Woohoo

What a day! My mom's move is complete. I didn't kill her. And I got my first customer for my new service, less than a week after creating a website. I asked how they found me (I can't find the site using Google search). They told me my site came up as the #1 MATCH ON PAGE 1 of results using Yahoo Search!

I'll have more to say on that matter later, but first, I need to find me some "professional" graphics for the website and link exchanges. Anybody want to work on their portfolio by offering very inexpensive (a.k.a. "barter") artwork to enhance the site?

Coming soon to a screen near you

Over three years in the making, and soon to be released to the public. Read about it here.

Remembering

one year ago today

Ticked off

I've been reading ongoing news coverage of the London terrorist bombings. It ticks me off to see articles where the journalist says in effect: "these guys are really amateur. If they wanted to inflict the most damage, they should have exploded their device in the open, where shrapnel would affect the most people - not in the confined space of a subway car, where only a relatively few people absorb the entire effects of the blast".

So what comes next... probably a similarly inexperienced bomber will improve on the death toll by following the reporter's advice. Gee, thanks alot!

Shocked and dismayed

I often wonder whether I have false memories of my youth. There are events I remember vividly despite being assured they never happened. Some of these I know with my brain cannot be true - like being able to float across my living room from one couch to another without touching the floor... even if I had used one couch as a trampoline, I doubt it would have been possible to accomplish this feat. Yet even today, I have vivid memories of doing it. There have been other examples of this through the years. Today, I was confronted by disturbing evidence related to one such incident.

Forty years ago last June, I celebrated my Bar Mitzvah. It was a lavish affair, with a guest list that included more of my parents' friends and business associates than people I knew personally. Thankfully, my parents had hired photographers and a camera crew to take photographs and 8mm silent-movie footage of the event. Some years later, the 8mm film was transfered to VHS tape, with a dubbing of my Haftorah as background. That film contained staged sequences where I pretended to be drunk, losing the envelopes containing the monetary gifts - and then my younger sister appeared on the scene to scoop up the dropped envelopes, disappearing into the sunset as she counted her ill-gotten gains.

From that moment on, I have no recollection of ever seeing those envelopes again. I remember discussing it with my dad - and clearly remember being chastised for misplacing those envelopes. I never saw a penny of my Bar Mitzvah gelt.

Fast forward to this afternoon. My father died almost a year ago, and my mother is in the midst of preparing to move from her home. She's trying to get rid of as much stuff as she can, and today, she dropped off a box of Bar Mitzvah trinkets. Unused place cards, napkins, matchbooks, invitations, and reply cards had been lovingly preserved by my father, and were presented to me to do as I wish. And then I saw the envelopes. Those missing envelopes from forty years ago. Each one bore the name of the donor, and the amount of the enclosed gift - the notations made in my father's distinctive handwriting. There were also telegrams from those that could not attend, as well as the bills from the caterers, and the hand-written to-the-penny accounting of expenses that my father was famous for.

It is now painfully obvious to me that the envelopes were never actually lost. But I now have to wonder whether I received the money and just forgot (would you, as a thirteen year old forget receiving what amounted to 10-year's worth of allowance in a single day?) or whether my father chose to keep this money from me so that I wouldn't just fritter it away.

I guess I'll never know for sure.

Mourning is over

July 3rd would normally be celebrated as my parents' anniversary. Instead, by sheer coincidence of the Jewish calendar, today marks the end of the official mourning period for my father. By the Jewish calendar, the anniversary of his death will come on Tamuz 25 - which is one month from today. The official mourning period for a father/mother is one-month shy of a full year. Normally, that entails eleven months, but because of the Jewish leap year (which adds an entire month to the calendar), I've actually been mourning for twelve months on the Jewish calendar.

As a commemoration, I will be visiting the grave site this morning. Though the official mourning period ends today, my father will not soon be forgotten.

I've been really busy

Some may have noticed I'm not posting much lately. It's because I've been very busy finalizing my pet project, and have started negotiating with web-hosting and site design firms to get me online as soon as I give the final go-ahead for my new product. A number of factors have been conspiring lately to slow me down, not the least of which was a car accident that made sitting at my computer a very uncomfortable proposition. With my lower back pain more or less gone, I can once again put a full-day's work into this project without feeling like I need to get up and lie down for awhile. There have been other technical complications, but I have been steadily working through them one-by-one.

I'm finding that the data entry requirements associated with this project are far more time-consuming that I had imagined they would be. I am now working on some sort of mechanism that will allow potential "customers" to earn credits by helping with data entry.

Another blog

Anne's blog recently linked to a new one that I find fascinating. I'm taking the liberty to link to it as well. It's called Flight Level 390. Enjoy!

I can see the future

A lady in Pennsylvania probably has a great future in tarot card reading, after this.

What a shame

As the anniversary of my father's death approaches, I draw parallels to a story reported yesterday. Two weeks ago, Florence and Percy Arrowsmith celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary. They didn't marry particularly young, for the time... he being 25 and she 20. Yesterday, Percy decided to let go.

When my father became ill, he first thought he'd pull through and be around for his 85th birthday. Then, as things became more bleak, his only remaining goal was to make it to the day of his anniversary. He died less than two weeks later. At age 105, Percy must have sensed he didn't have that much time left. Still, for the love of his Florence, he hung on until his anniversary. I'm happy to report that at the time of his death, Florence was by his side.

Super-sensitive

I'm ultra-sensitive to cigarette smoke. I instantly get watery eyes when I come into contact with it, even if I can't see where it's coming from. I also have trouble with Indian food, having gotten food poisoning on three separate occasions shortly after dining in on Indian food (these attacks were serious enough to land me in the hospital). So I can understand how Elizabeth Hurley feels. Under the circumstances, I don't give this relationship much chance of working.

Toothless Tiger

During all of Tiger's bad times over the past couple of years, I never doubted that he was still the "best" golfer out there. His mental toughness was beyond anything I had ever witnessed. Today, I think he's lost his edge. Now playing his first tournament since having his consecutive tournaments without missing the cut string broken, he looks unsure - out of place.

After the second round of the current tournament (in which he is the defending champion), he was one stroke out of the lead. Yesterday, he shot a one-under par round. Not spectacular, but at least it was under par. In the process, thirteen other golfers shot well enough to either pass him, or tie him. He went from second place to a tie for tenth, and I believe he's now out of contention for a repeat title. When was the last time you can recall thirteen players catching up on Tiger while he played an under par round of golf?

Right now, Tiger is poised to add to his overall point score (with Vijay missing the cut). Still, he's not having what I would call a great tournament.

It's not that I have nothing to say...

It's just covered by the censorship guidelines I've recently adopted. You can bet I'm busting at the seams to let the details all hang out.

