v41.2: Happy Holidays

Howdy folks,

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Added a nice little snowing plugin to the site to get people in the festive mood.  Of course we're getting rain here right now and there doesn't sound to be much in the forecast to suggest we'll have a white Christmas this year.  Seems like only a few days ago since my last post but after checking, double checking and triple checking the post dates, I realize I've missed quite a few days of posting; this has been a crazy busy month.

Gaming wise I've been laying low.  I was able to get my Blood Elf Mage to 85 last weekend and then I just stopped playing.  WoW just doesn't seem to have that hold on me it once did.  Perhaps it is because most of my friends are not playing the same times I am or perhaps it is just because I don't have the time I used to have.  I watched a fun little video this morning from Oxhorn which I thought was fitting.  Forgive me if you're lost and have no idea what this is about:



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Nothing like a video about WoW and Christmas at the same time.  I love it when people make video game movies.

Well folks, I wanted to just drop by and say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I hope to get back and post again sometime before the end of the year, but I can't guarantee anything at this point.

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Cheers,

Al

v41.1: Cataclysm

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Yesterday Blizzard released their 3rd expansion to their award winning game, World of Warcraft.  The expansion is titled Cataclysm and it truly is a cataclysmic event which has taken hold of the gaming world.  Basically, the entire world as we have known it for the past 6 years has been forever changed.  Old borders have been redrawn and old enemies have been reborn.  Where there was once lush greenery there is now destruction and barren landscape; barren landscape has brought on new life.

Initially I wasn't going to pick up Cataclysm being so close to Christmas and all, but a friend who I have been gaming with for the past 5ish years wanted to buy it for me as an early Christmas present.  I'm most gracious that he did and I've been exploring all the new zones and experiencing the new races available in this expansion.  Tonight we decided to take a trip into one of the new instance to check it out.  For those who don't know what an "instance" is, it is basically a dungeon that you can go into that only contains you and your party.  Other groups can run the same instance at the same time, but they experience their own instance with their party.  Think of it as a mirror image of the same place for every group that wishes to enter it.

So far the new zones have been underwater.  I must admit I was a bit worried about underwater combat.  I used to play Dark Age of Camelot and their 3rd expansion was an underwater expansion which was done fairly nicely.  Blizzard has taken it a step above and has provided us a beautiful underwater realm to explore; I'm quite impressed.  I have only scratched the surface of this new area, but so far I'm really enjoying it.

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Work has been fairly slow this week, of which I'm very thankful.  Work from home has given me the flexibility and time I need to assist my wife with her recovery.  I've been making the meals, changing most of the diapers and ensuring the other kiddies are taken care of and keeping out of my wife's hair.  For the most part things are going well, but I can already feel the strain of taking all these things on in addition to my regular day-to-day job.  Thankfully work has been very accommodating and understanding.

Well folks, it is getting late and I have a few things I need to do tonight before going to bed.  Saturday is the annual Christmas tree cutting event, my youngest daughter's 2nd birthday party and poker night with my sisters and their significant others.  It's going to be a very long day, but should be fun and good times.  See you all tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

v41.0: December 5

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It is Sunday, the Lord's day, the day of rest.  Why is it we tend to do more work on the day of rest than we do the rest of the week?

Today I was fortunate enough to get a visit from both of my sisters.  Normally my sisters never drop by but today I got a visit from both of them; thankfully not at the same time. :)  Of course I jest a little bit.  It was nice to see them again and spend a few moments conversing.  While my youngest sister was visiting, I may have inadvertantly got my future brother-in-law (Juggs) hooked back into Eve Online.  Sometimes I don't even think before I speak and I just start going on and on about a game.  Now he's all signed up and starting Eve again and even joined us in the Eve Poker room last night and hopefully made some ISK :)  I walked away from the table up about 25 million ISK, which made me feel good.

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Well folks, it's late and I'm very tired.  Hopefully I'll have some more for you tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

v40.9: December 4

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Let me start off by saying, Poker + Eve is a bad combination.

I'm a fan of Poker and I love playing Poker.  I miss our weekly Poker nights and and playing Poker with family and friends.  There are a lot of free online Poker sites out there but when they're free, you tend to not play the same when there is real money on the line.  Well, a certain Corporation in Eve has created an online Poker site where you buy chips with in-game Eve currency.  While in-game currency is still technically not real world money, it does have a certain value since it is required to buy things in-game.

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Basically, this site has a bunch of different tables you can play at.  They range from 20-40 chips to the thousands.  A single chip costs 100,000 ISK (Eve currency) so if you're looking to buy-in on the smallest table, you're looking at a minimum of 2,000,000 ISK for 20 chips.  Last night my friend Bim and I decided to check it out (we're both avid Poker fans) and  several hours later we were still sitting at a table playing the table, Rounders style.

I don't know how much I lost (or gained) but I think I ended the night down 20 chips (or 2 million ISK).  Not bad really, not as bad as Bim who ended the night (much later than I played) down over a 100 million ISK.  There was one game where I was up over 200 chips and then a bad run of cards saw me leaving the table with nothing.  It happens.

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We decorated our artificial Christmas tree last night.  It was a stressful, painful and annoying event (kids can find the oddest things to fight about), but we ended up finishing and the tree looks great, despite being fake.  I'm not a fan of the fake Christmas trees, but our apartment management doesn't allow for real ones so we had to fall back on our fake one.  Today we plan on finishing up the decorating and hopefully find a place for everything.  It didn't help that I slept until almost noon (gaming until after 3AM does that to you) and feel like I wasted half a day in bed.

Anyway folks, I hope everyone has a great Saturday and we'll see you again tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

v40.8: December 3 - Eve Online

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It is finally Friday!  Despite the fact I've been working from home since my son was born back on November 23rd, I was still looking forward to this day.  Tonight we plan on decorating our fake Christmas tree.  Typically, my wife has our place all decorated and ready for Christmas as soon as December 1 hits, but this year she hasn't been able to get up and move around much as she recovers from the c-section.  That won't stop her from getting the tree up and decorated though.  Or I should say, it won't stop her making me get the tree up.

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Tonight I plan on playing some Eve Online with friends.  Eve has been reborn for me lately and I've really been enjoying myself.

What is Eve Online?

Basically, Eve Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (or MMORPG) where thousands of people play simultaneously in an ever changing world.  The concept of MMORPGs is not new but the folks who developed Eve have done it a little bit differently than most of the other games out there.  Here are a few key points that make this game interesting for me:

1. It is in space.  The background story is interesting and basically there are 4 races of humans who have been scattered all over the universe and fighting for their own piece of space.


2. The entire game takes place on a single server.  Where WoW has multiple servers (hundreds) which are just copies of the same world, Eve only has one server where everyone plays.  That means if you play Eve, you can contact me and we have the ability to meet up in-game.  WoW doesn't have this.  In fact, if you meet someone who plays WoW there is a very good chance they play on a different server/faction than you and therefore, you cannot communicate or connect with them unless one of you pays for a transfer or one of you recreates a character on that server/faction.


3. Player run economy.  Economy in games can be very tricky and Eve does this beautifully.  People can make ships, weapons, etc. and sell them on the market.  People can view this market and choose to buy items or set themselves "looking to buy" a particular item for a particular price.  Basically, the players decide how the economy works and a single player can drastically change things if they wish.


4. Space travel.  I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and space related shows (Battlestar, Star Trek, etc.) so this game just fits the bill all the way around.  Also, the ability to travel at warp speed, sub light and regular thrusters makes the game interesting.  Players have the ability to "jump" between solar systems and the size of this world is unmeasurable.  I've been playing this game for a few years (off and on) and I haven't seen 1% of the universe.


5. Strategy vs. Twitching.  Twitching is a term used to describe a type of play style.  For example, most people who play first person shooters would be considered twitchers since it is the person who can react the fastest and the most accurately who wins the fight.  People who are relatively slow at reacting will be quickly slaughtered in games like those.  Eve does have a certain bit of "twitch" to it, but the majority of the game is strategy based.  You need to carefully plan your fights ensuring you have the right kinds of ammo on you and the right devices turned online for particular fights.  Space flight isn't very "fast".  Yes there are some ships that are faster than others, but the overall fights are not very fast paced.  You need to target an enemy and then decide whether you want to fire all armaments at them or target multiple enemies and spread things out a bit.  I won't go into all the different scenarios but there are a lot.


