Life and death

I had actually typed the next few lines as part of my previous post, but thought they'd be better off separately...

I'm looking forward to my parents' return to Canada in April. They have been spending winters in Arizona for the past 20 years or so, and this year will be the last in their own condo. It's been sold - a concession to their aging and the realization that travel isn't as much fun when the majority of the people they used to visit are no longer among the living.

Speaking of which... during the past week, I attended a memorial service for the brother of the first girl I think I was ever in love with. I met her when I was in grade 10 and we were close throughout the next three years. I'd only seen her once or twice while I was a university student, because she had chosen a different path. I guess the last time I had seen her, before this past week, was in 1974 and maybe once more in 1977 (so hard to remember). Despite the pain of the moment, she seemed genuinely glad to see me - not even surprised that I had come. She should have been surprised... My sister had seen the obituary listing and informed me. Had it not been for that, I would not have known.

She was there with her grown children, and introduced me to them as "this is [email address]". We've been corresponding on and off for the past year, ever since my sister found an article about her in the Alumni magazine and passed the information on to me. I had so much hoped to be able to introduce my wife to her - oh what stories they could have shared - but my wife declined my invitation to come.

I'm still here

Nothing has been happening lately that's worth talking about. The past week at work was uneventful, with some accomplishments and some disappointments, but nothing to write about. My wife and I did have an evening out with my sister and brother-in-law which I would characterize as very enjoyable. I used the visit as an opportunity to shore up the defenses on their computer system. They should be somewhat more secure now than they were.

I also spent time this weekend shoring up my own network security. The wireless network here had been guarded by WEP encryption. I upgraded to WPA yesterday. I feel somewhat more secure.

Fun fun fun

I found this game on another blog. I haven't solved it yet, but I only have one more piece to locate.

Update
I found what I thought was the last piece of the puzzle, but I still can't escape from the room. I suck at these puzzles!

Valentine's Day Movie

My wife and I saw 50 First Dates today. It was very different than what I expected, but in a good way. More later... we've got dinner reservations!

Old dog wins

It's official. Pop-Up Disabler allows some forms of pop-under ads to get through. Pop-Up Stopper doesn't. Period. End of story. I tried reinstalling the challenger (after switching back to Pop-Up Stopper and going two whole days without a pop-under) and within 12 hours, I had seen my first pop-under. That's conclusive proof as far as I'm concerned. I'll "put up with" clicking on a Ctrl-key if I have to, to make my authorized popups appear. Who knows, with a bit of improvement, the challenger may yet return.

Updated opinion on Pop-Up Disabler

Since installing it, I've been receiving pop-under ads (those are the ones that are on your screen waiting for you when you close your browser window). I don't think the disabler is causing these to occur. I just think it's not catching them. To test my theory (or whether it's just a coincidence), I'll be disabling the new software and going back to my tried and true. The pop-under ads have happened perhaps three or four times over the past 24 hours, so if there is a pattern, it should disappear (or not) with my old software.

We'll see.

In the meantime, I'll be running Spybot S&D to ensure I haven't picked up adware/spyware.

More to come...

Very impressive!

I ran across this site today while reading the forums at dslreports.com. At first, I was impressed that Sergei had taken the time to document the strengths and weaknesses of every popup stopper software I had ever heard of. It sure sounded like a good service... and it appeared that his source of revenue for his endeavours was a panel of Google-sponsored ad links.

What I hadn't immediately noticed as a link at the top of his homepage - "Pop-Up Disabler". I clicked on it a few minutes ago, and it took me to an information page describing a utility he had written himself.

Finally, the reason for the website became clear. This man had researched all the popup stoppers on the market so that he could design one that was better.

My personal favourite has been Pop-Up Stopper Free Edition from Panicware. It's amazingly simple, really. It stops popups. Period. If there are things you want to appear, you simply hold down the Ctrl- key while clicking, and the box appears. I've always thought the product was awesome.

So today, I installed the new Pop-Up Disabler. It was eerie, really. No messages of any kind. Did I need to turn it on? There was nothing in the system tray. I looked at the list of programs on my machine. There was a new link for Pop-Up Disabler. But looking at the entry, there were simply entries for uninstalling, going to the website, and viewing the help file. Nothing about enabling the software.

Alright... I guess I'd have to test it. The first test... visit a few sites hosted by Yahoo/Geocities and Tripod. Tripod's pop-up ads had always been effectively blocked by Pop-Up Stopper, even though a visible "blink" was always noticeable as the popup came up and was instantaneously killed. With the new blocker, the blink never happened. Just a main screen, with no hint of popup. Then I tried going to a Geocities site. I guess I was a bit disappointed that the stupid floating ad appeared (it also appears with Pop-Up Stopper), but I understand that only one pop-up stopper on the entire market can stop those ads - and that program is not free. What really impressed me was when I tried to leave comments on blogs. The Pop-Up Stopper program automatically blocks the popup comment boxes. I have, over time, become accustomed to holding the Ctrl-key when I wish to comment. With the new software installed, clicking on a comment link brought up the comment box - no problem.

I'm going to keep this program installed a bit longer to see how it works, and to verify that it doesn't have any spyware component. But until then, I'm ready to give a preliminary endorsement to this product.

Leno in Wonderland

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is my late-night talk show of choice. While not as funny as David Letterman, I find his guests to be more A-list, and I enjoy his self-deprecating humour. Tonight, his monologue was off. He really wasn't that funny. And to top it off, at the end of his monologue, as he cut to commercial, he introduced his band leader to the audience (as he has done every night for nearly the past 12 years). I wonder what drug he was on tonight... introducing Kevin Eubanks as "Branford Marsalis" - his original bandleader who left the show in December, 1994.

Having fun!

One of the blogs I read featured a game link. I don't play games much... no patience/imagination/coordination - pick your reason. But this one sounded fun, so I took a look.

I've posted a jpg screen capture of my high score (updated from 593) and low score (not counting 0 of course - downgraded again from 148.6). Now it's your turn.



High Score



Low Score

Baby returned by father

The Amber Alert worked. Sunday morning, the baby was turned over to police by the man (father) who took it. Mom's still in the wind. The newspaper here is saying the mother was suspected of having done drugs/alcohol during the pregnancy, due to the baby going through convulsions noticed by nurses. After they sent a Child Services worker to question the mother, she got up and left the building with the newborn.

Amber Alert Ticker in action

This is one of those times where you really don't want to know whether a feature on your weblog "works". While pulling up my blog page, I noticed a LIVE AMBER ALERT being flashed across the top of my screen. This is scary stuff. I hope they catch the couple who made off with a 1-day-old baby here in town.

And me makes three

I've seen this on two of the blog sites I read, so I guess it's about time I tried it...



create your own visited states map

Yeah, I know, I don't get around much (and if it wasn't for a tourist spot called 4-corners, there'd be even less red)!

The bug

It came upon me suddenly. After Sunday dinner, I felt a bit queasy. I thought I had eaten too quickly, or too much. The drive home from the fast-food restaurant was difficult, as my stomach didn't feel much like being constrained by a seatbelt. But, a few hours later, I was fine.

The next morning, I woke up and had my usual breakfast, then started working. Within a couple of hours, I was feeling that queasiness again, but this time, it was worse. When lunch time rolled around, I didn't feel like eating, and skipped that meal. Good thing too! A half hour later, I found myself dry-heaving the remains of breakfast, and I kept up this behaviour intermittently for the next 8 hours. In between puking sessions, I managed to grab some rest. Dinner time came and I still wasn't in the mood for food, opting to continue sleeping. I slept, in fact, until the phone woke me up at 11:15AM Tuesday morning. It was my boss calling, wanting to know what had happened to me.

Although I had sent an email when I got my first attack, I guess I hadn't been clear that this was an extended bug, not just an inconvenient event. He sounded a bit pissed!

I tried to eat lunch Tuesday, figuring it had been more than 24 hours since I last had food or water, but I couldn't finish my lunch. It didn't feel right going down, and certainly didn't feel like it was going to stay down. By dinner time, I thought things were better, but even then, I was only able to finish half of my smaller-than-usual serving of chicken, rice, and vegetables.

It's now Wednesday morning, and I should be eating breakfast. I just don't feel very hungry, and every time I think about food, I feel like throwing up.

Whatever this is, I hope it goes away soon.

I couldn't believe my eyes...

Yesterday, I talked about a site I had joined a couple of years ago. I get more than 50 spams a day addressed to the email address I used when registering there. I visited them today to check my preferences area. Nowhere on the site does it give you the ability to opt in (or out) of anything. The only option available is to give up your membership. Since there's nothing that says I won't continue getting email to that address, even if I do give up membership, I won't bother.

Wham, bam, thank you, spam!

