End of the Year

Once again it's the end of the year.

I used to go out and party for new years. Now I prefer quiet night with an early turn in. This year, my buddy wanted to have a shaker, so we planned it for my house. Hopefully we get a few people over for drinks (jello shooters are currently chilling in the fridge), and some good times. I think I've heard some talk about belting out Rock Band tunes for part of the night.

I do work tomorrow, but not until later in the day. Should be interesting.

Now THAT'S Talent!

And no, I'm not talking about those stupid "Blank's got Talent" shows.

The video below is an example what someone who has the time, inclination, and love for something can do. I sat almost mesmerized by how seamless the effects were. Hard to believe he did it with a budget that was less than a million dollars. Hollywood's always trying to make it seem like the movies that they make are so super-expensive, and cutting edge. So far, the effects I've seen them put out still force me to suspend my disbelief enough to accept they are real. In Mr. Alvarez's video, the only spot the scenes don't consume you is a single blood splatter effect, in my opinion. 

"Mr. Alvarez had the idea to make a movie about the attack of giant robot aliens on Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. It was similar project to “The Day When The Earth Stood Still”. He based the whole 5 minute movie budget on apparently 300-500$ but the sum that the sources say varies. The fact still stays the same. Federico Alvarez made his own dream come true, by using a simple way to distribute his work freely on YouTube. This way everybody who have seen it spread the word and slowly but surely the word reached producers in Hollywood and his career will soon be rising, better way to say it is skyrocketing after showing his skills in such a low budget but still high quality product." - Quoted from ExtraTorrent's article


Enough from me... see for yourself!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Well, it's time to load the shotgun and board up the fireplace again.. Seems like every year someone tries to do a home invasion on the 24th. I'll be waiting this year.. Wait.. What? Santa? Uhm.. whoops.. Give me a minute to defuse this landmine...

Seriously, I like Christmas. More for the family gathering, and fun times we have. I eat too much food, and try to kill another lobe of my liver off, but it's all great. Younger kids are even more fun to be around at this time of year. I love to get them all wired for sound with sugar and excitement, then send them off to their Mom's and Dad's.  It warms my heart!

For anyone who has younger kids, here's a website you should check out: NORAD Tracks Santa. It's the North American Defense organization that tracks everything that flies over Canada or the United States. Every year, they monitor Santa as he makes his trip.

I'm pretty much done my shopping. I only have three things left to do: One last gift (the hardest to buy!), some groceries and food preparation for Christmas Day, and my most hated task every year: WRAPPING GIFTS.

I'm terrible at it. I've managed to bribe friends, pay others, or just plain avoid it several times in the past, but it looks like this year, I may be out of luck. Not only am I terrible at it, but I get so frustrated that I just want to pile everything up and light it on fire after mucking about for a few hours. I'm thinking about sedating myself this year with about 5-8 ounces of hard alcohol. Either the gifts will get wrapped and all will be well, or I won't care. Either way.. I WIN!

Unless something amazing happens over the next few days, I probably won't be posting until after the holidays, so please:

Have a Happy Holiday Season! 

And please DRIVE RESPONSIBLY.

White Christmas

Well, the snow arrived, and came with a vengeance. Two weeks ago it was enough above freezing (and no snow) that you could go outside in a windbreaker and be comfortable. Now, there's snow on the ground, and the temp has almost reached -40 (F or C).

It was a nice run while it lasted. Now let's hope the winter is short, and sweet!

Not much else to talk about lately. Things seems to be going smoothly, knock wood.

More as we get closer to the holidays.

Ahh.. Childhood TV

I came across a video that had me grinning, and really thinking about the shows I used to watch (what seems like a long time ago) when I was a kid.

I have to say, the one that I loved the most was The Muppet Show.

I used to watch it whenever it was on. The guest stars, while they seem a bit strange now, were big stars at the time. And they all did such a good job of integrating into Jim Henson's production that the show was ALWAYS entertaining, and not just for kids.

Anyways, here's the video I watched:



Enjoy!

Set in stone!

Well, the vacation I had planned is set in stone now. We're going to The Dominican Republic, Punta Cana. Our flight leaves at 9:25am on January 26, so I've put a countdown timer on the top of the blog. Last year, we had a led diplay counting down the days, then minutes, and finally seconds as we got closer to the departure date. It was sheer torture, but fun still!

The group of people going will be about a dozen or more, so there will be lots of people to do activities with. I really want to go snorkeling and maybe try some body surfing while down there. They have white sand beaches, something I've always wanted to experience.

Another thing going for the Dominican is the RUM! I love rum, and this will be like a dream come true. Ahhh... rum.

On another note, I've been reading through the comments that some of the posts I have put up have generated. Here's some thoughts:

1) I don't have a lot of good memories of my university times, except the people I met, which were the best part. Yes, I do remember you Vikram!

