The appraiser hath come

Though I'll try not to allow myself too much optimism, the appraiser has been and gone. His words walking in the door were: "I can already see you've made lots of improvements to this house". His followup comment, less than two minutes later was: "You'll have absolutely no trouble selling this house".

OK, that's a load off my mind. But the big remaining question (the one he'll answer tonight) is: what will we be asking when we list the house

For a person who wastes no time going from room to room, it was interesting how he quickly picked up on the subtle things - the things we didn't even think to point out. For example, he noticed that the grade of ceramic tile we had used was higher than normal. And that the pattern they were laid in was not standard - that the amount of labour to place the tile was more than usually required.

Most of the large tile companies in our city are owned by Italian families. Whether that's coincidental or not, I can't say, because my experience with tiling companies is limited to my geographical area. As he was leaving, one of his last comments was "You've made some Italian family very happy". I guess that means he liked the tile.

Now, I hope potential buyers will too!

I knew there was more

I contacted the other company that had expressed some interest, because they had indicated that interviews would be held last week, with a hire decision due by early June. My call today was probative. I was trying to determine whether any final decisions had been made. I'm glad I called, because I was told the entire schedule had fallen behind, and the interviewing process has not yet begun. I still don't know whether I have a chance at these jobs, but at least I know I haven't been eliminated from the competition yet.

And in other job-related news, I received a call today from a friend who is still working for "the company", and he told me about an opportunity that might be coming available. Again, there's nothing certain, but any lead at this point is much appreciated. It was too late to check it out today, but perhaps tomorrow, I can give myself a nice birthday present.

A busy day

So, let's see what we've accomplished today...

We've called two real estate appraisers. One, a real estate agent, gave us an "over the phone" estimate, free of charge, based on the price that "similar" homes have sold for in the region. Then we called a "professional" appraiser, who will be coming out tomorrow to do an on-site visual appraisal. This involves finding the same information that was available to the first appraiser, and tweaking it (up or down) based on the features and conditions of our particular property. This appraisal will not be free, but we will receive it in writing. It will be suitable for determining a reasonable asking price, and justifying that price to potential buyers. We're in a bit of a hurry to sell the house, so we figure our best chance of doing that is if we ask a fair price.

For now, at least, we're going to try to sell the house ourselves, using a service available locally. Once our house is listed, I'll probably link from my blog and website to the official real estate site. I asked them if I could back link from their site to my own (so I could post more information, more pictures, etc.). They don't do that!

Meanwhile, we will start looking for new accommodation in earnest. If I find an out-of-town job, then we won't have to move to another local house, but if the job hunt is protracted, we'll be forced to move somewhere locally, at least temporarily.

I had to visit the motor licensing bureau today to renew my license tags. My birthday is tomorrow, so that's the deadline. Meanwhile, there are a lot of people who apparently believe that if their tags expire in May, they have until the end of the month to renew them. Although that's not true (you only have until your birthday), that didn't stop the office from being crowded to bursting with people trying to "beat the deadline". Wouldn't it be cool for cops to hang out around the bureau so they could ticket all these "overdue" people? - That should help lower my municipal taxes, and leave people with a nice, fuzzy feeling about our men in blue.

In other "news", I've added a randomized weather banner to the top of my blog page, using techniques similar to those on Kare's site. I wanted to do the same update to my archive page, but for some reason, blogger is having trouble retrieving my archive template. I wonder if anyone else is having this trouble at the moment.

Well, that's it for now. We get our appraisal tomorrow, house pictures Saturday, and we'll be officially "on the market".

Randomness and the Internet

Earlier today I posted about a visitor who found my site through RandomWebsite.com. It got me thinking about randomness. How do we find people on the net that we hadn't specifically been searching for. Does the principle of "six degrees of separation" hold in cyberspace? Frankly, that's too broad and vexing a problem to be considering bleary eyed and sleep-deprived at this time of night. But here's the reason I started this post. A few minutes ago, Eva left a comment on one of my blog entries. I followed the link to her site, and discovered that among the very few links she had posted there, were links to two people whose blogs I visit often, as well as a link to the aforementioned RandomWebsite.com. So here's my question: had I not heard about RandomWebsite.com due to a visit earlier today, would I have discovered it just now by visiting Eva's site? Was it "random" that I discovered it, or pre-ordained?

<insert "Twilight Zone" theme music here>

... and another thing ...

Still on the subject of randomness, I really like sites where things like random pictures, or random quotes appear when the page is accessed. I am still very much a novice when it comes to Javascript programming, but I was curious how these random effects were generated. To satisfy my curiosity, I viewed the source on Kare's site and borrowed (for study only) a Javascript file that controls one of the random behaviours. Now that I understand more about how to implement "random" events on a webpage, I will be generating my own scripts in the next day or so to randomly load one of the several temperature bars available from this site.

Say it ain't so...

Although I still believe that it was nearly impossible to figure out what was going to happen on September 11th - literally trying to find a needle in a haystack with respect to figuring out what information was important vs. what was just rumour and innuendo, I am saddened to read today that perhaps there were enough clues, already in the hands of government agencies prior to September 11th, to have identified the hijackers and avert the devastation that occurred. If only the ball hadn't been dropped...

Hindsight is always 20/20, but this did hurt.

It appears the FBI has begun a reorganization and a shift in their priorities; to combatting terrorism, spying, and hacking, in that order.

One of the people who visited my blog came from RandomWebsite.com. I'd never heard of it. Not only that, I can't really figure out who would have submitted my blog as one of the "random sites" that could be visited? It wasn't me. Nevertheless, the concept of a completely random hop into cyberspace sounded intriguing, so I've added a link to their service on the right-side of my screen.

I don't know much about the site. Their homepage warns that, although they try to weed out pornographic sites, they still are not responsible for the content that gets displayed. Since I know nothing about how their database is built, I will only emphasize that you visit at your own risk.

Things have been a bit sombre today. My wife sensed my mood, and sent me a rather large (1.6MB) Microsoft PowerPoint Slideshow file which probably originated here. Below, I have reproduced just one of the many images contained in the file.





It was so adorable, I had to make it available for viewing. If you don't have a Microsoft PowerPoint slide presentation viewer, you can get it here. Feel free to store an offline version of the file if you prefer. And, when watching the slideshow, the left- and right- arrows control your progression through the slides.

Enjoy!

It was a relatively slow day yesterday. Good, in a way, because I had a lot to think about. The house is just about ready to be put up on the market, and we'll be calling an appraiser before the end of the week. I have no sure-fire prospects for employment, despite promising leads, and that's driving me crazy. I'm a real bear to be around lately, and it's been affecting the way I interact with people. That's pretty bad, because even at the best of times, I'm no social butterfly.

Very much a loner, self-sufficient, and until recently, gainfully employed, I've really led a pretty charmed life. Despite the stark contrast between the life I had been leading, and the financial hardships I now face, I am still much better off, apparently, than others who have endured far harsher realities for far longer. And my apparent lack of understanding - or ability to relate - has (among other things) resulted in these people finally saying "enough". Enough insensitivity, enough "holier than thou" attitude.

Had I been warned that there was trouble brewing? Yes, I had been told that certain things I had said were hurtful - though I didn't think so at the time. How was I to know that phrases such as "how are you" or "I saw my doctor today" could be deemed offensive to someone? I thought I had taken those feelings into consideration and modified my behaviour, both in the things I said, and the things I didn't say.

The one topic I did discuss in the chatroom - one I will not discuss on the blog - is the stormy relationship between myself and a family member. I have been venomous at times on this issue, thinking that I was among friends in a relatively private forum. This inner anger has apparently been an emotional burden on the chatroom regulars. If I've learned anything, it's that this issue (or any other that really pushes my buttons) is not an appropriate topic for heated chatroom or blog discussion. I ask that any rebuttals to this post not get into details about this situation, as it is in the process of being mended.

Sometimes, it became difficult to know just what to say in the chatroom, for fear of causing offense. So over time, I retreated... retreated to the safety of meaningless trivia, impersonal communication and limited time in one-on-one chatroom contact. I retreated to offline communication, carefully crafted so as not to break any of the unspoken rules. And even then, I seemed to find ways of offending people.

How is it that a common practice in blogland, where one person posts an entry based on inspiration from someone else's blog, becomes so wrong when I do it, specially when credit is given to the source of my inspiration?

