v10.9 - Ho Ho Ho

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Here I sit on the eve of Christmas Eve and I thought I would write a musing to ya'll. I'm currently at work which has been one of the most hecktic weeks of work yet since I started.

{slurp}

v10.8 - Make it Snow Number 1

Afternoon All,

{slurp}

Well, today it is going to Snow in Halifax. In fact, there is a Heavy snowfall warning in effect for today. Already we've seen some light flurry activity, but nothing in the way of a good ol' Maritime Snow Storm.

{slurp}

v10.7 - Happy or Merry

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Well, here I sit on a Wednesday morning at work and the network is down. Well, not the entire network, just a small part of the network that allowed me to do my job. Figured this was the perfect time to sit back and do a musing :)

{slurp}

v10.6 - Finally!!

Evening folks,

{slurp}

Wow, have things ever been hecktic and crazy! Work has been nuts, life has been a mess and I can't remember the last time I actually stopped to look at the calendar to see what day it was.

{slurp}

v10.5 - I like Asian Girls

Morn... errr.. Evening Folks,

{slurp}

Well, it is a beautiful day and there is a cool breeze coming off the ocean into the downtown core of Halifax. Ahh, lavish happieness abounds.

{slurp}

v10.4 - Testing 1 2 3

Evening Folks,

{slurp}

Let me start off by stating this may or may not work. If you''re reading this, then it worked. Otherwise, you won''t get this musing and it won''t matter. I''m working on a way around my lack of webmail access to send emails so I''ve written a little web based script that I can execute from work to send my musings.

{slurp}

v10.3 - Musing on a Move

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Welcome to my special Saturday musing! I haven''t had much time in the the last week and a bit to write, so I thought I''d pump off a musing while I was sitting at my Mother''s house.

{slurp}

v10.2 - Farewell Calgary

Morning Folks,

I''m resending this musing because I don''t believe most of you got it. I was in the process of moving my server for the move and I don''t think it was sent out properly.

{slurp}

This will be my last musing before I move to Halifax. The next musing you will receive will be either during my trip or shortly after I arrive at my destination.

{slurp}

v10.1 - Customer Service

{slurp}

We have been blessed with yet another day. The gods look down apon us and snicker at our mortality and laugh as they play with their preverbial magnifying glass trying to burn us alive like little ants across hot asphalt.

Ever feel like you''re part of some big alien science experiment? Like the "Truman Show" on steroids?

Me neither

{slurp}

v10.0 - Can I get a WOOT WOOT!

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

IT''S FRIDAY!! And the world rejoices as we place another mundane work week behind us and look forward to a fun filled exciting weekend of being a couch potatoe and licking our fingers.

{slurp}

v9.9 - Spanktastic

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

It is a windy rainy day today and about 10C (50F) outside. Of course the wind is blowing from the North bringing a ton of artic weather down the Rocky Mountains. I used to love the odd weather patterns here becuase we would get snow in the summer and have spring like weather in the middle of winter. Now I don''t like it so much.

{slurp}

v9.8 - Frustration

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Well, here we are again starting off another week of the same old mundane.

{slurp}

v9.7 - Deja vu to You

Morning folks,

{slurp}

IT''S FRIDAY!! Behold, another week of work is finally behind us and another week looms over the short horizon of weekend. Hopefully next week I get this offer letter early and I can get things rolling to move back East.

{slurp}

v9.6 - Weee

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

I''m sure you are all anxious to hear about how things went yesterday, so without further adu, on with the musing!

{slurp}

v9.5 - Another Week

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Now begins another week of work (for some) and another week of hopes and dreams (for meh). This week brings with it many changes and exciting opportunities and I''m looking forward for this week starting off because it is going to end with smiles and excitement.

I think.

{slurp}

v9.4 - Lack of Things to Say

Morning folks,

{slurp}

One more day before the weekend!! I''m excited about the weekend because I''ll be off from this hell hole, but not excited because Katie works every day this weekend. Luckly her shifts are early morning (6AMish) so she''ll be home early afternoon. I call it payback, because she''ll be working the exact same shift I currently work. Now she can get a taste of how things feel for me on a DAILY basis.

{slurp}

v9.3 - Big News INC!!

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Sorry I haven''t been able to write the last couple of days. I''ve been dealing with some personal things that I don''t want let out to the general public (just yet anyway) so I''ve been staying away from most of the public forms of communication so I didn''t let it slip. I do have some exciting news, just can''t tell you all here until I know things are 100% certain.

{slurp}

v9.2 - What Pants?

Morning folks,

{slurp}

ITS FRIDAY!! My anticlimatic work week has finally come to an end. Even though it was a short week, it still feels like I worked an entire month. Bleh

{slurp}

v9.1 - Virgin Galatic

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Who here has ever watched a full episode of Star Trek? I remember growing up and how our TV was somehow always watching Star Trek in one form or another. It was only a matter of time before I myself would gain a liking to the show and watch it myself.

{slurp}

v9.0 - Simon Says

Morning folks,

{slurp}

How is everyone this fine Wednesday morning? Myself, I''m tired, happy and excitied about today''s musing. Sit back, relax, get yourself a coffee and lets BRING IT!!

{slurp}I've been slacking on the musings of late. I noticed over the past month I''ve missed 4 days of musings. Of course, I have had good reasons for missing them, it still is no excuse for not getting one out and abandoning my writings. I''ll be watching this closely in the future and make sure I have enough content and information to write about over the next few months.

{slurp}

Today marks my 81st Musing!! I was going to say 80th, but that was v8.9 and I totally forgot about it. :) Today is also my Daughter''s birthday! It was 3 years ago today our lives were blessed with a beautiful baby girl who has brought us so much love, laughs and pure frustration. Kids are great and I hate to think of how fast these years have gone by already. Seems like it takes forever for your birthday to come around when you''re a kid; then you become an adult and they seem to whip by so fast we have issues remember exactly how old we are. I barely remember being a kid these days, seems like it was a different person all together.

