Hearts, Hope and Half-Days Off

The word of the week is quixotic. Because we all need to hope.

Feb 14 - Love and Mondays

T'was another Hallmark Holiday today, when people are reminded that they should love one another... sad that we have to commercialize the one day a year that should be about emotion, not graphic expenditures of cash to 'prove' one's devotion / love / affection to another. While I don't have( nor have had )a significant other right now, I do give thanks that I have such a loving, easy-to-get-along-with family that is supportive of me and has never felt the need to pressure me into doing what they want... it's been all me. Which, given where I am today, is somewhat troubling to think on levels other than personal ones... but then I don't let the silly stuff bother me for too long. Yeah, thanks St. Valentine; I hope you never learned what 'your' holiday has become.

Feb 15 - Tick Tok

Is Time really Perception? I've been having that odd thought all week, as I contemplate where I've been and where I'm going on a scale of an average lifetime. Putting the ramifications of 'success' aside for the moment, I can say that I'm not on any particular track, nor aimless: I've had to make some choices years ago and those are finally coming to a close. Now, I have to look at where I want to be in another five to ten years – personally, professionally and financially. I'll likely still be in BC, but I'm not sure if I want to go the home ownership route towards traditional wealth-asset earnings... or if I want to create a comfy little pad to live in / rent whilst I sock away savings towards some as-yet indefinable focus. I like the fact that I'm closing in on this freedom of choice, as much as it means I'll probably be at a new job by year's end, if not sooner – stress reduction is right on top of my priorities now.

Feb 16 -It's Google... Art?

While I don't pretend to be an art snob, I do appreciate talented work, and history is full of masterworks by such artists. Most of which I won't see anytime soon, as they're locked away in museums a world away. Google has done something to free those works of art for everyone to see: The Google Art Project. It aims to allow anyone to scrutinize thousands of works of art, from anywhere in the world, at incredible detail levels – more than you'd get even if you were standing right in front of said artworks. Galleries from across the globe have opened their doors to Google's Art Project, letting their collections be viewed by potential millions who otherwise can't make the journey through their distant doors. Bravo, Google... you may be evil, but it's in a guise of creative generosity sometimes too.

Feb 17 - Old Gets New

Today I finally put my iPhone back together, after replacing its 4-year-old battery with a new one from an eBay seller. Total cost? Ten bucks Canadian... vs. God knows what that Apple would have charged. The phone DID lay open for 3 days while I searched for a Phillips-head screwdriver small / precise enough to get four stubborn ThreadLocked screws out. Thanks to Wal-Mart Optical, for being such sports – I don't think they get many half-open cell phones walk in the door for service. The new battery looks to give me a full day from one charge, which is all one can really ask these days... my old Sanyo phone used to go two weeks between charges, but then it had a monochrome screen and was no smarter than your average politician. I'm pleased that I was able to do the change myself, and it looks like the phone is working just fine despite its intermittent reception issues at home; I checked the antenna when it was open and everything was in order. Ah well – technology... at least there are more than a few online iPhone repair guides I was able to use.

Feb 18 - Moodz

This week a very good old friend cared enough to let me know that the moods and situations I've been in the last long while are very similar to what they went through some time ago... and needed someone to tell them so. While I've striven NOT to be a Nasty, Moody Guy because Life Has Sucked( somewhat )recently, it's obviously still bothering me though I try to deal with it as best I can – talking with my family helps, but by and large the only person who can deal with it is me. Expecting someone else to fix your own problems is stupid, and I've never thought that way – appealing as it is, it's an empty road. I've dealt with all the problems that have come my way so far, for the most part successfully and without losing my sanity. My family's now stable financially and I can look to my own self again for the first time in over a decade... so I'll probably take a nap for 6 months and then a good stretch to begin.

Feb 19 - Not a Day Off

So much for sleeping in... well, I wasn't sleeping, but I received a call in the early morning that nobody had shown up to open the store. The life of a manager; I threw on some professional clothes and headed out to the branch while dialing the CSR who was supposed to open, without any answer, which was worrying. Thankfully they answered as I pulled into the branch lot: they had slept in. As I was opening the store I received another call from my other CSR; the sleepy one had crashed their car on the way into work! Thankfully they said it was only a minor accident, but it meant that they were likely going to be off work for a few days. My other CSR came in early and I managed( argh... )to leave by noon to enjoy my day off. Over to the Bean, of course, then I passed out for some few hours in the lovely sunshine coming in through my room's windows. The evening managed to disappear with various projects( none of them writing )as I culled more Stuff for eBay sale, fiddled with the PC and generally tried to de-stress... for the most part successfully.

Feb 20 -See Above, With Ice

Sunday I expected to have to open the branch, but my other CSR graciously offered to open the store if I would come in to close it – thanks! Good crew I have. The sun was shining, so I spent a few blissful hours at the Bean writing up this very blog, sitting in my usual window seat facing the clock tower with Mt. Finlayson looming green to the right. I'm pleased to say that it looks like the Bean has been bought, so my fears of the place closing due to money woes have receeded somewhat. I can't tell you how great it is to have a place like the Bean literally outside my front door, where I can go to relax. I hope that the new owners are able to get things going again, so that the place will be open longer and I'll be able to go more than once every few weeks due to their shorter hours. Getting a spot by the fireplace would be nice too. After a half-shift I headed home, to dinner and NWN( icy adventure! )then blog and bed. Zzz.

This little afterword is something I save for bits that don’t really warrant a full blog entry. Kind of like this pair of sentences, wouldn’t you say?

Creativity, Comics and Computerz

The word of the week is apocryphal. Uh-huh!

Feb 7 – Silicon Comics

Back when I used to get a daily paper delivered, before the internet came along, it was the best medium for getting news and new information. As time passed and information exploded into the information age, papers for me became quaint tools, useful for really only one thing: the comics section. For all it’s vast uses, I’d been disappointed with how difficult it’s been to get all my favourite daily comics in one place. Up until recently, that is – it seems that technology has finally conquered the daily comic, as you can now see almost all your fave strips in one place at most major papers. I now surf over to TheStar.com a few times a week to catch up – Hagar The Horrible is timeless!

Feb 8 – Kindle, not kindling

Despite its lack of signal in my room, I’ve been really enjoying certain aspects of my iPhone, not the least of which is the Kindle eBook reader app - for PC too. The books on Kindle are VERY inexpensive, usually less than $5.00 each, which easily approaches used-book store prices and take up no physical room at all. I’ve downloaded about a dozen titles so far, including both of the newest Robert Jordan novels as well as some story collections. Quite a few titles are about Zombies and apocalyptic books, I’ve noticed... seems to be my taste of late. Mmmm.... braiiins. Good reads all, though.

