Today was Black Sunday. I finally made it across the border to my office, where I dutifully filed my end-of-month paperwork, and took the opportunity to read my email. There was a new email, dated Sunday, March 31st. It's obvious that very few employees have seen it yet. In it, in words that stop just shy of "pack your bags", is the summation of management's new philosophy (which, in fairness to them, is much more in line with other organizations). Paraphrasing: "we're shutting down entire offices, and dramatically reducing personnel at others. If you're currently on assignment, you are safe". It goes on to say that persons with less than 15 years' seniority will get one month of severance - all others get two months. Finally, it states that these measures will take place in April.

Let's see... tomorrow is April.... hmmmm.....

The cat is living on borrowed time....

Don't worry, she's in no danger of being harmed by me. I love her so much. But, she's definitely a second class citizen compared to the dogs, and maybe that's the root cause of my current problem. Our cat had developed a bad habit quite some time ago. It seems she's just as likely to drop her feces next to the litter box as inside it. The litter box is located in the laundry room, on a concrete floor. While this practice is driving my wife crazy (she deals with the poop), she has often told me that if the cat doesn't stop doing this, she will have to go. Now, within the past month, the cat's developed a new behaviour that is far more annoying. Every once in a while, she's been leaving small pools of urine on the hall floor. The hall floor is ceramic tile (new this past summer), and so far, I have been able to clean the mess up before it has had time to seep into the grout. Now that I'm involved in the cleanup process, my frustration level has risen dramatically.

Today, she may have crossed the line. In plain view of my wife, the cat let loose with a piddle on the livingroom carpet. Needless to say, my wife went ballistic, and the cat soon followed, propelled by a well-placed ass-kick. Having recently fallen back to earth, the cat has taken off to parts unknown. She's in hiding, and with good cause.

I know there are cat lovers out there that read my blog. If any of them wish to offer psychological reasons why the cat has manifested these behaviours, and whether she is likely to stop in the next 12 to 24 hours, feel free to voice your opinions in the comments section. After that, I'm afraid this feline is history. Later today, I'll be posting "Cat to good home" messages in the appropriate forums. As I said before, I love this cat, and wouldn't want to see any harm come to her. But, I love my wife more, and I know the cat is driving her bonkers.

To all of you who celebrate Easter, have a good one.

I've been trying to do a couple of things these past two days, and circumstances have conspired to keep me from accomplishing my goals. I had been prepared to make a trip across the border to hand in my end-of-month paperwork yesterday. While there, I had hoped to stop at a nearby grocery to pick up the Passover supplies I was unable to purchase here.

Well, I don't know if it was the Good Friday tourist crowd, or increased border security due to the situation in Israel, or a new alert in the war on terrorism, or what exactly; but the traffic waiting to enter the tunnel was so thick and slow moving (read - at a complete standstill) that I decided to leave my place in line (two full blocks from the tunnel plaza) and go home. In the short term, it meant that my paperwork was not handed in by the Friday deadline. Actually, I'm not that concerned about the deadline, because, as it turns out, my supervisor had taken the entire week off, so he wasn't even there to receive the paperwork. More importantly, it meant that I had precious little variety of food in the house. My lox collection continues to dwindle and there's still five days left of Passover.

So, here it is Saturday, and I again decided to try the trip across the border. This time, I didn't get within a half-mile of the border crossing when I saw that the traffic backups were at least twice as bad as they had been yesterday. I decided to turn back before getting caught up in the traffic jams. So, I will wait until tomorrow, Easter Sunday, to try one last time. I have to get across, since the paperwork has to be on my supervisor's desk before Monday morning. And, if I don't get some additional Passover food soon, I may have to "cheat" before the holiday is over.

I wonder if my sister has been reading my blogs concerning the Passover dilemma. I got a call from her today, and she invited me over for lunch at her place tomorrow. I should say that Passover was not a bad holiday growing up, because my mother and aunts knew how to make so many different dishes, I could pick-and-choose, and still be left with several "favourite" meals. By far my absolute favourite was a potato pancake called the bubeleh (hope I got that approximately correct). Anyway, my mother made the very best bubelech (the plural form) the world has ever seen. Whereas my aunts' renditions were heavy and dry (the Jewish equivalent to the Christmas fruitcake), my mother's version was light and airy - filling, without feeling like you had rocks in your tummy. We always told her she should have gone into the business of making bubelech professionally, because they were without peer. Anyway, I think my sister must have gotten the recipe from my mom, and kept the tradition alive. I adore her bubelech, and tomorrow, she will be serving them for lunch. I'm already drooling on the keyboard thinking about them.

I love my sister....

This was not a good day. I ate too much, I slept too much, then I ate much too much more. I don't know why Passover makes me want to overcompensate like this. Considering it's a holiday where I can't stand the food, I sure seem to eat a lot of it.

I had gone shopping yesterday to the only strictly kosher market in my city (hoping to stock up on Passover supplies), and found a landlord's notice posted on the door. Seems the place closed down last month. Come to think of it, I seem to remember getting a letter from someone I didn't know, telling me I could get my holiday supplies from them. I tossed the letter, because I always shop at this other place. I guess now I know why he sent the letter!

One day gone, seven to go....

My wife came home from work today, a completely nervous wreck. She had been overworked to the point of wanting to resign. I think, were it not for the four-day holiday weekend, she would have. The irony is that I had given her a newspaper article just two days ago - the article concentrated on how to say "no" to bosses and co-workers when you're already overworked and have been handed more things to do. (Honey, if you're reading this, I'm really concerned about your health)

When I wasn't sleeping or stuffing my face, I was studying. I managed to complete two courses of Computer-Based management training today. It took several hours, and was actually quite interesting. I have one more module to finish tomorrow before heading off to work to file my end-of-month paperwork.

Once I finish that module, I will have completed all the available on-line management courses. After that, I will switch gears and get back to technical training. I'm thinking Java, ASP, and PHP in that order. I've already completed the JavaScript and HTML courses. Anyone have any other ideas about what would be a good course to take?

Which would you rather do... go without food and water for one day, or be forced to eat foods that you find repugnant for eight days. As part of my religious beliefs, I am required to do both of these actions during the course of the year. By far, the most difficult of these activities is eating foods I don't like. Passover is a holiday that celebrates the Jewish people's release from bondage in Egypt, and because they had very little time to prepare for this release, they had to forego many baked goods (due to the time it took for yeast to rise).

To help us recall the gravity of the situation, there are many rituals that make up the celebration of Passover. Unfortunately, many of these are tied to food; both foods that you must eat, and foods that you must not eat. I am vastly oversimplifying here, but if anything, the simplification is minimizing the inconvenience this holiday causes me. Let's get to the point. Bread is a staple of my diet. Not only is bread not allowed, but really nothing made from grains mixed with yeast is allowed. It is not just the grain that is taboo, it is the yeast. So, basically, the only foods I am allowed for the eight day duration are: beef, chicken, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, potatos, unleavened bread (bread made without yeast) and non-fermented beverages.

The next time you go to the grocery and pick up food, any food, check the label for corn starch or yeast. It will amaze you how many products contain these ingredients. For the length of the holiday, these are not allowed. Unleavened bread (matzoh) is flat, dry, and for the most part, tasteless. In modern times, manufacturers have tried to spice it up by adding eggs (for flavour and some inherent moisture content, I would suppose). I've been told, though I have no way of knowing for sure, that this unleavened bread is similar to the wafers many people place in their mouths during communion. Can you imagine living off those wafers for eight days?

Anyway, Passover begins tonight, with my dinner meal. If this year is like any other, I will be an absolute bear to be around. I will be more surly than usual, and hungry all the time. Also, the foods I will be most comfortable eating are those that I have been trying to cut down on (meat and eggs) as part of the treatment of my high cholesterol. I suppose no one is going to stand behind me with a gun to my head and force me to eat these foods, or even celebrate Passover. It's a choice I make, a choice that causes me some discomfort, but one that I am willing to tolerate.

Passover is always celebrated at "approximately" the same time as Easter, due to the fact that both holidays are based on the lunar calendar. This year, they coincide, and this will cause me even greater discomfort. You see, my wife is not Jewish, and she likes to celebrate Easter with her family eating a traditional meal. She has altered it somewhat (to avoid me puking my guts out), and she does try to be accommodating by offering at times to have this meal outside our home (as she will do this year), but knowing that there's this really good meal that everyone but me will be eating still leaves me annoyed and somewhat envious.

Oh well, I've vented enough on that subject.

On another subject, we had a big snowfall yesterday. As the snow fell, I smiled inside, knowing that this time I'd have a new snowblower waiting to take care of the white stuff in record time. I knew the snowblower was working, because I had already used it once this season. Well, it didn't work. I pulled on the chord, and the engine would teasingly come to life, but only for a few seconds. The longest I was able to keep it running was less than 10 seconds. Over a period of 45 minutes, I was not able to coax it to sustained life. I went back indoors, when I realized my toes were tingling. After warming up for about an hour, I went outdoors again. I tried one more time to get it running, but to no avail.

