Lost in Translation

Day 3 of no heat...

2012-01-24T10:14:00.007-05:00

Well, it is now day 3 of being without our furnace.. the only saving grace is that outside temps are unseasonably mild for January. And it appears the trend will continue all week. We are expecting above freezing temps during the days, dipping to just a few degrees below freezing at night.

As it was quite cold inside the house yesterday, I decided to go out and buy one of those Presto Dish Heaters that they are selling at Costco. They were around $69.

Back home, I called Direct Energy to inquire about the part on order for our furnace, I was told there was none available in Canada, and that they would have to order it directly from Carrier in the US. May take several days to get here. I asked them what I was supposed to do about warming my house, and they asked me if I had any electric space heaters. When I said I didn't, they said they would send me over a few.

To my surprise, about an hour later, a delivery person showed up at my door with four - yes FOUR! - small Honeywell (model HZ-316N) electric space heaters. And I do mean these were small - about 7 inches square. But each was rated at 1500 watts, same as the Honeywell Dish.

I unpackaged two of them, set one up in the kitchen and one in the hallway upstairs. I also set up the dish in the bedroom. Surprisingly, they worked quite well, and seemed to heat up the place quite quickly.

I unplugged the dish when we went to sleep, but kept the other two little Honeywell units running all night. This morning when I got up, the house was at 68 degrees - the temp I normally leave it at each night and most of the day. It was nice to get up without freezing.

At first I was a bit apprehensive about plugging in three 1500 watt units, as most of my outlets are fused for 15 amps; I was concerned that they would blow fuses or trip the circuit breakers (we have both types of circuit protection). But, so far so good. However, there is also the concern of electrical consumption - consider that running the two Honeywell units at 1500 watts, is equivalent to having THIRTY 100-watt bulbs burning! (45 if you add in the dish heater). That's a lot of electricity.

Still no heat

2012-01-23T12:52:00.002-05:00

Well it is 1pm Monday, and still no heat. Woke up this morning to 59 degrees in the house. Called Direct Energy, and they still have no idea when the part will arrive, nor where it is, or indeed if it is even in stock. What a company!

So, here I sit with long johns on and fleece lined pants, layers of shirts and tops, and my winter coat on.

Started a fire again in the fireplace, but after 2 hours the temperature has only gone up from 59 to 62 degrees.. and that is only in the living room where the fireplace is - it is still freezing upstairs. Luckily, it is above freezing outside today.. and should be like that for the rest of the week.

It is Cold!!

2012-01-22T22:07:00.000-05:00

This morning I had a hard time getting out of bed. It was warm and cosy. When I finally did get up, I found it unusually cold. Put on some clothes and went downstairs to get something to eat.

Then I noticed the thermostat: 62 degrees (F)! Wow! No wonder I was cold. And I was very surprised I was not cold in bed.. guess that down-filled duvet I bought last year really works. Funny how you don't get really hot under one - just really comfortable, no matter what the outside temperature is. This morning it was about 7 (C) below zero.

Hmmm.. so the furnace was not working.. why not? I went down into the basement and opened the cover. There were some LEDs flashing on the controller board: I counted off the flashes: 3 short and one long - '31'. Nothing mysterious about that one: seems to be the catch-all for every problem - as far as I can remember, every problem I have ever had with this furnace was a '31', which means the burner did not fire because there was an air flow blockage. This could be caused by anything from a blocked air filter to a blocked external vent, or an internal component failure. When I called the company for service, I did not even mention the error code this time, as I know it is completely meaningless to the service technician.

To my surprise, I was told a tech would be there between 10am and 2pm. What?! On a Sunday? Same day service?! Hard to believe - last time I called for service it took 4 days.. and the problem was caused by a previous technician who had come by a few days earlier to perform the 'annual routine maintenance' on the furnace. Turns out, he came on a warm day when the furnace was not in use; a few days later when it got cold, the furnace would not start - the jerk forgot to turn on the gas switch inside the furnace. Needless to say, I cancelled my 'annual routine maintenance' and just kept the service contract for failure problems.

So now I have a real emergency, and I am told a tech is on his way. Whoopee! He shows up within two hours, and starts his examination. Turns the power off and on to fire up the furnace, but of course it doesn't. Instead there is a loud rasping noise - he knows right away what it is - the blower is broken, most probably the fan blades have come off the unit and are rattling around inside the assembly. That he has diagnosed this so quickly is the good news; the bad news is that he does not have a replacement, and he will have to order one. Tells me it will be delivered directly to my home - when it arrives, just call back and the company will send someone to install it. Said it may even arrive today, despite it being Sunday.

Well, it didn't arrive. Called the company, and they have no idea where the part is or when it will arrive. And it is now 10pm.

I went outside to get some firewood in the back yard, then I lit up the fireplace trying to get some heat in the house. But it only marginally heated up the living room from 62 to 66 degrees. The rest of the house was still cold. I moved one of the sofas in front of the fireplace, grabbed a blanket and my notebook and did some work, but my hands were just too cold. So, I watched a course on Web Fonts which did not require the use of my hands.

I am now back in bed, under my duvet. I even dug out the old electric blanket to warm it up a bit before getting it. I can assure you that I am quite warm right now - even my hands, which are outside the blankets and typing this entry, are warm.

Will the part arrive tomorrow? Will I have to wait days for a service tech to replace it? Only time will tell. For now, good night.

25 Years ago today

2011-10-10T10:31:00.005-04:00

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary.

We were married at the Old Mill here in Toronto, and honeymooned in Vegas at the Frontier Hotel. The Frontier, like many other icon hotel/casinos in Vegas, has been demolished a few years ago - but unlike other hotel/casinos, the lot still sits vacant today.

Over the years, we have many numerous trips back to Vegas, and have noticed the considerable change and growth that has taken place. We were there last month to celebrate our anniversary. We went a month earlier, so that we could take advantage of several tours that were time sensitive.

It was hot, with temperatures over 100 degrees most days: the hottest was 105! Yet we spent most of the time in air-conditioned hotels and casinos, as well as our rented car.

Normally, we spend a lot of time gambling, but this time the trip was more focused on tours. We did a day trip into the desert north of the city, where we toured the Nevada National Security site, formerly the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. There is no longer any nuclear testing there, but the use the vast area as a training ground for troops that are to be deployed to the middle east, as well as for HASMAT training for first responders for the nation. It took us well over a year to get clearance to participate in this tour, and it was well worth it. On the bus trip back, we were fortunate to see a Predator drone flying nearby doing tests. I was amazed at how quiet it was.

We also did a tour of the Neon Bone Yard, a repository of old hotel and casino signs from years gone by. I will post a link to my photos here as soon as I get time to upload them to Flickr - so check back soon.

We took in a few other local tours: a backstage tour of the Jubilee set and the Mob Tour at the Tropicana. And Lois' highlight of the trip: The Chriss Angel show at the Luxor. We has excellent 3rd row seats, and even at that close distance, I was unable to detect how the illusions were performed. A great show!

Overall, we did not lose much money.. maybe about $200, which is not really that bad for a week in Vegas. I also found a new gamblers' supply shop, which has many of the missing and discontinued dice and chips I was missing from my collection.

That was probably my last flight into the USA. I am getting sick and tired of the hassle we have to put up with at the airport in the name of homeland security.

Hemorrhoids or Anusitis?

2011-02-07T22:37:00.007-05:00

So I was chatting with my family doctor a few months ago, and said I really wanted a second opinion regarding my ongoing problem of hemorrhoids. I said I had been seeing a doctor who specializes in colonoscopies and he had told me that there was nothing he could do about my hemorrhoids.

I had been seeing this specialist for about 10 years now, and he has been doing my colonoscopies every two or three years. Why so frequently, when everyone else has them every 5 years? Well, the first time he found a polyp several cm in diameter; he removed it and found it was benign, but it seems when they find something, they opt to be on the safe side and do them more frequently. Believe me - if you ever had a colonoscopy, you really don't want to have them too frequently; the actual procedure itself is not so bad, since the patient is sedated and often does not feel anything. However, the prep the two days before is a killer - you spend nearly all the time on the porcelain throne and by the time you have pretty well purged yourself, the bum is raw and sore.

Anyway, I digress. My family doctor suggested I go to the Rudd Clinic in downtown Toronto. Apparently, they are the authority on all things bum and bowel related. I had to wait about a month or so to get in, but considering their reputation and specialization, that was really not that bad a wait. When I got there, I was surprised that I was seen by Dr. Warren Rudd himself.

I went into the exam room and he asked what the problem was. I said I had really bad hemorrhoids that hurt like hell and burned like hell. In fact, I had even taken a picture of them with my iPhone and took it out to show him. He did not seem surprised that I had a photo of my hemorrhoids, but after taking a look, he immediately said, "That's not hemorrhoids." I said, "What do you mean? Look at all those bulging bubbles there." At that point, he asked me to drop my pants so he could have a better look. Once again, he said it was not hemorrhoids. He said it is a condition called Anusitis, sometimes called Anal Itch, which is often caused by diet, and cured by changing diet. He asked if I drank coffee, and I said just decaf. He said it did not matter - caffeinated or decaf - I had to immediately stop drinking coffee and colas, as well as chocolate, and anything hot or spicy. He then asked if I read while on the toilet, and I said of course, whereupon he said I have to break that habit: never sit on the toilet more than 2 minutes!

He then asked if I read his book. What book? Knew nothing about it. I asked if he had one there, and he popped into his office and returned with a copy. I asked how much, and he said $20 - no tax. "Read chapter six", he said. Actually, he said read the whole book and especially chapter six, which deals with my specific condition of Anusitis.He then told me to go downstairs to the drugstore and buy a device called Anurex. He said it is small device, about 3 inches long and about half an inch in diameter, with a knob about an inch in diameter at the top. He said to put it into the freezer for about 2 hours and then insert it into my anus. It works like a cold compress that you would put onto your arm or leg if you sprained it. Only, this works 'internally' in the anal canal. The device is reusable - just wash it thoroughly afterwards, and put it back into its container and return it to the freezer. It comes with a small container of aloe lubricant, but that is a very small container, and he said I could get a tube of KY lubricant instead.Quite frankly, I think I still have hemorrhoids, but he claims differently, and he is the expert. What bothers me is that my colonoscopy doctor, and family doctor, both mis-diagnosed this problem, and I have been living in pain for over 15 years.

I have been using the Anurex device for several weeks now, and have also changed my diet to mostly bland foods. And, oh yes, I have a high fibre cereal (Fibre 1) each morning. He insisted on this - said this is the only cereal with 15 grams of fibre per serving, and that I needed this each day. For the first week I did not notice any difference, in fact, it seemed to make my more constipated, which aggravated the problem down below because it made me force each bowel movement. I called him up about this, saying it sort of negated the effect of the Annurx device if I had to exert so much force for a bowel movement. He asked if I was drinking water with the cereal - I said no. He then said that eating fibre is useless unless it is accompanied by a bottle of water. Apparently, water is the catalyst that makes the fibre work in the bowels. So, I started drinking water each morning with the cereal, and actually taking a bottle with each meal, and I can't believe the difference. I now have the recommended 2 to 3 firm, but not hard, bowel movements each day.

However, the 'hemorrhoids' are still there, and still as sore as ever. I have a followup appointment with him this Friday. I am not expecting miracles, but he did say it may take 3 to 4 months till the anusitis goes away.

Peter Haworth

2011-01-22T22:22:00.005-05:00

In the early 70s, I was given a painting by Peter Haworth. No one seemed to like it except me. In fact, my wife wanted me to toss it out, but something made me keep it. Art is a very personal thing.

Recently, I decided to see what it was worth. I searched the internet, but could not find any reference to the painting. Apparently Peter Haworth lived from 1889 to 1986 and produced a lot of paintings, but only started to delve into abstracts in the late 60s or early 70s.

As the painting I have in possession is an abstract, I assume it is one of his earlier works in this genre. So, I also assumed it might be worth something.

I contacted a local art auction house here in Toronto via email, and sent them along some photos of my painting, including a close up of the signature and the back, which appears to read "Village" preceded by the number 5 with a circle around it. The painting measures about 20" x 25", and is on Masonite board. The following are the photos:

The auction house replied back that based on my photos, they estimate that it could fetch between $800 and $1200 based on its condition - they would have to see it up close for a more accurate evaluation. They asked if I would like to have it consigned for auction, and I declined.

I was a bit disappointed.. I thought it would be worth more. In the end, I figured I would hold onto it a bit longer, perhaps pass it down to my kids - who knows: with age it might accrue in value.

Motorcycle Supershow 2011

2011-01-08T08:45:00.007-05:00

Lois and I went to the MotorCycle SuperShow yesterday. It is an annual event held each year at the International Centre near the airport. It is a very big show, covering several halls. Many of the big names are there, but mostly it is show bikes and vendors. One of my favourite paint jobs was this one painted with autumn leaves - the painted leaves on the bike perfectly matched the real leaves on the ground under it. More photos of bikes from the show can be found on my Fickr site.

We bought a few things - Lois finally got a new helmet. She had a full face helmet for the past 15 years and was looking for a new visor: the one she had was badly scratched and she wanted to replace it. However, being so old, no one carried a new visor that would fit her helmet. By I and the sales rep tried to convince her that although her current helmet was still 'looking' in good shape, it really should be replaced - riders should really replace their helmets every 5 years for safety.

So, she tried on an HJC CL-MAX2 in matt black. It it also a full face helmet, however the front pivots open for easier installation and removal. It also makes it easier for her to put on her glasses. She loved it, and we bought it.Below is an image of the helmet both closed and open.

I was also looking to replace my 15-year helmet, but was looking for a shorty half-helmet with a built in drop-down visor, but could not find one at the show. The sales rep who sold Lois her helmet, said they had what I was looking for at their store, but did not have any at the show. He gave me a discount coupon to buy one at his store, so I will head down to it next week to see what they have.

We also bought a few other things, like T-shirts and things. Lois had hoped to find a new pair of boots, but the type (slouch boots) she was looking for were not there.

In all, it was a great show. It was crowded for a Friday, and it expect it will be a mad house on Saturday and Sunday.

How to make a great Lasagne

2011-01-06T17:20:00.006-05:00

We had a pot luck supper at the Legion before Christmas, and I decided to bring a large dish of Lois' lasagne. Everyone liked it so much, that they wanted the recipe. I said it was more or less in her head, so precise measurements of the ingredients are not really available.

Since she wrote down the recipe for me to take in to them, I thought I would also put it here for any readers that wanted to make a really good lasagne.

Lois’ Lasagne
First: Prepare spaghetti sauce

Brown and drain about 2K lean ground beef – set aside and keep in colander.
Stir-fry veggies to be added: chopped onions, celery, green pepper, mushrooms.
Optional veggies: finely chopped fresh tomatoes, fresh green parsley, finely chopped carrots (I put in whatever I have leftover)
Next, combine meat with veggies in a large crock pot.
Add jar(s) of spaghetti sauce (like Prego).
Number of jars will depend on the thickness or meatiness that you want in your sauce (I usually use two large jars)
Add seasonings as desired: freshly ground pepper, oregano or Italian seasoning, garlic, thyme.

Leave in crock pot on low to simmer at least 6 to 8 hours - I simmer throughout the day and evening, then turn off for the night and make the lasagne first thing next morning. Slow cooking for a long time is the key to getting a nice tasting and tender meat sauce.

Remove cover and steam off any excess liquid, again depending on your choice of consistency but keep in mind that you will require enough liquid to cover the lasagne noodles.

Next, make the Lasagne

Use lasagne noodles that will cook in the casserole, so you don't have to boil them.
Spray a large glass casserole dish with PAM or something similar.
Put a generous amount of spaghetti sauce on the bottom.
Place a layer of lasagne noodles on top.
Put a generous helping of shredded cheese all over (I use the cheddar/mozza combo)
Add more sauce and another layer of noodles - press the noodles down to ensure they are covered by the sauce, then add more cheese on top.
Add more sauce and noodles, again ensure noodles are covered with sauce; then add another layer of cheese.
Keep going until you fill the dish.
Last layer of cheese (for the top layer, I use shredded mozzarella only).

Bake uncovered for about an hour at 350 or until cheese topping is bubbly and crispy-ish

Serve with a good Caesar salad (Romaine lettuce and Rene's light Caesar dressing) and a Chabatta loaf, and of course a nice red wine.

Enjoy!

iPhone 4, WriteMonkey

2011-01-05T16:06:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time now since I have updated this blog. I could give many reasons, but let's just say I will try more in 2011.

I finally gave in, and bought myself an iPhone 4 - and I have to say, I LOVE it. I tend to stay away from first generation of products, and after 4 generations, I think it was safe to get one now. I had an iPod Touch for some time, and I liked it - not so much for playing music, but for the apps and the convenience of checking my mail and using the internet. However, with the iPod Touch, I had to have access to a free hot spot and there are not too many of those left - most people are getting smart and password protecting their routers.

With the iPhone 4, there are no such limitations, since I can get online practically anywhere. Furthermore, it has been improved significantly - to the point that many of the newer apps just will not run on older generation devices like my 1st generation iPod Touch.

I think my wife likes it too, although she says she does not want one. However, she is forever asking to borrow my phone so she can check her email (I think she is becoming an email junkie). She usually does this at home, despite the fact that we have several computers in the house. She finds it easier and faster to use the iPhone, than to power up the computer.

She asked me about my old iPod Touch - specifically if she could have it. Of course, I said she could. Now I will have to spend some time with her to teach her how to use it. She will be able to use it to check her mail at home, since we have WiFi. On the road, she will still use my phone as usual.