Feb 9 - Prelude to Eden

I wonder sometimes what path I would have taken had my talents evolved along the more visual arts, rather than the written word. I tried my hand at drawing and didn’t like the results... so much so that I veered away from the visual and gave free reign to my mental imagery instead. There are quite a number of visual artists whose work I am thunderstruck by, one of whom was introduced to me( not personally )by my good friend Mike H. That is, of course, the renowned Michel Gagne, whose work is mind-bogglingly creative. Have a gander and then find some more of his work to blow your mind again:



Feb 10 – Happy B-day Sis!

Today was my sister’s birthday, which has in the past sometimes been a hit-and-miss thing. Usually hit, with the occasional miss. I like to think I’ve made up for a few low points before with the recent gifting of said laptop to said sister, which I’ve come to understand has been a BIG life-changer for her. Having a laptop, for me, means I can write / surf / game wherever I want to, within reason – usually it means a coffee shop or local Wifi point, as I’m too cheap to spring for a mobile ‘net-stick. Back to my sister though: it’s difficult to be close to your siblings yet not BE close to them, so for all of you out there with a bro or sis far away, remember to think of them more often than not, and call / Skype them more often than that. Keep those family ties strong.

Feb 11 – It’s a UPS, via UPS!

You’d think this was a g33k / tech blog from all the technology I mention here, but hey: it’s what I like. F’rinstance, UPS arrived at my door today, with a UPS that I’d got on super –sale not a few days back. The thing weighed 11kg yet the shipping was $4.99 – bargain! This was to replace the old UPS that failed earlier this week during a brief power outage; I’ve had that one since the mid-90’s and despite a battery change a few years ago, it’s just not doing its job any more, a decade in. Good that it’s lasted this long though – the replacement is another Cyberpower, though this one has a ton of features the other lacked and is more powerful to boot. So my new PC will be much safer, even unattended. I originally bought a UPS from when I lived in Fonthill, where the power would fail once a week during the summer given the nasty thunderstorms that lash ON every year. No such storms here, but the winds that kick up do tend to knock down a LOT of trees onto power lines, so the same result happens, just less often. Hence the UPS and my peace of mind.

Feb 12 – Me vs. Seagate

So far, the Seagate Debacle seems to be working out. I’ve been using the laptop drive as my main drive for 2 weeks now in my server tower, and it seems quite happy – cool too, for that matter. I’m going to see if I can’t tweak it some to dual-boot Vista and maybe even Ubuntu Linux; there’s lots of room on it as I’ve got plans to put most of my data on other drives for safe-keeping. It’s an interesting and challenging hobby some days; as long as you’re careful about what you do it can have good results. What irks me about operating systems and the like is that it takes SO long to install things; when something goes wrong it can be days or a week before things are back as they were. I’ll be taking things slow for a bit as I work out what I want to do, but so far I’m really pleased with my computer setup that will only get better, despite the almost total loss of my rather expensive laptop. Which I will likely end up selling on eBay soon to try and recoup some of my costs.... darn it.

Feb 13 – No Spring In My Step

It’s been a quiet week; I’ve worked right through until today, with tomorrow off – finally. I’ve been tired but thankfully flu-free, despite a lot of it going around as usual this time of year. Now that the days are getting longer again, I think I’ll have more energy, especially if I get up the gumption to get out and trundle around a bit doing some exercise. Been woefully short on that, of late, which has likely contributed greatly to my lack of excess energy – no real surprise there. I think that given the incredible stress I’ve been under up until the end of 2010, I’ve had somewhat of a snap-back, where the sudden lack of stress in a few areas has left me mentally reeling a bit – in a good way, though. As I’ve said before, I’m going into 2011 trying to be positive and to set up some goals for things I’ve put off due to necessity for some time now. Healthy head and healthy body make for improvement in All Things Me, so I’ll be planning things as I always do and trying my best not to overstep myself. I need sleep - I was too tired to even continue a NWN adventure for more than an hour after work tonight, so there you are.

Not a lot going on this week; it’s February and taxes are starting up at work, so that’s a pain. At least it looks like I’ll be getting a return this year, which is always good. Plan for it early and it might work out!

Signals, Shadows and Snowpocalypse

The word of the week is obsequious - something I will never, ever be. 

Jan 31 – No Signal

The foibles of modern technology never cease to amaze me, cell phones especially. Given the rapid rise of the modern cell phone that has seen them move from convenient accessory to lifestyle necessity, you think that cell signal coverage would have advanced as rapidly. Not so, friends, for my home seems to be distinctly lacking in signal, at least one that my iPhone can detect. After much research on my part, I’ve ordered several inexpensive solutions that when combined should make the lack of signal more bearable. As it stands, I don’t do a whole lot of calling from home anyway that’s on my personal cell, so it’s not a big deal... but still frustrating nonetheless. As are the eye-popping prices of ‘cell boosters’ you can get to help your signal along – yikes! Sometimes living on a mountaintop has it’s downfalls, if you’ll pardon the pun...

Feb 1 – Green Lawns, Grey Skies

We’re now into our second month of 2011 and while Spring isn’t quite in the air, it’s certainly not feeling like winter out this way. While the Snowpocalypse of 2011 rages our east( helped by media hype )I have to say I’m damned glad I’m living out here on the West Coast. Weeks of rain with the occasional glimpse of sun are just fine-dandy by me, as I have no desire to go back to ice underfoot, knee-high snowbanks and more white stuff accumulating on my head as I walk. Sure, a sunny day makes the snow pretty but the bone-chilling cold is no fun to wander around in if you don’t have to, especially given how damp Southern Ontario winters can be thanks to the Lake Effect. Or you could have... this:

Feb 2 – No Shadows Seen

Yep, you guessed it: It’s Groundhog Day today... when a furry rodent eyes the sky and predicts if winter will stay or depart early. I happen to love the movie Groundhog Day, which is odd since I’ve never BEEN to a Groundhog Day celebration. I’ll not wax wondrous about the movie o’ermuch here, save to say that it’s one of the few movies that speaks to me and that I can watch more than a few times a year without disappointment or finding it getting stale. There’s not many movies out there like that, frankly. At least not that I’ve seen, and boy do I have a backlog of movies I’ve been meaning to see all these years... not a few of them with Bill Murray in them, at that.

By the way: the groundhogs predicted an early spring!

Feb 3 – Change A-Comin’

I’ve been feeling better lately, overall – moreso than say a few months ago or this time last year. Not to be selfish, but this blog is about what’s going on with me... and I’ve not seen a whole lot of similar things from other folks I know out there. Which is frustrating in some ways, as FBook seems to be the best way for me to keep up to date with their goings-on. When things are updated, that is – one should not live on FBook or for it, but perhaps through it. Like an old-fashioned bulletin board you can check out in passing as you go about your daily activities. As for me, we’ll see what the Spring brings in a few month’s time and the Summer after that – change is in the air, and I’m not talking about ducking pennies tossed from on high either.