Never have I been so pleased to receive spam. I imagine shortly after writing this, I'll have grown tired of the whole thing, but for now, I'm reveling in the beauty of the new "statistics" feature built into the latest update of MailWasher Pro. For anyone with serious spam problems, I heartily recommend this software. It does a tremendous job of quickly filtering spam, using black lists from multiple sources (two are preprogrammed, but their website gives you more addresses that you simply add to the configuration file).

I've been using MailWasher software for well over a year, and MailWasher Pro since last March. The latest version, however, features a slick new user interface, and a "Statistics" area that gives you charts categorizing the type of spam you get, and the percentage of "good" to bad mail. Since I installed this version a week ago, the statistics page reported that I had received 566 pieces of mail, of which 87% was spam. And (here's the part I love) nearly 90% of the spam was detected by my own spam filters, with the remaining 10% being detected by blacklist servers.

I keep separate email addresses for every service I've signed up for, so I can track the source of my spam. In the previous version of MailWasher, I had simply put the description "Filtered" on all my custom filters. This past week, I labeled each filter with a meaningful tag, so I could see where my spam is coming from. Nearly 70% is going to one email address (which I used over two years ago to sign up in a webcam community when I first got a webcam). So, either they're selling their list, or their site is easy to hack. I suppose I should visit the site to check their "opt out" policy.

Tomorrow.

Medical miracles

I'd sure like to know when the Discovery Channel airs this.

Someone's pulling my feathers

Can you believe this?

Searching for ... truth?

Search engines are an incredible invention. I don't think many of us could locate anything on the internet (not specifically associated with a brand name) without them. As more pages are indexed, and as designers become more proficient at designing appropriate meta-tags, web pages are easier to find than letting your fingers do the walking.

But there is one domain in which traditional search engines are weak... categorization of blogs info. Because many blogs have archives that contain many unrelated posts, search engines that look for combinations of words are fooled into selecting totally irrelevant pages, simply because one word from a Monday post, plus one word from a Tuesday post, plus one word from a Wednesday post happen to match the three-word search phrase.

Since most blogs are either hosted on specific blog domains, or use specific tools (and associated templates) - all of which should be parseable by a sophisticated search spider, I believe the technology already exists for blogs to be properly indexed on a post-by-post basis, and not just on a document/page basis.

So, why this particular post? Because someone found this site by searching for a particularly offensive search phrase. And because my blog is archived on a monthly basis, all of my posts for a particular month were combined into a single document which happened to contain the "f" word (in a context related to being taken advantage of by a retail establishment), along with other non-offensive words that, by coincidence, happen to have been used (individually) over the course of the month. The resulting, very offensive phrase, was reported as a "match". Not only a match, but a match that appeared in the first page of search results!

That's just not right!

"D" is for ...

Yesterday, I unhappily reported that my new paintings would not be framed in time to be displayed for company. What I didn't say is that I pleaded with the framer to try to get it done that day. It's funny... my sister doesn't read my blog too often, but yesterday, she happened to see my remarks about the paintings, and immediately sent an email acknowledging she had read the blog entry, and was aware the paintings would not be on display.

Maybe three hours after I posted that piece, I got a call from the gallery. They had finished doing the frames and we could pick them up any time. My first inclination was to blog about it and post pictures of the framed works. Then, I decided to keep it a surprise - just in case my sister read the blog again before coming over. Knowing me, and my penchant for pulling last minute surprises, my sister asked me straight out while we were at the restaurant whether the framing had been completed. I continued eating and didn't answer, pretending to have not heard the question (my hearing is sub-par, so that sometimes works).

After dinner, when we headed back to our place for a movie night, the pictures were hard to miss. They went over well with my sister and brother-in-law. I don't know if they will buy anything from the gallery, but we did visit the website, and they were able to locate reproductions by an artist that strikes their fancy (I've never heard of this person). Anyway, the surprise was maintained, and I got the satisfaction of seeing their faces as they viewed the paintings for the first time.

Just call me devious.

And here are the paintings, framed and hung...


Hanging over the fireplace


Hanging on the livingroom wall

Off the wall

That phrase has several meanings. If I were a more prolific storyteller, I could lead you through the convoluted maze that is my mind before eventually getting to the punchline. But I know I can't weave a story to save my life, so I'll tell you straight. Despite gentle prodding and some not-so-subtle hints, we have not yet received our paintings back from the framing gallery. So, when we entertain tonight, where do you think our new paintings will be? ...

TGIF

Need I say more?

Where is everybody?

Is it the winter blues? Or maybe people are taking themselves too seriously? It seems there's quite a few people making the decision to hang up their keyboards and pack it in. Some of the blogs I frequent have either been on hiatus, or are on hiatus, or are thinking about going on hiatus. And while I'm certain that most people who read this blog wish I'd take the same road, I don't do this for others as much as I do it for myself.

Things have been a bit slow around here, primarily because my wife has had this cold for a week now, and she can't take the standard cold medicine because it would interfere with some other stuff she's taking. That means she's suffering more than you would normally expect, and that, in turn, is adversely affecting our social life. We've already had to postpone one night out with family, and if she doesn't improve soon, this weekend looks like a wasteland as well.

What a show!

My wife and I went to the Auto Show today. More precisely, it was the North American International Auto Show, in Detroit, Michigan. For the past week, only journalists and dignitaries were allowed to attend, and the local newspapers have been filled with pictures of the concept cars, and stories about the new models. Apparently, sixty new car models from manufacturers all over the world were unveiled this week to journalists. Today, the show opened to the public. I've been to many of these shows, but this is the first year I've gone on opening day.

In several ways, going to the show on opening day was quite different. First and foremost, the crowds are unbelievably large, and the models/spokespersons have not had the opportunity to practice their performances. We witnessed more than one flubbed line... but the funniest moment was when one of the models closed the door on a concept car, and the sideview mirror fell off! I think that by going on the first day, the spokespeople were fresh - not yet jaded by the throngs, and seemed more willing to talk about the cars, and their reactions to being in close proximity, than they are to do this after eight or nine days of working the show.

It's a given at all these shows that the most exotic cars are safely stowed behind barriers. The message is clear - look, but don't touch. This year, the Ferrari people (at least on this night), did something I've never seen before. They allowed people from the audience to enter the enclosed area, two people at a time - each escorted by a company representative - and get close enough to the car to touch it, open the doors, and take personal photographs of the vehicle and its interior. Mind you, the line to get in to the exhibit was so long, there was no way I was going to stand there. Still, the gesture was appreciated. None of the other supercar manufacturers allowed anyone to approach their cars.

While on the subject of supercars, I got the chance to see some supercar concepts from Chrysler (the ME412, my main reason for going to the show, was worth the price of admission all on its own), Mitsubishi, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Acura. The Acura NSX was on display, but couldn't hold a candle to their concept car. There were some very exotic (non-sportcar) concept cars, including one from Volkswagen that resembled a dune buggy in its body sculpting and suspension, but with doors that pivoted up like the ones on a Lamborghini. I got a good look at the Maseratis, the Bentleys and the lone Rolls-Royce. The model/spokesperson in the Rolls Royce exhibit was asked about "optional equipment". Her reply: "There are many choices, but no options". That was my favourite line of the afternoon.

I didn't see the Ford GT today (I looked, but didn't see it, despite the fact it was there, somewhere), though I did get a very close look at the new Shelby Cobra, which reportedly has a 650bhp engine. Spokesmen from Ford indicated the GT would be released as a production car next year, at a selling price of $150K (US), and that it would be the fastest production car in the world. That may be the case, but when the ME412 gets on the road, all bets are off. Published specs on the ME412 have it pushing out an incredible 850 bhp from its Mid-Engine 4-turbo V12 engine. It is designed to do 0-60 in 2.9 seconds, with a top speed of 400kph (248mph). My understanding is the GT has a top speed somewhere around 200 mph.

I'm rambling, but only because this show was a feast for the senses. Ironically, of all the awesome production and concept cars I saw today, the one that surprised me the most was a concept from Hyundai. It looked like it was just a year or two from production - didn't look far fetched at all - but it sure didn't look like any Hyundai I've ever seen. I imagine it would be the model for the next generation Tiburon. Even though it's only been a matter of hours since seeing the Hyundai concept car, I don't recall the grille being as pronounced as in the linked picture. The front end seemed smoother to me. Then again, I guess there has to be somewhere for air to get to the engine!

If you can't be at an auto show this year, and are interested in cars, this summary from AutoWeek magazine should fill your need for speed.

Not much happening (beyond everyday stress)

There's not much happening around here. Work is a bit stressful lately, with assignments dragging on far longer than I or my boss feel is reasonable. I've just had the most unbelievable string of bad luck - running into limitations with the programming tools I have at my disposal. It's nothing that a good training course couldn't fix, but what business has money to send people for training these days! It's so much easier for the boss to just lose his cool, fire you, and get someone else to take your place.

