sunlight-lamp( not a heat-lamp! )for those days where the clouds are thick and I need to keep myself feeling awake and energetic. So far, so good... we’ll see how the workplace pans out, as that’s where the vast majority of my stress arises from.

Further signs that zombies are going mainstream was spotted today on the roads of Victoria today: a Zombie Outbreak Response Team vehicle! I laughed out loud when I saw the Ford Aerostar van pass by, with one of the large logo signs plastered on the rear passenger windows. I think this sort of vehicular customization makes a lot more sense than those who spend thousands on vehicle add-ons that hold no resale value – plus it’s just a lot cooler-looking IMHO.

Sept 24 – Harlan???

What the heck? Brian emailed me today with the news that Harlan Ellison is dying! Damn, and here I thought the old axiom about only the good dying young was holding true for one of my favourite sci-fi authors. Interestingly, this week I picked up an anthology entitled Dangerous Vegetables by Keith Laumer... who was also friends with Harlan Ellison. In the foreward, Ben Bova writes “And, strangely, Keith and Harlan were friends with each other, but it was like the friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, built on mutual respect and admiration for each other’s talents rather than on softer sentiments.” I hope it’s just Harlan being Harlan, and not a prelude to his actual passing. Damn.

All right, it’s been a while since I’ve had anything breakfast-themed on the blog, so here’s a return to awesome: Batter Blaster. Organic pancakes in sprayable form... and word is, there will be bacon-flavoured varieties soon! I love pancakes, especially ones made in a solidly-seasoned cast-iron pan – having had many a pancake in my time from many parts of this country and others, I can say that there is a wide margin for error... it’s all in the batter, and you can tweak it as you like. My fave? Adding applesauce and cinnamon! With bacon on the side, of course.

Sept 25 - Inspiration

If you ever need some inspiration, when life seems to be getting you down, look no further than the following two stories. First, there is Terry Fox, who is a household name among Canadians decades after his attempt to run across the country. Recently, his route was retraced by a runner, who wanted to find the stories attached to the legend – and find them he did. Another inspiring person is the lesser-known Frenchman Philippe Croizon, who at age 42 recently swam the English Channel – with no arms or legs. If they could do what they did, then there’s no excuse for the able-bodied not to try to do as well, really.

Work stinks sometimes, especially when it comes down to timing. Tonight I tried my damndest to finish early, but work being work, things came up that demanded I not finish before 8pm, despite my wanting to. Why finish early? Well, there’s an indie band festival here called Rifflandia( that I learned existed this week )that runs this weekend... and my date from Wednesday played tonight at 7:30. I also found out that tickets weren’t being sold for individual venues and that the passes for the weekend had sold out earlier today, so I couldn’t get one even if I wanted to. Had I known yesterday, things would have been different... but I didn’t find out until today, so there was little I could do. So it goes sometimes. *sigh*

Sept 26 – Borderlands, plus Newt and John!

Darn – I woke up with a headache today due to the heavy overcast weather, but I set it aside so I could play a few good hours of Borderlands with Lucas! We finished off the majority of the DLC The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, which I’d played some portion of a few months ago but never finished – as usual. I have to say I love the visuals in the game, as well as the sense of humour that at times is very self-aware; it makes the game all that much more fun to play, on top of the excellent multiplayer experience it is already.

Holy episodes, Batman – Newt And John has reached their 40^th today! A milestone! If you haven’t already checked it out( and shame on you if not! )then click on over to the official website to start at the beginning, it’s just fantastic art. Mike Hogue does some stunning work with Flash, has worked on such projects as Stoked and Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets... it’s inspiring stuff. Scary too – those Shadow Puppets look too real to me! Go get ‘em Mike!

It’s strange sometimes writing this blog – it’s out there on the web for anyone to see, but only if I really tell people about it. Some folks on Facebook don’t know about it, and in general only some of my friends know about it... it’s got a lot about me in it, and at the least I don’t feel comfortable letting those I work with have access to it for various solid reasons. It helps me though, putting things down here – not in the sense of a diary, but more of a journal of where I am, and where I’m going... plus looking back at the blog shows me where I’ve been.

Tanks, Thundercats and Teh - Yes, Teh.

The word of the week is perseverance.

Sept 13 – Spider-Man

It’s been getting harder to deal with things hereabouts of late, as I’m so very tired and not on an even keel emotionally – it takes all my strength of will to keep myself level at work and perform as best I can. That leaves little in the way of niceties for after work, so my relationship with my parents has been a little strained as a result – those of you who know me well know that this isn’t intentional, but it’s still been happening a bit. We’ve managed thus far to avoid any problems, thanks to all of us being fairly well-adjusted people and the fact that we’ve been through a lot together over the years. Maybe I should write a book on the subject? I've got a fair amount of material here...

But enough of that: how about a smile? Have a look at Spiders On Drugs...