My data plan is generous - 5 GB for $30 per month. Many new customers are paying $25 for only 500 MB - I have 10 times that amount for only $5 more per month.

My daughter and her husband each have iPads, and to be honest, the iPad is one cool tablet computer. I have played with it several times and have to admit it is great, although a tad heavy. One big drawback: no Adobe Flash content. Yes, I would like one, but I will wait until the next generation - supposed to be one early this year. Also, I am waiting for an announcement from my ISP (Rogers) - rumour has it that they are going to offer a data plan which can be shared between an iPhone and an iPad. (currently, if someone wanted both, they would have to sign up for a data plan for each device).

I am using a new tool to write this entry. I am writing offline, as I have often lost my data when writing online and there is a hiccup on the internet. So, I usually compose offline, and copy/paste into my blog. In this case, I am using a new tool I read about today, called WriteMonkey. It is a very basic word processor, that is very fast and easy to use; some say it is like using a typewriter. And the initial use makes it looks like that, using a courier font. I have customized it to use the Ariel font, in green colour on a black background. It looks quite a lot like the old computer terminals I used to use back in the 70s.

Read the EULA

2010-05-06T12:09:00.003-04:00

I think it is fair to say most people do not read the EULA (End User License Agreement) when installing new software or updates. You know, that extra fine print goobly-gook that virtually no one can make sense of anyway.

The following is a classic example of not reading the EULA (click to enlarge):

The Gift of Life

2010-05-04T12:39:00.003-04:00

If you live in Ontario, please give some thought to donating your organs after you die. They will be of no use to you when you are dead, but could be life-saving to someone still living.

Each time I renew my driver's licence, part of the licence includes a small organ donor card that you can carry with you in your wallet. Lois and I have always filled out this card and we carry it with us.

However, until recently, I was not aware of the provincial registry at http://www.giftoflife.on.ca/ There, you can fill out a PDF form specifically to add yourself to the organ donor registry.

Please do it now. If you do not live in Ontario, contact your local authorities, government, or hospital to find out where you can go to register your wishes to donate your organs upon your death.

Having a 'senior' moment..

2010-04-27T09:45:00.002-04:00

So, the other day I was brushing my teeth...

It was just before bedtime, and as usual I brush my teeth before going to bed. I have two toothbrushes: the standard old Oral-B manual brush that takes elbow grease to work, and a rechargable Braun Oral-B electric brush. I tend to alternate between these two brushes, sometimes using the manual one on one night, and if I feel I need a really super cleaning, I will use the electric one.

If anyone has ever used a Braun electric brush, I think you will find it has a feature that interrupts the power after about two minutes. The brush runs for 2 minutes, and does a sort of rapid stop/start for a few times, then continues on for another two minutes. This stop/start signal is a sort of feedback mechanism for the user - to ensure that the brush is used for at least 2 minutes in order to get the proper cleaning effect from the brush.

So, the other night, I had picked up my 'manual' toothbrush and was busy brushing my teeth before bed, and I found myself waiting for the stop/start action so I would know when to stop brushing. Duh! I think I am getting old!

OHIP

2010-04-20T14:50:00.007-04:00

In Ontario, most people are covered by OHIP, which is the Ontario Health Insurance Program. Basically, when you see a Doctor or other health care professional, you present your OHIP card, and the service provider bills OHIP for their services - you don't pay anything. Well, that is the way it works in most cases - there are some services that are not covered by OHIP.

Anyway, the other day I got to wondering if there was any way to reconcile what OHIP is being billed vs what services I actually got. I wanted to see if the health care practioners were being honest, and not billing for services I never got. I also wanted to see exactly how much they were charging OHIP for their services. For example, how much if any, is my doctor billing OHIP for prescription refills made over the phone by my drugist.

After searching the various OHIP website pages, I could not find anything. So, I sent off a note to the main contact listed for OHIP explaining that I wanted to see my OHIP records for 2009 and 2010 year-to-date. To my surprise, I got a reply which detailed the process:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your e-mail sent to ServiceOntario for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

A Personal Claim History (PCH) is a summary or listing of all services received under a person's Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) health card number. It is not an individual's personal medical record history, but rather, a payment record of medical claims submitted by health care providers against a specific health number.

A PCH may include details such as: date service was received, fee paid to the health service provider, health number, patient's name, fee schedule code, health care provider's name, date the claim was approved for payment by the ministry, etc.

The ministry's databases keep fee for service records for seven years, plus the current year.

This signed request must be made in writing (no special form is required) and include the following information:

health card number
date of birth
time frame of history
mailing and physical address (if different)
signature and date

The request can be sent to:

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Personal Health Information Office
Corporate Administration Services
49 Place d'Armes, 4th Floor
P.O. Box 48
Kingston ON K7L 5J3

There is no fee for this service when the request is performed by the original cardholder.

Thank you again for your inquiry.

Regards,
M. Steinbok
Customer Service Agent
ServiceOntario -- making it easier
Visit us at: www.ServiceOntario.ca

So, I sent off a letter today, requesting my history of OHIP billings for the past year and a half. Now I wait for the reply.

I post this here for all people of Ontario: you should be requesting a similar history and comparing it to your actual medical services that were rendered to you. No one else is going to audit your records.

Flash Soap Company

2010-04-06T19:30:00.003-04:00

Many years ago, my father worked for a company called the Flash Soap Company. I know this because I was sorting through some of his old stuff and found some letter head with the company name on it.

Note the Hollywood font! Note also the address - I tried to find it on the map, but it appears that Craig street does not exist anymore.. probably because it was an English name, many of which were changed over to French names in keeping with the French language policy of Quebec. I think it is now called Rue Ste. Antoine. I tried to look up the address on Google maps, but it appears that the address 1574 on Rue Ste. Antoine is now residential.

Also, a search for "Flash Soap Company" on Google produced no results. I guess the company is just a memory now.

Bloggers

2010-03-24T11:39:00.003-04:00

Q: How many bloggers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: 100 - 1 to change the light bulb and 99 to comment on how it should have been done differently.

Docusate Sodium

2009-12-06T09:37:00.004-05:00

I am always amazed when I meet people who take certain prescription meds and find they get constipated and don't know why. This is especially true for any medication containing codeine.

Codeine will cause constipation, usually severe. I occasionally take codeine based medicines, like Tylenol 3 or Percocet when I have severe lower back pain. The problem is they cause constipation, which prevents you from voiding the bowels, which (in my opinion) causes even more lower back pain, as the unvoided waste builds up inside you, and puts more pressure on the back muscles. Then of course, when the urge to void comes a few days later, the stool is hard as a rock, and passing it is often painful, not to mention you are exerting a considerable force to pass it - which can put strain on the back muscles and aggravate the lower back pain again.

Fortunately, there is a solution. It is called Docusate Sodium, and comes in a soluable powder formulation or (easier to use) small read capsules. Docusate Sodium comes in both generic and brand names, a few being:

Aqualax®, Colace®, Colace® Micro-Enema, Conate®, Correctol® Extra Gentle, D-S Caps®, D.O.S., Dialose®, Diocto®, Dioctosoftez®, Dioctyl®, Dioctyl® S.S., Dioctyn®, Doc-Q-Lace®, Docu Soft®, Docu®, Doculax®, Docusoft® S, DOK®, DOS®, Doss-Relief®, DSS®, Dulcolax® Stool Softener, Enemeez®, Fam-Colsof®, Genasoft®, Gentle®, Kao-Tin, Kaopectate®, Laxa® Basic, Modane® Soft, Phillips® Liqui-Gels®, Regulax® SS, Silace®, Stool Softener, Sulfolax™, Sur-Q-Lax, Surfak®, Therevac® SB, Uni-Ease®

One that my local Shoppers DrugMart carries is Softlax (they also carry the generic Docusate Sodiun, which is slightly cheaper); the capsules are pretty much all the same: 100 mg of Docusate Sodium (read the label before buying).

I should point out that Docusate Sodium is NOT a laxative, so you won't find yourself having cramps and rushing off to the toilet with the 'zoomies'. No, Docusate Sodium is a stool softener. It just makes the stool soft and easy to pass.

I usually take 3 or 4 capsules when I take any drugs (legal or otherwise) that tend to promote constipation. Usually, the next day, I will have a normal bowel movement. In severe cases, it make take a more than a day to have a bowel movement, but when it does eventually happen, it passes easily and painlessly. If you don't have a movement one day, take 3 or 4 more capsules each day until it happens. Prunes (and prune juice) also help, but I find this medication works better.

A busy time of the year

2009-11-20T06:23:00.002-05:00

Yes, there has been a lot going on, and I have not had too much time to write.

Lo and I recently came back from a diving trip in the Bahamas. We had a great time, and unfortunately, I had a few close calls - close enough that I have decided to give up diving.

Lo, however, continues to dive and just returned from a short trip in Florida. She attended a line dance workshop in Tampa a week ago, which she combined with a short dive holiday across the state near West Palm. She met up with some of her dive buddy girlfriends there, but unfortunately, the water was pretty rough and they only managed to get in two drift dives.

I have been working pretty hard getting ready for winter, and of course, now I am suffering for it with lower back pain again. Had to pass on a few commitments this week, hoping that all will be fine by this weekend, which is my grand daughter's 2nd birthday.

My daughter here in Toronto, just bought a new house and is naturally very excited about it. She is also very pregnant, so the timing for the move is not the best. Although they take possession on Dec 7th, they don't actually mover until January, giving them a few weeks to prepare the new house. The new baby is due mid-February.

My other daughter in Florida is going through some difficult times with her marriage, and it looks like it may be over soon. She is already seeking legal advice and looking for a new place to live. I feel sad that she has to handle all this alone, as most of her family is still living up here in Canada. But she is a strong person, and I am sure she will get through it ok.

We finally completed some house renovations (that we had started a few years ago, but hadn't finished). Painted the main bedroom and the en suite washroom, as well as the downstairs powder room. I also took the opportunity to replace the bathroom fixtures with more modern ones, and changed the electrical outlets and switches to more modern ones. Makes a big difference. Only thing left is to replace the bedroom carpeting.

I am seeing a new doctor for my back - a sports specialist called Dr. Kachooie, who works on Kennedy, just south of the 401. He sent me for a complete MRI on my back, and the bad news is that my whole spine is essentially shot: all discs are degenerated, and there is not much to do about it. The MRI also showed that the passage down the vertebrae where the spinal nerve bundle passes, is closing in with osteo arthritis, which is putting pressure on the nerve bundle, and giving me constant leg pain. He said he has been quite successful treating this with other patients, with a spinal epidural steroid injection. I had my first one last month, and it hurt! However, it seems to be alleviating the leg pain to some degree. I have to go back in January for another shot, and possibly a few more later.. most probably for the rest of my life. But, hey, if it works...

The weather is turning cold here.. most of the leaves have fallen from the trees, and most of them in our yard have been raked up and bagged. All the summer yard stuff has been packed away as we prepare for winter. The mornings are frosty, and the car windows need scraping before we drive away. Lois has already decked out the house for Christmas, and pretty much all our shopping has been done, although we don't do that much any more. Christmas cards have been replaced with an email containing a Christmas letter, and that still has to be done. The winter flannel sheets have been put on the bed, and so has the electric blanket. The snow tires have been installed on the car - I think we are ready for winter.

Urban legends and hoax emails

2009-09-28T09:04:00.002-04:00

Ever notice that your 'friends' often send you what they consider important information, only you find out later that it is not true? Especially after you too have forwarded the misinformation along to 'your' friends? Annoying isn't it?

For example:

After a one-night stand, a guy passed out in a New Orleans hotel and woke up in a bathtub full of ice - missing one of his kidneys.
During a 1996 interview, singer Mariah Carey was quoted as saying, "When I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean, I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
A guy ran off with his secretary and his abandoned wife sold his Porsche for $50.

For a list of 99 top urban legends, look here. At least scan through them, so that the next time your 'friends' send you one, you will recognize it for what it is - a hoax.

And if it is not one of those 99, then take a minute to research it before forwarding it on. All it takes is to take a few key words or phrases from the story and add the words hoax, snopes or "urban legend" in a Google search. (Note: when using Google for a search, and you want to keep a phrase or group of words together, enclose the phrase in double quotes - otherwise each word will be searched independently)

All it takes is a few minutes to verify the email contents

Super-23 Sudoku

2009-08-02T11:29:00.004-04:00

I have had for some time now, a fascination with Sudoku, and have written about it before in this blog (see the entry on Sudoku Madness and also this entry on Have fun - Sudoku with a friend

Not content with the simple Sudoku games, I quickly graduated to the Sudoku High-Fives games, where there were 5 overlapping games on one page.

Yesterday, in our local newspaper, I saw the mother of all Sudoku games: a giant full page spread containing 23 overlapping games!

You will need to click on the image to appreciate the full size of this game. (pardon the poor quality - it is actually of photograph of the newspaper page)

The game is actually an ad for MasterCard's PayPass. The idea is that if your use PayPass, it is faster than any other method of payment, and it will leave you lots of extra time for other things like playing this super Sudoku.

They ran a similar ad a while back for a ginormous full page crossword puzzle - with all the clues on the opposite page. I don't do crosswords, but saved it for a friend of mine that does. hehe!

And yes, I am going to attempt this super Sudoku game, however, given that it takes me on average about 1 hour to complete a Sudoku High-Five game, I figure this one will take me about 4 to 5 hours.

Don't forget - you can download full page PDF formatted games from my Pulblic Skydrive site. I find the full page games are easier to work with, since there is more room to insert possible candidates in each square. The Skydrive is updated almost daily, time permitting - if not, then weekly.

Computer Weirdness

2009-07-29T17:45:00.001-04:00

Last fall, I started having problems with my Toshiba notebook computer. It was hanging for no apparent reason. Took it in for repairs and was told that the wireless card was shot and so was the motherboard.. was going to cost me over $800 to have it repaired. I chose not to have it fixed, as a new notebook could be had for less than the repair cost.

However, on a long shot, I disabled the internal wireless adaptor card and found the computer worked just fine. So, I figured the motherboard was not defective, as I had been told. That prompted me to scan the net for a wireless card, and found one on eBay for about $40. I ordered it and installed it myself, and to my surprise, the computer worked again.

However, it was running extremely hot, which I figured was a contributing factor in the failure of the wireless card, so I decided it was finally time to get a new notebook as I was quite certain the Toshiba would fail again anytime soon.

I shopped around and got a good deal on an ASUS M50VM model, but changing computers is always a chore, made worse when changing OS - for me, that is going from XP to Vista. One of the biggest is that Microsoft's Files and Settings Transfer Utility would not work cross systems - there were too many differences. Besides moving my data, I would need to reinstall all my programs and adjust their settings the same as I had on the XP system.

So, for the past 9 months, the ASUS has been sitting pretty much idle, as I continued to use the Toshiba, which still has not failed. In some ways, I really like the old Toshiba, as the screen is better, and the keyboard and touch pad are centered; the keyboard and touch pad on the ASUS is off the the left by about 2 inches, to accommodate a full numeric keypad on the right. As I am a touch-typist, I find it hard to getting used to my hands 2 inches over to the left - I am always hitting the wrong keys. But I guess in time I will get used to this.

Yesterday, I thought it was time. I got out the new ASUS and started moving my data over from the Toshiba. That's when the problems started.

The computer started acting very weirdly. The first thing I noticed was that I could no longer control the sound. On this computer, the sound is controlled by the Function Keys. F10 toggles mute, while F11 lowers the volume and F12 raises it. F11 and F12 no longer worked, yet F10 did. Then I noticed that I could not control the screen brightness, again controlled by the Function Keys: F5 made it darker, while F6 brighter; well, only F5 was working making the display darker. I had a hard time seeing what I was doing, trying to dig into the bowels of the system to find some other way to bring back the brightness so I could continue to work on it.

Then, other weird stuff started happening.. after boot up, the icons on the screen would flicker. Then I lost control from my touch pad. When I tried to load a web page, it quickly scrolled up and down on its own. I got a message that the Bluetooth adaptor was no longer running, and also a problem with the screen display - something about the Chameleon Engine missing a critical file.

I managed to log onto the ASUS support forums, where I described my problems. Some guy replied with a link to the drivers on the ASUS site and suggested I reload them. Instead, I went back to the Driver and Supplemental software CD that was shipped with my system, and started reloading the drivers. All, the while the symptoms remained the same.

After about 2 days of farting around with this frustrating problem I was just about to give up and return the notebook to my dealer, when it hit me. I noticed that the TAB key on the left hand side was jammed down. I unstuck it, and believe it or not, ALL my problems disappeared. A stuck TAB key. I would have looked like a real dork bringing in a notebook for service with a stuck TAB key. I feel like a real dork for taking so long to notice it!

Poly Clens

2009-06-14T16:36:00.004-04:00

I want to talk about a product that I believe few people know about, yet has been around for many, many years.

The product is Poly Clens by LePage. It is readily available in Canada, but I am not sure about other countries.

Poly Clens is basically a paint brush cleaner. Now, many people today use water based paint - one of the reasons is the easy cleanup: just rinse out the brush under the tap of running water. They avoid alkyd or oil based paints because the cleanup is somewhat messier, usually involving turpentine or mineral spirits.

But I often find that alkyd or oil based paints are superior and better lasting, espeically for exterior applications.

This is where Poly Clens comes in. It makes cleaning oil based paint brushes a snap. You just put a quarter of an inch or so into an old tuna tin, and work the bristles of your brush in the solution. (In this case, I am using a tuna tin for a smaller 1-inch brush - obviously, you will need to use a bigger container for a bigger brush, and a bit more Poly Clens - but, you really don't need a lot: use it sparingly).

