2003227
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Now I just hope that I don't dream about
Posted by Greg @ 11:45 PM PST [Link]
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2003225
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I started a new country today...over at Technologia, thanks to NationStates. It's a nation based on freedoms and techology, where any citizens may use out modern technology to vote on any and all issues of the day. The country heads are true civil servants who do the will of the people every day.
The Free Land of Technologia is a tiny, socially progressive nation, renowned for its devotion to social welfare. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 5 million love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.The enormous, socially-minded government devotes most of its attentions to Social Welfare, with areas such as Religion & Spirituality and Law & Order receiving almost no funds by comparison. The average income tax rate is 36%, but much higher for the wealthy. A small private sector is dominated by the Information Technology industry. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown. Technologia's national animal is the emperor penguin, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the bit. Pretty cool.
Posted by Greg @ 10:00 PM PST [Link]
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2003224
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Some days I think the French have it right...I once saw a French TV show where a young lass had won a small lottery. Unsure what to do, she asked various relatives for advice...her wise old uncle told her to go for a nice fancy dinner...really expensive, top-of-the-line gourmet. She would have nothing left over to grow to dislike, but she'd always have the memory of a fabulous meal. Tonight I had big-ass-beef-ribs topped with about 1/2 pound of crab legs. It was delicious! I topped it off with a nice slice of warm (but not hot) bumbleberry pie (with chunks of rhubarb and apple). Jen had St. Louis style ribs in Mesquite sauce followed by chocolate mousse. For the (somewhat high) price of this meal we had the first decent meal in the town we are hoping to move to. Well worth it. For the record, the place was Sharky's Pub and Grille in Ladner. We went out there to do a pre-scope of a house we are going to go see in the next few days. It's the 'main' floor of a two story house, meaning it's the basement, but above ground. No guarantees that we'll take it, but worth looking at. I'd prefer a small townhouse or an apartment, or the top floor of a house (with full backyard access), but maybe this will be ok.
Happy Tree Friends cartoons! ...watch them before your kids do...
Posted by Greg @ 10:11 PM PST [Link]
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2003223
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Nice day...amazingly beautiful day! We took a drive out to Ladner, to the far south of Vancouver, as we are considering moving there. Wonderful little town...quaint, but not in a fake, hideous 'recreated' way. It's also not closed-in and crowded feeling like much of Vancouver and the other cities around it. In short, we are going to end up giving notice to our current place and moving there. :) It'll be in a place with much less crime, and I'll be much closer to work. Saw some cool stuff there too :) Like this house (popup)! It's nestled along a very normal street, between bland condos and some single-family-dwellings. I'd definitely like to live there, just because anyone who I wanted to come visit us would have any easy time finding it. Hell, the blind would have an easy time finding it :) We saw a small house for rent just down the street from it too. If we rent that, it would be very interesting to find out who the owners are.
My curiosity for the day...what does it take to get a board game published? Every big board game phenomenon that I've seen was self-published (ie. Trivial Pursuit sure did well once it was released, but it was a hard, expensive fight to get it there for the designers). I have ideas, but it seems very difficult to get one off the ground and into the homes of geeks.
Posted by Greg @ 12:08 AM PST [Link]
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2003222
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I feel obliterated today...I think one of those low-level virii that comes along and smack people around a bit then disappears. I have a theory that there are thousands of virii that travel around doing minor things (causing mild headaches, etc.) and that are never diagnosed as virii because they just aren't serious enough. So no cure for the common viral headache :) Now that medicine has cures for many virii anyway...the chicken pox/herpes/shingles/mono group of virii are a good example...widespread, definitely problematic, but not cured or likely to be given the kind of attention that things like cancer and AIDS are given. Saying that, why the heck am I still up at quarter to one? Just 'cause I love my wife and wanna make sure she's home safe. There is no better reason.
Another thought: I'm trying to think up the next killer gadget. Not something that I plan in inventing, but something that has probably already been invented, just not spread wide enough or made cheap enough to get into the hands of everyone. Since the TV, there hasn't been something that has spread itself into every single home. You could probably argue that the computer is heading there, or that the VCR has already done it, but there are always going to be people who don't feel the need to rent movies, record TV shows, or play on the internet. Something bigger and more important to our daily lives must be coming. I'm thinking it's going to be electronic supplemental memory at this point, but who knows. Maybe it's just me that needs it.
Posted by Greg @ 12:50 AM PST [Link]
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2003219
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It's amazing how much difference a chair can make. A few days ago my back was just killing me. I kept having to stand up, stretch, move around, just so that my lower back would stop causing me spasmic intolerable pain. Climbing up and down stairs was still possible, but each step jarred me, feeling like my back was two bars of metal meeting in my lower back and slamming together. So I convinced my work to allow me to buy a new chair, and I got this. It took a day, but all my pain is gone! My back feels quite good...slightly stiff, but not hurting me at all! I highly recommend this chair, if you can find it.
