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January 2, 2006 - 12:25 AM Two Thousand and Six. Where were you when the clock struck midnight? Do you remember? Did it feel any different? Did anything change? Could you sense or precieve anything at all unordinary as the calendar rolled over? In so many ways, it was just another day. There was morning, there was noon, there was night. We got up, we ate, we drank, we were merry, and eventually - we went to sleep. Do you remember the night on which our calendar changed from 1999 to 2000? Do you recall all the hype about Y2K and the havoc it would supposedly wreak on all the computer systems of the world? What a dissapointment that was, eh? I don't think I can point a finger of recolection towards a single significant event that spawned as a result of the Y2K bug which tossed the electronic community into a tizzy. To be honest, I've seen more havoc wreaked by the onslaught of spyware and rogue anti-spyware infections that have become annoyingly common amongst the average desktop user. First there was the adware - annoying programs that would sneak their way into your computer unannounced and often very discretely until BAM! They slap you in the face with a pop-up window from nowhere. You close it only to find an additional three pop-up windows opened underneath it. Icons promoting everything from search engines to porn sites spring up mysteriously on your desktop and somehow your web browser always seems to pull up some no-name, useless, ad-filled search window every time you open it up instead of your faithful, familiar Yahoo! or Google. Getting rid of the spyware was often a task better left for your local computer geek as they most often didn't have an Uninstall button or if it did, it didn't work. Then one day Anti-Spyware programs started making their debut. At last! The average joe was no longer at the mercy of a white collar, tape-on-glasses, pocket full of pens, Star Wars quoting techie. Now the average Joe could simply install the latest Anti-Spyware program and search and destroy all the nasty spyware and adware programs on his computer. But sometimes even this didn't work, and sometimes the very programs claiming to remove the spyware were in fact the source of the spyware that was plaguing the computer in the first place! Talk about a way to get rich quick... Make a program that creates a problem - then offers the solution to it for a fee! It's so simple it just might work! Ethics aside, this new breed of anti-spyware spyware struck a chord of terror in the hearts and minds of most computer users who now feared that virtually any program they install might contain more than it advertised. Oh really? What a novel idea! Who would have ever thought a software company might secretly build in more than what appeared on the box in their software packages? Is it any wonder the world of open source is thriving the way it is in recent times? You can actually see exactly what is in any program you use - and what is not. Try looking under the hood of Windows or any Microsoft product for that matter. Aint going to happen. But that's another issue. I digress. The fact is, with all the spyware and adware out there today, you never know who is watching your computer or seeing how you spend your time on it, what web sites you visit, who you send your emails to, where you do your online banking, or who you talk with online. Any key you press on the keyboard may be recorded, any link you click on can be tracked, doesn't that sound a little more unnerving than a computer getting it's date wrong? You know, I'll be honest. When I sat down to write tonight, this was the last thing I was going to put as my first entry of 2006. But in the past couple of months, I've made more money removing spyware from people's computers than I have building and selling them. That's why this was sort of on my mind tonight, and that's why I wrote about it. That's what a journal is for. You write what's on your mind at that moment. So back to the whole New Years thing... The only reason New Years is significant is because we have made it significant. One day a long time ago, somebody decided that this day would be the beginning of the year and so, ever since then we have celebrated a years' turnover on that day. Does anything ACTUALLY change on New Years? No. It's a perception. Just like value. What makes a $100 dollar bill more valuable than a $20? Is the ink on it special and therefore worth more? Is the paper of finer quality? No. It's not. It's more valuable because we've made it more valuable. And sometimes we go the other way and devalue certain things. Rareity is often a contributor to the value of an item. Because there are less of them, - they are uncommon - and therefore have more value because those who want them have to search harder to find them. If diamonds were as common as rocks and pebbles would they be held in such high regard? No. They'd just be another shiny rock. If the earth were made of gold instead of dirt would we celebrate it's price on the stock market? No, it would just be a lot harder to plant a garden! What irks me now more than anything is how some people take for granted - and in doing so devalue - the very thing I long for the most. But then again, whoever said life was fair? January 1, 2005 - 12:14 PM  