{slurp}

So the title of today''s musing was all Katie''s idea. Last night we decided we would actually start moving into this new place. Yes, we have already moved everything from the old place, we just hadn''t really "moved in" yet. We started hanging pictures and pulling misc stuff out of misc boxes and placing them around the house. After all, it is the misc stuff around the house that makes a house a home.

{slurp}

So we spent the better part of three hours hanging pictures and unpacking misc boxes of things. Hanging pictures seemed to go fairly well and we actually had enough wall space to hang everything and make it look good at the same time. Some beautiful people on the walls now. Good thing there are only a couple pictures of me up. ;)

After we were done (not finished, just done), we decided to play a little game with the kids. Yes you guessed it, we played Simon Says. I''m not sure where the kids learned this game, but both of them knew how to play it and knew how to trick you into doing something Simon didn''t say. We all took turns playing Simon and sometimes we played teams where Katie and I would be the actors and our Kids were the Simons. It was a lot of fun, and Katie, who is a self proclaimed pro at this game, was even bested by our son who pulled a fast one on us both and caught us both without saying Simon Says. Of course he was giddy with excitement because HE beat Mom and Dad and won the game.

{slurp}

Anyone know of any UNIX/Linux Admin or Web Development jobs? Yes, I think I''m going to be firing up the old resume again. This time I''m actually going to be very serious about it. By the way, Congratulations to Katie on getting a new job yesterday. She is working at my most favorite place in the world, Tim Horton''s. Oddly enough, the slurps in my musings are due to the wonderful Extra Large Double Double from Tim''s.

I spent a great deal of time yesterday late afternoon talking with my brother-in-law about work; specifically the BS we are putting up with here. He is in a good and bad place at the moment. Bad in that he isn''t working and bringing any money in, and good in that he can be kinda picky and get himself a good paying job. The IT industry is fairly huge here in Calgary due to the Oil & Gas companies making Calgary their base of operations. We have support agreements in place for every single major Oil & Gas company in the city and we are looking to grow that business a little bit locally as well as North American wide.

{slurp}

Myself, I am looking to stick with the same job (for now) but I want to move to a different company. I don''t want to bore you all with the details about this place any longer. Let me just say it sucks and is about to get a whole lot worse. I know of at least one person who is pretty much got himself a job somewhere else and is really hoping to get it so he can get the hell out of here. If he leaves, I can see at least one more leaving because he will be directly impacted with a LOT more work load if person 1 leaves. This will cause a ripple effect in the team and I foresee a minimum of 3 people leaving (myself included) quickly after the first person does. Our Senior Management team was in town last week to do some training here. They stopped by our cube farm to meet us and give us the warm and fluffies. Basically, Blah Blah Blah, we think you guys are doing great things, blah blah blah, we want to grow the business, blah blah blah, we want to work you harder and pay you less, blah blah blah. Typical upper management bull shit that makes peons like me groan and assume the fetal position as I rock back and forth in my cubical.

My job is great, my employer SUCKS!

{slurp}

Anyway my friends, I must make haste and get some work done. Remember to drop by my new and improved musing website, now with its own hostname: http://musings.fiendz.net

I''ve been working hard on getting this site up and running so I can share my musings with the world. If you know of anyone who you think would like to receive my musings, tell them to drop by the website and click on the ''sign up for musings'' link. I will be making some changes to the sign-up pages as well as including an unsubsribe link to the bottom of my musings in the near future. Thanks for reading and all your support. You guys and gals are the absolute best!

{slurp}

Cheers,

Al

v8.9 - Leaving on a Jet Plane

Morning Folks,

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No, I''m not taking a trip, but my mind is on Jet Planes today because my Sister and her family are taking off to visit family and friends in the East.

{slurp}

v8.8 - Smoke and Mirrors

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Another day is apon us, another day behind us. Today is the day we do things that make us famous!

Or if you''re like me, you are holding your breath waiting for this day to be done and a new one to begin.

{slurp}I'm sure many of you have heard the comment "Smoke and Mirrors". This is typically used when talking about a magician performing tricks. I don''t claim to know all the secrets in magic as there are many things I have no clue how they are done. I''m pretty sure, somewhere along the way, smoke and mirrors will be used to trick the viewer''s eyes and create the illusion of magic.

{slurp}

Some of us use this phrase in our jobs. You have some higher up managers drop by your office to have a chat with your team. They give you the warm and fuzzy feeling inside that only a parent can give to their child. Patting you on the head telling you what a good boy or girl you have been. Problem being, corporate executives are not my parents and I am not their child (despite what they seem to think). You pat me on the head and tell me I''ve been a good boy and you''ll be lucky if I don''t wrap your arm around your neck two times before performing some 80''s wrestling move on you (back when I used to watch it).

I hate managers more than I hate anyone. They are very good at using the preverbial smoke and mirrors everyday to put a smile on their employee''s faces and create unity and harmony among the little folk. Makes me sick.

{slurp}

I heard a joke a long time ago which sums up how I feel exactly.

A corporation is like a big tree full of monkies. The Monkies on the top (Managers, Executives, etc) are looking down the tree at the company and see nothing but smiling faces. The monkies at the bottom of the tree (the regular Joe employee) are looking up seeing nothing but ass holes.

True, so true.

{slurp}

I have often sat and thought about what I would do if I was ever offered a management position. I''ve talked with my boss about this as well and everytime it comes up, I respond with a Never. There is no way I would ever want to be in my boss'' shoes. If he was ever let go and the company picked me to take his position; I would resign. I''ve seen the stress of his job and have heard a lot of horror stories about how difficult it is to do something things like hire a new employee.

