Gave blood yesterday

I gave blood again yesterday, I think that makes either 16 or 17 times. I do it for the cookies and juice...

Okay, I'm up...

Usually my radio is set to 92.5 Jack FM, and in the morning I find that I tend to just lay there listening to the tunes cuz they're good. This morning the radio came on playing CHUM (I was fiddling with the buttons last night) and after suffering through a George Michaels greatest-hits tune, followed by a Justin Timberlake tune, I just couldn't stay there any longer - the bad music drove me out of the room. The dilemma: the whole purpose of a clock radio is to get you up and out of bed, so maybe I should leave it tuned to CHUM...?

Barbados!!!

Sharon has been called to work in Barbados for a while - so I'm going to take a couple of days off and use some Aeroplan points to get down there for a "free" trip to the sun! Excellent!

Possum, playing possum

Sharon was out walking the boys this evening and found an animal beside the road and was very concerned. We went back to the spot (without the boys) and there was a possum, and he was, well, playing possum... A couple of nudges with my shoe showed that he was alive, and a call to the vet confirmed my thinking that he was playing dead and we should leave him. When we checked later he was gone, so no rescue effort needed to be mounted...

Nextar GPS - rants

After using this GPS unit for a while, I am just annoyed - but no more since it stopped working (some kind of corrupted file - I get an error screen when I try to turn it on). To repair requires returning to the manufacturer (return mail paid) which would be more expensive than just buying a new one.
Some usage annoyances for anyone thinking of getting this unit:
- the search POI by name is useless since it sorts results by city. this makes no sense at all, it should sort by distance if no city is entered.
- the search POI by distance is useless since it only looks at locations less than 4 kms from current location. Results should fill at least one screen, ie. If nothing found within 4km, extend to 8, then 16, etc. Until a full screen of stuff is visible. At highways speeds in a rural area, a search will find nothing, and then suddenly find a bunch of stuff because a town is now within 4 kms - but you are likely just passing the highway exit.

Another minor annoyance is that "Time to Destination" should be replaced with ETA, or allow switching between.

Beautiful country...

Down visiting my Aunt in Rock Island, Quebec. This is a beautiful area! The leaves are starting to change colour, people are starting to fix up some of the old homes and buildings, it really is a great place to live.

Gas mileage conversion

As far as I can ascertain 1 US gallon is 0.83 Imperial gallons, so with those figures:
- 2.83 x km/L = Imp MPG
- 2.35 x km/L = US MPG

My Honda Civic Hybrid is getting 5.2 L/100 km = 19.23 km/L:
= 54.4 Imp MPG
= 45.2 US MPG

Jericho - new series

The new series "Jericho" looks good. I've only seen the first episode so far but it seems very interesting. It is kind of a what-if type show, what if you were going about your business one day and saw a mushroom cloud appear on the horizon in the direction of the nearest large city?
At the beginning there are lots of questions - is the States under attack, was it an accident, was it a terrorist action, and of course, what do we do now? This got me thinking a bit and I think I would start documenting what I know, my assumptions, and the actions I should take...

What do we know?	Assumptions	Strategy	Actions
Denver and Atlanta were hit	support people/government busy	fend for ourselves	pool weapons (looting), collect perishable food to localized freezer/fridge (restaurant?)
Weather patterns	fallout possible/probable	protect water sources	collect and store as much water as possible, cover sources, gather books and read on how to react

Still with the sore neck!

I'm still struggling with a sore neck/back. Its been almost 2 weeks now. REALLY painful this morning, I think I slept on it wrong. Had a massage on Friday and another today - helps a lot, but the pain is still there. I'm not sure what I've done, but it is getting really annoying. Driving is the worst, the shoulder checks and slight head movements associated with stopping, starting, and bumps all hurt. The massage guy says to keep applying heat, keep stretching, don't overwork those muscles and stay away from cold and damp. I have a company golf game next Tuesday, so I REALLY need this to be fixed in the next 2 days - but I don't think I'm going to risk it...

Amazing Race is back on!

The Amazing Race is one of my favourite shows (except for the season where the American families camped their way around the States). Looking forward to the new season. I've seen a bit and so far my favourites are the couple from Kentucky (I absolutely LOVE the accent) and the woman with the missing leg - she's got a lot of heart, a real inspiration. My original attraction to the show was being able to get a look at places around the world that I might want to visit - and I still very much like to see the sights and points of interest, but now I also like to watch the interaction of the teams and some of the strategies that the teams use to get ahead. I think the best season so far was the one where the guy from Survivor (Rob and Amber?) was part of the show. He REALLY played the game - you could see the brain working and figuring out the angle, it was impressive to watch.

