20021130

Lots going on this week...at work: learning VBA, and catching up on a hundred plus projects that have been left behind for a good while. We've had such a horrible run of bad luck there in the Systems department that all the high hopes and big plans we wanted to do got left behind. We've had everything from unrelated servers die in the middle of crucial time-critical upgrades to software packages that we were counting on having monstrous huge bugs that caused us to run back and forth to users' workstations patching the problems temporarily (ie. "You can have collation OR correct margins, but not both!"). We've now got the ugly problems solved, now we are doing the things that a Systems department should be doing. And now I don't have administration and lawyers yelling at me saying that I am not doing my job and saying that my boss sucks. Either one makes me feel awfully trapped. At home: Lots to get done...we need to clean up the house, unpack boxes, and more...but we really have to get some more storage space first. Cleaning out the storage room is one big thing, but we need more shelving and a wardrobe/armoire for my stuff in the bedroom. It makes much more sense for Jen to have the closet. I'm wondering if I can't build something myself though. Maybe buy a couple tools and borrow a wood router. On the side: An hour of contracting today. I'd love to build that up a bit more. We are taking Pico in to get his stitches removed today. Kiss Jen. Batten down the hatches. Find some time for guitar, relaxation, meditation. ......late addition: Defending against the DMCA Shows very clearly that the DMCA is being threatened in cease-and-desist letter where the DMCA would not actually be useful to the complainants in stopping the actions of the recipients. I think it may be time we all spread the word that abuses of the law should not be tolerated in order for corporations and individuals to gain financial or political footholds where they do not deserve them. Definitely an important read. Posted by Greg @ 09:31 AM PST [Link]

20021127

sign my petition and pass it on. Posted by Greg @ 10:00 PM PST [Link]

20021126

In my first experience with zen meditation I picked a koan that was suggested to me by a friend and sat on the edge of my bed to study it. Not knowing what I was doing, I thought as hard as I could about it, eventually settling on an approach that set the koan 'behind my eyes'. I have no idea how long I sat, but really it wasn't long. The koan was something like: 'do not call it a stick, for if you do, you affirm it; do not refuse its name, for if you do, you negate it'. The only way I can describe what happened was that some part of my mind gave a snap like a bubblegum bubble and I felt shaken but clear-headed. I felt an urge to go take a shower, and when the warm water touched me I felt the stick wash over me. Some things in my life don't need a name or even to be conceptualized, nor do they need me to feel a specific way about them, nor fail to have any feelings about them. Sometimes when I travel through my daily life the crowds of occurences or lack of happenings wash over me in the form of a non-stick/stick. I can't and can't not call those good days. Posted by Greg @ 06:20 PM PST [Link]

20021124

Ooo...what a day. Jen and I got ourselves out of the house and off furniture shopping at a reasonable time, then it was just one frustration after another. Normally, I can handle going shopping just fine, but today all the idiots came out and the stores just plain suck. We were mainly looking for bedroom storage (dressers, chests of drawers, armoires, etc.) and computer desks. Yesterday we bought a bed we really like at Ikea. Solid wood, nice and simple. We started with The Brick. Everything was overpriced crap, but I kinda knew that would be the case. It seems to me that it should be cheaper and easier to manufacture wood furniture than make fiberboard and coat it will wood-coloured plastic. It also seems to me that if manufacturers were to create plastic furniture that was supposed to look like wood, then they could also create the right textures and proper-looking end-grain to make it just that extra little bit realer. Of course, this is not the case. While we walked out of the store after becoming disgusted at the desks we checked out the living room furnishings and were shocked at the extremely high prices for extremely ugly furniture. The one thing I liked there was a rough-hewn (ie. made out of antiqued pine 2x4s) bar. Definitely making me realize that I should be making my own cool furniture rather than buying the crap from these places. Next, lunch at Pho Hoa. The best part of the shopping experience. From there we hit Walmart. . . . . Without sounding exactly like ever other Walmart hater on the planet: Man, does Walmart suck. We arrived, and couldn't get a buggy because they were all busy. According to the 'greeter', they just bought 100 more, but they were all being used. The place was PACKED. Worse than that, it was packed with redneck welfare idiots, crappy parents and kids who feel that the world is their personal plaything and desire to break their toy. Needless to say, we didn't find what we came for, and Jen was extremely disappointed in Canadian Walmarts. I don't blame her. Compared to the Walmart Supercenters in her old stomping grounds, this looked like an overly crowded corner grocery store. We found the little that we could, and proceeded to go to the checkout only to find that the Walmart giftcards that her relatives sent weren't usable in Walmarts in Canada. While I tried to make sure Jen didn't get extremely upset, I was fighting to not find and rip into the store manager. Obviously it's not his fault, some corporate buttholes were making these decisions. I'm planning on giving them a call to find out how we can cash in our wedding gifts. It would really suck to have to travel down to the US to buy furniture, then pay duty and taxes on it coming back. Since I really didn't want to spend more time crowded in with a bunch of smelly strangers, we drove to the middle of Langley (about 15-20km) to a strip mall where Sears, Mikasa, and Pier 1 Imports live. All are insanely overpriced (we're talking about $189.00 cotton duvet covers here) and had basically nothing that we wanted. I was getting to the point where I would have happily laid down $500 for a decent desk that was the size and style I wanted, but none could be found. I would have paid even more for a cool armoire. Disappointed we came home. We spent $130 during the whole day and just bought stuff for the kitchen, and didn't even find the stuff we really wanted for that. What bothers me most is that we have a very clear idea of what things we want and those things can't be found anywhere (or we are looking in the wrong places). I don't feel like my demands as a consumer are being met, and that's a shame for the retailers, because I am pretty sure I am not the only one with those wants. Someone could make a killing. Posted by Greg @ 08:27 PM PST [Link]