Feb 4 – Baby Vader

All right, I admit sometimes I’m a sucker for cute commercials( except Minipops – they BUG me! )so when I saw this Volkswagon Vader promo... I laughed. I mean, I like most things Star Wars and growing up Vader was always a cool villan( until George Lucas killed off his cool in the new movies ). What’s not to like about a pint-sized Vader running around a suburban home trying to use his Force powers? Since I saw the video today, it’s gone viral from 60K hits to over 13 million. Gotta Love The ‘Net!

Feb 5 – Saturday Off Means Busy Moi

My first day off in a bit, which I decided to spend productively doing a bunch of small things over the course of the day. A lot of time was spent installing things, as I’ve deicided to make the best of a bad situation with my defectively-designed Seagate laptop drive... by installing it in my server. Yep, it’s going to speed things up considerably as the boot drive, and since I’ll never be shutting the thing down, it neatly bypasses the ‘go to sleep and never wake up’ design flaw. Aren’t I smrt? So that took a good part of the day there; along with that I rifled through my vast collection of original software, tossing a lot of ancient disks and setting the rest( along with a lot of other knickknacks )aside for sale at a near-future date. I tossed in a few hours at the Bean, a nap, and some much-needed TV time and before I knew it midnight had passed... and so had my day off.

Feb 6 – Football? Fah and Meh.

It was all about support today, on Superbowl Sunday – not that I cared a lick about football, mind you. No, I covered today for a very sick co-worker, who’s been down all week with the nasty bug that’s going around – she sounded as though she needed to be in a hospital, so I gave her the day off. Which put me working at the downtown Douglas St. Branch, my old stomping ground from when I started here in Victoria. It was a solid, busy day which kept me hopping and fortunately was jackass-free; the downtown store tends to collect the more vocally anti-social members of the customer pack that roams the region. After work, I briefly attended an online NWN event at our new server, which unfortunately didn’t get off the ground due to a wonky ‘net connection on the DM’s end – still happens in this day and age. It was good to see some folk able to get together again, and I hope it bodes well for more regular events to take place in the near future.

A better week – it seemed to go by right quick, with few pauses and not a stumble amongst them. Always a good sign!

Guys, Green and Gaming

The word of the week is funtastic. Which isn't a word.

Jan 24 - Nice Guys and Gorillas

A few days ago Yahoo put up an article( via LavaLife )about Nice Guys Finishing Last. An alternate title might have been ‘Men With No Spine Don’t Score’ which may or may not be true. What are your thoughts on this? Seems to be several hundred comments on the article since it was posted; some poignant, some just poisonous. Being what I consider to be a Nice Guy myself, I have to wonder if perhaps some folk lack a life outside of looking for a life... for when you take away the daily details, is there anything to you, sometime defining, outside of your work and family? Or is it a blank? Maybe we should leave it up to the animals of the planet; they’re evolving faster than you think:

Jan 25 – It’s a Green Winter

All the snow’s gone here in Victoria, even here in the ‘northern’ climes outside of the city. Rain’s moved in, along with some fairly foggy days at times... but with the temperatures hovering in the high single-digits, it’s fairly bearable. Joggers are out in light jackets (or less in some cases) and people consider ‘bundled up’ to be wearing a scarf AND gloves with a fall jacket. The lack of snow and the tons of green plant life around (mosses and coniferous trees, mostly) means that it feels like fall here, not winter, though the short days and lack of sunlight do take their toll. Still, not shoveling the white stuff or slipping on ice every other step is something I’ve still got to get used to every year, compared to Ontario’s knee-deep brown-and-grey winters. I’ve even got the heat OFF in my room; it’s 25 degrees and being heated by the new PC – another bonus.

Jan 26 - Best Times to Buy Stuff

Every year, you see sales come and go for seasonal items. A lot of things are seasonal, when it comes down to it – prices vary over the course of a year. So when IS the best time of year to buy things, like winter clothes, TV’s or other things? LifeHacker has a great chart that spells out precisely that – go have a look and save yourself some dough by buying off-season... and if it’s on sale, even better!

Jan 27 – On Gaming

On my day off today, the first thing I did was sell my copy of COD: Black Ops. I’d noticed I was becoming more and more frustrated while playing it solo, which is the exact opposite concept behind playing games: they should be entertaining ways to relieve stress, not add to it. So I made the decision to can the game, as I came away from more sessions angry than not, which sucked after a long day. I think what’s so frustrating to me is that in certain games like COD, you’d think you’d get better with practice( and I did, to a point )but most every game has hardcore players in it that hand you your ass in a sling over and over. That gets old fast; nobody likes to lose or come in at the low end of the scoreboard too many times before tossing in the towel and trying something else. The rest of my day was a mix of things, mainly going through mountains of old bills and papers, something I’ve put off doing for a while. It was somewhat cathartic to shred piles of them; like removing old worries in a way.

Jan 28 – Humming Media

The new PC is humming along nicely, even with Windows Vista forced upon it... Win7 is still being reserved in case I can fix my laptop. Sadly, I’ve come to realize that if I go through with my plan to copy most of my DVD TV series onto the box, I’ll need about 15TB( Terabytes )of storage space. Yikes! There go my plans... the largest drives available right now are 2TB in size, and I can fit a max of 8 in my system if I condense things – and at $80.00 a pop for a ‘cheap’ drive of that size, we’re talking some serious cash outlay. So for now I’ll put on the series that I’m most likely to want to watch at the drop of a hat( Babylon 5, Stargate, Robotech )and leave the rest for when I can afford to expand. It’s a good setup though, routing things perfectly to the big screen – nice to have planned ahead and have it work out, for once.

Jan 29 - Robert Jordan and Beer

I zoomed through the first few chapters of The Towers Of Midnight today, the second-last book in the Wheel of Time series by the late Robert Jordan, being finished by Brandon Sanderson. A lot of loose ends are being tied up rather neatly, but I want to go back and re-read the entire series from the beginning before the final book comes out next year. There’s a few sites on the net( somewhere )that have threads following the dozen or so major plot-lines of the series - the details are foggy to me now after all these years, so I’d like to brush up on it to enhance my reading experience before the final book. It was a nice way to spend a Saturday night, as escapism really tucks you into those other worlds and insulates you( for a time )from the lackluster stress-filled days of one’s ugly reality some weeks. Well, so does beer, but a book is much more cost effective and far less likely to give you a hangover. Plus there’s a much faster way to pour beer that’s been developed: from the bottom UP!