2) To the two Anonymous commenters: Wow. I was going to moderate the comments at first, but then I thought, what the heck. Keep it up! You two have given me a chuckle in reading your posts.

So.. Everyone enjoy the last Friday the 13th of the year, and keep on commenting!

While I was surfing...

I jut watched a video that was pretty amazing.

Take about 100 clips from movies. Manipulate them so that the timing and pitch is matched to a background beat track. Now patch them together so that it sounds good. That's this video.



I'm impressed. And entertained!

Insomnia Strikes Again!!

I usually don't have a lot of troubles falling asleep. The only times I get insomnia is when I'm under a lot of stress, or something happens to wake me just as I'm falling asleep.

Tonight falls under the second category, coupled with a early morning work shift amongst the midnights. We've all experienced it, the sudden jarring back into consciousness just as we were falling into the sweet seduction of Morpheus' song.

Luckily, I don't work tomorrow, so I can catch an early afternoon nap that won't mess up my sleep schedules any more. I've done some things to help my body get into the rhythm of sleep... Warm milk, good book, and cool room. Now just to go and let my mind relax enough to slip away.

I know in the morning, I'm going to be fuzzy and not want to get up, but I'll have to force myself anyways. If I let my schedules get mixed up enough, nothing but some strong sleeping pills will allow me to get back to a good sleep at night. Here's hoping!

'Tis the Season for Colds and Flu

It's really late right now. I came home from work, and was getting ready for bed when I heard a hacking cough come from the room next to mine. One of the room mates has come down with a cold. My immune system sucks. If there is something going around, I always get it. I've always done everything I can to prevent flu and colds, but they seem to find me a fertile garden for their mucous spewing flowers.

So, to fight this one off, I've been taking Vitamin C, drink lots of water, wash my hands frequently, and stay away from the germ bomb. Now that I've hunkered down in the trenches, I can only hope that I don't pick it up before he manages to get rid of it.

People are afraid of the Swine Flu[H1N1] (or 'HeeNee' as one of my coworkers calls it...). As far as I'm concerned, there's not a lot we can do. The inoculation has yet to be proven safe, and people are in a frenzy about it. Everything I've read says it's just like the regular flu. You get sick, you suffer, you get better. And think.. a few years ago it was Bird Flu that was going to wipe out the world. And before that SARS. And before that... well you get the idea.

The media has whipped the masses into a frightened mob. Over the next six months, as the swine flu is shown to be nothing more than another illness that was the media darling of the moment, we'll manage to find the next end of mankind.  I can only hope it's something more interesting... like a plague of bikini wearing roller-derby women.

Vacation Planning

Well.. It's time to plan my next vacation!

I was in Puerto Vallarta last year at this time, and in three months, I plan on being in Punta Cana! Now all I need to do is find someone to go with me to share my room. My room mate had to pull out just AFTER I paid the deposit, and the cost for a single room is 600 bucks more. While I might be able to pay it, it makes the trip a little expensive.

Happily, we (that is, myself and some of the others going on the trip) have a few back-up plans. I might share a room with two others, or my buddy from Calgary might be going in my roomie's stead. Either way, I AM GOING!

I want to have this all sorted out over the next week. Once it's all said and done, I'll be MUCH happier!

Pool Demolition

My parents had an above ground pool, built into a deck. It was a nice pool, and I have many fond memories of splashing around in it to cool off. Sadly, a couple weeks ago (right after we had patched it three feet to the left) the metal side blew out in a catastrophic failure, and 20,000 gallons of water flooded down the alley in a matter of seconds.

The pool was toast, and it all needed to be removed to make way for something else.

So, a few friends of mine and I decided to surprise my parents when they came back from vacation. We got together a few days ago and started to break down the deck. Little did we know that day was going to set a temperature record for being one of the hottest days of the year. Using little more than a reciprocating saw, a crow bar, and a 5 pound sledge hammer, we broke it apart and loaded the pieces onto the two half ton trucks.

Over the next 5 hours we slogged through. The weather had drained us of all energy, and we decided to finish up the job the next day. Upon returning the the house after a trip to the dump, we found my Brother-in-law and cousin's fiancee loading the metal wreckage from the pool.

Not sure how much my parents actually wanted removed, we stopped after cleaning up the rest of the stuff. Needless to say they were absolutely floored when they got home and the whole back deck was missing! The last section should only take us an hour to load and then it's a quick trip out to the dump to get rid of it! With the money they saved in not having to hire someone to remove it they can have a bobcat come in, remove the top 6-8 inches and replace the sand with good topsoil and grass.

Just goes to show you that a few good friends, a couple hours and bucket loads of sweat can accomplish almost anything!

Birds on a Wire...

Music is everywhere.

I recently came across this article and video. I just have to say, I was very impressed, and quite taken with the melody that was inspired by nature.

Sit back, and soak up one of Gaia's gifts.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Holidays? What are those?