6. Corporations.  Corporations could be likened to guilds in other games but at the same time they are nothing like guilds.  Corporations are exactly what you would expect from the name, they are companies.  Recently a few friends and I decided to start our own Corp. and they decided to make me the CEO (big mistake lol).  I've been going through all the different options available to a CEO and I must admit, it is a bit overwhelming.  You can set people as directors, sell shares and there have even been situations in other Corps where CEOs have been "dethroned" because enough people with shares have voted the CEO out.  What you do with your Corp depends on you.  People have setup corporations to do just about anything.  There is a corp out there that is dedicated to running a Lottery, people send them money for tickets and every week (or bi-weekly) they do a draw and the winner(s) get in-game currency.  Some of these corporations are quite huge and very well organized; more organized than most of the corporations out there in the real world today.

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Eve Online is also a beautifully artistic game.  The graphic artists have done a great job building all the various solar systems and regions.  I'm very impressed with the game graphically and if you look up any official videos for Eve they pride themselves in the fact their videos are all shot in-game and are not done in CGI.

Well folks, that is about all I have for today.  Hopefully I'll have something interesting to write about tomorrow after gaming tonight.  Until next time.

Cheers,

Alan

v40.7: December 2

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

I appreciate the company I work for.

I can hear the gasps already.  I've spent so much time bashing my job(s) that it feels strange to actually praise it.  There have been so many times over the past year that I've wanted to quit and find something else but every time I even being to entertain the thought, I'm brought back to compare what I have today versus what I'll have tomorrow.  My bosses are very understanding and very flexible.  They are truly good managers.  I have a lot of perks at my job that I just wouldn't get at another company:

• Being able to take comp time whenever I need to


• Ability to work from home in the event I need to and don't want to take a vacation/sick day


• Being flexible with my schedule so I can drop off and pick up the kids from school so my wife can rest


• etc.

There are so many things I've taken for granted and I highly doubt I could find another company in the city that would offer me these same benefits for the same money.  In fact, I would be very surprised if I could find a better job anywhere in the Maritimes.

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Not much is new on the gaming front right now.  I'm debating on whether I want to create a new character in WoW to help pass the time but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it.  If you're an active WoW player and have logged in recently, you'll know that "The Shattering" has taken place and the entire world as we knew it has been changed forever.  For those who don't play WoW, there was a cataclysmic event which took place in the game and the entire landscape that has existed since WoW was released in 2004 was severely altered.  Most of the capital cities have been changed and almost all of the landscape has been altered and changed.  New lines have been drawn and places that were once occupied by the Horde are now controlled  by the Alliance and vice versa.  Blizzard has done an amazing job with this expansion and I'm really looking forward to experiencing what they have in store for us next week.  Of course I won't be able to experience the expansion when it comes out, but you can bet I'll be there the weekend after and loving every minute of it.

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Well folks, that about all I have time for today.  Tomorrow is Friday and I plan on writing a bit about Eve Online since that is probably what I'll be playing most of the night tomorrow.  If you're interested in learning more about Eve, tune in tomorrow for an overview of the game.  Until then.

Cheers,

Al

v40.6: December 1

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

We are officially on the last month of 2010.  It's hard to believe another year is almost behind us, again.  A lot has been going on in our lives these past few months and while my mind has been on my musings, I haven't written anything.  That is about to change.

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This month I've decided to write every single day.  The musings will take on a little bit of a different flow than most of you are used to, but I will definitely do my best to offer quality content while keeping you up to date on what I'm doing.

As most of you already know, we have a new addition to the family.  On November 23rd my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.  We have named him Mattius Graham and he weighed in at 7lbs 2oz.  This was probably the most difficult pregnancy my wife has gone through out of the 4 children and we are both very glad it is finally over.  The birth itself was an adventure.  Initially we took her to the hospital for other reasons and while she was in there we found out she was in labor.  The baby wasn't cooperating and we needed to have an emergency c-section.  I was home with the kids while this was happening and I got the call from my wife to let me know we were having this baby.  I contacted my youngest sister who came over to watch the kids so I could rush down to the hospital to be with my wife.  While on-route to the hospital I received a call from the nurse telling me that the baby was facing the wrong way and they were going to need to operate.  At first I didn't realize what she was talking about, but when I was half way to the hospital the reality of the situation finally hit me and I "quickened" my pace.

Baby and mom are fine and at home recovering now so everything went well.  Mattius got to meet his Auties, Nanny and Papa this past weekend and everyone is fine.

-slurp-

Gaming has also been slow this past couple months.  I started a brand new Blood Elf Paladin in WoW (yes, I'm playing Horde now) on the Medivh server.  I leveled him from 1 to 80 in a couple weeks with a total play time of 4 days, 7 hours and 32 minutes (103.5 hrs).  Up until around level 70 I was averaging 1 level per hour played.  After it was all said and done I averaged 1 level for every 1.2hrs played so I'm pleased with my progress.  I didn't use a "Refer-a-Friend" account, but I did have heirlooms which provided me a +20% bonus to experience gained.  My goal was to get to level 80 before the baby came but because the baby was early, I missed it by 1 day; at least he's level 80 before the next expansion hits on December 7th.

Since I hit level 80 I've been taking it easy on the gaming front.  I've been spending most of my "free" time playing Eve Online which is a much "slower" game and doesn't require 100% of my attention while playing.  I started playing Eve a few years ago but never really got into it.  Now that I've started to get into it and spent some time reading up on all the various things in the game, I've developed a new love for the game and spend as much time as I can playing it.  Perhaps I'll post more on Eve in another musing for those who may be interesting in learning more about it.

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Well folks, it is time to bid you farewell for now.  Keep checking back every day this month for a new musing.  As stated earlier, I plan on posting every day this month leading us into the New Year.  Until next time.

Cheers,

Al

v40.5: Reason for Religion?

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

First off, let me start off by giving a quick update on my NaNoWriMo progress.  So far, I'm sucking pretty bad at keeping my word count up.  The month of November is half over and I'm nowhere near half way through the word count.  I should be over 25,000 words right now and I'm not even half way to that goal.  Of course I'm blaming WoW for my lack of progress.  The next expansion for World of Warcraft is coming (out December 7th) and there are a ton of things going on in the world right now that are leading up to that expansion.  I'm getting a bit excited about this expansion.

-slurp-

I'm sure you've all heard the story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table.  There have been so many different variations of that story over the years it is hard to tell which (if any) is the right story.  The story talks about how Arthur became the King of Camelot and how he pulled the sword from the stone and all that fun stuff.  It has been retold and passed down over the generations.  Did it really happen or was it just a story?

I often wonder if some of the "stories" in the Bible are similar.  I mean, how many of these stories were written by the people who actually lived them?  Take the creation of the Earth for example.  Obviously this wasn't written by Adam or Eve; in fact, the book of Genesis was written primarily by Moses.  Moses tells the story of the creation of the earth and tells us all about the fall of mankind after the first sin.  Moses wasn't around when the earth was created and he definitely didn't witness the first sin or the first murder.  These are simply stories.  In fact, if we take the book of Genesis for truth, it would have occurred around 4000 B.C. and poor old Moses wasn't born until around 1550 B.C.  So you have approximately 2500 years worth of "stuff" going on that was put into a single book of the Bible.  Some believe the stories we read in the bible are nothing more than stories to convey a religious message; similar to the way some Pastors will tell stories today.  Of course people will believe what they will and everyone believes something slightly different from the person sitting next to them.  That is what makes us unique and special :)

This begs the question, if the creation of the earth was nothing more than a simple story told by a man thousands of years later, is it safe to assume that nobody has a sweet clue about how the earth was created and they simply created a story to make God look all powerful?  I was always told that there was nothing God could not do and he was all powerful.  Personally, if I was God, it wouldn't take me 6 days to build a plant.  I would build it in less than a day and I wouldn't need to rest afterwards; but I digress.

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Of course this also raises some other interesting questions about the Bible and its authenticity.  Think of all the times in the Bible where God "spoke" to people.  Now I haven't gone through the effort to find the original word for spoke to see if it means verbally spoke or "spoke" through other means but given the fact there is text as if God was speaking, I would have to assume it meant he literally spoke with a voice.  Why doesn't that happen today?  I find it hard to believe that God is shy or has issues with public speaking.  What made the people in ancient times so special that God actually spoke to them?

Don't get me wrong folks, I'm not trying to tear apart anyone's religion here.  I'm just trying to figure out (for my own benefit) what the point is.  If I've learned anything over the years of studying religion it is that they all believe in something bigger than themselves.  Who's right?  Are any of them right?  Is there even an all powerful being out there that listens to our needs and shelters and protects us?  Unfortunately that isn't a question I can answer and everyone believes something different so there's no help there.  Personally, I'm beginning to think people need to follow their own heart and their own beliefs.  Religion isn't all about worshiping something greater than you, it is about living our lives and making the best out of this short life we're given.  Think of it as a set of guidelines for people to follow and how to live good lives and respect others around them.  Think back on all the bible stories you've heard.  How many teach a lesson in one form or another about being kind to others or respecting others.  The bible is full of stories like this and they all teach us right from wrong.