After a few minutes of working the Poly Clens into the brush, just rinse it under luke warm tap water. The Poly Clens breaks down the oil based paint so that it becomes water soluable. So, cleanup is essentially the same as for water based paint brushes.

If you are really stingy, you can reuse the Poly Clens. Just let it sit overnight and carefully pour off the upper layer of clear solution. All the disolved paint will have sunk to the bottom of the tin. Personally, I just toss the whole mess down the drain when I am rinsing out my brush.

After rinsing the brush, shake out the excess water and towel dry it. Then leave it over night to dry, or put it out in the sun for faster drying. If you really need to reuse the brush right away, you can rinse it out in mineral spirits.

Poly Clens is also great at cleaning old dried up paint brushes. Just let the old brush sit in the solution for a day or so, and then rinse as usual. The brush will come back to life, almost like new. For really stubborn paint, you may need to repeat cleaning with Poly Clens.

If you are the type that uses disposable brushes, then obviously you don't need Poly Cleans. However, if you take pride in your work and use a good quality and expensive brush, and you want to keep it that way - Poly Clens is the perfect cleaner.

UPDATE (Aug. 2011): It appears that Poly Clens has been discontinued. I suggest if you can find some left on store shelves, you buy up all the stock you can. Below is the note I received from Henkel, which looks like they now own LePage:

Thank you for e-mailing Henkel Corporation concerning our Poly Clens product. We appreciate the time you took to contact us.

Unfortunately, this product has been discontinued. I hope this does not discourage you from purchasing other Henkel Corporation products in the future.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to call us at (800) 624-7767, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time; or visit us on the Web at www.loctiteproducts.com, www.osipro.com or www.lepageproducts.com.

Thank you for your inquiry. I hope you find this information helpful.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations Representative
Henkel Corporation

Ice Skating Pt. 2

2009-06-11T15:55:00.002-04:00

Earlier, I blogged about Lois taking ice skating lessons.

Well, the class is over, and we are now going to 'free skate' each week. I picked up a pair of used skates on Craigslist.. a nice new looking hard-shell pair that give me the extra ankle support.

Got them sharpened and hit the ice last week - the first time in about 45 years. To my surprise, after getting over the shakes in the first 5 or 10 minutes, I was able to skate quite well. Did not even fall down once. Lois had insisted I wear a helmet, so I used one of my old motorcycle helmets.

We only did about 90 minutes, but I was dripping wet with sweat. Took off my helmet afterwards and it was drenched inside. Made a mental note to wear a bandanna under it the next time.

This morning we went for our second time. Once again, I felt pretty good going around the rink. There were probably 20 to 30 people on the ice, and I was surprised to see some very old people (like in their 70's and 80's) skating around the rink (and doing very well.. in fact, no one fell at all).

Except me. I was getting cocky, and decided to try skating backwards. And of course, I fell - hard on my left hip, elbow, and wrist - all of which have minor bruising. It does not hurt - now; I am wondering how it will be tomorrow.

We both enjoy it, and hope to go several times a week. The rink is open for adult skating Monday to Friday, from 9 to 11 am. At 10, there is a small break where we can have a cookie and coffee or tea; this is a nice time to chat with others who are there. It is very friendly, and everyone seems very helpful, especially with Lois who is still struggling. She was a bit envious that I just jumped on the ice and started skating after all these years, and did not have to take lessons like she did. I still have to master going backwards, hard stopping, and cross-legged turning.

Well, I am off to babysit my grand-daughter this evening. Unfortunately, it is raining and Lois is out with the car, so I will have to use the Harley in the rain. I hate this cause it messes up the bike, and more importantly, it is more dangerous to ride in the rain.

The not-so-friendly skies

2009-05-26T14:24:00.003-04:00

As the economy is tanking, more and more airlines are cutting corners to stay afloat. They have eliminated free meals and drinks on most flights, and now they are charging for baggage. At first, it was just an extra fee for more than one bag. Now, they are charging a fee for every bag checked.

The above cartoon summarizes my feelings, and really begs the question: why are they charging extra for baggage, when obese people are charged the same fee as non-obese people? They are often much heavier than baggage, and spill over into the adjacent seats making it an unbelievable and uncomfortable ride for the rest of us.

Ireland's Shame

2009-05-25T15:32:00.004-04:00

A long anticipated report on child abuse in Ireland was published last week. It took about 8 years to complete, and cost about 65 million pounds. The report covered a period from the 1870's to early 2000; some 35,000 children were abused by 800 Brothers, Nuns, and other lay teachers in these so-called industrial 'schools'

A report from Sky News here.
A report from Global Post here.
A report from BBC here.

And finally, for those that wish to read the 2,500 page report, it is available in both HTML and PDF formats here

Headlines: Yesterday and Today

2009-05-16T16:56:00.002-04:00

Beautiful New Stamps

2009-05-11T17:32:00.005-04:00

We got a letter from the Income Tax folks... seems they questioned our rather large amount of medical claims, and wanted us to send them copies of all the receipts. We file electronically, so this occasionally happens when things don't look just right to the tax people.

Truth is that we did have a lot of medical bills that were not covered by insurance, and we had to pay out of our own pocket. We did have all the receipts, so we made copies and prepared to mail them in.

Problem was that it was an over sized envelope and I had to stop in at the post office to buy the correct postage.

While there, I was looking at some of the new commemorative stamps. They usually issue one or two new ones each month. Many years ago, I used to collect them. I had an account with the post office with a standing order for a matched corner set of every new commemorative stamp they issued. A matched corner set is 16 stamps - 4 from each corner of the stamp sheet. I discontinued this after a number of years, as it was getting rather expensive, especially as the cost of postage was going up each year. I still have my small collection, which will probably be passed down to my kids when I die.

Anyway, today I was struck by the beautiful commemoratives depicting two nebulae. Fortunately, I only had to buy a sheet of two, so the cost was reasonable.

Below, is a copy of the stamps: (click to enlarge)

These two stamps were issued last month to commemorate The International Year of Astronomy, and more information about them can be found here

Just a bad cold

2009-05-04T14:07:00.003-04:00

So I went to the doctor this morning. My regular guy was not in, so I had to wait for the 'walk-in' line. Waited about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

I wore a N95 mask just in case I was contagious. The doc examined me and said it was not N1H1 - thank goodness. Just a very bad cold.

Had a hard time sleeping last night.. woke up a lot, coughing. This morning, the throat was very sore, and the pain had migrated up to my ears. My chest and back are quite sore from the coughing - feels like I am all bruised.

Speaking of doctors, today's humour:

Do I have it?

2009-05-03T10:27:00.004-04:00

With all the buzz about swine flu (now officially called N1H1), I am wondering if I got it. On Thursday eveining, the day after my experience on the TTC, I developed a very dry cough and sore throat.

Yesterday, it got worse, and today even worse. I keep taking my temperature, but no fever. I don't want to sound alarmist, but I am wondering if I have N1H1. Did I pick it up from the crowds on the TTC, or is it just a common cold or flu?

Because I have no other symptoms (like fever, aches, nausia), I am doubtful it is N1H1. Yet, I hear the emergency rooms and doctors' offices are crowded with people who think they may have N1H1, so I a reluctant to go myself. I will wait it out another day or two and see what happens.

In the mean time, some pictoral advice:

Sometimes newspapers screw up.. even online ones

2009-05-01T11:39:00.003-04:00

There was an article today in our local paper about T-shirts and the whole process of making them with child labour.

The odd thing is that the ran the following image and caption with the story, and it made no sense at all:

The Better Way

2009-04-30T10:00:00.003-04:00

The political cartoon in my last post made me think about yesterday's trip downtown.

I needed new tires on my bike and it was also due for its 24K service, so I made and appointment for Toronto Harley for the work. I usually go to Davies Harley north of the city on Yonge, but for a change, decided to try the downtown shop instead.

It started off as a pretty cool day, sunny but only about 6 degrees, so I dressed in several layers and put on my heavy leather jacket. After dropping off the bike, I decided to try to get back home using public transit - what Toronto refers to as the TTC or 'the better way'.

I ended up taking all three modes: first an electric streetcar from Bathurst along King to Yonge; then down to the Subway to take me north to the Sheppard/Don Mills station, and finally transferring to the bus which took me to my house. The whole trip back on the TTC system took just over an hour and a half. Rather long, I thought, for the 'better way'.

Despite living here for over 25 years, it was my first experience on a streetcar and bus; I had been on the subway system once or twice, but that was a long time ago.

Some things that surprised me: The streetcars are surprisingly quiet when running. I was sort of expecting to hear a lot of rail noise, but didn't. The subway is dirty - very dirty. There seems to be this black dust over everything, including the subway cars, making the originally clean aluminum train cars look a dirty grey. I did not dare touch anything. I can't see why it would be so hard to pressure wash them every now and then.

There appears to be no chivalry or politeness on any of the TTC modes of transit. It is a pushing a shoving match of everyone for themselves, as they race to get one of the few rock hard seats. Seats, which I must add, are even smaller than those on airlines; I always thought they were small, until I sat beside someone on the subway.

While the frequency of TTC vehicles in the downtown core leaves passengers with a minimal wait, this lengthened considerably as I approached my home north of the city, where my bus only ran every half hour. Fortunately, my wait for the bus was only about 15 minutes.

Returning later in the afternoon, I planned it a bit better. I called the TTC to ask when the next bus was due to stop near my house, and left the house just in time to catch it, and avoided a long wait. Catching the subway and street car was also almost immediate with no wait time, as they run much more frequently. So, I arrived back at Toronto Harley about 15 minutes faster than my morning trip home.

I picked up my bike around 6pm. Despite it being rush hour, I still made it home in about an hour.. faster than either of my trips on the 'better way'.

In the parking lot, I met another guy who was also picking up he bike. We began to chat a bit - I mentioned that this was my first visit to the service dept at this location, that I wanted to try somewhere else since I was not completely satisfied with the service at Davies. He said just the opposite - he has had nothing but bad, uncaring service at Toronto Harley, and he was thinking of going to Davies for his next service. Apparently, his bike was in the shop for over a week, and every time he called to inquire about it, he was treated badly. They told him to stop calling, that it will be ready when it's done, and they would call him when it was ready. There was a sense that the service techs did not care: it was just a job, and they did not care about the customer. Hmmm.. sort of had me wondering what kind of service my bike got. Needless to say, I rode home very cautiously - hoping my wheels would not fall off.

Someone should remind them: "The customer is always right - even when he is wrong!"

My main reason for trying them out was that they are supposed to be moving to a new location north of downtown.. on Lawrence, just west of Victoria Park. If and when that happens, they will be ideally situated and quite close to my home. But, for now the new place sits vacant, despite all the Harley signs on the building. I suspect the decision to open this new larger facility was made before the economy tanked, and now they are sitting tight - probably trying to get the funding to complete the move.. or maybe even reconsidering the move altogether. After all, Harley is not immune.. it is a luxury bike for many, and when times are tight, luxuries are the first things to be cut back.

Even their stock value has tanked over the past few years:

Getting back to the 'better way' - I think the close contact with all those people on my two TTC trips may have given me a cold. I woke up this morning with a scratchy dry throat and a bit of a runny nose. I guess the TTC is an ideal place to pass along a cold or flu. Let's just not hope there was anyone there with the Swine Flu that is running rampant right now.

Swine Flu

2009-04-28T10:47:00.003-04:00

Laugh and the world laughs with you;
Sneeze and you sneeze alone.

Date Rape

2009-04-22T11:41:00.003-04:00

A recent local news item was published today about a man accused of date-rape. The woman said it was rape, the man said it was consensual.

The man was acquitted. The court ruling:

The case underscores the challenges of so-called date-rape prosecutions where the testimony is often a matter of "he said, she said," with little or no physical evidence to tip the scale.

Yesterday, Ontario Superior Court Justice John Hamilton essentially said he found Frank D'Angelo and his accuser both to be credible and, in fact, said D'Angelo was "probably" guilty. But the judge then pointed to the difficulty of deciding such cases in a legal forum.

Now, personally, I have no way of knowing if he was truly guilty or not.

However, in the interest of protecting men against possible false accusations of date-rape, I now present this public service.

Similar to marriage pre-nuptial agreements, I have created a simple 'business card' that you can download and keep with you at all times. The document is in MS Word format, and is designed for use with Avery 5371, 8371, and 8871 business card stock. You will need to replace the name "John Doe" with your own name, and do this in each of the 10 cards on the page. Then print a few pages on the Avery business card stock, and separate them into individual cards.

Prior to leaving the bar or wherever, just have your date sign the card, explaining it is just for your legal protection.

A sample of the card is below (Click it to download the MS Word template):

Ice Skating

2009-04-18T10:44:00.004-04:00

After Lois lost her contract in February with Global Sources in China, she was looking for some things to keep her occupied. We got a copy of the Toronto Parks and Recs schedule of activities and she saw ice skating courses for adults.

Lois and I both used to skate as kids, but pretty much gave it up after our teens. She had not been skating since, and decided that maybe she should sign up for lessons before jumping onto the ice.

I sort of figured this was a waste of money... after all, isn't skating like swimming or riding a bike? Once you learn, you know it for life. But, she was insistent, and I agreed.

The course said it was mandatory to wear a full face helmet, so we went over to Canadian Tire and found one in their sports section. We also picked up a fairly good pair of skates for her on Craigslist for $35. These are nice hard shell skates that would provide good support for her, especially since she had broken her ankle several years ago.

She went off to her first lesson a few weeks ago, alone - she did not want me to see her trying.

When she came home that evening, she was very thankful she had that helmet. Seems she flipped backwards and went down hard, hitting her head on the ice. The head was ok, but her right elbow wasn't. Although no bones appeared broken, the arm did swell up and over the next few days, began to turn ugly yellow and purple colours.

Now in addition to the helmet, she is wearing wrist guards and elbow pads.

She says it was a very humbling experience. She did not realize how much she forgot. I personally can't understand this, as I feel if I strapped on some skates today I would have no trouble remembering how to skate. Time will tell.. I am looking for a pair of skates on Craigslist, and when I get some, I will go out for the 'adult free skate' hour and try it out. Lois, on the other hand, says she will need to complete the course before trying free skating with me.

Anyway, here are few shots of the bruised arm: (Click to enlarge)

The Magic of a Wire Brush

2009-04-13T18:48:00.003-04:00

A while back I replaced one of the grinding wheels on my workshop bench grinder with a wire brush wheel. I find that this wheel is almost like magic on some objects.

A few days ago, I was working on my toilet seat, and had to remove it to make some repairs. It was held in place on the toilet bowl with two brass bolts, that were very corroded. They had been there for over 25 years.

Rather than go out and buy new (plastic) bolts, I took them down to the basement and ran the wire brush wheel over them. It is almost incredible how new looking it made them. Compare for yourself:

Marilyn Chambers dead at 56

2009-04-13T18:18:00.003-04:00

All (good?) things come to an end, sooner or later.

Porn star Marilyn Chambers, who made waves in the 1970s by having screen sex with an African-American, was found dead at her Los Angeles home at the age of 56.

The cause of her death late on Sunday night has yet to be determined.

Her real name was Marilyn Taylor, and broke into the adult film industry by appearing in the 1972 film "Behind the Green Door," which was among the first pornographic films released widely in the United States to attract mainstream attention. I believe this film came on the heals of Linda Lovelace's porn film, "Deep Throat", which is widely credited as being the first mainstream porn film.

The adult film caused a stir in part because Marilyn was seen having sex with African-American porn star Johnny Keyes.

Marilyn made more than 25 porn movies, trading on her earlier role as the blonde cover girl on the Ivory Snow soap box, where she posed holding a baby under the tag line "99 & 44/100% pure". Ironic!

She also made several films with late porn star John Holmes, who died of AIDS complications in 1988, and she had flings with careers in music and politics. Marilyn ran for U.S. vice president in 2004 on the Personal Choice Party ticket and released the disco single "Benihana" in 1976.

Marilyn had a bit part in the 1970 Barbra Streisand film "The Owl and the Pussycat," and starred in the 1977 David Cronenberg horror movie "Rabid." But after establishing herself as a pornographic film star, she was never able to break into mainstream films.

Out to Lunch

2009-03-26T09:22:00.004-04:00

Sometimes political cartoons can be very poignant.

Earlier this month, Nine city employees were fired in a benefits claim fraud.

The same day, the following political cartoon appeared in our local paper:

I had to laugh because it is so true. Not so much about the employees being fired, but the guy on his break.

This actually happened to me. I was at the passport office, standing in a long line waiting to have my papers processed, and by the time I got close to the front of the line, it has turned noon, and the agent calmly places a "Closed for lunch" sign in the wicket, then turned around and calmly sat at his desk (in full view of everyone waiting), opened his newspaper and his bagged lunch and began eating it - totally oblivious to everyone around him. And leaving us in line all fuming! So typical of bureaucratic employees. What a great job!

My doctor called yesterday and left a message on my answering service. He had just received the results of my CT scan for that pain in my left side. He tried to reassure me it was nothing serious, but nonetheless, wanted me to make an appointment to see him to discuss the results. I called his office and they offered me an appointment at 12:40 today. I asked when he takes his lunch break, and she said 'never'! He is obviously not a bureaucrat.

Gift Cards

2009-03-25T22:33:00.001-04:00

They should have had these when I was younger (Click to enlarge):

Doctor visit

2009-03-24T12:42:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago, I paid a visit to my doctor with my list of ailments and problems. One was a pain in my left side, which I have had from some time now. Nothing much there except the bowels, and originally it was diagnosed as diverticulitis. In other words, an infection in the bowl wall - which usually can be cleared up with more fibre in the diet. However, the problem persisted and he finally agreed to send me for a CT scan, which I went to last week. I don't expect my doctor to have the results for another week or so.

