Well, it's finally here...

My bloggin' year kinda fizzled out at the end here... not too much regularity to the posts... (perhaps I need more fiber) :)

I've enjoyed reading all entries of my blog-world and real-world friends... it's been a privilege and a pleasure being a part of your experiences for 2007. I look forward to continuing to hear more about your cyclocross adventures, your, um, suki-ness, your snaux-bike iditarod craziness up in Alaska, your second ironman, and yes, even your strong opinions about, well, everything (so long as you sprinkle in those stories about your students that make me laugh out loud) and of course, I look forward to my trip with Jim and our kids up to Algonquin (that goes without saying).

I wish all of you the absolute best for you and your families in 2008!

g.

Happy Christmas Everyone!

I hope you all have a very Happy Christmas! Enjoy time with family and friends and remember, it's not important that everything goes exactly as planned, it's important that you're together to enjoy each other's company!



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Cool Firefox performance tip...

Try this out if you use FF and haven't done this already:

Here’s something for broadband people that will really speed Firefox up:

1.Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

If you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages MUCH faster now!

from: forevergeek.com

If you're easily offended, don't watch this...

That is one of the funniest commercials I have ever seen! I especially like the girl at the photocopier:

girl: "poop"

guy in cubicle: "doesn't count!"

girl: "SHUT THE F@*K UP!"

Abso-friggin-lutely hilarious!

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I know it's been a while...

but I'm working on a few things that I can't really post about since there's a chance that some people may read this that shouldn't know just yet what I'm up to. I know that sounds all cloak and dagger but I can't let the cat out of the bag yet and it's gonna take about another month or so until things are finalized. This is nothing bad, just something I think is gonna be great for me and my family.

Anyway, I've been reading all the blogs that I normally read, I've just not been commenting. Work is quite busy right now... trying to jam in the last few deliverable before year-end so that's all that's really going on otherwise.

P* is really enjoying his hockey. M* is not practicing his guitar so the lesson are making very slow progress. D* is... well, D* is D* and just as funny as ever for a 4 year old. It constantly amazes me how funny he can be... he has a very developed sense of humour (that's "humor" for those south of the border :) ) My daughter is turning 1 in a week... I can't believe she's a year old! It seems like she was just born a few months ago. She has taken her first steps and has no problem standing without holding on. It's amazing to see her develop... I'd forgotten how awesome it is watchin' them grow. (and NO! we ARE NOT HAVING ANY OTHER CHILDREN!) :)

Well, have a great day everyone and have a great weekend too... I've booked a day off tomorrow so I'll think of you all workin' away!

g.

Okay, so it's ironic that I'm posting this article from work...

but I'm sure you will find humour in that, which I hope will brighten your day. :)

November 18, 2007
Career Couch
Every Workday Needs a Game Plan
By PHYLLIS KORKKI
NY Times Link

Q. You just finished an eight-hour day at the office and, looking back, you barely got anything done. Now you feel guilty and worthless. What happened?

A. Rest assured that you are not alone. Heightened demands at work, combined with endless distractions and interruptions, are conspiring to make some workers feel scattered, confused and unsatisfied. In response, they are either shutting down and going on eBay, or spinning their wheels by doing busywork that is at most tangentially related to the core mission of their business.

Q. So a lack of productivity doesn’t mean that you’re lazy?

A. Most people do not want to be idle or inefficient at work; they want “productive, rewarding jobs where they feel they are making a difference,” said Mark Ellwood, president of Pace Productivity, a company based in Toronto that studies how employees spend their time.

People may blame themselves, or blame others, but a lack of productivity basically means that “you really didn’t have a strategy for attacking the day,” said Julie Morgenstern, a productivity consultant based in New York.

Q. You started the day with such good intentions. What prevented you from finishing any work?

A. Perfectionism, which leads to paralyzing fear and procrastination, are major culprits, both Mr. Ellwood and Ms. Morgenstern said.

The false promise of multitasking may also be leading workers astray, Ms. Morgenstern said. As much as employers may sing the praises of multitasking, research shows that it is not actually possible to perform more than one job at any given time.

Workers trying to talk on the phone, answer e-mail and complete a report at the same time will be unable to focus completely on any of those tasks. As a result, they will certainly look and feel busy, but at the end of the day they will have little to show for it.

It is better to have a sequential approach toward work, Ms. Morgenstern said, and that requires priorities and discipline.

Q. Can technology inhibit productivity?

A. A compulsion to surf the Internet and check e-mail stirs up a “desire to be in the know, to not be left out, that ends up taking up a lot of our time” — at the expense of getting things done, Mr. Ellwood said.

If he had his way, he would cut off Internet access — but not e-mail — for a vast majority of employees, and set up dedicated workstations for people to use when they really needed the Web for their work.

Companies, he maintains, “set the table” for employees to waste their time by making it so easy to distract themselves on their computers.

Q. Will making a to-do list help you get things done?

A. A realistic to-do list can help create a map for the day, and it is satisfying to make the check marks that indicate a task has been accomplished, Mr. Ellwood said.

But being realistic is crucial, because “when you are looking down the barrel of an endless to-do list, you freeze,” Ms. Morgenstern said.

“And then you start doing things like procrastinate, and doing the small easy tasks rather than the big important ones,” she added.

Q. What other steps can you take to be more productive?

A. Shockingly, Ms. Morgenstern advises against checking your e-mail when you arrive at the office. She has even written a book on productivity called “Never Check E-Mail in the Morning.” She calls e-mail “the world’s most convenient procrastination device.”

Instead, she said, use your first hour at work to concentrate on a high-priority task. That will help you begin the day with a clear head. Free of mental debris from the start, you set a good precedent for the rest of the day.

Mr. Ellwood advises clients to imagine that they have nothing to do the next day: no e-mail, no phone calls, no meetings, no specific plans. Then he asks: What can you do to accomplish a long-term goal you want to achieve one month from now? This forces people to disentangle themselves from busywork, he said, and to focus on what is really important to their business.

Ms. Morgenstern urges workers to end their day with a plan for the next day, and for the two days after that. This reduces the chances that they will be stuck in “reactive” mode — continually responding to calls, e-mail and in-person requests without an overarching plan of their own.

It is also important to accept that interruptions are a part of the day, and to assess realistically what percentage of your time will be spent dealing with them, as well as when they are most likely to occur, she said.

Q. You have so many things to do. How can you decide what is most important?

A. Give the highest priority to activities that either help generate revenue for your company or help it save money, Ms. Morgenstern said.

Once you have defined these activities, you can work on what she calls the four D’s: choosing which work you can delay, delete, delegate or diminish.

Winnowing out the peripheral tasks and homing in on the most important ones will help you gain control — and “once you feel you’re in control, you’re productive,” Ms. Morgenstern said.

E-mail: ccouch@nytimes.com.

