Mobile Blogging - not working so well...

I've got quite a backlog of blogs waiting to be posted. I've been busy and not able to do a lot of posting, but have been sending myself mobile blogs to remind me of entries that I want to make. Today I realized that many of my mobile blogs have not been going through and are not being logged in the edit section as being in "draft" mode. I'll try to catch up, but I know that they are all out of order now and entries my not make a lot of sense - I'll see if I can figure out how to re-date an entry to maintain the flow...

Universal Gym

You know its bad when just walking near the universal gym in the basement results in a spontaneous outbreak of the wild "Cobweb Dance"... I really need to get more exercise and get back into shape - well I'm already in a shape, just not the one I want or should be in...

Hood Ornaments

Walking through the underground parking garage I began to notice that there are very few hood ornaments around. Not sure if it is just because the people at our office all tend to buy the same kind of car, or because car makers don't add hood ornaments any more. I kind of miss them - my favourite has always been the Rolls Royce ornament.

Product Review Update: Nextar MN2707 GPS Nav System

Previous review here.
Additional issues and suggestions provided here.

'maters

What's up with the tomato plants this year? My 2 plants are 3-4 feet tall - huge, but no tomatoes...? Joe mentioned that he is having a similar issue. Is it the weather?

Spamalot - The Musical

I was not planning to go to see the latest production of Spamalot. It was playing while we were in New York a few months ago and I just thought I would be disappointed given that I am a big fan of the movie. That said, I received the following review from my buddy Craig, so I think I will reconsider my original position...

Go see it!
Those five (three sir) three words are really all you need to hear.
I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard.
The Holy Grail material, while fun to see live is, like my friend said, kind of like seeing a cover band. It's the new stuff that Eric Idle has written that makes it so funny.
I don't want to spoil any surprises so I'm not going to say any more.

Do you need an impaired driving lawyer?

I saw a car plastered with one of those auto-wraps asking "Do you need an impaired driving lawyer?" and then a phone number. I don't think so, can't see how that would help my case...? ;)

Cleaned the pool

Found a way to clean my Dolfino pool that seems to work fairly well, I used my shopvac hoses placed gently over intake hole of the existing Dolfino pump, the suction holds the hose on as long as you don't go crazy with it. All of the gunk on the bottom plugs the little filter fairly quickly so you need to rinse filter a couple times, but works okay. Got everything all cleaned up, re-rinsed the filter and restarted the pump, and of course - then started to rain - with thunder and lightening. Out of the pool, and admire it's cleanness from inside through the window.

Weatherperson Suggestion

Going to be a hot weekend, weatherperson on the radio suggests avoiding alcohol and caffeine...on the weekend...on a hot summer weekend...avoid alcohol and caffeine...YA, RIGHT!

Slowing down...

My blog is starting to get a little bare... Been busy at home and at work and just not enough time to do all the things that I want to do. As well, I don't think all of my mobile blogs are making it through, seems I had sent more than are waiting in the queue...I'll have to double-check, I certainly wouldn't want to miss anything!!!

One of the outstanding to-do items has been to convert my music files all to mp3 format with the same bit-rate quality. I won't go into why I want to do this, it has to do with limitations with some of my mp3 playing tools. I had intended to use Real Player to do this, but it doesn't work on my computer (another story that isn't worth telling). So I finally looked around a bit and found some freeware called Express Rip that seems to do a great job at a) reformatting to mp3 format, and b) re-formatting to a defined bit-rate, regardless of the current bit-rate. This is available from lots of places, and so far good results (although there seems to be some renaming going on that I now need to fix, but not too extensive). So everything is starting to come together. With the addition of the FM transmitter I will be "done" this project. Looking forward to it...

Simpig Radio - the wheels dials are in motion...

Well, I've done it... I have ordered an FM transmitter to connect to my modified Xbox to allow me to start transmitting Simpig Radio - my tunes, all the time, on all of my radios in the house - excellent!!

Movie Review: Madagascar[disappointing]

Comedic timing seemed a little off... May be good for kids but I thought there would be more for adults - actually there was stuff for adults, but just not that funny. Best part was when the penguins arrive in Antartica..."Well, this sucks...". Glad I didn't pay to see it in a theatre, would have been an ok rental, but glad I saw it on the movie channel for a cost included in my monthly rate.
Online review.

Irish Cream

I need to find a non-alcoholic version of Bailey's Irish Cream (actually we've switched to Barker's, but still refer to it as Bailey's). I like the flavour in my coffee but the alcohol is just like the donut that comes with the Tim Horton's sandwich deal, I really don't need/want it every time...
Needless to say I'm having another good day today since I haven't yet found a non-alcoholic substitute.
;)

Good Day, golf and one less chipmunk

Had a good day yesterday - went golfing with my buddy Pete and my Dad up at the Bonaire Golf Course in Coldwater (north of Barrie on Hwy 400). Really like the Bonaire course, varied and interesting and a nice setting. We played the River and Island courses, which are the best ones in my opinion. The Park course is okay but a little boring. We walked it so I'm a little soar today and have a bit of a tan, but enjoyed it. Also caught another chipmunk that morning which we took with us and released on a back road on our way to Barrie to pick up Dad. I've started tracking my pest control progress...

Movie Review: Drop Dead Gorgeous[hilarious! dry humour but did a lot of laughing]

Beauty contest contestants fight for their chance to get out of their small hick town... This flick is full of great little one-liners, very funny.
Online review.

HA! Got him! Well one of them anyway...

