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Saturday, December 31, 2005
It's Auld Lang Syne Time Again
Here I am poised on the brink of a new year with my last post of 2005. Hard to believe we are now halfway through the first decade of the new millennium. Seems like only yesterday we were in this same position breathlessly awaiting the collapse of civilization as we knew with the Y2K disaster that never happened. This year the only excitement will be to see if Dick Clark can survive through another ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Rockin Eve. I, of course, will be able to view it from the comfortable confines of work. No dangerous, noisy, booze infested party for me. And then it's downhill until March and the end of winter, although I think winter has forgotten about us here in the frozen north. There is absolutely no snow on the front lawn. But it only takes about 72 hours of constant snowfall to throw us back into the Alberta winter we have all grown to love. And I'm sure it's on it's way. So it's a Happy New Year to all and we'll see you next year. Thursday, December 29, 2005
Another Christmas In The Can
So another Christmas has come and gone and for us it was a great Christmas as usual. We had a super Christmas dinner on Sunday evening with all the kids and Lee's mom & dad and sister joining us. Here are a few pictures of our Christmas eve festivities as we opened our gifts. Dianne has been off this week and as well as recovering from a nasty cough has been relaxing and doing a bit of visiting. We went to see Chronicles of Narnia the other night and really enjoyed it. We have had the annual Christmas/New Years jigsaw puzzle on the dining room table which has to be done by new years day or else we have no where to eat our NY's dinner off. Hooked up a webcam to the computer yesterday so we will see how that works and maybe you will be able to get live glimpses into the Chronicle offices in the near future (not likely!). Here's hoping everyone had a joyous Christmas and all the best in the New Year. Friday, December 23, 2005
T'was A Couple Of Nights Before Christmas...
After a rather hectic day running around doing grocery and last minute gift shopping, it's good to be able to relax a bit. I think we are pretty much prepared for Christmas here. The girls spent the day doing some Christmas baking and the last minute presents were wrapped and placed precariously under the gift-bloated tree. Tomorrow night we will break with tradition once again and after coming back from church we will open gifts to accomodate the fact that I have to work early on Sunday morning. Then there will be the big feast on Sunday afternoon when I get off work. Nikki arrived home safely on Wednesday night to the awaiting arms of her family including Sandi as shown here:  She has spent the last couple of days getting in touch with her friends and picking up her all important cell phone so that she can once again be in contact with the world. She was quite tickled with her new room and said it was perfect, just what she wanted. I had a chance to catch the Singing Christmas Tree telecast on TV the other night and was somewhat dissapointed and a bit embarrassed. The production quality of the program was so sub par that I could not complete watching the whole thing. The picture quality was awful, the sound mix just as bad and the camara work missed all the action. All in all it did not do justice at all to the great show put on by all the volunteers and witnessed live by over 12,000 people during the course of the run. Hopefully the DVD, which sold for about $20, was a lot better. Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Homeward Bound
So we made it through another weekend and another midight shift, and the Singing Christmas Tree is done. Last night was our final performance and afterwards we had a little wrap party to say goodbye to all the guys we met during the run. Overall it was a very enjoyable experience, however Saturday and Sunday were a little tough with being on nights but everything went reasonably well. For anyone interested they are televising the show on Access Network tomorrow night (21st) and the 24th at 11:00pm so anyone with satellite who can get Edmontons' Access channel should be able to get that. Well we are just about an hour away from heading out to the airport to pick up our little traveller. Nikki arrives home at 12:38 local time, approximately1.5 hours from now. She is very excited about coming home and we have been busy preparing for her arrival. Her new room is finished. I put in the closet organizer and the new sliding doors today and Angela and Sandi have been busy decorating the room up. Here's a sneak peek of the finished product which will be unvieled to Nikki in a couple of hours. We are sort of finished our Christmas shopping although there are still a few things to get some people but I'm not sure what we are going to get. I am off the next couple of days so I'm sure I will be power shopping during that time. Other good news is that Angela has found a new job. She will be working full time five days a week, no evenings or weekends at the General hospital here in the city coordinating a senior's drop in center, or something to that effect. I'm not quite sure of all the details. Needless to say she is quite excited about the position and that she gets her own office. She starts early in January and has given her notice at the nursing home today. Good on ya', Ang!! Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Deadline!!!!!
Just taking a break from trying to hammer out this years edition of the Christmas Chrock, er Chronicle which is starting to become a wrestling match. In other words me trying to wrestle out some sort of cognitive narrative in an ever decreasing time span. I will be lucky to put this thing to bed before Christmas eve, so don't be alarmed if you don't get your copy until Easter. In other news, we had a threatening bit of a snow fall last night that thankfully didn't amount to much, just enough to force my creaking bones out of bed this afternoon to shovel. The roads were pretty slick last night on the way to work but I did see some blue sky this morning so at least the roads should be dry. We have been trying to get all the Christmas shopping wrapped up by the end of this week although it doesn't seem to be going too good. Two words for this year = "gift certificate" Nikki is due home next week so I will have to scramble to get her bedroom put back together. The closet organizer is built, it just has to be set up and the closet doors need to be installed. Not much time, I have the Singing Christmas Tree again all this weekend. I have a few days off next week so maybe she won't mind bunking down on an air mattress on the kitchen floor for a couple of nights. Sunday, December 11, 2005
Deck The Halls...
Just finished the first weekend of performances for the Singing Christmas Tree and so far the production has been a stunning success with packed houses for the first four shows. Dianne and the gang came to check out tonight's show. Afterwards we came home and had a little birthday celebration for Dianne with some ice cream cake. Here are some pictures:     We also managed to finally get our Christmas tree up after sorting through the tangled mess of lights and replacing the burned out bulbs. Dianne and Angela decorated it this afternoon and they did a pretty good job.  The snow on our front yard is pretty much gone so it looks like we will have a brown Christmas after all unless something drastic happens in the next couple of weeks. Frankly, I'd prefer it to stay like it is and just give us a powdering on Christmas eve. Wouldn't that be nice? Wednesday, December 07, 2005
That Saddam... What a Character!
This is starting to look more like a circus event than a trial as Saddam refuses to appear in court. This trial already looks like a mockery and I would hate to be in the prosecution and the judge's position having to deal with this nutcase. I'll bet we'll see more Gong Show before this is over. Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Woops!