Sept 14 – Freelancing Flat TV’s

As I wandered around the ‘net today after work, I found two articles dealing with the pitfalls and joys of freelance writing. It’s something that I’ve considered on and off over the years, along with being a writer of other things... have a look, they’re quite good and involve face punching: Here, and here – enjoy.

It’s been almost 3 years since I purchased my LG TV, and it’s going quite strong... definitely a great choice. I see a lot of ‘slimmer’ sets are on the market now, including ones that have LED backlights that last longer, use less power and yadda yadda... some things just don’t justify buying a new TV when the old one works very well. Like 3D, or ‘quattron’ technology that adds a 4^th colour... I mean, really now – is that reason enough to buy a new, MUCH more expensive TV? I think not – I’ll keep my money for now and keep watching C|Net’s Tech Reviews every so often when they talk about the best TV’s... all of which are flat-panel, have streaming ‘net capabilities and still cost a fair sum. I wonder about the profit margins on them, too.

Sept 15 – Word Performance

A positive day today – it was my day off, but I spent most of the day at work delivering two positive performance reviews, which are rare in our company. Goes to show that the people I work with are really special, which makes me try to drag my own performance out of its funk all the more... At this point I wonder some days if I can get more right than wrong, and also wonder if EI would be a better thing for my sanity, if not my pocketbook. I’ve been running budgets on that, and no final word - so far.

Ever wonder about the word ‘teh’ at all? It’s creeping into our language, and you heard it here first – insidious, really. It’s replacing the word ‘to’ in common conversation, and my ears have cottoned onto it these last few months. The phrase “I go to work in the morning” has become “I go teh work in the morning” – not a big shift, but a shift nonetheless. Very much like noticing one model of car in the pack around you on the road, then seeing that car model stand out again and again, you may start noticing ‘teh’ more often, now that you’ve been told. See if you don’t.

Sept 16 – Top Gear Cadets

The popularity of the BBC TV show Top Gear continues to gather new fans, myself among them – what’s better than 3 car critics having a go at driving the latest cars, while also holding strange contests amongst themselves? With guest stars all vying for the fastest time around the track? Well, not much comes to mind car-wise – I did like that they really took a shine to the Mazda 6, which I’ve eyed for a bit as a vehicle, should I decide I really need one. Not that I’d do much ‘real’ driving, like they do on the show.

Erk! I pulled another 13-hour day today, give or take – I was at the Millstream branch for five hours, quite early, to do an audit. Then a brief break taken at A&W where I overheard to a naval cadet telling someone quite loudly on the phone about her money troubles – apparently they were bad enough that she had to fill in the entire restaurant at full volume, so I left after I couldn’t take it anymore. Work after that was a trial, but at least I didn’t have the problems the cadet had, which involved kneecaps and suchlike. Yikes!

Sept 17 – Tanks for Nothing!

Yes, another workday... but it was a short day today, only 6 hours. I’ve been warned that I’m pulling too much overtime and now have to seek permission ahead of time. Which makes me shrug, as there’s still going to be a pile of tasks for me to do no matter what, so it’s just another test in prioritizing and delegating, as I see it. Surprisingly I managed an hour at the Bean today for lunch, where I stared out at the misty forest-covered hills and wondered at the shapes concealed there. Pretty scenery. No deer.

‘Tanks’ for the memories! A former co-worker of mine found the following in her driveway: I think I would have a conniption if I were one of her two sons and found this parked in front of my house when we got home....!

Sept 18 – Flash and Ogres?

Flash games aren’t my usual cup of tea, but one was introduced to me by a NWN gaming friend of mine that I really like – FantasticContraption.com is a ton of fun. I like it for a few reasons, one of which is that you have to think when you play... which is always tops in my books. Give it a try... it’s available for the iPhone and iPad too, from what I see of the site.

Today work-wise, I split my time between the two branches, trying to catch up and actually somewhat succeeding – I managed to cover a few major loose ends, which was a good feeling. It didn’t last though, as I contemplated all the other tasks that still await me like ogres in the woods, eyes glittering as my last torch gutters and burns low, singing my fingers. Nice image, that. Except for the unwashed ogres. Blegh!

Sept 19 -  Oil Storms

Well, it does storm occasionally here, and this morning was proof – rain rattled hard on the windows at 7am today to wake me, which was fine as I had to work anyway... in a few hours. By noon the storm was gone and the sun was shining, which again is typical Victoria weather – wait an hour and it will change, which certainly adds variety to one’s day. Be sure to dress in layers and bring an umbrella, just in case.

Some late-breaking news to include: looks like BP has finally, finally plugged the massive oil-well leak in the Gulf of Mexico today. After such a huge environmental disaster, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the race towards non-petroleum-based forms of fuel accelerate... if you’ll pardon the pun. How about: oil’s well that ends well?

Hmm... I can’t think of anything pithy to say here. I’ll just post the blog and watch Thundercats before bed, then.

Performance, People and Phones

The word of the week is . Not tangerine, as you may have considered...

