Tribute

For anyone over the age of say, 27, we probably all remember the immortal words "Wax on, wax off." We don't just remember the words, but we remember the meaning behind them. The deep, spiritual meaning of these simple words. Also, we also learned that "walk left side: safe, walk right side: safe, walk down middle: sooner or later, get squished" and most importantly "Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything." Ah, the wise teachings of Mr. Miyagi. Yesterday, Pat Morita died at 73 by natural causes. Let us all take a moment of silence for our teacher.

Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow

Yesterday we went to Whistler for a little snowboarding. Like the bumper sticker says, "A bad day on the mountain is still better than a good day at the office." Well, this is still true. Down in the village it was raining, at the top of the Blackcomb gondola it was raining, and at the top of the Excelerator chair it was...not too bad. We tried to stay near the Jersey Cream Express cuz that area has some nice easy blue runs for beginners. It was snowing most of the time we were there and up where we were, the snow wasn't too bad. A little wet and sticky, but not bad. Even with a few falls Celia's getting better and I think I might be able to convince her to come up a few more times, even to the local mountains. When we got home, Celia was stiff and hurting bad. Every muscle was aching. She's not awake yet, but when she wakes up today I think she'll be in a world of hurt. Then tomorrow it'll be worse. My right shoulder is a little sore, but I think its because its the way I was carrying my board when we were walking to the car.

Long Weekend

No, it's not a long weekend here in Canada. Only the US has a long weekend this late in November. Well there's probably some other country with a long weekend but I don't know where. It's a long weekend for me because I took tomorrow off so I could go snowboarding. I don't know how much snow Whistler has but it'll be more than what I've got in my office so it's still better to be in Whistler than in Whalley.

More of the Same

Last year I ran a series called "101 Things About Me". Now, since I don't seem to have anything to say, and because my favourite topic is Me, I'm going to continue this series and call it "More Things You Wished You Didn't Know About Me." I'm not going to limit the list to 101 items, not even 1001. I'm just going to keep on going until you really really get sick of hearing me talk about me. Enjoy.

More Things You Wished You Didn't Know About Me

1. I've gained more weight in the past 2 years than I have in the past 15.
2. I only shave twice/week.
3. My favourite wine is Masi Valpolicella
4. I have 5 different phone numbers and 8 email addresses.
5. I have 4 computer monitors at home but I only use 1 (wanna buy a monitor?).

Geek Squad

There's nothing I like more than a new toy. Especially new toys for my computer. I just bought a new keyboard (Logitech G15 'Gaming' Keyboard) and here's my review:

Pros:

1. nice feel when you're typing
2. cool backlit keys
3. sweet LCD display
4. tonne of programmable macro keys
5. lots of user-made applets

Cons:

1. no scroll wheel
2. wired connection
3. lack of support and documentation

I know what you're thinking: "It's just a keyboard." Well screw that, when you use a good keyboard it's hard to go back to a plain-jane, beige, no-extras, clicky-key keyboard.

Nerd Tip #1:
To make your computer look better than it really is, buy cool peripherals. A hot mouse and keyboard and a sweet monitor make it look like you computer rocks harder than Kiss on crack.

I got Nothing

I still haven't gone up to the mountain. Anyone want to go?

New Digs

Today we move into our new office. We used to have an office right by Guildford mall but all of Information Management will now be in the new tower down by Central City. Its a really nice tower and the new equipment we get will be a million times better than what I've been working with the past year. The movers picked up all our stuff yesterday and today we get to unpack and organize our workspace (ie, cubicle).

In other news, congratulations to Neil and Kelly who had a boy at the beginning of November. Noah Robin, no wait, Noah Todd, oh hang on, Noah Drake, no no that's not right. Noah Grayson was 8 lbs and a few oz. and 20-something cm long. Don't expect me to know this stuff. Newborn babies all look alike to me.

I Hate Cleaning Windows

I hate it when your windows (and mirrors) have fingerprints and are all smudgy. I just hate cleaning them. I also hate when Windows seems to be running really really slow and I can't figure out why. I don't know how to fix this kind of crap so I just ignore it until it either goes away or until I am forced to start all over again (ie, reinstall). I could probably use a fresh reinstall anyway. My biggest pet peeve about Windows is when you are downloading something or transferring large files from one drive to another and you get that stupid, useless progress bar. "Oh look, only 5 minutes remaining. What the... now it says 30 minutes!?" Why does it bother to estimate how much time is remaining when it's highly dependent on what else the computer is doing at the same time? Show the bar, forget the time. Just let me know how much data is left to download/move and leave it at that.

Solitaire's the Only Game in Town

As I was walking through the Extended Care Unit, I looked into what looked like an Activity Room. There was a piano, a few tables, pictures hanging, easels leaning up against the walls, and a couple computers sitting in the corner. There were a few little old ladies sitting in their wheelchairs doing various things around the room, but what really caught my eye was this little old lady sitting in front of a table playing Solitaire. I mean the real game - with cards. But then what really caught my eye was another little old lady sitting at a computer playing Solitaire too! On the computer!! I thought this was hilarious.

Let it Snow!

There's snow on the mountains! Check out Mt. Baker and Whistler-Blackcomb! I can't wait...

Lucky...