It seems I am exceeding my server space quota each time I post pictures to the blog so it looks like I am going to have to break down and clear out a few old files, a daunting task as I just bunged them all into one big folder and have no idea what they are all for instead of being neat and tidy and putting them in appropriate folders. Oh well, if you see some of your favorite archived pictures disappear you'll know why. I guess with the new year we should start with a revamped blog. Now let's see when I can find the time for THAT project. Stuff FromThe Weekend
It's been a chilly couple of days here in the frozen north. I had to get out and shovel some major snow in -18 weather yesterday after rummaging around in a drawer for my touque. The roads have been a little slick from the snow and the wind and even after putting about 60Kg of sandbags in the bed of the truck, it still was an adventure in driving in that thing. Sandi is being pretty apprehensive about taking it to school until the roads are properly sanded. Dianne and I had a busy but enjoyable weekend. On Saturday we went to the La Ronde restaurant where we had a scrumptious three course dinner. Everything was great except the Caribou stroganoff which was a bit like eating big chunks of stewing beef over a bed of noodles. We let them know we weren't happy and they gave Dianne a free salad and dessert. Then they brought some chocolates with a sparkler in them and everyone sang happy birthday. Here is a picture of the birthday girl and one of us all snazzed up.   On Sunday we had a Christmas banquet at church for our Alpha group and I serenaded them all Kenny Gee style with a couple of numbers on the soprano sax. (unfortunately no pics) The rest of this week will be taken up for me with rehearsals and performances of the Singing Christmas Tree. We had a big rehearsal tonight with all the actors and the choir and it was basically organized chaos, but by Friday evening everything will miraculously fall into place, as these things usually do, and it should be an outstanding show. I am really looking forward to playing in it although it will be a bit tough on the second weekend as we are doing two shows per day and I will be right in the middle of a midnight shift. Got a chance to try out the new saw last night and I am very impressed. It's like a knife through butter red hot. I'll post some pictures of the project I'm working on when I get them finished. Saturday, December 03, 2005
Ho Ho Ho ...sorta...
It's been another busy week and I haven't had a chance to post much to the blog. But we have finally gotten our winter here in Edmonton as temperatures have been down around -13 and we have received a little bit of snow. Not too much to be treacherous but enough to make it look wintery. I'd take a picture of it except that it is dark out. Maybe I'll post one tomorrow. I bought and opened my Christmas present early as I have need of it before Christmas. It is a Bosch 3915 Sliding Compound Miter Saw and it's a beaut. I'll be using it to build a couple of closet organizers for the downstairs bedrooms, one of which has to be done before Nikki comes home on Dec 20, hence the early Christmas present. I was down in the shop this afternoon lining it all up and I can't wait to try it out. Hopefully my projects will be that much more precise now that I have this baby. So we are in for another election this January. It will be interesting to see if those Liberal crooks are voted back in or will those easterners finally go with the unknown and vote in the Conservatives. Dianne and I are off out tonight for a swanky meal at the rotating restaraunt at the Chateau Lacombe. This is a treat for her as we will not be able to attend my work Christmas party next week as I am playing at the Singing Christmas tree. So this is compensation for that. We are celebrating her birthday which is also next week. Dianne so looks forward to dressing up and going out at Christmas time. Gas has shot up again here. We were enjoying 71 cents/litre and the price had been falling about a penny a day for the last two weeks. Then all of a sudden it shot up to 79. I'm positive that the powers that be are just toying with us. Monday, November 28, 2005
That Was Some Game!
I guess you would have to be living on another planet not to know that the Edmonton Eskimos squeaked by the Allouettes to win the Grey Cup yesterday. Now, I'm no veteran football fan but I'm sure even those who have watched a lot of pigskin action will admit that this was the most exciting and unbelievable game they have seen. It certainly was for us. Unfortunately we missed most of the game, especially the exciting fourth quarter, due to a previous commitment but were able to see a taped version later and even knowing the outcome didn't dampen the tension. This is one for the record books IMHO. We are truly enjoying our no-snow situation here in The Frozen North and even the temperatures are remaining decent. I'm sure we will have a good dump of snow before Christmas, in fact we kinda hope we do, but until then, this dry road situation makes Christmas shopping a little more bearable. Monday, November 21, 2005
It's Beginning To Look A Bit Like You Know What....
It's been a busy couple of weeks. Just finishing off a midnight shift, last one tonight. Yahoo! Last Wednesday was Angela's convocation (graduation) from the U of A. She's finally done and has the letters behind her name to prove it. We had a little celebration at the house last night with a few friends over and lots of dessert. On Friday night we went to a musical dinner theatre for Dianne's office Christmas party. It was a tribute to all the oldies from the 50's and 60's and was quite enjoyable. On Saturday night we went out to Leduc for a while to give the kids a hand laying some new flooring in their living room. For the next few weeks I am going to be pretty busy. Along with all the prep stuff for Christmas I will be playing sax in the orchestra for the Singing Christmas Tree which is put on by one of the local churches here in Edmonton and has been a big tradition for many years. It involves a lot of rehearsals and 10 performances so it's a pretty big time commitment. We have been languishing in glorious weather for the last week or so and it's supposed to continue, which is good as I still have to put up the Christmas lights and I hate doing in the snow at minus 20. Over the weekend we had a missions fest at our church and I had spent the better part of last week building a display for it. It is for the IHS Orchestra which is the big band I am involved with and the display looks like this. It has a video screen in the middle that plays a little 6 minute video that I put together using footage and stills of the band from the BBC show they did and pictures that I took on a couple of tours. Well I guess it's time to get out and start doing the Christmas shopping. Hopefully the nice weather will stick around until we get that done. Monday, November 07, 2005
And So It Starts
Winter seems to have descended on us finally as we received our first snowfall last night. I think we got off pretty lightly this year as this isn't really much and it's already a week into Novemebr. We usually have at least this much by the end of October. Here are a couple of shots of Nikki's new friend Chris down there in Florida where any kind of snowfall is probably enough to shut down the city.   It was a rather busy weekend for us, so I didn't have much time for perusing the web. We helped a good friend of ours move into her new house on Saturday and then I worked in the evening. Today I have the day off so after shovelling a bit of snow I have been catching up on a few projects that needed to be done. Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Home Again
Just got back from Saskatchewan last night after spending the weekend visiting the folks and attending the 60 Anniversary do for one of Dianne's aunts & uncles. We did a bit of visiting with our own relatives while there but overall nothing too energetic. However, it was nice to get away with Dianne for a couple of days. Had the day off today so I putzed around after I had my teeth cleaned by Dianne and basically just took it easy. And from the "Wacky Things To Do On The Internet" department comes this guy who does an informal talk show called DriveTime from his car on his way to work. It's co-hosted by his wife who reads viewer mail from the glovebox and his guest are people he just happens to pick up. Pretty cool. Thursday, October 27, 2005
Another Road Trip
I can't believe the great weather we've been having. It gets a bit frosty at night but it's way warmer than what we usually get this time of year. Hopefully the nice weather sticks around for a while longer. We are heading down to Regina this weekend for a quick in and out trip. There's a wedding anniversary party for an aunt & uncle of Dianne's on so we are taking advantage of the fact that we both have a few days off to go and see her folks. Hope the weather holds out for that. Word from Nikki is that Wilma had no affect on them in Crestview, thank goodness. The last couple of hurricanes have veered off to either side of her location and hopefully that will be it for this season. It's unbelievable the amount of destruction that's gone on this summer and fall in the hurricane zone. Caught a news story on the tube the other day about the latest teen craze in the high schools. Seems girls and guys are getting together in their spare time to do a little.......knitting. Yep, seemed kinda strange to see a bunch of high school kids sitting there with piles of yarn on the table and needles in hand knitting away. Altogether now, knit one, purl two.... Sunday, October 23, 2005
Storm Watch
It was almost a Cinderella story on Friday as the Sharks (me and Chris) rallied through the playoff levels in the Movie Central foosball tournament. After being trounced severely in the round robin, we actually won our first two games in the playoffs and were well on our way to a come-from-behind surge. Unfortunately, the streak came to an end when we were narrowly defeated in our third game by a score of 10 to 9. Although disappointed that we lost by such a close score we were both happy that we had at least redeemed ourselves from the previous losses. Although we didn't do that well it was still lots of fun. We have been monitoring the progress of hurricane Wilma and were shocked to see how much damage it has done to the Mayan Riveiera. Our main concern, though, was in where it was headed afterwards. Fortunately, it is heading away from where Nikki is situated near Pensacola and is instead threatening the Florida keys. There's now another storm brewing in the Atlantic which means that this season has had the most hurricanes on record and it is said that there will be heightened storm activity in that area for the next twenty years. If this year is any indication we may see a few ghost towns along the Gulf coast in a few years. Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Foosball Champions!! - NOT!