I thought this was an interesting article, in particular the answer to the question: "Can technology inhibit productivity?" Perhaps because it strikes very close to home for me.

I was also surprised about the advice to not check your e-mail in the morning. Once I thought about it, I realized that it was bang-on about the advice and that there are many-a-morning that I get distracted from my initial plan when I check e-mail and get sucked into some other "concern".

Anyway, I guess a good plan would be to shut this browser down and focus on my tasks for the rest of the day.

Have a great day everyone!

g.

Lactic acid: not good... or is it?

Take a read of this and let me know what you think:

Lactic Acid

Finally, the old theories of aerobic training are crumbling under the weight of new evidence. At the center of the breakthrough is lactic acid. You’ve probably heard of it, especially if you’ve ever had a coach or a trainer. Conventional wisdom said you had to avoid lactic acid because its build up in your muscles caused pain, fatigue and the soreness you feel after “over doing it”.

We were told to exercise aerobically and not cross the dreaded lactic threshold. To do so would mean an-aerobic (without oxygen) exercise, which created the damaging lactic acid. That sparked the aerobics craze that reached its peak in the 1980’s.

But this theory never jived with my real world experience of the benefits of exceeding your aerobic threshold (which would build lots of the dreaded lactic acid.) It turns out lactic acid is not only not your enemy. To the contrary, it’s fuel for your muscles.

Dr. George Brooks from the University of California at Berkeley recently found that lactic acid is taken up and burned for energy by your mitochondria – the energy factories in your muscle cells.1 What’s more, it can not create the after workout soreness because it is rapidly removed as you burn it for fuel. In other words, it’s long gone before you get sore.

A high output, anaerobic workout is exactly what your body needs to increase your lungpower, build reserve capacity in your heart and melt away your fat stores.

To move your workout into the anaerobic range, the key feature I use is this: Create an “oxygen debt.” Simply exercise at a pace you can’t sustain as in a short sprint. Ask your lungs for more oxygen than they can provide. The difference between the oxygen you need and the oxygen you get is your oxygen debt. This will cause you to pant and continue to breathe hard even after you’ve stopped the sprint until you replace the oxygen you’re lacking.

Let’s say you pedal as fast as you can on a bike for 15 seconds. When you stop, you continue to pant. This is the kind of high-output challenge I’m talking about. You have reached a supra-aerobic zone. This is very different from doing an aerobic workout for 45 minutes.

Aerobic exercise is low to medium output held for an extended period. Anaerobic or supra-aerobic exercise is high output, but short in duration. Why is this important? For one thing, it restores an element of your native environment. Our ancestors lived in a world where our food fought back. Predators attached without notice. They had to run or fight – fast and hard. These short bursts of high-output activity fine tuned our ancient ancestors and kept them fit. We still have the same physiology.

This is the basis for my PACE® program. I began using most of this program 25 years ago. I’m delighted to see University-based science catching up to the idea. More recently, I added progressivity to increase the benefits.

By making small changes in the same direction, your workouts can produce remarkable results. And you only need 12 minutes to achieve the desired effect.

In a matter of weeks, you can:

Lose pounds of belly fat

* Build functional new muscle
* Reverse heart disease
* Build energy reserves available on demand
* Strengthen your immune system
* Reverse many of the changes of aging.

Very soon, you’ll be the first to get access to my entire PACE® program. It’s almost ready for release. I’m setting down out easy to follow, step-by-step instructions – with over 100 photos. It should give you everything you need to get started.

So stay tuned… I promise you’ll be the first to know.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1 Kolata G. Lactic Acid is Not Muscle’s Foe, It’s Fuel. The New York Times. May 16, 2006

Paramore - One of my new favorite bands

I know it's been a while since my last post...

There so much going on right now that I hardly have time to come over here and post. I was catching up on some e-mail and I got this video link from a friend and I just had to post it 'cause it's so damn funny:



Enjoy!

g.

Get out and VOTE!

Okay, for those of you reading this that live in Ontario, today is election day and I urge everyone to get out today and place your vote. As the ad campaign says, "Don't let other speak for you"

g.

Another good one from Lifehacker.com

This one is for all you Firefox users out there (and if you're still using IE then you should do yerself a favour and change over to Firefox).
Sometimes a web developer has created a page that only displays properly in IE and when you open it in Firefox it gets all jumbled up. Now there's an add-in for Firefox that will open that web page in IE in a Firefox tab!

You can read about it over on Lifehacker.com where there's a link to the add-in page and instructions on what you need to do.

If ya don't wanna click over there then here's what you do in a nutshell:

1. download the add-in
2. for the bookmark that you need to open in IE, go to the properties of the book mark and put this in front of the URL for that bookmark:

chrome://ietab/content/reloaded.html?url=

Viola! There you have it... a page that opens in a FF tab but uses IE.

Cool eh?

g.

Just a quick hello...

I just wanted to say a quick hello to everyone and apologise that I've not posted much lately... it's been a b!tch here at work and home life has been hectic... actually, hectic might be a slight understatement. It's all good stuff though... hockey, cubs, Marie's music stuff, general family activities, auxiliary events... work has been crazy busy which I like on one hand 'cause time flies by but on the other hand, it can start to feel like I'm barely keepin' my head above water...

I think that one of the people that has been feelin' my "absence" the most is Jim... Jim really is like a brother to me and I wish I could hang out more with him but the reality is my days are long and the things/people requiring my attention are many right now. I'm tryin' to figure out what the new routine is and once I get that down I can figure out what's left for my down time... I know down time is important so I will make space for it...

Anyway, I've managed to read a few blogs entries here and there and I hope everyone is doing well... running, climbing, biking, gardening, etc...

I'm gonna run now so have a great weekend everyone!

g.

Victor Wooten Bass Solo Link

Check out this bass solo by Victor Wooten.

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A potentially good site...

I haven't looked at it yet but this website looks like it might be a good information source... I know that new computers come with Windows Vista but I've used a laptop that was running Vista and because of that experience I intend to stay on XP as long as possible!...

How To's for Windows XP

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Do you know Jesus? I do...

well, at least I must if he's sending me e-mail. Yes, you read that right, Jesus sent ME e-mail. Isn't that AWESOME!?

What? Ya don't believe me?

Fine, I'll prove it. Here's a partial screen capture of my spam folder in gmail.



I know what yer askin'... why do I have Jesus on my spammer list? Well I don't, gmail put him there automatically. Now I hafta say I'm relieved that Jesus is runnin' an on-line pharmacy. I was gettin' a little self conscious of my um... manhood 'cause I keep gettin' all these e-mails tryin' to set me up with enlargement devices and such. I finally realized that it was just scum bags tryin' to make a quick buck but if it had been Jesus sendin' those e-mails... that's a different story... I may have had to take it seriously... I mean, come on, if Jesus says yer too small, he's prolly tellin' the truth, right? Jesus wouldn't say something that wasn't true and for that matter, he wouldn't lie would he.