Also on my list was the numerous moles and dark spots on my skin. He looked at them and said most looked benign, however, he was somewhat suspicious about one in the middle of my lower back. He suggested I see a dermatologist and scheduled an appointment for me.

I saw the dermatologist last week, and he too was suspicious of the growth, and gave me a local and cut out a part of it to send for analysis. While I was there, I asked about all the other moles and growths all over my body, but mostly around my neck. He said they were benign, nothing to worry about. But to me they looked ugly and I wanted the removed. He said he could do that but it was not covered under my provincial health insurance. When I asked how much it would be, he said $40 to $150 depending on how many I wanted removed. I said might as well do them all, since I was already there.

He used liquid nitrogen to blast them, which sort of stung and left me feeling like I have been badly sunburned for the rest of the day. When I got home, Lois gasped in shock! It looked like I had been subjected to numerous cigarette burns. Below are photos of the left and right side of my neck. I also have a lot more on my body and arms. Hopefully, the moles will all fall off and leave me with less 'things' to pick at and scratch. Total cost of the treatment: $175.

This is my left side:

And this is my right side:

Now all I have left is a visit to the sports doctor. I am still having trouble with my tailbone - Coccydynia, or inflammation of the coccyx. I had this last year, and my doctor sent me to this sports specialist who gave me a steroid injection in the area. I am scheduled for another injection next month - I hope it works - I am anxious to get out on my bike.

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T22:12:00.000-04:00

I thought this cartoon was rather cute, and appropriate for the day:

Martin and Jones to represent Canada again!

2009-03-16T11:20:00.006-04:00

Almost a year ago, I blogged about Jennifer Jones and Kevin Martin winning the Women's World Curling Championships and the Men's World Curling Championships respectively.

Well, they are on their way again! Jennifer won the Women's Canadian Championships earlier this month, and last night Kevin won the Men's Canadian Championships.

Kevin had a particularly good run, going undefeated right to the final. In fact, he did the same last year, accumulating a streak of 26 undefeated games! Some are positing that he and his team could well be the best curlers of all time.

Both teams are now on their way to the World Championships for a second year in a row - we hope they will both bring back the trophies once again this year.

Palin's teen daughter, fiancé split

2009-03-12T11:16:00.002-04:00

And this just in from AP:

WASILLA, Alaska–Breakup comes weeks after couple had baby.

Governor Sarah Palin's daughter and her fiancé have broken off their engagement, about 2 1/2 months after they had a baby.

Levi Johnston said yesterday he and Bristol Palin mutually decided "a while ago" to end their relationship. He declined to elaborate.

The couple had said they were considering a summer wedding.

Johnston, 19, also said some details of the breakup, rumours of which had been swirling on the Internet, were inaccurate.

In a statement issued through a spokesperson for her mother's political action committee, Bristol Palin, 18, said she was "devastated.''

The teens are parents of a boy named Tripp, born Dec. 27.

Sarah Palin revealed her daughter's pregnancy just days after being named John McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket last August.

In an interview that aired last month on Fox News, Bristol Palin said her fiancé saw the baby every day and described him as a "hands-on" dad.

Did anyone really believe this would last?

62

2009-03-12T10:05:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday - I am 62. And I feel and look old. Nothing to celebrate, except if I can get a new body.

My hearing is half gone, my eyesight is bad. I am overweight and way out of shape; no strength or energy. I have lost most of my hair. I have an inflamed or infected coccyx (tailbone) that hurts very badly when I sit. I have degenerative disc disease (L5-S1) that flares up much too often, leaving me practically unable to move. I seem to be at the Doctor's or hospital much too often. I am depressed. I am taking too many meds.

In short, there is nothing to celebrate. Don't wish me a happy birthday.

Why do people want to be on MyFace?

2009-03-08T11:09:00.003-04:00

Well, Barbara Walters sure showed her ignorance the other day. Or that she is a dinosaur in this world of the Internet age, and now it has been captured for eternity on YouTube:

Finally some 'good' news

2009-03-08T10:58:00.003-04:00

I have been reading the newspaper daily for over 25 years.. and occasionally watching the evening TV news as well, and I have to say lately it has been downright depressing. There is nothing but bad news, mostly about the economy. Every day some company is going down or laying off staff. People are losing their homes, their savings, pension funds are being drained, unemployment is at an all-time high.

Now a glimmer of good news. Newsweek ran a report last month about the state of the economy in Canada:

Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it's Canada. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. America's ranked 40th, Britain's 44th.

Read the complete article from Newsweek here

War and Peace

2009-03-03T11:59:00.004-05:00

I saw this very interesting photo in our local newspaper this morning:

It falls into the class of photos that I would call award-winning. The photographer caught 'the moment', as a dove was flying away from a war-torn building, and two casualties of war look on. An excellent photo!

Email & Website Fraud

2009-03-03T11:43:00.003-05:00

I have been getting a lot of phishing emails lately - fortunately, they have all been trapped by my email spam guard and dumped into my spam folder. Occasionally, I check the spam folder just to make sure a valid email has not been incorrectly flagged.

Recently, I noticed a lot of emails supposedly coming from my bank, The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). The suggest that something is wrong, and that I should follow the link in the note to a page that will ask me to confirm my identity and credentials. Of course, it is bogus - what is commonly called phishing. The easy way to quickly identify such phishing emails is to hover (NOT CLICK ON) the mouse pointer over the link in the email, and look at the URL displayed at the bottom of your browser window. If the URL is not associated with the company, it can be safely assumed that the email is phishing for your personal data.

Another way of identifying such phishing emails, is that no reputable company will EVER ask for your personal information via an email note.

In my particular case, I went to the RBC site to report the phishing emails I had received, and was surprised to see how proactive they are. At this page, you will see several suggestions on how to recognize and report phishing. What I found very interesting, is the small video to automatically displays in the lower right corner when you first open the page. (If it does not play automatically, click on the button to play the video). Very well done, IMHO.

I forwarded one of the phishing notes to RBC - hopefully, they will be able to take some action to kill this before too many unsuspecting people are taken in.

A World Full of Trouble

2009-02-16T16:51:00.003-05:00

Came across an interesting site called GlobalPost, which is supposed to be an independent news reporting site on the Internet.

According to their Mission Statement,

"GlobalPost is embarking on a bold journey to redefine international news for the digital age. To get there, we are relying on the enduring values of great journalism: integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling.

GlobalPost follows no political line. We encourage our correspondents to write with a strong voice and to work hard to unearth facts. But we leave opinion on the opinion pages." Complete mission statement can be read here.

One article I found particularly interesting was called A World Full of Trouble, and addresses the following topics for each of 20 major countries (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vietnam):

How bad is it?

The Government response?

Worst off industry?

Any profiting from the crisis?

Gloomiest pronouncement?

Evidence that ordinary people are suffering?

Where the unemployed hang out?

Business mogul hurting?

Changes in eating or drinking habits?

Ray of hope?

If you scroll down the page, you will be able to click on each of the 20 country names (or map locations) to see the results of the above questions. Quite an interesting comparison.

The Dunbar Number

2009-02-11T10:18:00.003-05:00

The other day I had some down time from my volunteer work at the hospital, and picked up an old copy (Sept. 2008) of the New York Times Magazine. We generally have an eclectic collection of books and magazines at the hospital – many other volunteers bring them in for the waiting rooms and patients. I had never read this particular magazine before, most probably because of its limited distribution here in Toronto. I guess someone must have had a subscription to the publication and did some house cleaning and brought in some old back copies to the hospital.

Initially, the cover caught my attention: A high contract black and white photo of some Taliban boy soldiers with their automatic weapons. The article title was called Talibanistan: A journey into Pakistan's tribal areas. However, as I flipped through the pages, another article caught my eye, and it was the first one I read.

This article was interesting because it was about the web and technology, a subject close to my heart. In particular, it was called, Brave New World of Digital Intimacy, and was by Clive Thompson. Basically, it is about the online social networks like Facebook and more recently, Twitter.

Clive apparently did a fair bit of research on this topic, and one thing that surprised him was the enormous popularity of these sites, and secondly, how anyone in the world can have a life outside of this cyber world. He figures with people having thousands of 'friends', there is no way they can possibly read all the 'writings on the walls' – short blurbs that people post to their Facebook or Twitter accounts. And with Twitter, it is even more than Facebook, since the system limits comments to a maximum of 140 characters. But, this just encourages people to make more frequent posts, often several in each hour.

Which brings me to the title of this post, The Dunbar Number - an excerpt from Clive's article:

In 1998, the anthropologist Robin Dunbar argued that each human has a hard-wired upper limit on the number of people he or she can personally know at one time. Dunbar noticed that humans and apes both develop social bonds by engaging in some sort of grooming; apes do it by picking at and smoothing one another’s fur, and humans do it with conversation. He theorized that ape and human brains could manage only a finite number of grooming relationships: unless we spend enough time doing social grooming — chitchatting, trading gossip or, for apes, picking lice — we won’t really feel that we “know” someone well enough to call him a friend. Dunbar noticed that ape groups tended to top out at 55 members. Since human brains were proportionally bigger, Dunbar figured that our maximum number of social connections would be similarly larger: about 150 on average. Sure enough, psychological studies have confirmed that human groupings naturally tail off at around 150 people: the “Dunbar number,” as it is known. Are people who use Facebook and Twitter increasing their Dunbar number, because they can so easily keep track of so many more people? (the complete text of his article can be found here)

Personally, I think the number 150 is somewhat high. I think about ourselves, and while I am sure I can come up with 150 acquaintances, it is unlikely I can call them all personal friends. That is, people that I socially interact with – quality face time, so to speak. We have to make time to see friends, and often have to schedule times to get together weeks or even months in advance. It is not just us, but we need to ensure all parties involved in the get-together are all available at the same time. And anyone with kids knows that we need to work around their busy schedules. So, I can't really imagine juggling 150 'friends' over the course of a year.

"Bean-whackers, no returners!"

2009-01-31T18:47:00.002-05:00

Not sure what made me remember this, but as a kid, my mother used to send me to the barber shop down the road. It was a small shop, located in a basement flat at the corner of Broadway and 4th Avenue in LaSalle, Quebec, The owner was a young guy, probably in his mid-thirties. He had 3 big red barber chairs in the shop, and occasionally had extra barbers helping him out. As I got older, the long-hair style started to grab hold, and I guess barbers everywhere started to hurt, as guys were letting their hair grow long (The Beatles era). So, more and more, the barber worked alone, and I think eventually went out of business.

Anyway, I always remember the 'feel' of a new haircut - especially at the back: it felt very bristly when I ran my hand up from my neck. Sort of like mini-porcupine quills. Never feels like than anymore. You would think that as a kid your hair would be softer than it is when you get older. My hair is stiff now, probably because it is grey, but I don't have that same feeling today after getting my hair cut.

For some reason, most boys had their hair parted on the left, and girls parted it on the right. However, my mother said that my hair parted on the right because of the way in grew in at the back - something to do with the crown of my head. Today I can see what she meant, but back then I had no idea. Anyway, when I would come back from the barber, she usually would be upset because he automatically cut it with the part on the left. So, every time I went to the barber, I had to make sure to tell him that my hair parts on the right.

For young boys, it was immediately obvious when you got a haircut, and when I went to school the next day, everyone could see that. And there was some tradition that when a guy got a hair cut, everyone smacked him on the back of the head and yelled, "Bean-whackers, no returners!" The 'no returners' part was important, because if you did not say it, you could get bean-whacked back. Of course, everyone said it.

That wasn't too bad.. and usually did not hurt much. What was annoying was the tradition of stomping on someone's feet when they got new shoes. Again, same idea, "Stompers, no returners". However, I came from a relatively poor family, and getting new shoes was a big deal (and an expensive one, too!). So, we tried to make things last as long as possible, and very often that meant taking worn out shoes to the shoe maker (or what is now called the shoe repair) to get a new set of soles. So, getting a new set of shoes was a big deal, and I hated having everyone stomp on them the fist day I wore them to school. Often, they were good leather shoes, and stomping on the toes crushed the toe cap and their was nothing that could be done to fix that later. My mother of course was always furious, since we didn't have money to waste.

One thing I liked when taking my shoes to be re-soled, was getting those small metal half moons put on the heals of my shoes. The idea was to make the heals last longer and not wear out so fast. But, they sounded so great walking on hard surfaces. They were a bit dangerous: contrary to a good rubber heal, it was very easy to slip with the metal heal. They also turned out good for back-kicking someone in the shins with my heal. I remember doing this a number of times, and today I wonder how on earth I never broke someone's shin bone doing it! Those metal heals also make great sparks when riding on a bicycle and dragging your heal on the road. Ah, the things we did when we were young.

Sudoku High-Fives

2009-01-28T14:27:00.011-05:00

Arrggghhh!

Woke up this morning to a few more inches of snow on the ground.. and as of mid afternoon, it is still snowing and the forecast is for several more days of the white stuff! I know it is winter, but this one has been unusually snowy. Here in Toronto, we usually don't get that much.

As a followup to my previous post on Sudoku, our local paper publishes a super-Sudoku each weekend, called High-Fives. The grid is really 5 games in one as seen by the image below:

I never attempted one until recently. They look harder than they actually are. The four corners of the center game also make up one corner of each of the 4 peripheral games. That can be a bit confusing, but overall, they are not that difficult, just takes a longer time to complete. For anyone wanting to give it a try, click on the image above to view and print a PDF copy of the game from this past weekend. (The solution of the Sudoku pictured above can be found here)

I put up large copies of all the Sudoku games Starting in Feb. 2009, on my Skydrive; they are all in PDF format, enlarged to fit a full page to make it easier to work with. The files are in folders sorted by month. Included are 4 or 5 High-5 games per month as well. The solution of the pictured Sudoku above, can also be found on my Skydrive.

Word Clouds

2009-01-25T18:55:00.005-05:00

They are called 'word clouds', and their popularity has spiked since the inauguration of Barack Obama. I first noticed them myself when I read an this article in the Toronto Star which compared Obama's inaugural speech with those of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Clinton, and Bush.

Essentially, a word cloud highlights the words used in a given passage, by changing their size.. the larger the font, the more frequently it was used in the given passage.

For example, here is a word cloud of an article by David S. Broder that appeared in the Washington Post on Tuesday, January 20, 2009: (Click to enlarge)

This particular one was made by an online tool called Wordle. The one used in The Toronto Star article was made with an online tool called TagCrowd. Both programs are essentially the same, but have different options and functions.

With Wordle, you need to copy/paste the text your want analysed. You can enter a URL, but it has to be an ATOM or RSS feed page. Wordle has different fonts, color schemes, and layouts. You need to do a screen capture to make use of the generated image if you wish to use it in other work, like I did above. By default, Wordle blocks common words like the, of, I, we; however, you can bypass the stopword list by an option in the Language dropdown menu. You can also remove any word in the word cloud, by right clicking on it.

With TagCrowd, you can create your own custom stopword list. In addition to copy/pasting your test to be analysed, you can upload a file or enter a URL of a webpage. TagCrowd will also display a word count in addition to showing the relative sizes of the words used in the passage. However, TagCrowd seems to output just one layout: rectangular. And there are not options to change the layout, colors, etc. You can however, select the maximum and minimum words to be used.

Both tools have pros and cons - you would need to play with them and decide which you prefer. Both tools are free to use, but the author asked that you credit the site if you do use them. There are probably other similar tools out there - these are just two I happened to find when I went searching for word clouds.

Winter blues!

2009-01-20T18:40:00.002-05:00

Ok, I know it is winter, but enough is enough! It is freezing here and we have had snow almost every day since December. The weather service says it has snowed 3 out of every 4 days, but I think they are wrong.. feels like a lot more than that. It seems like every morning I have to shovel out the walkway and driveway.

Our cats are going bonkers in the house.. they are used to going out, but with all this snow and temperatures around minus 20 C, they refuse (smart cats!) to go out. So, they are tearing around the house chasing each other.

And now we seem to have an ANT problem! Over the past 2 days, we have killed at least 25 of the buggers roaming around our office, which is in the upstairs back room. I have no idea where they are coming from. Where do ants come from when there is 5 feet of snow outside, and the temperature is -20C? They are easy enough to spot walking on the walls, but my gut feeling is that there is a nest inside the walls somewhere - and I have no idea how many more there are. Nor do I know where exactly they are coming from. I saw a few coming out of a hairline crack between the inside window sill and the wall; I dabbed the area with full-strength Diazinon, but they still are crawling around the walls. Must be another hole somewhere.

Been watching a new show called DreamWrecks. It is about a few scuba divers who dive on some awsome wrecks. The photography and video footage is really great. The program is currently on free trial until March 31st, on a new cable TV channel called TreasureHD. And of course being in HD makes it all the more interesting.

RIP: Danger Man, aka, The Prisoner

2009-01-15T11:45:00.004-05:00

I was very saddened to read this morning that Patrick McGoohan has passed away.

He was always a favourite of mine as Secret Agent/Danger Man, and especially in The Prisoner. The Prisoner was shot on location in Portmeirion, Wales, which I had the pleasure of visiting and touring many years ago.

One of many news stories today is in the Los Angeles Times

Have fun - Sudoku with a friend

2009-01-14T13:03:00.006-05:00

We have all heard the old saying, "Save water - shower with a friend", and often laughed at it. However, in reality, it does really make sense to save water. Plus, it is more fun.

I have been playing Sudoku for a number of years now, and find it very challenging and entertaining. To make it even more fun, I play with a friend - my best friend, my wife. However, to do this, I have had to improvise a bit. We like to play the game that appears daily in our local newspaper. But, there is only one copy. And, as I have found out by trial and error, it is very difficult to play the more difficult levels of the game in the small grid provided in the paper, or even in the many Sudoko books available on the subject.