I'm normally not too concerned with my bosses' opinions, but since 1/5 of the staff has been let go since I moved back home, it's something that's on my mind.

The holiday's over

I've been working most of the holiday, with time off only for Christmas Day and New Year's Day. My wife, on the other hand, has been off for two straight weeks, and since I work from home, having her around has been almost like me being on vacation. Eating meals with her... having her wander in to my office to give me a peck on the cheek... and participating in short phone conversations that normally take place between family and friends during the holiday season - these things helped bring a little holiday spirit into my work day.

Today, she heads back to work. So, despite the fact I've been working most of the past two weeks, I guess it will feel like the holiday is finally over.

Dead man flapping

This news item seemed kind of gross! Whether the 81 year old victim was a prowler, or suffering from alzheimer's and simply lost his way home, it's still a weird way to go.

They arrived - but not in time for Christmas

I had ordered hand-painted reproductions of well-known paintings as a Christmas gift for my wife. They were ordered at the beginning of December, and I had hoped they'd arrive in time for Christmas. Due to a shipping snafu, they were sent to Ontario, New York, instead of Ontario, Canada. Needless to say, they floated around in limbo for a while before actually making it into Canada. Then, they were stuck at Canadian Customs over the Christmas holiday. We finally got them on Dec. 30th. After the paintings were ordered, I started searching for people who could do a good job of stretching and framing the work. I finally found someone, and today, we dropped off the paintings at the framer's gallery. They should be ready within the next two weeks.

Here are JPG's of the art we purchased:







We like the artist's work so much, we've already placed an order for an additional painting:




This could become an ongoing obsession, since my wife and I have similar tastes in art.

Year in Review

Overall, I've had a good year. The best thing to happen was moving back home and being allowed to telecommute. What's it like to be home? This should sum it up pretty well...



I know, I know... I'm pretty lucky to have such a fantastic family - a wife who loves me (and who I absolutely adore), great kids, fantastic grandkids. And the list goes on.

I hope everyone out there has a great new year, full of nothing but the best life has to offer. From my family to yours

Have a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Canada

In a move sure to win the hearts and minds of their customers, my ISP has delivered a really swell Christmas gift!

Tragic Earthquake

As a Jew, I have a distrust of mideast governments who make no bones about their feelings towards Israel. Still, as a human being, I am heartbroken when natural disasters cause widespread death among innocent civilians. I hope the government in Iran accepts help from any quarter, even Israel.

Update
The news keeps getting worse.

Update #2
I guess it was too much to expect.

Family Pride - Part 2

I just received the email below as forwarded by my sister. She's obviously proud of her son, Aaron, and I am too.

Update
The content of the email has been removed at my sister's request, but suffice to say he got a promotion.

It's just the latest step in his journey.

Merry Christmas and Happy Channukah

It's not that often that my wife's Christmas and my Channukah holidays coincide. I don't celebrate Channukah - I haven't since I was a kid. But I am still aware of its arrival, and having it come at a time when my wife is in full Christmas spirit makes things somehow a bit more tolerable. Don't get me wrong. I always love getting Christmas presents, and I'm usually as surprised as the recipient when people open gifts from me. It's just that much more enjoyable when I can mentally point at the calendar and think "this day is officially for me too".

Anyway, whatever your religious (or non-religious) persuasion, hope you have a good holiday season.

Walk like a man

I can walk! Oh sure, until this morning, I could hobble. But now, I can walk. I can perform the task of walking well enough to fool most people into thinking I always could! But you and I know better. It's been three weeks since I started taking the medication, and it seems to have done the trick. Most of the past two weeks have been relatively pain free (except when I over-reached my capabilities). Now, I think I should be able to climb stairs without much difficulty, having been able to successfully rise from a squatting position a short while ago.

Nigeria calling

Who here has not been spammed by "Nigerians" claiming that, with a small investment of your time and money, you will be rewarded with a huge windfall? Of course, nobody falls for this... or do they?

Can you imagine the greed of some people to actually believe this stuff?

Off to see the wizard

In a few minutes, I hit the road for a short trip to Toronto. I have to spend some face-time with my boss and colleagues, so what better time to go than coincident with the Christmas party?

See you back here Friday evening!

A leg up

My legs have not yet healed. Pain in the first knee (the one that has been sub-par for more than two weeks) is all but gone, even under stress. However, the additional stress placed on the remaining leg has taken its toll. Normally the weaker of the two legs, I had previously commented that it was now required to do much more work than it had ever done; and it has finally given out. My ankle on the other leg is so inflamed I can barely put weight on it, even as the knee on the other leg is just about ready to bear signicant weight. The net result is that my ability to walk is nearly as compromised as it was two weeks ago.

I write this as I wait for my wife to return with dinner. I couldn't muster enough energy to make it into the car.

Good news for Iraqis

Saddam has been captured. What better news could there be for this country where fear of retribution has kept some of the population from embracing peace and change. Ironically, I discovered the news of the capture through someone else's blog and thought it was a joke until I saw it confirmed on a news wire. I can't think of a better way to end the year.

Link Updates

Since changing my blog template, I've noticed the right-hand column has more room for longer blog names. So, I've decided to use the proper name for Warrior Princess' blog - "Pretty girl in the corner". Also, from Lux's blogroll, a new entry on my list... Anne ... straight from the hip.

As usual, enjoy!

This is a job for Nocho-man

Technical discussions in this household are always a hoot. As a professional in the IT industry, I tend to be somewhat more aware of the proper terminolgy than say, my wife. Don't get me wrong. She's unbelievably talented and for someone who is completely self-taught, her IT knowledge is impressive. But there are those times when she'll just pull a word out of the air to perfectly describe a situation.

Today's discussion revolved around digital cameras. We have never purchased software such as PhotoShop to process our images; relying instead on the bundled shareware utilities delivered with the camera. In comparing our Canon Powershot S400 Digital Elph to the Kodak Easyshare CX4230 my wife uses at work, she made the point that the Kodak's flash is weak, and pictures tend to come out underexposed. According to her, this camera so routinely takes underexposed pictures; she doesn't even bother to look at them until they have had compensation applied by the photo software. In describing this process, she matter-of-factly stated that each snapshot requires "two notches on the notchometer".

Bless her heart!

I kneed to be alone

Thank you to those who've left comments about my leg and it's recuperation. It's Saturday, the day I thought I'd be back to normal. And I am much better than I was on Thursday; but I still can't use the bad knee to lift myself out of my chair. To be precise, the injured leg was the stronger of the two. The other leg just wasn't accustomed to the leadership role.

It's funny how we take things for granted. When climbing stairs, for example, I'd always lead off with the stronger leg, to get that boost to start things going. Now, I'm finding stair climbing difficult, because the current strong leg is barely up to the task of being the leader. What's worse, is that when I'm in a period of absolutely no pain, I forget about the bad leg, and use it the way I normally would. Instant, debilitating pain stops me in my tracks, reminding me I have some way to go.

What all this is leading to is that this weekend, instead of visiting with my sister and her hubby or my in-laws, I think I'll just try to take it easy on my own.

Give me some credit

I got a letter from Visa in yesterday's mail. They were writing to inform me that my credit limit had been raised (I was only using about 1/10th of my available limit as it was); and the letter included some "cheques" that could be used to transfer balances from other cards. According to the letter, these transferred balances would get a preferred rate for the next 6 months.

These letters come all the time, but last night, I was just in a bit of a funny mood, so I decided to write back to the sender. In my response, I used a mixture of humour and light sarcasm to characterize the love-hate relationship I've had with credit-card companies over the past 30 years or so. It seems those companies love the fact that I carry a high balance and always make my payments on time. And I hate the fact that, despite my perfect payment practices, I get lumped in with the statistical masses and have to pay exhorbitant interest rates.

So, in my letter, I asked for a break. I suggested they should be perfectly happy to get a guaranteed return of 4.9% annual APR from my account, without having to worry about being stiffed; and I'd be happy to get a reduced rate. I'll let you know what they decide.

Slowly he turned...

My leg is improving. Day-by-day, I can feel the improvement, as the constant, excrutiating pain has given way to stabs of pain when I turn my leg too suddenly, to a dull pain that can be tolerated unless I forget my leg is still sore.

I can now get out of my chair without aid of crutches, though I still can't put much weight on the bad leg while the knee is bent. When fully straightened, my leg is well enough to hobble on, without much discomfort. I must have just been beyond the threshold where pain begins, which explains why I'm feeling better after only a few days on meds. At this rate, I should be back to normal by Saturday. Meanwhile, I know that the overall cure won't be effective unless I finish the entire course of treatment.