Have you ever visited a site, and picked up one of their buttons to use as a link back to their site? Who hasn't - it's standard practice... Well, I recently started assembling links to places on the web that feature outstanding artwork. I wanted to draw people's attention to someone's artwork, and asked whether they had a gif available for the link - one designed by them that would be representative of their work. The response was not exactly what I had expected:

get your own damned content, and stop assuming that others will be happy to do your work for you

Apparently, this last request, coupled with other recent crimes and misdemeanors (like trying three times to post a text+picture entry on a guestmap before realizing that guestmap has a bug) was enough to incur the wrath of my chathost. My zeal to discover the cause of and workaround to this bug earned me a charge of "spamming of guestbooks/maps".

I debated whether I should post any of this crap. Ideally, the best place for it would have been in direct response to the original posts. Unfortunately, I have been banned from posting rebuttal comments. I considered just letting the issue die (after all, these posts scroll off over time), but that's not in my nature. I don't necessarily have to have the last word, but I do have to have some opportunity to post "my side" of the story.

I take full responsibility for offending certain persons. How can I deny it in the face of such vehement accusations? Just understand that it was never intentional. I'm not happy that I caused so much grief as to be banned from a chatroom - any chatroom - but I'll find a new one to call home. And I will continue to allow comments to my blog, since that appears to be the only way that both sides of the debate can appear on a single page.

In the end, I guess I'm hoping that others, not directly affected by this whole mess, will judge my character based on their own experiences, and not on the experiences of others.

Eric has posted some good advice for people with their own websites. If you have directories without an "index.htm" file, then anyone who enters the name of your directory into a browser window will have full access to the files you store there. The moral: make sure every directory has an index.htm file to protect your privacy.

Thanks to Mike for bringing the Guru's Network to my attention.

Thanks to Kelly, whose temperature/time-bar inspired me to get my own.

I had an appointment today with my periodontist. While there, I mentioned that I was no longer working, and had no dental insurance coverage. She's been treating me for the better part of 10 years, so today, she didn't charge me a dime. I must remember to send a thank you card.

So this morning, I visit the guestmap, and another surprise... the two remaining entries left on the map are now gone - but all the old ones are back. I give up.

Oops! Apparently the Guestmap feature isn't foolproof. I visited the map today to see what new entries were there, and most of the ones I had were just gone. So I visited the Guestmap help page, where I saw this:


Troubles

All at once some dots and messages on my GuestMap are gone! What happened?

Once or twice a day we delete all no-comments-messages from all GuestMaps. Why? Because it enhances the quality of your entries and our datafile. Furthermore the GuestMap displays only the latest 40 messages. Older messages will "fade out" automatically.


As far as I knew, there were no messages "without comment", and I hadn't hit 40 messages yet. But the help page also states that this is beta software that isn't guaranteed to work. C'est la vie.

It saddens me to say that as of now, I have been banned from the only chatroom I frequent. I'll miss you all.

It must be Sunday. I've been mucking about with my blogger templates today, adding a few gif links down the left side, and doing some modifications to my Comments template. YACCS has made it easy to customize your comments templates, and I think I'll do more later.

In the meantime, for those using YACCS for comments (specially to those of my friends who have particular colour preferences), you can find and customize YACCS templates that will complement your tastes.

Kelly, one of my blog buddies and a frequent visitor to my site left me a link on my guestmap to one of her favourite sites. I can't say it will become one of my favourites, but it is interesting. So, visit if you wish.

I picked up this link from Mike's blog site. I think this is the best artistry I've seen on the net since visiting DaVinci's site. Mind you, I don't travel the web extensively, so I'm not saying there ain't better... I just haven't experienced it first hand.

I'd like to see your suggestions of creative web site art, so I can give my eyes a real treat.

Don't you dare let her go. Lee is throwing in the towel, chased away by assholes that, for some reason, couldn't bear to share this planet with a good and decent neighbour. Though I don't know her well, it is a shame to lose the opportunity to know her better.

If you feel, as I do, that she should not succumb to the stupid antics that have prompted her to leave, please visit her site and leave her a message urging her to stay.

Even though kare's old URL is currently forwarding visitors to her new blog, she's advising that we all change our links. So, kare, mine has been changed...

Good luck with the new domain.

Enough! Enough stupidity, enough self-victimization. Enough dumb script-writing, leaden acting, and boring storyline.

This is the first must-miss movie of the year. About forty minutes into the "thriller", I started to squirm in my seat. It wasn't terror, but boredom that brought me to this state. I waited as long as I possibly could, but there is just so much stupidity that you can take. I'd like to ask J-Lo, one on one, whether she would even tolerate someone as deep in denial as this chick, and why she had allowed herself to be portrayed as such a doormat. I simply couldn't take any more abuse. Not spousal abuse, but mental abuse towards the audience. I walked out on this film; only the fourth time I've done that in my entire life. The last film I walked out on was Oh! Calcutta! back in 1972.

An update...

Today's mailbox contained the paperwork from the Canadian Unemployment Insurance Agency that needs to be completed to file the cross-border claim. Hmm, maybe things will go faster after all!

Unemployment cheques don't sound like they supply much income, until you have to do without them. I haven't gotten a single payment since registering in mid-April. That's nearly six weeks without income. My wife's calculations of how long we could sustain ourselves stretched out to September, and was based on getting paid weekly, in U.S. dollars. Now, I will be paid (probably a smaller basic amount) in Canadian dollars, assuming the paperwork gets processed before we have to sell the house. In the meantime, at the current burn rate, we will be unable to keep up payments past the end of July.

When I spoke to the potential employer on Wednesday, he asked me whether I had other irons in the fire. I knew he was asking this to get an idea of what he would be forced to offer, and how quickly he would have to act. I also knew that no matter what I wanted to tell him, ultimately, my answer would have to be truthful. So I told the truth, letting him know that our conversation was the furthest along that I have gone with any company since becoming unemployed. The unemployment office requires that you document all your job-search activities (in case of an audit, I assume). Thankfully, I am a man who follows rules. That record reminded me that I had already been in contact with two other companies that had at least a passing interest in my talents. Today, I placed a call to one of them... trying to find out how things were progressing without sounding desperate. I'm glad I called. I had forgotten just how happy they had been to talk with me in the first place, and they assured me that they were moving forward with plans to offer me a position.

Aargh! What to do, what to do?

Some of the blogs I read frequently are on the "simpleeme.com" domain. I don't know what's going on, but I can't access any of them. In fact, if I try to access http://simpleeme.com, I get a page not found. I wonder what's wrong?

Life is funny. Yesterday, I posted a poll soliciting opinions about what disciplines I might want to focus on to make myself more employable. Today, I got a telephone call from a company I had applied to soon after I became unemployed. They have reviewed my resume, and believe it is time to interview me for a position with their company. They are particularly interested in those "rare skills" I had complained were no longer marketable. Before flying me out, they called to make sure I would be willing to relocate, and willing to accept a salary in the ballpark they were looking to spend. I told them the salary would be acceptable, provided my wife wouldn't mind relocating, and provided we were able to find affordable housing in that part of the country.

This afternoon, my wife and I spent considerable time discussing the ramifications of a move; and searching an internet-based home location site, seeing what properties are available in the general area, and how much it would cost to buy a home there.

I expect to hear back from them either Friday, or after the Memorial Day weekend holiday in the U.S.

24 ended last night. And my VCR caught it. I was so happy. The explanation of Nina's role as a mole in the organization was not explained to my satisfaction. Apparently, they're leaving that until next season. And, as much as it hurt me to see Teri killed by Nina, it really was the only way the story could have unfolded (given the final confrontation between Nina and Teri).

I won't watch this series next season because I enjoyed it far too much this year. There's no way I can stand the stress, and there's no way they could improve on the viewing experience. Now, if they resorted to showing reruns of episodes on a second night (to allow some flexibility in viewing) like they did early in the season, I might reconsider. Taping is not a viable option for me, because we use an external cable-converter. Meaning, we can't watch one program while taping another. Luckily, we also have two TV's, and I arranged for the other TV to be devoted to taping last night. That's not something I can count on weekly.

I won't post any more about the show here. After all, that's what the 24 forum is for (login required).