Thank god we still had a manual, old-fashioned shovel. Actually, it wasn't so old fashioned. It was made of some synthetic material (like plastic, but more rigid) that made it very light, and it had an aesthetically designed handle and stick, so that you didn't need to bend your back to make the blade contact the concrete surface at just the right angle. For the first 20 shovelfuls or so, I was picking up the snow and throwing it onto the lawn. But the snow was heavy, and I soon decided it would be easier to simply put the blade on the ground and push the snow across the driveway. On my very first pass, the shovel's stick caved in, folding back on itself. So, I have a driveway full of snow, a snowblower whose engine refuses to stay running, and a snow shovel whose handle has been folded in half.

I hope it warms up today and tomorrow.

I love it when nice people smile.

Paypal = THEFT

I visited a website today that featured PAYPAL as the payment method. I've visited lots of ecommerce sites before, and am not afraid to purchase merchandise over the net. However, today was my first experience with Paypal. The website for processing payments was straightforward and very informative. At no time did I feel I was in danger of having my financial or personal information abused.

However, at the very end of the transaction, AFTER I was told that monies had been deducted from my credit card, and that the transaction was successful... only then was I informed that a $1.95 charge would appear on my credit card statement, and that this was a "membership fee" charged by Paypal. Membership fee? What do you think you are, fucking Sam's Club???

This kind of deceitful behaviour is what gives the internet and online purchasing a bad name. At the very least, I will do my utmost to avoid vendors who insist on using Paypal as their only form of payment. And unfortunately, this experience will get me reading the terms of service much more closely before I rely on a payment service that I had assumed would charge the SELLER for their service.

Visiting Benway's blog moments ago, I came across the results of a test he had taken. I was astounded at the results, so I decided to try it myself. Here are the results as they applied to me:

You are feeling exhausted, worn out, drained. You feel that far too much is being asked of you but you still want to overcome these difficulties and establish yourself despite the effect such an effort seems to have on you. You are a proud person, assertive most of the time, but at this particular moment you are acting as if you have become resigned to the situation. What you need is some tender loving care - a gentle pat on the head (or maybe a 'kick-up-the backside') and then you'll be raring to go.

Most people are conditioned by their environment and you are no exception. You are an extremely emotional person - so much so that 'the wrong word' can lead you to tears. You feel other people's pain. You feel the need of sympathetic relationships and a pleasant work environment in order to develop and grow. You are an impulsive, loving individual with a great deal of inherent feeling.

Circumstances are holding you back, forcing you to back off and to forgo all the pleasures, fun and games for the time being. But this is only a temporary situation and before you even know it the situation could change.

You are frustrated and stressed. You appreciate the finer things in life but at all times you appear to stay aloof, critical of everything and everyone about you. You will not be carried away by your emotions and you refuse to trust anyone or any situation unless genuineness and integrity can be absolutely vouched for. Therefore, you keep a strict and watchful control on your feelings as you must know exactly where you stand at all times. You demand complete sincerity as a protection against your own tendency to be too trusting.

You are being very dogmatic, insisting that there is to be absolutely no equivocation whatsoever about your achievements and accomplishments.

Perhaps these results are not as bang on as I thought they were for Benway, but they are pretty clever nonetheless.

If you would like to take the test (which will require all of 15 seconds, if you can believe that), you can find it here.

Things are getting better between me and Christie. We're talking on the phone more, and on Friday, she gave my wife a gift for me. It was a puzzle. A doozie of a puzzle. The accompanying literature (which may or may not be accurate) indicated the puzzle was created by Einstein, and the solution is extemely difficult to determine.

I did the puzzle in (what I thought) was a couple of hours (I told you this is a difficult puzzle). Then, I tried to do it again, so I could document the solution, step-by-step. In attempting to redo the puzzle, I discovered two things. One, when you slow down to document, you can quickly lose your train of thought. Two, when you work too quickly on a puzzle, you can make silly mistakes. After trying to recreate my solution (over a span of six hours), I finally realized that my original solution had a flaw. I was pissed, and put the puzzle down.

I picked it up last night again, since the Oscars had interfered with my normal TV schedule. This time, speed was not my primary goal. The goal was to make sure that the documentation process did not get screwed up. I worked methodically, checking every step of the way. About 11:30, I got curious about the Oscars (go figure), and put the puzzle down. This morning, I resumed my work, and finally finished; this time after getting the correct answer (at least I think it's correct - Christie didn't give me an answer sheet to check against, but the answer looks correct).

In an attempt to drive any of you puzzle-crazy readers insane, I am posting the puzzle here. Good luck


Assumptions:
1. No two people have the same nationality, live in the same house, keep the same types of pets, drink the same beverage or play the same sport.
2. The houses are all located in a single row.

Clues:
1. The Brit lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who plays football rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house plays soccer.
8. The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who plays baseball lives next to the one who keeps cats
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who plays soccer.
12. The owner who plays hockey drinks lemonade.
13. The German plays basketball.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who plays baseball has a neighbour who drinks water.
16. One owner keeps fish.


That's it. Can you determine the order of the houses by colour, which person lives in each home, what pets each keeps, what beverage each drinks, and what sport each plays?

Good luck!

It's been years since our last summer holiday. So long that the details are not quite clear in my head. I had decided to take my family to the Ottawa area (the capital of Canada, for those who don't know); an area where I had lived for some time during the '70s. I had fond memories of the city, and the surrounding area. During our visit to the nation's capital, I was able to do things as a tourist that I had never done as a resident; such as visiting the parliament buildings, and taking a guided tour through the Rideau Canal.

And I was able to relive the experiences of going white water rafting, nearly 20 years after my last experience, and nearly 10 years since I had put on enough extra pounds to make such thoughts quite foolish. Besides having video proof that I look like a walrus in a wet suit, I also have perpetual memories of a great trip down the river. Soon after our return from that trip, we decided to put a swimming pool into our own yard. At the time, we had performed a cost analysis that indicated a pool would save us between $2- and $3000 per year in vacation expenses, so it was a good investment. That pool is a great investment, as it gives us many months of continuous enjoyment every season. Still, five years later, my wife and I are getting wanderlust, and without the children and school schedules to worry about, we're much more mobile and less restricted as to our timetable.

We've spent a bit of time talking about where we might want to go. One suggestion was Toronto, where we could spend a romantic weekend taking in a broadway show, and going back to a place called Medieval Times to enjoy an evening of food and entertainment. Another suggestion was a return to Orlando's Universal Studios. The last time we were in Orlando, I was there for a convention and had brought my wife along for sight-seeing. On the day she was to take a tour of the studio, she was called back due to a medical emergency - I had contracted food poisoning at the hotel and needed to be hospitalized. She's never really forgiven me the timing of that unfortunate incident.

We've also given some thoughts to a quaint weekend at a bed & breakfast. If anyone knows of any good B&B places in the Kitchener/Waterloo or Toronto areas, feel free to leave a comment.

Guys, have you ever noticed how women complain that their work is never done, yet when they take a day off, or a weekend off, they're more productive than worker bees. It has to be genetic. A couple of days ago, the last of our children moved out. He's 18, full of piss and vinegar, and ready to conquer the world. So, here it is, two days later, and if you took a look at our home, you'd never know a teenager used to live here.

My wife is still walking around a bit bleary-eyed (though for my sake, she's been choking back tears), yet on a day when she should be resting from the stresses of recent events, she chooses to attack Jon's old room with a vengeance... straightening up what little remains of his belongings, and washing the grafitti off his walls (we're not talking grafitti like you see in the movies - still, intelligible writing on the wall qualifies as grafitti in my book). If this were a hotel, his room would be suitable for the next occupant.

Jon will be returning within a day or two to remove his remaining belongings. On the one hand, we've made it clear he can return if he doesn't make it on his own. On the other, his room has been completely cleaned out. If it were me returning to that room, I would be getting mixed messages.

I'm expecting to hear back from the VW dealer tomorrow. I've decided that I can't afford to negotiate a higher price for the vehicle, and I think the changes they agreed to in the contract don't allow them to back away. I won't be obnoxious, but will make it clear that I intend them to follow through with their deal. Reading the contract, there is no mention of engine size... only the model I ordered. So, unless VW has discontinued the VR6, it is technically incorrect for the dealer to say that they've stopped production of the model. When customers go to the showroom to pick up literature, there's always small print indicating that features are subject to change. So, in this particular case, they've decided to add a feature that wasn't there before. Great, that's my gain.

Bosses can be sneaky. Have you ever called in sick, then answered your phone later that day, and in your happiest cheery voice said "Hey man, what's up", because you were expecting a call from your golf buddy? And then you realize it's your boss, checking on you because he's concerned about your health? Well, that's never happened to me, because I'm too straight-and-narrow to take advantage of my employer. But there are those that would...

Right now, I'm "off assignment". That means that there's not enough work for me to do at the office, but I'm still on the payroll. In economic times like this, having the kind of employer that's willing to keep you on the payroll when you're not pulling your weight is a blessing that commands loyalty in return. There are only two things asked of us... that we call in to the office every morning to report whether we're fit, ill, or taking the day off; and that we call in every two hours to check for voice mail, so that messages can be returned promptly (this step is only necessary on days we're reporting in as "fit"). I don't think that's too much of a price to pay to work for such a generous employer, so I do my duty gladly. In fact, I generally call in far more often than once every two hours (it's a local call, so why not).