This led me to design my own grid. It really was not a difficult task. I used Excel and formatted the game to cover a complete 8.5 x 11 inch page. This expanded the grid considerably, and also allowed me to print off two copies: one for me and one for my friend/wife. Each day, I would take the game from the newspaper, and just plug in the given numbers into my spreadsheet, and printed off two copies. Then, after supper, we relaxed with the game and played as a competition to see who could finish first.

The final game looks something like this: (click to see and print a full size PDF sample):

If you wish to use my Excel template, it can be downloaded here. While it was created wtih Excel 2007, it is simple enough that it should work on previous Excel versions as well. I use the Arial font for the date and Cooper MD BT for the actual numbers in the grid. If you don't have these fonts, just substitute your own. The grid numbers are large and in dark blue. To use the template, just select all the cells and press Delete. Then enter your own numbers from the newspaper. Finally, change the date, save it, and print it - as many copies as you like. Repeat each day.

The actual beauty of this method is that it allows for much easier entry of 'possible candidates'. If you have played this game before, you will realize that it is not always possible to just enter the proper number into the grid. In most cases, there will be several possible candidates that can be used, and you will need to enter these candidates into the grid first. The larger square area with my Excel copy easily permits you to enter these candidates and still see them unobscured.

The screen shot below is a good example of entering possible candidates. It is taken from the popular iPod Electronic Arts Sudoku application (which, btw, I highly recommend!). By placing your candidates into the squares in three rows (1,2,3 on the top, 4,5,6 in the middle, and 7,8,9 on the bottom) it also makes it easier to see them for comparison with other squares.

Once you start using this spreadsheet, you may even want to print off multiple copies of the same game, invite friends over, and have a Sudoku party.

New things to try in 2009

2009-01-06T12:49:00.003-05:00

At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.

Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice!

Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.

Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks . Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.

In the memo field of all your checks, write "For Marijuana".

Skip down the hall rather than walk and see how many looks you get.

Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

Specify that your drive-through order is 'To Go'.

Sing along at the opera.

Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you have a headache.

When the money comes out the ATM, scream 'I won! I won!'

When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling 'Run for your lives! They're loose!'

Tell your children over dinner, 'Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go.'

Pick up a box of condoms at the pharmacy, go to the counter and ask were the fitting room is.

A Second of Your Time

2008-12-28T14:12:00.003-05:00

Time has a long and interesting history. Actually, many find time difficult to define, however we can define parts of time, such as a second, although that has changed over the years.

Originally, a second was defined as 1/86,400 of the average solar day. However, in the atomic age, it is now defined as duration of 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the cesium atom (Don't ask me how they measure this!)

Scientists find the atomic measurment more accurate than the solar mearurement, and that is why at the end of this year, all clocks will get an additional second - to keep in sync with the solar measurements. Think of it like a leap-second, similar to the leap-year (where every 4 years we add an extra day to the year).

And interesting article written in our local Sunday paper today about this subject can be found at this link.

Little Children

2008-12-27T15:35:00.003-05:00

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon just after Christmas. The past few days have been hectic, visiting friends and family, and having guests over at our place during the Christmas Holidays; now I just wanted to relax and do nothing.

I had started watching a movie called Little Children that I had recorded several weeks ago. I was about 20 minutes into it, when Lois came in and asked what I was watching and would she like it. I simply said no. I knew the kind of movies she likes, and knew this would not be one of them.

From the very first few minutes into the movie, I knew it would have no ending. It was one of those movies that chronicles a period of time in the life of one or more persons. In this case, it was about several people and their inter-relationships. For Lois, she would have been disappointed in the ending - mainly because there wasn't one. The movie was not meant to have an ending - like I said, it was just a snapshot of several days in the lives of a few people.

Personally, I like this kind of movie. Maybe because it is because it has the sense of voyeurism - you feel like you are looking in on the lives of these people. Probably for this same reason, I also liked the TV series called In Treatment with Gabriel Byrne.

Little Children was also different in that there was a narrator in the background, providing details and information about the story. He had a very pleasant voice and was very easy to listen to. When the movie ended, I checked the credits to find his name but could not find it. I then turned to my unlimited resource, the Internet, and found that the narrator was Will Lyman, and was indeed uncredited in the movie.

A quick scan of his bio, shows that he is 60 years old, and that while he has appeared as an actor in a number of productions, he has done more as a narrator, especially in documentaries. It lists about 70 productions where he was the narrator. And I am not surprised - he has a very pleasant voice.

Yikes!!

2008-11-06T16:10:00.002-05:00

So, I have been lost all week without my laptop computer. And I have just heard from the repair depot, that it needs a new motherboard and lan adapter - at a total cost of about $850!!

Needless to say, I will not be getting it repaired for that cost - you can almost buy a new one for that money. The sad thing is that I already spent about $550 on repairs for it earlier this year. Hopefully, I will be able to sell it off for parts.

But the thing I dread most is moving all my software, settings, and data from the old one to the new one. (Fortunately, the hard drive is still intact, and I can remove it and hook it up as an external drive on the new laptop, making data transfer a bit easier.

Furthermore, new notebooks only come with Vista, which I really don't care for that much. Many drivers are still not available to run under Vista, which means that some of my existing software and hardware devices will probably not run under Vista. I would much rather stay with XP.

So, now it time to shop around for a good deal. What a PITA!

I hate computers!

2008-11-05T12:12:00.000-05:00

Well, my computer’s broken - again!

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: I HATE COMPUTERS! This may sound odd from someone who has spent pretty much all his life working for IBM servicing computers. But, things have changed a lot over the years, and one of them is the evolution of computers.

In my early years, I loved repairing computers - those large behemoths that took up acres of floor space. I was proud of my service work. Often, I would trouble shoot a problem right down to the failing transistor on a circuit board. Then, using a soldering iron, replace the defective transistor with a new one – this was frequently done when our parts depot was out of stock for the failing circuit board, and we had to make an emergency repair in the field. Those monster mainframes were just too expensive to sit idle for a day or two waiting for a new part to be sent up.

Today, personal computers are infinitely smaller and thousands of times more powerful than the large mainframes I used to work on – and of course, much more complex.

The complexity of today’s PCs is what makes them more difficult to diagnose. Plus the fact that the components are not repairable – just replaceable. Even then, today’s technicians often just guess at what component(s) to replace. It is basically trial an error – they replace the memory, and if that does not fix it, they replace the motherboard.

Another problem with today’s computers is the fact that most times the problem is very difficult to diagnose – chances are that the software, not the hardware, is causing the problem. Or it may even be the firmware or software controlling the computer, i.e., the BIOS.

Back in March or April, I had spent about $550 in repairs to my Toshiba Satellite M30 notebook. The keyboard needed replacing as there were one or two keys that were ‘stuck’. The DVD/CD drive needed replacing because it intermittently failed to read and write. And I had to replace the cover hinges because the screen was too sloppy.

For the cost of those repairs, I probably could have bought a newer state of the art notebook, but the prospect of starting all over reloading all my data, settings, and preferences was not worth the effort. And now, my computer is back in for service. I am writing this from a backup computer. Backup computers have almost become a necessity for people who rely on their computers every day.

There was a guy on the radio yesterday, asking people to vote on whether they would rather give up their internet service or their cell phone (assuming of course that they had both). My preference would be to give up my cell phone – I use it much less that the internet.

I brought the notebook in for service on Monday morning – still have not heard back from the service depot. It started acting up on Saturday – would suddenly just hang, leaving me completely locked out. Not even the old Ctl-Alt-Del (CAD) would allow me to restart. I had to power off. When I attempted to power back up, I immediately got an error message saying there was a “Resource Conflict”, and then offered me two options: Boot or Enter Setup.

Entering setup did nothing, as there was really nothing to change. Booting usually worked, but it failed to load the wireless internet drivers, so I had no internet access.

I had upgraded the memory modules on this system a while back, from 1GB to 2GB, and still had the old modules around. So, thinking this might be a memory problem, I reinstalled the old memory modules. But, that was not the problem.. it still failed. Then I tried booting from a CD, and again I got this same Resource Conflict error on boot-up. This sort of confirmed my suspicions that the problem was hardware, and not related to my hard disk, or the software (Windows XP) on that disk. My gut feeling is that something on the motherboard is fried.

So I wait to hear from the service depot – and hope it is not going to be an expensive fix. I so, I may have to bite the bullet and spring for a new notebook, which, as I have already said, I dread doing.

No Wheels

2008-09-19T17:46:00.002-04:00

We sold the Ford Explorer yesterday.

It was time. It was the 2000 'Sport' model – basically a standard Explorer with only 2 doors instead of 4. It had very low mileage, about 67,000 KM, and was in almost mint condition, with no rust and still looking almost new. With the price of fuel these days, it was becoming too expensive to drive.

We had returned the Expedition last fall, after the 3-year lease was up. We did not replace it. Since I am retired and Lois is working from home, we thought we would try to make do with just the one vehicle – the Explorer. Lois did not drive it that much, and never in the winter, as she hates driving in winter. So, over the 9 years we owned it, it really only saw one winter – last year. And it was nice to have the 4 wheel drive, since last winter was one of our worst in terms of the amount of snow we received.

Of course, I still have the Harley, which I figured I could use this past summer, but this past summer has been very rainy. I think we set a record for the amount of rain we received this summer. So, the bike really did not see much of the road either. Fortunately, we were able to arrange our schedules so that there was never any real conflict when one of us needed the car.

I did have the bike out yesterday and today, as the weather has been quite nice this past week. It is the only transport I have at the moment.

We do have a new car on order, but it may be a week or two until it is delivered. It is another Ford – a front wheel drive Fusion. Hopefully, we can manage with the bike until then, although it will definitely be a challenge getting groceries – not much space to carry a big load on a bike!

Lois has been in the Bahamas this past week, doing some diving with her friends. One of the people we met on our last trip to the Ocean Reef Resort, sort of became friendly with Lois on our last trip. She owns a condo unit at the resort, and asked Lois to join her for a week. That was nice of her. As for me, I have had enough travel for the year – I didn't want any more. I am a bad traveler – I get myself all in a state of panic when I am about to travel. I was supposed to pick her up at the airport on her return tomorrow, but without a car, she will have to take a cab now – a trip costing about $65!

I do have one more trip this year, and that is down to Florida in mid-October. I am going down to visit my daughter and her family. I will be travelling there with my other daughter and granddaughter from Toronto. It will be nice to have both daughters (and grand children) all together for a week.

The Brown Derby

2008-09-09T20:34:00.006-04:00

We are quite enjoying the award winning series, Mad Men, now in its second season. I think I probably like it because I can associate quite closely with it. It is set in the 60s, when I myself started working. Although I was not hopping into bed with every woman I worked with, I find many of the props and situations were similar to my work experiences.

I am particularly amazed at how authentic the sets are. I watch the shows, and constantly stop it to tell Lois that we had 'one of those'. All the furniture, artwork, appliances, etc. are exactly as I remember at that time: they did an amazing job with the sets.

The other night we were watching an episode, when there was a scene where the waiter brought the phone over to Don at a table in a restaurant. Lois remarked that that was the 'in' thing back then, to have them bring over a phone to the table. In fact, she recalled having it done herself. She said that sometime back in the early to mid 70s, she and her friend Susan took a vacation trip to Hollywood, where among other things, they went to the Brown Derby. Being two young pretty girls in their late teens, they easily persuaded the waiter to bring a phone over to their table, and had him take a picture of them, pretending to receive a call at their table.

As she thumbed through the album reminiscing about those times, an old menu from the Brown Derby fell out. It was small, about 5 x 6 inches, folded like a book. The writing was incredibly small, and I remarked that I could not read it without a magnifying glass. But it was interesting, nonetheless, and it prompted me to scan it, magnifying its size, and posting it here for others to enjoy. Below, you have the cover page, the middle two pages, and the back page, containing the history of the Brown Derby. You will need to click on the images to view the full size so you can read it. Check out the prices!

The Brown Derby was famous for attracting many Hollywood celebrities, and for having their caricatures drawn and hung on the walls. On the day that Lois and Susan happened to be at the restaurant, John Astin and his wife at the time, Patty Duke, were also there – and they managed to get their autographs on the back of a drink coaster. This is shown below.. again, click on the image to enlarge.

Out of Shape

2008-08-27T10:56:00.000-04:00

I am beginning to realize that I am extremely out of shape.

On Sunday, I went over to visit my daughter. She asked if I would mind taking care of the baby while she and her husband went out to play some tennis. I figured it would be better to take her out for a walk in the stroller instead of staying in. So we all walked over to the tennis club by the Old Mill. They said they would play for about 45 minutes, and I said I would be back by then.

We strolled by the Humber River for a bit, then I pushed the stroller uphill towards the residences on the east bank. I sort of got lost – ended up on the Bloor Bridge instead of the Old Mill Bridge. But for some reason, most of my walking was up hill, and very little downhill – or so it seemed.

I am not usually a person who sweats much, but found myself out of breath and sweating profusely after this walk. My T-shirt was drenched. It was then that I realized I had to do something or die.

I began my daily walks again. First I warmed up for 5 minutes or so on the elliptical exerciser, then grabbed my iPod and headed out for a brisk 40-minute walk. By time I returned home, I was drenched again. But before stripping and showering, I did another 5 minutes on the elliptical. I took my pulse: about 110. But what concerned me was how long it took to get back to normal again.

One thing I notice is that my mouth gets dry very quickly when I am exercising and breathing through my mouth. I think it has something to do with the medication I am on. It bothers me, because the dryness is way back in my throat and makes it difficult to swallow. Today, I took a bottle of water with me on my walk. I kept taking sips to keep my throat moist.

Last week when I was with Jen at the cottage, she showed me some of the exercises she was doing to one of Kathy Smith's exercise videos. I checked Craigslist, and found a guy selling some, so I went over this past weekend to pick them up. I hope to start that soon.. but I forgot them at my daughter's place when I went over to see her this weekend. Maybe next week.

I need to get back to 150 to 155 lbs; I am currently at about 168.

3 days at the cottage

2008-08-15T21:46:00.002-04:00

I just returned from cottage country.. my daughter invited me to spend some time with her and my granddaughter, Ariel, at their cottage on Little Boshkung Lake near Carnarvon in the Haliburton area. That is about 200 Km north-east from my place in Toronto. The cottage actually belongs to my daughter's husband's family. It is a charmingly rustic place, built about 100 years ago. While not directly on the lake, they also own lake property with a clean sandy beach which is about a 5 minute walk from the cottage. And they own about 80 acres of the surrounding forest land.

It was great to spend time alone with them on our own. I brought my cameras and took a bundle of photos – Ariel is a beautiful subject to photograph – she has so many different facial expressions. I just let my camera go, taking shot after shot. I will sort though them later, keeping the best shots. It is so convenient to shoot with a digital camera – I just can't imagine taking that many photos using film – it would have cost a bundle.

Given the record-setting rains we have had this year, we were very lucky – it rained only once while I was there, and that was at night. The weather was pleasant, in the low 20's – not too hot, and not too cold. Clumps of clouds occasionally drifted by, hiding the sun – a welcome relief for those times when the sun was burning down on us.

I am back home now and back to reality. Not surprisingly, I had about 1500 spam emails when I returned. I guess it will soon be time to change my email address. I sort of dread this, as I have many companies, businesses, forums, etc. that have my current email address on file. It is almost impossible to notify all of them. I guess the way to do it is to change my email address, notify my personal contacts, and just keep the old email address active for a year until everyone that matters has my new address.

MCMXCVIII

2008-07-19T09:23:00.003-04:00

So last night I was catching up on some reruns of Ballykissangel. This was a series about people who live in the fictitious town of Ballykissangel (often called Bally-K for short) in Ireland. Actually, much of it was shot on location in Avoca, where my wife lived as a child.

Bally-K started airing in 1996, and went on for 6 seasons. We watched this many years ago, and found it was now repeating on WNED on Saturday nights. Last week's was episode 4 in series (or season) 4, and was entitled "Par for the Course". What was particularly interesting was seeing a new character called Danny make his debut on Bally-K. Although we had seen this episode many years ago, it did not hit me until last night that Danny was played by Colin Farrell.

Lo and I both shouted, "Hey, that's Colin Farrell!" Back then, he was a relatively unknown, and we really had never seen him before. When the show was over, we carefully watched the credits, and to our surprise, he was listed as "Col" Farrell. Then we looked for the production date at the end of the credits: MCMXCVIII

I said, "Wow! That was 10 years ago!" We marveled at how far he has come in 10 years. And then for some reason, Lo said, "I wonder how many people would know that MCMXCVIII = 1998?" I said probably everybody, but she felt sure that most people under the age of 30 would have no idea how to read Roman numerals. I wonder if that sort of thing is still being taught in schools?

Another Death

2008-06-19T16:47:00.001-04:00

We attended yet another funeral service last Friday (the 13th). The mother of a friend of ours died; she had been ill from some time, and all agreed that death was better than living the life she had before dying. Nonetheless, there were many tears - she was well loved.

That particular Friday was Friday the 13th. For the past twenty of so years, whenever Friday falls on the 13th, it has been the custom for motorcyclists to head to the small Lake Erie town of Port Dover. We had planned on going, but the funeral changed our plans. Too bad we missed it - sounds like it was a record breaker for attendance. I heard rumours in the order of 120,000 - not bad for a small port town of about 5000.