For those who are wondering, I did allow myself a few minutes to enjoy my birthday on Tuesday. Weird day though... was the sole eyewitness to a rear-ender car accident in the afternoon, then got rammed from behind while stopped at a red light that same evening. Karma!

Censorship is good

To anyone who saw my earlier post, consider yourself lucky. Several of my friends suggested I remove it. Upon reflection, I think they're right.

Gotcha!

I've wanted to post this entry for a long time. But to do so would have ruined the surprise. I think I was a part of the best Mother's Day celebration my wife has ever had. For a couple of weeks now, I've been scheming to secretly bring our daughter into town for Mother's Day without anyone finding out about it. I'll spare the details (which would take several paragraphs to explain), but just say the secret was well-kept, and my wife didn't know our daughter would be in town until she looked out of the car window and saw her at the curb at the train station.

The entire weekend went absolutely perfectly. I'm so grateful to my daughter for deciding to come down for the weekend, and for the secrecy we were able to maintain.

Happy Mother's Day, honey!

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday, dad. Though I continue to go to twice-daily prayer sessions in your honour, I try as much as I can to get on with my life. Still, on what would have been your 85th birthday, it's the first time I haven't gotten you a card, or visited you at home for your special day. I don't cry about you very often - probably only twice since you passed away, because all the memories I have of you are happy, and I smile when others might cry. Today, though, I miss you alot, and hope you're happy.

Those three little words

At times like this, when I'm feeling a bit stressed about my job situation, it takes very little in the way of a positive message to raise my spirits. So it made me feel really good tonight, while I was wading through stacks of email to get one that made me smile. The message was short, sweet, and music to my ears. You've got cash! True to his word, the buyer of my second piece of eBay merchandise sent his payment tonight. The minute I know that it's cleared the international paypal bank and is safely in my local account, I'll begin preparations for sending the receiver on its way.

Finally - it's official

I'm unemployed (well, not quite yet, but I've received my termination notice). I've taken note for some time that the queue of pending assignments was shrinking. There were times when I had to beg for work to keep me busy. And then there were those assignments that looked like they'd be a piece of cake, only to turn into quagmires. The combination of inefficiencies and lack of work were my ultimate undoing. My boss still wants me to work on a piece-work basis (translation: work when we need you, with no benefits). I may keep that option alive, but only until I can find something more stable.

I'm not ruling out a more entrepreneurial direction, but right now, money's really tight - so I have to find a position with a regular paycheque. I think I was a lot more depressed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Having had some time for the shock to hit me, I'm a bit calmer. But only a bit.

Disillusioned

How quickly we fall. Buoyed by the success of my first foray into eBay, I had high expectations for the second sale. I suppose I should be happy that my item sold for more than any other identical model in the past few months (the results of past auctions are only available for a limited time). Still, the condition of the equipment had led me to believe the ultimate selling price would be higher. What I hadn't counted on was the fact that, throughout the one week auction, four other identical models of the equipment were put on sale.

With such a choice, I guess none of the buyers felt compelled to pay a premium for my particular one. But that's not even what bothers me the most. While the buyer of my first item was communicative and active in the process of closing our deal, the buyer of the latest item is worse than reclusive. He has avoided all attempts at contact, by email or phone. His posted information was "out of date" (some might claim purposely elusive), and I only managed to track him down by doing what I do best - using the power of the internet. He was not pleased that I managed to track him down. In fact, the only email he did answer was in response to a phone message that threatened to cancel the transaction.

Will I get paid? That remains to be seen. One thing is for sure... if the payment does arrive, it will be in my bank for a good long time before I ship any goods.

I'm hooked

After the success of my first ebay experience, I was encouraged to try selling another of my retired stereo components. It went on the block yesterday, with a minimum purchase price set higher than would normally be considered prudent. I was asking nearly three times what was being asked by others for the same model.

Before the night was out, I had a bidder (and therefore, a guaranteed sale). If other auctions are any indication, I could see bidding go up by as much as 250 - 300% before the auction ends next weekend.

I guess I'm going to keep on doing this until I run out of old stuff to sell!

April Fool?

In the town of Essex, a few miles from here, one romantic gentleman chose Friday night (April Fool's Day) to propose to his girlfriend. To his delight, she said yes. Good thing too! The very next morning, the newly-engaged girlfriend was awakened at 7:00AM. When she answered the door, she was greeted by the entire wedding party! They got married on April 2nd.

What I find amazing is that this man got the idea last December of proposing to his girlfriend, then marrying her the very next day. In order to do that, he had to plan an entire wedding, invite the guests, book the church, book the honeymoon, and buy a wedding dress, all without the knowledge of his girlfriend. The last element of the plan seemed like it would be the toughest.

To pull it off, this clever gentleman had a couple of his friends "pretend" that they were going to elope. When the friends went to buy their wedding attire, the "real" couple was invited to join them to offer advice. Just as the fake bride was to try on her wedding dress, she feigned illness, and the "real" bride (who is similarly sized) offered to try on the dress to help with the fitting.

By last week, the entire town knew what was going on, and the topic was discussed in gossip groups everywhere (without naming names). Fortunately, lover-boy managed to keep his girlfriend away from the main social hangouts, and the secret was preserved.

I've got to hand it to this guy. Not only does he become one of the few men to help with the planning of his wedding, he's probably the first to do it without the knowledge of his intended.

not much happening

It's been a pretty non-eventful week. Work is tolerable, but no longer enjoyable. There's just too much background stress for my liking. I'm looking forward to a time where I can perhaps be my own boss. My health has been slipping a bit, as I am not taking very good care of myself. I went on the treadmill a couple of days ago. First time in over two years, so I don't want to overdo it. Still, it was a bit of a workout, and I'm looking forward to my next session.

That's all for now.

ebay transaction complete

There were a few false starts along the way... having never done an ebay sale, I goofed the initial money transaction - accidentally refusing the payment from the buyer! But everything got straightened out... I got paid, and a few minutes ago, the buyer got his stuff. Everybody's happy!

I'm back

Just got back from Toronto a few minutes ago. Thought I'd catch up on email before unpacking. Well, I'm still employed, but the company is growing and things are changing. On the plus side, things like profit sharing and overtime. On the minus side, I don't qualify for either.

Off to Toronto

The meeting is tomorrow morning. Here's hoping for the best.

That was special

I tried selling something on ebay this week. The motivation for the sale is a story unto itself, but once I made the decision to place an ad, I did my homework. I had researched past sales of the same item and figured to get about $350US for it. Everything I had read about ebay said you should set a low starting price, and no reserved bid. Things like reserved bids tend to piss off people who would otherwise bid low, but continue to raise their bids as more interest developed.