Hmm... I just had a thought, what if Jesus' pharmacy sells the big blue pill? Damnit! Maybe Jesus IS tryin' to tell me sommit... Now I'm back to feelin' less than capable! Geeeez. I'm gettin' back to work, it's less depressing.

g.

Another good source for office suites...

Jim commented on my post about Zoho reminding me of another good source for office suite software:

Another alternative to office that is perfect for the average user...
www.openoffice.org

OpenOffice.org is a great alternative to MS offerings. It gives you apps that you can download to your hard drive. I've used it back when I was running a Linux machine at home. The thing I liked about Zoho was the fact it was on-line and available from any internet connected machine (and was free too).

Well, I'm going to my best man's wedding this weekend... a casual event at Balzac's Coffee. On Sunday I'm helping out at the local Terry Fox Run which should be good. I'm not sure what else is going on. If you have a moment, let me know what you're doin'... last time I asked, only Suki responded and she said she couldn't remember 'cause she was so fall-down drunk... KIDDING! She did say that alcohol WAS NOT involved but she still couldn't remember what she did.

(note: HA! HA! I googled "stumbling drunk" and a picture of Tara Reid came up! Now that there says something about yer reputation! Oh, and, no... I can't post the picture. ;) )

I do know that Jim is running in the Terry Fox Run and then walkin' in it with his family.

Anyway, the weather is supposed to be partly cloudy and the temps seasonal so it should be a good weekend to be out and about in the Greater Newcastle Area. I hope the weather is good in your area and I hope you get out and about too!

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

g.

Good riddance MS Office licensing?

You have GOT to check ZOHO out! What's ZOHO you may ask... well here's what the FAQ says:

Zoho is a suite of web services offered by AdventNet. The different web services can be accessed with just a browser & an internet connection. The best part is you don't require to install any software on your computer.

I think this is really cool. Now, I haven't tested it extensively so I don't know what, if any, the shortcomings are. I will say that the idea of a free office suite is way cool. I've always struggled with the price Microsoft charges for their software and this seems to be a good replacement. I'm gonna try it out whenever I can and if I remember, I'll provide some feedback in the future. (I know, I'm not good at the follow up posts so I settin' the bar low here... :) )

Anyway, I stumbled on this when I was researching something over at TechRepublic and I had to share it with y'all.

If you try it out, let me know what you think.

g..

So I signed the boys up for Wolf Cubs

Boy are they excited! I have to admit that I'm pretty excited too... I'm lookin' forward to doing all the neat things that Cubs do... camping, hiking, learning how to tie knots, helping them earn badges. It is expensive though; $140 each, plus about about $60 minimum each for uniforms. I don't have to pay for my training but I do have to pay for my police check (that's kinda funny given the fact that I have police ID eh?) and I assume I hafta pay for my own uniform which will be slight more than $60. Oh well, it's gonna be worth it since I'll be creating memories for the boys and helping shape a part of their life experience that will stay with them forever. I still remember a lot of what I did in cubs and scouts and I would say that I use quite a bit of what I learned back then on a regular basis today.

Well, I've got a lot of meetings today at work so I'm gonna go prepare for them now. I hope everyone has a great day!

g.

What's my name?

Jim asked if I'd given any thought to what my "name" would be as a cub leader. Since the leader's names are based on the Jungle Book characters, I took a look at all of them and I think that the character that best fits me would be this one:

For a number of reasons, all of which may be evident to those that know me, I think Baloo is the name I'm gonna be shootin' fer. I hope I can get it! :)

Anyway, it's gonna be a fairly busy weekend for me so I'm gonna do my best to get outta here a little early today (the boss is off today!) so I can start the weekend.

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

g.

So I'm an uncle again!

My sister Eileen gave birth to a baby boy yesterday morning!

Devlin is his name and he was born at 08:45 weighing 7lbs 5oz. Eileen and Devlin are doing well and proud daddy Cornelius hasn't stopped grinning since 08:45:01 yesterday morning. :)

Eileen and Cornelius has two daughters so this will be a bit of an adjustment to the whole family. I feel for Devlin, I only had two "moms" growing up (my mom and my sister!)... poor Devlin has four (my sister, my mom, and my two nieces!)... I got yer back buddy!

Since most of you may wonder about the name (okay, I wondered what the significance of the name was) I thought I'd share that with you. Before I do that though, I should share with you that Eileen and Cornelius are both interested in their Irish ancestry so that was on of the first considerations when they were picking a name. Eileen said that the name meant fierce warrior. I was unable to find reference to Devlin as a first name (although I did find it the other day but can't seem to find the link again) but it is a surname in Ireland. The Gaelic spelling seems to be "Duibhlin" or "Duibhlinn". Ya gotta love the Gaelic language eh?

I wanted to name daughter Naomh (pronounced NEEV) but Marie wouldn't hear of it. I'm okay with that now 'cause Gracie is Gracie to me and I can't imagine her having any other name.









Well, it's been extremely busy here at work and I feel like I haven't seen my friends or done anything social in a month so I'll have to change that. Jim and Tanyia came by last Friday for a few hours and that was really nice... we haven't done that in quite a while. We usually play board games when we get together, which is always a blast, but this time we just chatted and had some laughs.

Oh yeah, I forgot, we're going to a pig roast at a neighbour's house on Saturday night... we don't really know anyone except the people hosting the party so it could go either way - either I find someone that I "click" with and have some good conversation, or I don't find anyone and I spend the whole time sittin' in the corner watchin' people. I'm gonna do my best to mingle since I rarely get the opportunity to meet new people in town since I spend my time on the road between Toronto and Newcastle commuting.

The boys brought home a pamphlet about cubs and they really wanted to join. Marie and I had talked about this in the past and the only way that we would feel comfortable putting the kids in cubs is if I was a leader... so guess who's applying to be a cub leader? yep, you're lookin' at the next cub leader candidate. I think the organizer thought he'd been given a miracle 'cause the call went something like this:

Hi, Dave?

(in a kinda tired voice) Yes, this is Dave

Hi. My name is Gerry and I was looking to find out more information about signing my sons up for cubs. When is the registration and how much does it cost?

(again, in a tired voice) Registration is Monday night and the cost is $140 per child.

Okay. I was also wondering about how I would become a leader and if there are any openings for leaders... or are you just lookin' for parent volunteers from time to time?

(in a very excited voice) Oh no, we're always looking for leaders and we're in need of more leaders for the cubs since a couple of the leaders are moving on to the scouts with their sons. We pay for all your training so there's no cost to you to become a leader. You can register on Monday night when you sign you boys up. That's great. You'll just need a police background check and there'll be an screening interview... that's standard procedure.

Okay, thanks Dave, I'll see you Monday night then.