Unfortunately religion has turned people against each other and has started more wars and fights than anything else in the world.  In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if I received some hate mail or nasty comments here because of this topic.  Personally, I don't care.  If you feel you need to say something, then by all means, post a comment or send me an email.  I'm always up for a good debate.

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Anyway folks, WoW is calling to me and I must listen.  I hope you all have a great day and hopefully things will slow down enough that I can post again soon.

Cheers,

Al

v40.4: NaNoWriMo Begins!

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

The long awaited month of November is finally here and with it, NaNoWriMo!  I've been anxiously awaiting this to start and have been brainstorming ideas on what I want to write during the month of November.  For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, NaNoWriMo simply stands for "National Novel Writing Month" where every November, writers from all over the world take the time to write a novel of their own choosing and upload their progress to the NaNoWriMo site.  The goal this year is 50,000 words and I fully plan on making it this year.

Last year I was a bit disappointed in myself because I was only able to achieve approximately 20,000 words, but I was pleased with what I was able to accomplish and some of that novel I wrote has been posted here for others to read and enjoy.  It is still unfinished and perhaps some day I'll return to it and finish it off but this year I've decided to do a completely new novel.  I'm taking some advice from my sister and I'm writing about something I really know and enjoy, World of Warcraft.  I'm not going to write a strategy guide or anything crazy like that.  I'm simply taking a single adventure with my friends who play WoW and I'm writing about it.  I'm really excited about this year's NaNoWriMo project as it is something I really know a lot about and think it will be a  lot of fun writing about it.  I'm not going to bother changing the names or places, the goal here is to write as much as possible in 30 days and hopefully have something that vaguely resembles a novel by the end of it.  Proofreading and editing will come later.

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Speaking of gaming, the gang and I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Cataclysm, the newest expansion to the World of Warcraft collection.  To help bring in the new game and the new content we've all decided to start fresh on a new server.  As if that wasn't challenging enough, we've also decided to play the other faction to add even more "newness" to the game.  For those who are not into WoW or understand what I'm talking about: World of Warcraft is a massive game.  Approximately 11 million active subscribers spread across hundreds of servers.  A server is basically a copy of the same game which houses thousands of players.  Since each server is virtually identical, it doesn't really matter which server you play on to experience the game.  Having multiple servers is a way to help spread the population out to avoid latency so you can have hundreds of thousands of players playing at the exact same time.  You can't communicate with other players on other servers and if you were playing on a different server than I and standing in the same place I was, you wouldn't see me.  It's a tricky concept to explain to someone who has ever played.

This coming February will mark approximately 6 years of playing World of Warcraft for me.  I still find it hard to believe that I've been playing the same game for so long but WoW has "something" that keeps me hooked and as long as Blizzard keeps doing what they're doing, they'll most likely keep me for years to come.  I've met a lot of friends through WoW and made just as many enemies.  I've even met people in real life that I've played with which is strange and cool at the same time.  World of Warcraft isn't just another game, it is an experience and no, Blizzard isn't paying me for saying that.

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Anyway folks, just a quick post and quick update so you know I'm still here and alive.  I'm taking the two things I like to do the most and I'm combining them into a fun and awesome project; World of Warcraft and Writing.  Wish me luck and hopefully during the progress I can keep you all up-to-date on how things are going.  Maybe I'll create a little site widget and update my total word count each day so you can see how far I've progressed.  We'll see.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Al

v40.3: Dried Up

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Have you ever had that feeling where you know you're supposed to be doing something but you can't seem to muster the strength or motivation to get it done?  I'm sure we've all been there at one time or another, after all, most of us are human right?  Lately I've been suffering from this lack of motivation when it comes to writing and updating the site.  I can't really pinpoint the exact cause for the lack of motivation or desire to write but it is annoying the hell out of me.

I will admit that work has been quite busy lately and my thoughts seem to constantly drift toward my job.  I'm even finding myself looking in during the evenings or weekends just to check on things; how sad is that?  I do take my job very seriously and I do give my 110% when there but for some reason I feel that just isn't enough sometimes; like I could be doing more.

Perhaps my mind has been dwelling on the new baby and what life will be like with another child in our family.  It's not that having children is a foreign concept to me, but having 4 kids is not something I'm familiar with.  How much more difficult is having 4 versus having 3?  I guess I'll find out in a couple of months; Christmas is going to be interesting.

I've been trying to come up with interesting and challenging topics for the past few days and I fully intended to post over the weekend when I had some downtime at my father's house, but I just couldn't come up with anything.  So rather than wait for something to come to me, I decided to write about what was going on with me so you all didn't sit and wonder why the hell I haven't posted for awhile.  I've also been thinking on the NaNoWriMo coming up in a few weeks and I still haven't come up with a firm idea on what story I'm going to write.  I have a few ideas for stories, but I've done next to no character development or plot planning.  It should be quite interesting.

Anyway folks, I must take my leave and bid you farewell for now.  I'll be wracking my brain all day tomorrow trying to come up with something to write tomorrow night so hopefully there will be more meat and potatoes in tomorrow's Musing.  Mmmm... meat and potatoes....

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

v40.2: Happy Thanksgiving; Canada

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It is Thanksgiving day here in Canada today.  It has been quite awhile since I updated last (nearly a month) and for that I can only apologize.  I wish I could say I was super busy these past few weeks and didn't have time but the truth is I just haven't been "inspired" to write about anything these past few weeks.  Call it writer's block or laziness but the fact remains I've been seriously slacking lately with keeping the site updated and for that I can only apologize.

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I'm thankful though.  Thankful to be with family on Thanksgiving day as we all sit around my mother's table and partake in some good home cooking.  I've been looking forward to this day for quite awhile.  My wife is a great cook and her meals are quite tasty but there is just no replacement for a mother's home cooked meal.

Of course my friends in the US won't be celebrating their Thanksgiving until next month and I could never understand why, out of all the holidays we share, is this one on a different date.  Regardless, we have a specific day each year where we can take time to gather with family and ponder on the things that we're the most thankful for.

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Well folks, just a small update while at my mother's house this weekend.  I promise I will provide more regular updates in the future.

Cheers,

Al

v40.1: Avast Me Hearties

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

As some of you know, this weekend on September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day.  As a special treat, I've installed a plugin that will convert the entire site over to Pirate Speak.  If that's not your cup of tea, fear not, I will disable the plugin after the 19th and all will be back to normal again.  If you're celebrating this festive day along with us, make sure you raise your bottle of rum, adjust the patch over your eye and let out a loud resounding YARR.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

v40.0: Getting Back to Reality

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

I have a problem.  This isn't a problem anyone can really help me with but I figured I'd bring it up anyway since I'm probably not the only one with this problem.  My problem is with Reality Television shows.  Now I'm not a huge television watcher but when the television is on at our house it is usually Tree House TV (young children's shows) or Reality TV with the odd movie here and there.

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors.[1] The genre has existed in some form or another since the early years of television (primarily with game shows), but has expanded significantly since the series Big Brother first aired in 1999.[1] Programs in the reality television genre are commonly called "reality shows" and often are produced in series.

Of course Reality TV isn't ALL bad.  Take, for example, "Ice Road Truckers".  If it hadn't been for that Reality TV show, I wouldn't have known it was dangerous to drive a huge rig over frozen water.  Who really thinks about that?

Fred: Hey Bill, let's take this fully loaded 18 wheeler weighing 40 tons out onto the frozen ocean!
Bill: You sure that's safe?
Fred: I hadn't even thought of that, how much weight can ice hold?
Bill: ....

There are a lot of other life lessons I've learned over the years of Reality TV.  I'm sure most of you can relate:

1. Having a baby can hurt and sometimes have complications


2. Men and Women can fall in love and have their feelings hurt


3. Traveling all over the world is considered a race if there are others doing it too


4. Cutting down big trees is dangerous


5. Some people have a lot more kids than I do


6. Policemen chase criminals and arrest them

Thankfully we have Reality TV to tell us these things otherwise I would have been lost.