This past Tuesday, I had another colonoscopy. Since I have been having trouble with my hiatus, I also asked the doctor to do a gastroscopy while he was at it.. preferably not with the same tools! I have a hiatus hernia which seems to be getting worse.. I just need to bend over, and my stomach acids flow back up into the throat - pretty bad heartburn. Been taking Panteloc, even doubled my dosage, but the problem persists. The whole procedure was rather straight forward and painless, since I was given a sedative and don't remember much except waking up in the recovery room an hours or so later. But the worst part was the two days prior where I had to take Citromag and Pico-Salex to purge my system and empty my bowels. Believe me, this is no picnic. It kept me running to the toilet until about 2am. Next time I am going to take this earlier in the day so I can get some sleep.

I am off to an underwater photography course this evening. Hopefully, it will improve some of my photos the next time I do a dive trip. Photos from our recent dive trip in the Bahamas can be seen on my Flickr Site. But, be warned, most of them have a very blusih cast.

And I finally got our photos from Beijing posted. They are divided into about 12 different sets, all beginning with the word "Beijing" and can be seen here. On this page, you can also see some photos and videos of my new grand daughter, Ariel.

The Road to Guantanamo

2008-06-12T17:54:00.002-04:00

I just watched the movie, The Road To Guantanamo, last night.

The movie has been out for a few years now, but was on television last night. I am sure it is also available on DVD (and even BitTorrent if you look for it). But it is currently playing in my area on pay-TV.

I was shocked at the behaviour of the US towards these innocent boys. If only one tenth of what was shown in the movie is true, the Bush administration should be tried for war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.

If you have not seen this movie yet, do so! It is a real eye opener.

Visit the website for more information.

Headlines that scream bad English

2008-05-19T10:57:00.006-04:00

Some of these are also good to use in Language Arts class to show how to use punctuation correctly....

THE YEAR'S BEST [actual] HEADLINES OF 2007:

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
[Duh]

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
[Now that's taking things a bit far!]

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
[What a guy!]

Miners Refuse to Work after Death
[Those good-for-nothing lazy so-and-so's!]

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
[See if that works any better than a fair trial!]

War Dims Hope for Peace
[I can see where it might have that effect!]

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
[Ummm.... yah]

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
[No-brainer]

Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
[They may be on to something!]

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
[You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?]

Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
[he probably IS the battery charge!]

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
[Weren't they fat enough?!]

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
[That's what he gets for eating those beans!]

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
[Taste like chicken?]

Local High School Drop-outs Cut in Half
[Chainsaw Massacre all over again!]

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
[Boy, are they tall!]

And the winner is....

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Brian Kennedy

2008-05-07T17:22:00.004-04:00

Just lost a long time friend. I had known Brian Kennedy since we were kids.. he lived right next door to me on 5th Avenue in LaSalle, Quebec. That goes back about 50 years!

The news came as a shock to me. I thought he was in good health, but apparently he died of a heart attack - while driving! Fortunately, he was able to pull over and stop before he had an accident, which would have also killed his partner in the car with him at the time.

Brian married his childhood sweetheart, Wendy, and they had 3 great kids. We always envied them - thought they were the perfect family, so it was a shock a number of years ago, when he decided to leave Wendy for another woman.

I have fond memories of Brian. We had a lot of fun together as kids. We used to flood his backyard in the winter and make a skating rink where we played hockey. In the summer, his family had one of those old green nylon lined pools with the red metal corner seats; it was probably not much larger than a standard billiards table and no deeper than 10 inches, but we somehow always managed to have about 10 kids in it on hot summer days.

We were on vacation in the Bahamas when he died, and I did not find out until we returned this past Saturday. I missed the funeral, but am told it was big - he had many friends, family members, and business associates. He will be missed.

It seems that there have been many deaths recently in my circle of friends and family. I must be getting old.

Margaret Wente

2008-04-17T21:13:00.006-04:00

I moved from Montreal to Toronto sometime around 1983. At that time, I was completely on my own, knowing no one here. I had split up with my wife, and my job was causing too much strain on my lower back. So, I thought this would be a good opportunity to start fresh - a fresh life and a different job. The only downside was leaving my two young girls behind in Montreal.

While in Toronto, I read The Toronto Star every day. It was sort of my way of getting up to speed on the city.

One columnist that caught my attention was Margaret Wente. I quite liked her light-sided columns, about nothing in particular.. just life, and mostly her life and those in and around it. I guess it was sort of like Seinfeld - also a show about nothing in particular, but none the less, interesting and funny. She had a photo with her by-line, and I think it reminded me a little of my wife at the time, at least the hair style was similar.

I liked Wente's columns so much, that I cut them out and started a scrap book. I used an old Hilroy spiral bound notebook, and pasted each column onto a separate page. I did this religiously for almost a year.. until she left The Star. In total, I guess I collected about 40 columns. I still have the scrapbook, and although all the articles have all yellowed with age, I decided to scan them and make an online scrapbook.

After she left the Star, I sort of lost track of her. There is not a lot of information on the net about her. There is a small entry about her in Wikipedia, but more information can be found in a article by Karen Moffat for the Ryerson Review of Journalism,, dated Summer 1999. (as sites shut down and writings tend to disappear on the net, I made of copy of this on Google Docs.)

Another person started Wente Watch, a somewhat negative site, where there author clearly did not agree with Wente's views in some of her more recent columns. However, he had to abandon the site, since he no longer had access to her work - without paying for it. The Globe and Mail is one of the few remaining papers that charges a subscription for their online articles, and Wente Watch refused to pay. Personally, I can understand paying for quality in depth reporting, but not for typical columnists.

As it happens, I lucked out finding a 'back door' into the Globe and Mail, so I was able to download and collect most of her columns since mid-summer of 2007. I have collated them into two Google documents (see below).

Another source of information on Wente, is from her own book, An Accidental Canadian, published in 2004. I have not read this myself, and the few reviews vary in opinion, but it appears to be a sort of autobiography of her life to date.

Wente was born in Chicago in 1950, so that would make her about 34 when she was writing for The Star. Although she is now married, it seems clear from her writings back then, that she was still single at the time. Her subject matter has changed considerably since those early days at The Star - she now seems more political and much more opinionated.

Compare her work of today (a composite document of some of her 2007 columns and her 2008 columns - 1st half of 2008 and 2nd half of 2008) with that of 1984. The 1984 work is scanned images from my old hardcopy scrapbook, so the quality is not the best. However it is perfectly readable if you view magnified; the scans were made at a high resolution to permit magnification without quality loss. All 40 images of the articles can be found in a composite PDF file - however, be advised that it is a LARGE PDF document - about 39 MB!

A more recent photo of Margaret Wente:

And finally, more information on Wente can be found at The National Speakers Bureau.

On a more personal note, I never met Wente, although I did write to her about one of her columns back in the 80s. Keep in mind, this was before computers, so writing was via Canada Post. She replied with a very short note - literally - it was on a small torn sheet from a writing pad. I replied that I was surprised that, being a writer by profession, she would send me such a shoddy little scrap paper of a note. I never heard from her again.

Two deaths in a week

2008-04-15T22:11:00.003-04:00

Last week, I got a call that the mother of the husband of one of my former co-workers had died. The funeral was this past Saturday, and we were supposed to attend, however, I pulled a muscle in my upper back that morning after getting out of the shower, and could barely move. I took some pain killers and muscle relaxants and spent the next few days in bed. Sent a note to Janice explaining the situation and passing along our condolences to Keith.

On Sunday evening, I got another call. This time is was from the daughter of one of the guys at our Club. Gary had passed away on Friday night.

I learned that he was hospitalized just shortly after we returned from China: pancreatic cancer. Anyone who knows about this, knows the prognosis is not good - usually by the time it is diagnosed, the cancer has spread throughout the body and it is too late to do anything.

Lois and I went to the hospital Friday evening to see him. I had called the hospital first to see if there was anything we could bring him, like candies or chocolates. They said no - he could not eat. They had said he was in room 701 and we could visit. When we arrived, we went straight to the room. It was a ward, with 4 beds, and I looked around - three were occupied and one was not. I thought maybe Gary was somewhere else.

I went to the nursing station to ask where he was, and they told me he was in bed one in 701. I said no he is not, but they assured me he was. I went back and checked all the beds, but could not see Gary. It was then that I read the names above the beds, and there he was. I honestly did not recognize him. He had withered away and was like a skeleton. Despite oxygen tubes in his nose, he was breathing very laboriously - his mouth open as if trying to get air.

It was then that we met Tanya, his daughter. She said she was a nurse by profession, and it did not look good - she figured it was only a matter of days. We tried talking to him, but he did not respond.

We did not stay long - there was no point. We gave our names and numbers to Tanya, explaining how we knew him, and asked her to keep us informed. I was surprised to get the call from her on Sunday, saying he had died on Friday night. We had just been there that evening.

It was sad to see how bad he looked, and how fast he went. We liked him. We will miss him.

After seeing his deteriorated condition, Lois said that if she was ever like that, she did not want anyone to see her, and asked me to keep visitors away. She even asked me not to come to the hospital, but I said I could never leave her alone.

Bike for Sale

2008-04-14T11:22:00.003-04:00

A friend sent me this ad - not sure if it is legitimate (perhaps a South African reader can confirm), but I sure found it funny!

Statistically Impossible

2008-04-14T11:05:00.002-04:00

The Sombrero Galaxy - 28 million light years from Earth - was voted best picture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the galaxy, officially called M104, are as spectacular as its appearance. It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.

Think about this: it has 800 BILLION suns! Suns like ours, with their own planetary systems. And that is just in ONE galaxy!

There are an estimated 100 BILLION galaxies in our universe. Even at a conservative 100 BILLION suns per galaxy, it is hard to imagine that they cannot be life elsewhere in the universe. In fact, you would have to say it is statistically impossible that life does not exist outside our world.

Recently, a theory has been put forward, that there are in fact, MANY universes.

Makes you wonder.. about a lot of things..

A great year for Canadain Curlers!

2008-04-14T10:19:00.003-04:00

I watched with pride yesterday, as Canada defeated Scotland in the Men's World Curling Championships at Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was a close game that could have gone either way, but in the end (no pun intended) it was Canada that was clearly the superior team. And I was happy for Kevin Martin, who after five attempts in previous years, has finally snatched the gold. Congratulations Team Martin!

What makes it even better, is that Jennifer Jones' team won gold at the Women's World Curling Championships two weeks earlier. All in all, great year for Canadian Curlers. Too bad Canada and the Canadian media do not seem to think the same, as evidenced by the sparce coverage they gave both events.

This year marked the beginning of a new competitor: China. The men's team did remarkably well in their first showing at the World's, losing out to Norway for the Bronze medal. The Chinese Women's team also did very well, taking the Bronze medal in their competition.

One thing that is unique with the Chinese, is that they take their sporting competitions very seriously, and have the full backing of the homeland country. Both the men's and women's teams are professional curlers - they get paid to curl by China. Just like any other job you or I would work at, they work at curling for 8 to 10 hours a day, and get paid to do it. They do not have any other jobs.

This is in sharp contrast to every other curler from every other country, where they hold down normal day jobs, and curl in the evenings and weekends on their own time, and at their own cost. With such a spectatular showing at this year's World's, and with this kind of dedication and support from their country, I am sure it will not be long until they bring home the gold. Both are young teams, and all they are lacking is experience.

Beijing Trip Report

2008-03-28T11:46:00.005-04:00

A short update on our trip to Beijing, China.

I wrote a review of our hotel, along with some photos, and posted it on TripAdvisor for anyone that is interested in reading it. It also saves me from repeating it all again here. My review is of the Harmony Hotel were we stayed from March 5 to 14, 2008.

I also wrote another small review about general tourist stuff and shopping in the Beijing area, specifically the Silk Market and the Dirt Market. That review can also be read on TripAdvisor here.

Both reviews are under the pseudonym, Pilaar39

I am busy processing the more than 850 photos I took on the trip, and hope to have them online shortly.

All in all, the trip was great, but the flights to and from China were long and hard on my body. It has taken a long time to get over the jet lag, but I think I am almost there now.

Below is a photo of us in Tiananmen Square:

And here is one of Lois holding onto the Great Wall:

Beijing and the 2008 Olympics

2008-03-20T07:42:00.009-04:00

I had my last injections of steroid in my small finger this week. It has been 3 months now since I had the NA procedure for Dupuytren's Contracture in that finger, and I am quite happy so far with the results. The doctor said I will not need any more injections, but will need to return in 3 months and then 6 months so he can monitor the effects of the steroid injections for his study.

We returned from China this past Saturday evening. The trip was long – I returned via Tokyo, where I had a 6-hour layover, and then a 13 hour flight back to Toronto. These long flights kill me. I can't sleep like everyone else on the plane, and sitting for long periods is very hard on my back and bum. Luckily, I booked an aisle seat, so I was able to get up often and walk and stretch.

For some reason, the jet lag is always worse coming home, than going. I am still having problems sleeping through the night. I am very tired during the day, and tend to nod off. The last time I returned from Hong Kong, I think it took us about 2 weeks to finally get over the jet lag.

We spent 10 days in Beijing, which is an interesting city. More on that later.

As most people know, Beijing is hosting the 2008 Olympics in August. The city is full of construction and re-construction – that is to say, many of the buildings are undergoing facelifts to present a good image of the city to the many visitors expected in August. The subway system, which is currently manually operated (there are ticket agents at all stations to handle the tickets), is being upgraded to make it fully automated. And a new line is expected to run from the airport to the city center.

A major concern expressed by many of the foreign athletes, is the air quality. Beijing has one of the worst air pollution problems, and even in this area they are making an effort to clean up their act. During the two weeks of the games, traffic will be limited in the city by only allowing vehicles with odd-numbered license plates to drive on one day, and even-numbered plates on the other day. I would not be surprised if the government, which has extreme clout, will force the larger polluting factories and businesses to shut down during this period as well.

There is a lot of advertizing and promotion going on in China right now for the Olympics. There are numerous official Olympic shops selling Olympic memorabilia, not to mention many knock-offs at flea markets and other small stores. Many of the clothing shops at the Silk Market were selling knock-off Olympic T-shirts, as well as street vendors trying to get tourists to buy them at most popular tourist spots. Yes, we did buy some, at varying prices, but only one 'official' one (which hopefully will not shrink when washed).

We also stopped into the post office (their motto: China Post is Profession) and picked up some official Olympic stamps. It was a book containing 5 sheets of stamps. China has done some innovative artwork and they have created 5 'mascots', each a different colour for the 5 colours of the Olympic rings. The little critters have names which, in Chinese, mean "Welcome to Beijing" when read from left to right. The following images are scans of the stamps that we bought: (click on images to display full size)

This is the cover of the stamp book, which depicts the Temple of Heaven, one of the more recognizable monuments in China:

And, believe it or not, even McDonald's has gotten into the act, by giving away their own sheet of Olympic stamps at their stores:

And finally, a look at the Beijing Olympic logo itself: it is that of a running athlete, but is also a sort of bastardized version of the Chinese character meaning "Capital", for Capital City:

Dupuytren's Contracture, Redux

2008-02-24T17:42:00.008-05:00

Back in October, I blogged about my problem with Dupuytren's Contracture in my right hand.

On Dec. 18th, 2007, I had surgery to repair this. It was done by a leading plastic surgeon, Dr Paul Binhammer, here at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. He did the procedure right in his office. The procedure, called Needle Aponeurotomy, or NA for short, did not take long, probably about 15 to 20 minutes. The worst, or most painful part of the whole procedure was the local freezing, in which he had to inject a needle in my finger in several places. Once it was frozen, the actual surgery was completely painless.

He made very small needle point incisions, and with a small needle-like scalpel, he cut the cords just under the skin which were causing the finger to contract. The finger almost immediately straightened out. After a light bandaging, he sent me over to have a custom split made. The cost of this was around $25 – this was the only cost incurred for the entire procedure, since the actual surgery was covered by our provincial medical insurance, OHIP. I am supposed to only wear the split at night when sleeping, and leave it off during normal daily activities.

The next day, I removed the bandages, and there were only a few small scab spots where he had done the surgery. There was virtually no pain, and the use of my finger was pretty much back to normal; there was no discomfort, and it did not hamper any activities in any way.

Dr. Binhammer asked me if I would like to participate in a controlled study, to "Study the Effects of Steroid Injection With Percutaneous Needle Aponeurotomy in Patients with Dupuytren's Contracture". The complete text ( 5 pages ) of this study can be found here. Approximately 44 people are in the test, where triamcinolone acetonide is injected into the finger after the surgery. Follow up visits are scheduled to track progress, and to get further injections. I have already been back once, around mid-January for a second injection. And, like the needle for the anesthetic, these steroid needles also hurt. My next appointment is in March.

Today, my finger is almost completely straight – with maybe a 5-degree bend. There is still slight pain on the inside of the joint where he stuck the needles in. It is only painful to touch, or when pressure is put on it. It feels like nerve damage. Hopefully, this will fade with time. And the top of my knuckle seems to have a bit of a callus lump, which is a bit red and sore. I am quite sure this is caused by the splint, and for the past few days, I have been sleeping without it to allow it to heal a bit.

The following photo is of my hand a few days after the surgery:

The next two photos are what my hand looks like today:

The next two photos show the splint that was made for me to wear each night; it is made of a hard plastic that thay moulded to fit my hand, and is held in place with velro straps (I added some felt pads inside for comfort):

And finally, a couple of photos of my hand in the splint. Basically, it holds my ring and small finger straight; I also use a small glove to make it a bit more comfortable:

"Tis the season..

2007-12-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

It's been a long while since I have updated the old blog. This time of the season there is a lot going on. Also, I typically update when I have time, and I have time now – the stress of the season has affected my lower back, and I am sort of semi-confined to bed. So, it is a good time for an update.