(again, in an excited voice) GREAT! See you then Gerry!

Hmmm... what have I gotten myself into...

g.

Just wanted to share some music...

These guys have a good sound...

By the way...

did ya read about Jim's triathalon? It's a good read... he did very well.

He also did a write up of his solo trip to Rock Lake... it was quite the adventure!

I should have mentioned these posts earlier but since most of you come to my blog from his, you would have already read them. :)

No big plans for us this weekend... just trying to get things organized around the house for the kids starting back to school and Marie starting up her music teaching again. (myc.com is the program she teaches)

I'm actually looking forward to working on the house since it's kinda been gettin' out of hand lately. I'd like to tackle the garage before the cold weather gets here too so that I can get my car into the garage to service it over the winter.

What are you doing this weekend? Anything exciting?

Anyway, whatever it is that you get up to this weekend, have a GREAT weekend and don't labour too hard on labour day!

g.

Whoa... I almost broke one of the facebook etiquette rules...

I'm sittin' here on my 5th beer and I started to leave comments on people's facebook walls... don't worry, I caught myself and erased them... instead I am posting here... perhaps it's best if I stop here...

Oh, and... Happy b-day GeWilli. The 4th one was for you! :)

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Readers, meet tumblr; tumblr, meet the readers

I just started playin' around with a new kind of blogging using the tumblelog format.


I've set up an RSS feed for this blog that automatically sends content to The Life Of Suds so that I can keep this format until I make a decision (which could also end up being that I keep both going... we'll see...). What I really like about the tumblr format is that I can use a widget button on my mozilla (firefox) toolbar that allows me to very quickly and easily share a website link with the click of a button. You'll find quite a few that I've already shared as I "tumbled" on to them. Anyway, take a look and see if you like it.

g.

A quote for Suki...

and for anyone else that happens to read this...

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
--Henry Ford

Another gem from Lifehacker.com...

Check this out...



This is a bootable CD that will turn almost any computer into a media centre. It's temporary too... all you have to do is remove the CD and reboot to get back to the O/S on your HDD. I have an old laptop that I wanted to use as a video player when we go on long road trips (like down to Florida)... the problem was getting the software to play DVDs... I mean, i could get it but not for free. I had tried a few but they were kinda buggy and would hang when playin' the DVD so I'm gonna try this one. It's not a top priority since we don't have any road trips planned right now but once I do try it out, I'll let you know how it worked out.

g.

I'm kinda torn...

whilst I like the idea of facebook and the fact that I have been able to find people I had lost contact with, I am not particularly into all the "super-duper" apps that a lot of people seem to like... it kinda stoops to the myspace level versus a more sophisticated/mature on-line social network. (okay, that sounds a bit "snobby" but I do find the myspace environment to be somewhat immature in nature, sorry folks). I came across this article (at my new-found fave website lifehacker.com) about facebook etiquette that I wanted to share. I posted the article below and you can read it directly from here:

As Facebook slowly but surely begins to take over all aspects of our lives, I believe it is important to keep in mind certain principles of etiquette when using the social networking service. Having been a user since 2004, when it was still exclusive to certain colleges/universities, I like to consider myself somewhat of a facebook veteran. I would therefore like to contribute certain Facebook etiquette rules:

* One should not friend another whom they have no association or connection with whatsoever. Doing so makes you what I like to call a ‘creeper’.

* Poke with moderation and caution (I stand firmly by this etiquette principle).

* When speaking with someone whom you have been casually ‘facebook stalking’, try to pretend you do not know everything about them. Avoid comments like: “So, I saw you and Mike broke up on facebook…”

* Drunken facebooking can get you in trouble… Try to restrain yourself from leaving an inebriated wall post on that cute guy or girl’s profile.

* Additionally, writing on your own wall is somewhat of a "faux pas" (I believe strongly in this one as well).

* Beware of potential employers browsing facebook photos. That body shot or keg stand picture might not encourage hiring.

* One’s profile should not be overloaded with unnecessary applications (such as Superpoke, Food Fight, ect.), Facebook is not meant to be like myspace.

* Being part of too many Facebook groups devalues the ones you truly care about, try to stick to a select few (under 25?).

* One’s popularity is based on the number of “Happy Birthday!!!!!” wallposts they receive. Do not forget to leave one on good friends’ walls on their special day.

* Finally (for now), do use Facebook as a way to keep in touch with people whom you otherwise might not but do not let it replace actual human interaction (easier said than done).

I like a lot of what the author posts. There were also a few comments that I also agreed with

With that being said, it was very nice to get all the birthday wishes from people through facebook. I'm not going to comment on the implication about popularity made in a point above but I will say that it was very nice and put a smile on my face to get the b-day wishes.

I'm sittin' on a conference call here at work right now and even though I'm not thrilled about having to be on the call, I should prolly stop writing here and pay attention to what's being said on the call.

Have a good day everyone!

g.

I give you a cut from "Weapons of Grass Destruction"

Hayseed Dixie does a number of bluegrass covers of well known rock and pop songs that I really like... it's kinda like the Paul Anka "Rock Swings" cuts... really awesome to hear a song done in a different style than we're used to.

R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts:


Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit:


David Lee Roth doing Jump! with a bluegrass band:


Hayseed Dixie doing Outkast's Roses:


Just wanted to share those...

g.

So I tried the utility out...

and it seemed to do a good job of cleaning up the registry and cookies. I'll hafta see how the performance changes, if at all, and report back. In the meantime, here's the button for you to take a look if you like:



g.

A neat utility that I'm gonna try

I'm gonna download this utility and see how it works. I'll report back here after I've tried it. I had a conversation with a consultant that was at work a few weeks ago and we were talkin' about windows and how it gradually slows down over time and how MAC tends to be more proficient at releasing resources and keeping the system clean. Anyway, I'll try this utility on my home machine and get back to y'all.

By the way, the button is not linked right now, I figured I should try it out before I pimp it out. :)

g.

Here's a neat blog I found today...

Lifehacker.com - which is a software and productivity guide. I was fascinated with the post showing the responses to their request to send them pictures of people's "go bags". Take a look here and see what people carry around with them everyday... it's very interesting and to be honest, I find the idea of getting a nicer bag for me to carry my stuff around in. Right now I use my laptop bag and I find it to be heavier than it needs to be. Anyway, take a look at what people submitted, maybe you'll find it interesting too.

g.

Is it bad...

that I'm eating my lunch at 10:30am?



Gawd, I'm starvin' today... I'm wishin' I had this guy's burger!

g.

Haven't really got far with the triplog...

so I thought I'd post a few pics for you to see.

This is me on our second last portage of our last day. I had done a pretty stooopid thing and packed my hat deep in my backpack (actually, I had left in there the previous night and inadvertently packed everything on top of it the next morning) so I used my bandanna to cover my chrome-dome... it turned out to be pretty good since it allowed more airflow than the Tilley.