So today, during one of my regular calls for messages, I heard the following message (paraphrasing): "This is your boss calling. it's x:xxPM, and I expect you to call back as soon as you get this message". The message goes on to remind us of our two obligations, and implies that if it has been more than two hours since this message was left, your job might be in jeopardy. Not only did I use the automated reply feature (which would automatically send a reply to the extension the message was sent from), but I also followed up with a personal call to the required extension (where I was able to speak to the caller in person). The law of averages says you're going to pick up messages "on average" one hour after they've been left. I would say this message was left at a time that was designed to trick people. If, for example, you're in the habit of checking your voice mail on the hour, every two hours, and if you had checked the voice mail at 2:00PM with the intention of checking again at 4:00PM, then you'd better pray, because the message was sent at 2:01PM. On the other hand, if you called at 1:00PM and then again at 3:00PM, you'd have answered the call within an hour.

My call-backs are randomly placed during the day. Whenever I finish doing whatever I'm doing, I pick up the phone and call. It could be an hour, a half-hour, whatever, but never more than two hours. This time, my call back, at 2:35PM was very timely, and my job is safe for yet another day.

What a morning it's been.

With the decision by our son to move out of the house (a decision he had been contemplating for some time, but only informed us of yesterday, and put into action this morning) we are now empty-nesters. Our son has been craving his independence for quite some time. Unlike his sister, however, he humoured us by behaving in an acceptable fashion while living at home. I guess it got to the point where he just didn't want to pretend anymore. Now that he's working at a well-paying, full-time job, he has the confidence to move to his own place and live life on his own terms.

He's our "baby", so of course, his mom was crying uncontrollably last night. I think her concern was that Jon may have thought he was being forced out of the house. Well, Jon knows better. He realizes that his situation is far different than that of his older sister, and that he will be welcomed back with open arms if his experiment with independence hits a major snag. I wish him well, and hope that he'll keep in touch as he said he would.

The other strange thing that happened this morning is that I got a call from the VW dealership. Today's call was to inform me that the model I had ordered is no longer in production, and that the replacement vehicle (one with a bigger engine) will cost more. Did you know that most standard vehicle purchase agreements have a clause buried within that states (paraphrasing): "if the list price of this vehicle goes up between the time you make this deal and the time we deliver the vehicle, we reserve the right to ask for the difference"? Well, I read agreements carefully before signing, and with my tight limit on price, I couldn't afford any surprises. So, I had that clause removed from the standard contract. I have the removal in writing, signed by all parties.

I gave my top line price up front (the most I was willing to pay for the car). And the clause giving them the right to withdraw from this contract if I don't agree to pay extra has been removed from the agreement. We'll have to see where this leads..

I got a strange, urgent call yesterday from a co-worker who had originally been assigned as my mentor, but then had to withdraw for personal reasons. She was aware that I had lodged an objection over perceived unfair treatment I had received from someone in our organization, and had taken it upon herself to report this dispute further up the management ladder. My feeling is that this was not an act of unselfish concern, but a means of bolstering her own case against the same individual. Though I intend to tread carefully (not wishing to be the foot soldier for someone else's battle), I will at least explore where this may lead.

The other day, I was talking with friends who were talking about the "good old days" when they looked a bit less frumpy than they might now. Another friend, who prefers to dress very casually offered a view dressed in formal attire. Me, I'm obese, even by the standards of obesity, and haven't been slim in quite some time. So, I dug out the last "slim" picture I have - featuring my wife and I attending a formal occasion in October, 1991. Just the fact that I can remember the date so vividly is a testament to how long it's been since I looked like this.

The picture, unfortunately, was scanned at very high resolution. According to Netscape's GIF-Lube utility, it will take over two minutes to download the picture using a 28K modem connection. So, I'll offer it up as a link for those curious enough to give it a look.

My wife and I are both very religious. Those who know me and read this will agree with my statement as it applies to my wife, but will scoff at the idea that I am religious. After all, I rarely attend religious services, rarely practice the tenets of my religion, and have one of the blackest hearts and foulest mouths of anyone I know. But I believe in God. I believe in the supreme being, that He has the power and wisdom to do whatever needs to be done, and that He can be called on in times of need and will listen.

I cannot begin to tell you about the countless times when God has helped me avoid death or injury. Others could try to explain it away as "luck" or "coincidence", but that would be a cop-out. My wife has had similar experiences. Unlike me, my wife has an ongoing dialog with God. She not only believes... she worships. She prays for others, not just herself. She is pure of heart and soul, and God loves her.

So, yesterday, when my wife asked God for something selfish, something that would help her cope with a situation she had lost control over, something that was causing her such stress as to threaten her physical and mental health, she was almost apologetic. And God listened. Only hours after my wife prayed for a miracle, it was delivered. Again, non-believers could try to explain it by coincidence, luck, or any number of unrelated events. Bottom line, my wife needed something - something she could not accomplish herself; and that "something" was delivered to her without her asking any human for assistance.

What would you call that?

I am not very social. Even when attending parties, I tend to speak when spoken to, and very rarely do I initiate conversation. Among strangers, this is not necessarily a fault (unless you're in marketing), but among family members, it can be perceived that way. For the past couple of days, I've experimented with being more proactive in contacting family, just to say "Hi". It really is funny the reactions I've gotten.

First, I contacted my youngest sister, who regularly forwards email humour to me. Sometimes, I respond to her emails (more often I don't). But yesterday, I sent an email to her. I guess I just wanted to be the one to initiate contact, but it was very strange. I really had nothing to say - nothing to report. So, I sent her a link to an interesting site that I had found. Turns out, she had already received this link from someone else. Oh well...

Then, I called my parents (who spend the winter months in warmer climes - lucky them) just to talk. My mom answered with "what's the occasion". It didn't surprise me, or even annoy me. It was a completely valid question. Except for birthdays, anniversaries, or every second weekend, I never really contact them much. That will have to change too. They are getting on in years, and I'd hate to be one of those people who regrets not taking the time to really appreciate them while they're around. Anyway, I had a good talk with my mom, and then I spoke with my dad awhile. At my age, I guess I'm lucky to still have both my parents.

Today, I think I'll take some time to contact my other sister. I haven't talked with her in a while.

I've been spending time studying today, and realized that management principles, executed properly, will result in a well-run organization. All the jokes you hear about managers being incompetent, heartless people are probably based on experiences dealing with "poor" managers. I once thought of management being a "fall-back" point to my career as a techie. The more I learn, the more I realize that this "management thing" is a real career in its own right; and that it is a career which, like any other, requires that you keep on learning and honing your skills. There is a world-wide organization (Project Management Institute - or PMI) that has set certification standards and apparently, the membership ranks are relatively small. Managers with the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification are highly sought after (verified by reading ads for Project Managers), and striving for this certification will consume the next few years of my professional life. The company I work for has over 12000 employees, and fewer than 30 PMPs. My goal will be to continue on the management track, with the ultimate aim of reaching PMP certification within three years.

Have you ever wondered about Karma - whether things are pre-ordained to happen? I realize that shopping for a vehicle isn't a cosmic event, but it is still subject to the laws of Karma. I've mentioned before that I enjoy shopping, as long as it doesn't result in a purchase. So it was with vehicles. Long before it was practical to do so, I had begun my hunt for a replacement vehicle. I wanted one that would be fun to drive, less costly to operate, but still peppy. I had looked at the Tiburon of that day, and dismissed it as impractical. Not only did I not like the styling, but it wasn't the right size for a portly human being.

Early on in the process, I had focused considerable attention on the VW Golf GTI. It reminded me of the VW Rabbit of the '80s - a car that was greased lightning, and easy to park. Although my drives in the VW Golf GTI were always quite pleasing, ultimately, the price of the vehicle was beyond what I was willing to pay. As my hunt for a vehicle became more focused, the VW was one of the first casualties on my short list.

Yet, as I narrowed the choices down to two cars (the newly-restyled Tiburon, and the Acura RSX), both had serious deficiencies that I was not prepared to overlook. Trying to think practically, I brought the VW back to my short list yesterday, because I realized the only reason I had rejected the VW was the selling price. I had originally considered the automatic transmission. However, with my change in emphasis to sportier cars, I thought I'd take the 5-speed manual out for a spin. The "pocket rocket" was as hot as ever! Today, I made an offer on the VW. The offer was in line with the best price I had negotiated for the Acura RSX Type-S (a car whose list price was quite similar to the list on a tricked-out VW Golf GTI). Needless to say, the dealership didn't accept my offer (we were nearly $3000 apart). But, as I left the dealership to get some lunch, I let it be known that I would return after lunch; either to sign a deal for the price I had offered, or to take back my deposit.

After lunch, I noticed that the VW that I had test-driven had a "sold" sign in the window. I won't bore you with details, but I am now the proud owner of a VW Golf GTI VR6. I take delivery in June. Yeah, it would have been nice to own the Tiburon, but not at the expense of wondering how long it would be before the beast broke down. With this choice, while I won't cause heads to turn when I drive by, at least I'll spend more time on the road than in the shop. Knock wood.

There's an added benefit: according to insurance statistics, the cars most often stolen in Canada for joy rides and parts are the Tiburon and Acura Integra/RSX. By choosing the VW, I will end up paying less for insurance than if I had purchased either of those vehicles.

Oh yeah, here's my new baby:

Lust. It's such an all-consuming emotion. If I had been able to walk into a car dealership yesterday, I would already have committed to my dream car. Today, I still have some small nagging doubts. As much as this dream-car stirs my soul, I still wonder about Hyundai's reputation, and after reading the brochure again and not seeing a specific reference to it, I can't remember whether this vehicle had a particular feature that was in all the other cars I was considering.