The new chipmunk trap does work better than the old one... able to set the trigger on this trap with a very light triggering threshold, so got my first chipmunk this morning and relocated him to an area on the other side of town about 5 or kms away. Trap is now reset and waiting for the next visitor... Also noticed some red squirrels hanging around again - they are the real offenders. I'll need to be diligent with the traps over the coming months to keep them away until the snow flies.

Resetting the chipmunk trap

My previous approach has been to keep reloading the trap with peanut butter until a) the trap triggered and the chipmunk was captured, or b) the chipmunk became too fat to back out of the trap, thus also becoming trapped.
This approach has not been working. The little buggers must be going to Weight Watchers on the side...
So, got a new (and supposedly better) trap - actually called a chipmunk trap, and so far the results have been the same, declining peanut butter volumes. BUT, I have now reset the trap with a "hair trigger" - if he gets the peanut butter this time, there's something unnatural about that chipmunk - more like a ghostmunk or a chiparition. More to follow...

Charity Matrix

Just a quick blote to point to the beginnings of my charity matrix (as mentioned in the text and comments of an earlier blote). I am still learning how to do tables in HTML so it isn't really pretty and it isn't yet complete, but here it is...

Movie Review: The Island[liked it, good flick]

I liked this movie. I've talked to a few people who didn't care for it, but I did. The beginning reminded me a bit of "Logans Run" and there was lots of action - the car chase scene is pretty impressive - there were a couple of times that my ability to suspend my disbelief was tested, but overall was not too over-the-top. I was a little disappointed with the level of product placement at the beginning of the movie, it started to remind me of "Return of the Killer Tomatoes" - which is a great flick by the way (not "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes", the second movie, "Return of..."), but this decreased later in the movie to not so obvious. Overall I liked it...
Online review.

Emergency Backup Power Configuration Idea

Here is my plan for an emergency backup power system for my house:
- use an 1800w inverter to power the fridge and water pump.
- get some deep-cycle marine batteries to power the inverter (ie. it is scalable backup power)
- get a 12-volt generator to charge the batteries
- can also use solar to charge the batteries at the same time
- can also connect the car to the batteries in a pinch which frees the generator for something else if required...
- the different 12-volt inputs would require some voltage regulation if connected all at the same time, but that should be doable.

Attached is a crude picture for reference.

Going to return the PowerHub thingy, but there is a problem... the 3000 watt generator I bought for $800(incl tax) does not have a 12-volt output, and has some other limitations that don't work well in my planned application, but I can't return it now that I've used it (for a whole 6 hours).
===} Make me an offer...

Fun with Ads

The ads that are placed on this site are from Google's Adsense service. I added the ads more out of interest around how the service works than anything else. One of the selling points is that the service apparently sifts through the blog and posts ads that are relevant to the blog content - sounds neat, but it has created an interesting sideline for me - watching to see what the Adsense robots believe that my blog is about! Imagine my surprise when I noticed ads for ways to rid yourself of yeast infections... Where did that come from?! Anyway, instead of just ignoring the ads - like I usually do, I now check them out to see if I can figure out how they became associated with my blog. Google should advertise how their advertising works since it is interesting to see the results (even if the ads aren't that interesting).

Tuna Comment - Nerve Touched...

I received a comment on my pop-top tuna poll entry - and now don't want to eat tuna anymore. To clarify, the tuna mentioned is not so much an afternoon nibbly - I usually have one or 2 of these as my lunch. I am notoriously bad at getting up from my desk and going and having something to eat - which is very, very bad for my health. I have been looking for a relatively healthy food with a long shelf-life for storage in my desk.
As for the fully loaded cost discussions mentioned in the comment - I agree 100% and feel that environmental factors should be incorporated into the cost of products sold. However since that is not the case it becomes nearly impossible to do this on a product by product basis. Surely you can see this just from the example given: doing all of the analysis mentioned for just a can of tuna would be exhausting - then do it for a can of beans that maybe uses 90+% recycled metal in their product. In the end I find that trying to make these assessments by myself leads me to becoming a huddled quivering mass of jelly-like substance. Between my "real" job and my personal "life", I don't want to sacrifice the time to do this analysis for everything I buy - HOWEVER, I would pay someone (like GreenPeace???) to do this analysis for me and provide me with direction on a monthly or quarterly basis on which is the least evironmentally expensive thing to buy in a given category. Example: if tuna is an "expensive" fish, then what are the lower "cost" options for my area? What about other meats? What about GMO vegetables - how can I steer clear of genetically modified organisms? Which shampoos are not tested on animals? Which toilet paper has the highest percentage of post-consumer recycled fibers?
I freely admit that I need help living an environmentally and socially and morally agreeable life. In my experience the politics and zealotism associated with these types of discussions tend to colour the information leading to difficult decisions for the general public. Where can I go, no, where can we, the caring-individuals-who-want-to-do-the-right-thing go, to get help with our purchasing decisions?

Suggestion for improved mobile blogging support

For the mobile blogging auto-post option, in addition to the check box indicating if incoming emails should be publish immediately or saved as draft, should include a prefix code that can be inserted at the beginning of the subject line that overrides the selection for that specific email.
Example, if the code is something like "^^^", and the user has selected that incoming emails should be immediately published, then an incoming email with "^^^" at the beginning of the subject line would not be published, but would be saved as a draft instead. Likewise, if the user selected that all incoming emails should not be published but should be saved as draft, then an incoming email with "^^^" at the beginning of the subject line would be published immediately (excluding the "^^^").
For me personally I don't want to immediately publish a mobile blog - I feel the need to clean it up and check the spelling before publishing, but there are times when I really want the post to be published immediately.