Time for a poll (not one of those fancy on-screen ones that I need to use a template for - just a plain old poll in my comment section). OK, here's the scoop. I'm currently unemployed. I have a rare set of skills that used to be valuable. Now, even though the skillset is still rare, it appears to be far less valuable than it used to be. So, I apparently need to retrain myself before I will be marketable at a decent salary.

My background is client/server application programming using high-end development software (i.e. not the stuff you can buy in a software store, or even over the internet). Web programming thusfar has been limited to DHTML templates (they were populated by said application software); Dreamweaver; a bit of Javascript, and recently a touch of Java. My skillset does NOT include any Microsoft programming products (with the exception of Visual Basic for Applications - VBA), though I do have "dated" experience in C and a good working knowledge of Microsoft's Desktop applications.

Here's the question... what can I learn reasonably quickly, that is currently "in demand" and is not yet an overcrowded field. I would define "overcrowding" as being a situation where prospective employers have so many potential candidates with those skills to choose from that they can afford to pay peanuts.

Your suggestions are welcomed.

I've been having trouble with blogspot for the last day or so. I can't seem to pull up the page. I was just told to enter a new post, and maybe it would work. I hope so, because pulling up the previous post, and doing a Post/Publish didn't seem to help.

So, Ally McBeal is history. The last show was pretty good actually - no last-minute man to sweep her off her feet - that would have been too unbelievable. I liked what they did with Fish's character, and it was good to see some of the past cast members come back for a last-call.

Speaking of endings, I was unhappy to learn that two of my favourite eye-candy TV shows are being canned... Fox has axed Dark Angel, and ABC has filleted Philly. Tomorrow night will be difficult. I've decided to tape 24, so I can watch the 2-hour season finale of NYPD Blue with my wife. I know I won't actually miss the conclusion of 24, but what if the VCR breaks down while taping???

My life is just too damned tough!

Are you happy now?

After a week of political mudslinging regarding the gathering and dissemination of intelligence data, Dick Cheney this weekend went on national TV and said that more attacks against U.S. mainland targets are not only likely, but even possibly imminent. Well no, he didn't quite say that. What he said was there was a lot of "traffic" on the monitored communications channels, and intelligence from unnamed Taliban/al-Qaida detainees seemed to indicate another attack is at least in the planning stages.

Don't blame Cheney. His alarmist comments are only meant to cover the administration's asses in case something happens. So, when city 'X' is bombed, or a terrorist blows up a market in city 'y', the government can say "we told you this would happen". Gee thanks!

I don't know. Maybe it's that I'm Canadian, that my country's independence came through a stroke of the pen, that it's illegal to have handguns in this country, that until a recent friendly fire accident in Afghanistan, Canada had not lost a soldier in combat since Korea. Canadians are used to peace, and peaceful coexistence. So yeah, I get a bit nervous when people tell me that another mainland attack may be imminent. No offense, but I'd be much happier if the only nervous people around me were the government agents assigned to protect the country. They get paid to be nervous. I don't.

As if that weren't enough to screw up my day

To make matters worse, technology was shown this morning on the NBC Today Show that "literally" puts words into someone's mouth. Researchers at MIT have programmed a computer to morph the images on pre-recorded video tape so that subjects can be made to "appear" to say anything the author intends. The reported purpose of this technology is so that computer interfaces can be made more user-friendly, more human in appearance. I admit that the initial application of such technology will probably be focused on these purposes. After all, using the current state of software, the author of the morphing first has to capture sample "training exercise" speech from the intended human "target" on video. Just like phonemes, this library of video can then be cut into "snippets" representing each lip/facial combination, and these snippets are then combined with standard morphing techniques to "appear" fluid. As Katie Couric mused: those ads you see on TV, where long-dead superstars pitch modern day products, will now appear much more convincing.

At some point, these video snippets will become translated into generalized morphing "rules" (like video phonemes) that can be applied to the video images of "untrained" target images. How cool will it be to watch a foreign film, dubbed in English, where the lips on the actors actually match the soundtrack! But at that point, the technology can also be put to sinister use. People that have NOT volunteered their images for this experiment in deceit will be targeted. How long will it be then until terrorists are showing morphed images of heads of state - with closeups of their faces, as they spout uncharacteristically harsh words meant to inflame the masses? Or worse, when our own government shows incriminating videos of terrorists or other wanted suspects freely admitting crimes and discussing details that had never been uttered outside the cyber world.

To be sure, the simple manipulation of video is not enough. The current experiments are intended to put words into people's mouths - so the target subject's lips appear to utter the words heard on an audio track recorded by a completely different person. How long will it be until the audio track can be morphed to appear as if the words were spoken by the original person? How long until political leaders in hiding, dead or aging, are heard and seen to be extolling ideas and inciting actions long after nature would dictate this is not possible?

Now that is truly scary.

Yesterday, according to the Jewish calendar, I turned 50. Today, there's a birthday dinner in my honour. My family (parents, sisters - including one that came in from out of town - and their families) will all be there. My wife will not. Her stress level has gotten to the point where she cannot be around people. She even skipped church today. If you knew her, you'd know that's saying a lot. If it wasn't my birthday and if it wasn't a prepaid dinner, I would have backed out. My wife insisted I attend.

Get well soon, honey. I won't stay late after the meal.

As much as I detest the hold that Microsoft has on the software world, I still can't deny it has the lion's share of the browser users, and in the creation of this blog, I hadn't realized how many style elements I had been using that are not available on earlier versions of Netscape.

Something in a post by kd made me realize that I should take a look with the Netscape 4.7 browser to see what some users might be missing. What I've discovered is that those users' browsers don't properly render the "hover" directive, or the "small" font directive. Furthermore, where there are conflicts between various definitions in the style sheet, the Netscape browser resolves the conflicts differently than IE does. And finally, IE tends to be more forgiving of unmatched directives (like an ENDBOLD tag without a corresponding BOLD tag) than Netscape is.

I've made some minor changes to currently displayed entries to make the blogging experience better for the older Netscape browser, and will try to preview my entries with both browsers. However, if I don't want to make this a full-time job, I will have to continue on with the style sheet the way it currently sits - which means users with newer versions of browsers will be better served than those with older versions.

Please accept my apologies.

A funny thing happened today. Michele's "Site of the Day" was one I've been to before. Considering Michele's reach, and time online, I thought she knew everybody. Did she find Mike's site through a link she visits, or a comment on her site, or even a comment on someone else's site? I don't know. What I do know is that Mike (aka cooties) is someone I already knew, and had spoken with on Batchat. Someone who's been mentioned on my site before. And now, he's the latest entry on my own blog list. Welcome, Mike.

Alright, so now I am getting an idea of just how high my wife's IQ really is. Jessica, her daughter, and a spitting image, both mentally and emotionally, has taken the test. I don't know whether she read my blog entry and made a conscious effort to slow down, but she took the test in TEN minutes (not nine like her mom). Still three minutes short of the maximum available time, and her score surpassed her mom's score AND my score.

Do I feel dumb. No, I don't. I scored at the level I thought I would. A level consistent with what I had scored the last time I took such a test. But Jessica (and by corollary, her mother)??? Jessica did remarkably well.

Congratulations, you!



PSST: If there are any intelligent, single guys out there, I know a really intelligent single girl....

My wife is an amazing person. No, you're not reading a rehash of a post I did a few days ago. She's a brilliant thinker, and a pure spirit (though she may not agree with the last part in particular, because her stress level is so high - given my current job situation - she's been more fragile than normal and has been a bit snappish). Anyway, I've often told her that she's much smarter than I am. I tell her I'm a one-trick pony, reasonably skilled in math, but other than that, a complete mental midget.

Yesterday, she found an IQ test online. She took it and scored remarkably well. Then she gave me the URL for the test, and the implication was try to beat this. Well, it's been over 35 years since I took my last official IQ test, and I'm not someone who can just walk into a room and be prepared for a snap-quiz. I had to think... do I take this test, and prove she's superior? Do I take this test and hope I outscore her?

Frankly, it was a no-win situation. I decided to take the test. But first, I had to make sure I would be able to stay relaxed during the 13-minute exercise (the time allotted for the test). So, I went to the washroom, then did some deep breathing, and finally jumped in.