A couple VPs were in the office yesterday to give us the nice warm and fuzzy treatment. Yeah, they made us feel good for awhile, but it didn''t take long for reality to set in. One of the comments made was to let us know how we are growing. Since the start of 2005, my company has hired over 1,000 new employees. 1,000!!! My first reaction was to say who cares. 1,000 employees could be damn near anything.

"We hired a team of sanitation engineers to work in the office during the evening hours. We are very excitied about this prospective new team who will be joining an organization near you."

I look at our own team and see one new hire since January 2005 and we''ve lost 6 people. I don''t know about you, but that just screams something bad is coming.

{slurp}

Anyway, smoke and mirrors is something we do everyday while at our jobs or at home. Smoke and Mirrors is nothing more than an illusion to hide the reality behind something. When you are at work, you find ways to do things that are not work related but you make it look like you''re working. This is the same as being a magician using smoke and mirrors.

You go home at the end of the day and you stub your toe on a piece of wood. Your child is sitting there watching and you yell out FUDGE!! Smoke and Mirrors again. We constantly hide the truth behind something else. Whether you are unusually chipper in the morning when inside you feel like a bag of shit, or when you''re at work and you smile for all your bosses but *censored* about your job in a musing or at the water cooler. Bottom line, we use smoke and mirrors every single day.

{slurp}

Well folks, I need to run for now. Think about what I said. Try to find circumstances in your day-to-day life where you use smoke and mirrors. I bet you will be very surprised to see the results. Give yourself a pat on the back, you are a great magician. :)

{slurp}

Cheers,

Al

v8.7 - I'm a Musin'

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Granted it isn''t morning for some of you anymore, it is still morning here. :)

{slurp}

v8.6 - MOVED!!

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Apologies for the late musing today. We ran into some issues on the weekend with my internet move and I
was without internet until early this morning. I''m back now, and ready to muse a short musing for you all.

{slurp}

v8.5 - Noobs

Good morning folks,

{slurp}

IT''S FREAKIN'' FRIDAY!!!

I''m excitied about it being Friday today. For starters, we are getting the keys to our new place as soon as I can get the hell out of here. Secondly, I don''t have to come back to work until Monday. Isn''t that great??!!??

{slurp}

v8.4 - Now for something a little different

Good morning folks,

{slurp}

It is Thursday and I''m just about done for the week. All this packing and moving the last couple weeks has really started to take its toll. On the up side, it is good to get some exercise and feel like I actually accomplished something. On the down side, I''m much more tired out and I don''t sleep well as it is. This makes getting up in the morning much more difficult.

{slurp}

v8.3 - Ground Control

Ground control to Major Tom Ground control to Major Tom:
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground control to Major Tom: Commencing countdown engine''s on
Check ig-nition and may God''s love be with you

This is ground control to Major Tom, you''ve really made the grade!
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear,
Now it''s time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is Major Tom to ground con-trol, I''m stepping through the door
And I''m floating in the most peculiar way
And the stars look very difeerent today

For here am I sitting in a tin can, far above the world
Planet Earth is blue and there''s nothing I can do

Though I''m passed one hundred thousand miles, I''m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go,
tell my wife I love her very much she knows

Ground control to Major Tom:
Your circuit''s dead, there''s something wong.
Can you hear me Major Tom?
Can you hear me Major Tom?
Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you ...

Here am I floating round my tin can, far above the moon
Planet Earth is blue and there''s nothing I can do

{slurp}

v8.2 - Finger This

Morning folks,

{slurp}

This morning''s musing may have a few added typos in it as I sliced my finger over the weekend and this damn bandage is getting in the way. If it wasn''t for the fact I''d get blood all over my keyboard, I''d rip the thing off and be done with it. :)

{slurp}

v8.1 - Proverbly

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

It is finally Friday and the whole world rejoices! YAY!

{slurp}

v8.0 - Musing in vi

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Trying something a little different this morning. I decided to write today''s musing in vi so I could save it as I go. This way, if my laptop crashes (like I think it will) I won''t lose my entire musing.

{slurp}', 'Well, this morning I''m quite tired. Last night our house was an oven and despite having a fan in our bedroom, we were still sweating all night. I ended up taking the blankets and throwing them off the end of the bed sleeping in nothing but a smile. Let me say, I love when it is nice outside except when it doesn''t allow me to sleep.

{slurp}

The family and I are busily getting ready to move. The packing has been well underway since the first of the month and we have been cleaning and getting things semi-ready for when we are able to move in. I was talking with my oldest sister last night about the whole moving thing and how I''m looking forward to move and not looking forward to moving. My landlord-to-be seems like a real nice guy who was recently married and moved to Vancouver. We have been dealing with him over emails and telephone to get the lease agreement filled out and signed and dealing with his father here in Calgary.
Let me say, this experience has proven to be the most "interesting" experience I''ve had renting a place yet.

{slurp}

It all started about a week ago when I had sent an email off asking if he had an eta on when we could possibly move in. I would like to be able to schedule mail forwarding and utilities as soon as possible as well as schedule the truck for moving before it gets too too late in the month. He replied back asking us if we would mind doing the painting and cleaning of carpets at the new place so we
could move in earlier. I had to read his email 3 or 4 times to make sure I read it right. I promptly replied back stating we didn''t have the time to dedicate fixing up our new place as we were in the process of cleaning and packing at our old place. That and the fact I work all day and Katie works some in the evenings. He was understanding and said he would get someone in there to do the jobs
needed before we moved in. This was a little weird, but I shrugged it off.