I think I offended a technology entity of some kind

Monday evening I had to evacuate the building at work due to an alarm, which meant that I couldn't finish something that I needed to get done - then the power outage Monday night meant that I couldn't finish the work that evening - then the continued outage the next day and the fun trying to get things working distracted me and again I didn't get it done - and then this morning I left the house without my laptop so I had to arrange for a drop-off before I could start anything! Luckily someone got the info they needed from another source...

Power!

Dad showed up with the powerhub thingy and we just got everything connected when the power came back on!!! Immediately went down to test the water pump re-wire and realized that I'm an idiot... I thought the connections were not working because I did not hear the pump turn on when I flicked the switch, but now realize that the pump is located a the bottom of the well, so I can't hear it regardless of what the pump is plugged into... Reconnected it to the generator and it works fine.

Got the water pump rewired...

Installed a plug in-line with the water pump so I can switch between having it plugged into the main power or a generator (basically a low-tech transfer switch, cuz I couldn't find an actual transfer switch). Problem is that the pump doesn't run off the generator. I know the generator pumps out enough power, I think the power is just so 'dirty' that the pump controller doesn't work properly. Could be my wiring but was pretty simple wiring and there's no way for me to test it - cuz the power is off... I've tried 'cleaning' the power through one of my small backup power boxes, but it doesn't have enough juice - the water pump needs 6.5A startup and 4.8A to run, but my little box only puts out 4.2A... So called Dad and asked for him to check the PowerHub for me again...

Need power, can't wait any more

Power is still out. On my way to Canadian Tire in Orangeville for an inverter and transfer switch for the water pump and fridge (and fish tank) - lots of trees down, we got off lucky at our place. Heard on my solar-powered-wind-up radio that someone died in Peterborough. Pretty intense. The storm was short, but fierce (sort of like one of my Dad's buddies...).

Just bought a 3kw generator ($800) and going back for a "powerhub" that has built-in switchovers and batteries ($450+tax). Plan is to wire the fridge and water pump into the powerhub permanently and plug the powerhub into the wall. This will address short outages. Then install a cable from the powerhub to the generator where I can unplug the powerhub from the wall and plug it into the generator for extended outages (bypassing the need for a generator transfer panel at $200). Overheard a guy at Home Depot saying that he called the power company and was told could be 3-4 days before they get everything fixed.

Delayed blote - mobile blog problems
Fridge and fish tank are now running on the generator and it seems to be working okay...so far... Good to know that the fish can last at least 18 hours in an outage, their position on the critical power list just got bumped... Now I need to work on the transfer wiring for the water pump (this is critical since I need to flush the toilets - I know TMI...).

Storms and power out

Power is out with violent storms rolling through last night. And since we are on a well, no power = no water, so going to stay home from work today. At least the temperature has gone down a bit...
I'm starting to get worried about my fish, been 12 hours with no bubbles for the tank. And we might have to have a big BBQ and pig-out food-fest of all the stuff in the freezer if we don't get power back soon - which really doesn't sound so bad now that I say it out loud...forced to sit outside around the BBQ on what has become a nice sunny day and eat all we can eat...ya, I've probably had worse days... The real pain is the bathroom situation...no water is no fun.
No power means no computer and no blog updates. I can do the mobile blogging thing but they don't publish until I go in and click "Publish"...
I just rechecked the freezer, the ice cream sandwiches are toast (no pun intended...which means the rest of the stuff is also probably thawed...definitely a big BBQ tonight.

Delayed blote - mobile blog problems
Stuffed - ate way too much. Had to cook everything from the freezer due to the extended power outage - which wasn't too much thank goodness! 6 "8oz super burgers", 3 Mandarin chicken breasts, 3 Mediterranean chicken breasts, and a full pack of shrimp. We are hoping that the individually packed salmon fillets are still okay. The popsicles are popsipuddles and I'm afraid to check the icecream sandwiches. We will have to check everything that's way at the back - probably some tossing to do, but think we did okay overall...

Faeries vs Elves - a clarification

As I wander through life, thankful for not being one of the multitute of farm animals that cohabitate this planet, I have the occasional thought that is out of the norm... In the past I use to call one of my bosses "the work faerie" because he kept dumping work on my desk. Upon further thought I realize that the Tooth Faerie takes stuff (your teeth) and leaves something good behind - if this is representative of a faerie, then this was not my old boss. Elves on the other hand tend to leave things - the cobbler elves who left finished shoes in cobbler's workshop (and even the Kibbler Elves who leave cookies). So, upon reflection, my old boss was more like an elf than a faerie - leaving me work instead of taking it away and leaving something good...

Shade on a hot July morning

Driving to work this morning with the air conditioning blasting from the vents of my otherwise eco-friendly Honda Civic Hybrid, I beheld an interesting sight... Picture, if you will, a large maple tree, one of those old ones that is about three or four feet in diameter. Tall and with branches going out in all directions that would form a large ball of leaves in the sky - if it were not dead. The tall trunk and branches are all visible as if it were the middle of winter (and not a scorching summer day). Picture this skeleton of a tree standing imposingly in the middle of an otherwise empty field, making it look all the larger, and casting its menacing shadow across the field. And in this shadow, which is growing smaller by the minute as the sun rises, picture a loose line of cows...staggered and nudging each other ever so slightly for just a little more shade on a hot July morning. With the temperature expected to reach 33 degrees C today, and the humidity making it feel like about a billion degrees, I find I have yet another reason to be thankful that I am not a cow...