It was a gamble. I set my initial price to half of what the average selling price should have been. I got an opening bid within a few hours. That meant I knew the sale was a done deal from the very earliest moments of the auction. During the course of the week, some serious bidders joined the fray, and by yesterday, bidding had surpassed $350US. Entering the last minutes of bidding, the high bid was over $400US. With under a minute, things seemed like they'd end at that number. All of a sudden, during the last 30 seconds, there was a great flurry of bidding; with the winning bid coming in a shade over $600US.

I think my wife has finally found a way to get me to clean out the garage!

Bad moon risin'

I'm thinkin' the 17th might not be a good day to get out of bed. A terse email, sent to all in the company, asks that we convene in the company boardroom for a morning meeting. A special invitation was directed at the three telecommuters among us. That's it. That's all I know. Kinda gets the head spinnin'.

I work from home. It's a 4-hour commute (1 way) to the office; so if it's bad news I'll be getting, it will sure be a long way to go just to get mugged. And that's all I'll be saying on that matter.

How do you please a geek

Yesterday, I had the most wonderful day. I was asked by two independent parties to provide advice on personal computer issues. Both parties accepted my recommendations and immediately put their money where my mouth was. It just seems so incredible that it would make me feel this happy!

Happy Birthday, Mom

It was my mom's birthday today. My wife and I took her out for dinner, then back to our place for a movie. We invited my mother-in-law too. By sheer coincidence, my brother-in-law and his wife showed up at the same restaurant, so they sat at the next table over. Seeing mom in horns was a real hoot!



Anyway, it was an interesting way to spend an evening...

What's the world coming to?

I mean, when something like this happens, can the end of the world be far off?

Bittersweet

The day I met the woman I would eventually marry, she was embarassed by the grandstanding of her three young children. The eldest of the girls was already 10 and quite precocious. The second daughter was 8 - cute as a button and very friendly. But on that first day, her 5-year old son was the clown and he melted my heart. The girls have long since left the nest, but our son has remained at home, save for a short stint exercising his "independence".

Tonight will be our last meal together before he, too, leaves home for what might be the last time.

Now 21, and eager to improve his lot in life, our son is heading off to Toronto to further his education in a skilled trade. To say we'll miss his acerbic wit, wry smile, and loving nature is an immense understatement. My wife has already cried many tears, as Jon, her "baby", prepares to make the journey tomorrow afternoon. I confess that I'll miss him terribly - not just because he's so helpful around the house, but because he's really a terrific human being; and I feel like our close relationship will suffer through the distance. As I try to type this entry, I'm more than a little misty-eyed.

Of course, I'm proud of his accomplishments, his desire to do better, and his commitment to the path he's chosen. I wish him the best of luck and success in his new endeavours, and hope he takes with him some fond memories of our years together.

Yeah, I'm still here

It's the obligatory post to prove to myself I'm still breathing. Except for a fabulous Valentine's Day with my unbelievably wonderful wife, I have nothing worth sharing at the moment. I wish winter was over.

Happy birthday, girls

In case I get too busy and forget to post later, happy birthday to my granddaughters, born on the same day, four years apart.

Strippers and Tigers and Accordion players, oh my!

This could only happen in Canada. Bless our souls!

I'm a great uncle

My niece had a baby girl on January 13th, the sixth month anniversary of my father's death. I didn't want to say anything until she had been named, and I thought I'd be posting pictures. At the request of the baby's grandmother, no pictures will be posted; however, I think I'm allowed to share her name. She will be called Sarit Atara (Hebrew name), which is somehow related to, or derived from the "S" in "Israel", my late-father's name; and Atara, which was her late-greatgrandmother's name.

I believe she will be known as Sari Kayla in English.

Thankfully, my father had been told of the pregnancy prior to his passing, so I'm sure he's upstairs somewhere looking after the welfare of his namesake.

Correction

An email received from my sister should make clearer the significance of the names. I suppose I should have asked someone who knows Hebrew to explain it in the first place.

The baby's name Sarit is taken from the Torah. In Genesis Chapter 32 Verse 29:

(The angel says) "What is thy name? And he said, Ya'aqov. And he
said, Thy name shall be called no more Ya'aqov, but Yisra'el (Israel): for
thou hast CONTENDED (Sarita) with G-d and with men, and hast prevailed."

The name Atara is the Hebrew version of the Yiddish "Kraindel" meaning "crown"
Aaron's grandmother (his father's mother) was named "Kraindel".

Busy...

I've been far too busy to post lately, swamped by paid and unpaid work. Hope everyone is doing well.

Random thoughts

So, I'm sitting at my desk, trying to log in to my office, and the Terminal Server connection is dog slow. After 35 minutes of trying to login, I've been able to do that only once, and I waited nearly 5 minutes for Outlook to open. I've logged out in frustration, and am blogging instead.

This past Christmas season, I went to the office party. Since I telecommute, it had been many months since I saw my coworkers and their spouses. One of my coworkers is called Joe, though his name is actually Joseph. His wife is Mary. And they had their son (not their firstborn, I think) on Christmas Eve.

We now return you to our regular stream of consciousness.

Climb every mountain

My sister's known for some time, although she didn't let the cat out of the bag until yesterday. Her son, the one with vocal political aspirations since his pre-teen years, has received yet another promotion. I still have the first business card he was issued when his party's leader won the last election. The official government crest was quite impressive, as was the heading on the card (in deference to my sister's request, I won't divulge any more). That first position "Special Assistant" was probably very important, but to me, it sounded almost like a patronage position. The next step, "Deputy Director" was the real thing as far as I was concerned. And now, he's the "Director" of the branch. There's only one guy above him on the entire government org-chart, the premier himself! And did I mention my nephew only just turned 26?

If I sound proud and boastful, it's because I am.

correction
Though I couldn't find it when I looked, my sister has informed me there is a "Chief of Staff" between my nephew and the premier. So, I guess I'll have to be happy thinking of him as Toby Ziegler instead of Leo McGarry C.J. Cregg.

News flash - secret project soon to go public

I'm spending most evenings glued to my computer, working on the program I started two years ago, then set aside when I started working full time. Previous attempts to complete this program met with failure - whenever I got the urge to spent effort on it, the timing and/or motivation just wasn't right. This time, I've left myself ample time, and I'm highly motivated.

I expect to be done final redesign this week (two years is a long time to go between design sessions, and some of my ideas have changed in the interim), with coding proceeding through the next three weeks. Beta testing should be ready to go by late January with full trials beginning in mid-February. I'm looking at this as a business opportunity, not just a programming exercise, and I really want it to be successful.

My programming strengths are business logic and back-end stuff. I'm a fairly novice web programmer, and will be seeking outside help once I'm ready to put a face on this baby. Hopefully, I won't get bogged down in those details until the time is right - no need to think about anything potentially distracting at this point.

I survived the holidays

It's been a good week. Lots of food, even more calories, lots of diabetic sweats - yup, my kind of holiday!