Most importantly, I am a grandfather again! My eldest daughter, Jen, gave birth to a beautiful girl, Ariel, on November 23rd. I am happy to report that all are doing just fine, although Jen is exhausted. I guess she underestimated the work involved in caring for a newborn. The photo at the right is of me holding Ariel in the hospital. More photos of Ariel at the hospital and at home can be seen on my Flickr site. And some of Jen just 3 weeks before delivery can be seen here.

Life begins – life ends. Less than a week after Ariel's birth, Lo's dad Ken died. He had been Grace Manor, a home of the elderly, for about 4 years, and we noticed his health steadily declining. We went to see him on Wednesday evening, Nov. 28. He could barely speak, but was asking Lois if all his affairs were in order. It was like he knew it was time. The next morning we got a call saying he had passed away early that morning. The photo at the left is the last one taken before he died.

We had expected it would be soon, but not that soon. Fortunately, Lois has the foresight to make preparations with the funeral home and the caterers, so everything was just a call away. The funeral was the following Monday, a cold and windy day. It has been mild and rained the previous day, and everything was frozen and very slippery. I was concerned the pallbearers might slip and fall with the heavy oak casket. Later, we had a small reception at Grace Manor (they let us use one of their large meeting rooms). Surprisingly, very few turned up for the wake, despite the rather large numbers at the visitation on Sunday.

The funeral home had one of those large digital photo frames, and I had made a slide show of photos from Ken's life and had it running during the visitation. A copy of those slides can be seen on my Flickr site.

It was a blessing in a way – he had wanted God to take him for some time now. He had lost all interest and will to live many months ago, often refusing to see visitors, refusing to participate in any of the activities at the home, even refusing to get out of bed to eat his meals. In fact, he had become so weak that he could not get in and out of bed without assistance. I think he is truly happy now, being with his wife Margaret who had died many years earlier.

Christmas was relatively quiet at our place this year. It all started a while back, when Lo decided not to put up any decorations – her logic being that since no one was coming over, why bother? However, that soon changed, and we were lugging stuff up from the basement, and in no time at all, the house was transformed into a winter wonderland. After that was done, Lo said we had to have some people over to see it, and arranged an open house for people drop in for some goodies, hot apple cider, and hot chocolate, and some fine Irish whisky for those who wanted something stronger and also to raise a glass to her recently departed father. We decided to have the open house over two days, Dec. 22nd and 23rd. This would allow those not available on one day to make the other. It would also be less crowded in our little home. It worked out well, and we had many friends and family drop in. We were even quite surprised that Jen and Doug made it with the newly born Ariel, but she was a very welcome visitor, often being passed from one set of arms to another, everyone anxious to hold her.

Christmas gifts were few, but on slightly on the expensive side. I got a new Nikon D200 camera and Lois a new underwater flash unit for her camera. She was finding that the photos we were taking on our scuba trips were not that great, and after seeing a diving buddy's photos that were done with a strong external flash, she just had to have one. So now we wait until our next diving trip so she can try it out.

I had also upgraded my iPod earlier this year, passing on my older 80GB iPod Video to Doug – he wanted to give it to Jen as a Christmas present. It was loaded with music, which I am not sure she will keep, as she is into different genres than I. I was finding the 80GB was just getting too small for me, and upgraded to the 160GB unit – should keep me going for a while. Right now I have several movies, photos, and about 14,000 music tracks on it, and it is slightly over half full. I have still a ton of music to add to it – I just downloaded about 12.5 GB of 1950's Doo-Wop music that I need to transfer to the iPod.

I continue to download audiobooks regularly. In fact, I had to pick up a new 500GB external hard drive to store them on – my old 300GB drive was full. I now have about 1,100 audiobooks, taking up about 330GB of space. Complete listing can be seen here. (note that this list is constantly being updated as I add more audiobooks to my collection.)

The new external drive I got is the Western Digital MyBook 500 GB. As hard drives go, this was relatively inexpensive, about $149 at Costco. It connects to the PC with either Firewire or USB 2.0 interface. But the thing I like the most is that there is no power switch – it automatically powers on when connected to the PC, and powers off when the PC is turned off. It also comes with some backup and other software installed, but I removed all that, since I just wanted to use it as an external drive to save my audiobooks. So far, I am very impressed with it, and might consider getting another for my photos and music files. From what I read so far, the new D200 camera takes about 20MB per photo, if the NEF RAW format is used, along with the JPEG fine/large format – so, I expect I will be needing a lot of space for them!

We are planning on heading down to Vegas in early January, for a short vacation that will coincide with CES (the Consumer Electronics Show). So, for now, it is concentrate on getting the back better so we can make the trip.

Unlike last year, we had a white Christmas. A really heavy storm blew through here about a week before Christmas. However, this was followed by some mild weather and rain, so about a third of it melted away. Today, it is snowing again – big heavy fluffy flakes that stick to the tree branches and make it look all beautiful. The temperature is just above freezing.

Lest we forget...

2007-11-11T20:54:00.001-05:00

Depressing news..

2007-11-09T19:46:00.000-05:00

It was a sort of tradition. Since I retired in 2001, I have been joining my friends John and Bill and Peter for lunch at the 'shop'. John and Bill are machinists and own a small machine shop at the corner of Hood and Denison in Markham.

Peter also used to work there until a couple of years ago, when he left and started working at North Sylva, one of the largest firearms importers and wholesalers in Canada. However, he only works there 4 days a week, and on Fridays, he usually is at the Machine Shop working on some gun repairs or helping out John and Bill.

I met Bill and John through Peter when he worked there full time. Peter and I belong to the same gun club and when he learned that I only lived 5 minutes from the Machine Shop, he suggested we get together for lunch on Thursdays. When he left to work at North Sylva, and returned part time on Fridays, we switched the lunch dates to Friday. Bill usually joined us, and sometimes John, although John usually preferred to stay at the shop. He was the more business-minded of the two brothers, and I guess felt obligated to stay rather than close shop for lunch.

All of us are gun enthusiasts, and participate in shooting sports at local clubs. They all hunt as well, often with crossbows. I do not hunt, but enjoy listening to their stories. Frequently other hunters also stopped in for lunch as well.

Today, I stopping in as usual, and only John was there. Then I remembered it was hunting season, and Bill was going hunting this week. Since Peter was not there, I assumed he was hunting as well.

John was busy on the phone, so I sat down and waited until he finished. Then he dropped the bombshell: Storey Machinery has just gone bankrupt. This was the shop's main customer – he estimated that about 90% of his work came from that one client. The bank came over and locked the doors. He said the workers at the company were very upset, not only at being out of work, but from being unable to enter the building to retrieve their own personal tools. He said they threatened the bank that if they did not let them enter to retrieve their belongings, they would smash the windows next week and go in themselves. Looks like there is going to be some trouble.

Not only was John out about $6K from a recent job, but he just lost all prospects of future contracts from them. He was understandably concerned, not knowing how much longer his shop would be able to stay open. He said business in general had become very scarce since the Canadian dollar had risen so high compared to the US dollar. Apparently, the parent company of Storey Machinery is in the US, and they can get the work done there cheaper than in Canada now. Seems to be the trend.

I do hope things will work out for John and Bill and their little shop.

When Insults Had Class

2007-11-08T21:31:00.000-05:00

Rather than repeating it, here is the link

Pen Spinning

2007-11-04T09:33:00.000-05:00

When I was working in the office of a big multi-national corporation, I often spent time in long boring meetings.. too long. And I guess some others felt the same way.

As it was, many of my co-workers were new hires fresh out of university, and one the habits they brought along from their grad studies was the ability to twirl a pen or pencil around their fingers. College/University students or past students will immediately know what I am talking about.

During those long boring office meetings, there was always someone, aparently absent-mindedly, twirling a pen or pencil around their fingers.

Well, this video is for you..

Dupuytren's Contracture

2007-10-30T15:16:00.000-04:00

About 4 or 5 years ago, I developed a condition whereby my small finger on my right hand would not straighten out completely. I visited my doctor and he diagnosed it as a condition called Dupuytren's Contracture (pronounced "doo-PAY-trens"), also called Dupuytren's Disease. He referred me to a plastic surgeon in our area. The photo to the right is of my right hand, palm up, showing the small finger.

The surgeon said it could be fixed with surgery, but the surgery was not without risk – in fact, he said there was a 15% possibility of permanent nerve damage. I did not like the odds, and since the condition was not painful, I chose to not have surgery and live with it. For the most part, it did not impact my day to day life in any way.

However, earlier this year, it began to bother me somewhat. Not so much pain, although it did hurt a bit if pressure was put on it in the area of my palm just behind the finger, but not on the finger itself. No, it was more a nuisance. Because of the continued curvature of the finger, it tended to get caught on things like when I put my hand into my pocket, or when washing my face it snagged on my nose (I know, sounds gross, but on several occasions I ended up with a bleeding nose because of it.)

So I started doing some research on the net. I found that there was a relatively new procedure called Needle Aponevrotomy, or NA for short, that was much less invasive than major surgery. Developed in Paris, very few doctors in North America were practicing it. I found a Dr. David Kline in Oregon that had a clinic to do the procedure and was seriously considering going down there to have it done.

Then, after doing some more research, I found a Dr. Paul Binhammer right here in Toronto that also was doing NA at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, about a 20 drive from my home. I immediately contacted my doctor to have him arrange an appointment for me. That was back around February.

I finally got to see Dr. Binhammer yesterday, and it looks very promising. He said that he could do the NA procedure in his office and it would take about 20 minutes. Then, I would need to go down to the splint department, where they would make a custom splint for my hand. This splint is to be worn each night when I sleep for the next 3 months. It is not needed during the day, and supposedly I will have full mobility in the hand immediately after the procedure. The cost of the entire procedure is covered by OHIP (the Ontario Medicare program); the only thing that is not covered is the cost of the materials required to make the splint.

He pointed out that the NA procedure does not remove the diseased tissue, but cuts the fibers allowing the finger to straighten. There is possibility the condition will return a few years down the road, in which case, he could perform an operation to remove the diseased tissue. He said he could do this operation now instead of NA, but left it up to me to make the decision. I said I thought the NA procedure would be the best choice first, and if needed, I could come back for the operation.

He said I can expect a call from his secretary to set up an appointment for the NA procedure, which I am hoping will be soon, and I will not have to wait another 8 or 9 months.

A bit of a sad day..

2007-10-29T17:38:00.000-04:00

Today the lease was up on our 2005 Ford Expedition and we returned it to the dealer.

In the past, the return of a vehicle was always accompanied with the acquisition of a new one. This year was the exception. We decided not to get a replacement.

With Lo working at home, and me being retired, we just could not justify having two vehicles anymore. Hopefully, that decision was the right one.

It was sad to leave the old guy behind - I had grown rather attached to it. But, it does consume an obscene amount of fuel and, at today's prices, $70 to $80 a fill-up was and extravagance we could do without.

Hopefully, we can exist as a one-vehicle family. In good weather, I can always use the bike. Otherwise public transit, or even a cab. It will certainly be much less than the cost of a new vehicle, fuel and maintenance, and insurance!

Nonetheless, I will miss it.

Photodex

2007-10-26T14:57:00.000-04:00

I have been playing around with a program called ProShow Gold made by the Photodex company. It is basically a slide show creation program that allows you to add motion effects and transitions, as well as audio tracks.

The Gold version is about $69. They also offer a lite version for about $29, and a professional version for about $249. For my use, the Gold seems to do everything I need, and does produce some pretty good shows.. or so I am told. I guess that depends on how you use it and the quality of the material (photos and music) you use.

A friend of mine asked me if I could put together a slide show for her mother's upcoming 60th birthday. She plans on having a party for her, and thought a slide show containing photos of her mother from birth to present might be a good addition.

I said I would and she dropped off close to 100 photographs for me to scan in. The scanning and touch-up of the photos took probably close to 8 hours, then another 6 or so to organize them, import them into ProShow, add motion effects and transitions, and then add music and try to sync it to the show. Then burn the whole then onto a DVD. It can be played from a PC or on a TV with a DVD player. It actually looks very good on my 42 inch plasma TV.

While it turned out ok, I don't think I will do this sort of thing again for free for anyone.. it is just too time consuming.

One of the benefits of buying the ProShow product is that they allow you to upload your shows to their site for free to share with others. If you have about 18 minutes, you can view it here. Once at that page, you can also navigate to the other shows I created with the program. Enjoy!

It's enough to make you cry

2007-10-21T02:16:00.000-04:00

A week ago, I attended the Henry's annual Camera show at the International Centre in Toronto.

I was checking out the new cameras: Nikon just introduced the new D300 DSLR, a followup to their D200, which was a followup to the D100. Actually, the D300 is not shipping until Christmas, so it is not immediately available.

I bought my D100 back in January of 2003, and recently was looking at the invoice: I paid just over $3000 (before taxes) for it back then - and that was the body only: the lens was extra.

The current model D200 is selling for about $1600 Cdn ($1500 US - which I don't quite understand since the Canadian dollar is currently worth more than the US dollar). When I asked about a trade in on my D100, they said I might get about $300 if it was in mint condition with all the original accessories and software.

I was stunned! In less than 5 years it went from $3000 to $300! I did some checking on eBay, and found that used D100s were going in the range of $300 to $400 for private sales. It's enough to make a grown man cry.

The current model D200, with more features, better all around quality, and about double the maximum photo size (10 Mega-pixels, vs 6 Mega-pixels for the D100), is going for half the price I originally paid for my D100.

Interesting photos from a bygone era

2007-09-19T14:20:00.000-04:00

Auschwitz through the lens of the SS: Photos of Nazi leadership at the camp contains many photos taken by Nazi officers at Auschwitz, showing their daily lifestyle.

A slideshow with documentary naration is shown on the NY Times site.

NY Times is now free - online

2007-09-19T13:19:00.000-04:00

Yes, it is true.. The NY Times has dropped is pay subscription for select articles on its online website. Read more....

Now, if only other online media sources would follow suit!

Strange News

2007-09-19T12:58:00.000-04:00

I read my local paper, The Toronto Star, nearly every day. It is a habit I have. I tried stopping a while back, opting instead to read the news on the net, watch it on TV, or listen to it on the radio.

It did not work. I went into withdrawal. I just had to have my daily fix of the morning paper. I don't know what it is, but I get this feeling like I am missing something important if I don't read my paper each day.

And it is not like I read it cover to cover.. I am very selective about what I read. I scan the photos and headlines.. and if they catch my attention, then I read.. or at least start to read the article – until I lose attention because it becomes disinteresting.

Today, a couple of articles did catch my attention and warranted a full read. This, despite most of the paper these days is focused on the upcoming provincial election next month – a subject for which I have absolutely no interest. How can anyone possibly vote for parties that lie about what they plan to do for us? It ultimately boils down to voting of the lesser of two evils... or in our case, 4 evils – since there are 4 major parties running. Talk about fragmenting the vote!

Anyway, I digress. The first article that caught my attention was about some poor sod that fell for a new twist on the old Nigerian 419 scam. The perpetrators of Advance Fee Fraud (AFF), known internationally as "4-1-9" fraud after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes, are often very creative and innovative.

In the past, they focused primarily on sending our spam emails, asking you to assist in transferring some high ranking official's bank balance out of the country. As a 'reward' for your assistance, you will get a percentage of the millions of dollars you help to salvage from Nigerian rebels or such. Of course, once you are baited, the 419 scammer asks you to wire some money to "unlock" the funds from the bank, or some other pretense. Usually, they continue with other monetary requests, often scamming people out of thousands of dollars of their savings.

In the case today, the scam had a slightly new and different twist: the scammer was appealing to someone to accept a 'free puppy'. Instead of using spam email, they placed an ad in LiveDeal.ca, a local buy-and-sell site promoted by The Toronto Star. The woman responded to it, and only after sending several wire transfers for shipment of the dog, vaccinations, etc., did she wake up to the fact that this was a scam, and she would never see the puppy. She was lucky – she only lost $500. Many others have lost thousands to 419 scams. If so inclined, you can read the complete Toronto Star article here.

I am afraid I have no sympathy for suckers to such frauds. They have been around for many years, and are very well documented. A Google search with the words "419" and "scam" will yield about 1.5 million hits. There is no reason for anyone to be taken in by such a scam, and if they are, then it is their own fault. Don't go crying to the newspaper or anyone else.

The other article that I found interesting was more on the humorous side. It was written by regular Toronto Star columnist, Antonia Zerbisias, and can be read here. It is about an Israeli company that is developing a new way hoist those hooters, using pigs to test its Cup&Up, an internal silicone set of shelves attached to the ribs with threads and screws. Ouch! And you thought a breast implant job would hurt! A must read - even to acknowledge, as Antonia says, "what udder boobs we are".

Friday's good deed

2007-09-16T22:26:00.001-04:00

Lois came home from the hair salon last Thursday, and told me that Johnny (her hairdresser) was having mega problems with a new notebook computer he just bought 2 months ago.

Now this is a guy who knows virtually nothing technically about computers and has to rely for the most part, on others to show him what to do with it. So, you can imagine how useful he would be at trying to fix a problem.

Apparently he took the notebook to several people, including a local computer dealer next door to the salon. No one had a clue what was wrong. He even returned it to Best Buy where he bought it, and even though it was still under warranty, they said the hard drive would need to be reformatted and Windows reloaded – and they wanted to charge him $100 for this. And of course, he would lose whatever data he had on the drive.

This sounded a bit drastic to me. I asked what exactly the problem was, but Lois did not know. I said I would go over the next day to have a look at it.