 January 5, 2006 - 12:06 AM  Man I'm craving a Slurpee... I had my first Disco Day today... Did 30 calls in 7 hours. I didn't get out of the warehouse till about 9:00 and had lunch with Kerri. That's not a bad disco day. Then we went to Swiss Chalet to celebrate a late birthday for my cousin Craig who turned 20. I spent some time afterwards playing with my puppy, chasing him around the house and being chased by him. We play hide and seek where I will try to hide somewhere and he comes, finds me and then barks triumphantly as I run and hide again somewhere else. I had a really good spot to hide and he would run around most of the house in search unsuccessfully - but now he comes and checks my good spot first. I guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! hehehe We must have run around for a good hour and he had to drink furiously. He's such a cute puppy but his deafness is getting worse. It's quite bad now, he seems to ignore most moderate sounds. His sight is not great either, but I can't believe his sense of smell. Definitely hasn't lost even a hint of it's edge... He finds me most of the time by scent. Which really wouldn't have been that hard today... I seem to have grabbed one dirty sock and one clean one this morning so after a day of running around in work boots you can imagine the aroma from my right foot, the one with the unwashed, re-sweated-in sock. It was rank. But only one foot stunk and my boots didn't seem to take the fragrance. It's just my right foot. Stinky foot. Thought I'd share that with you. I was slightly amused by it. At lunch this afternoon I was reading one of the old Reader's Digests in Bibi's lunch room and came across this joke. I'll add it to my joke collection but I wanted to share it with you none the less here: Two men were working in a warehouse one day. "Man I'd love to go home. I've got an idea how to get out of work for the rest of the afternoon." With that, he climbed up a ladder and grabbed onto the rafters where he was hanging when the foreman noticed him. "What are you doing up there Frank?" the foreman asked. "I'm a lightbulb!" came the reply. The foreman called back to him, "Take the rest of the day off Frank, I think you need some rest." Frank climbed down and started walking towards the door. The other man standing there began to head for the door as well but the foreman stopped him. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked. The second man replied "I can't work in the dark!" Hahahahahahaha  Have a good weekend! It's going to take some getting used to having three days off every week...January 6, 2006 - 11:00 AM  Searching for Contentment in a World of Wants You know that song by U2 that goes I still haven't found what I'm looking for? I heard it the other day and started to wonder - "Do we ever really find what we're looking for?" I mean, if you think about it, how long does contentment in any situation last? You buy a new car. It's awesome and fast and pretty and fun and sporty. But then, after what? A couple of months? A few years maybe? Suddenly it doesn't feel as fast as it used to be, it's starting to show signs of wear, maybe there are even some things that need fixing on it... What inevitably happens? We want another one. With pretty much anything you buy, this is almost invariably the case. Why do you think the world is in debt? People trying to satisfy the inquenchable thirst of wants. A lot of the time I think I have a pretty quiet life. Everyone around me has interesting problems and gets themselves into all sorts of juicy trouble from time to time, but my life seems like it's fairly consistant. Every once in a while I'll see someone living a life I've secretly wanted to live and wonder what I might look like had I taken a few different steps a few turns back. I was visiting a friend last night who lives in an appartment and as I realized I recalled my long-time desire to spend some of my life living in an appartment. I think it started back in the days where Robyn Lee lived in the 7707 building on Elbow Drive and I used to go visit them all the time (while her little sister would also visit her on the same weekends) hehe - Ever since then I've wanted to live in an appartment. I've also wanted to live in a building made out of bricks. Is that quirky or what? haha So as I'm driving around Calgary installing people's cable and Internet in all sorts of houses, it's both an eye-opener and a introspective sigh-inspiring experience reflecting on all the things I've wanted in life that have seemed to pass me by. Then I start to ask myself, What DO I want? Good question. January 9, 2006 - 6:32 AM  Have you ever had one of those mornings where you'd rather just stay in bed? For whatever reason, today is definitely one of those days! I had a pretty relaxing day yesterday, I spent some time over at Barb's house, came home and watched Family Guy before going to bed in what seemed like a timely fashion - But despite a decent 7 hours of sleep I still feel very tired this morning. Oh well, I know once I get going I won't even notice.