Sept 6 – Vacationing from your day job

How’s everyone doing this fall season? Anyone have any interesting plans? Going back to school? Plans for travel? Nobody else I know keeps a blog to mention these things in, so I thought I would ask... toss it out there, let us all know. I’m considering a vacation early in the new year, but as you all know I’ve yet to choose a destination – any suggestions?

It’s a dream that a lot of people want but don’t know how to fulfill: quitting their day job. But unless you win some money or otherwise find a shortcut, it’s almost always a matter of long panning and hard work. GetRichSlowly has a great piece that examines the ups and downs of quitting your job, as told by someone who has done just that. Good reading that makes for interesting choices.

Sept 7 – Princesses and Dinosaurs

Perhaps you’ve forgotten about a lovely web community based at DeviantArt.com? Not been there lately? Well, you should... when they have cool things like this: Disney Princesses as Superheroes. I like superheroes, and these are a little more than stick-figure napkin-sketches... plus there’s so MANY other cool things to search / surf for on DeviantArt. Crossovers, contests held on many topics, or just plain strange stuff that pops out of people’s heads and onto the digital page. Like these undead Disney character cosplay costumes, similar to the Twisted Princesses I posted a few months ago – cool!

Apparently there’s also a lot of love out there still for a certain low-IQ, big-on-smash Transformers character by the name of Grimlock – check out these great images that people have come up with over the last twenty years or so. I have to admit he’s a fave of mine as well: big, dumb, simple in his priorities but not vicious as you would expect from his appearance. No pushover though – who would want to tangle with a giant metal T-Rex, anyway?

Sept 8 - Performance

Strange how some things blindside you when you’re distracted... well, not so strange, when you’re distracted by about a thousand other things. While preparing for 3 employee reviews this week, I forgot it was time for MY review – and I had it sprung on me today. It took almost three hours... and it was excruciating to see myself deconstructed in terms that the company felt were important, or not. Nothing in there about being generous, friendly, kind, honest... all those things we value in our day-to-day lives are set aside for more corporate traits like accountability, leadership / inspirational traits and other things designed to maximize profitability and minimize expenses. By the end I felt as though I’d been taken apart and put back together again as a person I wasn’t familiar with, or sure I liked. Such is the way of the management world, when you are tasked with such that you cannot accomplish it all yourself no matter how hard you try... so you are told you will be judged on how well you have others get things done by delegation. If they fail, you fail, and you alone suffer the consequences, which will likely result in you no longer having a management job. Intense pressure, which I’m already under. Yay.

So I’ve been trying my damndest to come to grips that I’m no longer a CSR, that my job is a ‘challenge’ in so many ways to me now that it seems foreign to me. I’ve looked at a fair number of sites on Performance Management, and come to the conclusion that managers are all insane, as a whole, to do what they do for the rate of pay they get. I should have developed a single skill set( hopefully one not vulnerable to being outdated quickly )and become something like a plumber, or a carpenter. Or lawyer.... that’d have been a LOT less stressful, for sure. *shrugs* Hindsight won’t erase dark circles.

Sept 9 – Name Games

Of late, I haven’t played much of any of my collection of games, Xbox or PC – it just doesn’t appeal to me when my time is so limited and my energy levels so low. Still, I’m glad to see that PC games are still going strong – C|Net had a recent posting about how PC games may be going through a renaissance again, thanks to games like Starcraft II and gaming services like Steam. Seeing as I’m using a ‘newer’ laptop and CPU, I’m able to still play most games at decent speeds, albeit while the laptop’s plugged in. Getting a new PC desktop isn’t really on my radar, as I don’t feel the need to upgrade or to give up more space in my bedroom. What I do need is more time and less stress, neither of which you can buy anywhere. For example:

Here’s something I found to help me out when meeting new people: How To Remember People’s Names. It’s a great article, not too long and it may save you some embarrassment when you meet that person again for the second time... that’s all. Simple, eh?

Sept 10 – Call me about the weather?

Holy expensive hardware, Batman... have you seen the price of the latest smartphones? I’ve been considering one( sort of )lately, but looking at their cost when purchased outside of a contract with a phone provider is eye-opening – have a look at the cost of some of the most popular phones, priced to sell. Does anyone out there have one of these things? Are they really worth it? I know Canada has one of the worst levels of price-gouging when it comes to cell phone costs, and it bothers me to see how much people are paying for the ‘privilege’ of owning the latest phones. Hundreds a month? No thanks!

Yes, I’m an io9.com junkie, but there’s good reason, when they print really useful articles. Like this one about weather prediction, which they explain as related to barometric pressure. This has a direct interest for me, as I’m sensitive to changes in air pressure... just like the article mentions. As well as being sensitive thanks to the damage to my joints( via arthritis )so I get a double-helping of weather prediction most days. Useful, but painful – like a lot of things in life you don’t ask for but are given.