Another fire

Finished off the last of the rotten wood at the bottom of the wood pile after Sharon moved the rest of the good stuff into the shed. I've decided to take the rest of the big stuff with the ants down the road and dump it in the ditch beside the railroad tracks rather than risk a full eyebrowectomy again. A good job done...

Actually, Dad spared me an eyebrowectomy or needing to drag everything down to the railroad tracks - he pulled everything down and set it ablaze (he doesn't seem to be as concerned about flying embers as I am... ;). Even a better job done...

Finished my 1986 Talisker last night

Finished my 1986 Talisker scotch, now on to my 1990. I have some Talisker "10 year" but I don't know when it was bottled, and some Johnny Walker Green that is 15 years. Does it get any smoother after it is bottled, or does that stop after it leaves the barrel? Either way its a nice way to end the day :)

Recipe for Good-for-you Muffins

Trust me, these are good. The ingredients don't sound great and they don't look great when they are done, but they are good.

• preheat over to 350 degrees
• load 24 muffin tin cups with the little paper liners
• 3 cups (750ml) of Kelloggs All Bran cereal (I've tried other kinds with okay results, but so far the Kelloggs has been the best)
• 3 cups (750ml) of water
• let the water soak in and then mix or blend
• add a package of Betty Crocker Low Fat Brownie mix (I haven't tried any other kind, this is the only low-fat mix I've found around here)
• add 3 teaspoons (15 ml) of baking powder
• mix or blend until mixed well
• distribute across 24 muffin cups
• bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes

Is good, and Weight Watchers says they are only 1 point each. But even if not so concerned with your weight, they are good, a good source of fiber, and not very fattening for a dessert-type item. From a guy perspective - they are really easy to make, you should use the biggest blender (ie. power tool) in the house to mix the stuff, and you can eat the whole batch without worrying too much about adding to the stuff hanging over your belt buckle - just be aware, coffee and bran react to create a rather desperate situation. If you eat most of the first batch of muffins and then drink a bunch of coffee in the morning, don't have any meetings scheduled until later in the day...

New style bagel

After ordering a toasted bagel with cream cheese a couple weeks ago at Tim's and finding the majority of the cream cheese in the hole of the bagel, and then a similar experience with a bagel sandwich a little while ago, I suggested to Sharon that it would be good to have hole-less bagels that are slightly thinner than regular bagels (ie. like the thickness of 2 pieces of bread). I was sure that they probably already existed because it was a good idea - my favourite sandwich stuff surrounded by the bagely goodness of my favourite bagel flavour. Well, I saw a commercial on TV last night for this exact thing - Thomas' Squares Bagelbread. We are just having bagel sandwiches now and have realized that it doesn't matter what type of sandwich you make, they always end up tasting the same - they always taste exactly like another one...
:) we have also found that any and all sandwiches taste better when they are made by someone else... Not sure why...

Neck Pain

I finally couldn't take it any more and booked a half-hour neck massage today. The pain was not back, but just constant and annoying and I just didn't want to deal with it any more. He asked what my pain was, from 1-10, I said 4, but not really bad, very noticeable but hey - been living with it for a week so probably closer to a 2... Anyway, not like any massage I've had before, this guy is more of a press-and-hold guy, hurts like hell but gets rid of the knots. I've had massages before that involved lots of pressing and hurting, but not just a straight continuous push. This guy also had a tool that allowed him to target the exact spot and press like hell without his thumb getting tired. I have some exercises that I need to do, and need to soak in a hot shower for a while, and need to use a hot pack a couple times over the next couple of days, and need at least one follow-up visit (can already feel a couple spots that need more work). I feel 110% better, well worth the $40 bucks.

An Engineer's View of Reaching a Target Weight

I did some research and learned that 1 lb of fat contains approximately 3,500 calories and 4 litres of gasoline contains about 31,000,000 calories and my car (the '03 Honda Civic Hybrid) gets about 5.0 L/100km and I live on a 2 acre property.

It just happens that for me to reach my target weight I need to lose the fat equivalent to the gas required to drive my car for 1 trip around my yard (excluding along the front by the road).