To get me "in the mood", the test included instructions on how to time yourself (so I got a stopwatch handy - I like to be precise), and gave a 3-question warm-up exercise. To tell you the truth, I can't even remember the practice questions - the trauma of the test has left me without much recall, but they didn't seem that daunting. After filling out my email address (so the results could be emailed to me), I was ready to roll. I pressed the Start button on the watch, and dove right in.

"This is easy", I thought, as I sailed through the questions. In no time at all, I came to the point where the test indicated it was half done. I checked my watch. Just over 4 minutes gone - 9 to go! Yeah, this is a breeze. Then it started... the questions grew harder. I had to stop and think. Mentally count on my fingers and toes (I say mentally because the test specifically forbid the use of mechanical aids), and try to visualize situations and physical items described by the test. Visualization is difficult for me. I can analyze any picture you put in front of me. But tell me to imagine the same picture, and I am completely overwhelmed by the details. Anyway, I digress. As I scroll down the test, answering question after question, I finally get to the point where the last question scrolls onto the bottom of my screen. Just 6 questions to go! A quick glance at my watch reveals that I'm almost at the 11 minute mark! Eleven minutes gone already!!! What-the-f*!!! How am I supposed to do six questions in two minutes? These are HARD!!! So, I go into the football 2-minute drill. A quick read of the remaining six questions lets me decide which to concentrate on first - which can be solved quickly. OK. I've done three questions and I still have a minute to go. There are three equally-tough questions to go. They will take maybe 30 seconds each to do. I have under 60 seconds remaining. The first question answered, another glance at the watch. Thirty seconds remaining... I can feel the knot in my stomach. Failure is staring me in the face. The second question is answered. Only six seconds left in the test.

I click on a random answer for the last question, and click the STOP button on my watch. I finished at 12:56. The test allows 13 minutes, after which point, the scores are reduced by a time penalty factor.

For any of you that take the test, be aware that at the end of the test, there is a form to be filled out. The test does not even attempt to tell you that this form is OPTIONAL, and if you fill it out, you will be charged for a hardcopy printout of your test results and analysis. Instead, just check your email box. You should already have the results waiting for you.

OK, I got my results. And they were better than my wife's. But let's look more closely at those results. To compare, if my score was 100%, then her score was 90%. And the total time she spent on the test??? Nine minutes - just 2/3 as much time as I needed to do the same test!!! I don't even want to think what her score would have been if she had slowed down, taken a few more seconds on each question, and given herself the opportunity to kick ass! Yup, like I said, I am married to a remarkable lady!

If anyone's interested in the test, here's the link.

If I was American, I would vote Republican. Unless I was American. Then, my vote would be my business.

Anyway, I'm a bit pissed off about today's news coverage regarding the criticism of Bush and his "failure to realize" that a suicide bomber planned to attack America by hijacking a commercial airliner.

Give me a break. As far as I can tell, the "smoking gun" that people refer to was a research memo from the Federal Research Division, Library of Congress (not the CIA as previously reported) released in September 1999, and freely available on the internet for anyone to see. For all I know, Osama may have gotten the idea for a suicide mission from this very same memo! And by the way, can any of you refresh my memory as to who was in office back in 1999?

As for other claims that a policy memo delivered on September 4th to the White House (having to do with America's military plan to respond to Osama) and not yet seen by the president should have been sent to him for signature more expeditiously - how the hell was anyone supposed to know that an attack would be happening on the 11th?

And I'll take this debate one step further. Say there had been credible evidence that a terrorist attack involving suicide bombers was to take place during the first half of September. What could have been done to prevent it? Would the FAA have thought of, or even sanctioned, the kind of pre-flight warning that some quick-thinking pilots issued in the months following the fatal hijackings?

To wit: "Ladies and gentlemen. We have cause to believe there may be hijackers on board this airplane. If anyone looks suspicious, stands up, or makes any effort to walk forward in the cabin, please feel free to jump on their back, hit them with purses, pillows, or anything else you can find; and ensure that they are unable to advance to the cockpit."

Can you even imagine how utterly impossible it would have been to function as a nation cowering in fear? And what about the lawsuits that would have arisen from all the people needlessly beaten by mobs on airplanes? And that's assuming anyone would even respond to such a warning from the pilot (apathy being what it is).

I've been doing just a bit of tinkering with my blog template today. It started out as a standard template available from blogger. Then, I added a few features, and recently started messing around with the style sheet elements. I've looked at the other templates available from blogger, and they don't turn my crank. I'm not artistic enough to come up with graphic designs and images (besides, for people with dialup connections, the download times for these sites is ridiculous).

If anyone knows of a collection of blogger templates compatible with blogspot and YACCS, please leave a comment, so I can give it a try.

Thanks.

Question: When is a private chat not private?
Answer: When the invitation to chat appears (even briefly) on a publicly accessible blog.

That was the situation last night, when I routinely visited Eric's blog, and found instructions on how to access a private chat hosted by Batgrl. According to the invitation, the chat was to begin at 10PM ET. I found the notice just after 11PM. What the heck, I thought. Maybe someone is still there...

So I followed the directions, entered the room, and found a relatively small group of fellow bloggers just sitting around the virtual coffee table, talking about anything that entered our minds. I didn't recognize many of the nicknames (who knew that people use different nicknames for different media - obviously not me), but over a short time, it was clear that these were mostly people who read eachother's blogs. As such, we knew a bit about eachother, and I confess, the conversation was entertaining.

The reason I'm even talking about this, is that this morning, on my routine visit to Eric's blog, I noticed that he had reinstated my link. He's got me listed under my nickname (JEfromCanada) rather than my blog name, but hey, what difference does it make. A click is a click. I guess that having the opportunity to talk "face to face", share some social time, and get to know eachother has shown me that Eric is really a nice guy bad-ass muthaf-- *** . The kind of guy whose blog I can read (though sometimes with reservation) and recommend. He must have had a similar thought to have reinstated me. At the risk of sounding like I've added a reciprocal link, I tip my hat to Eric and have added him to my list.

I have yet to read Batgrl's blog on a regular basis, but she also sounded cool last night, so I'll have to check her out.

***Edit done as a result of feedback from Eric

Did anyone catch Celine Dione this morning on the Today Show? I flipped by the channel just as she was singing to an impromptu crowd gathered outside the NBC studio. Since I normally don't watch this show, I was wondering:

1) Do the "guests" get announced prior to the show (either in TV Guide or advertising)
2) When a "superstar" agrees to perform an impromptu mini-concert on the street, how do they arrange for adequate security

Alright, I just answered my own question #1. In attempting to find a link for the Today Show, I found an announcement of the Celine Dione appearance, as well as a scheduled appearance by Bryan Adams next week.

Please note: the link in this paragraph appears to be dynamic. When you view it, the content may be different than when originally linked.

I'm glad Mike is not a female. Before you scratch your head too violently, let me explain. Mike took the time to sign the guestmap yesterday. Thing is, Mike lives in an area where several people have already "left their mark". All the others were female, and I just barely saw Mike's blue square peeking out from beneath the others. So, welcome to my site; hope you had a good time, and I hope you come back soon.

Some worse news to go with my bad news. Yesterday, I received notice that my claim for unemployment insurance could not be processed because I am not a U.S. resident. Duh! I told them that when I applied a month ago, and they assured me everything would be OK, since I had worked in the U.S. and paid into the unemployment fund.

So today, at the advice of U.S. counsellors, I visited the Canadian unemployment office. No problem, they said... we get these cases all the time. We just have to do the paperwork, and your case will be transferred to Canada. You will get benefits, paid through a reciprocal agreement with the U.S., backdated to your original claim date. Great, I thought. Until my case worker told me the paperwork generally takes 8 weeks to process.

I've been reading Lee's blog since I started blogging, and I have no idea why I hadn't yet linked to it. So, a new link, called All Four Seasons is now part of my list.

Did you know Jodene works for a newspaper? I didn't. Apparently, she's worked many jobs while there, including ad copy for the Birth, Personals, and Death Notices sections (or as Jodene calls them: hatch/match/dispatch). Damn, I wish I had thought of that!

I have seen the Enemy, and the enemy has power. I don't know Eric, except for the blog entries I've read. For the past week or so, I've been visiting his blog through a link posted on Benway's blog. Eric is brash, not quite my cup of tea, but I've still been enjoying some of his posts.