Gimme Gimme

'Tis the season to hope you get what you really want for the holidays. Yeah, I know. Writing about what I want doesn't seem to be in keeping with the spirit of Christmas. Tough bananas. Growing up in a Jewish household, I didn't celebrate Christmas. Except for the inconvenience of having my favourite TV programs get bumped for Christmas specials, all the holiday meant to me was some time off school. When I grew up and owned my own retail business, it meant I had to expect people to ask for time off during the holidays (beyond the statutory holidays). I didn't mind that either, because before I owned my own business, I was the one asking my boss for time off.

It's only since I got married (outside the faith) that I've really come to detest Christmas. Whether it's because I got married within a year after my business failed, and I've been too "poor" (a relative word, to be sure, but to me "poor" means not having the money to buy whatever I want, whenever I want it) to buy the types of gifts for my wife and children that I'd want them to have, or whether it's because we're too poor for me to get the kinds of gifts I'd really like to have; or whether it's still because of the physical length of the season, and the many disruptions it causes to my routine... it still sucks.

To make things worse, I started getting a pain in my leg two days ago out of the blue. It turns out that after my last blood test, the doctor noticed elevated levels of uric acid and prescribed medication. I didn't get the prescription filled. Now, my wife thinks the pain I'm having is gout; and that the whole thing could have been avoided if I'd taken the meds. So, just when shopping season starts in earnest, and I have to think about getting around to do my Christmas shopping, I can't walk worth a damn.

I've just returned from the pharmacy, having finally filled the prescription (thank goodness I hadn't tossed it). The pharmacist said it should take two to three days for the pain to subside. The info sheet that came with the medication said it could take two to four weeks to notice any effects. It's going to be a long December...

Until next year

Winter approaches. We had our first noticeable snowfall yesterday - no accumulation, just wet flakes. It was the perfect day for my parents to leave the city for the winter. They won't be back again until April. Each year, as my parents age, I wonder whether my goodbye to them will be my last - whether the unthinkable will happen, and, G-d forbid... I can't even say it in print.

My father sounded old - I've never heard him sound quite like that - when I spoke to him just an hour or so before he was scheduled to catch the shuttle bus. I asked him what was wrong, and he said he wasn't feeling too well. This is a guy who has maintained his weight, within a span of +/- 3 lbs for the past 50 years. He could take me in a fight any day, and is in better shape than I've been since age 35. But he's still getting older - 84 on his next birthday, and time is catching up. My mom is aging gracefully too. She hasn't changed much in the past 30 years or so, and I don't think anyone passing her on the street would know she's nearly 78.

I've been trying to get my parents on the internet for several years now, telling them it's the perfect way to communicate, and to get instant photos of their great-grand-children. About a week before departing, my dad told me he's ready to get it - that, upon their return, he'd like to talk to me about getting hooked up. Bless his soul. G-d willing, they'll be online come next April.

Games people play

I was surprised, and quite pleased, to hear about U.S. President Bush's impromptu visit to Iraq for Thanksgiving. I say "impromptu" because, despite the weeks of advance security planning, the actual decision was last-minute, right down to the decision to actually land Air Force One. From the evening news, it was clear that none of the soldiers on the ground knew he was coming (the reaction to his arrival was spontaneous and heartily positive). While it's no secret that my political leanings are more conservative (I support the war effort), I still think it was a classy move for the commander-in-chief to visit the battle zone for the holiday.

It was a bit disconcerting to hear of all the back-and-forth commentary about the reasons for this trip. Comments ranged from "first campaign stop" to "copycat of Hillary", and so on. God forbit someone gets a spur of the moment (even months ago) idea to visit somewhere; then gets called a copycat just because some other dignitary happens to get the same idea. Clearly, there's no way to know who had the idea first (though my suspicion is that the president's lead-time for security purposes would be longer), but does it really matter. Who cares who moved first, or what the motivation was, or what the ramifications will be. Can't we all accept that both parties wanted to do something special for the troops?

Wanna bet?

There's something you just shouldn't do... bet against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day. It really doesn't matter how bad they are, year to year. And once in a while, you'll actually guess right and they'll lose. But overall, the Lions are blessed on Thanksgiving Day. Today was no exception. They beat a stronger Green Bay team for only their fourth win of the season. However, the Lions are on a three-game home game winning streak, so things are looking up.

Bang!

At the risk of shooting myself in the foot, I've reorganized some of the pages on my FTP site. I had learned long ago that if you didn't put a default index page on each of your directories, people who surfed to your site could see all the files sitting there. I realize that a determined hacker or spider program can still find files on directories protected with an index file, but it's harder than when the door has some kind of lock.

Well, yesterday, I installed the lock. There were a few directories that didn't have an index file, and now they do. Which means that the meagre number of hits I have each day on this blog will now be reduced to maybe 10% of that total - yup, a full 90% of my visitors get here "accidentally". Reducing the traffic to only those who really want to be here is always what I had intended, since, let's face it, I wouldn't rush to a site like this to read anything significant.

Anyway, we'll see what the traffic numbers look like once my image files make their way out of Google's cache.

I may have to rename the blog to Jack's Ghostland.

You'll be missed




Snowflake, the only known albino gorilla in existence, died yesterday - a victim of skin cancer.

Notice anything different?

Yeah, it's about time. I had some time to kill today, so I spent it integrating the new template into my blog. I still haven't filled out the "About" information, and I haven't tested all the links to see if any of them were screwed up in the transition. But it should be done shortly. Thanks to Yve for her template.

So... what do you guys think?

Don't get me started

I don't read the editorial page of the local newspaper very often. It's not that I don't enjoy the opinions... I enjoy them too much. Rather, I enjoy disagreeing with them too much. Over the past three weeks, I've sent three different letters to the editor. Now, this is a fairly small city, so letters to the editor take only about two to three days to appear in print. Funny thing is, people in this city must read them. I went to my old public school's 75th anniversary celebration last weekend. All the guests wore name tags. A complete stranger came up to me and said "Aren't you the guy that wrote that letter to the editor"? Yes, I was flattered, but I wonder why someone would remember the name of a complete stranger - unless I said something profound???

Beats me.

The 'C' word

My brother-in-law is a wonderful guy, and makes my sister very happy. Recently, he had to be hospitalized, and there was a fear he might have cancer. The tests proved negative, and he's finally out of the hospital and on the way to recovery. Get well soon, my friend!

A fun movie

Just returned from seeing "Master and Commander" with my wife. She's a real fan of historical fact/fiction. This movie was right up her alley. Thankfully, the acting, plot, and action were up to my standards, so I also had a great time.

I don't think I'd call it Academy Award material, but it was certainly entertaining.

And the winner is...

Six weeks ago, you may as well have called off the municipal election. In this union town, home of the "Big 3" in Canada, Bill Marra had received a hearty and very public endorsement from the powerful CAW union, as well as several other unions. In addition, Marra had the support of the large and influential Italian community.

Tonight, Bill went down in defeat to Eddie Francis, the 29-year-old lawyer, award winning entrepreneur, and darling of the masses. In a vote that wasn't even close, Eddie stunned the confident Marra camp. Gracious in defeat, Marra conceded quite early after the polls closed. Gracious in victory, Francis congratulated Marra on his campaign, and indicated that Marra's dedication to the city would still be welcomed.

In my own ward, an underdog candidate with a low budget, whose election signs were almost all removed by unknown vandals, had the last laugh as she defeated one of the incumbent city councillors to get a seat on city council.

Congratulations everyone!

Superbowl, here we come!

Stop the presses. The Detroit Lions are on a winning streak. When do the superbowl tickets go on sale, I wonder?

Destiny

I believe in destiny. There are so many examples in history where you hear about someone who worked hard toward a goal. A goal they had set early on in life, and that they knew they would attain, just as certainly as they knew the sun would rise the next morning.

In this blog, I've spoken about my nephew, who had set a goal early in life to be premier of Ontario. He has yet to attain that goal, but I have no doubts he will. There have been two other people I've met through my life who had well-articulated goals, and I decided to follow up on the careers of both those gentlemen.

The first, Douglas Phillips, was a school-mate of mine in highschool. He was among the very brightest of the bright, and had set a goal of being a supreme court justice. Douglas, as I understand, was granted admission to lawschool after only two years of undergraduate work. That is an option in Canada, providing you show promise and pass some very difficult entrance exams. He quickly flew through law school and passed the bar. By the age of 30, he was already a Family Court Judge. He is currently an Ontario judge, and gained some notoriety this year as the Judge to first declare that possession of marijuana is NOT illegal in this country.