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On a more serious note, why the hell do we have these shows anyway?  Yes the may provide a certain level of entertainment but is it the right kind of entertainment we should be subjecting ourselves to?  Coming back to my example of "Ice Road Truckers", would you watch a show where people drove big rig tucks on ice and nothing happened?  Probably not, there isn't much point in watching trucks driving on ice if there wasn't something there to make it interesting.  What if there was a commercial for an upcoming episode of "Ice Road Truckers" where someone died because their rig crashed through the ice?  I bet you'd watch it then.  Why?  Because we've been twisted and deformed mentally by the evil that is Reality TV.  No, that isn't very fair, Reality TV isn't "evil", it's sick.  What would you think if someone followed you around every day with a camera recording your life in the hopes you got hurt or died?  The average person's day-to-day life is fairly boring and not very interesting but when they get hurt or die, the ratings sky rocket!

I won't go into these hundreds of other Reality TVs shows out there today like the ones where people sit and watch brides to-be pick out a dress.  For the love of God, it is like the shopping channel but instead of you looking for something to buy yourself, you're watching someone else buy it.  I am having a difficult time understanding how someone can justify paying money to make a show about absolutely nothing; they are either very smart or very dumb.

I digress of course.  Reality TV has brought some good and there is something to learn from some of the shows out there.  Take a show like the "Worst Handyman" series.  They teach you a lot of important tips on doing things around the house while you get to watch people screw it up.  Not only is it informational, but it is funny to watch as well.  Same goes for the "Worst Driver" series.  I know a lot of this "think" we know all the rules of the road but there are some lessons on that show that I didn't know.  Let me throw a question out there.  Without looking it up (information these days is too readily available :) ), who has the right-of-way in a merging lane?  I was surprised to learn the correct answer to this question and I learned it on "Canada's Worst Driver".  There is also another show that I do like to watch on occasion that is borderline.  It is called the "Cake Boss" and it is basically about a bakery in New York that bakes and decorates these amazing cakes for different events.  They do show you how to make a lot of cakes and they give people a lot of great ideas for making cakes themselves.  Of course a television show about people making cakes sounds terribly boring so they have a camera crew following these guys around day after day and make episodes where mishaps happen.  Again, we watch the episodes because there is going to be a cake falling over, but at the same time there is something to learn so that is why I consider this show borderline.  Thankfully there are about 100 shows about cakes now so if I'm ever really bored and want to watch a cake fall over, there is a fairly good chance I can turn on the TV just as a cake is falling over.  That's sad.

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Well folks, I think I've mused (ranted?) enough about Reality TV.  At the end of the day when you're tired from working or whatever you did that day, sometimes it is nice to sit in front of the TV and watch mindless entertainment like this.  Just don't let it go to your head and stop looking (hoping) for bad things to happen to people, it isn't right.

Cheers,

Al

v39.9: IGOR! Yes Master?

Howdy folks,

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It is starting to look like we're in for another hurricane here in the Atlantic provinces of Canada.  Hurricane Igor, which is currently a category 4 hurricane, is projected to make its way up the Atlantic and could possibly hit us here in Nova Scotia.  It is obviously still too early to tell where it will end up, but there is a slight chance it could make it this far north like Hurricane Earl did.

I find it interesting how they come up with these names for Hurricanes.  I'm sure most of us know already that hurricane names are picked out ahead of time and they alternate between male and female names each year.  If a particular hurricane causes extensive damage (Hurricane Katrina for example), they retire the name and it is never used again.  If you're interested in seeing the list of hurricane names for the next 5 years, check out this site.

Some of you may have remembered me talking about my 5 year work anniversary gift I ordered a few weeks back.  Well it finally arrived today.  Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed to have to pay a brokerage fee when the item arrived at my door step.  Perhaps disappointed isn't a strong enough word.  I was pissed off!  I've spent 5 years at this company and I've put in a lot of time and effort into my job and never have I asked for any kind of reward or recognition for my efforts.  I realize getting a gift for n years of dedication and service is something above and beyond for a company to do for an employee, but if they are giving gifts, please for the love of God make them gifts so the employee doesn't get the shaft when it shows up on their door.  Of course I could sit here and bitch about it all night long, but I really don't have the energy to waste on dwelling on it.  I put forth the question to my boss as to whether there will be a reimbursement for my "loss" and he pretty much told me I was SOL, but he would escalate and maybe I'll get it back.

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So I'm betting you're all wondering what I ordered?  Well, this bad boy is the Kitchen-Aid 7qt Stainless Steal slow cooker!  It retails for around $199 at Sears and has food temperature alerts, programmable digital timer and a host of other features I've been anxiously looking forward to using.  I enjoy making stew in the slow cooker for the family, but with the family growing and the slow cooker getting smaller (or seemingly so), it was time to upgrade and when this rig showed up on my 5 year rewards, I didn't even think twice about ordering it.  Now I can cook stew for the entire family and have left overs for another day.  I plan on putting this thing to use on Saturday and have some stew cooked and ready for family members for when they come over to our place Saturday night for some drinks and games.

Speaking of which, my sisters and their significant others will be coming by Saturday and I'm looking forward to a great evening of family, friends and fellowship as we partake of some beverages of the alcoholic variety and have some freshly cooked stew and snacks while hunched over the kitchen table playing poker.  Yeah, Saturday night is going to be a good time I think. :)

Well folks, it is getting late and I have a few things I need to get done tonight before heading to bed.  Tomorrow I am working from home because of a Dr's appointment my wife has so hopefully I'll have some time during the day tomorrow to write.  I really need to get back on the wagon with writing or I'm going to be in bad shape when NaNoWriMo starts up again in November; another thing I'm looking forward to.

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Take care my friends and remember to always check under the toilet seat before you sit down.  I heard a story one time of a lady who failed to check under the toilet seat and was bitten by a spider and died.  True story, it was on the Internet :)

Cheers,

Al

v39.8: Butting Out

Howdy folks,

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It has been awhile since I've posted anything new.  I've been wanting to post but either I've been too busy when I thought about it or just didn't have the energy to sit and write anything meaningful.  Sometimes I struggle with finding new things to talk about that are interesting and meaningful.  After all, Blogs are supposed to be interesting right?

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I received an email from my mother this weekend; she has finally decided to stop smoking again.  I am happy to hear this despite the fact I will missing going for a smoke with her when we visit.  Growing up my mother smoked and I remember her sitting in the kitchen with her friends sharing laughs and socializing over cigarettes.  I used to get my mother to make these "frogs" out of her cigarette package.  I couldn't wait for her to be finished her pack so she could carefully fold and shape the package into something that slightly resembled a frog (at least to a 5 year old anyway) and when you pushed on it just so, it would hop around the table.  It's interesting to think that back in those days, it was completely acceptable to smoke with your child in the same room (or in the car) and it was common for parents to send their children to the store to buy cigarettes for them (along with milk, bread and other various things).  I don't recall ever buying cigarettes for my mother, but I do remember going to the store a lot so it could have happened.

Shortly after I turned 8 my mother butt out and stayed off the cigarettes until shortly after her and my father separated.  It lasted about 10 years.  Of course divorce can do strange things to people and I don't blame my mother one bit for going back to smoking after the divorce.  I don't know if I was fated to smoke or not (I always liked the smell as a child) but when I was 22 I started smoking.  I smoked until December 2005 when I finally decided to quit; I had quit for just over 3 years and started back up again.  Let me just say that nobody is perfect and whether you're addicted to cigarettes or something else, there is still an addiction there.  Usually people who quit smoking try to find something else in their life to be addicted to.  Since there is a regain of appetite after you've quit, people tend to get addicted to food; putting on a lot of weight (like I did when I quit) and in the end feeling bad about themselves.  Others get addicted to sporting activities and working out; not a bad thing, but again it is still an addiction.  I don't want to sit here and talk about addictions because people are addicted to many different kinds of things.  Whether an addiction is bad or not is relative and not always the same to everyone.  Yes cigarettes are addictive and yes they will cause lung cancer and other various problems but they don't affect everyone in the exact same way.  I'm not trying to defend my smoking to anyone and I will definitely quit when I'm ready, when my mind is in a place and I want to stop smoking.  That, my friends, is the key to quitting an addiction, your mind.