Well, it's official. Chris and I are at the bottom of the standings in the Movie Central Foosball Championship tournament. We lost our third game this afternoon with a score of 10 to 5. We have two more games in the playoff round, I guess to determine who really is the worst team, so at least we have a chance for a surprise comeback, a Cinderella story that will be told for weeks to come in the halls of Movie Central. But in the meantime it's obvious that Team Hilton was not cut out to be foosball champs. Now if they had a ping pong tournament... Don't Quit The Day Job
Found out yesterday that I suck at foosball. Chris and I are a team for a foosball tournament at work to aid the United Way and we got trounced in both our games yesterday. We have two more games today so we will see if we can redeem ourselves. Monday, October 17, 2005
After a few weeks of silence I felt I should make some effort and try and keep the ol' blog current, even if it meant just a thought or two each day. I want to revamp the site and get some more current stuff on but it may be a while before I get the time or inspiration to do that. I have a whole bunch more video stuff I want to do including a video of Mom & Dad M's 80th birthday bash, which I haven't even looked at yet. But we have a couple of projects to do before that. Right now we are renovating Angela's old bedroom in the basement with a new paint job, closet doors and organizer and a few interior decorations in preparation for Nikki's return from Florida when she will take over the east wing. We had all the rugs in the house cleaned a couple of weeks ago and had to move all the furniture out of the downstairs bedrooms and my office. A perfect time to do renos. We will also be repainting Nikki's old room which now becomes the guest bedroom and the the little bedroom which will become an exercise/sewing room for Dianne. I am also designing and building a couple of computer desks for Dianne and myself as we sold our old ones out from under us and I am now typing this on a TV tray. Unfortunately I can't get started on the desks until the rooms are done as all the furniture and junk from the closets is piled up in my shop. So it looks like I will be busy again this winter as I try and get a few projects done. We still have our major reno project upstairs to do but that will have to wait a while. Saturday, September 24, 2005
Lazy Weekend
Spending a rather quiet weekend after all the activities of the past few weeks as well as being the last couple of days off before starting the dreaded "midnights" next week. Tonight we are going to take in some live jazz at a little cafe we stumbled on a couple of weeks ago. Very few places offer live music these days. Ralph Klein is bribing, er sorry , PROMISING every man woman and child in Alberta a $400 "bonus" because we are making too much money in the oil patch. Gee, could've fooled me. We are trying to decide what to do with the money which a lot of people find an insult considering the high cost of gas and heating fuel in this province. Maybe they should kick a little of that surplus back into lowereing fuel costs. Anyway, we are considering putting it towards replacing our furnace which I guess would be our way to try and lower fuel costs. Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Garage Sale
We spent the better part of last weekend holding our much needed garage sale. The weather got off to a shaky start on Friday, the first day of the sale but fortunately the rain held off. Then Saturday and Sunday were both bright and sunny which made the event much more enjoyable. Lots of stuff was sold and we made about $300. I am always amazed that people are willing to pay me money to haul away my junk and I am even more surprised at some of the things that actually got sold. For example, someone bought my old copy of Windows 3.1 and DOS 5.1. I also got rid of my old Commodore 64 system that had been gathering dust in the garage. The stuff that didn't sell has made a new home at Goodwill and now the house and garage look a lot cleaner although there are still a few nooks and crannies in the house that could probably do for a bit more cleaning. Nikki seems to be having a great time in Florida. She has phoned a couple of times to tell us how things are going. She is in the process of buying a car down there from a fellow in the church who is selling her a 1995 Mazda Protege for around $1200 and then will buy it back for the same price when she leaves. All she really has to pay for is registration and insurance for 3 or 4 months. Needless to say she is very excited about that. I am without a desk at the moment so I am typing this on a TV tray in my office. I hauled my old steel desk out to the garage for the sale but unfortunately it didn't sell so I put it in the Bargain Finder for a week to see if we get any nibbles. If not, it gets hauled to the dump. It's not coming back downstairs. In the meantime I have to design and build a new computer desk for myself and for Dianne who also lost her computer work station. We most likely will shop around and buy them as getting motivated to build seems a little tough at the moment. Thursday, September 08, 2005
Wrapping Up The Loose Ends Of Summer
Well I hope things are back to normal. The fences are finally done and have been for a couple of weeks. We still need to put a second coat of stain on them but for the most part the project has been completed. I took my last midnight shift off so that I would be able to go to Saskatchewan over the long weekend to celebrate Mom & Dad Mildenberger's 80th birthdays. This gave me 14 days off in total which I have spent trying to get a few odd jobs completed before I go back to work this Saturday. I had to completely rebuild our utility trailer which suffered some damage during the lumber transport for the fence. I have also spent a little time putting a computer system together for Lee and Angela, a long ago promised wedding present that I have finally completed. Plus a little work on the truck and a few little odds and ends and I have been kept quite busy. As well, the aforementioned jaunt to Sedley which went really well. All the grandchildren except one were able to make it out to celebrate with grandma & grandpa. I took quite a few pictures which I have yet to view as well as some video which I am hoping to make into a souvenir video for the folks (when I get around to it that is!). Our youngest child leaves the nest, at least temporarily, this Sunday. Nikki flies off to Florida to spend about three months under the mentorship of a friend of ours who is the music pastor in a church down there. Nikki will be his assistant and will get a chance to help lead the choir, lead in praise and worship and also get some pointers on arranging and composing music, valuable tools as she prepares to enroll in the Grant MacKewan music program next fall. So it will seem strange not to have her bubbly personality bounding in and out of the house for a while. I think everyone's a bit pensive and nervous, especially Nikki as this is the first time she has gone on a trip by herself. She leaves at 7:00am on Sunday morning and has a one hour layover in Houston before continuing on to Pensacola, Florida, which by the way is not too far from where hurricane Katrina did her damage. We are just praying that the end of hurricane season is fast approaching, although our friend Randy says they have weathered four or five hurricanes since they moved down there and all seems to be well so far. Within the next few days I hope to go through the pictures of the birthday party and post a few on the site for all to peruse. Monday, August 15, 2005
Slow Goin'