Now I need to make a little car that I can "drive" around the property to represent my progress...!

Blackberry Users: Emergency Contact "qqq" or "ppp"

I was using my Blackberry the other day and had a thought - the device is almost impossible to use without looking at the screen. On a regular cellphone you can figure out where the main keys are so you could dial a number (like 911) without looking at the phone, if you have to. But the Blackberry does different things with the buttons depending on the application that it is running at any given time. So what would happen if you were in a car wreck at night on a dark country road - trapped in your wrecked car down in a dark ditch - BUT you could get hold of your Blackberry but not see it? Sounds like a fairly unlikely event, but hey - I guess I could add, what if the screen broke but the basic functionality still worked?

Here is my thought - create a contact in your contact list with the name "qqq" or "ppp", since these are the easiest non-freaky keys to find on the Blackberry keyboard.

Then do the following to access this contact without looking at the unit:
- press and hold the "back" button for a couple of seconds (exits out of anything you are in and generally clears the display)
- click the "back" button a bunch of times to make sure
- scroll the wheel up a bunch to be at the top of the application list
- click the wheel once (if locked the unit will display the unlock menu, if not it will enter the top application)
- scroll the wheel up to ensure that you are at the top of any menu
- click the wheel once again (will unlock if locked, or will access the application menu if in an application)
- click the "back" button again a bunch of times (exits out of any applications)
- the main intent of the above is to ensure that the unit is in the main application window without having to look at the screen
- click the "phone" button on the top of the unit to make the phone dialer application open
- click "qqq" or "ppp" to find the emergency contact in the address book, it should be the only entry with these three characters in a row, so it should be highlighted
- click the wheel once to get the menu, and the default highlighted option should be "Call"
- click the wheel again to initiate a call

Try it - I think it works. Might need some adjustment if you have a password protected lock option. I have the Blackberry 7250 and it works for me.

Also, there was an email floating around a while ago suggesting that you create an entry in your phone's address book with "ICE I.C.E. 911" in the name. If you are ever in an accident or in trouble and unable to communicate with emergency personnel, they could access this contact easily in your phone's address book to contact someone in an emergency - makes sense to me...

Ouch, pain in the ... neck...

I have been living with and fighting a "stiff neck" since last Thursday. I don't recall doing anything silly that would have pulled something, but since last Thursday afternoon my neck and upper back have been sore. I have tried stretching and relaxing and hot showers and heat patches and Sharon gave me a neck-rub yesterday, but the only thing that seems to help is Advil - and that's only temporary. One person I spoke to today suggested meningitis, however then laughed and said that I would probably be dead by now if it was meningitis, so probably wasn't it (Gee, Thanks!!!). The worst part is at night since I can take a couple of pills that help the pain until I get to sleep, but I have been waking up at around 3-4am in pain and unable to roll over or easily get out of bed. By the time I get myself rearranged, I am completely awake and have been getting up to get more pills (which last until about 6am when it happens again). Joe tells me that this happens to him on occasion - so I am currently blaming him for my woes!!!

Oops, just gave myself an unexpected hair "perm" and eyebrow makeover...

I was having another little fire in the backyard (almost rid of the scrap wood) when I brought down 2 big logs from the back fence. This is the main stuff I want to get rid of since it is full of carpenter ants - which I don't want finding my house or wood fence at the front. I had a good fire going from using up the last of the rotten hardwood from my wood pile - nice and hot, so I picked up the biggest log with the most ants, and got ready to add it to the fire. Of course the log was slightly longer than the fire was wide, so it had to be positioned just right to avoid having it roll out of the fire pit, so I took my time and "gently" lowered it into the fire where I thought it should go. Of course I dropped it at the last second, which created a burst of heat and flame right up the from of me, and I heard that familiar crackling sound of burning hair, followed by the familiar smell of burning hair. Okay, so maybe these things aren't so familiar to most people, but anyone who know me, knows that I would be familiar with these things... Being outside with no mirror, I just brushed myself a bit to get the majority of the burnt stuff off and continued with my work - smiling at the comments I was sure to get from Joe if the damage was significant. I finished what I was doing and went into the house to assess the situation... definitely have shorter and curly bangs, but not too bad - any remnants of a cybrow are gone, actually, my eyebrows are now nicely "thinned" - and for a finishing touch, my eyelashes are nicely frosted at the tips. Luckily I shaved this morning or I would have looked like Mr. Velcro-face, or my head might have caught fire - one or the other. I have learned from various similar experiences to immediately hold my breath as almost a reflex reaction to "danger" when around fire, so my nose hairs were spared (unfortunately). Though this could have saved me the trouble of trimming or plucking (which is always so much fun), as I mentioned, I have experience with these types of situations (in particular there was the time that I learned that shaving cream from a can is nothing like the foam that firefighters use to put out fires...) and know that having burnt hair inside your nose is not pleasant cuz you can't really get away from the smell. All in all, a good day!