Sept 11 – Nine Years

Nine years since two iconic buildings fell and thousands lost their lives in several places across the United States in 2001. The horror of those two attacks still makes me shiver when I recall with perfect clarity where I was and what I was doing at the time. I made several phone calls immediately to our stores in the Falls, where staff didn’t seem to comprehend that the world had changed that day. I watched things unfold live on television for hours, unable to comprehend that I place I had visited years before as a tourist( as had millions of others )was now a pile of rubble. All at the behest of other humans – was this the same feeling that those who ordered Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroyed felt as they saw the results? There can be no going back; history will record as it always has, and the world will judge.

I managed to leave work somewhat early today, after the usual duties were done, including as always that the bi-weekly payroll was completely correct and submitted. The rest of the evening was spent simply decompressing from the week – television, some reading and a whole lot of NOT thinking about work; that’s the hard part of late. Work / life separation has been very, very tenuous for me lately.

Sept 12 –Newt and Numbers

Today, the folks in charge of the global banking system finalized their plans to stave off future financial crises of the like we faced this past year... led by Canada’s shining example, as our banking system was the rock in an otherwise turbulent global sea of economic chaos. Good news, that means a more stable world economy that is less prone to suffer ills on a massive scale should one sector or country falter. We’ve still no idea what will happen should some global disaster like an asteroid strike happens, or the sun hiccups, but for the most part we’re planning on minimizing the damage our own problems create.

Heck, I didn’t post a link last week, but here’s one now: Mike Hogue has put up some new cool downloadable stuff at Newt And John.com, along with the always-excellent weekly update for the comic! See how Two Roommates Take On The Universe – in colour, no less! Seeing as I spent a good portion of my day today playing Battlefield: Bad Company2 on the Xbox, I heartily recommend a good laugh after heavy gaming.

I’ve written most of this week’s blog while sipping tea over at The Mountain Bean, on a wet weekend here in BC. I can look out the window and see the nearby forested hills almost completely obscured by white mist, as the mountain weather sits quietly on the land around. It’s quiet, beautiful, and smells absolutely fabulous – so fresh and clean that you wonder there’s any civilization around at all nearby.

Smiles, Summer and Seeing the States

The word of the week is indescribable.

Aug 30 - Falling For Mona

No haiku or life-inspired local poetry this week, just a comment from FB that I shared and some people liked:  Fall? What's that? All the trees here are still green... butterflies flitting through the fields among the forested hills, deer cavorting amongst the flowers, and beach-goers still soaking up the fast-fading Westerly sunshine. Ah, BC... the ...last place in Canada where Summer spends its final sweet weeks. All in all, I’m enjoying the cooler weather, without any leaf-change underway.

Remember that Nicorette commercial from a year or two ago, where the cute brunette flight attendant freaks out from a lack of nicotine? I’ll bet you do; that was Anna Silk, and she’s starring in a new show premiering Sept 12^th on Showcase called Lost Girl. It involves the supernatural( as seems to be the case of a lot of shows of late )but follows a different premise for the heroine. I’m interested to see where it goes, so I’ll try to catch it online or on YouTube as it goes along – also, Anna seems to have a Mona Lisa smile, which is intriguing to detect on the small screen. Try it.

Aug 31 – Nerf Sentries for your RV

Today’s the last day of August, and it occurred to me that I’ve not been camping in about a decade now, not since a trip to a far-north cottage with a giant industrial fridge and a dangerously-nail-filled plank dock on a lake. When I was younger, I really enjoyed touring through RV’s at shows held at the Pen Center every few years or so – seeing all the cool configurations packed into limited space still appeals to me. I’ve seen some interesting RV’s over the years, not ones that I’d buy myself( as they’re damn pricey )but I always appreciate the unusual – which this one has. I mean, come on – a hottub on the roof?

Some few months back, I mentioned that Nerf’s toy guns have exploded( pun intended )in popularity this year, with even machineguns making it to store shelves. Now a sci-fi fan has taken Nerf to the next level by adding heat-seeking capabilities to the machinegun – watch this video to see it in action. Aliens sentry guns, anyone? I wonder if you can safely add a taser element to those things...

Sept 1 – Crazy Rotation

Work this week has been hellish again – no matter what I do, how hard I work every minute of every shift, I still fall behind every day. I think the number of tasks and responsibilities being offloaded onto branch managers from our company is simply crazy, given the other expectations for customer service, marketing, managing the branch activities / employees and so forth we have to take care of as well. Trying to run two branches worth of responsibilities is wreaking havoc on my brain, and I can only hope that I can turn things around in the next month before I begin to seriously lose focus and ability to work. One comfort is that my current work doesn’t know about my blog, and I can mention such generalities here in passing, though I obviously can’t go into detail due to the nature of my employment. Rant rant rant... end.