Here's Jim on the last portage too. We're lookin' so much more refreshed than last year. It's amazing how much influence the psychological aspect of physical activity plays in the overall experience. We knew what to expect (having never done serious portaging before last year) and it really helped set our expectations. We also adjusted our pace and the load we took which always helps with the physical aspect of the trip.



We saw lots of moose on this trip. This moose wasn't bothered by us in the least, she kept numchin' on the lily pads... we ended up drifting real close to her, about 25to 30 feet at the most I'd say. It was at that point that I thought about how strong moose are and that she may decide she didn't like us floating and would rather see us swimming... I started to paddle away from her at that point. :)


The lake we stayed on was nice and quiet... here's a pic of the sunset... it was taken on the second night we were there. The first night is missing from my pics for a very specific reason that I will talk about when I do my trip log. In the meantime, enjoy the sunset...

We made it back alive!

So it was a GREAT trip to Algonquin. The trip included highlights such as fresh bear tracks, fresh bear poop, close encounters with meese (okay, I know, moose is also the plural but it's not nearly as funny), line ups at portages, amazing weather and fantastic sleeps in my hammock lookin' up at the starry sky.

I've got a lot to write up but I want to get it all together before I publish it. We ended up doing the loop in 3.5 days instead of 4.5 days so, as you might imagine, I was feelin' pretty, um... tired at the end of our travel days. Here's a shot of me lyin' in my hammock on our last night in the park. I think I was conscious for all of 5 minutes after I clicked this pic. I slept like a log. :)

More to come later...

Have a great day everyone!

g.

So I'm frantically trying to get all my work done...

before we leave tomorrow afternoon and it feels like I'm loosing the battle... so much to do, so little time. On top of a surge of work at my corporate job, I also started a business on the side doing application development and database programming and development for small to medium sized businesses. (before you start sayin' I'm crazy for adding more to my plate, I figured it would be better for me to pick up some extra work at the hourly rate I can get doing this stuff than Marie can get workin' at the local Tim Horton's... an no, she wouldn't be dressed like a giant coffee cup - that's my job!)

Anyway, things are rollin' along with regards to out trip in no small way because of Jim. If he didn't take control of that, I'd be shopping on the way up to Algonquin! As it stands, there is a distinct possibility that I'll be still packin' with Jim sittin' in my car on my driveway... very reminiscent of CC2005... don't worry Jim, I'm kiddin' (you hope!) LOL!

Anyway, 1 DAy, 4 HOURS AND 34 MINUTES until we leave! Holy Sh1t, I gotta go! Load up the llamas!

Have a great day everyone!

g.

So I found myself wandering around the blogsphere...

when I stumbled on this blog by Down Town Kevin Brown. I just scanned a few of the posts and came across some video links... I watched a few but found these ones particularly funny and wanted to share them with you.

This one is a longer skit but I think it's well done and funny:


Then there was a series of advertisements from Hillshire Farms. I've never heard of them (they must be in the U.S. only) but this one in particular made me laugh out loud and nearly made the water I was drinking come out my nose. When you watch it, pay attention to the Asian girl's facial expressions. (oh, and don't have any liquids in yer mouth, ya might me wipin' them off the screen, LOL).


The "Woo!" she does at the end is priceless!

Enjoy the rest of the day everyone!

g.

Hello Baaaaaby!

I got my car back last night! It feels like a new car... the transmission seems to be strong and smooth, the shifting is nice and clean/crisp... it's a thing of beauty really. After driving the van for a few days, I always notice how nice it is to have all that torque that the TDI gives you... it's not the first time I've noticed this (I always make that observation when we're done a long family road trip in the van) but it was even sweeter last night and this morning gettin' to do some long drives on the highway.

We're now down to 7 days 'til we leave for Algonquin! Woo Hoo! I can not wait! I'm really lookin' forward to it... I think the first day is gonna be awesome. It's a long haul with the HUGE 3km portage that has major elevation changes on it. Jim and I were speculating on how long it would take us to get to Robinson Lake... last year it took us 12 hours (I think) to get to Burntroot Lake, which is one lake south of where we're going (and we have to briefly pass through it to get to Robinson)... we're hoping to be in the 11 hour range to get to Robinson given that we've done this route before and more importantly, know what to expect. Last year some of our progress was slower 'cause we were learnin' as we went. This year we know where we're goin' and how hard it'll be. That was one of the biggest umm... I guess, shocks of last year... this carrying a canoe on yer head for several km's at a time is hard, especially goin' uphill.

Anyway, my day is absolutely JACKED so I should stop procrastinatin' (don't get me wrong, I enjoy chattin' with ya) and get back to work.

Have a GREAT day everyone!

g.

So I may be late to the party on this one...

but have you heard of Biomass to Liquid fuels? I mean, Fischer-Tropsch fuels have existed for a long time (since the 1920's) however, the emissions from the process where considerable and I think in today's environmentally sensitive political and social climate, would be unacceptable.
I've known about BioDiesel for a long time but this seems to be different. It's synthetic diesel made from a different process than transesterification that is used by biodiesel from veggie oil and animal fats.

That brings me to Carbo-V process used by CHOREN Industries.

Shell has invested in CHOREN Industries to produce SunDiesel which has the following advantages:

• has a high cetane number and therefore much better ignition performance than conventional diesel fuel
• has no aromatics or sulfur and significantly reduces pollutants from exhaust emissions
• can be used without any adjustment to existing infrastructure or engine systems
• is largely CO₂-neutral

SunDiesel is a BTL fuel - that is, it's a Biomass to Liquid fuel.

Biomass, in the energy production industry, refers to living and recently dead biological material which can be used as fuel or for industrial production. You can read about Biomass in it's wikipedia entry.

From the CHOREN website, there's a page that talks about the potential of biomass. Here are some of the highlights:

• Biomass is a sustainable resource that it is constantly being formed by the interaction of air, water, soil and sunlight.
• There are almost no limits on how much biomass can be grown. The continuous growth of plants on our planet exceeds our primary energy requirements many times over.
• Only 50 % of this unused annual potential would be enough to supply the raw materials for eleven large-scale industrial SunFuel production units i.e. for producing approx. 2.5 million t/a of SunFuel.
• In theory this amount could be used to produce 30 million t of SunFuel. This would be enough to meet 50% of the total automotive fuel consumption needs in Germany – including air traffic. And there would be no restrictions on the supply of foodstuffs either.

CHOREN is a German company but it's still very relevant to us here in North America. I had link to and read an article on this type of process (and I believe I blogged on it too) but I guess I just viewed this as some future potential, not a here and now possibility.