I'm finding it hard to get any progress on the fence building project. The weather has not been cooperating. We were hampered by rain all last week and today it has been raining steadily since I got up. I did a little work on Saturday but had to quit early in order to go to work. We'll push on and do what we can and eventually this project should be complete. The only problem is that until then everything is on hold. The garage sale slated for this weekend has been postponed and we can't even get the vehicles in the garage due to the piles of lumber and the setup for staining that's in there. I know that building a fence should not be so hard or take so long, but once again this project has taken over with a mind of it's own. We have to wrestle it to the ground before it consumes us all! Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Hard Work
The fence building project is progressing but at a snail's pace. We thought we could get it finished this week but I can see that is not to be. I pulled down the old fences last week with not much trouble but we had a time consuming and backbreaking job of cutting up all the old fence boards into 3's for firewood which is stacked pretty high behind the garage. On Saturday the hard work began. We dug all the post holes by hand and put in the posts then poured concrete into each hole. It took most of the day and we were a little rushed towards the end as it was threatening heavy rain. Dianne and the girls got busy staining the lumber which we had hauled home on the trailer. Now we have 318 fence boards to stain which Dianne is working on while I assemble the rails on the posts. However, rain hampered us one day making the yard a sticky quagmire. It is raining pretty steady again today which has brought things to a standstill. So it looks like this will become a long term project as I am back to work Friday evening and Dianne goes back on Monday. We will only be able to work in our spare time. It hasn't been such a very pleasant holiday and we were not able to get away for a couple of days as Dianne would have liked but this was a project that had to get done. We picked Sandi up from the airport a week ago already from her trip to Quebec City where she had a great time attending a conference and catching up with some friends there. Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Summer Holiday Project
It's been a busy couple of days here as we prepare for out fence building effort set to start this weekend as well as a major housecleaning project. We tackled the garage yesterday and a mounting pile of debris that was accumulating beside the garage. All the junk that we had been storing in the rafters of the garage for the last 20 years was hauled down and gone through. Most of it was tossed on the junk trailer to be taken to the dump and the rest was sorted into piles for the garage sale we're having in a couple of weeks. We also managed to clean out my workshop in the basement which was long, long overdue and was a project I was deeply dreading. Today we hauled some stuff to the architectural recyclers, the Goodwill and the Eco station. We were hoping to get out to the dump as well but a problem with the truck brakes caused us to postpone that trip until they are repaired. While that is being done tomorrow I am tearing down our old fence and cleaning up the space in between the yards. The lumber is being ordered in the next couple of days and we will be picking out some stain as well so that we can start staining the boards. There is a tree on the neighbour's property that is encroaching our fence which will have to be cut down before we can start construction. Last week we had Dianne's sister Carol and her husband Denard staying with us as they participated in the World Master's games. Denard did very well in his triathalon event and ended up with a gold medal for his age group. After a promising start Carol's soccer team looked like it could win a medal but after all the points were counted they did not fare that well. It was fun having them with us for the week and the girls had fun visiting the various malls together while Denard and I spent an afternoon changing out the timing belt on the Corolla. Sandy is due back from her trip to Quebec tomorrow night and so far we haven't heard from her to know how things are going. With her gone and Nikki at work everyday it's been nice for Dianne and I to have the house to ourselves and we have been enjoying the time together. Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Holiday Time!
It's holiday time in the Hilton household. I started mine last Saturday and once Dianne gets off work today she will be on hers. We've no plans to go anywhere but we have plenty to do around the homestead, providing we can generate enough motivation. Our backyard fence is in desperate need of replacement so that is the priority this summer. We are in the process of organizing our supplies and getting going on ripping down the old fence and digging new post holes. Our new son-in-law Lee will be helping us as he is an expert fence builder and we will be helping him and Angie build a new fence along their back yard in Leduc. I dragged my little utility trailer out of storage yesterday and got all the lights working and the tires pumped up in readiness for several trips to the dump which are going to be needed this summer as we clean out our yard and the house of debris and clutter that has been accumulating for the past few years. There are plans to repaint some of the rooms in the basement but that project is a bit down the road. At present Dianne's sister Carol and her husband Denard are staying with us as they participate in the World Masters Games, taking place right now in Edmonton. Denard was in a triathalon on Saturday in which he won a gold medal and Carol is in a weeklong soccer tournament that goes into the finals on the weekend. So far their team is undefeated. So, we are quite proud of both our amateur athletes. Sandy left last night for a 10 day jaunt to La Belle Province for a conference and a chance to catch up with some of her friends she met while attending a course down there a couple of years ago. She will be staying in Quebec City and has taken a good friend along to keep her company and out of trouble. Monday, July 04, 2005
Taking A Breather
Chris is starting a new job today and you'll never guess where. He is taking a position as a shipper at Movie Central, where I work, so we will be running into each other periodically when I'm on days. But not today, however, as I am done work at 8:00 am and plan to be unconcious by the time Chris starts his first day. I will catch up with him next week when I start my day shift. It's been quite a bit of work doing all the video and DVD stuff for the wedding but I have found it quite rewarding. So much so that now I am anxious to get into some of the old footage we have from past holidays and put them into some kind of order. Now that I have the DVD authoring thing figured out, and the fact that it worked so well, it will be great to make that stuff more accessible so that people can enjoy the memories instead of the tapes being stuffed in a drawer somewhere where no one is able to see them. However, I must rein in my enthusiasm as I am sure at least one person will be upset with me if I cloister myself in my office for the next two months working on another project when there is so much to be done outside. Besides, it's now summertime and despite the miserable weather we have been having, I'm sure there will be nice enough days to get out and enjoy the great outdoors before the snow once again begins to fly. Then I can hunker down and work on my projects during the colder months that will all too soon be here. Friday, July 01, 2005
Trailer is Online
Here is a quick post before I dash off to work. I managed to get the trailer uploaded and is available to view by going to the Miscellaneous link in the wedding album. Happy Birthday Canada!