I finally booked a week of holidays off for the start of September. I had hoped to go visit several friends and get out of town for a few days, but it seems I have some minor emergencies at home that will have to be done instead.

We finally got the tree in the front cut down. All that is left is the stump sticking up about two feet. As I don't have a chainsaw, I'll have to dig it out and use an axe to cut it out below ground surface. That will easily consume a day of holidays.

The front of the house is now exposed to the street, and the white upper section looks TERRIBLE. It will have to be scraped and painted, along with the window frames. Another two days of holidays.

My upstairs bathroom has a bit of mold growing in the paint. Seems the exhaust fan is not working very well. Need to paint and replace the fan. Another day of holidays.

The fencing in the back yard needs to be worked on some more, both new and existing. Plus I need to do some further landscaping and such before the snow flies. Two days of holidays.

The eaves troughs need some attention, and a new cistern installed. Probably half a day of work.

That's my week. I can only hope the weather holds to cool but not raining while I get the painting done.

Fences, fans, and fun!

Aside from trying to sleep in a bit this morning, today was anything but lazy.

First thing, I went out and bought some screws to work on the fence in the back yard. We started at about 1pm, and worked through the day, stopping for an hour to allow the cordless drill to charge.

The fence is 3/4 finished at this point. All I need to do now is put the bottom section on (to keep the gravel from spreading across the grass), and mount the plastic covered chain link. I have to buy stain for it, but I'm probably going to have to stain the whole yard's fence at the same time. I've got the first week of September scheduled off. Hopefully I can get it done then! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, seeing as it's the first fence we (Rob and I) have ever made. And all this with only one injury!

There's a before picture of the backyard at the top of the post.. Here's the "finished" one..

Another change is another ceiling fan. I swear these things were designed just to piss me off. Looking at the instructions you would think it is easy. They show you pictures and everything. But what they don't tell you is that you were supposed to mount the damn thing BEFORE putting the electrical box up and dry walling around it. Luckily, I've done four others before, and it only caused mild frustrations while installing this one.

Again, a before and after picture.

The tree at the front of the house is still grinding away on our nerves. We didn't get a chance to take it down last weekend, so we'll have to re-schedule it. It's definitely going to be removed before winter. It's scraping away on the side of the house and driving all of us crazy when the wind blows. And if you've ever lived in Saskatchewan, you know it NEVER stops blowing in the winter.

I think I'm going to have a nice long shower, relax with a cool drink, and watch tv for the rest of the evening. I have a feeling the rest of the week is going to be busy.

And.... I'm spent.

The new windows are mostly in. They look great! I'm just waiting for one that was mis-measured to be delivered and installed for the current round of windows installation to be done.

As I said before, I'm saving to have the large window in the front replaced. I'm also saving to go on another vacation. Both will cost about the same. As it is right now, I want the vacation more than the new window!

I have a tree to take down this weekend. It's a forty foot tall Cedar. Currently it is scratching and damaging the new roof all to hell. Not only that, but the sound it makes when scraping on the side of the house is driving the neighbors to distraction. Down it comes, pictures to follow.

Not much else is happening otherwise. Life is still about the same, aside from me going to the gym. My last two jobs have been desk bound. I'm overweight by quite a bit, and need to lose weight now before it starts causing health issues. The hardest part is going every day. Once I'm there, I'm fine. On the treadmill or bike, and then away I go for 40 minutes or so. I've been sleeping better for the past few days (mostly because I'm exhausted). I'm hoping to see some other benefits soon. No pictures for that. Sorry!

Windows!

Hmm.. My timing seems to be off. I was gearing up to rip down walls and the window installer called me. He was ready to put them in on July 2! So I scurried around and made arrangements to push back doing the drywall and insulation in the bedroom.

During the install there was only one snag... One of the windows he had ordered was 8 inches out. Too short, too long, makes no difference, it didn't fit. So he re-ordered another (this time the right size) and installed the other three anyways. I have to say, they look great. Th installer will be back to do the last window in a few weeks, as they are custom made.

Today, I went out and bought some new blinds for some windows and just finished installing them. just doing that really dresses up the rooms. And makes the paint look dingy.

So, not only am I saving up money to do the large bay window in the front, but need to set aside enough to paint the walls and ceilings. Painting was definitely in my list of things to get done, but I don't want to do it until everything else is finished. That way we can patch all the holes and marks on the walls from my fumbling around with tools I should have never been given!

Work on the fence in the backyard has stopped for a week or so. Not only is it too hot, I've been working full day shifts lately. his cuts down on the time I have to do any sort of work in the morning before it gets too hot to zero.

A good friend of mine will be in town this weekend. I haven't seen him in several years. It will be good to see him.

Time Flies!

Yesterday, my parents were in Regina to see my niece graduate. Wow. It seems like only a few years ago that my mother came running into my room at 4 am to wake me and tell me that she had been born.