Jan 30 – Numbed

Another busy, busy day at work, enough so that again I got little done except daily tasks. I like to keep track of the busier day’s numbers to put things in perspective – today, for example, I served 1 customer an average of every 6.5 minutes, for 7 hours. Not counting answering phones, of course. Anything more than 1 per 10 minutes is Busy in my book, as it leaves little time for aught else. I came home tired and in a crappy mood, despite my best efforts to stave it off. A good meal and some time spent online with an old friend gaming in NWN improved that mood, despite the fact that we both ended up dying stupidly in a random encounter – it happens when you’re tired and still angry. Making mistakes is apparently what I’m best at, which is a terrible skill to put on your resume` - and don’t give me that crap about you have to make a mistake in order to learn from it. If that were the case, I’d be the Albert Einstein of Mistakes already at my age. Good night.

Feels like Spring here and next week is all sunshine! Hope it helps to improve my mood...

Vacations, Vista and Vexations

The word of the week is family. Specifically: sister!

Jan 17 - Not Working Week

Ahhh, vacation! Not something that you want to take lightly, as you only get so much time every year. For me, the last few years have been split between regular and ‘working’ vacations – where I spent my time moving my family and sundry stuff around. Now that we’re settled for a bit, I’m thinking my next few vacations will be ‘me’ time – really, just me, as I don’t have anyone to take a vacation with out here. Going back to Niagara is always an option, but Lucas mentioned a Cuba trip some time ago and that’s stuck in my head since – never been, kinda want to. It’s deplorable that two out of three people never end up using their vacation days each year and I fall into that category; by the end of 2011 I’ll have four weeks of vacation to use up, so I’d better start planning now. I hear that Bhutan is the new Shangri-La, with lots of great mountains...and they’ve just banned smoking entirely!

Jan 18 - New Computer!

Talk about good timing; the motherboard for my new PC arrived today, allowing me to start putting everything together. I’ve been ‘frankensteining’ my computers for years, but this time the only parts  I’ve kept for re-use are the giant blue case and a few hard drives – I’ll add some serious storage next year, I think, as it just keeps getting cheaper the longer you wait. So most of today was spent happily unpacking boxes of tech and plugging it all together... but really most of it was spent waiting for Windows Vista to update itself. Argh – I’ve decided for now to use my old Vista licence to run the media PC, as I still hold out some slim hope of getting my Win7 laptop to run. For now, I’m going to enjoy my first all-new PC in about 10 years, something I’ve really been looking forward to for a long, long time. Hello, reliability and hello using the big-screen TV as a primary monitor – sweet!

Jan 19 - On a beach in January in Canada

Today my sister and I took the time to go down to Esquimalt Lagoon to take advantage of the sudden sunshine that showed up this morning. The wind had died off too, so by 10am it was perfect weather to trot down the sand at the ocean’s edge; we barely needed jackets it was so nice. Near the end of our san sojourn we came across a huge redwood tree washed up on the beach; the wood was the colour of blood and the thing was easily fifty feet long. Hard to believe something that big had been taken by the sea and washed ashore so easily. The beaches here are just covered in washed-up wood; it’s quite a sight to see if you’re used to beaches from elsewhere in the world, especially on inland lakes. Here's the tree - it looks like really rare steak, to me:




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Jan 20 - So long for now, sis!

I saw my sister off at noon today for her flight at the Victoria Airport; it’s nice having a ‘small’ International Airport here on the Island. Much like Hamilton’s airport, it’s big enough to get the job done but not so massive that you feel lost in the place half the time( both have exactly one Timmy’s too )/ I remember all too well the confusion of Pearson International in Toronto, which even with the demolition of the old Terminal One still makes my head spin to try and navigate around the spiralling motorways that surround the place. I’m not an inveterate traveller, so airports will as like always freak me out a little; Calgary’s was like that, but that’s because their toilets were possessed... sheesh! In any case, it was fabulous to have my sister her for so long and I hope to do so again sooner rather than later. Miss ya, sis!

Jan 21 - Paper Cuts

Ack... paper, lots of it, all over the place here. I’d meant to do something about that this week( along with a lot of other things )but the paper really stymies me. I tend to keep things longer than I should, especially bills – weird, when I have a scanner and could just digitize things. But who has the time to spend hours a week doing that? I seem to recall more than a few ‘Digital Organization’ programs over the years that purported to be able to make your life paper-free, but they never mention the time it takes to get all that stuff into your computer. Scanners still aren’t instant, as they take about a minute to run down a document into digital form, then you have to name and file it. More work to make time for...

Jan 22 - BOINC!

What to do with my last day of vacation? Well, a whole lot of nothing, as it turns out. I’ve been very tired of late, so I spent the day doing various activities including some Xbox time and cleaning house on the new PC – lots of stuff on various drives that needed tidying / deleting / finding a home for. I also set up BOINC again on the system, as I have the twin advantages now of a 4-core CPU that is also a low-power design. So I can run BOINC 24/7 again without using a ton of power or generating a ton of heat; that was always a problem in the summer to keep the PC cool, even with 7 fans on the tower total. I still hope for that ‘eureka!’ discovery after running SETI@Home for over a decade now; possibly being a co-discoverer of alien life still makes me ponder some days. Damn cool stuff we can do now.

Jan 23 – Stories are better than people?

My first day back at work after my vacation... it wasn’t horrible, but there’s always that one person who manages to ruin the good feeling the other twenty people engendered. As usual, it had to do with misconceptions and attitude; misconceptions both. I learned a valuable lesson, he didn’t and will likely continue to view the world as out to get him – I feel sorry for him in a way, as he’ll continue to be that way. No loss to me – check out NotAlwaysRight.com for some more amusing anecdotes. Reminds me of why I need to change jobs this year; the sooner I get to a better job, the better, as my stress levels continue to ratchet ever-higher week to week at work. Too many straws and too weak a camel’s back.

Sunday evening was spent rather pleasantly; after a so-so day I spent hours chatting with three of my good friends online, helping one flesh out a story idea of hers. The wonders of internet chat... and a good way to close out the week.

Snow, Sisters and Seagate

The word of the week is vacation!

Jan 10 - Zoom Xoom?

As I wait this year to decide what phone I'm going to apply my Telus credit towards, I've been keeping my eye firmly on the tablet market. The limitations of the iPad don't appeal to me, so I've been watching the Android market, especially since CES has been going on this week. In particular, the Motorola Xoom was announced, a powerful dual-core 10.1” tablet... that has a freakin' barometer in it. Which means I could finally get real-time( and historical )tracking of atmospheric pressure trends locally, to help predict when my headaches would be imminent due to weather changes. Now that's using tech to make life easier, in my opinion. We'll have to see what the Xoom costs when it arrives though.