So, it will be one more trip to the dealer, to give the car a last once-over. If Mitsubishi or Subaru was available where I live, I don't think I'd ever be able to decide!

What a beautiful day to be taking a ride. We packed the family up and headed to the "states" today. My intention was to go to a suburban Hyundai dealer, where I figured I could get my hands on a "souped-up" version of the Tiburon. They don't stock them where I live. We called ahead, and they were closed, but we thought we'd cruise the lot anyway.

On the way, we decided to stop in for a delicious lunch at our favourite Mediterranean restaurant, and we stuffed ourselves to the gills. Then, we dropped our son off at a record store before heading off to look at cars. When we got to the lot, they had the EXACT model I wanted, right down to the options and colour. I cannot describe how beautiful this car is, so I'll just have to show you...

Anyway, like I said, the dealership was closed. So, we started back to the music store to pick up our son. As we were driving, a brand new Tiburon, exactly like the one in the photo, came up beside us. It didn't even have permanent plates. It still had the temporary license. As it passed us, my wife was able to read the name of the dealer, and we called them. They were open for business! Of course, they were 20 miles away, but that didn't matter ... I was determined to go for a test drive.

After picking up our son, we decided to make a quick trip back to the original lot, where I had seen the perfect car. After all, I had no idea whether there would be cars on the lot when we got across town. My son, who is never impressed with anything I am interested in, truly was impressed. It was obvious from the way he eyed the car, from all angles, that he was picturing himself behind the wheel. Why I felt I needed this approval for validation, I can't (or won't) say. But, it made me feel good.

After heading across town to the other dealer, we found that he did have one car of the model I was interested in on the lot. It wasn't the right colour, and it hadn't been "prepped" yet, but it was driveable. I won't dwell on the glee I felt driving the car for a mere eight blocks (four out/four back). OK, I'll dwell. My top speed during the two-block-long "straightaway" was 80mph. The cockpit (which I hadn't seen properly decked out before) was better than I thought it would be (based on my first impressions looking at the "base" model), and the motor cries out for punishment. My search is over. The decision is made. I will order this car on Monday.

As if that wasn't enough good news, this particular dealership is located in a part of the suburbs I'm familiar with. There's a large theatre complex nearby, so we decided to take time out for a movie. Our son's taste is different from ours, so we fronted him some cash, and he went on his merry way to see "Resident Evil" while we watched the animated comedy "Ice Age". Ice Age was a hoot; children will really like the animation, but the dialogue is suitable for adults, with lots of puns, double entendres, and great one-liners. All our son would say about "Resident Evil" is that he wouldn't be surprised if blood was still dripping from the sprockets of the projector. YUKKK!!! Not my kind of movie.

I have a friend whose blog is included in my links (Benway). He has this thing about purple octopi. Today, I got an email that contained a JPG image. On first glance, I thought someone had sculpted an octopus out of snow. The thought of an octopus engulfing a car struck me as funny, so I emailed the picture to my friend. I just took a second look at the "octopus", and realized my error.

How naive is that!

I've been so focused on my short term car shopping, I hadn't stopped to realize just how boring this all might sound to outsiders. I was so wishy-washy on Thursday, I decided not to make a final decision until I had examined a couple of other alternatives. There seems to be significant reservations with every possible choice. Not a good feeling to have under the circumstances.

Visiting my favourite chat site, I was pleased to see that the people there are even more special than I had assumed, and that I have been welcomed back. You can't know how much of a relief it is to be back there. I've grown accustomed to the people, and really feel like it's a place I want to visit. Thank you (you know who you are).

I was also happy to see a friend back online after a short, but noticeable absence. I hope all is well.

We have a new mattress, and a signed offer sheet on a new car! There was time to go to dealership #2 today, but they close early on Wednesdays. Tomorrow, I'll do the deal for the second vehicle.

What an experience. The bank is a scary place. We came prepared with all our income slips, net worth statement, balances on our bank accounts, investments, and loans... and the bank officer complimented us on our organization. After nearly two hours of keying things on the computer, we got our answer... we didn't qualify for a car loan!

How could that happen? We've been good customers for years. Not a single late payment on any of our obligations, and a sizeable combined family income. We went over the assessment line-by-line. Finally, we saw a glaring item. It seems that back in December when we bought our treadmill, the fitness store was offering a 60-day same as cash deal. We just had to undergo a quick credit check, and we instantly qualified for a line of credit from one of those "alternate lenders". We paid the treadmill off, in full, before the end of the 60 days (much to the chagrin of the lender, who would have just-as-soon seen us go on a revolving credit line at 28% interest).

Well, it seems that this credit company, in the process of extending us this "line of credit", had "burned" that amount (i.e. the bank considered that credit used, even though we owed nothing, and had no intention of ever using it again). To make a long story short, when we removed the reference to that line of credit, all of a sudden, we showed up clean as a whistle, credit worthy, and pre-approved for both vehicles.

Next came our trip to dealership #1. I finally decided today which vehicle I was going to buy (my wife's decision had been made months prior) and it turns out it would not come from the same dealership as my wife's. I had been hoping to buy two at the same place, to get extra leverage; but there was not much leverage to be had on the wildly popular vehicle we wanted. Today, we gave them a deposit, and will return to the dealership later tonight to sign the contract. We would have finished the paperwork this afternoon, but had to leave because we're expecting the new mattress to be delivered within the next couple of hours.

Dealership #2 will wait until tomorrow. That's when I will sign the paperwork for my vehicle, and then we will be set for the next five years.

There are some people that I find it difficult to communicate with. If I say something completely meaningless and superficial, that seems to be fine. If I show emotion or express an opinion, I am ridiculed and berated. And if I simply sit mute, I am deemed to be brooding and uncommunicative.

Today, for the umpteenth time, I involuntarily offended a very nice person. Again, as with all previous offenses, I had no idea that I had said something offensive. Today, apparently, it was the last straw. I don't expect forgiveness, because without knowing what I've done wrong, it is unlikely that the offense can be avoided in the future. What I would like is the ability to maintain my contacts with other people in the circle. I am hopeful that I haven't offended everyone so grievously as to be unwelcome under any circumstances.

Steve,

I just read your blog. I'm sorry for your loss.

Today can be summarized in two words: mission accomplished.

I had a couple of important errands to take care of today: checking on the status of some medical claims, and making an appointment to see the bank about car loans. Both of these items were handled, and I also had my second installment of the Microsoft Project course tonight. And I got my homework done in plenty of time (during class) to be able to make it home for "24" without endangering life and limb.

Tomorrow, after our visit to the bank, I should spend some time studying the home-study courses. We'll see about that.

Not much else on my mind today, except for something work related that I can't really discuss here. It's not about my career or anything but I don't want to reveal anything else in this forum.

I called GM today to verify what it would cost to buy out the lease on my car. I had underestimated the amount by nearly $4000, so the payments to keep this current car (instead of getting a new one) just went up by over $200 per month. That makes it impractical to keep the current car. Then, I went to another site, that offers appraisals of used vehicles. The appraisal on my current car comes in at about $3000 less than what I would have to pay GM to buy out my lease. There goes my incentive to buy the car out!

When I first got this car, I marvelled at how much value I was getting. So, on a lark, I went to a new car site to price out the current year's model of the same car, equipped exactly as the one I have now. Guess what? GM must have figured they were giving away this car too cheaply, because the cost to replace this vehicle with the same model is more than any of the other cars I've been considering - and not by a small amount! So, now I'm doubly depressed. Not only is it not cost effective to buy this car out, but replacing it with the same model will cost me more than replacing it with other models I've been considering.

Maybe I should start taking the bus!

I'm going to go a bit out of character for a minute, so bear with me. The word "Penis" is one of those words that I say once in a while just to shock people. I generally utter it when I'd rather use a much stronger expletive. So, the angrier I am, the more likely you'll hear me say "penis".

Just after I wrote my last blogger note, I returned to blogger's home page, where I came across a site called My So-called Penis. Well! I couldn't just pass by an opportunity to visit that site, so I did. While I don't think it's necessarily my cup of tea, it may appeal to others who read my blog, so I'll leave the link here.

This time of year is one of the most stressful. It is the time when all my receipts need to be gathered together to prepare a package for the accountant who will be charged with doing my income tax preparation. Usually, we have received all medical reimbursements by this time, so the medical file not only details the expenses (both allowed and disallowed) but also includes all the receipts. Because we have not yet received all the reimbursements from the insurance company, my wife and I are reluctant to let the receipts out of our control. Insurance companies can be pretty stingy, and many times, they will lie and tell you that you forgot to file a claim. Your only recourse is to re-file. Anyway... this year, we have several thousands of dollars in outstanding medical expenses that have yet to be reimbursed, and I think those will be allowed as claims against income (I really don't know the details of tax filing any more, since this will be the fourth year in succession that we have allowed an accountant to file our taxes for us).

The preparation took about two hours, and then I took time to finish some homework for the course I've been taking at work. All together, those two activities have more or less taken up the entire afternoon.