Hmmmm.... seems in all my craziness, I forgot about one important aspect of car maintenance these last few years: tire rotation. Oops. I checked the tread on the tires this week, and the front ones were markedly more worn than the rear; obviously, since we’ve never rotated them. I took the car in to Wal-Mart where they performed this critical operation for a measly $5 per tire. Which apparently should be done every 20,000 km or so to keep the wear even. I also learned that BC law would not have let me do this come October, as apparently the tires with the deeper tread have to be on the rear of the car – how does that make sense with a front-wheel drive car where the weight is at the front? It doesn’t.

Sept 2 - JUST a phone? Really?

When is a phone just a phone these days, when it comes to portable devices? After moving to BC in late 2007, we were forced to replace all three Sanyo 4500 cell phones as Telus had just upgraded their networks here – they tried for hours to get them working, but the programming wouldn’t take. The replacement phones have a LOT of features... and commensurately lesser battery life as a result. My parents use them as phones, set the occasional alarm and still have yet to figure out how to take a picture or send a text message. Why can’t we get a phone that is JUST a phone and not pay for features that will never get used, like IM apps? I’m sure there’s a marketable idea here, to produce a phone that one simply makes calls with – perhaps an adult version of a kid’s cell phone? I’m not sure, but I’m going to see what I can do to find such a thing... or make some money from the idea if I can’t locate such.

Which leads me to my next question: should I get a new phone? My contract with Telus is up in November, and they’re already sending me offers to ‘upgrade’ my ‘outdated’ phone... which I still like a lot. As above, I don’t do much with my phone: I barely text( no QUERTY ), I rarely call anyone, I don’t surf the web on it( tiny screen / text based / expensive )and since it’s WELL before Android, I can’t do much for it in the way of apps. I’ve been considering an Android phone like the red-hot  Samsung Galaxy S, but I’m really put off by the monthly costs, not to mention signing another contract to get the thing for a decent price. More and more I’m inclined to just wait, as the phones will get smarter, cheaper and much better in terms of screen quality / resolution... until they come with a full HDMI out with 1080p, I may just wait. And wait. And wait...

Sept 3 – MMO and Harlan

In all the crazy hours I’ve been working this week, I’ve managed to find a little time to update my iPod Nano – good to do if you have to spend an hour here and there waiting for your ride. I’ve added a few inexpensive shows to the thing, one of which is rather amusing: The Guild. It looks at the lives of members of an online MMO guild, who pretty much ignore real live in favour of the ‘better’ lives of the characters they’ve created to game online. Obviously tongue-in-cheek and overdone at times, it stars Felicia Day as the main character whose MMO addiction is so bad that her therapist fires her in the first episode. So far, it’s been quite enjoyable.

Heck since we’re on the topic of TV shows, does anyone remember that old stalwart of bad late 70’s programming, The Starlost? About a spacegoing ark of humanity, critically damaged and hurtling towards doom with the only hope of salvation being... Mormans? It was awful, low-budget stuff... and I loved it as my childhood imagination was fired by the concept, if not the execution of the show. Years later I discovered that the original idea was none other than Harlan Ellison’s, one of my more fave authors. Now word has come down that a comic series is coming out that reboots the TV show, which is a lot better news than hearing they were remaking the TV show – 70’s mullets, heavy moustaches and paper-thin effects budgets aren’t the stuff of new sci-fi TV standards any more, as BSG has shown us.

Sept 4 - Upscale around the clock!

Say, has anyone been into a McDonald’s lately? They’ve gone upscale without me noticing, as I was in there recently for their $1 any-size summer drink special. The new one here on Island Highway has plenty of designer-fabric seats, stone-block walls, a fireplace and flat-screen TV’s! Since when did they decide they wanted to go after the Starbuck’s crowd? I say that as there is now free WiFi at ALL McDonald’s locations... seems they want you to pay and stay, then pay some more. It can’t be the food, though they’ve added some less-greasy selections to their menu too, mostly chicken sandwiches that haven’t touched a deep-fryer.

The less said about work today, the better: I opened at Colwood and closed at Millstream, making it a 13-hour day... no major stresses other than the usual Busy meaning No Useful Work Got Done. I’m blessed with a fun, sane staff who are interesting people in their own right, but I have a lot of work that only I am authorized to get done that keeps piling up. At least the arrangement for getting my dad to work seems to be working out at Colwood: we drive me to work, he takes the bus to Victoria and I go get him at day’s end, usually hours after I’ve finished. So far, so good for the general timing of it all.

Sept 5 – A Visit to the USA!