Tonight, there's just one more night of partying (a.k.a. eating what I shouldn't) and then (hopefully) sanity returns.

Merry Christmas!

The gifts have been opened. Each of us got at least one gift we weren't expecting. My wife's side of the family is here for lunch right now, but I had to sneak out for a few minutes because I have problems handling crowds. A ten minute break is all I need.

Revisiting Christmas Past

By sheer coincidence, my Daily Differential backup overflowed today. So what, you ask? Last Christmas, my wife bought me a DVD-Rewriter. As a computer professional, I'm keenly aware of the need for backups. And that meant that prior to last Christmas, I did DAILY differential backups that spanned many CD-RWs. Last Christmas day, I took a full system backup of my primary computer, and that took up three DVD discs. Since then, I've been able to do my Daily Differential backup on one DVD disc. This means it could run unattended. Well, this morning (or more precisely, yesterday morning), I was greeted by an unfamiliar dialog: "Please remove current disc and insert new disc to continue backup". Yup, I hadn't seen that message since last December 25th.

Tonight, I took a fresh backup of my system. This time, the backup required five DVD discs to store the 29 GB of stuff I manage. There's no music or movies included. It's all operating system, programming languages, source code, and databases. Now I'm ready to enter the new season with the knowledge that another full backup is again, about a year away.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Jessie's home! Let it be proclaimed from the mountain tops, or maybe the tree tops ... or maybe the top of the staircase. Whatever. She's home, and we're all happy to see her. Too bad she won't be staying more than a few days. She's scheduled to work Christmas Day, so it's going to be a short visit. But a good visit nonetheless.

Keeping my promises

I promised pictures! If you're using Internet Explorer, captions will appear when you mouse-over the pictures. For the more enlightened among you, I've included the captions below the photos as well.




The kitchen was very dark, with cheezy paneling and cheezier faux brick. Hard to clean, and dreary, my wife had decided the day we bought the house that eventually, this would have to go...



This picture shows the faux brick as it encompasses the entire dining area and extends around the wall into the living room.



By far the dirtiest part of the job was the initial stripping. Though not visible from this shot, the archway between the dining area and living room had been curved. My wife decided to square it off to make the area appear more open. In the process of removing the faux brick, some of the drywall panels were damaged, so they were torn down completely.



Our son wants to be a drywaller. What better vote of confidence than to let him practice on our walls? Here, he's being supervised by my brother-in-law, an accomplished do-it-yourself-er in his own right.



Ready to go with the mudding, my wife sports her favourite painting moomoo. This dress has seen more action than most paintball warriors.



Mudding was hard work, and here, she stops to wipe her brow.




Fast forward a few weeks...

Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the painting that proceeded after the drywall was done. My wife had decided to apply stucco paint to give the walls some texture. It turned out to be a marvelous idea. Not only was it not as important to do sanding, but we were able to incorporate some of the imperfections of the brick applique into the finished product, giving that much-sought-after distressed look.




The dining area is much brighter. The phone has been placed on a side shelf (instead of being on the dining table), and the dreary brick and dark paneling has been replaced by a gleaming white surface throughout.



The transition from living room to dining room is much brighter, giving the impression of a larger space. The squared archway looks quite impressive.



The olive green front door was repainted a deep green, more in keeping with the colour scheme of the living room.



Partial view of the dining area, from the vantage point of the front door.



And finally, a view of the kitchen backsplash, formerly faux brick, taken through the archway to the dining area.


That's it! All done and ready for the holidays. Now, my wife can take a well-deserved rest, and I can go about reconnecting all the surround sound equipment. I sure have missed it lately.

Mission Accomplished

The painting is done. And I have to say, the dining area and kitchen look bright and inviting. Look out Debbie Travis, my wife is coming to town!

Pictures to follow tomorrow!

Home Improvement

Things continue to improve on the home front. Where once bricks lay strewn and walls were bare, there is now wallboard, primer and stucco paint. I am amazed at what my wife has been able to do, virtually on her own. She accepted some help from her brother and our son putting up the wallboard, but beyond that, all the preparation and finishing has been done solo - with advice from Home Depot and HGTV.

Not wishing to be one who my wife ridicules for not lending a hand, I can say I dutifully performed all tasks assigned to me. So far, that includes moving a china cabinet TWICE (so paint could be applied to adjacent walls); unscrewing two screws that held up a curtain rod; and opening TWO cans of paint. Yup, I've definitely done my fair share of the work!

Pictures of the finished room will follow, though it will be difficult to find pictures taken before the work was done.

Life's a bitch and so am I

Just a bit depressed lately, hence the lack of blogging. Don't really want to discuss it here.

Happy birthday, ya big lug!

I've been really tired today, probably the effects of a few late nights in a row of serious sleep deprivation. This evening, I finally crashed. Having just woken up, I pretty much mucked up my plan to call you on your birthday. I try to do it every year, and today, it was on my mind all day. Sorry I fell asleep, and I hope you had a fantastic birthday.

When I talk with you next time, let me know how you're liking the new job.

This weirded me out

I really understand the idea of people having a dog to protect them and their families. But I have a feeling that this person is taking things a bit too far.

My wife the home-wrecker

I never thought I'd agree with the characterization. But it's official... my wife is a home-wrecker. She has single-handedly brought down the wall dividing the kitchen from the dinette, and the dinette from the living room. First it started with the removal of some faux-brick decoration on the walls. Then, it escalated into removal of drywall, culminating in her unilateral decision to remove the archway between the dinette and living room. She had planned for the wall to be re-boarded, mudded, sanded and painted in a week's time. Not only has she under-estimated, but with her being set to start a new job this coming Monday, time will be more scarce to work on pet projects.

Ribbit

Know anyone who's croaked lately *evil grin*. Good riddance.

So, who is Ken Jennings, and does he know I'm his brother?

I've only watched him play one match, but aside from his uncanny ability to answer all questions trivial and a remarkable ability to buzz in very quickly, he's not much different than I. We're both software engineers. We're both married. OK, that's about the extent of our similarities. Fortunately, we have even fewer differences. He's rich, and I'm not so rich.

Ken, any time you want to visit me and drop a few loonies, be my guest.

Christmas is coming

It seems to me the ads have started earlier this year. Is it because the merchants fear we won't spend enough if they don't start their reminders? I'm not sure, but it certainly is a bit disconcerting that I'm going to have to put up with ads for the next seven weeks.

Gonna have to get my Scrooge outfit out of the closet soon.

Get off your asses and vote

I don't know how many Americans read this blog. But if you're reading this on voting day and haven't yet voted, what the hell are you waiting for? You have the privilege and right to take part in the election of democratically selected representatives. If you don't take the time to tell them which you would prefer to be your voice in government, you really can't complain that things in government aren't going the way you want them to.