Tomorrow, I will once again try to get in touch with the insurance company to inquire about outstanding claims. Unfortunately, the company didn't expect that Canadian residents would need to file claims with a U.S. company, so their toll-free number does not work from Canada. Furthermore, they have no published direct dial number (why would they need one - the entire country can call toll-free).

I'm not complaining too bitterly, because I'm still on the good end of the equation (working for U.S. dollars but spending them in Canada). But it does have it's down side.

Sitting in my living room this morning, I was listening to Celine Dion's duet with Bocelli, and it reminded me of music I had heard yesterday while shopping with my wife. I knew I had heard it before. It was catchy, romantic, and somehow, I knew some of the words.

This morning, when I tried to think of the lyrics, they wouldn't come to me. Nor would the name of the artist. Internet to the rescue. I had to figure out who the artist was first. I thought of the young man who made a couple of guest appearances on Ally McBeal. What's his name? I tried getting the information from IMDB.COM, but the episode guide wasn't complete. So, I tried FOX.COM and after a lengthy search, was able to locate one of the episodes the singer had been a guest star. The singer was Josh Groban. Armed with this information, I found a web site featuring Josh, then proceeded to listen to snippets of his songs. Though I didn't find the song I had heard in the store, I did find the song that Celine had done (I guess that's why I thought of Josh in the first place).

OK, it's not Josh, so who else could it be. As I wracked my brain trying to remember, I came up with three possibilities: Light House, Creed, and Enrique Iglesias. I had trouble finding a modern version of Light House (the only band I found were from the 60's, so maybe "Light House" was not really the band's name). I found Creed, but when I listened to the first song, I realized the voice didn't match my recollection of yesterday's artist. So, I tried Enrique.

This guy's recorded a lot of music! I didn't want to take time to listen to all the songs, and none of the song titles struck a note of recognition. Then, I decided to search for "Iglesias Lyrics". I'll be damned... I found a site with lyrics to about a dozen of his songs. I had viewed the first three when my wife (who was sitting by my side as I did this searching) suggested I try the last song in the list. She recognized the title, and thought it might be the one. IT WAS!!! As the lyrics popped up on the screen, that sweet feeling of recognition washed over me, and I realized I had found what I was looking for.

That would have been impossible without the internet.

Here's the song lyrics: Could I have this kiss forever

I'd been quite a regular on AWC for the past couple of months, and I guess it's just gotten old. Today I visited for the first time in over a week, and when I went to voice chat, one of the regulars remarked on how it had been some time since I had last visited. I guess when you let kids into a candy shop, they're apt to over-indulge; but when they get a sore tummy, they understand that everything, even fun things, must be done in moderation.

Believe it or not, I tend to enjoy AWC more for it's voice chat than any other feature. So today's visit marked a turning point. I didn't view any of the cams; and I only stayed in voice chat for a short while. Just long enough, actually, to give my blogspot address to Gary Gadget (the regular of whom I spoke). So Gary, if it's another long while until you see me again, it's because the cams are boring, and I've been trying to keep busy with more important things. I do hope that you get a chance to read my blog, and stay in touch. You are one of the more enjoyable visitors to voice chat.

I'm in love with someone other than my wife. It's my doctor. He called on Friday with the results of my latest blood tests. As I expected, my diabetes continues to be under control, and I've finally gotten to the point where I am comfortable with most of the restrictions on my diet relative to sugar intake. I just have to reduce the carbs a bit more. My blood-sugar readings are well within the range of a non-diabetic, and have been for quite some time. Now, the cholesterol is a different matter. While the bad cholesterol is now under control (the doctor called the readings "phenomenal"), the good cholesterol is still very low. As I expected, the doctor has grown impatient with my inability to bring the numbers up on my own. Soon, I will begin a drug regimen to help bring those numbers up.

I will try to help my cause by losing some weight, although I need to do it in a way that can be maintained for long periods. Special diets, and forced exercise won't cut it long term. I had been avoiding the treadmill due to an injury to my back back in January. I think it's time to start back with my simple walking regimen. That, along with the drug treatments, should help me get my cholesterol back up. I wonder whether an improvement in this area will give me more energy.

I've had a wonderful afternoon with my wife today. Things have been stressful lately, what with the hunt for automobiles, and the uncertainty about my job. All I can do is keep taking the self-improvement courses, and keep up with my technical capabilities. I'm back to doing a couple of pet projects. But, I'm trying to find a way to do them using a different computer technology - one that's more mainstream. Unfortunately, I don't have the cash to go out and buy an expensive software development suite, so I may have to resort to Linux and Java freeware. It's not the way I'd prefer to go, but I may not have a choice.

I slept in today, and it felt good. This afternoon, we've decided it would be a good idea to test drive cars that cost less than those we had settled on, and come Monday, I'll also investigate whether it's worthwhile to purchase the car I've been leasing. It may help with the expenses. After all, I like my current car so much, it has been the benchmark for all my test drives.

I am feeling mixed emotions for one of my internet buddies today. On the one hand, he is going through some rough times dealing with illness in his family. On the other, he is celebrating the release of his debut CD. I wish him all the best on both fronts.

Another of my internet buddies is going through a rough emotional patch, and except to say that I am keeping my ears open for whatever she's willing to share, I respect her right to privacy. Sometimes it's difficult to know what to say or do. Suffice to say she's in my thoughts.

I am so damned predictable, even when I don't want to be. At 10:00PM tonight, it hit me that I had forgotten to go to my dentist appointment tonight. Wouldn't you have thought that all the talking I had done about it, including my statement that I would probably forget, would have made me more prone to remember?

When I get wrapped up in something, everything else just disappears. Today, it was the cars. My wife and I will have to settle for something less than we want, because we just can't justify the cost of what we do want. And today was particularly frustrating, because I spent close to an hour talking with the really nice, helpful salesman at the place we can't afford to purchase from. I have to tell him, I can't just disappear into the woodwork. Thing is, if my current job situation wasn't so fragile, we would go with the more expensive vehicle, because it's much better. It's worth every penny of the cost. We simply can't afford it in this job market. There's about a 20% difference in the cost of the two "packages". It's just too much to ignore.

What am I going to tell my dentist tomorrow? I think I should just tell him the truth. I forgot. Plain and simple. And I'll have to just forget about this appointment and wait until the next scheduled one. Because, if I have it now, that will throw off the schedules of my next three appointments (there's a minimum gap that needs to be left for insurance coverages to be in effect). Simply skipping this appointment will mean the others can stay as they are.

We have a new lawn service for this year. The choice was made based on gut feel. Dealing with a smaller company, whose owner does her own door-to-door estimates swayed us over from one of the large national chains. Let's hope it wasn't the wrong decision.

With respect to car-shopping, I've studied the figures carefully... and I have no idea what I will do. As expected, the "best reviewed" vehicles cost more than the marginal ones, but we do have budget considerations to live within. I just hate to settle for second best, specially when I know going in that it's second best. What to do, what to do...

My wife and I went car shopping yesterday. We've been doing it for so long (narrowing our choices) that the salesmen all think we're crying wolf. Hardly anyone is taking us seriously. But today, for the first time, we're asking questions about up-front fees, delivery lead-times... I think they realize it's time. How depressing. The only way to keep our payments anywhere near what they have been means taking on a longer lease term. And we also purchased a new mattress for the guest room. It's supposed to arrive next Wednesday.

The evening prayer meeting at my cousin's house was again well attended, and since I am awake, I expect I will be going again this morning. So far, I still remember that I have a dentist's appointment tonight.

I'm starting to get angry with NBC. For the past two weeks in a row, they've been talking up "West Wing". Now, this is a show that I will watch with no prodding required. It is intelligently written and well acted. But, the ads for this program have recently been over the top... They've talked about "can't miss" episodes or "important" episodes. I'll admit that last week's episode had a couple of engaging, interwoven story lines, but last night's episode was a complete throw-away. Under normal circumstances, I would have considered it "OK"; but, given the hype, I instead considered it hugely unsatisfying. Is viewership down for this show? Is that why the ads are trying to get more people to watch? Whatever the reason, it should stop. I'm a rabid fan, and if it's starting to tic me off, I would imagine other viewers are totally annoyed.

My step-son had his girlfriend over last night, and after West Wing, she needed a ride home. I had previously volunteered for this duty, and when it came time, they politely reminded me that it was time to go. I like seeing them together. He treats her respectfully, and I'm really happy to see him behave that way. After she got dropped off, he again thanked me for the favour. I reminded him that it's a pleasure to help him out, seeing that he is such a good kid, and I'm appreciative of that fact. The difference this time is that he didn't cringe at the compliment. Usually, when confronted with such "mushy" praise, I'd see "Oh dad, stop fussing" -or- "Yeah, big deal" in his expression. Last night, it was different. Last night, I got the impression that he really believed me, and was mentally taking stock of the benefits of being a "good son". Not in a manipulative, self-serving way, but in a genuine way. I'm really proud of him. He's a much better person than I.

His mom sees him in a somewhat different light. She sees him as abandoning the church, listening to the devil's music, and taking a path away from the teachings of the bible. She spends much more time with him than I do, so their personal mini-conflicts have more of an effect on her than they do on me. Once in a while, I have to point out the good things about our son... the fact that even when he experiments with ideas and substances that we don't approve of, he will own up to his behaviour; admitting to us what he has done, despite knowing that there will be consequences to his actions. If we've taught him anything, it's that our love is unconditional, and that truthfulness is the most important thing he can offer us. Over the years, Jon has learned that he can tell us anything. While being resentful of our control (what teen isn't), we feel we're still able to communicate freely about any subject.