My age has never really bothered me. Some people almost have nervous breakdowns when they hit 30, and feign a calm exterior when they get to 40. For me, it's just another birthday. Hey, I like getting gifts and having the party that goes with it (who doesn't?!), but the actual number still is just that. A number.

Seems like a lot of thing lately have been pointing out to me that I'm a middle aged man and not some young guy who can put off things until tomorrow. Just the other day one of my roommate and I were talking about a movie we had seen when we were younger. The other roommate, who had been listening, said he had never heard of it. We both looked at him like he had a third head. Then it dawned on us. He hadn't been born yet when the movie was released. And now the grad. Little things like that.

In other news, the yard change is going ahead slowly. We've got half the preparations done for the gravel into the dog run. I have the back breaking task of leveling the ground in a 10 x 10 area. Why is it backbreaking? I have to do it with a shovel. By hand. We pounded down the post saddles yesterday, and finished the end anchors, so all the fence actually needs now is the posts mounted on their saddles, and the cross pieces put up. I finally decided to go all plastic coated chain link. Seeing as my yard is small to begin with, using chain will keep it from seeming claustrophobic.

With a little more work, we can get started on the re-insulating of the one back bedroom. The spare is now available and set up so we can temporarily move Rob to it. Then we can pull down that gyprock and see what's causing the heat loss. Hopefully we can get it down before the windows come for installation.

I'm REALLY looking forward to the new windows. I think the old ones are leaking enough air now that I should see a huge difference in my heating/cooling bill when we plug them up. I know for a fact the kitchen window might as well be a big open hole, it's that bad.

I think I need a vacation.

House Improvements, Phase 2

The next part of my home improvements will be starting shortly.

Last year was the office and bathroom in the basement, new shingles/roof repair, and a new furnace. This year is new windows, bedroom re-insulation, and some changes in the backyard.

One of the back bedrooms get so cold in the winter that if you have the door closed you will be able to see frost forming on the walls, and possibly your breath on really cold days. I'm pretty sure it's caused by a combination of poor insulation and leaky windows.

Since the windows are going to be installed in the next couple weeks, I plan on pulling the drywall down on the inside and checking the insulation. I'll more than likely re-insulate with new stuff, and then, of course, vapor barrier the whole thing. Up goes the new drywall and then the windows can go in. Paint, put back up the molding, and that room is done except for new carpet. Seeing as I am still thinking about how I want to do the floors (carpet or hardwood?) that can wait.

The backyard needs a bit of a face lift. No huge changes, just some maintenance and a new fence. Making a dog run for the poop machine, and bringing the grass back to a state of green, rather than yellow and dirt.

All in all, I'm planning on spending a solid week of work to get it all done.

Turning Thirty....

Well... Two of my friends have birthdays today. One is Twenty-nine, and the other thirty. We arrived at the house around 6:30pm... It's currently 12:30am the next morning. The party is in full swing and everyone is having a blast.

I have finally realized something... Jello shots are evil. The host (also the one turning 30) made several DOZEN shooters with vodka jello. I'm still able to type at a respectable rate, and can have enough of a coherent through to write this blog. Driving is out. Happily, we are responsible enough to have a designated driver.

I have been getting some pictures.... Some BLACKMAIL pictures. Cue evil laughter.

Gladly, I do not have to work tomorrow (or is that later today?). I have the feeling I will be sleeping in, or at least spending a bit of time in bed past the normal time.

As I am doing this blog post at a friends, I'm trying to be quiet, so that I don't get sucked into the party vortex again right away.

I can hear several people yelling for another round of jello shots. As this evil concoction has its hooks into my fragile psyche, I believe I will go and add some more of the devil's brew to my currently pickled system.

Bit of a break...

Sorry for the long silence.

Some stuff has come up over the past few weeks that has prevented me from really doing an entry. Mostly spring chores and work, but something is happening this weekend that is making me think about some of the decisions I made earlier in life.

I wouldn't say I regretted any of them, but I do wonder what things would be like if I had made different ones. Would I still be here, who I am now? Or would I be someone else, with a totally different outlook? I like to believe that I would be very similar to who I am now.

I guess it's the whole "Nature vs. Nurture" argument again. Without having a time machine to go back and change them all I can do is conjecture and imagine.

Actually, now that I sit back and truly contemplate a specific period in my life, I do regret one decision I made. While I'm sure you would like to hear about it, it was a pretty private moment between myself and a friend. All I will say is this: The regret is that I was too afraid... afraid to kiss her.

Several years ago I examined this decision, and made a promise to myself. I would not hesitate to do something, even if I thought it might hurt in some way. It's best to make a choice and move forward. Life changes, and then goes one, no matter what you have done.

Until the end of my days, I will remember that moment in sharp focus.... and wonder what could have been.