Coolthings:
Posted by Greg @ 10:37 PM PST [Link]
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2003217
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Jen details the story of our falling in love and getting married! She does it much better than I could.
Alabama was the farthest I've travelled (in miles...I've been to a closer city in Mexico), but everyone I know has been further. There are so many places I've wanted to travel, but something always seemed more important. Right now, we do want to go to Ireland and Scotland (sort of a honeymoon, since our 'honeymoon' trip was before we even got married), but we're saving for a house. I wonder if we will be able to do that trip before our 10th anniversary sometimes. I certainly hope it doesn't take that long.
Posted by Greg @ 09:17 PM PST [Link]
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2003215
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A friend on UF pointed out a really bizarre thing today... I go by the nickname of 'Kickstart' all over the web, and have done so since about 1991 or so. Recently, before Jen and I were married, I introduced her to Userfriendly and she couldn't come up with a nickname...while we were dating I wrote her a poem in which I (yeah, you can laugh at me now) compared her to a butterfly, so I suggested that she use the name "j.butterfly". Now take a look at these real, unaltered lyrics to a Red Hot Chili Peppers song called Can't Stop (my bold added for emphasis):
Can't stop addicted to the shin dig
Cop top he says I'm gonna win big
Choose not a life of imitation
Distant cousin to the reservation
Defunkt the pistol that you pay for
This punk the feeling that you stay for
In time I want to be your best friend
Eastside love is living on the westend
Knock out but boy you better come to
Don't die you know the truth is some do
Go write your message on the pavement
Burnin' so bright I wonder what the wave meant
White heat is screaming in the jungle
Complete the motion if you stumble
Go ask the dust for any answers
Come back strong with 50 belly dancers [Chorus:]
The world I love
The tears I drop
To be part of
The wave can't stop
Ever wonder if it's all for you
The world I love
The trains I hop
To be part of
The wave can't stop
Come and tell me when it's time to Sweetheart is bleeding in the snowcone
So smart she's leading me to ozone
Music the great communicator
Use two sticks to make it in the nature
I'll get you into penetration
The gender of a generation
The birth of every other nation
Worth your weight the gold of meditation
This chapter's going to be a close one
Smoke rings I know your going to blow one
All on a spaceship persevering
Use my hands for everything but steering
Can't stop the spirits when they need you
Mop tops are happy when they feed you
J. Butterfly is in the treetop
Birds that blow the meaning into bebop [Repeat Chorus] Wait a minute I'm passing out
Win or lose just like you
Far more shocking
Than anything i ever knew
How about you
10 more reasons
Why i need somebody new just like you
Far more shocking than anything I ever knew
Right on cue Can't stop addicted to the shin dig
Cop top he says I'm gonna win big
Choose not a life of imitation
Distant cousin to the reservation
Defunkt the pistol that you pay for
This punk the feeling that you stay for
In time I want to be your best friend
Eastside love is living on the westend
Knock out but boy you better come to
Don't die you know the truth is some do
Go write your message on the pavement
Burnin' so bright I wonder what the wave meant Kickstart the golden generator
Sweet talk but don't intimidate her
Can't stop the gods from engineering
Feel no need for any interfering
Your image in the dictionary
This life is more than ordinary
Can I get 2 maybe even 3 of these
Come from space
To teach you of the pliedes
Can't stop the spirits when they need you
This life is more than just a read thru Now, I can easily see the use of my name in lyrics, it's common enough. But "J. Butterfly"?? That's a bit of extra strangeness.
Still trying to decide what to do about our living accomodations here, since I have a new job. I am working in Richmond, but don't really like Richmond very much - it's too expensive, and the only apartments I have found are right downtown, and I'd really like something a little suburban. Richmond is surrounded by a lot of rural farmland, but of course there are no apartment buildings in the middle of it, so we'd have to rent a house (even more expensive) or a basement suite (not my first, second, or third choice) if we were to live there. Our other choice is south Surrey, which I like, but it doesn't help my commute much. In S. Surrey we could likely find a nice suite of some sort or a decent apartment, but I'd still have to cross a very slow bridge into Richmond. We just know that we've got to get out of Whalley. Home invasions and drug dealers and prostitution are kind of off-setting.