Chlorine Dispenser - Suggestion for other pool owners

My little floating chlorine holder thingy is rather pathetic, so I made a new one. Using one of the many empty, tall, wide-mouthed plastic bottles (like one of these) that I get from the various chemicals for the pool, I drilled four 1/4" holes about 1/2" down from where the top screws on, then another 4 holes about 1-2" down and offset from the above holes, and then 1 hole about 2-3 inches up from bottom of the bottle. Put the chlorine pucks in the bottle and screw on the top, then tip upside down and lower into the pool water. The bottle will fill with water but it won't sink because there is a 2-3" air bubble between the lowest hole drilled above, and the bottom of the bottle. As the bottle floats and bobs around, it will dispense the chlorine throughout the pool.

Xbox Musicfest Extravaganza

After buying my Xbox at a pawn shop, and ordering the Xenium mod-chip off the internet, and tearing the whole thing apart to install the mod-chip and a big honkin' hard drive (250 Gb) - and then getting it all to work again - I am finally ticking another item off my to-do list by transferring all my mp3 files from my various computers over to the Xbox. The first batch went well last night but it appears that I pulled some CDs in at different bit-rates and "recording levels" than others, so the volume and quality is not consistent from song to song when randomized. As I continue to inventory the CD collection I will reload the good stuff now that I have a central location for my music storage.
I still need to connect with my cousin to get the CD inventory web database migrated to a new location and to clean up the numbering protocol (or naming convention, eh Joe?). If we can get things together I'll post a link to the database so you can browse the inventory. NOTE: this is not an inventory of online tunes that can be obtained illegally over the internet, this is a list of the physical collection being held in trust from my Father-in-law's estate. It is an impressive collection and I want to inventory it just out of interest.
Next step on the audio front is to get myself one of those FM transmitters and put "Simpig Radio" on the air! I figure if I keep the antenna in the basement it should limit the coverage to my house and yard and avoid interfering with any "real" radio stations.
Of course, I spoke too soon, the latest transfer has locked up... gotta go give it a kick...

The Boys have been coiffed!!

Today was grooming day for the boys - all fuzzy and bouncy now - and they smell better! They don't like to go, but they always seem to feel better afterwards, and they certainly seem to look better (and be a little more waggish).
They do find the whole ordeal stressful, being left in a cage and then subjected to all manner of indignities until Mommy and Daddy come back, so they spent the afternoon getting treats and snoozing. I did take the opportunity to squirt them with the flea stuff, which I try to remember to do after each grooming - just to be sure that they don't get any unwanted guests tagging along for a ride.
Well its another hot one, so think I'll go slip into our little pool and get cooled off. The water is sparkling clear - even if the bottom is covered with dirt! Hmmm... I have one of those shop vacs with the built-in water pump (very neat, it can suck and blow at the same time!!!), I wonder if I can use it to vacuum the pool? I might give it a try...

Chronic Sinusitis - or "my throat thing"

When will I learn...? For years I had what I called "my throat thing", lots of coughing, hacking, horking, and all those other fun things eventually leading up to laryngitis or strep throat and the need for antibiotics. Eventually I got fed-up and sifted through the internet to find that "chronic sinusitis" seemed to match my symptoms, and a personal blog from another sufferer pointed to dairy as an aggravator. I switched to 1 milk in my coffee instead of 2 cream, and stopped having pizza (especially with extra cheese) and noticed an immediate improvement. An additional point I have learned from experience since then is hydration, I need to drink more water than I usually do to keep things flowing (yuck, I hate thinking about it...). If I do these relatively simple things, my sinuses are usually good to me - and I was introduced to the joys of Drixoral for those times that I feel something coming on (amazing stuff, but don't overuse or it makes symptoms worse).

Well yesterday I drank nothing but coffee, as usual (ie. a diuretic that reduces hydration), then I met Brent for fud and beers (alcohol also being a diuretic) where I had nachos (with cheese and sour cream) and ended with another coffee (2 milk) - and by the time I got home I could hardly breathe! The nachos were good, and the Guinness was also very good (and by the way, Guinness also seems to aggravate the sinuses - though what it has in common with dairy products I don't know...), but I really need to think of my health... Nah, that's old-person talk... Vive les Nachos! Vive les Donair! Vive les Biscuit Avec les Chips Chocolat dans les Verre du Lait! (sorry for making such a mess of you language Claude - no offence...).

I really need to start working now...

Ideas that come to me while I'm driving

So am I in a quandary or do I have a dilemma? Most of my free thinking time occurs while I am driving to and from work, but it is VERY BAD to type blogs on my Blackberry while I am driving, so what to do? I have reverted to sending myself short reminders via the Blackberry that will remind me of the idea that I had, and then I get to a computer and type like a madman. I might need to reserve time on the weekend and limit my blogging - though I am enjoying it, very therapeutic...

Fud and Beers with Burnt...

Stopped by the Fox and Fiddle for a beer and some nachos with Brent. Been a while since we've seen each other, so was good to catch up. Brent's got a new car - very nice... leather, satellite radio, auto-wipers, the whole shebang! Learned that there is an new version of Xbox Media Centre out, so need to download that and go through the lengthy process of transferring the file between all of my computers to get it on to the Xbox. It sure would be nice to have high-speed at home so I could do this over night! Maybe I'll buy a 24-hour HotSpot pass and login at Starbucks over the Wi-Fi system... Should be a quick download and I get to enjoy a nice coffee or two while I'm waiting...
Hmmmm...