My youngest sister bought me a book awhile ago called "Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking".  This book doesn't focus on the fact you need to quit smoking because it is bad for you, it focuses on getting your mind right with quitting smoking.  Quitting cigarettes isn't the simple act of stop smoking, there is a whole other piece many people fail to see.  My sister quit smoking a number of years ago after reading this book and hasn't had the urge to smoke since.  I quit in 2005 and I felt the urge to smoke the entire time because my mind wasn't where it needed to be to truly quit smoking.  I still haven't read the book (Sorry Megs) but when I'm ready to finally butt out for good, I will be reading the book and then I will be thanking my sister for the wonderful gift.  After all, not everyone is the same right? :)

There are also alternatives to smoking.  No, I'm not talking about the gum or the patch or the pills.  I'm talking about something known as eCig or E Cigarettes or Electronic Cigarettes.  I had no idea these devices existed and I'm glad my mother forwarded me a link to one such product.  I did some research on these eCigs over the past couple days and they seem like a really good idea, even if you're not ready to quit smoking yet.  Basically, they are like an inhaler.  You have an electronic part (a rechargeable battery) that connects to a device which contains some kind of solution which can have nicotine or not in it.  You can also get them flavored with such flavors like chocolate, cherry, grape and a lot of other varieties.  I don't know about you other smokers out there, but when I put a cigarette to my lips, the last thing I expect to taste is passion fruit; it doesn't seem right.  These product contain to be completely harmless and eliminate 99.9% of all the harmful chemicals you get from smoking cigarettes.  They are basically a simple flavor vapor that you inhale (just like a cigarette) and the act of smoking feels almost identical to the real thing.  You can even order regular tobacco flavoring if you're really missing that authentic cigarette taste.  These things also boast that there is no smell and you can smoke them virtually anywhere.  It may be possible to smoke them anywhere, but I'm pretty sure if I pulled one of these out while sitting at my desk at work and I started "smoking" it, there would be a few looks and probably a trip to the boss' office to "talk" about proper office etiquette.

These devices usually start at around $50 for a starter pack and can go up to the hundreds of dollars.  The "refills" usually cost between $1 and $2 each and are the equivalent of 15-20 regular sized cigarettes.  Since the average price of a pack of cigarettes is $11 here, that can be a savings of $9-$10 a pack if you smoke the eCig exclusively.  There are some downsides of course.  I couldn't find any place local that sells them which means, unlike cigarettes, you can't just run out to the nearest convenience store and buy them.  In some cases, the only way to get them is to order them online which can take time for delivery.  Not the kind of thing you want to do when you're down to your last refill cartridge and your order is a week away.  I guess you could be more proactive and order a bunch at first and ensure to always have a weeks supply on-hand, but who has time in their busy schedules to worry about "inventory" for their eCigs? :)  I can hear my sister's thoughts now, "Or you can just quit and not worry about it at all!". ;)

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Anyway folks, it is time to wrap things up here.  I hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week.  To my mother, keep it up, stick with it and I hope you succeed at butting out for good.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

v39.7: Post Earl Excitement

Howdy folks,

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Well, we just had Tropical Storm Earl pass through today.  I must say, it wasn't much of a show other than the car parked by my balcony looking like it was going to flip over when the wind gusted.  I haven't heard much in the way of damages around the city and a drive to the store later today didn't yield much.  There were a few broken trees and a broken fence but other than that it looked like any other storm.

Yesterday I went out and picked up a new laptop.  I definitely shopped around for this one and I'm glad I got it.  It was a little more than I was initially going to spend, but it will be worth it in a few years.  It is a Dell Inspiron 1546.  It sports a nice AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile 2.2GHz CPU and has 4GB of RAM.  The hard drive is a bit on the small side at only 250Gig, but thus far I'm only using 20% of it with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, a bunch of other pre-installed applications and World of Warcraft (over 20Gig by itself).  The 15.6" display is brilliant and the back lit LEDs are gorgeous.  The video card is no slouch either (for a laptop), it has an ATI Mobile Radeon HD 530v with dedicated 2Gig of memory.  I've owned laptops before but this is the first one that had a dedicated video card; those shared ones are such a pain.  This thing has full HD capabilities yet only comes with an 8x DVD R/W drive.  Of course it has all the other bells and whistles like webcam, 3 USB ports, SVGA port, 7-in-1 media card reader and much more.  The price tag was not too bad and it was on sale for $100 off.

Of course I'm writing this musing on it right now as I sit in the comfort of my living room watching television.  Oh, and the thing is very light as well, only 5.8lbs (2.64kg).  I'm really looking forward to getting some use of it this fall, especially this November when NaNoWriMo starts.  Yes, I will be taking part again this year and I have every intention to achieve the goal this year.  I have some great story ideas floating around in my head so I'm getting a bit excited about November and being portable.

Well folks, it is getting late and for some reason I couldn't sleep last night (must have been the post celebration blues) and was up at 6:30AM completely exhausted but couldn't bring myself to sleep any more.  Don't you hate it when that happens?  To my mother, I'm really enjoying that "Snipping Tool".  It makes getting images to embed into my posts a whole lot easier.  Thanks for showing it to me!

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If you lived in the path of Earl this week, I hope all is well.  I'll see if I can dig up some pictures tomorrow and post them so you can see some of the things that Earl did (bad boy).  Take care all and have a safe Labour Day weekend!

Cheers,

Al

v39.6: Back to School!

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

If you're a parent with children still in school, you're probably just as happy as I am that they are going back.  I'll never understand why they make the kids go back before Labour Day.  What is the sense of going back to school for a day or two only to have a long weekend?  I'm sure there are reasons behind it, but like most things, don't make a lot of sense to most of us.

I haven't had a lot of time to actually sit back and write these days.  Summer has busy for us and we've been doing quite a bit as a family.  The past couple weekends found us in the South Shore visiting family which was nice.  We don't get a lot of chances to go out of town to visit family so it was a treat to be able to do it two weekends in a row.  I'm sure my mother was thrilled to have us there.

We're being hit by some freakish heat wave here in Halifax.  Yesterday it was 32C, today was 33C and tomorrow they're calling for a booming 34C (89.6F - 93.2F for my American friends to the south).  Of course we're going to pay for it this weekend when Hurricane Earl blows through here on Saturday.  Currently a Category 4 Hurricane just off the East coast of Florida, Earl is projected to pass right through Nova Scotia and is predicted to be at least a Category 1 when it hits early Saturday morning.  A lot of people around here are reminded of Hurricane Juan which hit Nova Scotia without mercy in 2003.  The rumor is, the weather just before Juan hit was just like it is now, very hot and very humid.  Today, with the humidex, the temperature was around 43C (109.4F) and it is expected to be higher tomorrow.  I wasn't living here when Juan blew through, but from what I've heard, I'm very glad.

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So what does this all mean for us?  Probably nothing.  I don't suspect we'll get hit with anymore more than a bit of wind and rain.  These things tend to get a lot slower as they approach the Northern Atlantic and run out of steam.

As I mentioned in my last musing, I'm anxiously awaiting my bonus which should be arriving on the 3rd of September.  I've been thinking a lot about it actually.  I'm also really looking forward to spending Friday night with some family here at our place in celebration, it's not every day the company I work for gives away free money; as you may have noticed if you're read through the last 5 years of musings.

I've also been thinking about what to do about the extra income.  I really don't have much in the way of bills right now given that I only pay for electricity and cable/phone/internet which together is less than $200/month.  I'm mostly caught up on everything so I plan on ensuring everything is topped off completely.  I've also put a lot of thought into buying a laptop.  I'm not looking to spend a lot of money on one but I'm also not looking to "cheap" out and just get one for the sake of having one.  There are a few things I absolutely must have in a laptop but I'm not willing to spend most of the bonus on one so unless there is a good sale (and there are) I won't bother wasting the money.  I've been wanting a laptop for awhile now.  There is something to be said about portable computing and being able to take it with you wherever you go.

These past couple weekends I brought the work laptop with me to my Mother's house.  It is a slow piece of crap (IBM Thinkpad T42) which is running a corporate image of Windows XP that is painful to use.  It makes a great web browser and surfs the web well (when it connects) but a lot of the "features" of the laptop are either disabled or not working properly (thanks to the afore mentioned corporate image) which only makes it more annoying.  I can't even "discover" wireless networks, I have to manually type in the SSID and keys to connect; it's a strange device for certain.

Anyway, I've decided to shop around and find the perfect laptop for me in the price range I'm looking to spend.  If I can't find one, I won't buy one but with the deals going on right now for Back to School, I'm sure I'll find what I'm looking for.  The sad part is I found the perfect laptop for the perfect price already, but the sale ends on the 2nd and I don't get my bonus until the 3rd.  Oh well.