{slurp}

The people who lived there prior, left the place in quite a mess. For starters, they didn''t even take all their stuff. They left the place dirty and there was a wall that needed some repairs done to it. Among the items left behind were lots of baby stuff (car seat, swing, toys, etc) and nice 32"
or 36" television. Yesterday morning, Katie gets a call from our landlord''s father asking us if we
would mind coming down to the place and helping him get rid of the stuff left behind and we could take our pick of anything left over to keep. My first thought was that TV, however, I then thought about how these people left and how they haven''t come back since to pick up their stuff. My first thought after that was these people coming to our place after we moved in and asking where their stuff
was. Of course, the last thing I need is to have these people show up looking for their things and
seeing them in OUR place. We promptly told the father we didn''t want any of the stuff and we just didn''t have the time to come down there and help him clean out the place. You can bet I was a little taken back by the request. Never in my 11+ years of renting have I ever heard of a future landlord asking for help to clean and fix-up a place before moving in.

{slurp}

Later that day he called back asking us if we wanted to buy a spare TV he had. When Katie told me about the conversation, the first thing I thought was he was going to sell us that TV he took from the place. He said he payed $700 for this 27" television and would sell it to us for 1/2 the price.
I''m not one to be rude, but we bought our last 27" television for under $300 with tax and had no intentions of spending $350 on another one when we already have 3 televisions in our house. Not to mention my PC has a TV tuner card which I can watch television on my 22" monitor.

All in all, it has been a very interesting experience for us. Now you can understand why I''m looking forward to the move but not looking forward at the same time.

{slurp}

So I fired up DAoC last night. I won''t say it was a grand experience, but I did make it to level 6
on my noob Skald before logging out. The game has lost all the fun it once had for me. However, being able to play with my wife is a little more important than the game at this point. I will still
keep my WoW account as I''ve found it a great way to get rid of stresses and take my mind of the DAoC anger. :) Seriously though, DAoC does make me angry. I know people have been dealing with the game for years and I''m sure someone out there is telling me to /cry more noob. Bottom line it all comes down to having fun and enjoying the game. The first thing I noticed when I went back to DAoC is how slow everything was. The characters moving around were slow, the swinging of weapons is slow and everything seems to be so boringly slow. I''m a huge troll fighter with 110 strength to start. I have a 1 handed axe and I swing it every 2.5 seconds. Ok, I have a pretty good sense of time and there is NO way that is 2.5 seconds swing time; it is more like 4 seconds. Does it make that much difference? You bet it does! In WoW, the game moves fast. I don''t sit there and slug my way across a
zone to get to a place. The zones are much larger in WoW and you could get from one end of a zone to the other in the same amount of time it would take you to do it in DAoC. I like the animations of WoW a LOT more than DAoC.

{slurp}

I won''t get into the pros and cons of DAoC vs WoW right now. I will state that I feel WoW is a much better game than DAoC despite its flaws with end game and the PvP system. For now, I''m leveling another toon to 60 and am having a total blast playing. I don''t know what the future brings, but if I can seperate my time between the two games (WoW for me and DAoC for Katie) I''ll be happy.

{slurp}

So it''s Wednesday. Here is a little copy paste on the history of Wednesday for you useless facts database.

Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. The name comes from the Old English Wódnesdæg meaning the day of Woden, commonly known as Odin in Modern English. The astrological sign of the planet Mercury represents Wednesday, which was Dies Mercurii to the Romans. In English, this became Woden''s Day, since the Roman god Mercury was identified with the Germanic god Woden in northern Europe.

When Sunday is taken as the first of the week, the day in the middle of the following week is Wednesday. Correspondingly, the German name for Wednesday has been Mittwoch (literally: "mid-week") since
the 10th Century, having displaced the original name: Wodanstag.

Wednesday is also in the middle of the common working week from Monday through Friday.

In the popular rhyme, "Wednesday''s Child is full of woe".

In Spanish, miércoles is used to mean Wednesday, but also as a semi-rude euphemism for never ever.

An English language idiom for Wednesday is "hump day", a reference to making it through the middle of work week as getting "over the hump".

Quakers traditionally refer to Wednesday as "Fourth Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name "Wednesday".

{slurp}

Ooooo, interesting. :)

There is a little story and a little trivia for your Wednesday musing. I''m going to bid you all a fond farewell for today as my counterpart is having car trouble and won''t be in on-time today. I hope everyone has a great day.

{slurp}

Cheers,

Al

v7.9 - My Desk

Morning folks,

{slurp}

How is everyone doing this fine morning? Myself, I''m doing great. Made it to work on time, got a good nights rest and not feeling too shabby. Katie and I have been packing and cleaning and packing and cleaning for the last couple weeks. You wouldn''t believe the stuff we''ve "found" tucked away in the oddest places in our home. Hell, we even found an old Grill Cheese sandwich with the face of the Virgin Mary on it tucked behind one of the base boards. I plan on eBaying it to see if we can make some extra cash to afford this move. :)

{slurp}

v 7.8 - Extreme

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Happy Thursday morning to you all. I''m looking forward to tomorrow being over already. :)

{slurp}

v7.7 - Sleep is for the Weak!

Morning folks,

{slurp}

No, I''m not late this morning. In fact, I was a wee bit early this morning due to the fact the other guy that starts at 6am isn''t in for the rest of the week. That means, if I''m late and miss a call, my boss hears about it.

{slurp}

v7.6 - We''re Moving!

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

The title says it all this morning; the family and I are moving! We found this great place in South Calgary that is perfect for us right now. Granted it is still renting, it is a bit cheaper rent than what we are paying currently and for so much more.

{slurp}

v7.5 - I'm Late

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Yes, I was late for work (again). Not entirely sure why, but I feel it is a mix of being really really tired and hitting the wrong buttons on my Alarm Clock.

{slurp}

v7.4 - The House Search

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Well, one more day (after today) of this hell hole and I get to sit back and enjoy an extra long weekend. I''m so looking forward to the 4 days off and I''ve only been back in the office for 2 days so far. Sad isn''t it?

