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Saturday, August 30, 2003
Another gorgeous day in Edmonton as we celebrate the Labour Day weekend. I'm not sure how you would celebrate "Labour" day other than by " labouring" but as most people seem to take the weekend off, except for us poor shiftworking slackers, it almost seems a contradiction in terms. Nonetheless, the long long weekend gives the gas companies an excuse (as if they needed one) for jacking up the gas price for the occassion. Here in Edmonchuk we are enjoying (ha, ha, a note of sarcasm there) our fuel at 79.5 cents a litre. And of course once the weekend is over the price will probably stay the same for a few weeks with perhaps 2 or 2.5 cent sympathy drop to make it look like they are being fair, only to raise it another 10 cents for the next long weekend. I guess if I want to rant about gas prices I should get in line, but it seems that as much as it irks us and as much as we gripe about the high gouging for gas, none of us, myself included, will do much about it. We still drive as much and a lot of us in larger gas guzzeling vehicles. Unfortunately, our lives dictate the same amount of driving regardless of the gas price and raising it does not magically bring the office closer to our homes, unfortunately.
Another thing I would like to vent about is our old friend Microsoft. The XP box has been giving me the Blue Screen OF Death quite frequently lately and for no good reason. I will walk past the office one minute and see the screensaver merrily screensaving away and the next time I go by I've got a computer at death's door. What gives? Is a screensaver that demanding on the resources or am I just suffering from the usual hodge podged, thrown together, patch it every five minutes operating system we have come to know and hate called Windows. I think the latter is true. It's a good thing the power grid doesn't run off Windows. Oh, wait a minute, maybe it does.... Hopefully my next post will be a bit more positive. Wednesday, August 27, 2003
It's late August and in true Edmonton fashion there is a chill in the air and the evenings are already getting shorter. I guess I should consider myself extremely fortunate that we had one of the nicest summers here in years during my time off. We have continued our biking excursions whenever possible and last weekend we were able to make it all the way into the river valley which had been somewhat of a psychological barrier for me. I had envisioned a long, greulling ride to make it that far and wondered if it would be possible. It turned out not to be hard at all, taking only around two hours round trip, approximately 23 km. We did not do too much exploring while we were there as it was getting late but we are planning to take some lengthier trips in the future to explore the miles and miles of trails in an otherwise unknown world hidden from the well know streets of the city. We picked up a map of the bike trails, put out by the city, and were amazed at the extent of their labrynthian expanse. Should provide hours of fun as long as the weather lasts.
The landscaper finally showed up yesterday and started on the yard. He figures it will only take three days to complete the job, but I have a feeling he will be here a bit longer. Nonetheless, the job is getting done and I don't have to do any of the lifting, although I am itching to get out there, grab a shovel and give them a hand. Good thing I am working days all this week. Yesterday I went for my first post surgery check up to determine how things are going and am pleased to report that all is well. The PSA count is at 0, meaning there is no trace of cancer cells anywhere. My next check up is in three months. Friday, August 22, 2003
Found a sneak peek of the Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King trailer here and it looks pretty good although the trailer is in a pretty small format and the bit rate is low making it a little shaky. The best way to view it is with Quicktime at twice screen size. The official trailer is not scheduled to come out until mid September and these downloads are a bit scarce and sketchy so this one might not be valid by the time you try it. Still, it makes waiting for the movie more exciting when you can get a snippet of the film and it looks great.
We are still waiting on the landscaper to come and start our yard. He was supposed to have been here at the beginning of the week but so far has been a no show. I only hope we don't see snow flying before it gets done. Another virus is making the rounds and this one is creating a lot of havoc. Sobig-F is a variant on a virus that was out a few months ago. I have heard reports that this or else the Blaster or both have been responsible for knocking out several big corporate computer systems including a railroad in the states and the Air Canada ticket desks. Better make sure that your virus definitions are up to date and that you download two more critical updates from Microsoft if you are running XP. Wednesday, August 20, 2003
So, today we trudge off to the blood donor clinic to do our civic duty and I find out that I can no longer donate blood because I have had cancer. It actually made me sad. The ironic thing is that for the last four to six years that I supposedly had the cancer, of course unbeknownst to me or the blood service, I donated several times. Now that it is, for all intents and purposes, gone, they tell me I can no longer give.