GST Rollback (of a whole whopping 1%...)

Since July 1st the only impact I have personally experienced from the rollback of the GST is that now my Tims coffee costs $1.24. Which means the cashiers are always out of pennies or my pockets are always full of pennies - though every 4th coffee I have enough pennies to pay the 4 cents directly. Honestly, I don't need a penny taken off the cost of my morning coffee. I know that there are lots of people out there that will really benefit from this tax reduction, but the real savings will come to people making large purchases, not to the people who have trouble buying their groceries. Rather than give 1% back to the population, why not divert it to charity - which will likely have a larger impact on helping the people that need it most...?
I am not a fan of the United Way, personally. As a charity it is great and I support the idea wholeheartedly, but as an individual I feel that I can have a larger impact on the things that matter most to me by funneling my money to the specific charities that I want to support. I try to take the "think globally, act locally" frame of mind when donating, and also try to help people as well as the planet. So I have actually come up with a matrix of charities to which I contribute.
But back to the GST rollback, the United Way is a great charity for corporations and government since it eliminates allegations of favouritism or discrimination from those donations - in effect not offending anyone in particular, or offending everyone by about the same amount. Anyway, funneling 1% of purchase costs into some form of charity could make a significant difference to those who need it most - for a while anyway. Eventually there would be corruption and misappropriation of funds - there always is when large dollars are involved, but by then some people will have received some help and there will likely be some other crisis that will need extra funding (like alternative energy options...?).
Well, that's my 2 cents anyway - or in this case, 1 cent...

Project: New Attic Insulation

I think I mentioned that I have squirrels in my attic (figuratively and literally), so I got a quote for the spray-foam insulation - it will be around $2000 - but we have to remove the existing blown-in fiber stuff ourselves and there are no guarantees that squirrels won't eat the sprayed stuff, so really need to catch and relocate the existing squirrels ASAP (they don't seem to be triggering the trap...they are getting their fill of peanut butter, so eventually they should be fat enough to either trigger the trap or get stuck in the hole they chewed in the roof...). Next step is to get an estimate of the cost to fix the vapour barrier and put in new regular pink insulation. If the two are close enough, I might go with the spray. The only hesitation that I have is that it will be difficult to do any wiring after the spray is done (for the Jacuzzi tub that is going in the ensuite and the ventilation fans that need to be installed in the bathrooms), but I can work through it. Stay tuned for more updates!

The Krusty Burger WhatchamaCarcass Sandwich

Contrary to news reports they are not made with diseased meat, the WhatchamaCarcass Sandwich is made from the undiseased meat of diseased animals... I love the Simpsons - they are like a Kit Kat, a nice break from the everyday (even though the show seems to be on every few hours on one channel or another...)

The Family Guy - Danger to Society?

So I am a fan of The Family Guy... but I can't seem to bring myself to talk about it in public... Joe is "down with the scene", but I'm usually very careful who I talk to about an episode... So many great lines, "Holy crip he's a crapple!" for example, so far out of left field that I just can't help but laugh. Is it politically correct? No, but it still makes me laugh!

So, am I a bad person? Let me know on my webpoll at:
http://snappoll.com/poll/113119.php
Note that I messed up the question and I can't change it after it is created...it should read "Does watching, and liking The Family guy make me a bad person?"

But I saw a bumper sticker today shaped like a large golf ball with the words "How's my Driving?" written on it ... ha ... stop, please, stop ... ha ... i am laughing so hard i can hardly breathe ... right.

Product Review: Dolfino Soft Sided Pool[okay I guess, but can't replace a "real" pool]

We bought one of those soft-sided pools with the inflatable ring around the top. We had a full in-ground pool at our last house and this smaller pool is definitely as much work - or more, as for the full pool. The pump and filter system is not capable of vacuuming the bottom, so difficult to keep it clean. If you gotta have a pool, it is a relatively cheap way to keep cool in the summer - but definitely a short-term thing...

Pop-Top Tuna Poll

Coming soon - driving and mobile blogging is a bad idea and I won't stand for it - so I'm going to stop now...

Okay, so how do I do a poll? I've seen it on other sites - I might have to setup a link. Peter put me on to the pop-top mini favoured tuna cans from Clover Leaf, and since then Joe has started calling me Tuna Boy... Joe's funny that way - not that there's anything wrong with that... So anyway, I was eating granola bars by the box and Peter pointed out the carbs and sugars and suggested something a little more healthy. After some discussion I said I wanted something with a long shelf-life that I could leave in my overhead bin at the office for emergencies - and tuna it is... My favourite flavours are Lemon & Pepper, Sundried Tomato & Basil, Tomato & Onion, and Dill & Lemon. There is also Spicy Thai Chili, Olive Oil, Spicy Peanut Satay, Garlic and Hot Pepper. Thought I'd do a poll to see which are the favoured flavours since the shelves at my local IGA are typically low of my favourites, but overflowing with the Spicy Thai Chili and Spicy Peanut Satay.

And here is a link to a poll on favourite tuna flavours I just found and made...
http://snappoll.com/poll/113116.php

Adsense Balance: 3 clicks, 11 cents!!!!Yahoo!! (no offence Google...)