I expect he'll be wanting to move out as soon as he can scrape together enough money to afford an apartment and a car, because we are more restrictive than some of his friends' parents. And there are times when he really resents us for our determination to keep him away from the worst influences. But, there are those other times when we can see the bulb go on - where he says "friend 'x' just got thrown out of his house for staying out all weekend", or "friend 'x' just got into his third car wreck and is grounded for life" - and realizes that we care more about him than his friends' parents cared about their son.

How do good intentions go awry? This morning, I awoke on the couch, having succumbed to self-induced insomnia by staying up most of the night watching TV. My wife stuck her head into the room to announce that Daisy was on her way to the "spa" (we say that so Daisy won't get upset about getting a bath and nail clippings - think she really knows what's going on). I nodded wearily, and went back to sleep. Just before 9:00AM, I woke up again, this time for good. And in that moment, I realized where I had not been at 7:45AM. Oops! It had totally slipped my mind. I was supposed to be at my cousin's house. Ordinarily, this would not have been tragic, except I had specifically promised to be there. And you want to hear another bummer... I had a dental appointment scheduled for the end of February. About three weeks before the appointment, the dentist called and said they needed to reschedule because they were moving to a new facility, and their office would be closed the last week of February. Not a problem, just reschedule. So they did. For tomorrow at 6:20PM - an appointment I had totally forgotten until they called to confirm yesterday evening. Which means I will miss the evening service at my cousin's house tomorrow. What's more, with my penchant for short-term memory loss, it's even money I forget the dental appointment too.

But there is some good news. I have glasses with two arms. Ones that stay on my head when I look down. Ones that allow the lenses to remain in their proper position, so I don't have to constantly adjust them. It's amazing how much we take for granted the little things.

I met a new chatter on Benway's chat room tonight. Her name is "rootie_" and I think she'll be a good addition to the room. Hey, anyone who thinks my granddaughter is cute can't be all bad!

Oh yeah, one more thing. The optometrist called today and left a message while I was at my course. The parts to fix my glasses came in today. Tomorrow, I finally get the glasses fixed. Oh joy!

OK, I took my remote to the electronics store to have it checked out. The guy in the TV department loaded it with batteries, aimed at a wall full of TVs and VCR's, and voila! The remote worked. Every machine responded properly. So, I bought batteries (and while I was there I bought my wife some NiMH rechargeables and a charger for her digital camera) and headed home.

I was so excited... put the batteries in the remote, took aim and NOTHING. The damn remote wouldn't control the VCR. Not even the POWER button did anything! So you say, it's not the remote, it's the VCR. Well, how do you explain that the other universal remotes that I use for various purposes ALL have the ability to turn the VCR on/off, to change channels, to fast-forward, rewind, play, stop, even record. The only remote that doesn't work is the one that came with the unit. So why do I need it? Because the only way to PROGRAM this VCR to record a program some time in the future is by using the remote. And the universal remotes don't have all the right buttons.

Arrrrggghhhh!

So, I ended up using the other VCR (the one that's upstairs in the common TV room - where anyone could accidentally turn it off, or eject my tape to watch one of their own). I left a note, threatening bodily harm to anyone who screws with my program, then I headed out to work.

Well, you should have seen me drive back from training. It's a good hour to work, that's with traffic being not very heavy. And that's in good weather. It's snowing today, and snowing steadily. I got out of class at 8:19PM. My program was scheduled to start at 9:00PM. At 8:58PM, I arrived home. I just drove 36 miles in 39 minutes, crossed an international border, went through customs, and about 10 miles of that drive was on city streets - while it was snowing.

Yes, there were several close calls, and no, I don't want to talk about them right now. But I got home in time to watch "24". Life could not be better.

Then, finally, after that, I had to take a break to eat. So, I went out for fast food takeout, and returned home by 10:20PM to watch the remainder of "Philly".

Let's see, what else is happening. I called a couple of lawn services today. One has already come to the house and left an estimate. The other will be coming tomorrow. My wife was impressed that I hadn't forgotten. My question is "why was she surprised?". I think I should be insulted.

Tomorrow is my wife's day off. Among the things she wants to accomplish tomorrow is buying a new mattress for the guest room. I guess she's finally had enough of my snoring. Could this be the first step to sleeping in separate rooms permanently? God, I hope not. We only have one alarm clock!

Why today? Why can't I catch a single break. It's early, and I'm trying to prepare my VCR for tonight's episode of "24". I don't use my VCR much, because I spend outrageous amounts of time in front of the boob-tube, and I am lucky to not have conflicting favourites (two shows on simultaneously that are must-see). I got my tape ready for tonight, then discovered that my VCR doesn't have any programming capability on the main unit - programming must be done through the remote. Remote? Who uses the remote? My VCR is always on channel 3. I use the remote for the cable box!

OK, don't panic, this thing must have come with a remote. Let's find it. Where should it be? Well, my wife, neat freak that she is, long ago decided that remotes should go in the hidden drawer underneath the sofa. My main remotes don't go there, because I use them too often. But hey, it's a good place to start the search. I don't believe it, it's actually there!

It doesn't work. OK, there aren't any batteries. Let's get some batteries. There are lots of remotes around here, so I'll just transfer some batteries temporarily....

It still doesn't work. That just can't be! It has to work! I can't believe it. This damned remote, which I may have used twice in it's whole life, doesn't work anymore.

I'll write more after I go out and buy a new one.

Yesterday night, I watched prime time TV, but fell asleep on the couch during the evening news. When I woke up at 4:00AM, I dragged myself to bed. This morning, I was due to be at my cousin's house for 7:45AM. I got there at 7:30AM and was the first one there, although within 5 minutes of my arrival, there were five more people, and then they started arriving like flights at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. By 7:45AM we had at least 15 people present.

My glasses have not been staying on my face very well, and today, during the morning prayers, they fell off again. I tried to catch them, but I was hopelessly entangled in my prayer shawl, and I expected them to hit the ground hard. But, my commotion caught the attention of one of the younger attendees, and he made a deft save, just before they hit the ground. Thanks, Steve, for the save.

Steve had an interesting story to tell us this morning (actually, his dad started bragging, and Steve had to fill in the details). Apparently, one of the Canadian Olympic free-style skiers is a long-time patient of Steve's (Steve is a dentist). And apparently, this skier either lost, or somehow damaged his mouth guard during the Olympics. I'm not sure of the details, but Steve was in Salt Lake City for the games, and took time to build a mouth guard for his patient during the games, and (drum roll...) was caught on camera, on national TV, inserting this mouth guard into the skier's mouth just before his jump. I guess the mouth guard wasn't enough for the skier to win a medal. He finished 8th.

My wife gave me an errand to do today. She's been bitching about our crappy lawn service for several years. They never call before coming, then complain that we left the gate locked, or the dogs in the yard... Meanwhile, my sister, who's be using a competitor's service, has nothing but wonderful things to say about their timeliness, courtesy, and general planning. So, at the end of last season, my wife finally decided to switch services. Today, she called the service to get us set up as customers in time for the spring lawncare season.

Would you believe... my sister's service has sold all their local contracts to their competitor (the do-no-goods). So, my wife has thrown up her hands and has informed me that I am now in charge of lawncare. I can choose any service I want, as long as it's not the same company we've used for the past few years. Actually, I can choose that one if I wish, but then I will be in charge of the day-to-day liason between them and us. So, I've called a few services and asked them to leave estimates.

Tonight, I have the first installment of my second management course. I have to ensure I leave my TV set up to record "24". Fox used to play reruns of the series on Friday night, but they've stopped doing that. And we don't get the F/X station on our local cable package, so I don't have the option of watching reruns on their network.

Well, that's it for now. Time to relax a bit, before getting ready for classes later this afternoon.

It's been a relatively slow day today. Except for the shopping, the only thing I did today of any significance was to go sit shiva at my cousin's house. My cousin is well known and well liked in the community, so there was no lack of attendance. My presence was not required from the perspective of having a quorum, but I still felt right about going. Shiva lasts for seven days from the date of death, meaning that Friday will be the last day. There are two sittings, morning and evening. I was unable to make the morning meeting today (because of my doctor's appointment), and I have work-related appointments tomorrow evening, but other than that, I plan to attend all the sessions.

I just looked at my watch, and realize it's time to watch primetime TV. More later....

I like shopping: either for myself, or for gifts I intend to buy for others. I don't like being dragged on a shopping expedition by my wife. For her, shopping is a sedative; a means of washing away the stresses of the day. She shouldn't shop for the sake of shopping, because it gets too frustrating to find something she really likes, then have to walk out of the store empty-handed because it's not in her budget.

When I shop, it's generally in a computer store. I enjoy tempting myself with the latest whizbang items, and then stepping away when the salesman starts to ask how many I want, and in what colours. I realize I'm toying with him. If he's a nice guy, I'll warn him ahead of time that I'm "just looking", but if the guy is high pressure, I'll let him take me to the edge before I deliver the bad news.

As much as I can enjoy shopping without spending a dime, there are times when I'm on a buying mission. Those trips are characterized by focused walks to the correct department, and direct questions about warranties and return policies. When the salesman comes to the realization that I'm an easy sale, ready for the picking, I give him my order.