If you are ever looking for a good movie to rent on a Saturday night, pick up Billy Crystal's "Forget Paris". We have been revisiting this gem lately and getting quite a chuckle out of it. Hilarious scenes include one that involves Debra Winger with a pigeon and William Hickey's obsession with the Toyota jingle "You asked for it, you got it. Toyota." This film has now made it onto my 50 all time favourite movies. 
I found this neat little screen saver in, of all places, the XP OS itself. It's called My Picture Slideshow (don't you just love the way Microsoft insists on adding that cutesy possesivness to everything it names in Windows; My Computer, My Pictures, My Illegally Downloaded Song Files, My Self Destructive Operating System) and it actually displays pictures that you can select on your hard drive with neat little zooms, wipes and special transitions. So I have a few of my more "artsy fartsy" digital shots zooming around the screen when the computer is not in use. I guess we'll leave it like that until we get bored of it or the new Lord Of The Rings trailer comes out, whichever comes first. Tuesday, August 19, 2003
I have been keeping an ear to the ground in regards to this whole RIAA file sharing sabre rattling. I find it interesting that a group that you would think would be trying to smoothe its relationship with the buying public who will ultimately buy their product is in fact alienating that said public by going after them with subpeanas for file sharing. I was just looking on the official RIAA website where it states that offenders face fines of $250,000 and up to five years in prison. If you broke into A&B sound and made off with their entire stock of CDs you would probably get a lighter sentence. What is interesting and bears watching is the fact that in Canada the "fair use" clause on the Canadian copyright law says that copying (or sharing) for personal use is legal. Maybe Canada and a few other countries with similar laws will become the haven for illicit file sharers hoping to evade persecution from the RIAA much like the draft dodgers of the '70's. We Canadians are good for something after all. Or perhaps everyone will do what I used to do: go to the public library and borrow CDs from there to copy. Can't be much less illegal, but you don't see the American Librarian Association raising a stink.
I hate when you get a cold and after the worst is over you are left for days with your nasal passages filled with something that has the consistency of hot tar that just will not move out of there no matter what direction you try to blow it. Monday, August 18, 2003
Today we finally got the remainder of our new bedroom furniture. Dianne now has her night table, which just barely fit in place and there is a big new mirror on Dianne's dresser. Needless to say, Dianne is tickled pink at finally having a place to stash her "stuff" and yet another mirror to preen in front of. I will endeavor to get photos posted for those interested in the "look".
So they finally found out what was the probable cause of "Blackout '03", as they have christened it and wouldn't you know it, it all boils down to an alarm system on a computer not working properly. Unfortunately the whole problem cascaded in less time than it takes to take a gasp so it must have been a sickening feeling to sit there and watch the dominos crumble. No doubt there will be endless debate and investigation and finger pointing for some weeks to come. Toronto gingerly went back to work this morning to no ill effect and the government, in true bureaucratic fashion, ordered 50,000 workers to stay at home on our tab. How does that conserve power? Most of them will be turning on their AC's as they watch TV and surf the net on a free day off. Saturday, August 16, 2003
After two glorious months in the summer sun it was finally time to return to the proverbial grindstone and head back to work. And today was that day. The thing that is most strange about all this is that even after two months away, it did not feel like I had ever left. Everything is as it was, the routine is the same and apart from the 60 e-mail messages waiting for me on the server, it could have just been a long weekend since I was there last. So, now I'll settle back into the routine of the rotating shift schedule and dream of the day when once again I can lounge in the back yard for weeks at a time with not a care in the world.
Boy, does 6:45 in the morning come early. I'd forgotten about that. And when was the last time I wore long pants? And socks!? Oh, well, I guess I can take solace in the fact that it is nearly the end of August and before we know it the snowflakes will be flying and the wind will be howling and the summer will be just a distant memory. And I still have my vacation time to take. I wonder how much Cuba is these days...... Friday, August 15, 2003
We watched, just for a little while, mind you, some of the media coverage of the blackout of the Eastern seaboard last night on CNN. What tedious dribble. OK, it's dark. What more can you say? It was painful watching Aaron Brown struggling for some insightful anecdotes to liven up this dreary coverage. Nonetheless, I'm sure much of the power is now back on and we can expect a sudden rise in the population sometime next May. I heard many a cruel comment about how shoddy the power grid system is in what is otherwise a technically modern nation. One comment was that we were a superpower with the electrical wiring of a third world country. I couldn't help conjuring up the image of the scene in "Airplane" where, as they are about to land the crippled plane, all the runway and guidance lights suddenly go out. Cut to "Johnny" with an extension cord in his hand and a mischevious look on his face saying "Just kidding!" as he plugs the cord back in.