{slurp}

v7.3 - I did it again!!

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Well, I did it again. I had a whole musing ready and waiting to go out and my system locked and I lost EVERYTHING! I really need to find a better way to do this thing. This is the 3rd or 4th musing I've lost due to the unstable laptops we were given at work. I just can''t bring myself to retype everything all over again. I also don''t have the time to retype everything this morning.

{slurp}

I apologize to you all. I''ll make it up tomorrow by presenting what I was going to present today. Maybe I'll find a way to write my musings so I don''t lose EVERYTHING in the event of a system or browser failure.

{slurp}

Have a great day all and we'll see you here again tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

v7.2 - I'm Back!

Good morning folks,

{slurp}

It is Monday morning on this day the 27th of June the year 2005. Its good to be back in the office and writing to you all. I passed my course with flying colors and am now Sun Identity Manager certified!

Yeah
{slurp}

v7.1 - Without Coffee

Morning Folks,

No slurps today due to the fact I didn''t get a coffee this morning.

There are benifits of getting to work early in the morning and leaving early in the afternoon. First off, the line ups at Tim Horton''s are next to non exsistant before 6am. This makes for a fairly stress free morning of driving to the office and pulling in, placing your order and driving to the window for that first extra large double double of the day. I pulled into my regular Tim''s this morning and was amazed at how long the drive thru lineup was. Basically, if I had decided to stay and get a coffee, I would still be there waiting.

I had two choices. Wait for a coffee to do my musing and end up getting here and not having enough time, or skipping the coffee and writing.

Of course I choose the later and here I am writing away. The facility operators here assure me there will be coffee ready soon. Although the office blend coffee here isn''t all that bad, there is still no comparision to a Tim Horton''s coffee.

What the hell, may as well throw in a slurp here for fun.

{slurp}

v7.0 - Live From Training

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Got in a little early today and thought I should fire off a musing to you all. This has been a pretty good course so far and I''ve learned quite a bit about stuff that may or may not help me in my current job. :) I was a little disappointed at first because this entire course (despite being a Sun course) is based on the Windows operating system. We haven''t touched much on the Solaris side of things (yet?) but a I have been able to successfully been able to hook this bad boy up remotely to our systems in the office.

{slurp}

v6.9 - Rain Rain Go Away

Morning folks,

{slurp}

IT''S FRIDAY!

All I can say is thank God this week is just about over. Spoke with a friend of mine last night and we talked briefly about the work week and how it has been. I think we both agreed we would rather have a full week of being busy than a week of sitting around doing next to nothing. Personally, I have more issues at work when I don''t work than I do when I do work. Idle hands are the Devil''s tool (right Rick? :) )

{slurp}

v6.8 - Weeee

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Another day is apon us and another pile of issues to face. I heard on the radio this morning on my way into work that Southern Alberta will be hit with another massive rain storm. This will be the 3rd one in the last month to hit us causing major flooding and damage throughout. Starting tonight until sometime Saturday we are to expect 80+mm of rain to fall.

Oh well, I hope my step sister gets a chance to head out to the mountains at least once while she is here. Doesn''t sound like this weekend will be a good time to do it so we''ll see.

{slurp}

v6.7 - ......

Morning folks,

{slurp}

I had an entire musing typed up and ready to send and for some reason this damn application lost every last word. As a result, there will be no musing today. I'm actually starting to debate whether or not I will continue with the morning musings at this point. I love doing it, but I just can''t be bothered most mornings due to being bitter most of the time and causing issues with my words.

I apologize, it was a really good musing but I can''t take the time and retype everything and get it sent out. I guess I have some work to do. :(

Take care everyone.

Cheers,

Al

v6.6 - Mmm Gummy Bears

Morning folks,

{slurp}

First off, let me apologize for not getting a musing out yesterday. I was home sick and had a wicked head ache. Sometimes I find looking at a computer screen can be quite painful over an extended period of time. Yesterday was brutal (more so than usual) as I wasn''t even able to sit at the thing more than an hour or so. Even last night when I was feeling a bit better, I left all the monitors off so they wouldn''t penetrate my brain. That high pitched ping of a monitor just makes me bleed on the inside.

{slurp}

v6.5 - And the winners are...

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Short musing today. Yesterday afternoon brought some pretty bad news for me and my family. Not the bad news like someone dieing, but the bad news in some changes here at work which are going to directly affect us.

{slurp}

v6.3 - Musing over Coffee

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Here we are again on a wonderful Monday morning. Yes, before you ask, I am kidding. :)

{slurp}

v6.2 - The Gnomes!

Good morning Folks,

{slurp}

IT''S FRIDAY!!!

Another week and come and gone and here I sit writing to you yet again. It is raining today.

{slurp}

v6.1 - Breaking Point

Good morning folks,

{slurp}

The weekend is almost here!! I just need to brave 15 more hours of this place and I''ll be set. Shouldn''t be too difficult as I''ve spent longer in front of a computer playing games. :)

{slurp}

v6.0 - LEEROY

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Here we are! My 6.0 musing coming to you live from Calgary on the 1st day of June 2005. I have managed to write 50 musings so far and I''ve enjoyed every minute of it. There is this feeling of achievement when you create something and I have done just that.

I want to thank everyone for your support and honest feedback regarding my musings. You have all helped in one way or another to make this an enjoyable experience for me. I can only hope by writing to you all that I''ve created an enjoyable experience for you.

{slurp}

v5.9 - Mr Smartie Pants

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Welcome to the last day of May 2005! That''s right, look at your calendars and realize I speak the truth. :)

{slurp}

v5.8 - Lions and Tigers and Bears

Oh My!

{slurp}

Good morning folks!