Anyway, the other day, Eric left an entry in my Guestmap, in direct response to a request I had made for people to pinpoint themselves on the map. I don't know how Eric found my site (perhaps through Benway or kd?) - it doesn't really matter. In response to his guestmap entry, I posted a response. And, as I said, I read his blog pretty regularly.

The last time I read his blog, I was surprised to see my name on his list of links. I hadn't even realized I was there, until I saw the referrer tag on my sitemeter report. I thought it was a nice gesture, considering we've barely "spoken". Today (two days later), I again stopped by his site, and the link to my blog was no longer there - a victim of the reciprocal purge war!

Mine is a small blog - unimpressive in graphic content, editorial content, and readership. It will remain that way because I don't read many blogs, and I don't grant automatic reciprocal links. It's not that I wouldn't grant reciprocal links. I just figure that each man's blog is his property, and when I link to someone's blog, it is because I find the content enjoyable and compatible with my own background. Eric's blog is legendary, and I won't dispute that. Like I said before, it's just not my cup of tea.

Lorien followed a link from Kelly's blog and found me. I tried to introduce Lorien to my two sisters, because I thought they'd have common interests. Well, checking back to Lorien's blog today, I see evidence that one of my sisters has visited, and will, no doubt, form a new and lasting friendship. My other sister was far less amenable to my unsolicited introduction, and reamed me out - not because of the invitation, but because she had supposedly been "insulted" by an email I had sent earlier. It's hard to believe we all have the same genes.

Alright, it's time to acknowledge some of my blogger buddies and the updates they've done recently. I had planned to update kd's link in a couple of days, but since her ranking is falling, I'll do it now. And my friend Brian has FINALLY added comments and a sitemeter to his site, so go visit, leave a comment, and add to his hit total.

OK, the gauntlet has been thrown. My friend Benway favours the Ferrari F60 as his "dream machine", while I think the Bugatti and Lambourghini are both more exotic and desirable.

Here are the choices:

Ferrari F60



Bugatti EB110



Lambourghini Diablo





Please place your vote, with a reason if you'd like, in the comments.

Do you believe in divine intervention? I do. God exists, and is always looking out for me. Normally, when I sense His presence, He is helping me avoid situations where I could be harmed or worse. I'm sure you've had those times when you were about to do something, and for no rational reason, you stopped to take another look, or you found an obstacle in your path, and in clearing the obstacle, found something dangerous.

Well, I have those types of things happen to me all the time, and this morning, it happened again. It was more subtle than usual, and the stakes were not as high as usual, but He came to my aid nevertheless.

Today is call-in day, where I'm supposed to call the unemployment centre (MARVIN) to claim for the past two weeks. It's only my second time doing this, and I wanted to make sure I'd be awake for my time period, so I went to bed early. This morning, I woke in plenty of time, fully rested, and had a couple of hours to kill before calling. So I went to my computer and started working on my Java lessons. After a while, I got bored with those, and turned to Fox's 24 bulletin board. For fans of 24, last night's episode was a real kick in the teeth, and I wanted to see what others thought about it. Well, there were lots of comments and theories, and as usual, I got involved in the discussion - not only reading, but replying to many of the posts.

Then, for no apparent reason, a click on some benign URL caused my computer to reboot. OK, so rebooting on a Windows computer is nothing new. But things like that generally happen when the machine is totally screwed up (memory leaks, etc.). I had already done a "preventive" cold boot earlier this morning, because my browser was behaving sluggishly, and I hadn't done a reboot in a few days. Anyway, back to my point. The computer did a reboot, and while it was going through it's "cleanup" process, I glanced at the clock. There were eleven minutes left in my "window of opportunity" to file my claim. I have no idea how I'd managed to piss away a few hours on the computer, but one thing is clear... had the computer not rebooted, there is absolutely zero chance that I would have thought to look at a clock, and remember what needed to be done.

Thank you, God.

When something good happens to me, I feel a need to repay the favour. So, after calling in, I decided to do something I would never have thought to do. Our home has a downstairs half-bath, and the previous owner (or perhaps the one before him) had put a small built-in countertop/cupboard in the bathroom to hold the sink and have room for stuff under the sink. Whoever installed this unit did a very sloppy job, and a good deal of epoxy had been left all over the counter surface and inside the sink. Although it was an ugly stain, at least the stain was brown - which matched in colour the faux-marble look of the countertop. When we first moved in, I tried scrubbing the stains, and using every bathroom-cleaning chemical I could think of to get it off. It hadn't budged. And to make matters worse, when we painted the downstairs bathroom (back in the days before we hired professionals to do such things), we added to the mess by dripping paint in various places along the lip of the countertop.

Today, I got the idea to use a fine chisel blade to try to scrape off the glue and paint. I had to be very careful, so as not to mar the finish, but after 1-1/2 hours of painstaking and backbreaking effort, I managed to remove virtually all the epoxy, and all the paint. To add to the look, I thoroughly scrubbed down the front face of the unit, and you'd almost think it was brand new. Add to this the fact that I finally got the sink to stop dripping (I think it's been doing that for nearly 7 years), and it's the first time this bathroom has looked and worked the way it should. All in time to put the house up for sale.

Congratulations to kd, who is following her dream and has moved her blog to her new domain. In a few days, I'll change my link to the new name, but for now, you can access both sites through this post.

Jodene has a blog entry about the date from hell. Read my comments to her blog to see my most embarassing moment.

I had my first really good Mother's Day in quite some time. It was a day primarily dedicated to the celebration of motherhood. It has become a tradition in this household to celebrate mother's day by inviting my mother-in-law over for lunch at our home to join us and our children. Afterward, we traditionally drive to my parents' home to celebrate with my mother. In recent years, we've added atmosphere by also inviting my brother-in-law and his wife to join us for lunch. This year, we weren't sure if everyone would be able to attend. Our children have all moved away from home, and have lives of their own. So, it was wonderful to see that both of the children who live in town indicated they would be able to attend. It was unfortunate that our out-of-town daughter would not be able to make it over.

What really added to the day was the unexpected arrival of my wife's other brother. He normally does not accept invitations to our home (it's not a feud, but there are issues I won't deal with here). He had shown up unannounced, about an hour before the other guests were scheduled to arrive. He had been visiting town (he lives about 45 minutes away) and said he wanted to give a mother's day card to his mom and knew she would be over our house after church. So, he decided to come over to see her. I had not been prepared for a visitor. There were things I had to do before everyone came back home from church - things like shaving (I shave only when I absolutely have to), and dressing, and making Mother's Day cards for my wife and mother. After spending some time with him, I sat him down in front of the TV and excused myself to go get ready. I had expected the other guests to arrive home before my wife, since she had to go out of her way to pick up her son and get the food. Despite all this, she still arrived home first, and was so pleasantly surprised by her brother's presence, you could tell it really made her day. She knew that all the children would be their for her mother's enjoyment.

When my mother-in-law walked through the door, my wife said "We have a surprise for you", and then our "uninvited guest" came out of hiding. I wish I was eloquent enough to describe the look on her face. It's been at least 14 years since she's celebrated mother's day with all her children being there at the same time. I think he sensed it too, because instead of simply giving her the card and going home (as he had told me he would do), he decided to join us for lunch. Lunch was a real hoot. My step-daughter came with her 3-year-old daughter, and my step-son arrived sporting an additional lip piercing. Our dogs were overjoyed to see so many guests (they seemed to know the potential for a feast of floor-droppings was not too far off), and as usual, our grand-daughter was in the finest form - providing entertainment for everyone present.

After the meal, it was time to open cards. When the guests (representing four generations) had arrived, all their cards had been deposited into a single pile. Now it was time to sort them all out. Each card in the pile was addressed to "mom" or "grandma", and it was delightful having to figure out who contributed each particular card to the pile - for such identification was necessary to know who the intended recipient should be. My step-children have reached the age where appreciation for past parental deeds has begun to penetrate their consciousness. The messages on those cards was touching and very personal. My wife was brought nearly to tears reading them. And I think she was particularly moved by a card from her granddaughter - complete with signature that was the product of her own hand - skillfully guided by her own mommy's. My mother-in-law was equally moved by the sentiments expressed to her, and once again seemed overwhelmed that all her children had shown up to celebrate her day.