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Well folks, it is time to say farewell for now.  The heat is starting to drain my soul into an eternal abyss of fiery hell from which there is no escape.  It's also very hot outside.  Until next time, remember, just because ice is cold, doesn't mean it's safe to put in places that are hot.  You know what I'm talking about Juggs :)

Cheers,

Al

v39.5: Speechless

Howdy folks,

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I know it doesn't happen often, but I'm speechless.  Today started like any other day, I woke early, got ready for work and drove to the office.  I arrived at work shortly after 7AM and began the usual tasks of checking email, restarting services (if needed), answering email and coding.  I do this all day long.

Today my boss' boss sends me an IM shortly after 8AM and asks me to come talk to him.  Usually I don't think anything of this since we get along well and he usually only needs to chat with me if he needs clarification on something or has some task for me to do.  I strolled over to his office, knocked on the door and walked in.  I started to worry a little bit when he asked me to close the door.  The only time he ever asks me to close the door is when we're talking about private things (work related you sick-Os) and he doesn't want to be overheard.  My first thought was I was being laid-off and would need to find another job.

Ever since I was moved to this new billing code at work I've been thinking the worst.  My boss explained to me that being put into this code would potentially be bad.  He explained the good and bad but emphasized on the bad parts because worst case scenario, I would be unemployed.

I sat down in the chair across from him and he immediately started with, "I'm sorry, but things just aren't working out...".  My heart dropped in my chest and for a split second, my entire career flashed before my eyes.  He smiled, let out a chuckle and said, "Just kidding".  You bastard!

The reason he had called me to his office was to let me know about an Employee Bonus incentive reward plan at work.  He wanted to let me know that he put my name forward to receive this reward and I was approved.  I couldn't tell initially if he was joking or not, so I went with it.  Basically, because of the hard work and good job I've been doing, I was recognized and as a result, my next pay will have a nice sized bonus on it; almost doubling my bi-weekly pay.  Now that isn't a ton of money, but it couldn't have come at a better time especially with the kids heading back to school and needing money for school supplies and other back-to-school things.  Needless to say, I was very happy with the meeting and left his office with a spring in my step.  Who would have thought such good news could come on a Tuesday?

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Well folks, I must take off for now.  I just wanted to share the good news with everyone.

Cheers,

Al

v39.4: Musing from Mom's

Morning folks,

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I'm writing to you today from my mother's house on her newly formatted Windows 7 laptop.  We've had a great weekend here this weekend though it did start off a little strange.

We drove down Friday afternoon shortly after noon.  The traffic was good and we were able to make good time which had us arriving earlier than predicted.  I wish I could say the drive was without incident though.  The first thing we noticed as we arrived in town was the caterpillar invasion that had taken over.  The trees were littered with caterpillars and they were everywhere.  Despite the heat outside, we were forced to roll up the windows in the truck so they couldn't make it inside.  It was like something out of a horror movie where people were being slowly eaten alive by millions of caterpillars.  We made our way to my mother's place and the first thing we saw was their house, completely covered by caterpillars.  My step-father was outside with the firetruck hosing off the house (he is a volunteer firefighter for the town) which seemed to be working quite well.  The pressure from the hose was not only getting rid of the caterpillars, but it was also killing them.  In no time at all he had the complete house uncovered and most of the yard cleared.  My mother stepped out of the house with a flame thrower strapped to her back and tinted goggles and with a maniacal laugh she started shooting fire at the remaining caterpillars.

If that wasn't enough, the neighbor was standing in the upstairs window of his house with some strange music playing very loudly.  I could hear the man chanting something and he would release balls of fire from his hands which were consuming groups of catepillars wherever the landed.  The chanting was a little creepy and I tried my best to not draw his attention to avoid having a spell cast at (or on) me.  The whole scene was something out of a movie.

We pulled into the yard and my mother tossed the flamethrower aside and ran over to give us all a big hug.  When I asked her what had happened here, she curtly replied that they were having a slight pest problem and they had it under control.  I glanced at the discarded flamethrower and shrugged.  The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful.  We had a great afternoon/evening at the lake on Saturday and now we are preparing to have a big Turkey dinner today.  It has been a great relaxing weekend.

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Well folks, time for me to take off for now.  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Cheers,

Al

v39.3: What a Week

Howdy folks,

This has been a super crazy week.  I've been working quite a bit more than usual and every time I think I'm finally caught up on things, I find something I forgot about and have to play catch up all over again.  To make matters a bit worse, I was sick on Wednesday which only added to my work load today as I tried to cram two days of work into a single work day.  Ugh..

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Thankfully tomorrow is Friday and I am lucky enough to be taking half a day off so I can take a trip with the family down to visit my Mother and Step-Father for the weekend.  I'm excited about leaving the city again.  I'm not sure what it is, but ever since the week of camping, I've had this strange craving to get out of the city more.  In fact, I wouldn't be opposed to leaving the city entirely.

Of course the reality of it all comes crashing down and there is just no viable way we can make it work; at least not right now.  What I really need to do is find a job that allows me to work from wherever I am rather than have an office to drive to every day.  I know there are jobs like this out there and I even have a few friends who have found such jobs and are doing very well with them.  One friend in particular has even given taken it another step and works remotely from his boat.  I'm a bit jealous :)

Of course I digress.  I have been feeling the pull to move to a small town for awhile now.  I grew up in a small town.  Of course growing up in a small town sucked as a teen, but now that I'm "older" and have a family, the small town is much more appealing.  Yes in a small town everyone knows everyone's business, but everyone knows everyone.  There is a closeness in a small town that you just won't get in a big city.

So what is the next step?  To be honest, there really isn't one right now.  We take it day by day and eventually we will get back on our feet and have the ability to make a decision like this.  Of course winning the lottery or finding a job where I can remotely will change all that very quickly :)

Well folks, like I said, it has been a hell of a week and I'm very tired.  I'm really looking forward to getting out of here for the weekend and relaxing with family.  I hope everyone has a great Friday tomorrow and a great weekend.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

v39.2: Back from Vacation

Howdy folks,

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I had half a musing typed up and for some reason my Firefox decided to crap out on me and I lost all of it (apparently Auto-save wasn't working either).  Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes I guess.

Technically I was back from vacation a week ago but haven't had much of a chance to write all week.  Work has been super busy and despite having only worked 4 days, I still ended up working over 40 hours this week.  I don't think work has ever been this busy.

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Let me start off by saying that camping (specifically tenting) and I don't seem to get along.  Every single time I've gone camping (regardless of the weather forecast), it has rained.  I'm not talking a little shower or a light rain, I'm talking full on torrential downpour to rival the wildest tropical storms.  It rained so hard, I thought the tent was going to collapse under the weight.

We made our way out of the city on the Monday and arrived at the camp ground sometime around mid-afternoon.  I had never really been to the Annapolis Valley before so I wanted to make sure we got there as soon as possible so we could take it all in while the weather was nice.  Keep in mind, the weather forecast for the valley was calling for sun Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with a slight chance of showers or rain on Wednesday and Friday late afternoon.  Sounds like a perfect week to do some camping doesn't it?  My father and step-mother were coming camping with us but they were going to be delayed a day so we would be on our own the first night.

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As I mentioned, we arrived at the campground around mid-afternoon on Monday and proceeded to setup our 10-Person Cabana tent and screen room.  This tent is HUGE and I love it.  There are compartments on the side which are designed to hold luggage and even have a rod for coat hangers to hang your clothes.  We got the tent for 50% off a couple years ago and have really only gone camping in it once, (yes, it rained then too).  The people in the camp site next to ours had the same tent but colored slightly different (blue, grey and yellow trim vs. ours which is teal, black and orange trim).  Just a quick word about this campground.  The sites were we were tenting in were basically in a huge field with a roadway all the way around and through the middle.  Each site was designated by a fire pit (made from the hub of a huge truck) and a little sign that indicated this was the camp site number.  Our 10-Person tent filled up the entire site width wise and about half of the length leaving only a few feet to the campfire from our screen tent.  It was cramped.

We had a few "small" tarps with us that we used to cover parts of the top of the tent in the event we did get a little bit of rain.  We also put a tarp between the screen tent and the main tent to create a bit of a shelter between them so we could travel between the tent and screen room without getting wet (again, in the event it rained).  After camp was setup, we decided to go for a walk and check out the campground.  There was supposed to be a heated pool so that was the first place we checked.  It was a pool, not heated and not very big.  At least it had an 8ft deep end but there was no jumping or diving allowed; not a huge deal.  We then took a walk down to the basin shoreline to the swimming beach there.  The beach was quite rocky and the water was cold and looked quite dirty.  Just off to the right of the beach was a huge hydro power facility which (for whatever reason) decided to fire off its siren every day at Noon and then randomly throughout the day.  According to my wife's aunt (who lives in the area) the siren is used to let people know when there is a fire or other type of emergency.  We got to experience that later in the week.