How is everyone this fine Monday morning? Myself, I''m spectacular!

{slurp}

v5.7 - Welp

Good morning folks,

{slurp}

IT''S FRIDAY!!

Another week has come and gone and another weekend is before us. To our American friends this is a long weekend as Monday is Memorial Day. Well, my day started off wrong from the get go. For one, I don''t even think I''m wearing underwear today and I''m afraid to check. So cold. I''m also not feeling well this morning. I woke up with the tell tail signs of a chest cold on its way. I hate getting sick and I will do everything in my power to make sure this one doesn''t set root and cause a crummy weekend.

{slurp}

v5.6 - hohtyjthjyiyuhhgujhkl

Morning Folks :)

{slurp}

I bet you''re all wondering about the title of today''s musing. Well, I have a funny story to tell (some of you already heard) so sit back, relax and enjoy.

{slurp}

v5.5 - Meh

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Apologize for the later than usual musing this morning. I also apologize for the late late musing yesterday. I actually had it all typed up and saved but forgot to send. Guess I''m still adjusting to being back to work. :)

Didn''t get a chance to stop at Timmy''s this morning so this musing will be short and boring as I''m drinking office blend.

{slurp}

v5.4 - Back in Black

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Well, my vacation is finally over. In so many ways I don''t want to be at work today, but here I am getting ready to slave yet another day. We did quite a few things while I was on vacation, so I''ll summarize quickly the higher points.

{slurp}

v5.3 - Reheated Musings

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Last night I picked up 2 XL Double Doubles from our local Tim Horton''s. I brought them home intending to drink them both when a brilliant idea dawned on me. Why not save a coffee for tomorrow so I can muse. Then an even better idea came to me. Why not copy and paste all my old musings (pre-maillist musings) into one big musing and call it Reheated Musings with my Reheated Coffee? :)

{slurp}

v5.2 - Live from Vacation!

Morning Folks,

Little late for getting a musing out, but what the heck. I even made the trip to the Tim Horton''s to pick up an Extra Large Double Double so I could write this.

{slurp}

v5.1 - Day 5!!

Morning folks,

{slurp}

It''s Friday the 13th and my last day of work for just over a week. Let the excitement fill the air as I almost feel like its the last day of school before summer :)

{slurp}

v5.0 - Day 4

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Day 4!! One more day after today and I''m officially on vacation!

{slurp}

v4.9 - Day 3

HUMP DAY!

{slurp}

Morning Folks,

Sorry for the later than usual musing. I had to come in early this morning and do a reboot of our main call tracking system. Unfortunately it didn''t go as planned and I''m just finishing up now.

{slurp}

v4.8 - Day 2

Morning folks,

{slurp}

It''s Day 2 and I feel fine.

{slurp}I'm a little sleepy this morning due to staying up way too late last night playing games with my son. It all started about mid evening last night while I was online doing a few quests in Felwood. Friend of ours in the guild wanted to head out and do some PvP combat to break up the exp/quest grind a bit. What took place can only be told in story form. I have very little PvP knowledge of this game but I was still able to provide a lot of fun and some good laughs :)

{slurp}

We started off in Southshore where we joined in on a huge zerg of alliance people who were trying to take over Tarren Mill. That was a lot of fun but very laggy with the amount of people on the screen at one time. I will admit, playing with my Nostromo game pad has given me the edge over the majority of the players and I''m having a blast using it in WoW. Don''t think I could play the game without it now :)

{slurp}

We decided it was too laggy and there were just too many players fighting at once so we took off to the West and ended up in Tristfall Glade. This is the home of the Undead Horde race. We started off by killing a few low level guards around the noob start town. Eventually we had a few Horde come out to greet us :) We picked up quite a few kills from people who felt they needed to to pvp on us (low levels like 8 - 15) and then a few of the higher levels. The best laugh of the evening was this one Undead Mage who kept coming back over and over again. His name was Autopsy and each time was a joy to take him down. Our tactics were flawless and we would get him everytime :) I would hide my pet behind a tree and would Shadowmeld so I was "stealthed". The guildie who was with me would stealth as well (Rogue) and run around getting ready to get in on the action. The Mage (whom I would see on my Humanoid tracking) would come running down the road to find us (again) and I wo! uld start the battle off with a DoT arrow followed buy a concussion arrow to slow him down :) My pet would engage and I would hit the Dash ability to make him run 80% faster. While all this was going on I was preping my Aimed Shot which crits about 90% of the time in PvP. Usually at that point the mage was Dead :) I think we ended up killing the same guy about 6 or 7 times. A blast and I can''t wait to go do it again.

{slurp}

You know what I really like about this game? The fact that every single level can be completed by doing but quests. For every zone you find that is your level, there are at least 3-4 others of the same level in the world. Also, there are usually the same (if not more) quests in these other zones which really makes for some great variety of leveling. Rather than spending a lot of time in one area trying to complete it all, I try to urge everyone to get out and explore the lands and find other zones they can try out. It breaks up the game a little bit and doesn''t make a specific zone feel like work. Katie and I do this all the time and you will rarely find us fighting/questing in the same zone two nights in a row.

{slurp}

Well gang, I want to keep this short today so I can get my slacking off to a good start :) Yes, as per my musing yesterday, I am taking it easy this week. Which is actually kind of funny because yesterday at coffee we talked about taking time off and how you usually need a week just to unwind from being at work and then a week to vacation :) I couldn''t agree more and I have dedicated this week as my wind down from work week :)

{slurp}

Sorry for the shorter than average musing today. I will make it up to you, I promise :)

{slurp}

Cheers,

Al

v6.4 - Work that Thang

Good morning folks,

{slurp}

First off I would like to apologize for the lack of musing the last couple days. Let me assure you, if I had been able to write I would have.