The entire afternoon's festivities had taken the better part of three hours, and afterward, my mother-in-law, her "surprise" visitor, and my step-children decided to leave. Remaining behind was my wife's other brother and his wife. They are frequent visitors to our home and we share a passion for films and high-end home theatre systems. We each have a special video screening room in our homes, and we alternate movie nights at each other's homes. Yesterday, they decided to bring a selection of DVD's over in case we had time after the meal to view a movie. We settled on the movie Musketeer, because none of us had seen it; and we spent the remainder of the afternoon viewing the film and eating far too much of my sister-in-law's exquisite desserts. I always hate to say goodbye to my brother- and sister-in-law, because we always have such good times together; but it was mother's day, and I still hadn't visited my own mother.

It was after 6:00PM already, so my wife and I grabbed dinner before heading out to my parents' house. When we arrived, we were surprised to learn that my sister, who also lives in town, had not yet visited. My other sister, who lives out of town, had called the previous day. In addition to my mother's day card, I had remembered to bring a gift that I had been saving for my mother for nearly five months. It hadn't been intended as a mother's day gift. In fact, back in December, I told my mother about it. At the time, my parents were spending the winter down south, and when they returned late last month, I had forgotten to bring it with me when I picked them up at the airport. So, mother's day was just the second time I had seen her since her return. The gift was an autographed picture from Peggy Fleming, the Olympic Skating gold medalist from the 1968 Winter Games. She was to be the guest of honour at a kick-off event for the Salt Lake City Olympics funding drive, and I happened to be visiting the building where she was to sign autographs. When I found out she would be there, I decided to wait in line for over an hour to get a personalized autograph for my mother - an avid ice skating fan. While my wife and I were visiting my parents, my sister and her husband arrived. So the six of us spend a while talking, laughing, reminiscing, and celebrating my mother's special day. Around 8:30PM, as I was getting the urge to leave, my other sister (who had already called the day before) called again. She got to talk with mom, my sister, and my wife.

After a brief chat, we left to go home - to go back to our routine for Sunday evenings. But not before we had experienced one of the best Mother's Days in a long time.

I hope everyone else's Mother's Day was special.

Democracy and the true meaning of free speech always amazes me. In countries like Canada and the U.S., the citizens are essentially free to criticize the government publicly without fear of reprisal. Sure, if you turn out to support an anti-government rally, you might find your name added to an FBI or RCMP list of activists, but, unless you break the law, you probably won't find yourself in a jail cell or worse.

Tonight, I was scanning the internet news service, and read about Jewish peace protesters in Israel, rallying against recent defence initiatives of the Israeli government, and lauding the government for it's pullout from West Bank cities. And I was thinking only in a democracy would such behaviour be tolerated. OK, I'm Jewish, and as much as I try to keep an open mind, I confess to some bias. But am I the only one who wonders whether a similar peace rally held by Palestinian people in the West Bank or Gaza, advocating the end of violence and the end of suicide bombings against Israel, would result in their deaths - either by paramilitary organizations or street mobs?

I was disappointed that during my past trips to the Middle East, I was denied the opportunity to visit countries such as Lebanon and Egypt - simply because I was Jewish, and it was considered a dangerous thing to do. And earlier in my career, when I worked for Nortel (before it was called Nortel), I was summarily denied the opportunity to work in Saudi Arabia because I was Jewish.

When will all this nonsense finally come to an end?

My wife is amazing. She works hard as a secretary for a non-profit organization, and does far more than her share of the house work. Lately, however, she has become interested in web design, and when the agency she works for switched over to a new ISP recently, the person who had been doing the web design decided he would no longer be involved.

So my wife volunteered. Originally, there was only maintenance of the "news" page, which consisted primarily of data entry and FTP'ing the updated page. Then, the agency decided to add a whole new section of coverage. The challenge became one of adding new content, consistent with the look and feel of the remainder of the site, and adding new graphic content to existing pages without messing up those pages. She jumped into it eagerly, and with some patience, a minimum amount of instruction, and lots of practice, she began to achieve results that were consistent in quality with her predecessor. Her greatest achievement, the one that has brought her the most satisfaction, is being responsible for designing the artwork and layout of the newest portions of the site: the Jubilation Celebration, and the accompanying sponsor page.

In tribute to my wife's hard work, I've decided to post a link to her organization's website here.

Could any of you please help me with an experiment? I recently added a Guestmap to my site. And this is a blatant request that you click on the spinning globe (or the link above) and let me have an idea of where you're from. Already, a small handful have done so, so you don't have to be afraid of being "first". I just would like to see more countries of the world represented on the map (but don't cheat - I'm not that desperate).

The Party's Over. No really. According to Kelly, a fellow Canadian whose photo on her blog page belies her age, it's the truth. Funny though, because the messages on her site are those of hope and inspiration. Hopefully, Kelly will drop a comment on this post to explain the name of her blog. In the meantime, please welcome her to my list of favourite sites.

It is sometimes amusing to see how people run into your site. Recently, we have been highlighting strange searches that result in our blogs being mentioned. However, it ceases to be a joke when hateful searches such as "castrated Palestinians" actually finds any hits at all; let alone listing my site as 3rd in rank.

To be fair, I did post two unrelated blog articles that happened to appear on the same generated blog screen: one had the word "castrated", and the other had the word "Palestinians". In addition, the fact that I am even posting this message means that the next time such a sick search is attempted, my blog site will appear AGAIN, this time with an even higher "score" because the words are closer together. If you want to see the original context of my blog page, click on the "search results" link.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if people with different backgrounds, ideologies, etc. would just learn to leave one another alone. Humans are unfortunate in that they experience greed and jealousy. There will always be people who wish they had what others have. And in all situations like this, your own point of view will dictate where your sympathies lie. I just wish the whole world would just grow up!

Today was a good day. No stress. Relative relaxation - not for me (I'm always relaxed - spelled L-A-Z-Y), but for my wife. Having stayed up all night last night, I finally got to bed at 10:00AM, but woke up to the sound of the phone at 12 NOON. So much for sleep. Then, it was time to help my wife with some chores around the pool, as she worked feverishly to get everything working, and the lawn furniture up. She's of the opinion that summer will come if all the summer furniture is ready to go. It may be working. The weather turned decidedly positive today, and it was just a gorgeous day to be outside. We were happy to see that the pool vacuum was doing it's work efficiently; after only an hour in the pool, things were looking almost swimmable. Who knows, by Sunday, the pool may look inviting enough for my wife to try freezing her big toe!

If I have my way, the pool heater will remain unused until nearer the end of the month, so that we won't be trying to warm all of the great outdoors. Even so, from the standpoint of being photogenic, the pool will be more than ready to step before the camera by week's end. Then, we can get the show on the road vis-a-vis listing the house for sale.

I wish I had some news, any news, about job prospects. Suffice to say that a recent article in the local paper described in morbid detail just how bad the local IT marketplace is. I sure am glad I start getting some unemployment benefits soon. Hopefully, I'll be able to land a well-paying job before the benefits run out. In the meantime, I'm thinking of spending some time trying to resurrect my freelance consulting career. When there are no companies willing to hire, you need to come up with creative ways of putting food on the table.

Well, that's enough for tonight. Time to get to bed, and get some real sleep. I'm betting I fall asleep within 5 minutes of hitting the pillow.

I just noticed something about Kelly's site that intrigued me, and it has relevance to my own. I read a comment from Kelly about my post on favourite TV shows. That's how I got routed to her site in the first place. Thing is, she left the comment in an area designated for a different post. I didn't even notice it until I returned from her site. While at her site, there was a post I had read, and I was interested to see the comments that her loyal readers had left for her. So I clicked on the comment link, and was presented with comments that were totally out of context. And then I figured it out... Kelly's site has the comment link BEFORE the actual blog entry. You read the blog entry, then scroll back UP the page, and leave your comment there. On my blog page (and most others I've visited), the comment link appears AFTER the blog entry, immediately after the end of the text.

So, it no longer surprises me that Kelly's comment (concerning the TV shows I watch) was posted in the comments section of the blog entry that appeared ABOVE the blog about TV.