 One thing notable and newsworthy, while I was at Barb's last night she had made the comment that no anti-virus software seemed to be able to run on it. Any time a full system scan was done the whole computer would freeze up and/or reboot. My original assumption was that it might have had some kind of anti-virus targetting spyware / virus on it as she hadn't noted anything else not working - just the antivirus software, but while I was in the BIOS trying to change a setting for another unrelated issue, I peeked in at the system monitor screen. To my horror and surprise, it reported the processor temperature at a whopping 92 - 97 degrees celcius!!! No WONDER it was crashing... We popped the case and found the CPU fan absolutely caked in dirt and dust. Just a note for everyone with computers out there - CLEAN THOSE FANS! I've seen Pentium 4's suffer permanent damage at lower temperatures than that and all it takes is a couple of blasts with an air can, air hose, or even a plastic nozzled' vaccuum cleaner. Five minutes a month can save you hundreds of dollars in hardware replacements. Once we'd cleaned the fan out, the temperature was back to a breezy 42 Celcius and wouldn't you know it? Their anti-virus software started working again! Anyhow, just thought I'd share that with you. Until yesterday the hottest processor I'd seen was Clayton's which was hovering around 91-92 and was FRIED. Even after we cooled it down and got the fan cleaned on it, there were random crashes all over the place and it was deemed fit only for the scrap heap. I can't stress enough: CLEAN THOSE FANS! - Your Friendly Computer Geek January 10, 2006 - 11:24 PM It's time to get Sirius  Ok, well I've already got Sirius. Sirius Satellite Radio, that is. Stuck in traffic? Who cares? Have to drive across the city? No problem! Let me tell you, having one of these puppies in my van makes travelling a much more enjoyable experience. There's always something to listen to, whether I'm in the mood for some mindless dance / techno, the latest pop hits or even a good laugh from one of their comedy channels. Old songs, new songs, 90's, 80's, earlier - you name it, you can hear it somewhere on their 100 channels. Can you tell I'm a satisfied customer? I really think this is going to revolutionize radio as we know it.  Tonight at my parents' house, my dad, Blair and I got to play with a machine we haven't been able to use in years - the Laithe. Now I may be spelling that wrong but what are you going to do? Essentially, for those of you who may not know, a laithe is a machine that spins a piece of wood so you can chissel out patterns in it. You've undoubtably seen woodwork done on a laithe before - it's everywhere. From dining room chairs to stair rails to decrorative beams, laithe work is all around us. And it's quite fun to do. You don't have to have any special skills to learn either, it's mostly trial and error. I remember one year a long time ago we made a baseball bat on the laithe but it was of some crazy solid wood and was by far the heaviest bat I've ever used. If you could get a decent swing on it you could knock any ball out of the park.  Blair examines his handiwork   Two heads are better than one  While the two of them were working on the laithe, I spent some time trying to repair my dad's 8-Track player. This is the kind of electronics I first started tinkering with many MANY years ago. I'll always love the warm glow of incandescent instrumentation illumination - as pictured here.  My little puppy was out with us in the garage too. Such a cute puppy   Ahh, the smell of fresh sawdust. Can you smell it?  Peering through a mirror begs the question, What if the image on the other side is real and I am the reflection?  It was really foggy out tonight so I had to take some pictures. Is it possible we might actually be getting a bit of winter in January? I can't say that I'm honestly hoping so, but at the same time I'd rather have it now than in August... hehe  I went to fill my white van up with gas tonight. I must have some pretty big tanks in it... When I went to pay they gave me five free car washes! January 12, 2006 - 12:44 AM  Out Cold Isn't it ironic how being deaf makes one a sound sleeper? huh huh - People used to ask me why I slept with the lights turned on at night. (Can you see it coming?) Because I'm a light sleeper! was my ready reply. After going for a walk tonight, BJ fell fast asleep on the floor. He either sleeps right beside you against your leg (sometimes with his head on your knee) or on the floor in front of you so that if you get up, he will also get up. Tonight, however, he was out cold by the door so Blair and I tip-toed over top of him and I ran to my van, grabbed my camera and started taking some pictures. He's such a cute puppy.  I had probably the best day yet in my new job at Shaw. I did five Internet installations and every single one of them was easy. Those are crazy odds! Most time there's at least something that proves a challenge - usually the fact that there's no cable outlet anywhere NEAR the computer and the customer wants one put in. My first day by myself I had to run three new outlets! It was a perfect way to end my work week. Tomorrow I'm going to Custom Linen to do some work there, and for some reason I have this uncanny feeling that I had planned something for tomorrow night too. Friday morning Tom has asked me to come over and set up his scanner for him, and Friday night I'm off to Red Deer to go see Carmen. Then Saturday morning there's a conference in Red Deer I'm attending which starts at 8:30. This way I get to see an old friend I've got a lot of catching up to do with and I won't have to get up at some ridiculous hour and spend the drowsiest part of my day driving to Red Deer. I'm looking forward to seeing Carmen again. It's been too long.  