Trust me... voting is important, and this blog will still be here when you get back.

Carved in stone

I accompanied my mom on a shopping trip to a local stone-cutter to finalize arrangements for a marker stone for dad's grave-site. We had to compromise a bit on what we got, because my father's original wishes could not be accommodated due to changes in the cemetery's bylaws. The dimension of the stone my father would have preferred to have is no longer available.

After consulting with the designer on-site, we agreed on a design that I believe will honour his memory.

All we have to do now is talk with the rabbi to book an appropriate date for the unveiling.

Not for nothing

The place that makes the memorials wasn't open on Sundays, but it wasn't a complete waste of time. We took a side trip to the cemetery to visit not just my father's grave; but all of our relatives buried there. While there, I took photographs of the relative's stones, as well as photos of the general area around my father's final resting place. With those photos in hand, we were able to walk among the many example stones at the stone cutter's shop and narrow the short list. The actual size of the stone can only be determined after consultation with the stone cutter. He's used for most of the stones in the Jewish cemetery, so he's more familiar with size and design restrictions than the average shopper. Next weekend, we'll go again during business hours to see what's what.

Shopping day

Today's the day I accompany my mother on a shopping trip. I hate shopping, and spending shopping time with my mother would rank very low on my "fun things to do" list (if such a list existed). Yet, this trip is important. She's looking for a monument for my father's grave, and I want to make sure she doesn't choose anything distasteful. Never having been on such a mission before, I don't have many expectations, though, if it's as hassle-free as the funeral parlour arrangements were, I'll be quite happy.

Back to earth

The past week is best described as uneventful. With two of the major stresses removed, life has become - dare I say - boring! Yes, I know the blog is boring. But now, so is life!

That's not all bad.

The only exciting thing around here is anticipation over the U.S. elections. Living in a Canadian border town, our lives are inexorably linked to those of the Americans living a mere two miles away. Not only are our economies dependent on similar industries and the commerce of cross-border traffic, but the threat of terrorism is quite high in this area, with some of the world's largest corporations having either headquarters or major centres of commerce in this area.

Add to that the fact that within 10 miles of my Jewish home is the second largest Arabic population outside of the Middle East, and you can see why I'm more than a little concerned. Am I paranoid? Perhaps. But a healthy dose of paranoia can be good. It teaches me to be careful.

Here comes the bride!

My wife should be a wedding planner. Everything, and I mean everything went off as planned, without a single mishap. I suppose if I had to find something that went wrong, it would be that, when the Master of Ceremonies called my wife's brother to the front of the room to say grace before the meal, that was the first time he heard that he would be doing that. My wife had forgotten to ask him!

Other than that, the entire day (from preparation to ceremony to reception) went absolutely perfectly.

And now, here's Christie and husband Jesse.

T-1 hour

It's 2:00PM here. The wedding begins at 3:00PM. We've spent most of the day thusfar getting last minute things ready. We've been to the reception hall to set things up, and soon, it will be time to head to the church. Since beginning this post, I've just taken a few shots of the bridal party in their gowns, and I must say, my wife looks positively hot! I won't spoil the surprise by posting any of my recent pics right now. Instead, I'll wait until I get home later tonight.

W-day

There's going to be a wedding today. During rehearsal, the bride's father (I'm her step-father) joked that he might not give her away when called to do so, to which I quickly replied "If he doesn't, I will!"

I'd tell my nervous step-daughter to break a leg, but then, she'd probably fall off her 6" heels and actually do it!

Pictures will follow shortly after the wedding...

Practice makes perfect

We had the wedding rehearsal yesterday. Everything went quite well. I suppose the only potential problem will be with the ring bearer and flower girl. The flower girl loves posing for the camera. While I was practicing some techniques and shooting angles for the big day tomorrow, the camera I was holding caught her eye. She instantly stopped and faced me square on, giving me the cutest of smiles. When she was urged to continue down the aisle, she did so at a snail's pace, never once removing her gaze from my camera.

I guess I'll have to forego the pictures, lest the flower girl never make it down the aisle.

She's back!

Before I start work, I just want you to know that Kare is back, and so is my link!

New Daily Read

I stumbled upon this site a couple of days ago. I don't know how I could have missed it all this time. Written by a guy whose politically left alignment changed after 9/11, I found his style compelling and persuasive (though I was already more right-wing). You can now find it in my links.

My new favourite website

Guess what kind of pet I own.

Thanksgiving Day Feast

My wife outdid herself tonight. The meal was fabulous, and the company was pleasant. Add to that the coincidence of my son's birthday falling on the holiday, and there was nothing that could have been better.

I just wish I didn't have to be back at work in less than eight hours.

There's method to my madness

I was checking out the background and voting records of the candidates for U.S. Presidential office. It turns out that only the democratic nominees had a voting record, seeing that Bush and Cheney haven't had Senate/Congress membership since before 2000. The site that furnished the voting information also featured background information about the candidates, like their year of birth, family information, and religious affiliation.

I was surprised to learn that thee of the four gentlemen running for the highest offices in the land are affiliated with the SAME religion. What do you suppose that religion might be? Odd man out is here.

Highway Robbery

I stole this list from Eagle Eye View, who stole it from ... who stole it from ... and so on, and so on, etc.

A bit intriguing actually... a list of 200 things some people may have tried/wanted to try. I'll highlight the ones I've done, and leave the rest alone. It's too early in my life to say I wouldn't want to try some of the others.

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain (several times, though never very far)
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease (those who know what I look like will to be totally grossed out by that!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long, and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game (not really sure what qualifies as "huge", but the stadium was standing room only)
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Touched an iceberg
20. Slept under the stars
21. Changed a baby's diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
23. Watched a meteor shower
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
30. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
31. Asked out a stranger (does a blind date count?)
32. Had a snowball fight (I guess this would only be strange to someone in Hawaii)
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
36. Enacted a favorite fantasy
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
40. Seen a total eclipse
41. Ridden a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run (though never in an actual game)
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (quite recently, actually)
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
48. Had two hard drives for your computer
49. Visited all 50 states
50. Loved your job on all accounts
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign
57. Backpacked in Europe
58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing
60. Lied to foreign government's official in that country to avoid notice
61. Midnight walk on the beach
62. Sky diving
63. Visited Ireland
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Benchpressed your own weight
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
73. Posed nude in front of strangers (does it count when women enter the men's shower?)
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
76. Kissed in the rain
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater
80. Done something you should regret, but don't regret it
81. Visited the Great Wall of China
82. Discovered that someone who's not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken (with my current wife)
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
90. Gotten married
91. Been in a movie (do my Bar Mitzvah and wedding videos count?)
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn't have
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
95. Gotten divorced
96. Had sex at the office
97. Gone without food for 5 days
98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don't remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music (unless you mean as an artist)
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone (if you count Israel as a combat zone)
118. Buried one/both of your parents (recently)
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
120. Been on a cruise ship
121. Spoken more than one language fluently (well, maybe not fluently, but well enough to be understood)
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
123. Bounced a check (though not intentionally)
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children (though not from infancy)
127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Congress person
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. ...more than once? - More than thrice?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking (doesn't everyone?)
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
140. Wrote articles for a large publication
141. Lost over 100 pounds
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someone's heart (and never forgave myself)
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
177. Changed your name
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad
181. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them
183. ...and gotten 86'ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language (though it was a requirement of graduation at University)
191. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you (if "software" constitutes art)
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196: Dyed your hair
197: Been a DJ
198: Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal
199: Written your own role playing game
200: Been arrested

Interesting list... and from it, you can see that, for the most part, mine has been an uninteresting life! But I'm not complaining.