{slurp}

v4.7 - Day 1

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

For starters, I apologize for the mixup last week. It seems I sent out my Musing on Friday with the same version number as Thursday''s musing. I have corrected my mistake on my webpage, but the emails that went out said v4.5. Thanks to the person who corrected me on my mistake :)

{slurp}

v4.6 - TFGIFF

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

It''s Friday!

{slurp}

Yup

{slurp}

Oh yeah

{slurp}

v4.5 - There can be only One

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Made it into work a little early this morning so I could get some much needed work done. Can''t believe I''m here at 5:30am, especially with all the crap that has been going on here recently. OH well :)

{slurp}

v4.4 - Sorry

Morning Gang,

Sorry for not getting this out earlier but I was super duper late for work this morning. I had a good topic in mind for today but it will have to wait for tomorrow. Again, I apologize. I don''t even have a coffee yet and its 8am :)

{virtual slurp}

I promise to put out a good musing tomorrow, so you may now return from the edge of your seats :)

{virtual slurp}

See you all tomorrow, I miss you all!

Cheers,

Al

v4.3 - Viva l'assistance

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

How is everyone doing this fine Tuesday morning? I trust you all slept well and blessings on your alley and all stuff. I actually slept OK last night. I woke around 5am and had time to actually shave this morning :) I had a good week growth of beard going there yesterday and looked quite ... scruffy yesterday at work.

{slurp}

v4.2 - Bad Boys Bad Boys

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

How is everyone this fine Monday morning? :) I hate Mondays! Not because they are tradionally the worst days of the week; I hate them because I have too many meetings in a day which usually limits the amount of work I can do leaving more work for tomorrow.

{slurp}

v4.1 - Games Google my Gelatins

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Well, another week has passed us by and here we sit. Today is bloody cold outside and I wish I had called in sick. So far this year we have had 119 days, we have 246 more days left in the year and 171 more working days. Doesn''t that sound hopeful?

{slurp}

v4.0 - Let it Snow

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Today''s musing is brought to you live from Snowy Calgary!! That''s right, I said SNOWY!

{slurp}

v3.9 - When Is Too Late?

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

How is everyone doing today? Myself, I''m feeling a little medium today. The last couple days I''ve been dwelling on the future and what it holds for my family and I. I must admit, there are some days I wish I could take a trip in a time machine to see how everything works out so I can be prepared.

{slurp}

v3.8 - Today in History

Good Morning Folks!

{slurp}

Ahhh, another week of work ahead of us and a crummy week of work behind us. Doesn't it feel just GREAT? We can now look back on the crap last week and finally put it all behind us. Look out people, a brand new week of crap is incoming!! :)

{slurp}

v3.7 - Tick Tick Tick

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

How is everyone doing this fine FRIDAY!!

Myself, I''m super duper tired today. Katie and I decided to stay up a little late last night and watch a movie. I''m somewhat glad I did stay up to watch the movie as it is part of the fuel I''m using to write this musing for you all today.

{slurp}

v3.6 - Some Assembly Required

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

It is a nice morning this morning. The sun isn''t up yet, but the temperature is sitting around +9 Celcius. I''m super tired this morning, not sure what happened as I went to bed fairly early last night and woke up late today :)

{slurp}

v3.5 - Computers Suck

Morning Gang,

{slurp}

Sorry for the late late musing but some things happened this morning that wouldn''t allow me to get it out as early as I had hoped.

{slurp}

v3.4 - Burning the Midnight Oil

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Welcome to the Musing Over Coffee v3.4 edition live from Calgary, Alberta, Canada!! I''ll be your host today as we have a very special episode planned for you. Did you know Bill Gates'' first business was Traff-O-Data, a company that created machines which recorded the number of cars passing a given point on a road? Neither did I! An even better question, who really cares? :)

{slurp}

v3.3 - Whoops I did it again

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Ahhh, isn''t it a glorious Monday morning? How did everyone''s weekend go? Mine was quite a bit of fun. Before I delve too deep into the Musing today, let me apologize for the lack of musing on Friday. I''ve been transitioning my server over to my new box and somewhere along the way a configuration file or config variable was lost. I think I have it ironed out now, but Friday''s musing didn''t get emailed out because of this. I plan on working on this problem until I can figure it out so if you get a couple musings today, I apologize now :)

{slurp}

v3.2 - Live From Home

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Today''s musing is brought to live from my home. That''s right!! I have the day off today!! WEEEEE

{slurp}

v3.1 - Terrible Thursday

Morning folks,

{slurp}

How is everyone doing this fine Thursday? We here in Calgary are experiencing a little light snow and it SUCKS! Luckly it is warm enough so the snow won''t sit on the roads and most of the snow that has fallen has turned into water now with the exception of a few places.

{slurp}

v3.0 - Why the Hate?

Morning Folks!

{slurp}

Let me start off by saying yesterday was by far the worst day of my professional working career. To make matters worse, I acted in the most unprofessional way to the situation and feel quite bad about it. Let me explain.

{slurp}

v2.9 - Lions and Tigers and Bears

OH MY!

{slurp}

Morning Folks

I trust everyone had a fantastic weekend. I know mine was fairly shitty :)

{slurp}

v2.8 - There Be Dragons!

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Today''s musing is going to be quite short as I was quite late for work this morning. Not exactly sure what happened as I checked my alarm and everything before heading to bed and everything was set.

{slurp}

v2.7 - What Happens Next?

Good morning friends!

{slurp}

It is officially Thursday by the Gregorian Calendar and one more day from Friday. Today''s musing is brought to you today by an XL Double Double from Tim Horton''s and guess what? I GOT IT FREE!!!

That''s right folks, 1 in 9 sitting right here getting ready to deliver the Musing over Coffee.

{slurp}

v2.6 - Hump This!