January 14, 2006 - 6:29 PM  I had to go to Red Deer this weekend for a Focus 3 leadership conference so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Although the conference was today, I went up to Red Deer last night and spent some time with Carmen who I haven't seen since the houseboat trip. I thought we had some good talks and a few laughs as well, and it was good to see her again.   Of course, I couldn't pass through Red Deer without stopping for a 7-Eleven Chicken Kebob. This time I got the spicy chicken kebob. (They're all good) Man I love those things. I don't know if it was the food at the conference or the late night at Carmen's but whichever is the case, I am now EXHAUSTED (at six thirty pee emm! How sad is that?) Bo wants to go out tonight so I might take off for a few hours with him and Clayton, maybe be the designated driver or something as I have to work in the morning. Oh man, the drive to and from Red Deer was a blast now that I have my Sirrius radio... I was laughing it up on the comedy channels and having a good ol' time. It was great.  Moonlight, kissing on a violet shore Dreaming in the color of the dress you wore I wake up haunted and wanting more about you I don't wanna... feel alive I don't wanna... feel naked I don't wanna... feel love without you I can't keep living these strange goodbyes I need you (I need you) I miss you January 15, 2006 - 11:09 PM I read of a man who stood to speak At the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on her tombstone, From the beginning...to the end. He noted that first came her date of birth And spoke the following date with tears, But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time That she spent alive on earth... And now only those who loved her, Know what that little line is worth. For it matters not, how much we own; The cars...the house...the cash, What matters is how we live and love And how we spend our dash. So think about this long and hard... Are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left, That can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough To consider whats true and real, And always try to understand The way other people feel And be less quick to anger, And show appreciation more And love the people in our lives Like we've never loved before. If we treat each other with respect, And more often wear a smile. Remembering that this special dash Might only last a little while. So, when your eulogy's being read With your life's actions to rehash... Would you be proud of the things they say About how you spent your dash? I am glad that you're in my life and part of my dash. -- Author Unknown January 16, 2006 - 10:51 PM If it could go wrong, it did. If it didn't go wrong, it will. That was the story of my day today. I had, for the first time since I started, a bad day at work. Everything seemed to go wrong today. And to make matters worse, my calls were spread out over a fairly large area which meant a lot of travel. I burnt nearly 50 litres of gas today! And I worked 15 hours. I didn't even get to stop for lunch or any breaks for that matter. It's amazing how the body just goes though. When you're that busy you don't even really notice that you're missing meals. Plus I did have one customer give me a bag full of fresh from her oven cookies... They were so fresh that they were still crumbling as I tried to eat them! That was a highlight, a ray of sunshine in an otherwise overcast and gloomy day. I was running behind on just about every call all day. And when I'd manage to catch up, the next job would put me right back behind again. I had one call to transfer cable for a customer. They'd just moved and wanted cable hooked up at their new house. They'd given me 25 minutes to get this done, including travel. When I got to the house, there is NO internal cable, two outlets fed from external wraps and the customer is walking me through the house telling me that he wants me to install cable outlets in every room. The entire house is finished top to bottom and such a task would basically require re-wiring the house from scratch. I told him he would have to rebook the call and let them know how many outlets he wanted so that they could allow a more realistic amount of time to accomplish the task. That job could easily take up half a day! I ended up making him happy though, I moved a cable that had been run up through the floor into a proper wall jack that looked very professional. But as for the other outlets, there was nothing I could do. I could have got an 045 code too (which would have meant quite a bit more money) but the truck the guy's modem was on had broken down and so it wasn't there. I ended my day in McKenzie Town and had one more call (a disconnect) in Lynneview (?) That's about 20-25 kilometers away!?! I decided to leave it since it was just a disconnect and was quite a bit out of my way. I am very irritated with the way my day went. But still, a bad day at Shaw beats a good day at my old job... Even with all the setbacks and problems I still made a decemt living today, more than double what I would have made in a day at Custom Linen. That's one thing that blows me away. We have people from all sorts of backgrounds