Anyway, I've used up a lot of work time reading about this stuff this morning so I'm gonna go for now but I'd love to hear about what your thoughts are on BTL fuels and if you know of any other information on this topic. Does anyone know if there is fuel being produced here? From another perspective, does anyone know of any company that I could invest in that is poised to start producing BTL fuels that are environmentally friendly?

Have a great day everyone!

g.

Two and a half plus hour commute

That's how long it took for me to get into work this morning. It started out with a walk to the bus stop. Then a bus ride through all the towns between my house and the train station. Then a train ride into Toronto followed by a subway ride to Bloor/Yonge and finally a walk several blocks to work. I left my town at 5:10 and arrived at 7:45.


And they wonder why people insist on driving to work instead of taking public transit. I would kill someone if I had that commute to face everyday. I'd prolly just quit my job and work at the local Tim Horton's. My commute would be 3 minutes, I could walk, ride my bike, run... anything but take my car. That would only last for as long as it takes to default on my mortgage and for the bank to repossess the house though. I think I could make the uniform work, or perhaps I'm better as a giant coffee cup.. thoughts?



Jim has come through again with the lists for our trip. I'm tellin' ya, it awesome for someone like me to have a friend like him to keep me on track and organized. So far things are lookin' better than last year... gear list is lighter, food pack should be lighter... I'm thinkin' that we'll end up with packs that are in the neighourhood of 50lbs with my hydration pack filled. The menu is lookin' yummy too. This year we're takin' up wine again only this time Jim found tetra packs of wine in small sizes... something like 350ml (about the size of a can of pop).


Jim and I were also talkin' about where we'd hang the hammocks and we've taken a look at some of the pics that I took of the island. We may not get exactly where we imagined but we will find somewhere to hang them even if it is a little away from the main fire pit area. (we obviously wouldn't want to be too close to the fire pit) Jim learned a lot on his solo trip (even though it got cut short)... he's still workin' on the writeup but I promise you, it will be worth the read when he posts it.

Well, another day has come and gone. I'm gonna be leavin' shortly for my monumental trek home.

Have a great day everyone!

g.

Damn car

So it looks like I have a big repair bill coming to me for my car. Sheesh... just when things were lookin' better on the $$$ front too.

Damn car.

I'm sorry car, I love you... I didn't mean it.

It looks like there a transmission issue. I am embarrassed to say I believe this one is my fault, not mechanical failure... I'm just not ready to say what I did out loud and admit to it. I'll have to wait to hear back from the dealership on what the problem is. I know a lot of you are sayin' "you're crazy takin' it to the dealership!" but I assure you, I have found a gem of a dealership in a smaller town. They charge a fair rate and have never tried to talk me into unnecessary work. I usually do my own maintenance and have even changed my timing belt with the help of a few members of tdiclub.com lookin' over my shoulder. I just didn't feel comfortable with this one since I know zero about fixin' transmissions and I don't have a lot of time right now since I took a some freelance database work to help with the finances. I guess it's a good thing I took that work on now... only problem is I'll prolly end up spending all the money I make on the car repair (hopefully not more than I'm makin' 'cause that would suk).

Anyway, Jim and I are gettin' together this weekend to go over the final details of our Algonquin trip. As he mentioned in his latest post, we didn't get a room at the hotel in Mattawa 'cause they were all booked up... who'd o' thunk? We're stayin' at the same motel as last year where the owner had put in a sub shop and I'm happy to report that he has now expanded his culinary skill set to include a Chinese food buffet! Ya gotta wonder how he even had enough customers to make the sub place successful... I mean, Mattawa is a *very* small town and he's not even *in* Mattawa! Good for him though. We've secured ourselves a non-smoking room which, I suspect, will smell very much like a smoking room like our non-smoking room did last year. Oh well, beats sleepin' in the car I guess.

Well, I'm anxiously waiting to hear from the dealership but I also have work to do here at home (I'm glad I brought my laptop home last night, I almost left it at work for the night).

Have a great day everyone.

g.

Last night's footie game was awesome

BMO Field is a fantastic venue. There isn't a bad seat in the place. I was sitting in the supporters section behind the south goal. The viewing angle was just west of the centre of the field. The game was a good game, I was cheering for Uruguay but the USA won by one goal. There were a few shoving matches and at the end both team got into it a little but in the end no one was hurt.

I went onto the Toronto FC site today to see if I could get tickets for one of their games but it doesn't look like I can. I've made some inquiries on the facebook marketplace but I'm pretty sure they'll be askin' for more than I'm willing to pay.

I even contemplated season tickets for next year since the seats are only $200/season in the section I sat in last night but there's a waiting list. I signed up anyway figuring I'd deal with the decision if/when they contacted me.

=======================

You see the dashed line above, you know the drill...

Have a great day everyone!

g.

So a buddy of mine...

bought tickets to the FIFA U-20 world cup tourny going on in Canada. Mike gave me a call and asked if I would be interested in going to a game since we'd been talking about trying to get out to see Toronto FC at the new BMO field. I said yes and he said it was his treat. I asked if he was sure and he said yes so I'm meetin' up with him tonight after work. The match is set to kick off at 19:45 and it's USA v. Uruguay. I'm really lookin' forward to this as I've never seen a live soccer football game at this level... I was tryin' to get tickets to a game between Aston Villa FC and Toronto FC but that's a game that's out of my budget so my immediate chance to see a Premier League team play live is gonna pass by... oh well.

GeWilli seems to be in some sort of poet mode or sommat... take a look at the way he wrote out his post titled "spinning".

Marie and the kids are coming down to my office this afternoon (dropping off our nephew who's been staying with us for the last week) and I'm really excited about that. It always makes me happy to see my family during the day... I wish I could do it more often.

==================================================================

Well, yet another post started with good intentions but the day "happened" and I must hit the publish button once again...

Have a great day everyone!

g.

Jim left for Algonquin today

Well, Jim started his solo trip today. I was talkin' with Marie about it last night... she asked if I would like to do a solo trip. I told her I'd love to do solo trip. She said she doesn't get it so I tried to explain that I thought it would be awesome to go off on your own, face the challenge of paddlin' a solo canoe, findin' all the portages, not havin' someone to chime in on the decision making ("do ya think the portage is in that inlet or around the next point?")... spending the nights alone in the sounds of nature out in the fresh air. She said she still didn't get it so I compared it to people going on silent retreats and that kinda helped her see what I was gettin' at.

We're goin' trailer campin' with the kids this weekend. I'm really stoked about it. I've talked about how I love both the "car camping" as well as the back country camping. I like havin' the kids around, being excited about every little thing, approaching it like it's an adventure. We'll inevitably end up fishin', swimmin', havin' a campfire, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs... it's gonna be a blast!

Marie's Dad bought a boat and he's puttin' it in the marina near us. P* is really excited 'cause he's soooo into fishin' right now. I'm gonna have to get my boat and fishing licenses real fast. In fact, I should prolly get my fishing license this weekend 'cause we will end up fishin' and it's not worth the hassle if we get caught and we will be in a provincial park so the likelihood if gettin' caught is prolly higher in the prov. park than just at the lakeside spots.