I was going through my blog comments when I came across one from Kelly. I didn't recognize the name, but I followed the homepage link and found myself reading the blog of this personable young lady from Calgary. And as I navigated her blog, it seemed strangely familiar: the caption on her picture said Moi, and there was this mouse-trail that formed a clock. I am certain this is the same site where I had first seen this clock - the same site where I lifted the Javascript code (yet to be used, but stored in a safe place) for its implementation.

So, why is all this important enough to be in my blog? Because on Kelly's blog page, prominently featured under the title "Canadian Blogs" was a link to my site! Let me be clear about something... Kelly's is not the only blog I have found that has a link to my own. However, to my knowledge, hers is the only site where such a link has appeared without my prior knowledge or expectation.

If someone else has linked to my blog without me having already posted a reciprocal link, please let me know, so I can gratefully acknowledge your act of kindness. In the meantime, I will have to start reading Kelly's blog more faithfully, and perhaps some day soon, I'll be able to call her "friend" and return the favour.

I don't know whether to describe it as a bell-curve, or as the ripples in a pond. If you read further down this page, you'll see the incredible number of people that came to my blog site. The funny thing is, my moment in the sun hasn't yet been extinguished. I think that will happen in a day or two - when Michele's blog is five or six posts long, and people pressed for time don't make it down to the "Site of the Day" link. Until then, I'll be experiencing heavier volume than normal. You all saw the numbers for Tuesday (137 hits, compared to the usual 9). Well, Wednesday was no slouch either (85 hits). I haven't checked today's total, but it will still be well beyond my average of 9.

My wife and I were supposed to go grocery shopping yesterday. Here's how it's worked lately. I'm out of work, so I really have no excuse not to help her do the shopping. Since going back to work five days a week (she used to only do four when I had a job), she doesn't take Wednesday's off anymore; but she still tries to use her "comp" time to get an hour or two headstart on rush hour traffic on Wednesdays. That means she gets home at around 3:00PM, and we can get the shopping done before 5:00PM - the time she would normally get home after a full day's work. Well, yesterday, we had arranged for the pool to be opened for the season. The appointment had been booked months ago - when I was still working - and ordinarily, the timing shouldn't have been a problem. After all, the crew was scheduled to be here before noon; and they've never, ever been late. So, when noon rolled around, and then 12:30PM, we were getting somewhat impatient. We finally called the pool place, and were told that the crew had become stuck at the previous work location - there was a tree in the pool that needed to be removed.

Here's my question... did the owner of that pool honestly believe the two-man crew would have the wherewithall (not to mention the patience) to extract a tree from the pool? We're not talking a fruit tree here, but a real tree. It took five hours to finish that job (instead of the normal 45 minutes), and when the crew arrived at our home just around 4:00PM, they were in no mood to do anything but the bare minimum of work. So, not only did we have to wait 4 hours longer than expected for the service people; but when they got here, they were not prepared to do a complete job. For example, when they got the pool cover off the pool, instead of folding it nice and tight, and putting it into a portable garbage container (together with degreasing agents and the appropriate amount of water), they folded it in a haphazard fashion, and stuffed it into the container with full-strength chemicals and no water. If my wife hadn't seen them do it, who knows what the cover would have looked like next year. As it was, it was a bit of an inconvenience to her to have to undo the package and add water. And just before the crew left, they casually informed us that they had been unable to prime the pump - and would leave that chore for us to do on our own. Priming the pump for the first time in the season is not trivial, so the fact that they had trouble doing it is not surprising. What is surprising is that they didn't try harder to do the work we were paying them to do. There's another gottcha associated with not having primed the pump. Without water flowing through the system, it's impossible to turn on the heater. Which means we don't know if there is a problem with that piece of equipment either.

Luckily, the people who run this company have an impeccable reputation. Although I was not impressed with yesterday's service, I know that if push comes to shove, and we can't start the pump or the heater on our own, they will cheerfully return - this time, with the right equipment and enough time to finish the job.

Anyway, since yesterday's schedule was shot waiting for the pool guys, we deferred shopping until today. Guess what - I didn't go to bed at all last night. So, when 8:00AM rolled around, and my wife indicated she wanted me to join her for an early morning grocery shop, I decided it was a good idea to get the shopping quickly, while I could still see straight. After all, I'm still not working, and it's one of the small ways I can support her Herculean efforts around here.

We just finished putting stuff away, I still haven't been to bed, and believe me, it is damned near impossible to read what I'm typing through a steady stream of tears. But, I wanted to get this down before dropping off for what will undoubtedly be the vast majority of the day.

Lee's list of TV favourites inspired me to add my own. I'm a TV addict, a junk TV addict. I enjoy loud programs, with lots of action and ear-splitting soundtracks. I also enjoy shows about any aspect of the law. So, here is my list of TV favourites...

Sunday	Alias kicks butt. I really love the action, plot twists, and romantic possibilities. As for Sydney's mother still being alive, ask my wife. I guessed she was still alive back during the very first episode when they said she was dead.
	The Practice used to be a better show. I had all but abandoned it, but started watching again when Law and Order - Criminal Intent went into reruns.
	Law and Order - Criminal Intent is another new program I thoroughly enjoy. Every once in a while, I think the plot is a bit over the top (how did the detective make the connection between X and Y). But most of the time, I just relax and enjoy the show.
Monday	Boston Public has got to be one of the better shows on TV. It tackles sensitive issues relating to life in school, and the characters are all so interesting.
	Ally McBeal is another show I had stopped watching, but started again when Bon Jovi joined the cast. Now that the show has become interesting again, they've decided to end it all. Maybe there'll be a spinoff.
	Third Watch has been a good program since it hit the air. This has been a rough season, story-wise, since there has been so much reference to Sept. 11th. It has made the series that much stronger.
Tuesday	JAG has been a favourite for years. As much as I enjoy the courtroom drama, I really want the two main characters to get together romantically. In a way, it's good they haven't allowed it to happen yet, because I find the writing goes down the tubes on shows where the anticipated relationships are allowed to happen. Still, I want to see these two characters together.
	24 is the only show I will tape if I'm not going to be there to see it. As much as I enjoy the other programs I watch, I can't bear the thought of missing an episode of this program. Last night, there was a storm brewing while this program was on, and I found myself praying there would be no loss of signal.
	NYPD Blue is my longest running favourite. I started watching the show just as David Caruso was leaving the cast, and I've been hooked ever since.
	Prior to 24 coming on air, I had been enjoying The Guardian. Unfortunately, I've put that show on the backburner until 24 is concluded.
Wednesday	Ed is perhaps the only light show I watch. Sometimes there's controversy, but mostly, I watch for the anticipated romance. I'm looking forward to the remaining episodes this season.
	West Wing, the most intelligently written show to ever grace the airwaves is my all-time favourite. The cast is brilliant, the interplay perfect. I have no idea what I'll do when this show goes off the air. Heck, they're going to have to repeal term limits to keep Martin Sheen in office for more than eight years.
	Law and Order, a long running favourite, has gone through several changes in casting, and each time, it has taken some effort to adjust to the new dynamic. It (and NYPD Blue) seems to be better at surviving these changes than most shows.
Thursday	CSI is a show that I enjoy because it challenges the conventional wisdom. My signature episode was the one with the scuba diver stuck in the tree. I came into that episode prepared to deal with the conventional "urban legend" theory of the crime. What they did with that plot line blew me away. A criminal's worst nightmare would be for criminalists to REALLY be that good.
	The Agency has been among the shows not afraid to work terrorism and al-Qaida specifically into the plots. I guess JAG has done so too, on a limited basis, but this show is better in that regard. I enjoy the casting in this program almost as much as in West Wing.
	ER had been a favourite for years, but it was getting old, and the introduction of The Agency as an alternative choice sealed it for me. But, when The Agency is in reruns, ER is still my viewing choice.
Friday	Dark Angel is a sinful pleasure. Jessica Alba is delicious, and I am always hoping there will be romance for her and "Logan".
	Law and Order SVU, another member of the L&O franchise is my least riveting. Yet, I was a real fan of the "Homicide" series, and enjoy seeing the resurrection of the Munch character.
Other Favourites	There are other shows I try to catch, when they're on regularly and don't interfere with my "must-see" choices. Among them are: Philly; DaVinci's Inquest (a show available only in Canada - and the best "coroner" type series to ever hit the airwaves); Crossing Jordan; and The American Embassy (a mid-season replacement for Ally McBeal that seems to have disappeared from Fox's website - what a shame).