Up early at 4am today to catch the ferry to Port Angeles, WA in the USA – my parents and I are visiting a cousin of the family we’ve not seen in decades. We boarded the ferry and left Victoria a little after 6am, at which point I discovered that a) ferries don’t have sea stabilizers and b) I was prone to motion sickness; no sea legs for me. Watching the railing dip several long feet from the horizon and back again was rather excruciating for me, but I made  the 1.5 hour crossing without succumbing to seasickness to make landfall in sleepy Port Angeles close to 9am. We headed south to the town of Port Townsend where we met our cousin and her husband Bailey for breakfast at a little restaurant called The Bayview on the water – I had some stellar cheese-covered has browns with bacon and a sample of biscuits and gravy that reminded me of my trips to the southern USA in years gone by. We headed to Fort Worden, where I toured through the abandoned coastal defence bunkers, which are in remarkably good shape. It turned out to be a beautifully sunny day to spend there for a few hours, then we headed back to Port Townsend where we found the perfect patio spot at the Courtyard Cafe` : under a tree! With some root beer on hand, cheese-beer soup and a turkey sandwich on superbly fresh bread, I was in heaven until mid-afternoon. We strolled over to the local 50’s diner for some ice cream to cap off the day, puttered around the smallish tourist-driven small-town charm main street for a bit, then parted ways from our lovely American cousins to head the 55km back to Port Angeles for the ferry. I had wisely stopped to pick up some Dramamine along the way, so when we boarded the ferry at 9pm, I was feeling quite confident about my stomach.. and I wasn't disappointed. We were home by 11pm, none the worse for wear save being very, very tired - it was my first trip to the USA in almost ten years, so that was rather interesting in itself. Lots of good food! :-)

I’ve written most of this week’s blog while sitting parked in line, waiting to be loaded onto the Port Angeles COHO Ferry to return to Victoria. It’s been great to type it all up on the older Compaq laptop, as with the extended battery I get almost 3 hours of useful time per charge. Now that I know how to properly condition a battery, I expect to get a good few years of life out of this thing, more if I eventually add an SSD drive and Windows7. For now, I just slip it into sleep mode to eke out a few days between charges... again, useful when I want to pop out to a cafe` or elsewhere to compose my thoughts.

Swaps, Sanity and Staff

The Word of the Week is...nonplussed.

Aug 23 - Bang, it's Monday
 
A story in two parts,
Is not a story,
But a promise kept.

Want a great way to start off your week? How about being audited? That was how my day started today – for the second week in a row, one of my branches was audited while I was there. A glance at the pile of work I was scheduled to catch up on today, as I do once a week every week when I work at my smaller Millstream branch, a shrug, and then into the audit. By the end I was cheerful on the outside and brain-dead on the inside – it was a struggle to maintain my equilibrium as the score was tallied. I told myself that it was all small items, that my staff were on the ball and that things can be greatly improved in the next month or so with not too much effort. I kept telling myself that. Yeah... I’ll be pretty bummed for the rest of the week while I plan what I’m going to do to fix the details.
 
Aug 24 - Training
 
Where poets fear to tread,
Hollywood gladly gambols,
And many pay in tears.

Yes, it’s more about work, but good things( for a change ): I’ve been training two new hires for the last week, and they’re dynamite. It’s been a rare pleasure for me to show these two the ropes, as they’re always on the ball and I have yet to have to explain something twice; they’re sharp. Goes to show that our updated hiring practices are paying dividends already, focusing on hiring the best candidates, not just people who look like they can fill the space needed first and learn their way to competence second. So in my current stress-ball of tangled yarns, theirs is a shiny, bright thread indeed.
 
Aug 25 – Argh, brains...
 
If you're dead serious,
Do people take you seriously?
Or do they just ignore you still?




There’s a new show coming out from AMC: The Walking Dead, based on a graphic novel series of the same name. It’s more gritty, realistic and far less stylized than a lot of the current crop of zombie works out there – apart from things like World War Z, of course. Aside from Stephen King’s The Stand, there’s been precious little in the way of television work about the apocalypse / undead in general... and if you mention Twilight or its ilk, I’ll send you snarky notes. One question about a TV series though: how long can it go on? Will the focus go from discovery of How Bad Things Are, to Discovering The Real Reason for The Disaster, to What Will We Do Now? And beyond? We’ll see where AMC takes it, if they can go from a shuffle to a run, without tripping and being devoured. Its premiere date? Halloween 2010! For now, Resident Evil: Afterlife will have to suffice, which opens September 10th nationwide.
 
Aug 26 - Bambi?

Fawns, stags and does cavort,
Eating shrubs meant for looking only.
Is it any wonder they're so cute?

Deer, deer everywhere – it’s really unbelievable how many deer I see in a day. I could go months in Ontario without seeing one, but here I see up to a dozen a day – since they have no fear of vehicles or people, they line the roadside some days. Today I drove in to work on my usual side-route through a wending series of roads down the mountain, which passes one section where a ravine skirts along the side of several properties. Wouldn’t you know that on one fellow’s front yard, no less than SIX deer were standing in his garden, devouring his plants? It made for quite the sight, though I am sure that that homeowner wouldn’t have the same point of view.
 
Aug 27 - Vacation soon?

If you can't play at work,
And you have to work to play,
Does that mean you're confused?