Happy Canada Day 2005! Ever since we bought the truck a couple of weeks ago I thought it would relieve the pressure on availability of vehicles in the family. I was wrong. Now, both the truck and the Corolla are missing for most of the day and night. Why am I surprised? We are about to head down to the park to watch the Canada Day fireworks and then I get to go to work. Whoopee! Last night for fun I put together a little trailer to promote the wedding DVD and I had hoped to post it on the website for your enjoyment. However, it seems I have reached the limit of my server amount so I will have to do some pruning again before I can get it on. It will show up in the Miscellaneous section of the Wedding album, so keep looking for that. As well I want to put a few more pictures in the album but it will depend on how much space I can free up. Thursday, June 30, 2005
DVD Release
It's been a busy couple of weeks which is why I haven't been doing much posting to the Chronicle. I have been working on the Wedding DVD which is now complete. It looks pretty good, I think, for a first time effort and has been a very rewarding learning experience. It was my first foray into the world of DVD authoring and I was quite surprised at the fact that it all worked. It is by no means broadcast quality but definately gives one the inspiration to develop further projects. So hopefully there will be more videos in the future. I have tons of footage from 12 years of vacations to work with. For the past couple of weeks, Sandi, Nicole and myself have been playing in a summer band program sponsored by the University of Alberta. It is all orchestral music and quite a departure from the jazz stuff I am used to playing. Nonetheless, it is very challanging and an excellent way to stay in musical shape with lots of sight reading and breath control. I am playing tenor sax, Nikki is on trumpet and Sandi is playing clarinet. We have a couple of concerts coming up in July, one of which is in Red Deer. Saturday, June 18, 2005
New Wheels
I finally broke down and bought a truck yesterday.  It's 1990 Nissan Club Cab that's in pretty good shape. I'll use it for hauling stuff to the dump or picking up lumber from Home Depot. It's got a hitch so I'll be able to use my little utility trailer again. The girls are also chomping at the bit to get out and use it which is another reason for buying it. We were having trouble accommodating four drivers with only two vehicles. The truck has a five speed manual transmission so the girls will have to be checked out on that before they are allowed free reign. It's raining pretty good here today, but not quite as bad as the south has been getting it. It's just a nice steady rain that is just soaking into the parched ground. It'll be good for the lawns. Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Hawaiian Honeymoon
After seeing them off at the airport on cold and rainy day last Sunday, Ang and Lee are finally basking away in the sun in fabulous Hawaii. They arrived Sunday evening and were spotted yesterday on this web cam on Waikiki beach:   Let's hope they have a marvelous time during this long awaited and much needed 11 day holiday. So I spent the day today looking for a coolant leak on Angela's new car. After their accident three weeks before the wedding in which Angie's Honda was totaled, someone miraculously found a car and gave it to her. It's a 1989 Acura Integra and apart from a little rust on the tail is in not bad shape. It's not mint, but for the price...! I replaced a couple of hose clamps and the coolant, took it for a spin and it seems to be fine. This car sure moves. It's got a five speed manual tranny and a very gutsy little engine that makes it just fly. Well I guess the jury acquitted Michael Jackson. Figures! Wearing pajamas and looking like he was on death's door at the trial must have pulled a few heart strings in the jury. The general consensus around the water cooler is that he is guilty as sin or at least very perverted. Either way, he now joins the OJ Simpson "I Am Innocent" club. Friday, June 10, 2005
Navigation
I just did a quick check of the site and it seems to be working. Navigation is quite simple. The site is divided into five sections. Each section can be accessed by rolling your mouse over the small logos and clicking on the titles that appear. Then just click on any thumbnail for a larger view of the picture or follow the linking arrows from picture to picture. Album Is Online
As you can see to the left there is a new link to the Wedding Album page. It is finally online! I found the problem late this afternoon. I had unfortunately run out of room on the Telus server, going way over my 10 mbyte limit and that had caused the page to crash because all the elements were not loaded. After a bit of housecleaning and the elimination of a couple of picture galleries I was able to upload the site and it seems to be working. Crash & Burn
I finished most of the Wedding Album webpage last night and all was working fine. But as soon as I loaded it onto the Telus server it wouldn't work properly so I haven't been able to put it online. I'll have to spend a couple of days debugging although I'm really not sure what's the problem. So please hang in there. It will be up soon. Angie and Lee are in their final prep stages for their honeymoon trip to Hawaii after Lee convocated from University yesterday afternoon. Angie's grad had to be delayed as she needed to finish up a course. She will convocate in November. Meanwhile their flight to Honolulu leaves around noon on Sunday so we will be going out to the airport to see them off. Interesting news from silicon valley, Apple plans to jump ship on processor chips from IBM and start using Intel chips. This may wreak havoc with a few mac users as there is some question whether older apple software will run on the new processors. There was some talk that it will hopefully bring down the purchase price of macs but don't hold your breath. Any savings will surely used to pad Steve Job's profit margin. Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Web Page Just About Done
The web album of Angie and Lee's wedding is just about ready to go so keep checking the link at left. With the work on this page I haven't had too much time to work on the video hilite reel and the DVD but hope to get back to that in a few days. The more I seem to do on these projects the more I learn about doing the projects better, but that always means spending even more time climbing the learning curve. Hopefully I can eventually knock this stuff off a little faster. Saturday, June 04, 2005
Time For Work
It appears I have some work cut out for me. We just recieved, last night, two CD's from one of the photographers containing 549 pictures from the wedding. There are some fabulous shots. She did a great job. The trick now is to decide which ones to use. I can see the website becoming very bloated with images. I guess I shall have to be very judicial in my decisions as to what to use. Keep checking back to the link on the left for updates in the album.   We were supposed to get a rainy weekend but so far it has just been very cloudy and threatening with the sun poking through now and again. I was able to get the lawn done and sweep out the garage before any wet stuff came down. It will be interesting to see what the verdict will be in the Michael Jackson case which should be out early next week. I don't particularily care for him as a musician but he certainly strikes one as being a rather strange bird and it wouldn't surprise me if he is found guilty, although I don't see it amounting to a lot of jail time. These celebs seem to have an inside track to the judicial system somehow. (ie Martha Stewart) Tuesday, May 31, 2005
The Dust Settles
We are slowly starting to come down from the high generated by an absolutely fabulous wedding day this past weekend. We have been cleaning up and returning borrowed and rented decorations, and generally trying to get things back to normal. Now comes the fun part. Besides paying the bills, we have to start getting pictures and videos in order and of course all the thank you notes will need to be written. But there'll be plenty of time for that. Here is just a couple of quick pictures to peruse while I generate a new web page.   We had a house full of people over on Sunday afternoon for the gift opening which took quite a while as there was plenty of loot. The newlyweds will be hanging around here for a couple of weeks until Lee graduates from university after which they will be jetting southward for a lovely honeymoon in Hawaii. So things will quiet down here for a while as we head into the summer and plan a few projects around the house. Sunday, May 29, 2005
A Great Day!