Yup, just checked my account and 3 clicks have earned me 11 cents. That's 3.6 cents per click on average, so to reach the minimum payment level of $50, I need...

(3.6 ... 50 ... carry the 1... right, 0.036 ... um... where's my calculator... okay, 50 divided by 0.036 is 1,388.88888888 or 1,389, but I already got 3 clicks so...)

only 1,386 more clicks...!!! Wow, isn't the internet wonderful?

Dialing the phone (though nobody actually "dials" anymore)

Okay, so what's the deal?! When I'm in the 905 area code some of my calls to other 905 numbers are local, and some are LD, and I never know which when...!!!! So I dial 10 digits and I get the beeps (feeling so much like Homer Simpson, wanting to curl up in a ball while the phone goes "do da di, do da di...") and I get a message that "this call is LD, please hang up and dial 1 before the number". If I guess the other way I invariably get a message that says "this call is not a long distance call, please hang up and dial again without the 1". Talk about annoying! How about this: if I dial the '1' that means I am willing to pay the LD, SO JUST PUT MY FRIGGIN' CALL THROUGH!!!! And even better, when I dial 10 digits and its suppose to be LD, just tell me there will be charges and then put my call through!!! Bell has started doing both of these things on the mobile side of things - which is great because dialing and then redialing again while driving is just a bad idea, but the landline people don't seem to have caught on to this yet...
(deep breaths, take deep breaths, ...and then start redialing that number you were trying to call...)

Insurance

Why does everything associated with a car have to be such a blatant rip-off? I don't care how good of a deal I think I'm getting when I buy a car, I always find myself walking funny cuz I just have this feeling like I got screwed... And then I go to buy gas, nuf said. I LOVE those little stickers on the gas pumps that "explain" the gas prices - sorry, but the only piece of the little pie chart that has drivers that vary hourly is the "Profits" piece... Taxes don't go up and down depending on the proximity of the weekend whether there is a stat holiday nearby, and I don't believe that the cost of the crude and refining changes from my drive in to work in the morning and my drive home that night... But the profits, oh yah, that little piece of pie actually does explain a whole lot.

But what I really wanted to talk about is insurance. No matter how you look at it, insurance is a scam, but we all feel that "better safe than sorry" is a good mantra - including myself. But when the Post Office changes my postal code, and my car insurance goes up $700 a year because I am now zoned in a higher risk area (note that the post code changed, my house did not magically change locations), it just drives the point home. A letter to the Insurance Bureau of Canada seems to indicate that this isn't allowed... I think we might invest some time in this... Class-action suit maybe? Probably not, but fun to think about.

Hicc-a-burps...and butterflies...

Hicc-a-burps are bad enough in a full grown person, but you should see the impact they have on a little brown 7 pound ball of fuzz...quite the event! The look on Gizzy's face was hilarious!

For those that don't know, hiccaburps are what we call those things that are recurring just like huccups, but are really more of a burp...not pretty...

By the way, does anyone know where I can find a website with pictures of different caterpillars and the butterflies/moths that they turn into? As I wander around my yard and gardens playing God, I would like to know which bugs I should be saving, and which ones I should be ushering into the afterlife...

Casting thoughts out into the ether...

Thinking of you Elizabeth, hope you get better...

Glad to hear things are better Kelly, best wishes for a fast recovery.

Bone Marrow Donation

I just wanted to share a picture of me receiving an award from Canadian Blood Services for making a bone marrow donation through the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry. In addition to the framed certificate, I also received a watch shortly after the donation process - which I found very symbolic; receiving a gift of time myself after giving the gift of time to another.

If you are interested in joining the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry, please visit the Canadian Blood Services website.

Bunny in the dog pen - lots of excitement!!!

Shooting out of nowhere and taking the dogs (and us) by surprise, Mr. Bunny started running around the dog pen area. He ran into the fence a couple of times before squeezing almost all the way through the chainlink! I was able to get to the bunny before the boys and toss them out of the way (luckily they are small). Mr. Bunny was through the fence except stuck at his hips. I just gentle turned his back end until his hips were aligned with the corners of the fence hole rather than the sides, and the rest of him slipped through and off he went! Good thing, I think it would have been messy trying to pull him back through the fence...
:)

Another little animal story for the archives....

FIFA...FOFUM...sounds like a poodle on steroids...

Well, I'm not really into sports - and even less into soccer, but Joe has been filling me in on some of the details. Apparently it is quite exciting to watch a game go for over an hour with no score, then watch up to 2 more 15 minute overtime sessions go with no score, and then watch the whole thing come down to "penalty kicks" or a shoot-out. This seems to happen regularly, so I say start with the shoot-out kick-off (or a rousing game of "rock-paper-scissors" by the team captains) until someone gets ahead, then play the game. If there is a tie at the end of regular play, then the team that won the pre-game kick-off wins. You can be sure that one of the teams would be very focused on getting a goal if they start the game at a disadvantage!

During the last game of the FIFA World Cup I had trouble deciding who to cheer for... I've been to Rome and I loved it, so I have an attachment to Italy, but I grew up in Quebec and also have an appreciation of French culture. Growing up, Les Canadiennes were always the hockey team supported in our house and by all our friends and neighbours - the transition to the Maple Leafs with my move to Ontario has been tough... Same situation with the Expos vs. the Jays - I still support the Expos.