So yesterday I finally decided to see what I could do about my broken harddrive. I figured I'd plug it in one more time to see if it'll work and guess what? It's working again. Maybe it just overheated? I know there's not a lot of airflow where that drive is, so maybe it just got too hot? Anyway, the side panel of my case is off and so far the temp has been pretty decent. I backed up my pictures and anything else that was irreplaceable. I decided that if I lost the music, I'd just recollect it all. I have most of it on CD anyway.

Almost There

One more night shift. Next week I'm on 24hr pager support. The week after that we move into the new office. That's the same week my schedule goes back to normal. I can't wait.

To Go Where 10% of All Men Have Gone Before

I just read somewhere on the internet that George Takei has come out of the closet. He was Captain Hikaru Sulu from the original Star Trek series and 6 Star Trek movies. So, he's gay. Hmm, I guess I could see that now. I think I was blinded by the fact that he was a Starfleet captain. Apparently he's been in a relationship with some dude for 18 years. You know, out of all the Star Trek cast I figured it would have been Spock.

Maybe I should have backed up...

The past week or so my computer has been acting funny. Super slow sometimes, running a little hot, and/or programs failing to load. Weird. I was going to run my computer nerd solution to all computer performance problems: I was going to reinstall Windows. I know its probably a little extreme, but I don't like trying to figure out which spyware is screwing up my system and I don't like having to perform a 23-step process to remove a virus. I'll just reinstall. So this morning I come home from work, check out uselessjunk.com for a second, then head to bed. I wake up around 2pm, look down the hall, and see my computer screen (yes, from 10meters away) with a message that says something like "primary slave failure". Oh crap, that doesn't sound good at all. My primary slave is that bitch in the garage closet, but my other primary slave is my second harddrive and it seems to have crapped out on me. So I disconnect it, reboot, and then think "I have some good news and some bad news. Good news: computer runs okay now, at least it'll boot up. Bad news: I don't know if I can get all the crap off this secondary harddrive, like my pictures, music, etc etc." Believe me, there was a lot of crap on that thing. There must be some super computer nerd out there reading this that can tell me if I'm screwed or if I can get my shit back. And don't tell me to take it to some shop that'll recover my data for $70/byte cuz it was an 80 fuckingGB drive. Man, computers really piss me off.

BTW, the job is going great, I really like it.

Here We Go Again

Tomorrow we go Live. Out of the 4 hospitals in this region, these last 2 hospitals are the smallest ones. They're also the last. After these 2, there will be no major implementations for a few years - just some small upgrades. These last 2 however, are my babies. I've put my blood, sweat, and tears into these last 2 sites and its almost over. Okay, maybe not my blood, sweat, and tears but definitely a lot of hours and a lot of Starbucks coffees. and Tim Horton's coffees. and Guildford Sushi. Anyway, for the rest of the week I'll be working night shifts as part of our 24/7 support. Tomorrow we turn it on and I'm just praying there are no major hiccups. Wish me luck.

Keeping Score

Due to a recent comment written by a sharp-eyed "Anonymous", I've decided on a new, ongoing game. I must admit that although I really can't stand poor grammar and stuff like that, I will undoubtedly make errors. So, for now on I would ask that anytime you find me making these aforementioned errors, please let me know. I will keep track of who notices the most errors and post the scores here in my blog. Once in a while, I will intentionally make an error just to see who picks it up. Keep in mind that the detailed-minded person with the most points will be called "nerd" and "anal-retentive loser" quite often. But please don't let that discourage you from joining in the game.

Rules:

1. typos don't count
2. if I mean to write a sentence fragment, that doesn't count
3. if I mean to write a run-on sentence, that doesn't count
4. all submissions will be judged solely by me and I can change my mind anytime
5. if I meant to do something, like not capitalize some words, that doesn't count
   

Current Score:
Anonymous = 1
everyone else = 0

Movie Review

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou with Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett & Willem Dafoe

I thought it was brilliant. Kinda like The Royal Tenenbaums at sea.

Doun't Minde Me.

I had a friend from the Philippines (who was here visiting) ask me once why I spelled things differently. I told her it was the Canadian way of spelling. Like rumour, or neighbourhood, or colour. She asked why it was like that and I had no idea, that's just the way we spell it in Canada. Does anyone know where this comes from? Is it some french influence or some shit like that?

Arrr, Make 'im walk the plank.

I heard about BitTorrent last year from Rodney. He told me it was the way to download shit off the internet. For the past couple of years I've been using Limewire. Nothing illegal, mind you, just some independently recorded stuff that the artists openly share for exposure (*wink wink*). Anyhoo, I started using BitTorrent and so far it seems pretty good. I should have switched last year.

I Hope You Like My Music

When I bought my iPod last May I kinda wondered to myself what I really needed it for. I don't often listen to music with headphones, in fact I don't even like listening to music that way. I don't want to carry around another device (on weekdays I already carry a cellphone and a blackberry) that I can drop or lose. Then after a few weeks of using it regularly, I thought, "This is great! I can carry a tonne of music with me wherever I go and the headphones give me a good excuse to ignore people." It was especially great at work where I could pretend not to hear people trying to talk to me. I ended up switching the headphones for a pair of el-cheapo speakers just because the pretending-to-ignore-you thing actually became a nuisance when I really needed to hear someone. So now I have music playing quietly at my desk as I work. Is it too loud? Does it bother people? I don't care. I'll turn it down if you ask me to, but otherwise I hope you like my music.