Like yesterday, today was a double shift: open Colwood, try to get some work done when the staff arrive, then over to Millstream to do the same and simultaneously close the store. All this because I’m short one staff member, but as I mentioned above, I am very pleased that her replacement is coming along VERY well so far. The end is in sight for long days where I get nothing done as a manager, and I can actually start thinking about some vacation time for myself AND my staff - I have two weeks at a minimum that I have to take before the end of 2010, so scheduling THAT sooner rather than later is a slice of heaven I dearly want on the menu soon. Yum.
 
Aug 28 - A Dozen Days Done
 
Every day should be a Day Off,
Where they're not special really,
But just a vacation waiting in secret.

Saturday... my first day off in 12 days straight, so I slept in until nearly 9am – for some reason I couldn’t fall asleep until well into the morning last night. Breakfast was brief, as I headed down to the storage lockers to spend the morning and some of the afternoon emptying, sorting and repacking two lockers – one for keeping, one for selling and the difference to the garbage / recycling room. It was fairly successful; we managed to whittle things down to the space of a single locker, with more likely to go in the coming months. After that massive effort, I spent a good hour napping( and woke with a headache? )then over to the Mountain Bean until dinner, which was fairly crowded for a Saturday. Considering that ALL I’ve done this week is work and recover FROM work, the day off today was really, really needed. Sanity.
 
Aug 29 - Make Me An Offer!
 
People own things, not the other way around.
Making room for more things causes problems.
Find the balance, and you find yourself free.

We were out the door today shortly after 7am, the car packed to the gunwales with Stuff for the Swap and Shop. We arrived at the Western Speedway to find a spot in the middle of the Pits area of the track and proceeded to set up for selling, which was remarkably easy. Two more carloads of things were brought by my parents as the place filled with seller tables – imagine a racetrack totally lined on both sides with seller tables! Quite a lot of things were gone by 9am, and the crowds really started arriving soon after that – we had a lull around 11am, and after that we starting giving away what was left, which was in the main of little value anyway. I would be surprised if we made a dollar on ten of actual value, but what I took away from the experience was not only how NICE all of the people wandering around the track browsing were, but how thrilled most of them were when they bought items from us for next to nothing that had some worth to them. I'll definitely go back, though I have to say that going with the firm intent of NOT accumulating stuff is the way to do it - there was a lot of what I'd now call junk, not collectables, all on display / for sale / swap. Since I need little right now of what I saw, it was quite liberating to wander and not walk away with anything save a little nostalgia.
 
As I said: different. Is less more? Or does it leave one wanting for more? You decide... me, I’m going to get some sleep. It’s going to be a long week, but at least the weekend ended well enough.

Nemesis, Nostalgia and Numbers

The Word of the Week is....nostalgist.

Aug 16 – Spring Vacation?

Winter’s a-comin’ soon, and with that thoughts of leaving cold Canada for warmer climes. I’m better off than most here in Victoria, where snow is somewhat of a stranger most years( except 2008! )so I can’t complain. I’ve been to Mexico twice, but I’ve never been to a ‘tourist’ resort where the plan is to party hearty for the whole time one is there – no sitting on the beach watching the stick in the sand tell the time. I’ll be keeping an eye on sites like Expedia.ca and FlightCentre.ca to see what packages I can find on the cheap.

What’s your favourite season? Mine’s Spring: full of possibilities, where the dull of Winter is put aside in favour of new growth and fresh beginnings. Summer’s the time to play, Fall’s time to buckle down for the passage towards the cold months of Winter that have to be put up with in order to reach Spring again. Strangely, some folks over at the Battlefield 2: Bad Company Forums say that Winter is their fave season... better camouflage?

Aug 17 – Talking Dimensions and Space At Home

Though I didn’t grow up to be a scientist, I still harbour a fascination with many areas of the scientific world. Rene put me onto the following great video on YouTube, which is all about the Ten Dimensions – there’s not just three anymore:

Those of you who’ve read my blog for a while know that I enjoy talking about efficient use of space in homes, given the places that I’ve lived while in BC have all been rather limited in size. One architect who has perfected the art of maximizing space in innovative ways is Gary Chang, who grew up in Hong Kong where space is always at a premium with 7 million people packed into the city. His space-saving Hong Kong apartment uses foldaway storage and reconfigurable elements to turn one 330sq-ft room into many, all again without compromising the function of any element. Watch the video on his website and you’ll see what I mean – who needs a big house, anyway?

Aug 18 – Wince-worthy War

Sometimes I’ve winced at the way some people use words in a sentence; I’m not an editor, but it still makes a part of my brain hurt to hear the language mangled severely. One of the things that people often misuse in a sentence when writing is “i.e.” – which is short for “that is” not “here are some examples” of things. TheOatmeal.com has a great example of how i.e. should be used, very similar to Bob The Angry Flower’s visual rant on the humble apostrophe – flower up, dudes.