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Needless to say, I wasn't overly impressed with the campground.  The camp sites were much too close together and not nearly big enough.  The campers and RVs seemed to be almost on top of each other and it looked like a trailer park.  For the price it definitely wasn't worth it, but I was out, I was camping with the family and I was in the Annapolis Valley, what more could I want?  After a quick tour of the place we decided it was time to try out the pool so the kids and I got into our bathing suits and headed for the pool.  There were only a few other people in at the time so it wasn't overly crowded.  The water was quite cold for a "heated pool", but after getting in it was quite nice and an enjoyable swim.

We had some supper around the camp fire consisting of roasted hot-dogs.  It was then that I realized we brought nothing with us to cook food other than matches to light a fire with.  It was then that I knew we were going to get rain and we wouldn't be able to cook our meals over an open fire.  Thankfully my father and step-mother would be arriving the next day so we would have access to some form of cooking should we need it.

The first night was fairly calm and clear out.  There was a lot of "highway" noise which was a bit annoying and our neighbors in the tent next to us had some kind of media player and were watching movies most of the night.  We had some roasted marshmallows and then decided to head to bed.  I remember laying in the sleeping bag listening to "Marley and Me" for about an hour before I finally dozed off.

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The next day was spent mostly just bumming around the camp ground and awaiting the arrival of my father and step-mother.  They didn't get to the camp ground until around 4PM which meant we spent most of the day just touring the campground and chasing the baby around.  She discovered that there were no walls in the great outdoors and decided she was going to go exploring at every chance she could get.  The kids went for a dip in the basin (which apparently was VERY cold) and we ate supper at my Father's camp site inside their screen tent; pork steak, potatoes and vegetables.  My Father has a fairly nice rig to camp in.  It has a TV, couch, queen sized bed and a bathroom with a stand-up shower.  He's definitely roughing it in that rig.  We spent the evening around the camp fire until the rain started and then played some card games while the kids watched a movie on the TV.  My neighbor had put up a huge tarp which covered his entire tent and I was a little jealous since I had two tarps on my tent and most of it was still exposed.  According to Environment Canada, we were only supposed to get a little bit of rain so I wasn't  too worried.

A little bit of rain turned into a LOT of rain and a lot of thunder and lightning.  It kept us up most of the night and there were definite signs of water making it inside the tent which threatened to ensure most of our stuff was nice and wet.  In fact, our suite case, which was along the side of our air mattress, was completely soaked and most of our clean clothes were drenched.  I got up at first light and started to assess the damage.  Thankfully nothing happened at our camp site but my Father didn't get away so lucky.  His screen tent (which had seen a lot of usage and was falling apart anyway) had collapsed under the weight of the rain and wind sometime in the night and was a pile of twisted metal filled with water.  His campsite was full of water and it looked like his camper was sitting on a little island in the middle of a small lake.  The water was deep too as it came up to the wheel rims of his truck.  The rain eventually broke and we were able to start cleaning up.  My Father and I made a quick trip into Annapolis Royal in search of rain boots only to find every store (all 2 of them) were completely sold out.  We decided we would make a trip down to Digby which is where the closest Wal-Mart was.  It rained off and on all afternoon, but nothing major.  While at Wal-Mart we picked up a huge tarp for my tent and got some change for the dryer at the campground so we could dry our clothes and bedding.  The tarp was huge and easily covered the entire tent and half of the screen tent; we were ready for rain!  As luck would have it, there was no rain at all Wednesday night and most of Thursday was foggy and overcast.

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We spent the day Thursday touring Annapolis Valley and taking in the sites.  My Father and step-mother has camped in the valley before and they knew some nice places to take us.  Once place in particular was a small zoo just outside of the town of Aylesford called "Oaklawn Farm Zoo".  Normally I'm not a big zoo person but there were a few highlights I would like to point out:

1. They had a Zonkey!  Now I don't know what kind of sick twisted person it takes to make a Zebra and a Donkey mate, but this zoo had one.  It was odd looking and I still wake up at night with nightmares of a Zonkey attacking me.


2. Watching my baby girl playing with a baby goat; what a kid (hah).


3. Lions and Tigers and ... where were the bears?  I think this is one of the only zoos I've ever been to that didn't have a Bear exhibit.


4. 6:30PM is big cat feeding time!  We didn't stick around to witness massive cat animals eat, but I'm sure it was disgusting.

After the zoo we decided to head back to camp and get some supper going.  It was a simple supper of hot-dogs and hamburgers but it was good.  We were all exhausted from the day so we spent the evening sitting in my Father's camper watching movies.  It has been on and off all day with light rain and I was a little disappointed that it wasn't raining harder so I could test out my new tarp.  Fortunately someone was listening and as soon as our last movie was over and I was about to head back to the tent, the downpour came.  The rain was thundering on the roof of my Father's camper and I knew I was going to get completely soaked walking from his site to ours.  I waited for a small break in the rain and then ran over to our tent, it was bone dry inside.  The tarp was keeping the rain out and I was happy.  It rained most of the night and there was thunder and lightning again which kept us up most of the night but at least we were warm and dry.

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jubife uji    vjuf

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Apparently my baby daughter wanted to say hi while I was away from the keyboard.

Friday was beautiful, sunny and hot.  Perfect weather for taking down tents and packing up the camping stuff.  We loaded the truck up and headed out shortly after lunch.  After a "quick" stop at a nearby town to pick up some food (why do they advertise food along the highway and make you drive for 30 minutes after you exit?!) and made our way back to the highway and headed for Halifax.  We were exhausted but happy that our week of camping went so well.  My Father and step-mother were making their way to another campground where they planned on spending the weekend before making their way home.

Of course the relaxing week was quickly forgotten my first day back in the office and this week has gone by in a blur.  I wish I had enough vacation time to take off the entire summer and do nothing but camp with the family.

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Well folks, time to get back to my Sunday and do absolutely nothing.  Hope everyone had a great weekend and hopefully things have quieted down enough at work that I will have some time this week to post more.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Al

v39.1: Post Reunion Blues

Howdy folks,

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What a weekend.  There is just something about family coming together to socialize and enjoy each others company that makes it special.  This past weekend was just such an occasion and if I could sum up the entire weekend into a single word, it would be "Epic".

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While the actual event didn't begin until Saturday, a bunch of us showed up Friday to get things started early.  And in pure family fashion, as soon as there was word of alcohol and camp fires,  everyone who could make it out joined us.  I got to see a lot of family members I haven't seen in quite awhile including my cousin Brian who I haven't seen in 13 years.  I also got to see a good family friend who I haven't seen in almost just as long.  Needless to say, good times were had by all and I'm really glad I had the opportunity to go down and spend the weekend.  The weather, despite calling for rain on Saturday, was fantastic, hot and sunny all the way up to Sunday when it finally started to rain, just as I was getting ready to tear down the tent.  Let me just say that taking down tents isn't one of my favorite things to do and doing it in the rain makes it even less fun.  Thankfully we have plans to go camping again next week so hopefully the weather is nice and I'm able to dry the tent out.

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Tradition: an inherited pattern of thought or action

As with most annual gathers, there are certain traditions that form.  Despite this only being the 2nd annual family reunion, I think we already have a tradition or two in the works.  Unfortunately one of the traditions is my fault and despite my strong objections, I did it again this year with some help from Juggs (thanks Juggs).  What is this mysterious tradition I'm avoiding?  Let me go back about a year when it all started.  As with most family gathers on my mother's side, we tend to drink quite a bit of alcohol and do some crazy fun stuff.  I was quite intoxicated and not of sane mind when my cousin Karl handed me his guitar he brought to the lake.  I had no idea what I was doing and was simply asked to play "something", anything at all.  I hesitantly took the guitar from his outstretched hand and strummed a few chords.  The sounds of the guitar filled me as it usually does when I play and I was taken by a desire to play something.  It was then that a certain song popped into my head and despite all my efforts, I couldn't shake it.  I strummed the first chord and that's how it came to be that on a warm Saturday night with the campfire as my spotlight with the Loons singing backup that I sang to my entire family, an Adam Sandler tune entitled "Medium Pace".  I played the guitar and sang the entire song, every word when I ended there was a brief moment of silence and then everyone clapped and cheered.  I felt like a star.

For those of you who know the song, I can feel your smiles already.  For those who don't, I have provided you with a video so you can give it a listen; this isn't safe for work folks so make sure you've got some privacy.



