So we have been sitting down periodically to check out how things are going with "The War", but so far there has been nothing exciting and as Nikki pointed out it's "pretty boring". And of course, the lack of meaningful activity means we have to put up with CNN's nonending diatribe about "nothing", in fact this evening I sat for a good ten minutes while Aaron Brown went on and on about the trials of covering a war from a journalistic aspect only to end it all by saying "...but we're not here to talk about ourselves..." So what else is there. The most excitement so far is watching all those drivers going through the red light on that static street shot of Bahgdad, hoping for a decent collision.
I sent off the tax returns last night and now will start the wait for the cheques, which according to the CCRA website should be within two weeks. Should be a good refund, I'm looking forward to a new camera....perhaps.
I've been playing around with a little freeby 3D modelling program called Anim8or which gives you an idea of what goes into computer generated animation or CGI and definitely gives you an appreciation for the amount of work that goes into some of the special effects we take for granted in most modern day movies. The learning curve is pretty steep even for a fairly basic program, nowhere near as complex as something like Alias Wavefront or Maya, but it still takes a bit of getting used to. The results are quite astounding and if I managed to generate any decent images I'll post them on the site.
Last night I had the opportunity to watch a terrific movie that I hadn't seen for a long time, The Neverending Story, directed by Das Boot's Wolfgang Pederson. Shot mostly in Germany by Film Bavaria, the film stands up pretty well as an all around super fantasy flick, at least for the kids, with the underlying message that "reading is cool!" Everytime I see it I swear that part of it is shot in the Gastown section of Vancouver but I have not been able to confirm it. The Movie Database says it was shot in Munich in 1983, one of the hottest summers on record in Germany.

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Monday, March 17, 2003

Wow, what incredulous weather! As I was about to wax eloquently about how the sun has finally started shining on our fair burg, and the temps have started to rise creating much running water in the street, for which I spent Saturday morning in my shirtsleeves trying to divert from the end of my driveway, all of a sudden we were plunged right back into virtual December. On Sunday afternoon, it started snowing cotton ball sized snowflakes and by the time I went to work at midnight there was about three inches of the stuff on the ground and the roads were a mess. So much for spring! However, things started looking up today as the temperature got to about +10 and the snow started to melt causing us all to rejoice in the hope that we may just get a summer this year.
So now now we are on the brink of war and George Dubyas' given Saddam 48 hours to get out of Dodge. Yea right!, like that's going to happen. So now I guess we sit back and watch the sparks fly. I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable as I don't think it will be a walk in the park this time like Dessert Storm was. Let's see what happens in a couple of days...

Posted 10:23 PM by Jeff

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Tuesday, March 04, 2003

It's tax time again, and although you wouldn't know it by the weather outside, that means spring is around the corner. Time to sharpen those pencils and collect all those cotton pickin' reciepts. I tell ya, if it wasn't for all the snazzy tax software out there this job would drive me insane. But for $20 I just punch in all the numbers, send it off over the net and voila! a week later the check's in the mail. Then it's off to the store of course to spend all that money.
The XP box has been giving me a bit o' the grief lately. Once in a while it just decides to reboot all by itself without any warning. So I'm checking for bad drivers and other things that could be the cause.

Posted 2:51 PM by Jeff

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