The second, Andrew Leslie, was a young college student when he joined the Army Reserve Unit I served with in the late '70s. I was an officer in that unit, and he told us that he joined the reserves because his father and grandfather had served as senior officers in the Canadian Army, and he intended to carry on the family tradition. His grandfather had served as a general during the Second World War (at least that's what I remember him telling us), and he claimed in no uncertain terms that his destiny was to follow in the family footsteps and become a general himself. Andrew would have been about 20 years old when he made that claim. Today, while doing a google search for "Leslie RCHA" (since, quite frankly, I had forgotten his first name over the span of the last 26 years), I came across his military biography. Well, I'll be damned! If we assume an upgrade in rank every four years, as has been the pattern since his transfer to the regular forces, (2-star) Major-General Leslie will become a (3-star) Lt. General in 2007, and a (4-star) full General by 2011. That will make him supreme commander of the entire Canadian forces by age 54. I imagine he could even be named supreme NATO commander during that timeframe, who knows!

First time for everything

I linked to a blog today. No big deal, right?

But this one was different. It's the very first time I've linked to a blogger that:
a) I had not discovered through another blog I read
b) Had not previously visited my site
c) I had not sought out due to publicity about their site

The blogs in my list are ones I read daily. I confess that a couple of them have become stale or otherwise unsatisfying, but I hadn't considered removing them because, well, they've been there almost since the beginning of my blogging experience. I don't like change (I'm still procrastinating on a site revamp, despite the fact that I have a new template available), so it took a while to decide to remove them from my list.

And since I am such a creature of habit, I found that now, there weren't enough blogs to take up the alloted reading time - hence the search for something new.

I was looking for a specific type of blog - one with a slant and style that I can't really put into words, but that I'd recognize when I saw it. I found it a week ago, and have been reading it daily, but hadn't added it to my list until today.

Since the official name of the blog is too long to fit in the available space, I've taken liberties, and am simply referring to it as Warrior Princess.

Enjoy!

Romance is in the air

With the imminent arrival of Christmas, the holiday movies have started. Yesterday, I saw "love actually" with my wife. I so enjoy Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson and Emma Thompson. Having them all in one movie, along with cameos by Rowan Atkinson and Billy Bob Thornton was just too good to pass up. This was a light, utterly unbelievable love story, but it was so silly and enjoyable, I just couldn't keep from smiling. And unlike some love stories where the boy and girl are always missing signals and where things finally work out in the end, this movie was blissfully transparent. That's good, because the former genre always has me wanting to jump through the screen to strangle the dumbells, whereas this movie had me celebrating the loving relationships throughout the movie.

This is an absolutely great date film, from the opening frame to the very end.

That went well...

I gave my presentation at the international conference today. I think I used the correct amount of levity, and got my points across in a timely manner. My boss was impressed, and that's really all that counts.

Silly Coincidence

I just finished watching a rerun of Law and Order CI. It was an episode about a contract killer who placed a corpse in his home freezer until some time later when he could conveniently leave it to be found by police. The storyline involves the police tricking the assassin into believing that a freezer-burn mark on the corpse indicated that there was a tear in the plastic wrapping around the body - a tear through which a dental cap on the victim had escaped.

So, what's the coincidence? The commercial at the very end of the show was about GladZiploc Freezer Bags, and how they prevent freezer burn.

If only the criminal had known!

Hallowe'en

It was probably the best one my wife has ever had. Usually we have cold and rain this time of year. But yesterday evening, temperatures were in the 20's (celsius), or about 72 farenheit. And with the front porch on this house, my wife decided to hand out candies while sitting out on the porch.

And for the first time, she put up a baby gate across the stairway and allowed our two big black dogs to accompany her. They were really well behaved - barking only twice during the entire evening (in truth, they barked at the same leashed-dog twice, as it came up, then back down the street).

Gee, I never knew I cared

It's always wonderful when friends tell you (in confidence of course) that you have bad breath or body odors. It gives you the opportunity to practice self-improvement without embarassment. When they get a bit more personal, like sending emails which imply my manhood might need extension, it gets a bit more dicey. And when the emails come from yourself, it really makes you wonder whether you've been emailing in your sleep.

Over the past couple of days, I've received emails that have made it through my spam filter. Probably because the sender was none other than myself.

Like most prudent web users, I use several email accounts. Doing so allows me to monitor my sources of spam. If, say, my "bestguyontheplanet@freemailaccount.com" starts becoming a source of spam, I know that the webmasters at "toysforgrownmenwithnolife.com" have sold my name. You get the idea. So, it becomes particularly annoying when I start receiving spam with my PRIMARY EMAIL ACCOUNT showing up as the sender.

Although I don't use that account to send mail to strangers (as a rule), there have been times when I've clicked on a "contact" link in a webpage. Since my default email address is my main one, I guess that could account for it being sent into the world without a proper shield. So, I guess I'll have to be more careful and set my default address to be one of my throwaway accounts.

By the way, if you receive an email from me advising you that your manhood needs extension, I was only kidding.

V-Day

Though technically it may be too early to declare total victory, we have noticed two things... no mice turds or trap disturbances near the feeding station atop the refrigerator, and no apparent change in food levels at either of the two indoor feeding stations. Funeral services are planned for tomorrow evening, followed by a wild party.

That was special

Two days in Toronto, and I was ready to be back home. Truthfully, as good as it was seeing my sister in Toronto, and as friendly as the old office gang was, I still looked forward to the minute my work would be done so I could get back home. I do regret that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my sister in person. By the time she called me, I was 3/4 of the way home. I just couldn't have waited that long before hitting the road.

This morning, I was feeling the effects of an exhausting work schedule while away. I fought to get out of bed, and didn't start work until 10AM. By 2:15PM, I was exhausted and had to take a nap. Thankfully, there wasn't much work I could do today, so my exhaustion didn't affect any deadlines.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho

It's off to Toronto I go. I think I could have accomplished what I need to do from here, but there's a crisis at work, and the other telecommuter (who only lives 60 miles from the office) volunteered to come in for a face-to-face on Monday morning. So, I thought it would be the "team" thing to do to volunteer to come in myself. That's OK... a little face time never hurt!

Of Mice and Men

Yes, we have mice. The sucker that went into the closet died of dehydration. I've seen at least three identifiably different ones since that first encounter; including one that was inside the poison trap when I picked it up to take a look. Yeww! I don't know which of us was more surprised. He took off down the side of the refrigerator, and I tried to crush him between the fridge and the adjacent wall. Unfortunately, the wall is done in faux-brick, so there were enough indentations for him to survive my attempt.

We've currently got three feeding stations set up, and we're seeing dwindling food at all three stations. That's bad news for the mice, but also indicates we have a serious infestation. If we don't get them killed off soon, I think my wife will insist on an exterminator.

At least I haven't seen any more of the critters running through my office.

Busy week

It's been a busy week, and I'm not really in the mood to write much at the moment. The template I found is very basic. It's not made directly for blogger, so I'll have to do my own placement of blogger elements. That won't be too much of a problem. However, this template only gives me some basic graphics and stylesheet. I still have to figure out how to artistically lay out my content. And I'm the least artistic person I know.

I won't rush this. It'll go online when I'm ready.

A few days ago, my wife discovered mouse droppings, and a partially gnawed box of cereal. Since then, she's put down some poison pellets, and has been keeping me abreast of their dwindling numbers. Tonight, I saw a mouse standing brazenly about three feet from where I was sitting. I threw a shoe at it, and it didn't move. My second shoe made it scurry into a closet, where, as far as I know, it is now trapped.

About an hour later, I saw another mouse (I think it was another mouse). Anyway, it's time for stronger measures.

Eureka!

I think I've found a new blog template. I still have to wait for permission from the author to use her work, but if she doesn't object, I'll soon be updating my template with one that sports a bit of colour.

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day dinner on Saturday night, coincident with my son's birthday. Much of the family got together for a scrumptious meal, then my wife and I stayed behind to share a DVD movie with my brother-in-law. He's recently upgraded his stereo system, including the purchase of a 400-disk carousel that can play any type of disc, including DVDs. A good time was had by all.

During the evening, I had a chance to fix some ongoing problems with their computer, and I made arrangements to pay a service call on my other brother-in-law, perhaps next weekend, to fix their computer. And I mustn't forget my sister, who has also put in her request for some help with her computer. It's good to be home again!

Ho-hum

It's been that kind of week. Nothing much to speak about. Maybe the most exciting thing was a visit from my uncle from France. I haven't seen him in about 10 years. He has a new girlfriend. He and his girlfriend are in their 80's, but still quite active. It was actually a pleasure seeing them. They came over to the house for a short visit, and my son charmed them with his three-sentence knowledge of the French language:

Bon jour

Au revoir

and the third one, which I don't know how to repeat, is the standard request a highschool French student needs to learn to get permission to go to the bathroom.