This police error made me think of something...is there a large scale project to watch police blunders, brutality, corruption, predjudice, etc? I am currently feeling that the police generally do not serve community needs in a large number of cases. Certainly, when I hear about them, they are either not showing up enough (like in my neighbourhood, where we have the dubious distinction of being the car theft capital of north america), or showing up to do pointless things (I have a friend on Cortes Island, which has very little people and very many cops. They are doing traffic control in a place that hasn't had a traffic fatality in 20-odd years). Here in Surrey, with all our car thefts there are not bait cars, but 10km away in Vancouver they are starting to use them quite aggressively (Surrey has a history of being ignored for political reasons). Simply put, I do not trust the police because they don't do common sense things and when I hear them cracking down on crime it's always in the least intelligent and logical manner. Posted by Greg @ 10:34 AM PST [Link]

20021122

Big ol' friend get-together tonight...Ross, Dawnette (sp?), Andy, Kelly, Daemion, James, Claire, Ken, Glenda, Mike, Jen and I. Very cool. We went over to Forever Amber's Cafe in New Westminster. Gourmet food at burger shop prices. I had the grilled tuna with prawns and roasted veggies. It was excellent, as usual. A few people got together and bought Jen and I dinner. Yesterday, similar occurence. Ken, Lori, Tom, Valaria, JD, Gretchen, Jen and I. We went to Sammy J. Peppers and had good conversation and crappy, expensive food. Ken's and my dinners were ok, but Lori's food was cold, they forgot the bacon on Jen's chicken clubhouse (and the chicken was about paper thin), they completely forgot Gretchen's dinner. The meals came about 15 minutes apart, so some of us were finished before others even started. The server was good, so we really wanted to tip her, but the kitchen was awful. I am seriously looking at giving their head office a call. Really they should have given us a discount, but all they ended up doing was not charging Lori for her salmon. Vancouver has more restaurants per capita than any other city in North America, it's unfortunate that most of them suck. The ones that are good are truly treasures. I'll list the ones I really like here...if you've got restaurant recommendations, please add a comment Forever Amber's Cafe in New Westminster Amorosa on the border between New Westminster and Burnaby Fatzo's on West 4th in Vancouver Yokohama in Surrey (not sure about the other location[s]) Pho Hoa (any location). What is soup without tripe? That Away Home on Cambie in Vancouver 5 Star Sweets in Surrey (Indian take-away) La Charcouterie in Port Kells (the best subs, but only when the owner makes them - his kids are stingy) New York New York Greek Restaurant on 152nd st. in Surrey Posted by Greg @ 10:40 PM PST [Link]

20021120

YAY!! Pico-kitty is going to be alright! Poor Pico was born with (or received shortly after birth) a number of holes in the muscles along his right side (hernias) which caused him all sorts of grief and pain. Originally the vet we took him to (who I did not like or trust) told us it was a basal cell cystic tumour and to watch it for a while. What would happen was that the lump on that grew and shrank on his side was actually his intestine poking through one of those holes and his feces getting trapped along the intruding part. When we got back from getting married we found out that he'd been quite sick and it was obvious (to me) that he'd lost a bunch of weight although he had been eating fairly regularly. I decided that enough was enough and took him into the Guildford Animal Hospital where the very nice Dr. Grewal did some tests and determined that it wasn't feline leukemia, feline AIDS, or liver disease, and that everything was related to these hernias. Pico went into surgery yesterday and came out fine. We went and saw him today to bring him some of his favourite food (frozen shrimp - kitty popsicles) and visit with him for a bit. He ate like he was starving and I left a bunch of them with the staff there. He's got a 4-5 inch scar down his abdomen and a 2-3 inch scar on his side and is currently hooked up to an IV to rehydrate and medicate him. He's going to be fine, which makes me very happy. He's the sweetest little cat I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with. I look forward to him getting all better and coming home. Posted by Greg @ 10:23 PM PST [Link]