Ouch – I had my butt handed to me in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 tonight. The game isn’t designed for going solo, as it’s squad-based so that you have your buddies there to back you up / cover you / revive you / resupply you during combat. But, since I’m too cheap to splurge on purchasing a bunch of the upgrade packs’ to get myself more weapons in a flash, I’ve been working my way through each of the kits to try and get gear to help me in the game. Guess what? A LOT of the other guys already have MOST of that gear and it really helps: I was on the receiving end of a LOT of fire tonight as I slogged my way through each session. By the end I was really grumpy; in some games I had multiple ‘Nemesis’ players on the other team, whose skill combined with gear meant I was meat on the table for many a match. Grrr.

Aug 19 – Star Wars and Nostalgia

Last week, the LA Times ran an excellent piece interviewing Gary Kurtz, who was the producer on two of the original Star Wars films and Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal. In the interview, Kurtz talks in detail about how he parted from George Lucas over the direction that the third Star Wars film was to take. I found it interesting to read, as Kurtz makes some great points about commercialism and filmmaking in general. Definitely worth the read IMHO.

On occasion, a song will stick in your head and you can’t get it out. More commonly, you start the day off with a song in your head – see if you can’t remember the last one that got stuck there! This week I’ve have the theme song from “Tales of the Green Forest” in my head from my childhood, as it aired on TV Ontario back in the eighties. A little searching found a few videos and little else, as this Green Forest nostalgist writes – apparently The Green Forest is lost between the original broadcast and DVD, never to see the light of day. Weird.

Aug 20 – Can’t Budget Friendship

Yes, it’s hard sometimes working for a living... but I’ve seen a lot of alternative lifestyle representatives walk through the branch doors over the years, and so far I like earning a wage by comparison. Work to live, don’t live to work though – keeping a work / life balance as you go along means you have things to do outside of the office / workplace that keep you sane. I see a lot of people’s paystubs and I have to say it’s not what you earn but how you spend it – it’s shocking how many people keep throwing money at a problem instead of just thinking about alternative ways to solve things, like budgeting. Maybe budgeting should be taught as early as high school?

Tonight I talked to two of my favourite people, both of them out-of-the-blue calls, which are usually the best kind. First was Lucas, who told me all about his Kilt experience in the company of a ravishing redhead, who are my version of Kryptonite you could say. Makes me want to be able to hop a flight back to Niagara once a month or so just to see what goes on at the Kilt these days. Later on, Rene called and we caught up on things; it’s been some months since we last managed to connect. I was thrilled to hear that he’s gone through a ‘sea change’ for the better recently, which is less than he truly deserves given the rotten luck he’s had this year. All in all it was a great night to catch up with friends, which I wish would happen more often... maybe when I’m working less and have more interesting things to report about my own life?

Aug 21 – Kickass Waiters

I’ve talked about doing podcasts recently, and the idea is still buzzing around in my head. I have looked at some of the ways that people are expressing themselves on the web nowadays: blogs, podcasts, journals and more... one of the more interesting ways is on a YouTube channel of your very own, like WheezyWaiter. Who has a beard and reminds me of Kevin Spacey, sort of, and is fairly funny – who said original material is just for budding comics? Still, I’m not sure I’d be that interesting on camera, though I’m told I’m not likely to crack the lens when I crack a smile... just when I crack a joke, people may scream a little bit. Or poop themselves. Or something. Have a look at Justin.Tv where people have channels galore!

After a rather busy day where everything I wanted to complete at work kept getting interrupted, I was ready to kick some ass. Which is perfect, as I watched Kick-Ass via a Zune rental on Xbox Live. It was my first Zune rental, and took over an hour to download on my lite-version internet -8.6 gigs of HD goodness doesn’t move quickly. I liked the movie, as it had original moments and really moved the plot along without any slow spots. I agree that HitGirl stole the show, though I wondered at the morality of a ‘tween killer whose body-count numbered in the dozens yet that aspect of the ‘hero’ never gets a word of airtime in the movie. The Wolverine reference was also fun with the x-rays – but where’s the claws?

Aug 22 – Training for Rentals

Bleh – work again was true to form, with the day averaging one person every ten minutes all day long. Meaning I got nothing done towards catching up on my manager duties, which are again delayed towards another day... backed up again, with more ‘vital’ tasks piling up. I’ve been training two new employees all this week, which has actually been quite pleasant as they’re both extremely quick learners. I enjoy training( my parent’s teaching background coming to the fore, perhaps? )and it’s my aim to have them both ready for the front lines in less than three weeks time. I’ve been told I’m the premier trainer on the Island and so far all the people I’ve trained have remained both with the company and solid employees all, so maybe there’s something to that.

Disappointingly, I was unable to watch Kick-Ass again to pick out any hidden references or stop-motion a few scenes, as the Zune rental expires 24 hours after watching( or 14 days after download without watching ). Seems like a rip to me, though it’s the same as returning a DVD to the rental shop. If it weren’t for the download time, I might use the service again, but for now I’ll consider other services like Zip.ca for DVD rentals or a streaming service like  NetFlix, which is coming to Canada Fall 2010.

Next week: something more interesting. Or at least different. Mayhaps.