Hail !

Got some hail tonight during a thunderstorm... I was all prepared with the candles lit and my new backup power system at the ready - and nothin'... Usually if we get a stiff breeze the power will go out, but not now that I have the backup power system... The plastic lawn furniture got blown into a pile at the corner of the deck, the hail and rain pummelled all the plants, but not even a flicker of the lights. I guess that's a good thing, but also a little disappointing ...

Movie Review: Done - no more movie reviews here

Looking over my blog I find that it is turning into nothing but movies - which I don't want. So I am not going to post any more reviews here, this will be a space just for stuff - I will track and review movies on the Yahoo site since it is better suited to the job.

Movie Review: Primer[what the...? still trying to figure it out]

My online review and my movie list ranking.

Movie Review: Nell[undecided, predictable plot and a little preachy, but...]

My online review and my movie list ranking.

Movie Review: Walk The Line[good flick, not a big Johnny Cash fan, but good story]

My online review and my movie list ranking.

Movie Review: Corpse Bride[slow to start, but I liked the ending]

My online review and my movie list ranking.

Met pool guy and reviewed endless pool DVD

Met with Frank from Solda Pools to get some thoughts on a new pool for the back yard - been waiting a long time for the pool since having one at our last place in Beeton. Talked about a few things and put together some quick sketches, and then went through the price list - wow, adds up fast. Sure, the pool may be $20-30K, but then the cement, the heater, the pumps, the waterfall, the chlorinator, the spa, etc. - and it adds up. The first estimate with all the bells and whistles was $126K. We trimmed some things down (like the spa) and deferred some of the luxuries (like the cabana bar), and our current estimate is around $80-85K for this year - basically replacing the mortgage, so its okay!
Coincidentally, on the same day that we spoke to Frank we also got an information package in the mail about "Endless Pools", basically a small pool with a built-in propeller to create a current that allows swimming in place. Watched the DVD (we sent away for the info package a while ago) and it looks good. So, another thought added to the mix... Wouldn't it be great to have the Endless Pool up near the house inside a solarium that could be heated and used year-round...! So now we are rethinking the plan and maybe we'll go with a smaller pool since we wouldn't need all the length for swimming, which we can do in the Endless Pool. Hmmmm...

UPDATE: we've now had the pool installed for a few years (wow, time flies!), and I really felt the need to come back in here and comment on Solda. Structurally the did a great job, but their care and attention to the finishing touches is just not there. I have been paying them to come back each spring and fall to open/close the pool in case there was a problem with the installation. I've watched them do the work and they are just simply not careful. The control valve on the top of the sand filter had to be replaced because over the 2-3 years of them opening/closing the pool they cracked the fittings on every pipe connection (I believe over tightening is to blame). Their water pump washed out a big hole in the back yard one year and also washed out a bunch of mulch that my neighbours had just put in around some trees at the property line. In my opinion they don't drain the lines enough for the underground pipes and don't lower the water level enough (but I'm not the supposed expert - they said its fine, they always do it that way). The waterfall leaks and there are major cracks in a couple of the key rocks of the waterfall (were there on day-1, I believe happened when the backhoe was muscling them into place). Don't even get me started on the compost they brought for the garden beds - total crap! We paid a premium for the premium grade stuff, and had to go back to them for cash-back when we started finding large sharp shards of glass all through the stuff. I'm not talking 1 broken bottle (as they tried to suggest), but several different colours and types of glass all through the mix everywhere (it is now a way to pass the time on sunny days by the pool, I wander along the edge of the garden and pick-up bits of glass - I am rarely left wanting...). Basically all the finishing touches are crap and there is a lack of professionalism for the recurring tasks - even though we continue to pay a premium (compared to other companies) for them to come back to service the pool. This will be the last year we have them back. i believe they will now say that anything major that goes wrong is out of warranty, and all the minor stuff seems based on their bad workmanship, so that's that....