Alright, the day is almost over, and tomorrow, my 15 nanoseconds of fame will be over. But for tonight, I want to thank everybody who's visited my site, and Michele in particular, for the thrill of my short blog-lifetime. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So, without further adieu, I present you with this snapshot of my weekly SiteMeter statistics.

As you can see, being named Michele's "Site of the Day" had only a negligible effect on my traffic. Ain't life grand!

Since this seems to be the day for throwing out credits, I owe another one to Jodene. For anyone who has used (or seen) the blogger template I am currently using, you'll know that the default colour for the links is a dark blue. Last week, I was looking for a way to make the links stand out a bit more, and of all the colours I thought of, the orange links on Jodene's site were the ones that offered the best contrast without being overpowering.

I wish Michele was standing here, right this second, so I could give her a big hug! I don't have an "audience" like many bloggers. I don't write for an audience, and even if I did, what the hell would I have to say? But, as I sit here typing this entry, there are people reading my blog. Lots of people. Simultaneously here. The sitemeter is reporting there are nine simultaneous users reading this blog right now. To put that in perspective, that's equal to my usual daily total. And if you subtract the 3-4 people who I know read my blog daily, that leaves about five random drifters who wander in through links on Benway's blog, or kd's freerange, or links from comments left on various blogs.

It's all quite overwhelming, in a really positive way. Thank you.

You know how you get when you're expecting company, and the house isn't quite presentable? Well, that's a bit like how I've felt for the past few hours. Ever since Michele named me "Site of the Day", I've already seen an increase in traffic, and I just didn't think my site warranted the attention. So, last night (actually, very early this morning), I found myself looking at ways I could "spruce up" the place without destroying a working site.

So, within just the past couple of hours, I've added a guestbook, and posted more often than I usually do (though, if you read my blog, you'll see I do post quite frequently). Anyway, I've got this sort of nervous energy in anticipation of a boost in traffic, and perhaps a comment or two (hint, hint). I should do what I normally do when people come to visit - go hide somewhere until they leave!

Welcome to my "home" on the net. If you're looking for employees (specially for telecommuting), I've recently become unemployed so please leave me a comment and I'll get back to you (serious inquiries only, please - it's not fair to get my hopes up needlessly). Also, don't forget to check out my family's personal website, if you're so inclined.

Jodene's site sports a guestmap that came from this site. I think it's really cool. If you want one of your own, you can sample it here. Though I've looked at Jodene's guestbook a couple of times, I hadn't considered adding one to my blog site because the link supplied with the code was not enticing enough. As proof, I only had to look at the number of people who've actually signed Jodene's guestbook. So, I've incorporated an animated gif to draw attention to this feature. Let's see what happens...

By the way, I guess I should give credit to the site where I found the gif (courtesy of Google Search). Hopefully, they don't own a copyright on the image.

And finally, credit to my lovely wife, who pointed out the "images" tab on the Google Search engine.

It sure has been easier finding images since she showed me that tab.

It's been an interesting, if somewhat frustrating day for me. Having stayed up all night talking with friends in voice chat rooms, I really needed to get some sleep. So, at about 4:30AM, I went to sleep in my TV chair. I woke briefly at around 7:30AM and transfered my semi-lifeless carcass to the bedroom, where I slept until 11:30AM. I knew my wife was scheduled to try some really challenging network-administration duties this afternoon. She's not the administrator, but just doesn't know how to say NO to anyone, so she's stuck doing most difficult jobs. So, I called her, and arranged to volunteer my services for part of the afternoon. After a quick lunch, I joined my wife at a remote work site to try to tackle the "simple" job of switching from one mail program to another. Unfortunately, Mr. Murphy showed up in full regalia, ready and willing to mess with our heads. After a couple of frustrating hours trying to outwit him, we had to admit defeat, and left with our tails between our legs. Perhaps we'll have better luck sneaking up on him on some other day.

When I got home, I sat down to read email. There was a note from Michele at A Small Victory - a response to an email I had sent earlier in the day. Considering Michele's hectic schedule, I was surprised that she found the time to reply so quickly; and honoured by a compliment she paid me. For some of you reading this entry, it may be as a result of following a link from her site.

Memory Lane can be a welcoming route when you're feeling down in the dumps. I've been more surly lately, and certainly a bit depressed about the job situation. Last month, shortly after being canned, I was on the internet and decided to look up some names of people I used to work with when I first got out of school. We're talking 1974, just a few years ago! Anyway, about 10 years ago, I had tried to contact a couple of my ex-coworkers, and managed to locate one of them. He has a not-too-common name, and since he had not moved out of the city I used to work in, he was easy to track down. We had a good talk back then, and I wanted to contact him again. This time, I had no luck. It's likely he's died, since he had been in remission from leukemia when I first met him in 1974. So, I tried to find a few of the others I had worked with in the past. In all but one case, I either couldn't find their name in any phonebook, or I found the name, but it turned out to be someone else. In one case, I did find the actual guy. I had not spoken with him since 1977. As soon as he heard my name, it was instant connection. He remembered me, my role at the company, and my achievements (just as I remembered his). After a few minutes of mutual admiration, we exchanged information on our current circumstances, and parted ways. That call had lifted my spirits.

Yesterday, while cleaning out the 10 years of clutter from my home-office, I came across my old "black book". It's not really black, and it's not really a list of girls I dated... it's more like the last personal phone book I kept updated. The last entry in that book probably dates from before I met my wife in 1989. Regardless, I started thumbing through the pages, and saw names of girlfriends, female friends, male friends, and business associates. Of all the names I saw, there were probably a half dozen that I wondered about. What had happened in the intervening years? Where were they now? I have never really had a lot of male friends, so I was mostly interested in the females. Thing is, in the intervening years, all these people have either moved away, or gotten married, or both. So, it wasn't exactly easy tracking them down. I made one phone call trying to find someone who I last knew was married and living in a different city. I tried calling a number matching the last name and initial, but it was the wrong person. Scratch that name. All the other names... I either could not find in the phone book, or couldn't narrow the possible choices down to the point where I would be willing to spend money on long distance phone calls. So, with all six names scratched off, and nobody actually located, I decided it was too difficult to find females.

Then I had an inspiration. My first serious girlfriend (i.e. my first girlfriend once I reached college) had moved away long ago, and I knew she had married. But, on a whim, I did a search of my local directory, and found the name of a man who had the same first name as her brother. Could it be the same person? When I had been dating this girl in the very early 1970's, her brother was just a kid (I think he was 10 or 11 at the time). What the heck... I called him, and he wasn't home, but the person who answered gave him the message, and today he called me back. It was her brother, and he remembered me! I asked how his sister was doing - what had become of her life. We had dated for two years during college, breaking up in 1972. I haven't seen nor spoken with her since. I was told that she had married a few years after moving from my home town, and that she had remained married to the same man. She's been married now for 28 years, and has 4 children. For a while, she had moved back to this city, but then moved away again. I was really happy to know her life had turned out well, and I asked her brother to pass on my greetings and well-wishes.

There's a bit of an irony to all this. My wife, in her youth, lived in the same neighborhood as this girl, and attended school with her sister. It sure is a small world.

OK, so call me corny. I haven't taken a personality test in a while, but I took this one to find out what type of M&M colour I might be.

Click the picture to try the test yourself.

One blog I read fairly frequently is this one from kd. In fact, I read it so often, I'm surprised I don't actually have a link to it on my own page. So, I've fixed that problem by adding it to my list of favourite blogs. Enjoy!

My wife and I just spent the past half-hour looking at open houses in our area, checking out the competition, as it were. We saw a house that I think is comparable to ours (they have some things we don't have, and vice versa). My wife, who always thinks our house is not good enough, thought this house was much better. I would say that's true of the kitchen; and the bathroom was marginally better because their cabinets look like they had been recently restained. Other than that, our home would be more than a match. Anyway, while driving around our middle-class neighborhood, we came upon a house with three cars in the driveway. One was a Chrysler minivan - no big surprise, since they're built locally - but the other two were interesting... a mint condition Dodge Viper, and a brand new Honda S2000. Was I jealous? Not much (and if you believe that, I have some swamp land to sell you)!