Star Trek - The New Experience

I just got back from the new Star Trek movie. And wow.

I wasn't sure what to expect. If I was going to follow the past cycle, then I would expect it to be terrible. Now you say, what do you mean by that? Ok, here it goes:

1) Star Trek: The Motion Picture - For a first try in changing a TV series to a movie, not bad. But it certainly didn't seal the deal for the Trek universe.

2) Wrath of Khan - Words can not begin to describe this movie. Ricardo Montalban was at the top of his game when he was in this movie. Ripped, and a great actor, the movie can be identified by even non-trekkies by a single word/phrase: "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

3) The Search for Spock - Wierd. Kind of lost the Trek feeling. We had a female Vulcan who had maternal feelings for spock as he rapidly went through puberty. It took most of us several years to push through that roadblock in life, and that was painful enough. I can't imagine doing it in 48 hours.

4) The Voyage Home - A great family movie. It came at the perfect time to renew the flagging trekkie interests. It also was the "flagship" hook for "The Next Generation" that started airing the next year.

5) The Final Frontier - Another not so sparkling flick. It showcased some of the fancy new special effects that had been developed since the first episode aired on TV, but was lacking in any major story. Truth be told, it seemed more like a 30 minute TV episode stretched out painfully thin.

6) The Undiscovered Country - Great story, edge of the seat stuff, drama, and action. Classic Trek! Also the last true motion picture to have the original cast.

7) Generations - So-so. This one also seemed like an extra long TV episode. It didn't really have the epic feel that a trek movie should.

8) First Contact - Patrick Stewart made this movie believable. His and the rest of the cast's flawless performance pushed the new franchise into the hearts of Trekkies everywhere.

9) Insurrection - Full of feel good and vaguely "go green" leanings, it was epic, but seemed flat. even the humor employed was just short of slapstick most of the time.

10) Nemesis - The story needed you to some pretty severe suspension of disbelief. The saving grace was how it got you to invest your emotions fully into the characters, and roller coastered you up and down. All of the questions were answered at the end. Great movie.

This brings us to Star Trek (2009). It doesn't have any other name at this point. Breaking out of the typical mold, J.J. Abrams has re-invented the Trek of yesteryear. Without giving any spoilers, I can't go into any more detail. Suffice it to say, a truly excellent movie that I gladly paid the movie theatre cost to see, and will definitely purchase when it comes out on DVD.

Coming to you live!

Well... here you have it. My first post from the iPod! I have to admit...it's pretty cool. The ability to post a blog from anywhere I have wifi is nice. I don't have to wait to get home... I don't have to try to remember what I was thinking about earlier in the day. The only drawback is the slow typing. This really takes me back to the old days of hunt-and-peck typing!

Anyways, I actually have mostly completed my yard work. Only a tiny bit of clean up to finish. This weekend is the start of the improvements!

Now, the magic of trying to type on the iPod has faded to being a bit of a pain in the ass.... I think I will sign off for now.

Return of the Xbox!

My Xbox returned home today. I put it back into it's spot on the entertainment center, and fired it up.

After brushing away a tear, I made sure it was working, and entered the extra month of Live that they had sent with the repaired Xbox.

All is well!

Blackberry or I-pod?

For a little while I've been contemplating getting a blackberry when my contract with Rogers is up. It's pretty much a palm computer with a cellular component. Very useful.

The main problem is that it is more based in business use rather than personal use. I also wanted something that could be updated without having to buy a new one every so often. In walks the Apple I-Pod touch.

In the past I have been leery about all things Apple. Their prices are grossly inflated, and the hardware cannot be upgraded. But.. and this is a big but....

1) 99% of the software for the I-touch is third party developed. It only costs a buck for most of it!

2) Apple is constantly offering OS upgrades for download. One I'm looking forward to is bluetooth activation next month. That will open a whole new range of applications for the I-touch.

3) The itouch acts as an MP3 player. My model is an 8Gb storage. You can get up to 32!

4) With wifi available virtually everywhere now I'm online wherever I go, can surf, get and send email, and even install Skype and turn it into a VoIP device.

So, when my contract is up, I will still be going to a different provider (Most likely my employer!), but I will not be getting a blackberry. With a bit of elbow grease, I can convert, maybe even find, an application that lets me do everything a blackberry can, plus have the extra functionality of a pocket computer.

To Twitter or not to Twitter...

Looking at Facebook, and how dissatisfied with it I am lately, I have decide to move on to something more minimalist: Twitter.

Actually, I'm mostly getting sick of the millions of announcements about "What type of Avocado are you?" and crap like that. Really, all I use it for is the status stream, and pictures. Talking with a friend, he pointed out twitter does all of that... and is easy to use.

I've added a twitter status panel to the blog. Notice (at least for a little while) that there are very old twitters on there... I had used it for a little while, but for some reason it fell out of my favor. So... for the next little while, ignore the ones that are 500 days old!