We are very tired but very happy. It was an absolutely wonderful wedding. Everything went off perfectly. The weather was gorgeous and so were the happy couple. What wonderful memories. Anyway, today we are hosting the gift opening and are in the process of preparing for that so this post will be short. Once I look at the footage and the pictures I will be preparing a special page with all the hilights Thursday, May 19, 2005
Counting Down The Days
Just taking a breather here amidst all the wedding planning and hoopla to update this thing. I can't believe we are just a week away from the big day. Everything seems to be coming together and if we have forgotten anything, well, I guess that's just too bad. It'll all be over so soon. Keep watching over to the left where that heart has been spinning nauseatingly for the last few months. With any luck that is going to turn into a link to a brand new page which will have all kinds of stuff, wedding-wise. At least you'll be able to view some pictures there and hopefully some other things if I can get my act together. With the weather being so nice lately I actually got out of my hole to do a little yard work today. I fertilized the lawn and cleaned up the front patio a little. Thursday, April 28, 2005
Map Fun
The Google map thing was all very well until we discovered that it only covered North America, but here is one that is "way cool". This one uses satellite images from all over to generate this really slick mapping program. You have to download a loader to access it and for the 7 day trial it is really fun to go to landmarks around the world and see if you can actually see them. However, it was disappointing to note that, like the Google maps, Edmonton is not represented by a hi res image as is Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto, but the company that publishes this thing assures that as the hi res images are made available they will be put into the database, so hopefully someday we will be able to see our house. Surprisingly enough, though, I was able to find the house where I stayed in Havana, Cuba and here is a picture of it. and this is a closer view. It's hard to believe but a month from today the kids will be married. We are still putting things together and things are falling into place. I only hope the weather is decent. Judging by how we seem to have been tossed back in the freezer the last couple of days, we had better not have a miserable May. Thursday, April 07, 2005
Google Maps
Here is a really cool site that I heard about on the news today. Google is trying to outdo the new Yahoo map feature with their own version calledGoogle Maps. Not only does it have detailed maps from all over the world that you can zoom into for the minutest detail, but you can also switch your view at any time to a satellite image of that exact spot. It works really neat although I was a little disappointed that I could zoom in closer on Regina than I could on Edmonton. Millwoods is just a blurry green spot whereas I can actually see the garage on my old house on Sunset Drive in Regina. Most places have good detail but curiously enough if you zoom in on Cuba it is pretty bereft of anything. I wonder why? Guess they don't want any of us gawky laymen locating their secret missile installations. I'll have to zoom in on Iraq to see if I can spot any WOMD's - oh right, they don't have any do they. Silly me. Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Some Annoyed By Royal(?) Wedding
Here's an article about hapless Prince Charlie who these days can't seem to do anything right. The wedding has been postponed a day and in light of the reason why (only the Pope's funeral) it seems nobody could care less, except maybe the poor cops who have to work an extra day on security detail. At any rate, no one is expecting or wanting the grand spectacle of Charles' previous wedding to Princess Diana, and for the most part most Brit's would rather watch a horse race of a different kind. Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Romantic Interlude
Just returned yesterday from a wonderful four day trip to the beautiful and rugged Kananaskis Country just west of Calgary. We stayed in a luxurious suite with a loft bedroom, fireplace and in-room jacuzzi thanks to a Christmas gift from Dianne's boss. The gift was for a two night stay to which we added an extra night. The drive down was great with warm sunny weather all the way but as we approached the mountains the clouds started to gather and we could tell something was moving in. After settling into the room we headed for Canmore, just down the highway, to get some groceries and have supper. By the time we were heading back the snow was falling so thick and heavy it became very treacherous to drive and we slipped and slid up the road to the lodge barely making it back. Once in the safety of the room we discovered that the power had gone out and we were in total darkness. Thank goodness the fireplace still worked otherwise we would have had an early bed time. Instead we had a cozy few hours cuddled up before a partly roaring gas fire. The rest of the weekend went well with a few hikes to view the spectacular mountains and lots of R&R in the big jacuzzi. Here a few pictures. As you can see from some of the pics, there was quite a bit of the white stuff put down the night before. On the way home we stopped off for lunch and an ice cream cone in Cochrane and took a tour of the Studio West Foundry where they make incredible bronze artwork including huge statues. As usual it was tough to get up for work this morning. We are now looking forward to some great weather as the spring thaw continues here in the wasteland. The snow has all gone (again) except for a bit in the back yard that always lingers into the late spring. But the forecast is for double digit temps to the end of the week. There'll be lots of lawn raking this weekend. Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Gadget Heaven
I've been spending the last few days fiddling around with the new camcorder, figuring out all the features. So far it seems to work very well. The test will be taking it out on a trip somewhere and seeing how it performs. Still trying to get over the smallness of the thing and working on ways to increase stability while shooting. Dianne has been in Saskatchewan for the last couple of days visiting the folks and comes home this evening. I have been working evenings all week so it hasn't seemed too much different than usual having her gone. We sometimes go for days without seeing each other. We're hoping to make up for that with a little trip to the mountains this weekend. The last dump of snow is slowly ebbing away and I'm hoping the weather will stay nice from now on, especially while we are in the mountains. I guess it's time to get out and take down the Christmas lights again for another year. It's sad to see that the far east has been hit by another earthquake, and just as they were trying to recover from the tsunami. It obviously wouldn't be the best place to plan to go to for a holiday now. Thursday, March 24, 2005
Dianne Gets To Poke A Little Fun
It was a tough couple of days with lots of snow to shovel but it looks like the end is in sight. The skies have been sunny for the last couple of days and even though the temperature hasn't ventured much above zero, the snow on the roads has been melting from the heat of the sun. Unfortunately the partially melted stuff freezes real good overnight causing a little havoc. I picked up a new set of contact lenses yesterday with a new prescription and immediately found out that I could not read with them. Great! So I am back to wearing the old pair until I go to the optometrist next week for a little tweaking. Yesterday was kind of a tough day all around as I also had my teeth cleaned. That's bad enough ordinarily but when it's your better half that is attacking your mouth with sharp metal objects while you are flat on your back, that's a real test of the relationship. I made up for yesterday's discomfort today by going out and purchasing my new Panasonic camcorder, on sale at A&B Sound for $250 less than the regular retail price. So that's a good thing. After doing a bit of grocery shopping for this weekend's Easter celebrations I spent the rest of the afternoon getting familiar with the intricacies of the new toy. It is quite the gadget, with lots of functionality that blows my old Sony out of the water. The video looks nice and crisp with vibrant colors thanks to it's 3ccd pickup. But I am still put off by how small the thing is and how hard it is to get a steady hand held shot even with the built in stabilization. Not like the big lug I am used to. However, I have been doing lots of reading lately about how to overcome some of the drawbacks to such a small camera, and have even tried a few of the techniques, so I am optimistic about getting some very nice video from now on. And with the advent of video editing and DVD authoring which I have been dabbling in, I can look forward to documenting the family Hilton saga in an entertaining and efficient manner. Sunday, March 20, 2005