All of that said, it is a tough call because I have some baggage from growing up English in Quebec in the 1970's. I have heard lots of discussion about Quebec separatism and the opinion that French culture is/was under attack, however I feel strongly that if you want to see a language and culture under attack, trying being an Anglophone in rural Quebec - especially in the 1970's. I love Quebec - the language, the culture, the people, the history - but I hate the politics.

In the end I think my loyalties would have been with France had I watched the final game or been more involved in the whole FIFA experience, but hesitantly...

There, a blog posting about the FIFA World Cup that has almost nothing to do with soccer...
;)

Bone Marrow Donation

I just got a note from the recipient of the bone marrow donation I gave last year (Feb/05), and he says it is okay if I cross-post his blog to this one, so if you want to read about Claude's experience, and so far victory over Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, please read his blog. A link is included in the left menu of my blog "Neither seen nor known ", or you can follow this link if you want to start right to the beginning...

NOTE: there is a link at the bottom of each post that allows translation between French and English from the BabelFish website. The translation isn't great, but you can get the point of what is being said. Even the title of the blog was translated to "Neither seen nor known" from "Ni vu ni connu".

Mobile Blogging

Well, I'm going to make a small change to my posting methods. With mobile blogging I have the option of posting immediately, or having the post saved as a draft until I "officially" post the entry on the site. I have been using the "draft" option to allow me the opportunity to correct spelling and formatting errors and to look up some information to include, however this has become just one more thing on my to-do list, so I am moving to immediate-posting-mode. Therefore, being forewarned, I don't want you to give me any grief if you find spelling or grammar errors or typos - mobile posting is a thumb-intensive activity and I believe that I should have a little flexibility within language rules... I will try to stay away from the popular texting short forms as I am not a fan of this (u cud say i h8 it). Anyway, just a heads-up...

46.6 !!!!!!

Unbelievable!! I connected at 46.6 kbps this morning! I have never connected at any speed greater than 45.2 before - praise be to the mighty internet gods - please give me a sign to let me know what I did right to get this blast of speed!

Note to Bell (and Rogers for that matter), this is sarcasm. I hate dialup. I can actually feel the life force being drained from my body as I sit and wait for something (anything) to happen on my computer.

I am currently intending to give up on normal methods of connecting to the internet and buying an EVDO router modem and connecting that way - when EVDO is available in my area - which I am expecting to be early in 2007. Until then, hopefully 46.6 will become less rare...

Movie Review: Moulin Rouge![I liked it and I'm not a fan of musicals]

A flashy musical with songs from my generation (boy, saying that makes me feel old...) - I really enjoyed it. I also found it fun to watch Ewan McGregor evolve from the looking-to-score drug addict in Trainspotting to the lead vocalist in a full blown musical, and fun to watch John Leguizamo who I recognize as Dr. Clemente from ER transformed into "a dwarf dressed as a nun" dropping through a ceiling, and fun to watch Nicole Kidman...(nuf said).

The song that sticks the most in my brain is the overlay of Roxanne with something else - the force of the vocals matched with the visuals makes for a memorable scene.

Anyway, good flick, I recommend.
Online review.

Product Review: 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid[love the technology, got some rants]

I love the auto-stop function when waiting at a light or stop sign, it makes total sense to have the engine stop when not needed. The only draw-back is in the way Honda decided to implement the restart - the engine restarts as soon as your foot comes off the brake, which becomes very inefficient when in stop-and-go traffic. I'm also not sure why the engine would restart when shifting between "drive", through "reverse", to "park". When I come to a stop in my driveway or at work, the engine goes into auto-stop but then restarts as I shift into park, and then I turn off the key...? I have started getting into the routine of stopping, car goes into auto-stop, I turn the key off (but it won't come out while the car is in drive), shift into park, and turn the key off the rest of the way and remove before getting out of the car...Ugh. In general I am a big fan of the hybrid technology. I think my next car will be a Toyota since it does not restart the engine after an auto-stop until a minimum speed is reach or the batteries need charging.

I'm also a little concerned with some recent performance of the Honda hybrid. It has started revving by itself... When driving at relatively constant speeds I will sometimes feel the car surge forward and slow, surge forward and slow, and the tachometer will show a slight fluttering. I have also experience sudden excess acceleration when slowing for a turn and then accelerating out of the turn - it is a little unnerving... The discussion groups I belong to on hybrids indicate the EGR valve - which I had replaced at over $400 with labour, and I still have the problem. The other culprit seems to be the transmission, requiring a rebuild. I think it is time to trade-in the Honda for a Toyota sooner, rather than later.

In short, I love the hybrid technology and look forward to more innovations, but I think Honda may have missed the mark with their implementation...(though it is hard to complain when I am getting about 4.8-5 l/100kms, or ~48 mpg).

Product Review: Nextar MN2707 GPS Nav System[Excellent idea and product, got some bugs that need fixing]

I recently received the Nextar MN2707 GPS Navigation System from my birthday. I have been using this product for a few weeks now and have found that some of the existing bugs and operation glitches make some features effectively unusable. Specifically, the lack of a random-play feature for the MP3 player, coupled with the stop-play operation when the navigation voice warns of an approaching turn makes the MP3 player unusable while navigating to a destination - or navigation unusable while listening to MP3s. I have a more complete list of bugs that I believe need to be fixed which I will post when I find my list again...

UPDATE: a recent firmware update mutes the navigation voice while MP3s are playing. Not the best fix but better then before. I haven't done a full test of the features since the upgrade, and there was no upgrade documentation, so I'm not sure if any of the other bugs were fixed.

Baby Bunny.......