Jan 11 - Star Trek Tech News

Yes, Mr. Scott, it's true: scientists have come up with a new material that is stronger and lighter than steel... and it's glass. Can you say Transparent Aluminum? You know the next step is going to be clear hull sections for cruise ships, or clear bathtubs... the possibilities are endless. Depending on how expensive the process turns out to, you might see things made transparent that never could be before. Sure, it's not exciting news to some... but like cell phones, you may suddenly start seeing things using the new substance everywhere sooner than you think.

Jan 12 - Buh-bye Snow!

While the rest of the continent has been effectively snowed under this week, we've been getting rain here. Lots of rain, which is to be expected really – we have a small lake nearby, Lake Ida Anne, and there's an island in the middle. Well, there was at any rate... with all the rain, it's totally submerged, and there's some flooding elsewhere on Vancouver Island. Living as I do on the top of a mountain however, means I never have to worry about flooding, or earthslips, or a lot of things. Just getting down from here when the snow's thick and the ice is lurking is challenging though, so it has its bad points. Rain too.

Jan 13 - Sister Visits BC!

An early, early day today: out the door at 6am to head into Victoria( and beat the traffic logjam )to drop off my mother for a doctor's appointment( after breakfast at White Spot ). From there my dad and I went to the airport to pick up my sister! I haven't seen her since the summer, as she lives in Calgary, so it's a thrill to have her here. Especially since I'm on vacation next week and can actually spend some time with her... heck, even my dad has some days off so we can go and do things as a family – huzzah! Unfortunately I had to work today, so it wasn't quite family time yet... but we persevered: in the evening we watched How To Train Your Dragon which is about as fine a film as I've ever seen; even after a few viewings it still retains its charm, wit and perfect pacing. See it, if you haven't already, or watch it again if it's been awhile.

Jan 14 - Muppet Yuks

Back in the day, I had a long-running D&D campaign that I ran as a DM – it went for over four years, with many players( and characters )coming and going in that time. In fact, only one player and one character made it through right to the end: Zartan. Josh, you should be proud! Why do I mention this? Well, as a storyteller, I like to inject humour into my stories whenever possible( and appropriate )but it's not easy to be funny. Silly, yes... but consistently funny is hard. Which is why I found the following hilarious: Statler and Waldorf commenting on a D&D arena battle. Hold your sides before they split!

Jan 15 - The Seagate Saga continues ...

Ahhh.... my first day of vacation. Time to kick back, relax and... take my laptop into the shop. Well, pick it up from the shop today, that is. Having spent the week struggling with the replacement Seagate drive, I'd had it by Wed and brought it into Best Buy to see what their techs could do. Turns out they had a few methods I didn't( I asked and memorized them, of course )that brought it back to life. Which lasted until I got it home today and it wouldn't turn on. So back to Best Buy, where we pull the CMOS battery... and it still doesn't work. What's left to do? Call Seagate and ream them a few new ones( politely )over the phone and see if I can't wrangle a deal to get this piece of garbage out of my house without taking any more of a loss. It's been such a headache; I won't dwell further on the details, but I have a hundred better things to do than spend hours every week swapping hard drives...

Jan 16 - Family Sunday

A(n) (a)typical Sunday today: I made pancakes for my family for breakfast, the first time in over a year, as it's special to have ALL my immediate family here with me. The early part of the day was (un)surprisingly spent online, where four friends and I relived the 'glory days' of November 2010 playing Call of Duty: Black Ops together... and doing not so badly. Heck, one game I went 13-0 Kills/deaths – a new record for me! Late lunch over at the Bean with my sister, where we sat in front of the incredibly hot fireplace( gorgeous on a wet cold rainy day )and talked shop and other things. She's really loving her new laptop, one I picked up last week and spent many hours tweaking into the perfect setup for her – what are g33ky brothers for, if not for that? The evening was split between fixing a friend's computer that my sister brought with her and spending time with my fave family. And the cat.

I'm glad my vacation's finally here; I can really use the downtime, despite the laptop troubles. I'll be spending as much time as possible with my sister, as it's so rare that she's here for more than a day or two. Family - it's what it's all about.

Success, Second Chances and Soul-Searching

The word of the week is fulfillment. Because we need some.

Jan 3 -The Near Future

2011 has been good so far, admittedly only 3 days in. Several of my long-term financial plans are clicking into place, which though they won't quite yet allow me to get the yacht of my dreams( I have to learn seamanship first )they have taken some of the ungodly pressure off me as of... now. Not quite having to budget every dollar of every paycheque now means I can sleep better at night, which may mean these dark bruises around my eyes will soften. Which means I can wear contacts again without people asking who poked me in both eyes that morning. Which would be VERY nice indeed - nobody likes a poke in the eye, even with the best of intentions.


Jan 4 - Selfishness

Now that things are on the upswing around here, I've been looking to the future: me. What to do about me, specifically. Where to live, where to work, what to do in my off time... until this point, my primary focus has been to ensure my parents are set up properly for their retirement. No ifs, ands, or buts about it: when I take my leave, it will be fine financially for them AND me. I've been considering living 'downtown' again( by that, in Victoria itself )to take advantage of transit and being able to cycle places instead of drive. Which also means perhaps a new job - my take so far on freelance writing has been less than rosy for supporting myself independently; Don't Quit Your Day Job really does apply to that field even after you're established. So stay tuned to see how things pan out this coming year, to see where( perhaps literally )my choices take me.

Jan 5 - Go Green

Yahoo News may have got to it a week late, but the videos are worth looking at: the Goldstream River here in Langford turned neon green last week. Turns out it was pranksters putting a batch of Fluorescein into the water( supposedly non-toxic )of the fountain in downtown Langford, as well as the Goldstream River - which is stupid, as it's a very delicate ecosystem that hosts spawning salmon which in turn are fed on by bald eagles, bears and other creatures. Here's a picture of the fountain I took - with the sun shining through it, you can really see the green:

Jan 6 - My Library to go

My 'new' iPhone 3G is a great little gadget; I'm glad I picked it up, especially given the mature state of the Apple App Store... and the fact that most of the apps are dirt cheap at 99cents( or thereabouts )for most apps. I've browsed through quite a few, and found many that exemplify how smartphones help people better manage and even improve their lives. One such app is My Library, a database for your collection of movies, CD albums... and books! It utilizes the built-in camera on the iPhone to scan the barcode of the item in question, then adds it to the database after checking for additional data on the internet. I've wanted exactly this sort of app for years, but balked at spending hundreds( at the cheapest! )for a barcode scanner and proprietary software. Now I can scan books into the phone as I have time, so that when I'm browsing titles at a local bookshop I will KNOW if I already own the title. Having the iPhone with me means I'll never make a duplicate purchase again... very important when I already own thousands of books, plus dozens of series / movies on DVD. Definitely lifestyle-enhancing.