20021119

It's been a few days since I wrote here, it's been insanely busy. In my usual when-I-get-incredibly-lacking-in-time style I will point-form it today: The wedding went really well :) Pics are here. I'm a happily married man, Jen is wonderful and sweet and I can't imagine living without her. I hate Continental Airlines. The seats are about 3 inches smaller than the ones at American Airlines, the food is crappier, the planes are kept too hot, and they make basically no effort to please anyone except the first class passengers. When we were getting on the plane and trying to get past the many people standing in the aisle and putting their bags in the overhead compartment, the flight attendants were already serving drinks to the first class and getting in the way. I swear, I am never flying Continental again. Canadian Immigration went very smoothly, Jen now has a 6 month visitors visa, which can be extended if she doesn't get her landed immigrant status within that time. The weather in Vancouver is awful. I mean it was Addams Family Gloomy yesterday and today, I am really looking forward to a little sun. I got completely soaked in the 2 minutes walk between home and the skytrain. Yesterday we went shopping...bought pillows, mattress pad, various home stuff. We looked at furniture and lighting and are planning what we want in here. Also are thinking about the colours and styles we want in the bathroom. I think Jen and I will get along great in this department. We are looking at these cable lighting systems that use clamp-on 12-volt halogen lights. Today was my first day back to work...pretty busy in the morning and easing off in the afternoon. Typical Tuesday. Jen came down and met me for lunch and afterwards I gave her the big tour of the offices and introduced her to the people I like there. After that she went to the mall underneath my building and shopped for hours. Her poor feet got tired and sore and blistered :( She stayed there and met me after work for the trip home. Before we got home though we met with Rich and our mutual friend Bill for dinner at TGIFridays. Lots of good laughs and talk about our various sordid histories. Also a chance for Jen to meet my friends and them to meet her. Got home, sorted my crap in the closet. It's truly amazing how much clothes even someone like me who basically doesn't care about clothing can accumulate. I am throwing away (giving away, I hope) a garbage bag full of clothing. Posted by Greg @ 10:02 PM PST [Link]

20021116

She smiles and all is right She laughs and I must laugh too She kisses me and I am dreaming of her She marries me and I am hers, always and forever. Posted by Greg @ 05:41 AM PST [Link]

20021114

As we start ramping up to the wedding it gets clearer. We now have a short list of Things That Must Be Done, and those things are not terribly complicated. Mostly they are just 'carry this over there', 'pay this amount of money', 'go get a haircut' sort of things. Nothing too serious. We repacked Jen's boxes yesterday, she had quite a few things packed that either I already had, or that we'd never use (ie. "Banish Your Butt, Belly and Thighs" book). Today we are taking 9 boxes to UPS for shipping, each weighing between 30 and 80 pounds. It might be a slightly more expensive way to move, but it's quick, convenient, and done in one swell foop. Tonight is our night to take her parents to dinner as a thank you for all they have done. They've been so excellent and helpful...her mother has done tons of work for the wedding. She's made the cakes, went down on her knees scrubbing the wedding location, setting everything up, etc. Jerry, her stepfather, has been a little under the weather, but he's been keeping up with everything and making jokes to keep everyone happy and on track. End of day... We took Jerry and Debbie (Jen's mom) out to dinner to Judy's Stagecoach...was quite good. Jen and I had catfish. It definitely filled me up! This afternoon we headed out to Sylacauga to ship Jen's stuff via UPS. Stupid office was only open from 5pm to 6pm Mon-Fri. We showed up at about 2pm. We piddled around, didn't do a whole lot of anything, bought some picture frames and wedding-night-boxing-shorts and stuff. It's very nice when weddings aren't so intensely complicated that you can sit back and enjoy the process. I can't wait. :) Posted by Greg @ 06:13 AM PST [Link]