I'll miss you, Kare

I've been part of the blogging scene for more than 2-1/2 years. Not exactly one of the early adopters, but still, around for quite a while. When I began to blog, I did so because I had been reading other blogs and thought the idea of having my very own site where I could express my own opinions, share information about things of interest only to me, and generally offer an area where friends and relatives could keep tabs on my goings-on would be cool.

One of sites I had read back in those days was Kare's. Her perspective was one I could relate to, as was her writing style. It wouldn't be technically correct to call her a friend, though we did exchange emails through the years, and despite changes to her hosting and the occasional hiatus, I followed her and kept tabs. In fact, of all the links to other blogs I have on my site, hers was the very first one.

It was disappointing to see that her link had stopped functioning recently, but I became a bit spooked when I noticed that someone else who had links to Kare's blog had substituted an ominous message. Having recently lost my father, I guess I have death on the brain, and I jumped to the conclusion that Kare was no longer among the living. That's why I was so relieved today, when, in response to a query, Kare replied to an email saying that she was, in fact, alive and well.

I can't tell you, Kare, how happy I was to hear that, despite the fact that I won't have the opportunity to read your words any more.

I have officially retired your link, but hope, Kare, if you see this message, that you keep me in your thoughts, and inform me if and when you decide to rejoin the blogging universe.

Presidential Debate #2

Boring! The same phrases over and over again. I am somewhat biased. I probably lean more to the conservative side more than to the liberal. Still, I don't think that anyone who objectively evaluates this debate can honestly say that Senator Kerry did a good job of directly addressing questions that came his way. While the president was also evasive on some questions, Kerry did it incessantly.

For example, a question to Kerry might be: "How would you handle this situation...". His answer was invariably: "I sure wouldn't do what the current president did..." before going into detail of how the president screwed up, and how he would have done differently. But exactly what he would have done? Well, that went largely unanswered.

Hard times ahead

My wife's been suffering from stress for the better part of a year, mostly due to unbelievably difficult conditions where she works. This week, she finally reached the breaking point, announcing her intention to leave. I applaud her decision, having advised her many times to take this step. Now that she's actually done it, perhaps her stress level will decrease. In the meantime, an already tight budget situation will obviously become tighter. Still, it was the only decision that made sense.

Jump right in

The news about Microsoft's major security update, SP2, has been mixed. I've read about some of the holes, some of the incompatibilities, but also, some of the benefits. A couple of days ago, I decided to finally take the plunge and apply the update that I've had in my hands for a few weeks now. I got my update by CD - having ordered it immediately after it became available. But I held off installing it until I could see how it worked on some other people's computers. A couple of my friends who use me as their computer resource were having some difficulties with their computers. I noticed that both of them had already downloaded and installed the SP2 update.

It turned out that neither of their problems was related to SP2; and having had a chance to examine the update on their system, I decided it was time to take the plunge. Well, it's been two days, and nothing has broken yet. I was pleased to see that, upon installation, the Security Centre recognized that I already had ZoneAlarm installed, and the Microsoft program left it intact, not even asking whether it should apply the Microsoft Firewall. That's a refreshing change from what I'm used to seeing. I was also pleased that the security centre recognized the Avast! anti-virus program, and correctly reported the version number; and that it was up to date.

Except for having to retrain ZoneAlarm regarding my lockdown preferences, I found the security centre to be quite well organized. And the popup-stopper integrated into IE's browser does a better, and more intuitive job than the Popup-Stopper was doing. So far, it's defeated every popup/pop-under I've encountered, without blocking access to secondary windows spawned through legitimate interactions. My initial impressions have been quite favourable.

Reefer Madness

The government has been trying to get us to listen to them about this for years!

Modest little Anne

Anne ... straight from the hip is one of the blogs featured in my list at right. Anne is a thoughtful young woman, currently living in the eastern U.S., but previously from Los Angeles. She wants to be back there, involved with Hollywood productions. For now, she's a researcher for the HBO program "The Wire". Look for her name (Anne Hefley) in the credits for the show.

My first Yiskor

As part of the Yom Kippur service, I took part in my very first Yiskor service. It didn't take long, but it was a different experience. It's like the first time you see an 'R' rated movie... you have ideas of what it might be like, but you're not an adult yet, and you just have to live with the images of your imagination until you experience the real thing. Yiskor wasn't an earth-shattering experience, but it was touching. I noticed my sister crying, and she was the one who had made light of the service only days earlier.

In typical male fashion, I had given no prior thought to Yiskor, which meant that I hadn't thought to get a memorial candle ahead of time. Fortunately for me, my mom had an extra candle at her home, and I ended up using that. I must remember to get one of my own for the next time.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

How was it possible yesterday to blog about a movie without mentioning the occasion... my wife's birthday! We had a lovely day. She went to breakfast with her son while I attended sabbath services; then it was off to lunch and a movie as a threesome. We returned home for a quiet afternoon, followed by dinner out. Then, what was to be a quick visit with my mom (so she could wish happy birthday to my wife) turned into an impromptu movie night.

All in all, a pleasant day!

Rosebud

Perhaps the most famous line in film. Soon to be replaced by "Lens cap".

Happy New Year!

I often think about the future. The distant future... like in the Zager and Evans song "In the year 2525". I imagine we all think about it once in a while. Well, according to the Jewish calendar, we've just begun the year 5765. Wouldn't it be cool if some biblical scholar would re-release the song, using the same year markers, but writing lyrics in the context of the timeline of Jewish history. I might just buy the CD!

Credit where credit is due

Thanks to Daniel Codres of www.pixelchain.com for creating a really neat FREEWARE utility for grabbing frames from video streams and video files. Because of his efforts, I won't have to spend so long trying to figure out how to get thumbnails for my "Comic Relief" section. For those of you who have actually visited those sites, you might remember I had this graphic

 

 

representing one of the videos. It pales in comparison to this image

 

 

don't you think?