The drive in today was just plain stoooopid... two and a half hours almost to the minute... a high speed crash early this morning closed the eastbound lanes of the 401 and of course, westbound drivers had to stop and look... as if there's anything they can do to help at this point... move along people! The emergency services have everything under control!

Idiot drivers.

Or well, lots to do and like GeWilli, if I keep postin' I'm sure it'll sit for hours with very little added after this so I'll hit publish and move on the next "To Do" on my list today.

Oh, and send you positive thoughts and prayers to Suki... she's hurtin'.

Have a great day everyone!

g.

Fast paced world...

"The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it."
- Harry Emerson Fosdick

I liked the quote... I'll have to read up on Harry Emerson Fosdick to learn who he was.

CC2007 mystery gift problem... solved!

So Jim had come up with the idea of each of us getting a little surprise "gift" for Capsized Canoe 2007. Jim got these lexan wine glasses that collapse for travel so we can enjoy the wine we're bringing rather than drinking the wine from our coffee mugs. I was really wracking my brain to come up with a good gift and wasn't havin' much luck so I decided to wander down to MEC and browse through the stuff there. That's where I found the GSI H2JO! Coffee Filter that fits on most wide mouth nalgene water bottles... what a GREAT idea! We both love to have our coffee in the morning with our porridge so this is gonna be perfect. You can also put loose tea leaves in it and have some nice tea. There are two ways to use it - put the tea leaves or coffee grounds in the basket and turn the bottle upside down and let it brew or... you can put the leaves or grounds into the bottle with the hot water and then use the filter to strain the leaves/grounds as you pour the drink. Cool eh? The only caution is that the bottle will be hot to handle but it's not like you'd be traveling on a portage with the stuff... it's most likely that you'd be doin' this when you're stopped (morning or evening meals).

Well, it's a great day outside today... my boss and I sat over at "Fourbucks" (as GeWilli calls it) and had a coffee out on the patio. Great day for it... perfect temps, low humidity, sun shining, great... um... scenery... good stuff.

Since I had an extended break this morning, I'm gonna make this one short and get a few things done so I can leave at a decent hour this afternoon.

Have a great day weekend everyone!

g.

The "Yes Campaign"

For those of you reading this that live in Ontario, please take some time to investigate the Fair Vote Ontario website. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of feeling like my vote doesn't make a difference and that my voice is not being heard. Under the current voting system (first-past-the-post) that may very well be true. Under our current (and I believe outdated) system of election, a party can win just 40% of the votes, get 60% of the seats, and 100% of the power.

The only voters sending MPs to Ottawa are those
who support the most popular party in their riding.
In other words, your political beliefs and place of
residence determine whether your vote counts. If
you hold the "wrong" political views or live in the
"wrong" place, your vote means nothing

- source "This is democracy?"

In Ontario we are proposing that we move to mixed member proportional (MMP) voting system, similar to those used in New Zealand, Germany, Scotland and Wales. Below is a description from the Fair Vote Ontario web page:

MMP SYSTEM: ONE BALLOT, TWO VOTES

The MMP voting system allows each voter to cast two votes: one for a preferred local candidate and one for a preferred party.

Ontario would have 90 ridings. The riding seats would be filled as they are today, with voters casting votes for a single local candidate. But the legislature would also have an additional 39 at-large seats. To fill those seats, parties would nominate lists of candidates, some of whom would win seats depending on the portion of votes their party received. Each party would have the number, or portion, of seats its popular vote warrants, not more, not less.

MORE CHOICE, EQUAL VOTES, FAIR RESULTS

Not only does MMP make all voters equal, it also tends to produce legislatures with more women and visible minorities. Parties will find they win more party votes when their at-large candidate lists balance the number of women and men, and include minority candidates.

I've decided to join the campaign and I hope that you give it due consideration. This is our province, it should be our government. Let's take responsibility and make this historical and very important change happen!

g.

DOH!

So I wasn't thinkin' when I scheduled a system test at work... I scheduled it on a long weekend! WTF was I thinkin'?! Oh well, it was a short one and lasted all of a half hour and I was able to do it from home. I was up for an hour before that prepping to make sure it went smoothly.

I'm going to stay up and start my day... I read that it was good to get up at the same time every day. I was surfin' after the test was done and I decided to see if there was a plug-in for Firefox so the player for Sirius radio (internet stream) would work properly. I came across this and it's awesome. It's just like my car radio and shows what playin' and gives a good "dashboard" view. You can put up a favorites list and everything. Anyway, small things make me happy I guess.

Jim's trip is comin' up real fast... he's a bit nervous but I think it's a good nervous... ya know the kind when you're excited and know that something is gonna be a challenge, but it's a challenge you want to take on. I do envy him, I wish I had more vacation days so I could have the family vacation activities, my trip to Algonquin with Jim and do a solo trip to Algonquin too. One year I'll do it I'm sure.

Speaking of family vacations, we're borrowing my aunt and uncle's tent trailer and takin' the kids to Charleston Lake for a weekend camping trip. I know this is totally contradictory to the camping that Jim and I do in the Algonquin back country but I enjoy it... just in a different way. Jim and I talked about this the other day and he's not into the trailer camping in any way... he went camping with his family a couple of weeks ago and they tented it. I just prefer the trailer when we have a baby. I know that lots of people enjoy tenting with babies but for me it easier with the trailer and Marie enjoys it more so that makes me enjoy it 'cause I know she's not strugglin' with it. It's also handy to have the fridge for milk etc. I guess I'm sayin' that I have a place in my heart for both types of camping.

I've never been to Charleston Lake but from the pictures, it looks very pretty. I'm really lookin' forward to it.

Saving Jane - One Girl Revolution is playing on the radio... I really like the riff... cool, hard driving, catchy melody... I should take the time to listen to all the words but I've always been more of a music person so sometimes I totally miss the message in the lyrics.

Now it's a really "poppy" tune that I found myself kinda enjoyin' in the car the other day... Jupiter Rising - Electropop... I KNOW, WTF?! right? well, what can I say, it's a another one that gets into yer head.


Well, I hear little feet walkin' 'round upstairs (I'm in my home office in the basement) so I think I go up and scare the poop outta the boys... they'll never expect me to be in the basement at this hour and they didn't see me come down here at 05:00! mwahhahahaha! (eeeevil laugh)

Have a great long weekend all you fellow Canucks! To my good friends to the south, have a great weekend and enjoy yer July 4th celebrations this week!

g.

Travelling at the speed of light is not possible... darn.

http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/Faster%20than%20light%20speed.htm

interesting read (I think). I always had dreams of traveling in space when I was a kid.

Marie is a happy girl!