I'm looking forward to this long Thanksgiving Day weekend. It's also Jon's birthday tomorrow, and he's already spent the birthday money we intended to give him. Oh well, at least this year, he'll like his gift.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is upon me once again. This year, being back in Windsor, I get to spend the day with my family in synagogue. Tonight was Kol Nidre, and I must say I was impressed with the sermon offered by our rabbi. Truth be told, I almost always like his sermons. As a relatively young rabbi (the first rabbi I've ever had that is younger than I am - I guess that's a sign of aging), he uses fairly "hip" language, and appeals to my own sensibilities. He gave a sermon tonight on the reasons behind the Kol Nidre prayer in the middle ages, and how that same motivation still holds for us today. It was fascinating.

I've found during the past several years that I've become intolerant of the kibbitzing that goes on in the pews. While I'm listening intently, trying to follow along in my prayerbook, other people who haven't spoken since the previous year are catching up on old news - in voices that could not, under any circumstances, be called whispers. As my father ages, he is beginning to be one of those kibbitzers, and it bothers me. I am embarassed by his outbursts, because he has his full faculties - it's not like he doesn't know what he's doing. Yet, it is still so pleasant to be there with him, that I can't bring myself to say anything to him - beyond the raised forefinger I bring to my lips in a silent rebuke.

The situation in Israel these days is scaring me. I'm scared not for specific people (my sister and her daughter left Israel two years ago, so there's no one there I need to be fearful about), but for the peace process. I'm not a dove, by any stretch of the imagination. But the hawks are becoming so prevalent, I'm afraid there will come a time when all-out war will be the only option open to the politicos of the region.

I'm rambling, I know. But I just have so many things going through my head. Oh well, I guess I should head to bed... otherwise, I may start to think about food.

Family Pride

When my nephew was three years old, he warned me to stop talking "baby talk" to him - otherwise he would stop talking to me altogether. When he was 10, he told me of his interest in politics, and that he aspired to being premier of Ontario. The fact that he said "Ontario" instead of "Canada" spoke volumes of his intelligence and drive. It made me believe he had plans, not just dreams. Yesterday, he came one step closer to his wish. As an inner-circle political advisor and policy critic, first on the staff of Sandra Pupatello and now Dalton McGuinty, my nephew finds himself on the personal staff of the premier of Ontario. He's just 24 years old.

I have no doubts his ambition will see him go further. I just hope I'm still alive to see it come to fruition.

Congratulations, Aaron. Oh yeah, you too, Dalton!

Tempus fugit

I can't believe it's been 10 days since my last post. That coincides quite nicely with the fact that I've been so very busy, I haven't even had the opportunity to update my timesheet at work. This morning, I finally got around to it after 11 days of not filling it out. Luckily, I keep a daily diary, so going back over it brings back all the relevant billable details. Steill, 10 days without a post...

The Jewish New Year came and went without much fanfare. I enjoyed spending time with my dad in the synagogue. At 83, he still has the majority of hand/arm strength he had as a young adult. He took great pleasure in clasping my hand and squeezing the crap out of it. In truth, there is the slightest bit of (dare I say) weakness in his grip, but only relative to his overpowering strength as a younger man. I'm sure there isn't a bottle cap that's a match for his current strength.

During the past days, I delivered a pet project to my boss at work. He's been too busy to comment on it yet, but I know he's going to be impressed. This little beauty of a utility will save us between 8 and 10 manhours of effort each week. That translates into quite a big payoff over the long haul. In fact, while I was working on it, he let me know that he had submitted my name as a potential presenter at a national conference, and this week, I found out that my submission was accepted. So, in November, I will present my utility at a conference in the U.S.

My regular duties at work have been keeping me very busy as well, and so far, knock wood, I haven't had the need to make a trip back to Toronto. All that could change if the boss requires that I do a dry run of my presentation for my colleagues at work before going to the conference.

That's about it. Just working, with not much time for entertainment. I did take a couple of hours to see Under the Tuscan Sun last weekend with my wife. We really enjoyed it. When it comes out on DVD, it will definitely be added to our collection.

That's about it for now. Gotta get some sleep!

Thanx, Lee

I'm not sure how she finds these things, but this one was very funny.

Getting restless

It really is time to redo my blog template. I've been using the same one since I started blogging more than 18 months ago. I like simple things, and most of the nicely designed templates I've come across strike me as being "feminine" in nature. I enjoy pastels and tranquil scenes. But there just seems to be something more female-oriented in the templates I've seen. I don't know if it's because they were designed by women (and don't get me wrong - I'm not looking for a he-man testosterone-rich template either), but I guess I'll know it when I see it.

The closest I've come to a template I'd use is the one used by Lindsey. But of course, it would be in poor taste to visit the author's site and request the same template. I'll just keep my eyes open, and hope for the best.

As promised...

I know you've all been holding your breath. So here it is... my son's "new" car!



He's been grinning ear to ear since picking it up. Can you blame him? The car's in pretty good shape considering its age. He didn't have to put much money into it to get it road-worthy. A quick trip to the bank, the insurance company, and the license bureau (no complications at any stop) and he's on the road.

Good news on the car front

We got word back today that the amount of money that needs to be put into Jon's car to get it roadworthy is quite reasonable. It should be on the road by Thursday at the latest. I swear that boy looks like he's going to float away!

A week without posting is like a day without sunshine (or something like that)

Being home has added to my workload. Not only am I working harder (and longer) at my job - partly to show thanks for the boss allowing me to return home - but I'm back to my role as family computer guru. I've been helping my wife recover from an unfortunate (and unnecessary) reformatting of her hard drive after we were unable to get a new wireless network working on her PC. That is a post in itself, but suffice to say that a missing email and some poor judgement translated into a week of pure hell for her machine.

On a positive note, I guess being able to work from the comfortable environment that is my home/office is really adding to my job satisfaction. I have an ergonomic chair, lots of desk space, a refrigerator and washroom within spitting distance, and, once in a while, I take a break to play with the "puppies". With all the goings on, and with blogger comments being offline for a pretty long time, there really seemed no reason to post.

Still, that doesn't mean that life has stood still.

You remember back in July when my son got into the car accident? This week, we got our new insurance bill. It was not pretty. In fact, it jumped from about $2000 to nearly $6000. I called the agent. She was sympathetic... but couldn't really do much about the bill. The only thing, according to her, that would put us back in the good graces of the insurance company would be:

1) Our son moves out of the house (so he's no longer counted as a "licensed driver" in the household), or
2) Our son have his own car (and pay the exhorbitant insurance on his own behalf)

Today, we opted for solution #2. With a little loan from his parents, my son bought his first car today. You should have seen how excited he was (thankfully, he kept himself in check while at the car dealership). It's a used car, sold as-is, and it will need some work after the safety inspection (hopefully not a LOT of work - he is on a budget). My real pleasure was when we left the dealership. Within moments, he was on the phone with his buddies, talking glowingly about the new acquisition. And, I understand that he's taken a page from my wife (who loves to name her cars) and given his new beast a moniker: Torn Ligament.

I'll have to post a picture of my son and his new dream machine once we're allowed to drive it off the lot.

An interesting week

Since Labour Day, I've been a stay-at-home worker. This has had several benefits: I've driven less in the past week than a single-day one-way commute in Toronto. I've worked more regular hours (my tendency before was to go to work late, and stay late, to avoid rush-hour traffic), and my co-workers are able to reach me at 9:00AM!

I am a bit more isolated from the hussle and bustle of daily office work. If I'm not there to grab, I can't be distracted as easily from my primary tasks. And finally, I can keep the temperature in my home office as cool as I want, without pissing anyone off. I work for a small company, and the owner hands out hand-written paycheques every two weeks. I'm still not sure whether he'll be writing/mailing in advance of payday, whether I'll be getting paid later than others, or whether I'll be expected to come in every two weeks to visit the office and pick up my paycheque. That last scenario will get old very quickly. I don't want to make a 500 mile trip every two weeks to pick up a cheque and make an appearance - it wastes an entire day of work-time, and I'm not the best at extended highway driving on boring (straight/flat/featureless) stretches of road.

Strange things have been happening with the new network setup at home. Not viruses or anything... just some sort of compatibility glitch that ultimately required that I reformat my wife's hard drive. Sure, we made a backup... it's the restore that's gonna kick me in the ass. After the format and reload of original OEM software, our computer was working OK. That reinforces that there's nothing wrong with the hardware; and that our hodge-podge of software is to blame. The hardest part will be progressively restoring programs from the backup, without causing the original problem to reappear.

There's no place like home

I've been back for a bit over 24 hours, and I won't be leaving again anytime soon. I've missed my family so badly, and they've missed me. Not just my wife, the kids and the dogs; but my parents and sister as well. I've visited everyone except my sister (who, ironically, is in Toronto this week) and I'm anxious to see her too.