Jan 7 -The Voice Of Viral Success
 
Sometimes you can win again after losing: such was the case with Ted Williams, whom by now most of you know as the Homeless Guy with the Radio Voice. In less than a week, he's gone from begging for work by the roadside to being on most major news networks, talk shows and news sources. It's a rags-to-recognition story that some may call a gilded one, glossing over Ted's prison time and the fact he left nine children unsupported... but it's still heart-warming. I found myself following the story daily as soon as I heard about it( thanks Brian! )as I have more than a passing interest in anyone who makes their living via their voice. I hope Ted ends up finding success again in life.

Jan 8 - Winter Green

Not much to say about work today: I opened, I didn't get much done, I left early - I just couldn't seem to concentrate today, especially with the sun shining outside( and vanishing behind threatening not-quite-snow clouds later in the day ). Although I don't get the massive migraines I did in ON from the barometric pressure flux with weather changes, I can still feel the change - like someone tapping softly on the front door instead of ringing the bell or knocking: you know they're there, but you're not sure. It is nice not having snow here in Victoria; in the winter, things stay green, which is a lot more pleasant than seeing nothing but brown and grey when the snow isn't around for a few days. It's like this for most of the winter in these parts:



Jan 9 -Moody Gaming

My days off of late( by that I mean, the last year )have been all about refuge: taking time of from work, from life, and sometimes myself. Today was a good example of a few of those, when the highlight of the day was deleting the character from Sacred2 that I'd spent the most time in developing... the wrong way. I still see the game as a time-sink, if I let it be )for single-player, yet the irony is that if I want to game with my friends, I have to spend the time to develop a character that can keep pace with theirs. An odd dichotomy, to crunch so many hours by oneself so that you can then crunch MORE hours with friends. Then start over again to try a new path - similar to NWN in many ways, but more hectic somehow; it's hard to explain, but with NWN it would be months before one's chosen character attained higher levels. Less about the loot too. Anyway, that was the morning - the rest of the day degenerated into moodiness that I won't detail here, with the highlight being the evening spent typing up this very blog. [End Ramble]

Mmm.... cookies. Good for the soul, if not the body.

Breakfast, Books and Barriers

The word of the week is unfamiliar, not hideous - though I like that one too.

Dec 27 – On Relaxation

I enjoyed some time over at the Bean today, including a chipotle roast chicken sandwich that was just the right level of spice. It was good to have a day off, especially after working as much as I did for the last few weeks – I have some vacation time scheduled in January and need to schedule some more soon after that, as I really need the downtime. I won't be going anywhere, as I think a staycation would do me some good to let me get some projects done here at home... as well as sleeping in and getting out a little bit to explore my surroundings and relieve 'cabin fever' – if you want to call it that. Mountain fever?

Dec 28 - Bear Breakfast

Not so bad a day: working early means home early and more time to do things... plus a breakfast at A&W always helps start the day right( they issue coupons every few months that make it cheaper! ). It's very convenient that there are not one but two A&W's on my way to work, though I prefer the one nearer to my home as they're a much more professional crew. The one by my workplace seems to have motivation and efficiency issues on a regular basis, which turns simple orders into waiting games. Teamwork has always been something I've been proud of wherever I work, presuming that you can get along decently with the other people you work with. There's always the chance of a personality clash, but given my own personality traits it's always been the other person who's moved on – if you're not able to work with people, then don't be in a job where that's a necessity of employment. Duh.

Dec 29 –eBooks

Of all the apps I've installed on my iPhone 3G, the one I've been enjoying the most is the Kindle eBook reader from Amazon. I've downloaded a few books in the last few weeks, ones I've been meaning to read for some time but never found for a decent price( eBooks are much cheaper too! ). Now I've read The Windup Girl and am halfway through the latest Wheel of Time book The Gathering Storm, which I'm enjoying immensely. Though it's a tragedy that Robert Jordan died before he could complete his epic series, I think it's in good hands with Brandon Sanderson who is finishing things off. With thousands of characters and dozens of intricate plotlines, it's a huge job and I can't wait to see how everything gets tidied up in the end. Reading it as an eBook( and having as many other books as I want to buy with me wherever I go )is just the icing on the cake. It'd be better on a 7” tablet though; soon, soon...

Dec 30 - Sacred Drives

Having downloaded Sacred2 last week, I've played it on and off with a couple friends and found it fairly enjoyable. Sure, it has the standard Fetch This or Kill That quests, but those are more fun with friends than alone... it's not really like grinding. I've known this for years, having played NWN for as long as I have, so it's a change to do it on the Xbox. Unfortunately I'm still having lag issues, which I now believe to be intrinsic to the game code itself, as everything with my router, XboxLive and internet service all check out fine after days of testing( including other games ). Frustrating as that is, it's a fun game when it works and a good subtitute for NWN until my new drive from Seagate arrives. Did I mention that I called Seagate yesterday for an express Warranty replacement to be sent to me? That's the thing about cutting edge technology: sometimes you get cut, and you end up bleeding more money.

Dec 31 - New Year's Chilling

Dang, it was busy at work today... but at least there were two of us to handle the busy; good to have help. It was a trial getting home afterwards though; I'd given the car to my dad to get him to work, and as his was a late shift he wouldn't be back until 1am. I was finished much earlier around dinnertime and took a bus to the base of Bear Mountain; they ran free tonight after 6pm. That leg took me over an hour( about the same time as walking )as the connector is once hourly; waiting in the cold with no bus shelter wasn't fun. Neither was trying to get a cab up the mountain; I gave up after 30 mins of busy signals and being told elsewher the wait was 2 hours... at dinnertime? What's with that, even on New Year's Eve? I finally gave up and walked up the mountain, which took another 45 minutes, putting me home a little after 9pm, 3 hours after I'd finished work. Such are the trials of being off the transit grid. I was rather tired after all that and channel-surfed myself to sleep... about as boring a New Year's as I've had in a while.

Jan 1 -2011 Visitations

We had some company over today, distant cousins who moved from Niagara many years ago and we've reconnected with since moving to BC. Life's like that: wherever you go, there you are, and as like there's someone who knows someone you knew. Or family, in this case – nice folks. By the time they left, I'd obliquely introduced them to the wonders of Ubuntu 10.10, showing them how they could take an install CD-ROM( I gave them one )and run it alongside WinXP to breathe new life into their tired old PC. They brought the topic up, not me, in case you were wondering, as they asked why my laptop looked 'odd' – I explained that since I was waiting for a replacement drive to install Win7, I'd popped in an old drive and was using Ubuntu to surf the web and do other generalized tasks. They were intrigued.