Enjoy!

I Spoke too Soon!

Almost an hour after I made that last post, my Xbox 360 flashed the Red Ring of Death at me and gasped it's last breath.

Luckily, my warranty is still in effect and they will be replacing it. Now I just have to wait 3 or 4 weeks for it to come back.

And the strange thing is I don't use it much for playing games. No.. it's a media center for the TV mostly. Oh well. I'm thinking of getting a PS3 for the media center now and delegating the xbox to the upstairs living room. No Red Ring, and it has a Blueray DVD also...

Sometimes, boredom is a good thing...

Hmmm.. Not much to report on lately.

Seems like a calm before a storm. I really hope it's a storm of good things. But with my luck it going to be a bunch of stuff that really suck.

I've been trying to get more pictures in the blog, but for some reason I just haven't got the drive to drag my butt out and get them. I've been thinking about taking my camera everywhere I go.

I always forget about the the one in my phone. I took this when I was in training last year. I thought it was quite funny that a bunch of technicians would have a horrible rats nest of wires in the middle of the desk like that. The best part is that the whole system worked perfectly, and we really didn't know what we were doing when we put it together...

Oh well.. I just have to suck it up and start taking my camera with me some times.

WTF?

I'm feeling particularly grumpy today. Not sure why, just a basic malaise.

I don't feel like watching tv, and I just can't get into a new book.

The neverending yard work will start up again soon. Right now I have a swamp in the back yard, made all the more pleasant with the little presents the dog has left me over the winter.

There's a ton of painting to be done inside this year, and I desperately need to replace the fascia on the front of the house. Top it all off with three windows that have to be replaced before the fall, and I'm pretty sure I won't be going on any vacations this year at all.

It's Like Climbing a Mountain!

I've been having some issues with my bed lately. There's nothing wrong with the mattress, aside from me not being comfortable on it anymore. I bought it about 6 years ago. It was a good mattress, on sale at a local furniture store. Up until a few months ago, one of the most comfortable mattresses I had ever slept on.

With the crappy sleep I've been getting starting to affect my moods, I decided to spend some money on a decent bed. Now, I'm not one to go out and just buy anything. If I'm getting something new, I make sure I'm not only getting something I need, but something I want. Makes it easier to not spend money on impulse buys. So, in this case, I bought a bed. A King Size bed. With a memory foam pillow top.

There is one drawback. The mattress is a King Grand. That means it's meant for a bed frame that sits low to the ground to begin with. I bought a new frame, but it's about 6 to 8 inches high. Add on the full height box spring and double high mattress, and you get a bed surface that is about three feet from the floor. The dog looked at me like I was crazy when I invited her up after I had finished setting it up, but she had no real problems getting up. She settled right in and gave me the, "You have done well. You may go" look.

And now, for the first time in several weeks, I'm looking forward to going to bed so that I can try it out. Now if I could only find a willing lady to help me break it in!

100th Post!

Wow. I never thought I would be making 100 posts on this blog when I started it.

Things have changed a lot for me over the past few years. Things have gotten infinitely better. I'm in a better job, with good co-workers. I have finances under control, and my house is gradually getting renovated to something I like. I'm pretty healthy and have few wants.

All in all, I think this is a good post to celebrate about!

Now, on to the new stuff!

Recently, the HD TV that we used for Xbox, Television and movies went belly-up. One day we were watching a show and POP! No more reds. When I called the repair shop they said the part to fix te tv was going to be $1500! Just the part!

So, I went out and bought a new tv. It's a nice 47" LCD that can go up to 1080p. Looks great.

This weekend, we are going to have a Monty Python Triple Feature. I expect a lot of friends, food, some drinks, and laughter!

Winter refused to let us go. Almost all of the snow was melted over the past few days, but last night it started to snow, and today it worked its self into a full fledged blizzard. Yuck. I'm ready for spring!

The Multiplex that broke a City

Preliminary numbers are in about the vote for out City to spend a whopping 34 million dollars on a Hockey rink, curling, soccer field multiplex.

It seems our city council, which has been having secret meetings, has managed to brainwash the people of Moose Jaw into believing we need to build this monstrosity (right in the middle of our downtown) in order for the town to grow.

As far as I'm concerned, the 10-15% increase in my taxes would be better spent on our decaying hospital, or snow removal in the winter, rather than a multiplex that only 5-10 percent of the population will ever use. Not only that, but it will have to be subsidized by ongoing taxing to keep the place running.

Don't get me wrong. I would like to see a facility in place that fulfills the NEEDS of the city, not the wants of a few special interest groups, and not one that costs tens of millions of dollars. One group that will profit from the current multiplex plan is several of the original planning committee members. The land that the downtown facility will be built on is owned by them or business partners of theirs. Surprising how that works out, isn't it?