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Now something like that isn't easily forgotten and that is why I had a feeling this year I would be roped into singing it again.  Of course it wasn't until my cousin Karl showed up that all my fears became true.  He stepped out of his truck and walked over to me with a big grin on his face; he knew I remembered and I could hear the words going through his head; Medium Pace!  So there I was again, one year later finding myself on a warm Saturday night with the camp fire as my spotlight, screaming out the lyrics of Medium Pace again.  Thankfully I had my buddy Juggs there to back me up and the two of us pulled the song off like champs.  I felt good.  I went over, sat down next my mother and she simply told me that would have been a song my grandfather would have really enjoyed.  I agreed.

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Well folks, those are the highlights from my weekend.  I'm sure there are others but thanks to alcohol, too much sun and jagged lake rocks, I don't recall much else worth writing about.  I hope everyone had a great weekend and hope everyone has a great week.

Cheers,

Al

v39.0: Versions are...

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.

- Mark Twain

Howdy folks,

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Apparently I've been taking examples from work with my versions for Musings over Coffee.  For whatever reason, I skipped a few versions and just noticed it today.  Such is the way things go sometimes.  What's a geek to do?

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v38.9: Introducing Jupiter Squirrel

Howdy folks,

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Hard to believe today is Wednesday; seems like just yesterday it was Tuesday.  I'm looking forward for this week to be finally over and done with.  This weekend is the family reunion on my mother's side and we're really looking forward to heading out to the lake and spending some quality time with family we haven't seen in awhile.  I moved back home to be closer to family so it's nice when an opportunity comes up and it is only a few hours drive away versus a 6 hour plane ride.

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v38.8: Hold Reset, Press Power

Howdy folks,

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As most of you know, I'm a gamer.  I'm someone who enjoys many different types of games and play as many different types of games as I can get my hands on.  I've always been a gamer going back to my early years and the family's first computer; a Commodore Vic20.

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v38.2: What's wrong with TV?

Howdy folks,

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Things have been very busy for me lately.  Last week we had several clients visiting the office to put on some training for my team.  I spent quite a bit of time in meetings with them as well as a lunch meeting and an after work get together.  All-in-all, it was an OK week but I'm glad it is over.

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v38.1: Warm Rain

Good morning folks,

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As the title suggests, it is raining here today.  Normally I don't use Musings over Coffee to discuss the weather but I felt it was significant enough to talk about since I've rarely seen rain this heavy before.  In fact, I don't believe I've ever seen it rain this hard since Alberta.

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v38.0: Friday Checklist

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

- Mark Twain

Good morning folks,

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Friday has finally arrived!  I have been looking forward to this day since Monday and despite only having a 4 day work week, I still feel as if I worked all 5 days.  There was something about this week that really made for a long week.  Perhaps the heat was a factor or perhaps it was just "one of those weeks".

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v37.9: Tired Thursday

Good morning folks,

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It is finally Thursday though it feels like it should be a Friday.  Despite being ill on Monday and missing work, I still feel like I've worked a full five days this week.  Perhaps the longer days of sunlight help create the illusion you're working more than you actually are.  I'm not working many more hours than I did over the winter months so why should the summer months feel so long?

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v37.7: Some Quick Stats

Good morning folks,

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I'm a fan of stats, or more specifically, stats related to my websites.  Stats can tell me a great deal about the traffic to my sites as well as provide me a way to track what kinds of musings people like to read and which ones are most searched on.  I could sit here all day and write about cute kittens and probably get a ton of hits in a single day, but who really wants to do that?

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v37.6: Gaming Update

Good morning folks,

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I haven't posted any gaming updates lately so I thought I'd make a quick post about what I've been up to with regards to gaming lately.  After all, this site is supposed to be senseless ramblings from a UNIX administrator and gamer.

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v37.5: The Big Clean

Howdy folks,

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It is Friday and I'm working from home.  I'm glad I have the option to work from home when needed.  There are only so many vacation and sick days one can take in a given year and "wasting" those on days where there are doctor appointments makes me annoyed.  The flexibility  at work makes the work that much more bearable.

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v37.4: Canada Day Riddle

Morning folks,

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Well it is Canada Day!  This is the day most Canadians get together, celebrate and drink copious amounts of alcohol to commemorate the Dominion of Canada as a united country.  Exciting stuff isn't it?  Imagine if the people who started this country in 1867 could see it today.

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v37.3: Back to Basics

Good morning folks,

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I have been musing over coffee for quite awhile now.  I've some fairly good entries and some real bad ones.  There have been grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and just bad information all around.  I don't care.  Musings Over Coffee is my way of putting it all out there, on the screen for everyone to read.  I've had some nasty comments, I've hurt some feelings and have made some people angry with me.  Initially I let things like this bother me until I remembered that these are my thoughts and you can never please everyone.

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v37.2: The Queen

Good morning folks,

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It is an overcast, foggy, rainy day here in Halifax.  In fact, it has been this way most of the week.  We've been blessed with some nice hot weather lately so having a few days of rain and cooler temperatures has been nice, hopefully we have nice weather on Canada Day.

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v37.1: Lineage

Good morning folks,

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Have you ever sat there and wondered whether you had any ancestors in power?  Perhaps a great great great grandfather was a Lord or King of some country somewhere hundreds of years ago or perhaps you have royal blood flowing through your veins due to some royal love affair.  At the end of the day we are all just people but people like to be tied to something important, to feel important and to have something that nobody else has.

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v37.0: Happy Fr?gedæg

Good morning folks,

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It is Friday!  For me this has been a very long week.  I'm not sure whether it was the sleepless nights or the long working days but this week seems to have dragged on and on.  I actually thought yesterday was Friday.

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v36.9: Robot, I am

Good morning folks,

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I've come to the conclusion that I am a Robot.  While my insides may not be a clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk, I am still considered a robot by definition:

A robot is an automatically guided machine, able to do tasks on its own. Another common characteristic is that by its appearance or movements, a robot often conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own.

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v36.8: Whiskerando Wednesday

Good morning folks,

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It is Wednesday, mid-week, hump day, ISO 8601, Wodnesday or whatever else you want to call it.  For those of us who work the typical Monday to Friday work week, this is the day where we reach the climax of our work week and begin the long decent to the weekend (getting over the hump).  Throughout history, one can find references to Wednesday having significance in both culture and religion; it is a very special day.

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v36.7: What If?

Good morning folks,

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I'm sure you've asked yourself the question before: "What if this happened?" or "What if that?".  I find it interesting at how much time and energy is spent dwelling on the "What If" in life.  Don't get me wrong, I do it as well, but there are some people who seem to always dwell in the What If scenario and never step back and take a look at what they have to be thankful for here and now.

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v36.6: Where is my Timmy's?

Good morning folks,

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Another day, another dollar or so the saying goes.  Since we've moved I have hardly had a single cup of Tim Horton's coffee to drink.  In fact, I haven't had a single drop of Tim Horton's coffee all week.  It isn't because I've been cutting back on my coffee, it is more because there isn't a convenient Tim Horton's between my new place and the office.  I've been a loyal Tim Horton's drinker for a long time (16ish years now) and it feels strange not to have that Tim Horton's coffee first thing in the morning.

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v36.5: All Moved

Good morning folks,

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Well we've finally finished moving.  There are still a few odds and ends at the old place which we will hopefully finish up this weekend, but 98.33 (repeating of course)% of the stuff has been moved and we're slowly unpacking and making the new place feel like a home.  This past weekend reminded me just how much I dislike moving and I hope I don't have to do it again anytime soon.

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v36.4: Why Sci-Fi?

Good morning folks,

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It would appear that another day has dawned and the Earth has rotated another 360 degrees so our side can face it once again.  Imagine living thousands of years ago thinking the sun was the one that was moving?

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v36.3: June Bugs

Good morning folks,

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June is finally upon us, again.  Where did the last 5 months go?  I find it difficult to believe time could go by so fast, and yet, here we are at the beginning of a new month and almost at the half-way mark of the year.  I believe the old saying goes, "Time flies when you're having fun.", but I find it hard to believe we're having that much fun.

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v36.2: A Time for Change

Good morning folks,

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Amazing how quickly another week has started.  Before I realized it, here I am back at work and almost a whole week has gone by without posting.  Of course that wasn't my intention, but then again, the world is paved with good intentions isn't it?

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v36.1: Happy Monday

Good morning folks,

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I know you typically don't use the words "Happy" and "Monday" together but today is a special kind of Monday for me.  We had a long weekend this past weekend and my "Monday" is actually Tuesday which means I'm already a day ahead.  I love short weeks after a long weekend; much better than having a long weekend followed by a regular week.

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