Jan 2 – Ice on the Mountain

The hardest part about today wasn't that it was insanely busy at work and I was by myself – I've done that before many times and though it's tiring, I can handle it. No, the hardest part was getting to work and back safely: since the temperature here dropped below zero, ice formed on the road( the only road )down from the mountain. It's made more dangerous due to the winding and sloping nature of the road and by the fact that the shadow of the hillsides allows the ice to remain for most of the day; a very dangerous combo even without snow. There have been several crashes in the last 24 hours taking out a light pole and a utility box respectively, with only some minor injuries fortunately. Riding roughshod with our snow chains may be slow and loud, but it's better than sliding off the edge of a steep hill – they don't believe in crash barriers here in BC like they have everywhere in southern ON. Crazy.

It's harder to write these blogs all at once, as has been happening of late. Usually I make notes day to day as the week goes on, but not in December. No surprise there; I wanted to write something inspiring this week for 2011, but nothing came to mind that I haven't already put into the blog. Ah well - I have an entire year ahead of me to discover.

Christmas, Concepts and Crazy

The word of the week is tenuous.

Dec 20 – Wearing Presents

Only a few more days until Christmas and the feeding frenzy at retailers across the country is in full swing. I bowed out this year( and last year, and the year before )for as I mentioned I don’t shop in December. That still doesn’t stop me from surfing online for cool gift ideas, or just ideas for things to get for myself should the need( and cash )arise in sync. One area I’m keeping my eye on is wearable tech: Tom’s Hardware has a great list of Wearable Tech of the Future with some really cool things. I thought the eJOUX concept wristlet and the wearable suitcase were really cutting-edge, though again I would be hard-pressed to find a practical use for them when it comes time to pony up the asking price.

Dec 21 – Not Quite NWN

There’s a sale on this week on Xbox live, for a fair number of games. I already have quite a number of unfinished games( ie. most of my collection )so I’m more curious to see the discounts than the actual games themselves. Several of my friends have recommended Sacred 2 to me, as being very similar to NWN  - though this review states it’s more of a Diablo clone. I’m not one to spend hours a week running around trying to l00t and farm gold; I’d rather spend the time playing with my friends online and interacting with them than trying to get a Sword of Uber-Headsmacking. I think I’ll check out the trial later this week and see how it fares...

Dec 22 – Driving me Crazy( -er )

The Hard Drive Saga continues... but it’s getting better. I must have swapped out the drive at least a dozen times this past week, at one point sticking in the old drive from my parent’s laptop and installing Ubuntu 10.10 on it, just to see if there was a hardware issue with the laptop – nope. What I’ve discovered is that while the new drive goes into Sleep Mode and wakes up from such perfectly, it does NOT play well when it goes into Hibernation. So, I’ve set the laptop to ONLY go to Sleep and not Hibernate( save and shutdown, essentially )and that seems to have done the trick – for now. Some time with Seagate Tech Support next week might turn up a permanent solution, but for now I’m no longer faced with returning the drive under a warranty replacement. Unless it does turn out to be a defect...

Dec 23 – It’s an iPhone!

Telus and I kissed and made up today... or at least agreed not to sue each other. After a fair bit of wrangling on the phone, I activated a used iPhone 3G I purchased inexpensively from a co-worker. It’s under the 2-year contract that still remains in effect, with a decent data plan and features... plus a $100 credit towards a new phone up until the end of 2011. So in essence, I can use my ‘new’ iPhone for a year while I decide if I want to go Android or Apple, as well as what model of phone I eventually want... for less. Overall, I’m not really upset, except for the contractual hassles and hoops I went through to get to this point. I do not believe I will ever sign another contract again, with any cell company, for any reason – they make my head hurt. Better to go to another model of cell plan, like the Koodoo Tab( which is a Telus subsidiary, btw )and avoid contracts altogether.

Dec 24 – Merry Xmas Eve and All That

Not so busy a Christmas Eve today; I was out the door and home by 2pm, which I wasn’t expecting. It was the final of 11 days in a row of working, albeit with some of those days shorter than others. I spent a good part of the evening playing COD: Black Ops, which I admit isn’t the most peaceful way to spend the night before Christmas... but it WAS a fair bit of fun.  I also spent way too much time surfing the Apple AppStore, looking for cheap / free apps that would be useful to me while avoiding the thousands of CrapApps that clog the place. One I immediately installed is DropBox, which is a file-sharing app that lets me drop whatever files( docs / pics / etc )into a folder on my laptop and have it be sharable between all my tech gadgets, be they computer, iPhone or what-have-you. Much easier than trying to pick and choose things to carry with you; wireless connectivity at its finest. Not to be confused with FileFactory.com, which lets you host up to 500gigs of files to share with friends / family – free!

Dec 25 – Christmas, of course!

A very relaxing Christmas, spent at home with my family... well, unfortunately not my sister who is waaaay out in AB, but we talked for a while today – that was nice. We had a great turkey dinner early at 1pm( leftovers! )and ended up watching the first two Shrek movies – great family time today. While we didn’t do much at all in the way of presents, the highlight of the day was the Zhu Zhu Hamster pet that we picked up for the cat. Whoever thought up these kids toys should expand into the pet market; these electronic scamperers are the perfect distraction for cats. They make cute random noises, zoom around in random paths and have a faux-fur finish that just asks for a cat to bat at playfully. Very amusing.

Dec 26 – Boxed In

Boxing Day turned out to be a bust at work, which was fine: it was steady but not insanely busy as I had suspected it might have turned out to be. The day passed quickly enough but at no point was I overwhelmed with customers, despite news that it was fairly busy at retailers here in Victoria. I didn’t bother this year, as there’s nothing I really need / really want to spend the cash for... and certainly nothing I was going to line up overnight for, even if there’s no snow out this way. I spent the evening typing up my blog, losing it, then trying to recover it from drafts / saved caches – no luck there. I packed it in after midnight and slept, dreaming oddly of see-through high-end toilets with colourful logos... which probably meant I shouldn’t have gone to bed angry. Or ate all those cookies left out for Santa.

Yes, I’m annoyed at Windows LiveWriter, as it happily overwrote the blog entry for Dec. 13 for NO discernable reason – no setting or preference can explain why it picked the second-most-recent post to blast into nothingness. So I’m back to editing in Word until I figure out how to safeguard my blog’s contents from random deletion – another black mark for Windows and its ilk.

Due to Windows LiveWriter being helpful enough to delete my blog draft and replace it with a 'live' copy, my blog is being rewritten from scratch Monday morning.

That sucks. 

People, Pictures and... -reposted-

PLEASE NOTE: This blog post was originally published  Dec 13 2010. Thanks to the wonders of random date postings via Windows LiveWriter, it was automagically deleted and reposted the week of Dec. 26th 2010.