Today Marie got news that she is now allowed to drive and effective immediately her license is valid again! I got home and... nobody was home! The van was gone and I thought, "I guess this is what it's gonna be like for the next month or so... Marie has a lot of 'lost' driving time that she wants to attempt to make up." Good for her. :)


Well, I'm in at work early today... I'm trying to avoid the damn traffic that I've been stuck in for the last few months. I used to be able to leave the house at 06:30 and still miss the traffic but now it's starting as early as 06:00 so I've decided to start leaving the house at 05:30 again. The upside to this is I can leave work at 15:00. I left at 15:30 yesterday (I had some stuff to do that delayed me leaving at 15:00) and was home at 16:50.

Okay, so it's another post that I can't seem to get finished so, I publish and come back if the day allows.

g.

Hennessy Hammock

So Jim and I went out to the forest near our houses to do a test setup of our Hennessy Hammocks. Jim had set his up inside his house and in his backyard but neither of us had set it up in realistic conditions so we decided it was time we did.

Jim posted a video to his blog... take a look to see our little adventure. For the record I didn't really scream like a girl with excitement. I just couldn't believe how comfortable it is. I'm really lookin' forward to our trip this year 'cause it won't matter how bad the ground is, I'll still get a great sleep.

There's only 42 days left until our Algonquin trip and I'm in need of getting regular physical activity back into my schedule. Marie has told me that I'm under estimating the impact of what I'm tryin' to pack in my days (and nights) and that I should be more realistic on what I can get done in the time I have. I wish I could cut my commute down 'cause there's 3-4 hours a day that I can't do stuff... even if I could get it down to 1.5-2 hours a day then I'd be able to fit stuff in first thing in the morning. I find that once the kids are up, they want to participate in whatever I'm doin' and that means that I don't get to go at my pace and there are frequent stops where there wouldn't be if I was solo. It's tough 'cause I want them to have time with me but it can sometimes feel exhausting when it gets lop-sided and there's no time for me (Marie has the same problem). We keep reminding each other that the kids came into our lives and we should take time for ourselves but that's easier said than done. Anyway, we'll get it figured out (I hope)

Suki put up some of her "compromising position" pictures but I'm somehow a little disappointed and I'm not sure why... perhaps not compromising enough? and I can't remember, did she ever get the dollar bill from the ground?

I was interested to learn that Jill doesn't ride her bike to work... I just assumed she did since she lives so close to work. I'm judgin' here, just sayin' I was surprised since she luvs her bike and seems very hard-core to me from her posts.

Geoff... well I'm, not sure, is he on vacation or not? He had a neat picture of a coffee ( actually prolly a latte) and he made reference to it prolly being from Four Bucks which I assume he's referring to Starbucks which is really funny since I always have trouble buying from there 'cause everything is so damn expensive. (how's that for a run on sentence?)

I'm helping my cousin move this weekend... not exactly what I was lookin' to do with my weekend but she needs the help.

Work is suckingk right now... nuttin' in particular, just crappy, uninspiring sh!t. I'd love to figure out a way to "un-pimp" my job. (if ya didn't click on the link you won't get it... or maybe you won't get it even after ya click on it since I'm ramblin' total nonsense right now...)

Ah, well... I'm gonna grab a bite to eat and then get back to work.

Have a good day everyone.

g.

I know it's been said before but I'll say it again...

cyclists need to be *very* careful out there.

A friend of mine was tellin' me that her co-workers husband was biking in to work like he has many times before, only this time (last week) he was knocked off his bike by a city truck and killed. I don't know the details (iPod or not, aggressive rider or not, etc) but it doesn't really matter.

You need to assume that people behind the wheel of the vehicles are not paying attention.

I know that's a sad commentary on our licensing system and the tolerance we have for people being irresponsible while operating a vehicle but it is an unfortunate reality. Just last week I saw a woman eating breakfast cereal while diving in to work! That is unacceptable and she should have her license suspended for that kind of irresponsible behaviour!

Please, please, please people... be careful out there on your bikes, always be aware of your surroundings and have an escape plan. This poor woman is suddenly left without her husband to raise her four children all because someone operating a large vehicle wasn't observant enough to see the cyclist around his vehicle and ran him over.

I promise I won't always be posting these serious/somber posts but I had to remind all of you how dangerous it can be on the roads out there.

Have a good day everyone and keep your eyes and ears on the activity around you when you're riding home today and everyday.

g.

Recurring theme...

I've been reading a lot of blogs over the last year and there's a noticeable theme in blogs of people who are into some sort of fitness activity - most hate fat people. Here's the ironic thing about what I've read... they also seem to have a strong dislike for fat people doing any sort of physical activity.

Fat people just can't win, it seems.

I'm in agreement that being overweight is not a good thing in any way however, not recognizing what it takes for someone to obviously change some very bad, ingrained habits is... well, just plain rude.


Have a good day everyone (including the chubby people!) :)

g.

It makes me sad...

when I see emergency services lining the highway on my way home 'cause it means another soldier has died and the funeral procession is on it's way.

Last night that was the case.

I feel proud that we show this tribute to our fallen soldiers but I also feel sad and, to be honest, angry that we have a fallen soldier.

I know that's a distinct possibility for all soldiers when they sign up but it's the way this war was brought about that makes me angry. It was deception that was used to make this war happen. Don't get me wrong, I understand that the attacks on the U.S. could not go unanswered but to the use deception to expand the war to another country and put all those soldier and civilians at risk... the people involved should be ashamed of themselves. I mean, it's almost like Osama Bin Gone now. There's almost no mention of the mastermind behind the heinous attack on the U.S. and it's like he's of no consequence now. It's all about Iraq and getting contracts to rebuild for the American companies that are connected to the people who deceived us and conned us into the war in the first place.

My oldest son's friend had to say goodbye to his Dad when he shipped off for Afghanistan last week and that's what I think of when I read about all these soldiers dying... those children who will loose part of their childhood innocence because their mother or father get killed somewhere in the world that the child has never heard of. It's crazy and it upsets me. Perhaps it's other things happening in our life right now that are making me feel extra sensitive.

I was debating on whether I would write about this 'cause on one level I feel like it's not my story to tell but on the other, it does affect me and this type of thing is why I decided to do this blog so I will write it here.

On Sunday night my niece (who has taken a turn for the worse) had to be resuscitated after experiencing several major seizures. (I haven't been updating you all on the situation because of the fact that I wasn't sure I should be writing about it but as I said, I feel this is appropriate) As you can imagine this has been difficult for Marie. She is a very caring person and she really takes it hard when anyone is suffering, let alone her brother's child. I imagine the whole seizure thing is hittin' close to home for Marie too.

Aaarrrgg.

I don't want to write anymore right now.

Sorry for the downer post but thanks for giving me your time and for listening.

I'll write more later if I get chance.

g.