Posted by Greg @ 09:11 PM PST [Link]
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As an internet guy in Canada, I do some amount of shopping online...and I'd say at least half of that is done from US stores. It grieves me to say that I am going to have to cut that shopping down though, because the cost of getting my purchases over the border are prohibitive. I just got my Valentine's Day order from Archie McPhee and the duty and taxes on the purchase were nearly half the cost of the stuff. Take into consideration that I was buying things that were not terribly cheap, were in US bucks so the exchange killed me a little, and it was a bit of a shock to see UPS asking for $42.50CA (on top of the ~$46.25US that the products cost me). Quite a price for a magic 8-ball, a calendar, some small tins, some chili pepper party lights and two rubber duckies. On the other hand, it was a pretty unique set of Valentine's gifts for Jen :) And the free gifts of a smiley-face plastic skeleton, a 'natural feel' sticky runner nose, and a glow-in-the-dark skull fridge magnet...well, you just can't get value like that.
I'm awake at 1:30am as I write this...it's been an exciting week for me, and I haven't slept terribly well. Tonight at 8:00pm I was so toasted I could barely keep my eyes open and sent myself off to bed. I was getting those 'so tired my limbs ache' feelings and I was hurting myself by staying up. All was bliss, dreaming about being a terrorist profiler whose task was to create a database of geodesic home builders, when the dumbass in parking lot stall 40 decided to let his car alarm stay on and I was forcibly awakened. This is the third (?) time in a week this has happened, and if I wasn't a law-abiding citizen I'd love to break into his car, pop the hood, and disconnect his battery to make it stop. It's not loud enough to call the cops over (historically, they have been exceptionally able to ignore anything that doesn't fall into the narrowly-defined decibal rules), but not quiet enough to ignore to go back to sleep. I do think I will register a complaint with the building manager.
Speaking of geodesic domes...I keep thinking about them. I'm becoming a bit obsessed with the idea that I could have a geodesic dome house (+3 points for unusualness) that I can build (+2 points for me being a sucker for this) for less than an average price (-10 points for being a cheap scottish bugger). I need to buy a lottery ticket tomorrow...if that happens, I am buying some island land and retiring (I like my job muchly, but it's not worth ignoring a lottery win!).
Posted by Greg @ 01:41 AM PST [Link]
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2003211
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Every day, I have the fortunate ability through my volunteer activity to ask a question of a few hundred people and expect more than a few of them to answer me. It's an unusual arrangement, and not one that i take really all that lightly, although the subject of the questions I ask is usually pretty flighty. I've learned over the 3 years or so that I've been doing it that certain types of questions get the most responses...other types will get silly, fluffy, non-answers as people hide themselves behind a 'pat' answer...other types have a chance of drawing out a little bit of the soul of the answerer. I feel pretty lucky being allowed and able to do this. If I stood on a streetcorner and asked the same questions, I would get 'pat' answers to everything I asked, I am sure.
Interesting read...are some bloggers more equal than others? I read a couple of the more popular blogs, but none of the absolute top 'a-list' ones. I find the obscure somewhat more interesting.
Alberta puts adopted kids up on the internet (with video) - I can't help but think, after reading a fair bit of these, that enforced, reversible, sterilization is the way to go with people. Creating kids that took drugs and alcohol before they were born is such a horrible thing that people who are found to have done it should be jailed. My heartstrings got tugged hard.
Posted by Greg @ 10:52 PM PST [Link]
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2003210
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Interesting fight on the UserFriendly.org comment board (cont'd here). I started the fight, but I honestly don't care if the US asks this of other countries...as long as other countries ask it of the US. I would LOVE to hear the screaming that US citizens would make if their own government tried to create ID cards with biometric data. Once again...I really like Americans; I really dislike the US government. I just can't understand why Americans aren't tearing down the walls of the White House at this point.
Dude! You're going to jail! Dumbass.
Ok...a question: Assuming you believe in open democracy, if a number of pressing questions in the world were brought to national referendum in your country (abortion, capital punishment, gun control, war, etc.) what would you do if the vote went against what you believe? Is your faith in democracy stronger than your other beliefs? Would you continue to fight against an overwhelming majority? ...most importantly...would you want a referendum on these issues to take place?
Posted by Greg @ 08:30 PM PST [Link]
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200328
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An idea that I've had for a while...something that in it's essence is a Very Small Thing that could have consequences if the meme-virus proliferates: International Democracy in Action Day (full website coming). Celebrated April 9th, it's purpose is to "connect with your government representative(s) for the following reasons: - Let them know that you are an involved voter - Explain to them how they can best represent you on current or future issues - Ensure that vocal lobbyists should not have more influence than the voting public - Create awareness of locales which do not have open democracies and ask your representative to push for more democracy". I can't think of a better way to make the governments sit up and take notice more than flooding them with voices of the people who elected them. If you think this is a good idea...take part! Spread the word...post it on your blog, write to your local media about it, tell your friends. Help out...write sample letters for people to use when writing to their representative, list the representatives for your area, raise the issues that people may not know about so that other people will write their representatives about them. Thanks!