Moral of the story? Don't expect Windows to know what the hell it's doing. And keep a backup copy!

The word of the week is melancholy. Because a good friend noticed.
  
Dec 6 – Questions and Sunsets

Ask yourself Two Questions, in order to gain focus in your life? Sure, why not. Getting some direction in your life is always a good thing, especially if you’re not sure that what you’re doing is what you’re meant to be doing – if you’re one of those people who believe in Fate( I’m not ). Then again, there’s the argument that there’s no such thing as coincidence, that everything happens for a reason… some things in this life can’t be easily explained, and others we just shrug off because we’re uneasy examining them too closely. Have a look at the Two Questions and see if you might make a difference in your own life by the addition of simplification.
A view of the sky from atop Bear Mountain, just one of the many spectacular views from way up here in the forested heights. Don’t wander too far into the woods though; there’s more than bears in these parts…

Dec 7 – Routing Mountains

Ah, irony. I spent a few hours this morning tweaking, pleading and generally getting annoyed with my parent's router. I had it working the way I wanted it to by noon... which was when the replacement NEW router arrived with the mail. Perfect timing. The new NetGear WNDR3700 was a little slow to set up, but I was impressed not only with its speed, but the fact that I didn't have to dig around to get my Vonage IP phone OR my Xbox connected to the 'net. They worked immediately after being plugged in – something my old D-Link DIR-655 couldn't manage without internal surgery. Some hours of gaming and surfing later let me to conclude that my only bottleneck now is the speed of our internet connection, which admittedly is just fine for general surfing, VOIP and gaming, perhaps not all at the same time. I'm cheap, but when you buy quality, it shows sometimes.
The Olympic Mountains, south of Victoria across the Salish Sea( cool names, eh? ). Inspiring in their imposing might, they create a cooling effect when the wind blows over their frozen peaks. Amazing to look at from Dallas Road any time of year.

Dec 8 – Lakes and Linux

Whoops – I managed to brick two of my computers before lunch today; not a thing to be proud of. I skilfully resurrected the older laptop with a re-install of Fedora13 Linux, so it was up and running by late evening, after which I added some more programs and functionality to it. I took a break around lunch to play some COD: Black Ops with friends, having a few really great games. Sometimes I get in the groove, sometimes it gets me – there were some truly awful games today for me. All in all, it was a good second of two days off, which only a few phone calls from work. I also spent a few hours reviewing Telus' Terms Of Service, looking for things that will allow me to tweak their nose about my 2-year contract with no phone that I'm stuck in; really, really not impressed with that, as a long-term customer of theirs.
This is a lake I lived on for a year. The beauty is breathtaking; the peaceful illusion is just that, due to construction, a public park and neighbours with motorcycles. We couldn’t leave soon enough. The lesson? Check out the neughbourhood thoroughly before you sign a lease… or worse, a mortgage.

Dec 9 – Long Days and Large Hotels

Due to staffing constraints, I worked a split shift today, opening the store and taking a couple of hours off in the afternoon before heading back in to close the store again. I headed over to McDonald's again on Island Highway, where I spent a few hours surfing and typing. Their seats are definitely designed to encourage people to leave after their meal, NOT for long-term comfort. Sadly, their fireplace is never on, as it smells of gas… but you think they’d get it fixed, especially in the winter!
An evening view of the Empress Hotel, a mighty lady who has sat regally by the harbourside here for over a century. One of these days I’ll find a few folks to attend High Tea with me there, just to be able to say I’ve done it – it’s too pretentious to make it a regular thing, and too expensive. Notice the hybrid taxis...

Dec 10 – Rainbows and Stuff

Every two weeks today: payday. For some, it’s no biggie, but for others, it’s a relief to have some money in the account again. I’ve been in both places and I have to say that planning ahead( ‘budgeting’ )is the way to go. Not so much living in denial of your debts but planning ahead for your future freedom… as well as making sure you don’t blow things by way of a flashing new car / TV / home addition. Too many people live paycheque to paycheque in Canada; I wonder how much happier we’d all be if we didn’t worry even half as much about needing a day job to pay for all our Stuff? Stuff can’t make you happy, talk to you when you’re sad, or come with you easily on a trip around the world( Expedia.ca’s gnomes notwithstanding ). It’s all about the people, people: friends, family and yes, even some co-workers( who can become like family, of course ). Don’t feed the Stuff Syndrome; be a people person instead.
Both bleak and beautiful, this is a pic of rainbow that appeared within the first few weeks of my arriving in Victoria. I’d never seen such a clear one before in my life, and I can’t say I’ve seen a larger one since – plus, it’s a double rainbow, so that’s twice as special. I took it as a sign I was supposed to be here, and I still think it means something, though I’ve yet to figure out what.

Dec 11 – Fearing Change

A whole lotta heavy this week, weighing on my mind. I know the holidays are times where people tend to become down, and I fight against that – but I can feel it happening all the same. I’ve a lot to be thankful for, as I could be in a lot worse places in life – yet it’s human nature to ignore their blessings and list all the things They Could Have or Could Have Been. Kind of Scrooge-like, in a way, where he is visited by ghosts of his past, present and future to show him he has to change. In my case, I like who I am… but it’s not doing anything for me, or getting me anywhere, so what’s the point, really? Does it matter? These and other existential questions have kept my mind ticking over into the wee hours this week, with no answers forthcoming that I can see.
This is an image I really, really like, both for the humour and for the message. Don’t be afraid to do what you want… but be prepared for the consequences. Penguins, you may note, have tiny little flipper legs and so can’t run fast at all. I hope this one has a bolt-hole in the ice ready off-camera…

Dec 12 – Life’s a Beach

A good chunk of today was used up playing COD: Black Ops, which had its moments but overall really annoyed me – seriously. I don’t know what it is, but my trigger levels seem to be lowered when I play the game and I end up feeling angry / frustrated for most of the day. Must be symptoms of SAD or emotional instability( unlike me, that )which are manifest through my getting my ass handed to me online. Which I suppose would frustrate anyone; going up against the world and finding you suck more than you win each time can be grinding to the ego. I try to learn from my games, but most times I just can’t get my game on. Suck It Up, Princess.
Yes, that’s me( before I lost about 30 lbs )leanin’ on a log on a beach on the western shores of the island, which are all full of washed-up wood. It’s great stuff: good for seats, artistic carvings and furniture, though you’re not supposed to take much of it and definitely NOT to use it for firewood. The myriad shapes lend themselves to hours of wandering and discovery, usually best with a friend or family.

Blog’s shorter this week because I didn’t feel like noting much there, other than a few of my less grim thoughts, and because Samuel asked for pictures. Obliged.