at Shaw, many of them trained, skilled, qualified and certified professionals in a variety of different professions - yet they choose to work at Shaw installing cable, internet and phone because the pay is better! Figure that out! That's another reason why I don't mind having a bad day now and then. The majority of them are not so and even a bad day pays pretty good. hehehe Goodnight January 19, 2006 - 1:42 PM  Bringing Down The House The other day my brother was at home and heard a great crash outside. "It sounded like a car hit something, there was a loud bang" he said to describe what he heard. He got up and went outside to see if he could see the accident - but after looking around and noticing nothing unusual on the streets, he went back into the house. The next morning when he went into the garage he noticed there was a large pile of wood where once his clean floor lay, and the main support beam spanning the width of the garage was now divided amongst itself and (ahem) was not standing.  In other news, I have always been amused at how society treats debt as a normal part of life. It is considered the way to go to get a credit card when you turn 18 and spend the rest of your life trying to pay off your sporattic purchases. Even before I could have applied for a credit card, I decided to see if I could go through life without ever having one. To this day, I've kept up that practice. But it is interesting how the banks seem to try to pressure you into getting one, even if you don't use it. First of all, I wouldn't buy something I wasn't going to use, so why would I sign up for a credit card if I didn't plan to use it? The banks know that we are weak-willed to begin with, and putting a credit card into our wallets but saying we don't have to use it is like putting a chocolate bar into the hands of a fat kid and saying "Don't eat it." They KNOW you're going to use it because we live in a society that worships the act of instant gratification. I want it NOW. I don't care what it costs me in the end, I'll pay for it later just give it to me now. Every time I've gone into my bank in the past couple of years (which is very rare) they've always tried to push a credit card on me. When Bo and I were finishing the arrangements of buying this house, I had to go in to get several temporary cheques from our joint account. I just wanted 2 or 3 cheques and while I was there, the teller launched herself into this speel about why I should get a credit card from them. "No thanks, I just want the cheques." "But did you know that...." "Sorry, but I am not interested." Still she persisted and it wasn't until I became visibly irritated and a little bit more firm in my demeanor that she backed off. Why are they so keen on having every customer with a credit card? Because it's the only way they can get away with charging 15%, 25%, or even 35% interest! And what do people most often put on their credit cards? Items that will only depreciate. So let's say you buy a new TV that costs $2,500 on your credit card. According to the terms and conditions listed on this application they sent me, my minimum payments would be the fees and interest for each month, plus $10. Annual interest rate of 18.5% on the total balance is charged until the total balance is paid, so even if I paid $2,499 of that TV off, I'd still be paying interest on the full $2,500 until that last dollar was submitted. So if you do the math, let's say I were to buy that $2,500 TV on this credit card they're offering me. (I don't know what their fees would be, so I left them out of this calculation. The actual figures would be higher as a result of the fees) You take that $2,500 (We'll assume GST is included in that) and multiply it by 18.5% / year. That works out to $38.54 / month or $462.48 / year. Your minimum payments are all the interest charges and fees (which are an unknown at this point) plus $10.00. Paying the $2,500 this way would take 250 months or 20.83 years and you would have ended up putting out (are you sitting down?) 12,135.42 in total, $9,635.42 of which goes to the bank as interest! Does that not sound like the ultimate cash cow you've ever seen? AND, if that weren't enough, if you miss two consecutive minimum payments or three within 12 months of each other, your annual interest rate jumps 5%!! Now you're owing 23.5% interest on $2,500 which is $587.50 per year or $48.96 per month, making it take that much longer to pay off. How much do you want to bet that long before that 20 years was up, your brand new $2,500 television isn't even working anymore?  With this arrangement stacked so heavily in favor of the banks, you wouldn't think anybody in their right mind would use credit cards. It is primarily this reason that I refuse to accept these credit card offers that keep appearing in my mail. Every couple of months I get a new one, offering this card or that card.  If you really need $10,000 for something, take out a loan! On a 5 year term your loan interest rate would be around 7-8%, which is a heck of a lot lower than 18%-25%... January 20, 2006 - 11:53 PM  is it wise to say, while the other's waiting, she's contemplaiting you, another passes by the door, and the other day, you just look around, all you see is gone, all you see is gone January 21, 2006 - 11:17 PM   Procrastination     Is this sexy or what? BITE THAT SLEEVE!!  | |