Met another UFie today: lord_dolphin. Decent fellow...works in a local mall in a store selling nothing but blank CDs and their accoutrements (a very good idea). One thing to note: they don't charge you the horrid CD levy!! Go buy from them in Metrotown Mall in Burnaby if you are local.
Posted by Greg @ 04:32 PM PST [Link]
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200326
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I have a job!
I'm happy!
I am most definitely not going to talk about it here! ;-) Thanks all that helped me out in my networking!
Posted by Greg @ 03:46 PM PST [Link]
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200324
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My family was dirt poor when I grew up. Scratch that: we were "powdered-milk poor", "cashing in the bottles poor" and "no-name macaroni and cheese poor". So with some large amount of trepidation today, Jen and I put money in an investment that we can't touch for 18 months. We want a home (thinking that we really want to build one) and have to force ourselves to have this money put away so that maybe we can do it someday. We decided to do this, even though I am currently unemployed (and Jen is not yet allowed to work) because we have to, if we don't we will spend it on things that aren't really necessary (we've got enough for rent and food and transportation aside from what we've locked in). As you can guess, I've ne'er done this before. The only investment I have is some old stocks that were started up in the midst of the dot-com boom but never got to the the point of initial public offering because the people in charge of it were Too Damned Slow. Even if those were released, they wouldn't be worth a whole lot. We're talking 600 shares of what is likely a penny stock. My tiny portfolio is in better shape if they never release it than if they do. If I hadn't married Jen, I wouldn't have done it. If she hadn't married me, I doubt she would have done it either. That's a small part of what Jen is to me: a reason to live my life right and an impetus to make goals happen. Pretty damned cool, eh?
As you can see, I've re-designed quite a bit. Hopefully it's a bit nicer for you to read, but mainly I'm just glad that it doesn't look like a large dill pickle exploded any more. There's still quite a few tweaks to make, and I want to get a little more artistic on it, but this makes me happy for now.
Waiting for news on whether I have a job is hard...maybe even harder than just looking. I'm really looking forward to what I think is going to be good news. Even if it isn't though, I'll be happy to see something final so I can move on. Keep your fingers crossed for me?
Posted by Greg @ 08:53 PM PST [Link]
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200322
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Jen and I took a nice trip out today...sort of a mixed bag of wanting to get out in the fresh air, wanting to see something new, wanting to get near the ocean, and looking around to see what other subcommunities might be better than where we live now. After random consideration, we headed off to Blackie Spit Park, which neither of us had ever seen before. It's in a hidden south-west corner of Surrey between the crappy industrialness of north and northwest Surrey and the over-priced pretentiousness of White Rock. Really nice...still a fairly expensive place to live, but looks like a really nice place to have a walk, a summer picnic, or a quiet bit of ocean viewing. Some pics here. We talked to a woman who said that the big stump was called "giant's foot" by the kids. The rock balancing is by yours truly - caused quite a few people to watch and comment: "looks like you need some quick-drying cement!", "that's a 'kid' thing to do", etc. Overall, people were happy to see me do it, I think. I love doing it, but I think I was boring Jen; otherwise I'd likely stay there for hours trying to balance every rock on the point. :) After that, a drive around to see what Ladner was like (flat), and a quick trip along the heavily industrial River road back to Surrey and home (with a stop for Slurpees along the way).
Posted by Greg @ 06:39 PM PST [Link]
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200321
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By now you've heard.
By now you've heard
- and I won't retell -
that on a winter's day
7 brilliant stars flashed for a moment
burning into our eyes
and we look away
with tears from the brightness
their images burn into our minds.
Just remember that they still shine bright
in the hearts of the young
who will one day
gladly take their place.
Posted by Greg @ 08:56 PM PST [Link]
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LINKS and STUFF
Userfriendly.org - It's a geek comic strip. Really it's the main geek comic strip that has content based more for the geek crowd than any other. Other 'geek' comic strips have humour and content that almost anyone can get. I go there more out of habit these days than anything else, I used to work for it, and am still the head moderator for their comments system. I guess that's my intro to blogging in some way.
Aspectus - This is Illiad's (of Userfriendly fame) other project, which is like Slashdot in some ways and like a personal blog in some ways, but cooler than either. Needs more content, and more visitors, but that'll come.
RED MEAT - Oh my. I imagine there is a FBI file on the artist. I never, ever want to meet him. But I will glory in his comic strip. Brilliance and intelligence wrapped up in the tattooed skin of a circus freak and tied with a bow made of blown O-rings.
Imparte.com - Rich's site. Not going to talk about it until he says I can. But go visit anyway.
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