Last week, I purchased a wireless router so that the computer on the second floor of our home could be connected to the internet without having to run cables upstairs. To make sure things would work, I tested the router by connecting it to the upstairs computer (where the cable outlet is) and creating a wireless network to my Windows Me machine downstairs. Everything worked OK. In practice, however, it is the downstairs site that now has the original cable modem, and I am trying to transmit upstairs.

Wouldn't you know it. The XP upstairs "detects" the wireless adapter in a way different than the Windows Me machine, and it's detection method is not working properly. In order to discourage signal theft and hacking, I set the wireless modem to not broadcast its' presence. Instead, the wireless PCI adapters send signals to the router. What I'm seeing on the XP is that the machine is sending signals out, but nothing is coming back. In the Windows Me configuration wizard (run from CD), I am able to customize a large number of parameters (I don't like using default values, as this is insecure). The customizations match those made on the main router. However, the XP configuration wizard is built-in to Windows. I can't force it to use the configuration utility on the CD, so I am unable to tweak the parameters to the same degree. So far, this means that the base and remote nodes are not talking to one another.

At least the wired ports in my office are working. I have tested the VPN connection, and all seems good to go. I can't wait for tomorrow morning!

Let the packing begin later!

That's it! My sentence stay in Toronto is complete. Tomorrow, the apartment will be bare and I'll be heading home.

My wife is here next to me, so, for now, I'll put an end to this post...

My last day

In a few hours, I begin my last full day in Toronto. I had hoped to do some packing today, but deep down, I knew it wouldn't get done. I'll probably start packing when I hear the moving van pulling up. That's nothing new, of course; but this time, with so little to pack, I actually thought I'd do it early. What was I thinking!

Dinner at Eight

He's been talking about it for months... how he would like me to come to his home for dinner and an evening of relaxation. Today was the day. And I didn't even know it until late in the afternoon. As I was preparing to leave work, the boss stopped me and asked where I was going. When I told him I was heading home, he asked if I had forgotten his invitation to dinner. To be honest, I can't remember him actually setting a date, but who am I to say no to free food!

I realize I haven't been eating gourmet since I moved here, but it would not be much of an exaggeration to say the meal was exquisite. My bosses' wife is quite a cook, and she had prepared an Italian meal from scratch. I had never tasted such fresh pasta, vegetables (from their garden), and gourmet steak. Not wanting to appear like I didn't enjoy the food, I continued to accept offers for seconds, then thirds, then... ahem... let's just say that it took me a good half hour after eating the meal before I felt enough courage and strength to attempt to stand up and leave the table.

Then, my boss, his wife, his children, and his adorable dog joined me in the sitting room for some not-so-quiet conversation. Each time we started talking, there were interruptions from one or more of his children as well as the kids' friends, who seemed to be knocking at the door nearly every minute. Around 10:00PM, I decided I had stayed long enough. Had I stayed any longer, I would have been out for the night.

Anyway, there is a standing invitation for him and his wife to join my wife and I when next they visit the Windsor area.

The last work week begins

Things are really starting to move now. My boss is getting nervous that with my departure to Windsor, the braintrust of all those nifty things I've invented at work will be gone. Whether that means he intends to do away with me, and is only now realizing that no-one else knows how to work my gizmos; or whether he's simply concerned that teaching others how to use my utilities will be best done face-to-face; the boss seems to be a bit nervous.

Today, I was handed several tasks, all of which were contradictory in one form or another. When asked why I was not working on assignment "X", I pointed out a memo saying I should be doing "Y" before "X". However, that memo was in response to a memo from another supervisor who said I should be doing "X" before "Y". Thank god I keep all memos.

And today, I also got grilled about why five different components of a sixteen-component upgrade were not deployed last week before I left on holiday. The boss made his case by pulling out a spreadsheet clearly showing the sixteen requested items. To which I responded with an email from my supervisor, citing the exact same reference spreadsheet (even attaching a copy of the document to the email). The attachment I received last week had eleven (not sixteen) items... all of which were deployed.

I have enjoyed a perk few people get... the ability to set my own hours. I enjoy working into the evening. To avoid working 12-16 hour days perpetually, I simply arrive at work late. Usually, nobody minds. I arrive at 10:30AM and leave between 6:30 and 8:00PM, depending on the amount of work I wish to complete that day. For my last week at work, I have been asked to keep regular hours, so that my hours will coincide more closely with the hours of those employees who I must train.

That's a reasonable request, and so, to bed I go...

Tres cool

I'm home in Windsor this weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversary. While here, I decided to start preparing the home office for the transition to telecommuting. Today, we purchased a wireless router (G-class) and a PCI wireless adapter. For the initial test, I installed the router at the current location of the cable modem, and installed the PCI card into one of the computers I brought back from Toronto. It took longer to configure than I thought it would; primarily because some of the security measures I was attempting weren't all that well documented. But, eventually, I got things properly configured.

The wireless setup is so cool. Although I haven't visited a speed-testing site to determine what the throughput is like, there doesn't appear to be any delays in connection or download progress. I'll have to verify that scientifically. Next week, when I am back here permanently, I'll try moving the router to my home office, and installing the PCI card into the computer that's currently connected to the router via wire. Hopefully, there aren't any cable-company filters on the wire that will prevent me from reversing the roles of the two outlets. Currently, the upstairs outlet is deemed an internet connection point, while the downstairs cable is deemed the TV signal source. I'd like to reverse those roles, if possible - moving the main internet access point into my downstairs office.

I head back to Toronto for the "last time" on Sunday. Next weekend, I'll be headed back to Windsor! I can't wait!

Just call me psychic

In today's newsbag comes a story about a white-knight version of the MS Blast worm. Am I good, or what!

Hunter/Killer Anti-Virus

I wonder why hunter/killer anti-viruses are not more prevalent in today's environment. They are as technologically feasible as any worm or virus, yet we don't hear enough about this potential boon to internet security. Here's how the concept works...

White-hat hackers (that same group that finds exploits and reports them to manufacturers) would participate in the creation of "beneficial" worms. These worms would seek out vulnerable computers in the same way malicious worms do; however, when a vulnerable system is found, the beneficial worm would patch that system in a way that does not allow the malicious worm to penetrate the system. In addition to performing the patch, the beneficial worm would try to spread itself to other vulnerable systems (using the same methodology as malicious worms), but only until a particular expiry date had arrived, or until no such vulnerable system could be located - whichever came first.

Some may say that a worm is a worm is a worm, and that "white-hats" should be allowed no more freedom to infect your system than "black-hats". In principle, I agree. But sometimes, a well-intentioned intervention, while not appreciated at the time, is the best long-term solution.

For people running Windows software, the windows update service offers a means of applying patches before things get out of hand. It's a mystery to me why more people don't run it more often. It's also a mystery why users don't take advantage of the automatic application of patches, so staying protected becomes a no-brainer.

All set to go!

Two more weeks in Toronto, and then I'm home. I had prepared a checklist of things that needed to get straightened out, logistically, before I left town. Despite giving that list to my boss nearly 2 months ago, he procrastinated, and finally, on Friday, sat me down to discuss future plans. His vision has changed these past two months, whereby he is considering me for tasks more focused on the core software, and less focused on the internal support and infrastructure improvements. In a way, that's good... because that tells me that I'm a valued part of the core team. However, in other ways, it's not as good.

The company I work for could really use some improvements in their infrastructure, and I was working, behind the scenes and on my own time to ensure that, little by little, those improvements were introduced. By changing my role and denying me the opportunity to take back some of the tools I would have needed to continue my work in that regard, it signals to me that there is no genuine mandate for process improvement. Ultimately, this may be the biggest limiting factor in the continued growth of this company.

This weekend, I'm in Toronto. The following weekend, I go home to carry some boxes, but more importantly, to celebrate my wedding anniversary. And the weekend after that... I'M HOME!!!!

Software Patents - the Lunacy continues

I believe in software patents. I believe that the time and energy invested by people to solve a problem should not be subject to theft by others without fair compensation. Still, this story leaves me a bit unnerved.

My opinion is that, if I am working to solve a problem, and am unaware that someone else has already solved the problem and patented the solution, I should not have to pay this person for his solution, even if I come up with a similar one. As long as I can show that my research was "pure" (i.e. not influenced in any way by the other person's solution), I don't think I should have to fork out money twice to solve the problem.

In the case above, I find it hard to believe that Microsoft was unaware of the patent. After all, when a big company like Microsoft develops new products, I'd imagine they have a team of researchers out there trying to determine whether someone else already has patent rights.

Ironically, the patent holder in this case is working on another research project called Dark Iron (insert copyright symbol here - I don't know how) that sounds suspiciously like a common worm / distributed attack software. I wonder whether the American Hacker Alliance (AHA) will be filing a patent-infringement case against Mr. Doyle?