Thanks, Lindsey

Lindsey, a fellow blogger and reader of this blog has offered space on her server to host the funny video I mentioned earlier. For now, please use this link. Eventually, I'll figure out how to grab a frame of the video to serve as a thumbnail in my right-hand menu.

Weir'd

I was really enjoying the Bell Canadian Open, until about the 70th hole. I got the ominous feeling the Canada's favourite son would find a way to blow the lead. Fuck if I wasn't right. And fuck if he didn't find a way to blow advantages in the first two playoff holes.

I guess I don't really know whether he lost the playoff, since I nearly kicked in the TV when he hit into the water on the third playoff hole.

Fuck!

Cool video

My sister sent me a video via email. It's really funny - funny enough to be featured in my comic relief section - except I've run out of allotted space for hosting on my server. I don't want to pay more for space, and don't want to remove any files that are already on the server. If you're interested, drop me a line requesting the video (it's approximately 3MB in size), and I'll send it to you. It's called "Get outta my car".

13 - my lucky number

So sayeth the King of Swaziland in this story.

Go get em, Tiger!

As I write this post, Tiger trails Vijay by two strokes after six holes in the final round of their tournament. Whichever golfer finishes ahead of the other (even if by some strange quirk of fate neither of them actually won this tournament) takes the world #1 golf ranking.

But there's a story that hasn't been told. Last year, Vijay won only one fewer tournaments than Tiger, and actually won the money race. Today, going into the last round of this tournament, Vijay has won five times to Tiger's lone victory. EVEN IF TIGER RETAINS HIS #1 RANKING, he will almost certainly lose it next year. That's because the ranking is based on a two-year moving average of results, and over a two year period, Vijay has won nine tournaments to Tiger's six (not counting today's result). That will come back to work in Vijay's favour next season.

But for today, I personally would like to see Tiger's record streak remain intact.

Did you hear the one about...

I feel foolish about not posting this earlier. Have you ever been in a situation where someone tells a joke, and then, a few minutes later, someone laughs at it as the punchline hits them?

Or you're in a conversation, and you can't think of a witty comeback, and then a few minutes later, you think of the perfect thing to say, but just can't figure out how to fit it into the current stream? Well, that's what I'm about to do...

Yesterday, at the wedding reception, the food being served was not chosen with the Jewish diner in mind. Virtually none of the entrees, as originally served, was even remotely acceptable to even a mildly observant Jew. One of the people at the table, completely innocently and in the spirit of humour, urged me to imagine the dish was something other than it really was. He told me of trips he had taken to Africa (he's someone who does charity work for African organizations) where some rather exotic meats were served. He jokingly said he just thinks of it as chicken.

As soon as he said that, it reminded me of a movie I had seen many years ago, about some high-society dining club where patrons spent a king's ransom to be served exotic (and federally protected) species of meat. I wanted to say something to him right then about this movie... but I didn't remember the name of the movie, or anything about the actors. It would have been pretty lame to respond to his comments by saying: "That reminds me of a movie I once saw". Such a response would have led to followup questions, questions for which I would likely have no answers.

So, anyway, not being one to let things like this go, I came home and went to IMDB to look up the movie. Does anyone know how difficult it is to find a movie when you don't know the title, or the actors, or even when it was made? I gave up after only a few moments of searching.

The next morning (today, Sunday), I turned on the TV just in time to see an ad for the very movie I was thinking about! No kidding... the TV hadn't been on more than 10 seconds when the ad appeared. Apparently, the movie, The Freshman is playing on Monday evening on one of the cable movie channels. Is that freaky, or what!

I could have danced all night

Just got home from the reception. Long story short... great reception, great choice of music, great exercise.

There are probably some at the party who laughed under their breath. There may have been some that laughed out loud. I don't care. I had a great time. Normally, when my wife and I go to a party that features dance music, we do two or three slow ones, and maybe one fast one. That's all my wife's knees and hips can usually bear. Tonight, for whatever reason, she was able to dance two slow dances and three or four fast ones! Incredible. But what was more incredible was my level of energy. I usually sit not-so-still when she gets to the point where she's tuckered out. Not-so-still as in "dancing in my chair". Tonight was different. When I got the urge to dance, I danced. Whether she joined me or not didn't really matter.

I left the party thoroughly drenched in sweat. I have never been that wet without being immersed in a pool, bathtub or shower. But it was FUN! Perhaps the sight of me dancing circles around her was what got my wife on her feet more than normal. Whatever the reason, our dancing was intimate and my insane solos were uplifting.

Not to mention the number of calories I must have burned tonight!

I now pronounce you...

It was a beautiful ceremony. A girl who attends my wife's church got married today, and we were invited. I have to say the minister performing the ceremony was so good. His words to the bride and groom were insightful and relevant. He also did an excellent job explaining how young marrieds have this exhuberance about this day that is sometimes lost over time, and that the best marriages are those that keep that spirit alive. My wife and I had a civil ceremony only at a local wedding chapel. There was no religious aspect to it, because neither of us would have felt comfortable getting married in the other's place of worship; nor would be have felt comfortable in any kind of religious middle-ground.

We've been married 14 years, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat; but it was really uplifting to hear such words as part of a religious ceremony. After the ceremony, I made a point of approaching the minister to congratulate him on his selection of hymns and messages. He then surprised me by saying that the whole thing was taken from the original 5-books (translation - the Hebrew bible) because the original wedding ceremonies, as described in the original books of the Old Testament, just couldn't be beat.

Old Testament or New, the words were perfect, and the ceremony was lovely.

The reception begins in about an hour, so I guess I should start getting dressed up again!

Having fun tonight!

I've spent the past few hours working on my blog template. I hadn't noticed, but the provider of my guestmap service had bit the dust... clicking on my map took you to one of those domain resellers - you know the ones - they cybersquat on every domain that used to work and is now defunct, trying to get you to buy the name back from them.

Anyway, my guestmap provider was gone, and I don't want people to click on dead links on my blog. So, tonight, I found a new guestmap provider, and linked them into my page. I wasn't happy with the artwork they provided for their link, so I used my rotating globe image instead.

I also was getting annoyed with my archive list. There were several reasons for this. First off, the list was getting long. Even after having converted from a weekly archive to a monthly archive, the list was still fairly long. Second, the list was being shown in the format "01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003". It would look so much better just saying "January 2003". And lastly, the archive links were being displayed from oldest link to newest link. From my experience, people are more likely to want to read the more recent posts than the less recent ones, so why should I force them to scroll down to the bottom of the webpage to get to the most recent archives.

And speaking of scrolling to the bottom of the page, it was getting quite annoying that my main blog page was expanding further and further down, as new archives were added.