I've been "radio silent" for that last little while about all of the baby animals that I've seen around the neighbourhood lately. After mentioning the baby raccoon in this blog, and then the result, and then the same for the chickadee... So I'm just going to mention in passing that there was a baby bunny in the back pen area where Alaska and Gizzy do their "business". It was exciting for a minute or 2 there when the boys first went out because they caught the scent of the bunny, but didn't see him. I saw him - since he almost ran into me, and wasn't sure what to do next while the bunny and the boys seemed the keep running right past each other without actually seeing each other... but then mister bunny zipped through a small hole in the fence, leaving the boys snurffling around like crazy wondering what they missed.

Well, I've put more in this post than I untended - hopefully I haven't jinxed mister baby bunny....!

Bad Bosses...

I watched an interesting article on CBC's Venture the other night about bad bosses. There was a quiz so I rated myself against each of the 7 questions, thinking back to various situations and issues I had to deal with when I had staff. Apparently, I suck. I put myself at about 4.5 out of 7 on the badness scale (which really means 5...) and the show said that from 3-6 is a bad boss and you should look for a new job (a 7 indicated the need to "run" from the job as fast as possible!). Wow, sorry to all my former staff!! Actually I don't think I was really that bad, but I really have to fight the urge to send the quiz link to my former staff members asking them to "rate" me...

There was also a short interview with Jack Welch in which he talked about creating a policy that the bottom 10% of staff should be pushed each year. This caught my eye since we are implementing a similar philosophy at our office. When I heard about it from the office, I got the definite impression that 5% of staff would be tagged as needing development, 5% as being in the wrong job, and 5% as under performing and needing to be "let go". Within this context I had trouble supporting the initiative since it does not allow for a team of high performing staff to remain intact and seems to arbitrarily undermine the self confidence of the whole group (ie. when will your number come up?!). But Jack Welch's approach is different: identify the bottom 10% and give them the feedback that they are not performing at the same level as their peers, and then coach them to either improve their skills or find another job within the company for which they are better suited - and highlight that if there is not improvement then "being let go is the final option". I think that being this straightforward with staff is a good thing. If my boss comes to me and says I am at the bottom of the pack - I need to improve my skills or find another job, or I'm gone - then I will definitely take the responsibility to do what I need to do to secure my future. Unfortunately what I usually see is that someone is targetted and they really don't have a chance to improve. In my past I had 2 "underperformers" that worked for me at different times. After working with one and not seeing much improvement I indicated that if things didn't improve I would have to initiate steps to have him let go - he found another job outside the company and left. HOWEVER he did keep in touch with me for a while after he left, which leads me to believe that he understood my situation and on some level appreciated the honesty. In the other situation I again worked with the team member and was able to stress that he did excellent work and was very intelligent - but didn't apply himself and was really letting down the whole team. In this case I was able to suggest and "push" him into another role within the company that would make better use of his skills while allowing me to hire in someone more intersted in doing the job that I needed done. This is the type of situation that I believe needs to exist. I believe that people need to know where they stand within the team - but in a positive way. There is nothing wrong with someone who is overwhelmed by their job and needs some support to get on top of things, or with someone who is not suited for the job they are in (which can often happen given all the re-orgs that happen these days), and who needs to know that they should be looking for something else if there isn't anything suitable within the immediate team. I believe that being honest with people is the best way to help them develop...

Anyway, I've gone way off topic and really started to ramble, so that's it for this post...

Movie Review: I, Robot[liked it, recommend]

Good flick with a well used premise - robots "evolve" to the point of (almost) taking over the world. We've seen this in several flicks including the blockbusters "The Terminator" series and "The Matrix" series but I like the spin put on this story.

One very small point I have been thinking about since watching the movie is the demolition scene - the big destructo-bot rips apart a house - a house that is still fully furnished and in move-in condition. The environmentalist in me cringed a little bit as I watched the wood paneling and hardwood floors get trashed, let alone all of the fixtures and electronics. Got me thinking that a better approach would be to have a small army of mini-bots that dismantle the building bit-by-bit allowing the reuse and recycling of the various components.

I've also been thinking about how these types of movies are starting to fit together as the writers work within the various future time-frames. I can easily see a flow from "The Terminator" series, to "Minority Report" to "I, Robot", on to "AI", followed by "The Matrix" series. In each story the advances in robotics and artificial intelligence grow beyond our ability to maintain a workable relationship with the machines. Though I place "The Matrix" at the end of the sequence, I believe that there is still room for an interesting story located before the end of "AI" but after "The Matrix" - basically something along the lines of the machines become the dominant "species" and humans live as a subordinate class. How would this look? I can't see the machines using humans as slaves since we would not be able to do most things that specialized machines could not do better. Not sure how things would play out. I can picture the humans taking on a mode of communication that is mostly poetry and art - where the mental images and feelings conjured by the art are the real message, a message that the machines would not be able to understand...

Wow, that was a long way to go for a movie idea...
Online review.

Casting thoughts out into the ether...

Welcome back Kelly - very happy to hear you have taken a turn for the
better !!!

Good-bye Mr. & Mrs. M., our thoughts are with you and your family...

Good-bye Lucky-Dog, we will miss you.

Woodpeckers...!

Not sure what's going on, but there were a lot of woodpeckers around the house today - more than you would expect to find on the pirate float in the Pride parade... Maybe it was just a family or two with their "teenage" mobs - they all seemed a little big to be "babies". This is not really news, just wanted to see if I could get a chuckle out of Joe with the pirate comment...