After a couple of days of feeling under the weather I am pretty much back on my feet and able to function normally although I am still sniffling and coughing. I head back to work tomorrow so I am glad that I am feeling better. Yep, it's back to the ol' routine again, no more lollygaggling around the house. I will definately miss having my days of leisure stretched out before me. Now, I will be looking forward to my days off like the rest of the working stiffs.
There's been a lot of panic over this new Blaster worm virus and I suppose it is justified as this one sounds quite malicious. It just pains me to think that there are these thousands of people out there with nothing better to do than to come up with this virus garbage and spread it around as if it were some grand game of challenge. What kind of mentality purposefully works on somthing that will knowingly do harm to others and has no concscience about it. I guess this element of society has been with us for centuries, that's why we have locks on our doors and prisons full of criminals. Well, books have been written about this very thing so my insight into it is pretty feeble, but it still irks me that we have to put up with this kind of nonesense. Finally, after having paid off our mortgage over a year ago, we got our discharge papers from the mortgage company, so this afternoon I'm toddling off to the land titles office to register the title. Maybe now we can have our mortgage burning party. Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Well wouldn't you know it. Three days before I have to go back to work and I have been laid low with a stupid head cold. I am spending the day in bed, today, taking lots of garlic and vitamin C in hopes that I can shake this off by Saturday the day I head back to work. The last thing I need to be doing after 2 months off is to be calling in sick on the first day back.
The landscaper is supposed to be coming on Monday to start on our front yard. We can hardley wait. However, I may have to try and switch shifts on Tuesday in order to be home during the day. Still no word yet on when the window guys are coming, although it would be best if they could hold off a week or two to give the landscapers a chance to finish. Well, back to bed. Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Today I'd like to vent a little about something that has irked me for some time. I love coffee, and in the past few months, for one reason or another, I have been cutting back to the point where I gave it up entirely in the interest of being healthier and to better fight the cancer. Now, post surgery, I have been treating myself, more than Dianne thinks I should, to the occasional cup. Recently, on a very hot day in the city, we decided to go to Starbucks for iced cappucinos. I have tried the Tim Horton ones and found them a tad too artificial and terribly over sweet. Starbucks, like a few other coffee vendors, uses real coffee. But the thing that irked me was that most of it was ice. Duh! It's called and "iced" cappucino, dummy. But there was probably no more than half an ounce of actual, real coffee, and for this I had to pay $3.60 or therabouts. For a buck and a half I can get a tall coffee in a decent sized cup and have way more satisfaction. I may have to go back to Tim Hortons and suffer through their saccarined version. At least it's not as expensive and when I last checked, it was still a Canadian company to boot. Or better yet, I'll just save the coffee I make at home, throw it in the fridge for a couple of hours, throw in a glob of ice cream and then sit back and enjoy that refreshing treat on my own patio. Once a doityourselfer, always a doityourselfer. Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend; we certainly did here and the weather continued to cooperate and gave us some terrific sunny days. The plans with Sandi fell through, she decided at the last minute not to come home and so consequently we did not have to make a trip to Red Deer on Friday night to pick her up. It also meant we didn't have to run her back to Red Deer on Sunday morning, but we still made a trip south anyway as Dianne and I headed down to Stettler for a trip on the Alberta Prairie Railway. For a full pictorial chronicle of the day click here or go to the link under the Adventure Chronicles to the left. Then on Monday, after scraping all the bugs of the Camry, we headed down to Pigeon lake to visit some friends who have a summer getaway there. After a quick trip around the lake in the boat, we headed to shore for a yummy barbecue supper. So, today I was back scraping bugs off the Camry again.
We are quite shocked to hear of all the forest fires in BC and I guess it means we won't be taking any road trips into the mountains any time soon. Our hearts go out to all the people who have been evacuated from their homes. Many of them will probably not have a home to return to. We just heard today that we are next on the list for the landscaper so we should be getting our front yard done soon, most likely the week I go back to work, leaving me with the problem of having to be in two places at once. It's ironic how I have been idling around this place all summer with no one calling and the minute I go back to work everything starts happenning. With my luck the window guys will probably show up the same week. But, no matter what, it will be great to finally get these two projects done as the yard looks like central Bahgdad at the moment and we certainly don't want to go through another winter with these shoddy windows.
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