Winter Wonderland ver 2.0
Well it had to happen. I guess too many people were out in their shorts raking their lawns during our warm spell last week. Couple that with the fact that it is officially the first day of spring today. As a result, we have had snow every day for the last 4 or 5 days so that now, instead of feeling like the beginning of spring it feels like mid November. Again. I seem to recall writing these same words at this time last year. Are we seeing a pattern here? It makes me want to roll down the window and yell at those foolish people raking their lawns, thinking this is it, "Put that rake away! Get some clothes on! It's NOT over!!!" See you when spring actually arrives, sometime in mid July. One less thing for me to do for the wedding. I picked up a new black suit on the weekend and a new white shirt. Just need to find a nice tie and I think I'm set. That is... unless...there's something else I'm supposed to do. Oh yeah. Something about writing some sort of speech or something. No sweat. I'll do that the night before. Sunday, March 13, 2005
Wedding Day Prep
Well, most of the invitations have been sent and the responses are slowly starting to trickle in so I guess we're committed. Dianne has bought her "Mother-of-the-bride" dress and I am told I have to get a new suit. So it looks like there's some clothes shopping ahead in my near future (oh joy!). We are still a couple of months away from the big day so I don't think the pressure is on quite yet although I guess there's no real pressure for the father of the bride until the checkbook comes out. So far things seem to be going smoothly from my perspective, however that may change as D-Day approaches. Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Here Today Gone Tomorrow
There is almost no snow left on our side of the street here, which can only mean one thing: we are in for a nasty dump of snow. Just when you think it is safe to go out and rake the lawn in your shorts, you find yourself digging out ten feet of snow on the driveway in your skidoo suit. Sunday, March 06, 2005
New Toy Coming
I see a few weeks have passed since my last post. I can't have been that busy, but it seems my time has slipped away quickly (again). As the wedding looms closer (only 2 months 21 days, by the spinning heart on the wall) we have been gearing up some of the pre-wedding activities. Most of the invitations are out finally after spending a week compiling, checking and rechecking the list. Then someone (me) had the brilliant idea of printing the addresses right on the envelopes which caused all kinds of problems with the printer until a very simple solution was found to correct it. Progress on the video has been slow as I am waiting for pictures from the groom's family as well as a new video camera to shoot some special footage. The kids have been taking their premarital course at church this weekend and have really enjoyed it. So things are slowly coming together. After a couple of weeks of poring over articles and reviews online I have decided to purchase a new digital video camera, a Panasonic model. I am just waiting for them to go on sale at A & B sound where I should be able to get a good deal in a couple of weeks as they are going to be cleared out for this years model. One thing that has blown me away in all my research is the amazing way everything about these cameras has been miniaturized, almost to the point where it is hard for me to believe that these little things will do what they are touted to do. They look like toys. But of course, these little wonders do quite a bit more than my old analog camera. They just don't have the "heft" of the older cameras, something us old broadcasters are used to. Thank goodness for image stabilization! And tripods! Sunday, February 20, 2005
Blogmania
I have been seriously considering revamping the website of late, especially after perusing a few blogs on the net. There's some pretty spiffy pages out there that put this one to shame, but on the other hand you have to remember that a lot of these people don't have lives and spend all day surfing the net and relaying info on their blogs. In fact, a friend of mine was actually posting to his blog directly from a conference in Vancouver on weblogging! Apparently there are people around who claim to be "professional bloggers", whatever that may entail, I don't know if there is money to be made in blogging, but I'll bet someone has figured out a way to do it. I guess with the plethora of information out there these days it requires individuals like these to take it upon themselves to organize and disseminate said information over and over again in a sort of cyber-regurgitative fashion. The blogging craze has blossomed to include audio and video posting and something called Podcasting (whatever that is). With all the other things going on at home these days, including weddings, work and my newfound foray into the world of video editing, I sometimes find submitting posts less than a week apart difficult as loyal readers can attest. So, as for revamping the site, well, that may be a while down the road. In the meantime I shall endeavor to keep the world up to speed on my activities as best I can no matter how feeble the attempt. Sandi has flown down to Quebec City for the week to visit friends she met there last year during her course. Meanwhile Angie and Lee are gearing up wedding planning. Last night they had a work bee putting invitations together and there is a growing mountain of wedding related material in the living room. For my part the video is coming along nicely. Friday, February 18, 2005
Reviving The NHL
It's almost starting to become a joke. The NHL season, which was taken off life support by Gary Bettman on Wednesday is having the cardiac paddles applied in an attempt to resucitate it. It seems talks may be in the works this weekend to try and get the deal back on track after coming so close earlier in the week. I don't know why I care about this as I am not a big hockey fan but it is getting laughable and I kind of wonder if this is not a bunch of hype to try and get the fans riled up in hopes of better turn outs at the games. Maybe not. Sunday, February 13, 2005
And We Thought We Were Crazy For Swedish Furniture  Here's a story about the opening of an Ikea store in, of all places, Edmonton, north London, where everyone was so mad for the minimalistic Swedish furniture that a riot broke out with people fighting over cheap sofas to the point where the injured had to be carted away in ambulances. I'm not real big on Ikea furniture. The last time I was in the Ikea Maze here in our Edmonton I got lost and couldn't find the way out unless I bought something. Saturday, February 12, 2005
They're at it again. It's been a while since we've had any Royal family scandals and although this may not exactly classify as a legitimate "scandal", tongues are certainly wagging across the pond and elsewhere over the upcoming nuptuals between Prince Charles and his infamous concubine "Mrs." Parker Bowles. "The Rotweiller", as Dianna liked to call her seems to have won out after patiently biding her time to get the man of her dreams. With oth in their late 50's, the marriage does not exactly come across as a "story book" wedding but I think even middle aged future kings have a right to a little happiness. Nothing Viagra won't help. And speaking of Viagra, Microsoft has teamed up with Viagra maker Pfizer to combat spammers who market counterfeit versions of Viagra on the web. Nice to see Bill Gates is putting good money where it's most important. And I guess the final bell is about to ring on this years NHL season. As the final 24 hours ticks away, neither side is making any effort to even talk to the other making it look like this season is toast. And the funny part is, most people don't care. We may never see the NHL again. Pity? Wednesday, February 09, 2005
To NHL Or Not To NHL
I seem to have fallen down on the job again in not posting for such a long time.