I go through shoes faster than anyone I know. There are several reasons for this, the main two being: I only wear one pair until they fall apart, and I walk funny, so they fall apart rather quickly. At Christmas time, when I was buying several new articles of clothing, I stopped by the shoe department, but didn't buy, because my shoes were in very good shape. Today, just two months later, my shoes are worn to the leather, with less than a hundredth of an inch of sole, and not much more heel. I stepped into the store, said hello to George (don't you know the salesman's name by heart where you shop for clothing), and told him what I wanted. The exact same shoes I was wearing, in the same size. George looked worried - he didn't think he had that size, and asked whether I would take a 9-wide instead of an 8-1/2 double wide. He should have known better. Just to make sure, he went to check the back, and emerged with ONE SHOE, 8-1/2 double wide. Searching the store display, he found it's mate. I tried the shoes on only to make George feel better. I knew they'd fit. And, less than 10 minutes after arriving, I departed with my new pair of shoes. George should expect to see me again before the year is out...

(honey, if you're reading this - yes, I remembered to use your gift certificate - thank you very much!)

I'd like to leave the house to do my errands, but I keep getting caught up on stuff. For instance, I've been having trouble downloading course material from my CBT courseware provider (Smartforce in Ireland). It was symptomatic of the download and surfing problems I've had of late. Well, it turns out that the Smartforce techies were easily able to solve the download problem. They had me run a utility that their installation program loaded onto my PC. This utility tells me what the course-installation procedure is expecting to find when it checks key installation parameters. The culprit appears to be an out-of-date proxy statement that referred to a proxy used by the now-defunct Excite@Home network.

When I checked the current value of the proxy in my Internet Options, it was set to blank (no proxy). This is what I had been told to enter after Excite went belly up. Well, it turns out there is an undocumented proxy set up by Cogeco cable. This proxy was exposed by the winipcfg routine. When I entered the proxy value into the internet options area, guess what.... not only did the Smartforce module download start to work, but all the speed issues I've been having for the past couple of weeks disappeared instantly. I may not have to trade my modem in after all!

I'm back home after my visit with the doctor. He wasn't as ornery as I had expected, probably because my weight had not climbed as much as I had previously thought. I think it was only a pound or two above my last visit. Blood was drawn, in order to check my cholesterol and blood sugar levels, but I am not anticipating a large change from the readings of four months ago.

Doc has been concerned with my cholesterol for some time. While the medication I am on has brought my "bad" cholesterol down to acceptable levels, he still thinks my "good" cholesterol needs to be raised. I think I'll have one more crack at doing it myself (using the treadmill). If I don't show improvement on my next visit (or perhaps even after today's blood test), I believe the doc is going to start me on more medication.

I have to do some research for recreational purposes this afternoon, but after that, it's back to work. I've been having lots of trouble connecting to various web sites of late, and I'm beginning to think it's my cable modem. I've had it nearly two years, and it may be time for an upgrade. A call to the tech centre today got me in touch with a guy who tried all the non-hardware ways to improve performance - cleaning out my cache, my cookies, and tweaking my registry settings. Still, after all that, it took over 30 seconds to get my homepage to come up. He found that unacceptable, and has issued me authorization to trade my modem for a newer model. I'll do that tomorrow morning.

Yesterday, I had commented on how cold it was, and that despite the cold, there were many people at the funeral. Damn, yesterday was a walk on the beach compared with this morning. The temperature outside was -13C (8F) when I left the house this morning. That makes it officially the coldest day of the winter thusfar, and just five days ago, the temperature was in the low 60's.

That's enough for now. Got to get some errands done.

Monday morning. It's going to be a good day. Start by saying that Sunday night was fantastic. My wife and I had our usual Sunday night meal at our favourite restaurant (we even invited our son and his girlfriend to accompany us, but they declined). After that, I returned home just in time for my Sunday night TV ritual... Alias (she's so hot!), Law and Order CI, and usually The Practice. But yesterday was different. My wife had been playing around with Microsoft e-books on her computer yesterday, and she was excited about showing me what she had accomplished. After Law and Order, I spent the next hour-and-a-half scouring the internet for "vocal chords". They're like skins, only they're voice personalities compatible with Microsoft's Speech Engine.

Yup, we spent one-and-a-half hours searching, and we found nothing, nada, not even one additional voice. Sure, we found sites that said they had voices, but only if you purchased their SDK's (software development kits, for you non-programming types). Or maybe they had voices designed specifically for the games they published. But nowhere could we find smooth-reading, naturually-sounding voices - the kind you would want to hear if your mom was reading you bedtime stories.

So what did I do? I went to bed! And fell asleep quickly. And snored to beat the band. In fact, I snored so loudly that my wife abandoned the bed, and sought shelter on the nearest planet (not far enough away, as far as she's concerned, when I'm in full voice -- ain't sleep apnea a bitch!). This morning, I'm well rested, ready to go for my doctor's appointment (where I will get royally reamed out for gaining weight when I'm supposed to be on a strict diet), and ready to get down to some serious re-training upon my return home.

I think I'll also spend some time today looking for a more comfortable mattress for the guest room, in case I get kicked out of the bedroom tonight!

It is bitterly cold outside. The wind is rushing by at about 30mph sustained, and the temperature is firmly in the 20's. Snow is falling sideways in the stiff breeze. It is a fitting day to bury a friend. Not my friend, of course, but a friend to my parents, and to the hundred or so mourners who braved the cold to pay their last respects.

Sam was 96, and had lived a full life. His wife of over 65 years had passed a little more than two years ago, and it was time for them to be together again. Sam's two children were there (a son and daughter), and they spoke fondly of their childhood memories, and of the many good years they had enjoyed with their father. His son broke down during the eulogy; his daughter, always the rock of Gibraltar, stood up well under the pressure. But, it was clear that they loved their father, and I am certainly glad I took the time to actually visit the cemetery and return with the mourning party for the wake.

I hadn't intended to do so. I had planned to attend the prayer vigil at the chapel, then head home to my wife. But poor timing on my part caused me to leave too late. Although I got to the chapel before the beginning of the memorial service, I was too late to join the line of well-wishers visiting the family in the "grieving room". Had I been on time to pay my respects, I would not have felt obligated to go to the cemetery.

Leaving the chapel and entering my car, I realized I didn't have enough fuel to get me to the cemetery, and back to a gas station. For a moment, I thought about not going to the cemetery. Then, I decided to find a nearby station and hopefully fill up quickly enough to rejoin the funeral procession. Because I had arrived so late, my car was the last in my particular lane of the parking lot, and I was able to back out of the procession line and head off for a gas station. I didn't stop there long - just long enough to get about a 1/4 tank - and then went racing back to see if I could catch up with the funeral procession. Luckily, the last car of the procession had only travelled about three blocks from the chapel, and some deft driving allowed me to pass the three cars separating me from the procession and join the back of the line. I think I was about to become the target of road rage - until the drivers behind me saw me add the funeral procession flag to the roof of my car.

The burial service was short (due to the cold), but no less emotional than the prayer vigil had been. Each of the mourners who had chosen to go to the cemetery (and I was surprised just how many did go) was invited to participate by throwing a couple of shovels-full of earth onto the casket. After everyone had had their turn, we got into our cars and headed to the wake.

There was lots of good food at the wake, but I restrained myself and managed to not make myself look like a pig. There were lots of relatives there, and I took time to meet with each of them. Many, I hadn't seen in quite some time, and in the case of the younger couples, they had children I had never met. I had expected people to be crying, or at least emotional, but in the case of a dying elderly man, whose disease had been taking it's toll for some time, this death did not come as a surprise. While there was sadness evident, it was not overwhelming. Sam was a gentle man, a simple man, and he would probably have been embarassed by all the fuss being made in his honour. I had last seen him (ironically) at the wake for another family member. He will be missed.

A note from Jack:

Before posting, I did the old "select-all / copy" thing. Sure glad I did, because this post didn't get published the first time, so I saved myself some aggravation. Here's what I would have had to retype....

It was a mistake thinking that 3 hours was enough sleep yesterday. Despite not being sleepy just after getting up, it was clear that my whole day was affected. My attention span was limited, I didn't enjoy the movie as much as if I had been completely alert, and I was a zombie for much of the evening. I guess I fell asleep last night somewhere around 11:30PM on the basement couch. At about 6:00AM I work up and transferred to my bed. I just woke up a few minutes ago. It's nearly noon, and I'm still sleepy.

I've had a headcold for nearly two weeks. That's long for a cold, so maybe I've had two back-to-back. The last few days have been particularly miserable, with my cold also affecting my hearing. I got a call last night that my first cousin's wife's father died last night. The funeral is today. I will attend, although I hope they don't need me as a pall-bearer. Normally, I wouldn't mind, but I just don't have the strength today...

Happy birthday, Mom! Today is my mom's birthday. I sent her a card about 9 days ago, and hopefully it arrived on time. I have to remember to give her a call. Perhaps I'll do that now... OK, she did get the card, and was happy to hear my voice. She spends the winters vacationing in Arizona. They're due back to Canada just in time to file their tax returns (Canadians file at the end of April, not the 15th like the US). I also told her about the death in the "family". Apparently, my parents, being more in the same generation, were much closer to the deceased. She took it hard. I'll offer my condolences on my parents' behalf this afternoon.