I'm sickened by the continued brainwashing that is going on. I wish I could wash my hands of it, but I'll be forced to pay for it, along with the other tax payers in the city.

Back to our Regularly Scheduled Program...

Well. My main system is back up and running finally. What was supposed to the a three day upgrade outage turned into almost three weeks without a main computer.

The laptop did the job, but I couldn't get any real work done on it. No tools, small screen, and slow.

Well, now I have to find a new desk. This one is just not built for a 24" monitor. It's also not built for the office I have it in. Sort of wedged into a corner.

More news as it comes!

System Meltdown

I was wrong. I thought I had the new computer all together and working. Seems the motherboard I got was faulty. It would only boot for a couple minutes, then would die. So after waiting a little over a week for it to come in the first place, I had to box it back up and send it back.

Luckily, my sales rep let me upgrade to a better model of motherboard at the same time. It had been shipped out last week on Tuesday, but UPS (which I think actually stands for Ultimate Parcel Screwups) failed to deliver it by Friday. So... with the long weekend I'll be waiting until at least Tuesday for it be delivered. And THEN I'll probably be at work when they try. In the past they have left parcels sitting on the front step. I live in a pretty good neighborhood, but with the temptation sitting on my front step for several hours....

I can only hope they hold it until Wednesday instead of leaving it, but the way my luck goes it'll walk off on me.

Anyway, I'm using my little laptop to do all my internet work right now. It's slow, and not really up to what I need for the main stuff. But it does the job in a pinch. That being said, I can't wait for my main computer to be back up and running!

Movie Review: Push

Strangely, this movie didn't really have a lot of advertisement to help it along. I happened to see it on my regular visit to the Apple movie preview section. It caught my attention, so we decided to go and see it last night.

Excellent! It wasn't a hack and slash gore fest at all, and stayed carefully away from the poorly thought up and executed SCI-FI Horror that seems to be coming back again. Good story, no nudity, neat conflict. I'm actually going to give it a 4.5 out of 5. The only way this movie could have been better was to have been slightly longer. At 1 hour 50 minutes, it seemed to end a bit suddenly.

Go and see it!

Coming closer to the big 1-0-0!

I'm looking at the counter for the number of posts I have on here. It's currently in the 90's! Soon, I will be putting the 100th post up. Hard to believe.

To all of you who have been following my ranting and raving about nothing of import, thank you.

Now, on to the meat of this entry:

My new computer should be here soon. I didn't really need one, but some things came up and here's how the story goes. Mom and Dad have an older system that until now, suited their needs. It was a touch slow, but they weren't doing any power gaming or anything. BUT, over the last couple months it's failed in some way or another two or three times. I'm brought it back from the dead each time, but I feel like I'm playing Jenga. Every time it's brought back up, it's less stable.

Finally, I decided to give them this computer, and I will get a new one using the computer purchase program through my workplace. Nicely enough, I can get a top of the line system that will serve me for a couple years before I need to look at upgrades. To top it all off, I have a beta copy of Windows 7 that I want to try.

So when the computer gets here (hopefully today!) I can put it together, and then install the beta windows for a test run. Mom and Dad will have a more modern computer that is dependable, and we both won't have to worry about when the tower will crash.

On a side note, Mom should be home soon, probably today. The hospital she's staying in has a bad Norwalk epidemic running through it. They are shutting down the cardiac unit and want her to leave before she gets it. So does she. It's a little early for discharge, but the other option is a very, very sick person with recent heart surgery. Not much of a choice.

Day of Sleepwalking

The past couple weeks have been tough. I'm just finishing up my month of evening shifts, and now I'm trying to move my sleep schedule back a bit in preperation of going to a day shift. I feel like crap.

All I want to do is go back to sleep, but I can't do that because it will screw up my sleeping schedule tonight. I feel awful because I can't think straight for more than a few minutes at a time, and that pretty much rules out any of the hobbies and things I like to do in my spare time.

Just now I caught myself staring at the computer screen and floating around in La-La land.

Ever since they changed a couple of the priorities at work, the schedules have been screwy. I really hope they figure it out soon. To top it all off, haven't really had more than a single day off at a time for months, aside from Christmas.

We just had some Full time positions come up at work. Seems I wasn't high enough on the seniority pole to get one of them. Now I seem to be the ONLY part time business queue worker in our department. That means I get called for all the crappy shifts too. Yay. I swear if any of the full time workers complain to the manager about a weekend shift they have to work, I'm going to send a blast of shit their way that will make Armageddon look like a play date. What would they prefer? I already work all weekends and evenings. Perhaps another 40 hours a week of overtime so they can sit at home with their family?

I haven't been able to go and see my mother in the hospital for several days now and won't get to for a few more because of this crappy schedule. I'm in a rotten mood, and I almost want one of them to say something so I can unload...