The encoding of home videos is completed. Raw footage from over 23 1 and 2 hour tapes has been archived onto 19 DVD's. From here I can create edited videos which can then be authored to DVD that can be played on most DVD players. Right now I'm boning up on an editing program that I will use to create these masterpieces. First up is a little wedding presentation to be shown during the reception. I guess this weekend is the final deadline for salvaging any kind of season for the NHL which to me, being a non hockey fan, means very little. But for the diehards I'm not sure what the reaction is. What kind of a season could we be looking at if the dispute does get settled? A very short schedule with a bunch of out of shape players and the Stanley cup in the middle of July? Well, I guess some people would watch it. But from what I've heard about these negotiations over the past few weeks, I wouldn't hold my breath for a settlement. Monday, January 31, 2005
Sunny, Suuny Days
Spent the better part of today driving around town with Dianne doing various errands and enjoying a balmy, sunny, +10 degrees day. We were actally able to take off our coats. Water is running in the street and the hope is it will stay warm like this long enough to melt all that pesky ice everywhere.
The weekend was spent reinstalling everything on Dianne's computer after replacing the hard drive which sputtered to a halt early Saturday. I'm not sure if this was the cause of all the trouble I'd been having but I was a bit suspicious of the drive earlier when it seemed to take forever to load stuff. Probably on its way to failing. So it may not have been a virus or a trojan after all. But even so, I still say to all the Mac afficianados who gloat over a bug free OS on that platform that having viri (sp?) on a PC is what makes us stronger and keeps us on our toes. We love a challenge. Separates the real geeks from the Apple cores, so to speak. Thursday, January 27, 2005
BUGS!!!
I've just about completed the chore of encoding our home videos and storing them on DVD. While watching this footage roll by I realize how cyclic our lives really are. Every Christmas and birthday seems to be a duplicate of the one a year before. The only difference is the kids are a year older, which may make for an interesting video if done right. However, that will have to wait. I need to collect enough juicy stuff for the wedding video that I am presently formulating.
Had to put that project on hold last night as Dianne's brand new computer just went insane. I suspect a virus or a trojan. We couldn't get anything to work on it all of a sudden. It kept crashing when trying to open any program and was unbearably slow. I reinstalled XP and it worked a little better but is still not 100%. I may have to resort to reformatting and starting again..which may not be that bad as there is not much on the machine as yet. A trip for an alignment on the Corolla ended up costing a whole lot more than expected yesterday as four new tires were required as well. But the ride with the new Michelins is a lot smoother and quieter, especially on the icy roads which seem to be prevailing here lately. Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Ice Berg, Right Ahead!
Tonight we have been treated to a steady drizzle of rain which is immediately freezing on impact on whatever it lands on. Which means all the cars have a pebbly armory which is very tough to scrape off and the roads have become extremely treacherous. And speaking of driving carefully, Nikki managed to pass her road test on the weekend and now has her license. On Monday she was allowed to drive herself across the city to soccer for the first time. Needless to say Dad was on a few pins and needles.
I am attempting to digitize our entire library of home videos and archive them to DVD before the old camera gives out and we have nothing to view them on. So far not too much luck. There's a problem with the editing software not talking to the capture device so I'm having trouble getting any footage on the hard drive. An upgrade in the software might do the trick. We shall see. Monday, January 17, 2005
Techno Goodies
It's nice and balmy here in ol' Edmonton. The thermometer popped it's head out from the minus numbers briefly today and we have a forecast for more tomorrow. But with that comes a risk of freezing rain. So you can't win!
I've been playing around with a new DVD burner that I just installed in the system the other day. If you think CD burning is daunting you should see the plethora of standards and types of media and configurations this thing has. Anyway the goal is to burn all of the home movie raw footage since 1992 to DVD and then use it to edit together some meaningful and hopefully entertaining videos of our lives for the past few years. Also upgraded the ram in the computer to 1 GIG and added a firewire card in order to download the home videos from the soon to be purchased digital video camera. Geeks Rule, man!! Monday, January 10, 2005
Candle Burning At Both Ends
Laziness has it's downfalls and as such I am a bad boy. I have let my bookkeeping of the household accounts slide since July. Having too much fun I guess. But now I have to pay the price and spend some long winter evenings poring over the stack of receipts and statements of several months of slothfulness. The only way to accomplish the task is to take it in little bitty bite sized chunks over the next week or so. Hopefully by then I will have the hundreds of entries input into the computer and all the bank statements reconciled in time to start on the annual income tax festival of fun. Work, work, work work..... Saturday, January 08, 2005
New Shuttle Mission In The Works
Excitement is building at NASA as the launch date for the next shuttle flight, the first one since the Columbia disaster almost two years ago, approaches. Discovery is scheduled to fly a 13 day mission and as reported in this article will involve testing procedures for checking and repairing damage to the wings and underbelly of the spacecraft. The new fuel tank, which was delivered last week, is designed not to shed the dangerous insulation that caused the Columbia disaster but I guess it unfortunately does not come with free roadside assistance if it breaks down. The new procedures will help if the astronauts have to get out and look under the hood themselves. Friday, January 07, 2005
Weather Woes
After seeing what's been happening weatherwise throughout the rest of the country and into the states, I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that we have survived the first week of January relatively unscathed here in Edmonton. We've had a little snow and some temps down around -20, but nothing like places as near as Regina where you guys have been digging out for days. And even in perpetualy balmy California they have been shocked with major dumps of snow.
And of course our hearts go out in a big way to southeast Asia with all this tsunami related devastation. Even after the monumental cleanup is done it will take years to get those countries back to their previous condition. The biggest loss, after all the human lives, is the damage to the tourist industry. Even with rebuilt resorts, people are going to be a bit leary spending their vacation dollars in that area of the world for a while. With all the hurricanes, tsunamis and other natural disasters, the world is becoming a rather precarious place. Saturday, January 01, 2005
Happy New Year 2005!
Just returned home this afternoon from spending New Years eve in Calgary along with a few of the Mildenberger clan and spouses. Below is a hamster-eye view of us all at the critical pre-champagne, post smooch phase of the celebration. The party continued on until the wee ones with some pretty fierce domino competition ensuing.
The trip down and back went pretty good considering it was around -22 and there was lots of freshly fallen snow. But the highway was remarkably dry so driving was no problem. Tonight it's a bit of a new years feast at home with our traditional trifle for dessert. Can't wait. And so we head into the deep dark January freeze zone and start to look forward to spring while we try and clean up from the Christmas festivities and pay off all the celebratory expenses. Next big event: the wedding.
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