Tonight, I fixed all my pet peeves at once by:

• changing the date format to "human readable" format


• reversing the display order (now the most recent month is listed first)


• creating a drop-down menu for the archives, so the archive list doesn't affect the blog page length


• creating a link within the menu to bring me back to the main page

Check out the archive menu on the right to see what I mean.

Getting political

I normally keep my politics to myself, but today it's a different story. There was a letter to the editor in the Globe & Mail about recent terrorist threats against French journalists in response to France's ban on religious head scarfs.

It makes a very valid and striking point... when was the last time Christian or Jewish terrorists threatened to kill innocent French citizens over this ridiculous French-government policy? It just goes to show how low some people will stoop to get their 15 minutes (and 72 virgins).

And you thought you knew everything!

Today's question: what are magnets made of?

Add a link, nuke a link

Bloggers occasionally go on hiatus. If I enjoy their work, I generally leave the link on my list. It may be a dead end, but eventually, the day comes when I click, and it is alive again. Then, there's the case of Michelle. Her idea of going on hiatus is starting a new blog. Since I don't like going through a day without reading her work, I've added her new blog link to my list. Check out Popped Culture.

Then, there are those who post so infrequently that I just grow tired of the wait. Such was the case with Pretty Girl in the Corner whose link has been removed to make room. "Make room?" you ask... how can you not have room for additional links? Simple really... I spend too much time already on all my daily reads. I simply don't have time to read another.

Surely they jest

This marriage was made in hell. Literally.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy anniversary to me! Laurie and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary yesterday. I had taken Friday, Monday, and today as time off so I could be well-rested and stress-free for the occasion. She has been off since last Monday, preparing for my step-daughter's wedding shower, and extended her vacation for a full two-weeks to encompass our anniversary. As we did for our 10th, we spent the evening on a romantic dinner cruise, which, although romantic and a cruise, was woefully inadequate on the "dinner" side of things.

The Pride of Windsor website talks about the dinner entrees that are served on the scheduled cruises, so you can imagine my shock when I discovered that the ONLY entree available on our cruise was pork stirfry. Not exactly the dish a Jewish patron expects to see!

At Laurie's suggestion, I've written them a letter, asking that they make some sort of restitution for the inconvenience and breach of their stated terms. We'll see where that goes.

The Olympics suck!

I never enjoy the Olympics. They interfere with my normal TV schedule, and let's face it... Canada is no powerhouse nation. It's not like there's much to look forward to. Still, I had high hopes for the Canadian rowing team, and I was certain they would do well with all the hype they had been generating. I'm sure glad I'm not a betting man.

On another front, I found myself rooting for the "local athletes"... those who lived within a few miles of my own home. Today, the last of those was eliminated from competition. There wasn't a single medal among them.

Please, let this end soon!

New Section of links

I get asked questions by friends and family about computer security. I have, in the past, outfitted these people with trusted anti-virus, firewall, and anti-spyware tools. Nevertheless, the human engineering found in some of today's popup ads and spam are quite tempting. In an effort to be proactive and offer ongoing advice to those who seek it, I have created a new section of links over to the right. I won't be going hog-wild with this section. Rather, I'll try to find relevant, useful links that can be browsed by those with questions about their computer's security.

Learning

I'm learning much about myself, as I learn more about my religion. I'm learning that I enjoy getting up in the morning to go to the prayer session. Whether this will last once the weather turns is anyone's guess, but so far, it's really a part of the day I look forward to. I'm learning more about the prayers, and am becoming more proficient at reading them aloud. My shyness at making mistakes is beginning to slowly disappear, not because I'm any less self-conscious, but rather, because the daily practice is making me better.

I had mentioned that my visit to the old synagogue had been enjoyable. I told this to the rabbi of that shul. He's the same rabbi who shows up most mornings at the community prayer meeting to join in. He's the same rabbi who visited my father while he was in the hospital. I've come to like this rabbi as a person, as well as respecting him as clergy.

Today, I discovered the rabbi has tendered his resignation. The cross-border commute that his wife (a U.S. citizen living in Canada) has to endure on a daily basis has finally reached the breaking point. She wants to leave the city, and he has obliged. In a way, it's good that he's leaving, since I'm beginning to know him better than I do my own congregation's rabbi. I've been feeling a bit of guilt that I have been praying with this man 5 days a week, while I continue to declare my allegiance to the other rabbi who leads me the other two days.

He has given the synagogue two months to find a successor. Hopefully, the new rabbi will be as nice a guy as this one.

Trivial Pursuit

Reality is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Masterpiece Theatre

I rented Kill Bill volume 2 yesterday. I hadn't seen it at the theatre. I had seen volume 1, and it was just barely tolerable. Who knew I was so sensitive to gratuitous violence. I think it was the anime that really got to me. Anyway, I had heard such good things about volume 2, I just couldn't resist. What a masterpiece. Everything in this movie went counter to my expectations. Though in retrospect, I should have seen many of the plot twists, I am pleased to say I didn't; and that every one of them was a pleasant surprise.

Now, if only I could get my wife to watch it (she walked out of Volume 1 during the early anime sequences, thoroughly disgusted with the violence and utter evil portrayed on the screen).

A stroll down memory lane

I'm still in the 30-day mourning period following my dad's passing, and as such, have been faithfully attending morning and evening services so that I can say Kaddish. There are two orthodox synagogues in this city... the main one, and the small one. I normally attend the small one, though, when I was a child, I attended the main one.

Today, the rabbi for the small synagogue was out of town, so I attended the main one. It was a stroll down memory lane in more ways than one. First, the immenseness of the building hit me immediately. The echos and stale air were as they had always been. I'm so glad I don't have to go there often. But there was something pleasant and familiar about this visit as well. Each rabbi and cantor have their own style of reading and chanting. When a congregation changes rabbi or cantor, often this signals the beginning of a new way of doing things. Familiar tunes give way to new tunes. Sections of prayer that were previously sung are now read dryly, and vice versa. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the current rabbi and cantor conduct services nearly identically to how they were conducted in my youth. I recognized virtually all the tunes, and various passages were sung/read aloud in much the same way as in my youth.

Although that made the visit to the main synagogue far more enjoyable than it could have been, I much prefer the small, quaint, understated atmosphere of the small synagogue, and will be glad when the rabbi returns next weekend.

Not much going on here

In contrast with the hectic change of pace that was the only constant through the last few weeks of my dad's life, things since his death have been remarkably boring. My days now begin with a visit to the local synagogue or community centre, where I find a mineon to say my Kaddish prayers. These sessions occur early enough during the day to get me back to my home in time to report for work at the regular time. After work, I take another trip to the centre for the evening prayers. I have been thinking about whether I will continue this ritual after my 30-day mourning period is up - except for forcing me to fall asleep earlier than I usually do, this has not been intolerable, and I even think there may come a time when my attendance at these sessions will make a difference to some other "new mourner".