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Today''s musing is brought to you by the letter L, the number 23 and an XL Double Double from Tim Horton''s (not free).

{slurp}

v2.5 - Can I get a Woot Woot!

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

I am so tired right now, I don't even know if I'm really awake. Not sure why I'm so tired but I feel horrid. With that in mind, on with the Tuesday Musing of Tiredness! :)

{slurp}

v2.4 - Happy Happy Birthday

To Me

{slurp}

Morning Folks and Happy Monday!!

Yeah right, like Mondays are EVER happy when you have to get up after a nice weekend and go to work. Bleh!!

{slurp}

v2.3 - TGIF YO

Morning Folks,

{slurp}

Happy April 1st to all my readers! Yes, today is the first day of April, the day we all play some sort of practical joke on each other causing embarassment and shame. How did we (society) ever come up with such a cruel day? Well, as always, I''m here to tell you why so sit back, grab a java and lets get this musing started.

{slurp}

v2.2 - You have the bridge number one!

Good morning folks,

{slurp}

It is officially Thursday and I can''t wait until tomorrow ;)

I was a wee bit late this morning. I just couldn't seem to find the will to pull my ass out of bed this morning. The snooze button is so big and inviting like there is a big sign that says "Do Not Push".

{slurp}

v2.1 - 1-800-BLIZZARD

Good morning folks,

{slurp}

Hope you all had a lovely evening and a glorious day yesterday. I know I did ;)

{slurp}

v2.0 - Are we there Yet?

Morning Folks

{slurp}

Sorry for not getting my musing out yesterday, but I was home sick {cough}.

{slurp}

v1.9 - And a Muffin!!

Morning folks :)

{slurp}

Today''s musing is made possible by a $1.55 coffee and a FREE muffin. That''s right, I rolled up the rim and won a free muffin. I am officially 1 in 9.

{slurp}

v1.8 - Hump Day Extravaganza

Morning folks,

{slurp}

Today''s musing will be fairly short as I have a ton of things to get done today at work. However, that has never stopped me in the past from delivering the most entertaining collection of worthless information on the net :)

{slurp}

v1.7 - Time is Ticking Away

Morning Folks!

{slurp}

Hope everyone had a grand evening last night. Today''s musing is brought to you today because of a FREE COFFEE!! That''s right, I finally won a free coffee from the Tim Horton''s Roll Up The Rim contest. I''m so excited I can hardly contain it. ... ..... yeah

{slurp}

v1.6 - Just Another Manic Monday

Ohhhh Aohhhhh

Yeah

{slurp}

Good morning folks! My coffee is hot, my ass is cold and the stars are in perfect alignment for today''s musing. So sit back with your cup of joe and let''s begin.

{slurp}

v1.5 - TGIF Bleh

Morning Folks, ITS FRIDAY!!

{slurp}

This morning while picking up my coffee I decided to treat myself to a bagel with cream cheese. I must say, eating something first thing in the morning is a change for me and I''ll have to put forth the effort to do it on a regular basis.

Since I''ve been sick, I''ve noticed some changes in my diet and eating patterns. Before, I could easily skip breakfast and lunch and get home and eat around 2:30pm. Now, if I don''t eat, I get a strong sick feeling in my stomach and it remains that way until I get to eat. Of course, when I''m feeling that way, the last thing I want to do is eat, but after I start eating I feel a lot better. Thoughts? It is the oddest thing I''ve ever experienced in my life.

{slurp}

v1.4 - Have a Holly Jolly Spring

Good morning folks!!

{slurp}

This mornings musing is brought to you today by the Flavia Coffee company. This morning I awoke to a bunch of snow on the ground and the distant sounds of sirens. Yes, it would seem Mother Nature decided to give us one last cold kiss before spring. According to the weather forecast, we are to get a bit more of this crap over the next couple days. Booo.

{slurp}

v1.3 - Wow is WoW

Morning folks,

{slurp}

What an interesting morning it has been. I left my house late for work as per usual. This starting at 6am every day is starting to wear me down. It wasn't being late that was interesting, it was how I managed to hit every green light all the way to work that surprised me. It is very uncommon for me to hit even one or two green lights on my way to work, but today as luck would have it, I hit every one. Even pulling into Timmy''s yielded no line-up and a quick order and out. As I turned the corner to pull into the office, my boss'' van was parked out front. I was about 15min late at this point. Luckily, the other guy that is supposed to start at 6am with me wasn''t even here yet and here it is almost 7am and he still isn''t here. Sick? Who knows, he hasn''t called/emailed in yet so there is no telling what''s up with him.

{slurp}

v1.2 - I'm still alive!

Morning gang and sorry for the late musing.

{slurp}

This past week has been a huge trial for us. My son was in the hospital for a few days with pneumonia and I was home with our daughter. Her and I were both coming down with the cold/flu and were pretty much sick the whole time. My wife was in the hospital with our son so for a few days we didn't see much of each other. Then this past weekend I came down with a bad cold and was sick yesterday from work. So, here I am a week from my last musing writing again.

v1.1 - One Flu Over the Cuckoos Nest

{big long slurp}

OH man!

Good morning my friends. I trust you all had a grand evening of playing scrabble with your loved ones and watching 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'.

Myself, I got to stay home with 1.5 sick children while my wife went off to work. Yes, it is that time of year again. The weather is starting to get nice and people are being silly by going outside in their shorts and t-shirts because it 'looks' nice out there. Be careful out there folks, the world is a nasty place right now and as the weather warms up (if you live up north) you're bound to find many a people sick at your work place :)

1.0 - The First Me You Sing

Good morning friends :)

Please forgive the late musing but I came in this morning to see how many I had on the list and noticed the mail list program wasn't running properly. As a result, I've upgraded to a newer version of the mail list and lost my old configuration data I had setup.