Lesson learned

I just learned a lesson about the KVM switch. Order matters. Specifically, the computers need to be powered on in a specific sequence for the KVM switch to work properly. Hmm... It might not be too sequence-dependent, but one thing is clear... the computer connected to SLOT 1 needs to be the first to be turned on. I suppose if I had thought about it, it would have been obvious - the keyboard plugged into slot 1 supplies power to the entire KVM switch. So, it there is no power going to slot 1, how is the thing supposed to work?

Thing is, I have two computers that came on simultaneously when I repowered the UPS. But the computer plugged into SLOT 1 takes longer to reboot. Apparently, the computer in slot 2 is not happy with this arrangement. It's yet another thing I have to remember to rewire when I get back home. I'm not going digging through all the wiring trying to redo it before moving back. It's just not worth the effort.

This thing called sleep

I discovered something yesterday afternoon. When power is completely gone... when there's not enough light to see where you're going - even when your pupils are opened to the max - there's one thing that's still possible... sleep!

Having coincidentally followed on the heels of a night when I didn't leave work until after 2AM (nearly a 16 hour shift), it wouldn't have taken much effort to coax me into an after-work nap. The way these things normally go, I would have gotten home at 7 or 8PM (the price of getting to work at 11AM after a late night) and crashed for a few hours, only to wake at 3 or 4AM and get online. Instead, we were let out at 4:30, figuring that even if power was restored quickly, it would only come back on in time to leave.

My usual 10-minute trip home took about 40 minutes. For the most part, people were courteous. Despite massive lines of cars, there were no car horns. However, this concept of treating out-of-order traffic lights as a four-way stop was foreign to those who were accustomed to following the lead car through an intersection, regardless of the colour of the light. It took some bravery to edge into the flow of traffic, deciding after a significant wait, that it was our turn to go. While this may have been a bold move, nevertheless, the people whose progress I interrupted seemed to understand, and there were no horns or words exchanged.

Trying to eat dinner would have been a dilemma. My stove (which I never use because of my microwave) is electric, so it was of no use. And I knew the restaurants in the area would be without power. So I did what I always do after a long day at work. I took a nap.

My understanding is that the nap lasted about 4 hours. I say understanding because at 9:30ish, it was pitch-black. No night-lights, no LEDs on my computer speakers... nothing! I fumbled around in the dark until I found my cellphone, and used it as a flashlight to navigate around the apartment. I don't have a land-line phone. My cell is it! So I called my wife to find out how she was coping in the dark. I knew she had been affected, despite being in Windsor, since on the way home, the news had stated the blackout affected Detroit.

To my surprise, she told me the power had come back on 10 minutes earlier. Secure in the knowledge that power was only minutes away, I made my way upstairs to inform the landlord that power would be restored soon. I'm glad I made the trip. Though he's a great landlord, we really don't have a need to talk to one another. He's got his life; I've got mine. But on a night when nothing else was working, we took time to sit and talk. It turns out that he had been unable to call his wife, since his cell phone didn't want to work. I loaned him mine, and he was able to get through to her.

Then, he asked whether I wanted one of the candles that he had placed around the house. I accepted, and when I finally returned to my apartment, I was able to prepare a cold-cut sandwich by the light of the candle. After one more call home, I headed to bed about 11:30, hoping that, come morning, the power would still be out, and I would get the day off. I woke up around 4:30AM, and noticed that my bedside alarm clock was flashing. Damn! Power had come back exactly 59 minutes earlier.

I was surprised when I got to the living room, and found all my computer equipment running. Surprised, because, when I got home after work yesterday, my monitor and computer speakers were still on - powered by my UPS, which was doing it's best to warn me that power had been cut. I had turned off the UPS to silence it's alarm and conserve battery power. This morning, when I saw the computers were powered on, but the monitor and speakers weren't, it hit me... for the past couple of months, I've had my computers plugged into the non-battery-protected sockets of the UPS! Doh!

As soon as I post this entry, I'll remedy that situation.

Is it just me?

Well, it's been three days since I got my new glucose meter. I give it a couple of more days before I look like a strung out junkie. The idea that I could test on my forearm, instead of constantly pricking the same two fingers (don't ask!) seemed attractive at the time. The brochure said that the forearm offered a completely painless area for testing. I don't dispute that. I have yet to feel any of the pinpricks, and am always amazed when I see a droplet of blood issue forth from the point of contact. But there's a problem.

Whereas the pinpricks in my finger seem to leave a sore spot for a couple of minutes, and afterwards leave no evidence of any kind, my arm seems to be intent on leaving a blood blister at the point of impact. Right now, my arm looks like a cross between freckles, age spots and needle marks. It's the last scenario that has me concerned. Everyone knows I'm straight as an arrow. I've never sampled alcohol (past the age of 8 when I was expected to partake of Passover wine), never tried a cigarette, and never was curious about drugs. So, walking around with tracks on my arms is quite embarassing.

So, here's my question... how does everyone else react to forearm testing? Does everyone get these unsightly marks, and how long do they last?

The countdown continues...

What an exciting time! Having just returned from another weekend in Windsor, where I was able to drop off a couple more boxes of stuff. The next trip in two weeks will include all non-essential computer equipment. That will leave just one computer, a bed, a loveseat, a TV and a microwave to be moved on the last weekend of the month. I'm getting excited!

The visit to the doctor's office was less than enjoyable. I got a prescription for an updated glucose monitoring device. My first device was around four years old, and the test strips I had been using were actually expired. I know I've been abusing my body since living on my own, but I hadn't realized the extent to which I had allowed myself to deteriorate. I've used the new monitor four times so far, and none of the readings I've gotten have been encouraging. Because the meter is new, I used the control solution to see whether everything was working properly. My first control reading was out of range - meaning that either something was wrong with the machine, the enclosed test strips, or my procedure. I did a second control reading a day later (after obtaining two, disturbing glucose readings). This time, the control reading was bang on. Since then, I've gotten another two less-than-thrilling readings.

All I can say is, when I move back home, I'll be following a more stringent diet.

Being human (and craving carbohydrates) sucks!

Almost gone

Just a few minutes more of packing and checking email before heading home. My back is much better now, and won't be an issue for the doctor after all. I had previously booked an appointment on an unrelated matter, so it's good that I won't have to complicate the appointment with anything trivial.

Bye!

My aching back!

I hurt myself sometime this past weekend. I think it happened when I slipped on wet pavement. I actually slipped twice - once on the metal doorjamb at a restaurant, and once on the painted auditorium floor in a movie theatre. Both times, I managed to maintain my balance, but I think I may have wrenched my back in the process.

On Sunday, I started feeling the pain. That night, I had trouble sleeping, and on Monday, the pain was even worse. By the time I returned to Toronto (a four-hour drive), my back was a real mess. Tuesday, I could barely move. Although I dragged myself to work, I spent the majority of the day grimacing in pain. Today, the pain was only marginally reduced. My wife slipped me a single dose of Robaxacet as I was leaving Windsor. I've been reluctant to take it, primarily because I don't like taking drugs for every little thing; but also because one dose won't do me much good, and I certainly don't want to take these things on a continuing basis.

I'm hoping that a couple more days of good sleep and liberal use of an icepack will do the trick. If I'm wrong... I see my doctor this weekend, and I'll ask her opinion.

That was special!

Each weekend at home is more and more enjoyable, and this last one was no exception. I love spending time with my wife, my son, and the dogs. And I got the opportunity to visit with my parents and sister this weekend (a real bonus). And now, I've just arrived back in Toronto.

Yeah!!!

She's back! And when I return from my vacation, I can add Lee's link back onto my reference page. Or, I can try to do it from this public computer, and hopefully won't screw up anything.

Come back!

Lee wants to come back. But she's playing hard to get and wants people to convince her to return. Now personally, I love Lee's writing. And I understand that some people can get beaten down so much by adversity, criticism, and other's stupidity that they just throw in the towel. In my humble opinion, Lee is someone who should be in the blogging community. Her opinions are no less worthy than anyone else's. If you've never read her work, then the link in this post won't be any help - it doesn't tell you anything about her. But by visiting her site and leaving a comment, perhaps you can be the one that finally convinces her that hiding in the closet is no way to live a life.

The countdown continues

Twenty-four hours from now, I'll be on the road somewhere, hopefully close to home. With me, I will have the first of three mini-loads of stuff heading back home. My plan for tomorrow is to pack up all the winter clothes and possibly one of the two active computers still with me in Toronto. The laptop has already gone home (with my wife, on her last visit). I should also gather up all the computer-related books/manuals that are here. It shouldn't take me very long, and at this point, every box that gets taken home early will mean that much more room on the "last day" for the really big/bulky stuff.