My wife should be back from church in the next few minutes, so I should get off the computer and get ready for lunch.

I went to bed at 6:15AM this morning, and slept on-and-off until nearly 9:00AM. Somehow, despite the very short sleep, I can't say I've felt all that sleepy. It might catch up to me later today, but for now, all seems OK.

This morning, I was watching my wife play with Dreamweaver. She only started learning to use it last weekend, and she's already producing significant work (for the level of experience). Keep in mind, my wife enjoys computers, but has no formal training. Everything she knows about computers, software, hardware, etc. is self-taught. I was so proud of her progress! Not only was she designing attractive and functional web pages, but she was also using "power-tools" to optimize .jpg file sizes for the internet. The site where this tool and others can be found is Website Garage.

Anyway, after seeing her work, and helping her understand how the width and height parameters work within tables, we went shopping. The office chair that she bought before Christmas wasn't comfortable enough (it had no lumbar support), so we called the store to see if they would take it back if we wished to purchase an upgraded model. They were under no obligation to do so, as we were well outside the store's 30-day exchange policy limit. Despite this, we were told there would be no problem. It's stores like this that will continue to get my business, because they work so hard to earn it.

Now, we're back home with a much better chair. It was about $100 more than the one we returned (and that's the on-sale price). But it's really comfortable, and I feel my wife will be much more comfortable with it.

My mother-in-law was supposed to come for a visit this morning, to check out the treadmill, and look at my wife's new bible CD. She called at the last minute to say she wouldn't be coming - she had opted to shop instead. When my wife and I returned from the Staples store, there was a note on the door... she had shown up while we were out. Oh well!

Today, my wife and I will be going to see the Bruce Willis film "Hart's War". Although the TV previews seem to show a lot of action, the synopsis on the movie site talks about a more temporal theme.

Guess it's time to check the chat room, and see if anyone is home....

It's been a very fruitful evening. I've spent the last 3-1/2 hours fiddling with the blogger templates, trying to find one that gives me the type of flexibility I wanted, with enough room to customize it to my design.

It took me a while to decide which existing template I wanted to use. I finally settled on the template called "Roundy Stretchy Corners" because it defined it's tables in terms of percentages of screen real estate. This way, I can be certain that the blogger will behave acceptably regardless of the screen resolution of the end user. Also, where a higher resolution is being used, more of the screen will actually be used to display meaningful information. This is unlike many of the templates which, by using a fixed-pixel width for tables, caused the screen to be sparsely used under high resolutions.

Despite the fact that the template was basically how I wanted, there were issues regarding the manner that poster information was displayed. I also felt that the date fields were not prominent enough. After some judicious changes to the embedded style sheet (bless the heart of whoever designed this template), I finally got a look I could live with.

The next challenge, and ultimately one that I could not solve without a workaround, was one of "data repeatability". Unlike some templates that show the entire archive history on the main screen, this template simply has an archive link, and a separate "Archive" page is launched when you click on the appropriate link. What I wanted to do is take all the template customizations I did, and separate them into a couple of "include" files. My intent was to upload the include files to my website, and reference those files from inside the template at blogspot.com. I don't know if it was a matter of not knowing the proper syntax, but despite all efforts, I could not get the blogspot page to read the include file on my personal website.

In the end, I ended up cutting/pasting the appropriate code into the MAIN template and the ARCHIVE template. But it means that as I add website links to my local copy, I will have to edit BOTH of the templates and manually replace the current code with the new code. I still want to find a way to reference include files so that I only have to put changes in one place.

I'm pretty sure that the paid blogger modules can do server side includes using my own web server (if I had one). But, the free blogspot service uses a server for which I have no rights (outside of the automated blogger update screen). I don't think I have the ability to FTP .shtml files to their server.

Well, that's about it for tonight. Tomorrow, I will try to experiment with colours, to see if I care to make any changes to the basic colour scheme. Also, I'd like to add an email link to the blogger, but only if mail can be sent to a "blogger" mailbox and secretly forwarded to me. I don't want strangers to have a "real" email address for me.

So, what's up with TV tonight. There's some goofy award show on Fox TV. I hardly ever watch Fox. They only have two shows I enjoy: 24 and Dark Angel. Tonight was supposed to be the night for Dark Angel. I guess it got superceded by the "33rd Annual NAACP Awards". I'm Canadian, and I think the Juno Awards are stupid. It's like someone thought "we Canadians aren't good enough to win a REAL award, so let's have our own award show". I think that's dumb, and I think the NAACP awards are dumb for the same reason.

If Ebony magazine wants to do an article about the outstanding black entertainers of the year, more power to them. But I don't think every household in America needs to be subjected to a racially-restricted award show. As far as I can remember, there are no white-only, or hispanic-only or [fill-in-the-blank]-only award shows on TV. So what's up with that?

Now that I've been politically incorrect, let's get back to the business at hand. TV has sucked lately. Despite actually enjoying a small amount of Olympic coverage, it was a real drag being deprived of my favourite TV shows for 17 days. I thought everything was back to normal. I guess I was wrong....

As I feared, my glasses have come apart again. I had said earlier that I would not attempt to tape them again. I lied. I've tried three times since that post. Now, I have given up (on the tape, at least). But, the thought of having to do without the second arm for an entire week is driving me to desperate measures. I'm going to locate some crazy glue, and try to come up with some sort of splint that will help hold the damn thing together.

My vision correction is +6.75 diopter. Do you have any idea just how blind I am when my glasses are off? Take the following recipe: crazy glue, two tiny points of metal intersection, a splint (probably a toothpick), and VIRTUAL BLINDNESS. I wonder what you're supposed to use to remove crazy glue from your fingers....

I've spent most of the afternoon trying to make what I thought was a simple change to my template. In the right navigation bar, the dates are being shown on two lines, instead of a single line. I thought what I would do is change the width of my left table (since there is so much unused room) by 40 pixels, and add those 40 pixels to the right hand table (the navigation bar table). I was very careful, and did not make any errors (I know that sounds arrogant, but I do know how to read HTML and make rudimentary changes).

Anyway, when I was done, the boxes were properly resized, and the Archive dates fit on a single line (hooray!!!!). Unfortunately, just about everything else was screwy. The template I used contains references to javascript code to fill some areas of the screen. The actual code is not visible. Whatever that damned code is doing, it caused font sizes to change (even though I hadn't modified any font statements), and it even changed the way the title text was wrapped in the heading areas.

Believe me, before I would venture to say I did nothing wrong, I did everything I could to make sure things were OK. I took a copy of the original template and saved it (boy am I glad I did that). Then, after each iteration of edits, I ran my new HTML through a DIFF program to verify the scope of the changes when compared to the original template. Trust me, I didn't make a mistake. But, whatever is in that javascript code is killing me. It is so annoying, I may have to select a template that exposes all the code, so I can customize it more easily.

Worst case --- I'll create my own template when I have some time.

For now, unfortunately, I've returned to the original template. What a waste of time!

I just signed up for the "Blog This" feature. I'm dying to try it...

A few minutes before I left the chat, Mick came in. Apparently he's not feeling well, and will need our prayers to stay well during what is sure to be an exhaustive day of work tomorrow. Just as I was leaving the chat, my glasses fell apart again. I will have a hard time living with this inconvenience for an entire week!

Also while online, I found out that today is Arryana's birthday. Happy Birthday, Arry!

I'm on chat right now. It's been too long. And both Arryana and Steve were online. It's so good to be able to talk to them both at the same time.

Both of them are such good people, pure of heart, no games.

Well, I've just returned from the optician's office. My glasses are still under warranty (whew), but the new frames won't be in for a full week! The receptionist there taped my glasses together (a feat in itself, if you saw how thin the points of contact are), but I doubt it will survive the day. I'll probably not bother trying to tape them again the next time it falls apart.

My wife told me she might take the afternoon off work (she's got time-in-lieu owning) and that means we'll have lunch and the afternoon together. Although she takes off every Wednesday, that's her day for doing all the errands, shopping, laundry, etc. so it's really not a good day to spend time together. I'm looking forward to the company.

Once burned, twice shy. I find myself doing a "Copy" of this message before posting, just in case I lose it. At least I learn from my misfortunes.

What happened? Must have passed out on the couch while watching the news. I had meant to finish watching the news, catch Michelle Kwan on Jay Leno, then head over to the chat room... best laid plans, and all that.

I'm still pissed about my glasses, and will be taking a trip this morning to hopefully get them repaired. I don't have a backup pair that are worth anything (my prescription changed radically after my diabetes was discovered, so these are the only pair I can use to see anything). Despite the fact they are broken, I am amazed at how well balanced they are. With only one arm, I would have thought the glasses would rest lopsided on my head. They are staying reasonably straight across the bridge of my nose. That's a testament to their light weight and balance. The arms, I guess, were simply used to keep the glasses from falling off my face, and didn't have much to do with the balance. I've figured out why they broke... When I take my glasses off, I don't fold them and put them in a case... I just put them down with the arms still extended. When I pick them up, I generally do so by grabbing one of the ear-pieces and lifting. Over time, the stress on the metal joint (where the arm meets the glasses) must have been too much.

I'm still sleepy enough that I could fall back asleep if I stop now, so I will.