Introspection

Things are going well. My loved one came through the surgery ok. I'm off to visit later today as I was unable to talk to them yesterday. Sorry that I don't expand on this, but I don't feel comfortable discussing it right now.

On another topic, I've been thinking about where things are going in my life. I enjoy my job, I have good friends, and no wife or kids. Hmm... Something missing there... I'm not sure why I don't really enjoy social outings. I'm uncomfortable, feel detached from the other people who are enjoying the time, and often are thinking about how soon I can escape. Some of it comes form being shy, but I know I can function in situations like that. My last job and current one requires me to speak to people I don't know and interact with them on a personal level. I get along fine, and have few problems.

What is it that make me feel more comfortable in the quiet of my house? I'm not agoraphobic. Actually I am claustrophobic to a degree (mostly things like going into small caves and culverts give me the willies) so it's not that. I enjoy the company of friends. I also enjoy quiet time. Some people need to have a tv or radio on in the background because the quiete bothers them. Not me. If I'm not watching or listening to it, I turn it off. Kind of annoys me actually.

I recently did a Myers-Briggs personality test and the reults was the same as one I took several years ago. I'm a Mastermind (INTJ) personality type. If you're interested in finding out your personality, check out this link. (Just a warning: this is a simple online test. It may not be very accurate. If you are truly serious about it, go to the Myers Brigg Foundation website and pay for one of their intensive tests. Well worth the time and money if you want to learn more about yourself and why you make the decisions you do.)

Masterminds are notorious for having poor love lives. It seems I'm living proof of it. As you read through the link I pasted in above, remember that this person is relating almost exactly how I think. It gave me shivers when I first read it. I could associate a lot of things I had done and why I had done them both in my personal life and work life.

Some of the things that jump out at me:

• "Masterminds do not feel bound by established rules and procedures, and traditional authority does not impress them, nor do slogans or catchwords." I've always had a thing against people who are in authority who are poorly suited to the job. And trust me, I've met lots. On the other side of the coin, the people who are good quickly earn my respect and cooperation.
• "Although they are highly capable leaders, Masterminds are not at all eager to take command, preferring to stay in the background until others demonstrate their inability to lead. Once they take charge, however, they are thoroughgoing pragmatists." Yup, done that a few times also.
• "Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations.
  This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand."

That last point is hitting a little close to home. Pretty much explains the stuff I said about leaving social situations when I can. I'll have to work at it some more. I like who I am, but there are a few things I would like to change, just a little bit.

What's Happening...

Just a quick note....

Got a lot on my mind right now. New manager at work, tons of things that need to be done at home, a deluge of computers to repair, a website to build, and last but most important: A loved one is going for major surgery.

Everything else drops from my mind when I think about that. I'm worried. A lot.

I'll post again when I can keep my mind straight.

Review: Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog

Wow. Two posts in one day?! What's going on?

I just had to put something up about this web show I saw today. A coworker was telling me about it on Tuesday. He's put me on to a few good shows, so I went ahead and downloaded it. Amazing. All I can say is it was one of the most entertaining things I have seen for a while now.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was produced during the 2008 writer's strike. Written and Directed by Joss Whedon, it portrays the video blog of an aspiring Evil Genius. Free to watch in the United States on the website, we Canadians can view the videos on YouTube with a bit of searching:


Act I, Part I

Act I, Part II

Act II

Act III, Part I

Act III, Part II


I definitely suggest purchasing this video. We need to support stuff like this. I would love to see some more of the series, specifically as a web release. Show people the content, and they will pay for DVD's. I will be getting this one with my next Amazon order!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Out with 2008, and in with 2009. While most people like to make resolutions about what they will do in the new year, I prefer to look back at what I managed to complete over the past year. Seeing as only 12% of resolutions actually are completed, this makes more sense to me...

1. I put a new roof on the house. The roof has needed some attention for a few years, but I had to keep putting it off as I couldn't afford it.

2. A new furnace was installed. The old furnace was almost 30 years old, and sucked gas as fast as it could. With rising prices, and the risk of killing all of us in the house with Carbon Monoxide, I made sure to get this done.

3. The basement bathroom and office was completed. This opened up a few hundred feet of living space for us to use. While they need a few last touches (I'm procrastinating), they are usable, and comfortable.

4. I've completely assimilated into the new workplace. My job is enjoyable, and the people I work with are amazing. I only wish I had applied there a couple years ago when the stress levels were peaking at the old job.

5. I had a vacation in Mexico. This is the absolute furthest away from home I have ever been. It was a great time, and whetted my appetite for more travel. Actually, we are currently trying to figure out somewhere to go in the upcoming year. Dominican Republic? Cuba?

6. And finally, but not least: I've managed to keep this blog updated. If anyone knows me, they know I will start a project, get three quarters finished, and lose interest in it. I've been able to keep my interest in this blog going without it feeling like a chore. Hopefully, without making myself any promises, I can get more readers in the new year!