Now I am far from an expert on these things, because as anyone knows, they can be extremely complicated – just trying to determine if the problem is hardware or software is a major job in itself. And to make matters worse, he had Vista installed, with which I am totally unfamiliar. Furthermore, the modem he was using to connect to his ISP was one I had never seen before.. it was some sort of wireless modem.. ie, there was no cable or telephone line going into it. They call it a portable modem.. apparently it works with a satellite signal.. or so Johnny said.

Anyway, after I got there and spoke to John, he said everything was working fine except that he could no longer connect to the internet. It was working, but then it stopped. He thought perhaps his daughter did something to it when she was downloading music from some site.

Well, after looking around a bit, I knew it was not going to be fixed with a reformat and reinstall. I asked if he called Rogers (the ISP); he said yes, but they could not help him. I found this hard to believe. It was obviously an incorrectly configured connection and they should be able to help. So, I gave them a call, and in about 15 minutes, we had the sucker back on the air. Turns out that was the Norton Firewall that was preventing the connection.

Firewalls are great, but you need to know how to configure them.. most people don't, and just go with the defaults which may or may not work, depending on your setup. I did not have time to fart around with the settings, so I just disabled it completely to get him back online.

I think I was a hero in his eyes, especially when everyone else was selling him the doomsday scenario. Maybe Lois will get her next hair cut for free!

QOOP

2007-09-13T14:57:00.000-04:00

After the sudden and unexpected shutdown of my old photo hosting site, Clubphoto, I began to have some concerns about my current hosting site, Flickr.

While Clubphoto did offer backups to CD, and while I did by chance order a backup CD before the sudden demise of Clubphoto, I worried about Flickr. After all, nothing is certain in the dot.com industry any more – companies are going under, others are being bought out – who knows what will remain tomorrow.

With this in mind, I began looking to see if a CD backup was being offered by Flickr. I wrote to them and asked about this, and they replied that while they do not offer such a service, they do partner with a company, QOOP, that does offer this, as well as a number of other services.

So, I linked over to QOOP and browsed through all their offerings, including making a backup of all my Flickr photos. I ordered one – cost only about $7, which I thought was a pretty darn good deal! Their CD backup tool allowed me to put a photo of my choice on the face of the CD, as well as some text. I chose this nice lighthouse that I took back on a trip to the west coast in 2001. The disk arrived in the mail, about a week later – not bad for US mail to Canada.

Among the other things that QOOP offers that interested me, is a photo book. This is a book like a magazine that they create using photos of my choice. This looks like it might be a neat thing to give to someone without internet access, so they can look at my photos in hardcopy, instead of me making prints of my photos. The screen capture here shows the different layouts you can select from. A book of 10 single sided pages is about $12, while one of 20 double sided pages is about a dollar more! Can't go wrong with those prices. I might give it a try.

QOOP offers a bunch of other things, like calendars, canvas prints, greeting cards, keychains, luggage tags, fridge magnets, mouse pads, mugs, postcards, shirts, stickers, and even photos. Besides Flickr, they also partner with other Photobucket, Webshots, Facebook, and a host of other companies.

Vacation Interruptus

2007-08-31T13:18:00.000-04:00

We were supposed to be heading down to the Bahamas tomorrow for a week of diving, but had to cancel at the last minute.

On Monday evening, I started having lower back pain again, and by yesterday we realized that is was getting worse instead of better, and called to cancel our flights and accommodation. We were able to reschedule it to Sept 22nd, so hopefully, I will be completely recovered by then. I guess the stress of moving everything around for the renovations at the house finally took its toll.

Jen called me this morning on her way to the airport. She and her husband were on their way down to Florida. They leave Port Everglades tomorrow for a week-long cruise in the Caribbean.

Although most of the reno is down, the house is still a mess.. lots of construction dust and dirt everywhere – needs a g good cleaning. Overall, I am quite pleased with the work. Like having a new home. We still need to have the two washrooms done, which should be sometime this month. And lastly, the master bedroom. It was done some time ago, but in comparison to the rest of the house, it too needs a facelift. But that won't be until a few more months.. no rush on that one.

Lois' sister's boyfriend found an old Apple Powerbook in a school locker. He works with the school board, and some time ago, took the cutters to a lock on an abandoned locker. Inside, he found this notebook, with no identification. He turned it in to the board, and they said he should hold onto it; if no one claimed it within six months, he could keep it. Well, 6 months passed and he spoke to his boss about it again, and he was told it was his. He was all excited about it, and brought it to the old age home to show me the other day when we went to visit Lois' dad. I powered it up, and it took ages before it was ready. I scanned the files to see if there was anything that would identify the original owner, but pretty much all the data had been deleted. I suggested that maybe this was not such a great find for him, as it was so old that it is practically unusable. He would be better off buying a new one – at today's prices, and with all the back-to-school specials, he could probably pick up a much faster computer for a few hundred dollars. Then I suggested that if he wanted to get rid of the Powerbook, I would buy it off him. I have a collection of old Apple computers, and this would be a good addition.

Later when I got home, I remembered that my daughter had given me an old Toshiba notebook that she was no longer using because she said it was always crashing. I took it and ran some tests, but could not find anything wrong. Finally, I just reformatted the drive and installed Windows XP onto it. It was my intention to just keep it as a backup to access the net and email. It had been sitting in a box for the past several months. Then I thought this might be a good starter computer for Gary.. and I would ask for the old Powerbook in exchange. He does not need anything super fast (which this Toshiba is definitely not!), just something to access the net and also to view his photos from his new digital camera. Should be just fine for him.

The Reno is done!

2007-08-19T23:06:00.000-04:00

Well, we had a surprise call from the carpet conractor late last week, advising us that our new carpet was in - well ahead of schedule. The painter finished his work on Friday, and the carpets were laid on Saturday.

Feels like a new house. We were very busy yesterday and all day today putting things back in place. Could not believe how much we had boxed and moved out of the back bedroom and office. I restored Lois' home office today, so she would be able to get back to work tomorrow. Surprisingly, everything is back on line with no problems.. at least that I know of.

I have been taking photos of the ongoing renovation, and will post the photos to my Flickr site shortly. I have also begun moving my old photos, from the now defunct ClubPhoto site, to my Flickr account. I had mentioned earlier that I had an archive copy made on CD of all my photos from ClubPhoto before they closed shop, and that I did not have the captions. Well, seems I do have the captions include on the CD, so I will be moving them over as well. It makes an interesting trip down memory lane, even though it was only about 7 years ago. I just uploaded about 180 photos from our trip to Depoe Bay in Oregon, which we took back in 2000. The photos are all there, but I am only about 1/3 done with transcribing the comments.

We also took the opportunity to rearrange the back bedroom, which we use as a sort of entertainment center.. all the stereo stuff in set up there. We decided to get rid of some of our old vinyl collection.. about 80% of it is going. We have no idea where some of it came from - not from either of us, that's for sure! Example: we found an album by Adam and the Ants! Gag! We are going to offer most of it to a friend that collects old vinyl, since we really don't have the space for it here. I imagine there are some collector items there, many dating back 30 to 40 years. I have to admit, there was a lot of good cover art back in those days.

I figure it will take us the rest of the week to get the house back to the state that we are comfortable with.

Sandbanks Reunion

2007-08-09T14:57:00.001-04:00

In the early 80s when I transferred to Toronto, I became friends with a number of co-workers from my office. We spent many good times together at various social events and parties. However, over the years, we sort of drifted apart as some left the company, others moved out of the city and even the country, and others started families.

In May, one of my old buddies from the company (one of the few still working there) got married and many of the former gang was invited to the wedding. It was great seeing everyone, and renewing friendships.

As a result of this, one of the group organized an impromptu reunion based on the fact that one of our original group who is now living in California, would be vacationing in July in Prince Edward County on Lake Ontario – very near Sandbanks Provincial Park. Emails were flying back and forth, and before long we had a good sized group of people, including their children, all booked into the Isaiah Tubbs Resort, which just happened to be minutes from Sandbanks and about 1km from where Steve from California would be staying with his family

While the reunion was short – we arrived on Thursday evening and left Saturday morning – we all had a great time. We spent Thursday evening at Steve's cottage, where he hosted a BBQ for us, and Friday at the beach at Sandbanks. Another 'Steve' and his family flew in from Manitoba, while most of the others were either from Toronto or within a few hour's drive from the city. The day at the beach seemed questionable at first as it looked like it might rain, however, by about 2 pm, all the clouds had blown away and we had a beautiful sunny rest of the day.

That evening, we all gathered together at the Isaiah Tubbs restaurant for a great 5-star meal.

It was a great time, and I hope we don't wait another 20 years until we do it again!

Photos of the event can be seen at my Flickr site.

ClubPhoto died and no one told me

2007-08-08T22:21:00.000-04:00

Today, Lois asked me for the link information to our old ClubPhoto gallery of photos. When I went to the site, I was greeted with a page that said ClubPhoto was bought out by PhotoTLC, and that PhotoTLC had closed its doors. They were offering to transfer all my photos for free, to WinkFlash – another photo hosting site.

All of this was a surprise to me. After considerable digging I found that PhotoTLC did buy Clubphoto back in 2005, and made such a mess of things financially (apparently they squandered about 20 million dollars of venture capital investment), that they abruptly shut the doors back in early March of this year. My understanding is that when the employees reported to work, they were all told they had one hour to pack all their personal belongings and leave the building. All computers had been locked down.

Later in the year, WinkFlash made a bid to purchase address list of all former ClubPhoto members, as well as the servers containing all their photos. Unfortunately, many people reported that the transfer of photos that WinkFlash was offering did not work. Needless to say there were a lot of unhappy people. I tried the transfer, but could not remember my account information, which they needed to do the transfer (I was automatically logged on when I accessed the site). And all attempts to have my password resent to me seem to have failed. And of course, no one at WinkFlash is responding to my emails. Needless to say, I will not be using that service.

On the plus side, I did have the foresight a few years ago (when I moved over to Flickr), to get a backup CD from ClubPhoto, which contained all my photos I had uploaded. Unfortunately, it contains just the photos, and none of the comments or captions. I felt at the time, I would just leave the ClubPhoto account active to host those existing photos.

While I had been paying for the Flickr account for the past few years, I recently got a note from Rogers (my ISP, which is in bed with Yahoo), that Yahoo photos were being discontinued, and that all Rogers customers would be given free Flickr accounts. Those already having Flickr accounts (like me) would continue to have them, but would not need to pay for them anymore. At least there was some good news!

Now I have to find my ClubPhoto CD, and upload all my old photos to Flickr. But I think that job will be sometime in the future. Our house right now is a total bomb. We have major renovations going on inside, and everything is boxed. Having recently completed the living/dining room and kitchen, we decided to continue and do the stairs, upstairs landing, bathroom, and both back bedrooms (one of which is being used as an office). So, right now, everything in those areas is stored in the main bedroom, living and dining room, basement, and garage. I just cannot believe how much stuff we have accumulated over the years. There is going to have to be some major purging when it is all over and we start restoring things back to their original locations.

The painter started today; all remaining wallpaper in the house has been removed. The old carpets come out Friday morning, after which the painter continues. We had originally planned to have the new carpets in this Saturday, but the installer just called and said the supplier is out of stock, and that he is waiting on them to make a new batch. He says it could be anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks. I just can't imagine living the way we are now for another 3 weeks. We can hardly walk through the bedroom or the downstairs area. Needless to say, if we need something that has been packed away, it will be almost impossible to find. Gonna be hell for the next little while!

It's been a while...

2007-07-12T23:26:00.001-04:00

I have not been blogging for a while.. there has been much going on, and little time to blog or even read the blogs I normally follow.

There was a lot of work to be done around the house, cleaning, repairing, painting, etc. It has taken a lot of my time. Also, we have been planning some major renovations and getting and scheduling contractors was a lot more work than I anticipated. But, things are coming together.

We finally got rid of the old grass-cloth wall paper in the living/dining area – it has probably been there for over 25 years, and, well, was beginning to show a lot of wear. Besides, the cats were using it to sharpen their claws and it was looking quite ragged in several spots. So, it came down a few weeks ago. The photo here shows our painter removing it. He did a good job plastering up the mess underneath and giving it a few coats of new fresh paint.

At the same time, we decided to dump the old wall to wall carpeting in the living/dining area, and replace it with cherry-stained oak hardwood. The place looks so much better. We also put up new, more modern lighting, and got some new furniture.

There still is quite a bit to do: new light fixtures for the kitchen and install the new marble backsplash over the counters. And new vertical blinds are needed for the area – right now everyone can see right into the house. But it is very hard to find contractors to do small jobs.

There are some other repairs to do – the downstairs closet ceiling has to be replaced since it was ripped out a while ago so the plumber could fix a broken water pipe above it. Once that is done, we will get the painter back in to complete the removal of the wall paper in the hall and up the stairs and repaint that whole area.

We had the carpet guy in today to get an estimate on replacing the carpets in the stairs, the upper landing, and the two back rooms. The problem is going to be coordinating that job with the painter. I will need to have all the old carpet removed, get the painter in to do the walls and ceilings, and the get the carpet guys back to install the new carpets. The problem is that these guys are so busy around here, it is hard to get them to find time to do the work, let alone work to my schedule.

Another major job is emptying the two back rooms so they can do the work – one of these rooms is being used as a home office, and it totally crammed with stuff. It is going to take forever to clear it out, and figure out where to store it temporarily. Also, as it is an office, there is wiring running all over the place. And it will need to be set up somewhere else temporarily so Lois can continue with her work uninterrupted. Going to be a challenge!

My daughter recently came up from Florida for a short visit with us all. It was great seeing everyone, especially little Jimmy. He is growing up so fast. One day while we were out G-sailing, I picked up a box of 25 animated Disney VHS tapes. Just sent them down to Jimmy in Florida.. he is going to have a lot of fun with them. And I picked up the whole lot for only $20 – what a deal!

I am in the process of learning FileMaker Pro. I recently took over the membership for our gun club, and the guy doing it before was using tables in a MS Word document. I feel it will be much more efficient with a database, than with a bunch of Word files! My son-in-law, who is a guru with FileMaker, and who is a speaker at the FileMaker Developer Conference in Orlando this August (see here and here for details) got me a copy of the program, and I am busy learning it so I can create my membership database for the club. Should be fun.

Although I have been very busy, for some reason I am feeling down. Not sure what it is – my wife seems to think it is male menopause, which I sort of think is a bunch of BS. However, I notice that there are about 2 million hits on it on Google, so maybe there is something to it after all. I will need to do some more research. In the interim, my doctor has put me on an anti-depressant called Nortriptyline.

And of course, I have been over-doing everything, and two days ago, my back gave out again. So, I figure I have about a week of bed-rest before I am up and around again. Hopefully, I will be ok for next weekend, as some of the old IBMers I used to work with are having a sort of reunion at Isaiah Tubbs Resort in Picton. It will be great to see everyone again.

A day at the Vet's

2007-06-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

We took the cats to the vet's the other day for their annual shots and checkup. It was the first time for us to take Kingsley, and he surprised us by jumping down off the exam table and up onto the counter and into the sink. He sat there patiently while we waited for the vet to come into the exam room.

I found this very strange, since he never sits in a sink at home, yet our former cat, Cooper, always did. Animals are odd sometimes.

Silent Witness

2007-06-05T18:30:00.000-04:00

I guess I have been living under a rock for the past 10 years – as far as TV is concerned, that is.

I just discovered this great series called Silent Witness. It is a BBC production, similar to the American CSI series. However, in my humble opinion, I find it much more interesting than the CSI series. I just think the British productions are much more sophisticated and better produced. I think I felt the same about the MI-5 series (originally called Spooks in Britain – but they had to change the name for broadcast here in North America, for fear of offending some race of people).

Silent Witness apparently has been around since 1996, and is still being broadcast – its last episode just recently aired this spring. Although there were 11 seasons, there were only about 64 episodes actually created – some seasons having very few.

Unfortunately, I just 'discovered' that it is airing each day on ShowCase. From what I can gather, we are currently into the middle of season 7. Too bad I missed the beginning of the series – hopefully, they will rebroadcast it at a later date. I did a quick check, and it looks like it has never made it to DVD here in Canada. Too bad.

Those who follow my blog, have no doubt noticed that I have not updated from some time. I seem to be going through a phase of indifference right now.. not just about the blog, but about everything in my life. Not sure why. But it is hard to shake.

I have also been very busy this past month – doing work around the house, making repairs, painting, etc. And preparing for our annual deck party / BBQ. It was this past weekend, and I must say the weather was unseasonably hot – about 35C with fairly heavy humidity. Strange, because today is rather cool, with the temperature hovering around 8C, with strong cold winds and rain. What a difference! Photos of the party and some of the guests are on my Flickr site.

My daughter, her husband, and their son are coming up from Ft. Lauderdale in a few weeks for a short visit. We are all looking forward to seeing them!

I like this T-shirt!

2007-05-14T17:57:00.000-04:00

I gotta get me one of these shirts!

Once in a lifetime

2007-04-18T11:43:00.000-04:00

At three minutes and four seconds after 2 AM on the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be 02:03:04 05/06/07. This will never happen again.

A friend of mine is getting married this July 7th: 07/07/07. And no, the wedding is not at 7:07 am! I understand, however, that this date will be quite popular for weddings, and my friend had to book this date over a year in advance.

The number 8 has special significance to many Chinese people, and I suspect next August 8th will be an important date for them: 08/08/08

An Inconvenient Truth

2007-04-16T21:29:00.000-04:00

If you have not yet seen An Inconvenient Truth, please do so. Great eye-opener!

If you have seen it, encourage your friends and acquaintances to see it.

We all need to do our part, even if it is just making others aware of global warming.