20021112

"WARNING: You are in the path of a tornado...put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye!" It was pretty interesting last night. It started off with a thunderstorm; I've never seen it quite like that though. It was God's Malajusted Strobe light, constant flashes of light, some big and close, but most far away or sheet lightning. After a few hours of that (about 2:30am) the sirens came on, and we ended up getting up to watch TV and see where the tornados were touching down. Jen called her mom, who doesn't have a weather warning siren near and was in the path of a tornado, and we stayed up a couple hours wondering if we should go hide in the closet. In the end all was fine, the tornados killed 10 people in Alabama but no one we know. Weather is fun...on my way here there were some pretty strong winds and 20 feet off the ground in Birmingham the plane decided to dip to the left. I admit that shook me a little. I had visions of the left wing touching the ground and this plane spinning out of control on the runway. In those fears I knew I would be alright, but it was going to be a Bad Thingtm. Some comments I have heard down here in the south... "If you got problem with crime in that area your problems are coloured black" "You can get spray to get rid of ants and insects in your house, but a couple snakes will get rid of niggers" Those comments set off a nerve for me...I honestly like the guy who said them, but I have a pretty big racism twitch. I accept that he's an "old school"southern man, but it still irks me. Relates back to members of my own family using words like 'sandnigger', 'punjab', etc. to talk about the East Indians in the area I grew up. I don't like it, but then again I also look at the chinese drivers in my area with a little more caution than I do the white drivers. Though that could be because of the chinese-only driving schools which were shutdown a few years back for bribing the license officials. Even now in Vancouver it is totally legal to have a translator for your driving test, and a large number of people drive on BC roads who can't read the important signs. Am I racist for stating fact? Some people think so. We went and saw the house we are getting married in on Saturday...very nice. It's a lovely old country house, at least 100 years old, and the ceremony will be lit by kerosene lamps and candles. It's going to look incredible. A bunch of people will take pictures, and they will be posted here when available. Jen and her mom did all the real work for the wedding, and it shows. I love her very much for all of this. Quick notes My mom is flying in on Friday and we'll be taking her for a catfish dinner somewhere in Birmingham. Jen's brother-in-law suggested a place called the Bayou Grill that might be a possibility. I'd like some decent cajun food anyway. I had some gumbo in an airport restaurant called Bayou Billy's in Houston. Ungodly expensive ($5US for a small bowl of soup). Tasted good, but I am spoiled by the cheapness of Vancouver restaurants. Got a week's internet access for $9.95US I didn't have hot wings in a restaurant that served them. This may be a first. I can't wait to bring Jen back to meet everyone and eat at all my favourite restaurants. I've got quite a few of them, so I suspect we'll gain a few. We are going to up our exercise level though (no, not a *nudgenudgewinkwink* thing)...there are a lot of hiking and walking places for me to show Jen. Hopefully more tomorrow! Posted by Greg @ 08:06 AM PST [Link]

2002118

If I find myself a little distracted today, it's quite all right, really. You see...tomorrow at 8:30am I am flying to Alabama to get married (on the 16th). So while I listen to Mersey Symphonia perform the instrumental hits of the Beatles, my mind is 2777 miles away in Alexander City. All week people have been asking me, "Are you nervous?". Well, I wasn't until you asked me, thanks! Actually, I've been pretty calm, all things considered. Today was a bit hectic, but I can't really decide if it's because I am flying to make this huge step or just that I am flying. People were really nice though, hugs from the group of gamers, handshakes from all the male coworkers. The librarian was adamant that I had to wear a sports coat for the wedding; the hostess didn't understand that we have no plans for kids at this point. Ah well, everyone lives their life for themselves, in one way or another. I will continue to write here when I can, though I have no idea if anyone reads it since the DNS for geekly.com is still screwed up. But if you do read this and happen to see a plane fly overhead somewhere between Vancouver and Houston, TX or between Houston and Birmingham be sure to wave big. Posted by Greg @ 07:36 PM PST [Link]

2002117

I find myself wondering where my stresses really come from and whether my geek lifestyle is really all that healthy. I'm not terribly worried about the food I eat (though I know I'm not great about that), or the exercise I get (I do a hell of a lot of carrying heavy objects and running up and down stairs). I know my job is rushed and hectic, but I do get a chance to laugh every day, which is more than many people can say. I'm wondering (insert head-voices here) if the electromagnetic fields in and around me are somehow affecting my minds and my moods. You see, the times that I've been at my lowest stress levels have always been the times when I have had the least contact with electricity and electronic devices. The times when I have been the most stressed I have had gadgets surrounding me and constant electromagnetic fields. I once slept on a heated waterbed and was horribly depressed. I was sleeping 17 hours per day back then. Some weeks I didn't even get dressed. Maybe this is why people go camping...to get away from the electrical fields. Posted by Greg @ 05:50 PM PST [Link]

2002116

Oooh boy, now that annoys me. Prosecutors will not seek jail time for Winona Ryder's grand theft and I am disgusted. Anyone else who walked into Sak's, cut tags off clothing, stole $5000+ worth of goods, and tried to say they weren't guilty would be off to pound-you-in-the-ass prison for a good while. Celebrities get away with things that only a typical scumbag politician isn't envious of. Even those who do get caught and convicted (Robert Downey Jr.) are given chance after chance to straighten up, where the average Joe/Jane would find themselves forgotten by all but close family as they languish in jail. Nevermind the people who are only famous by close association to the powerful. Anyone want to suggest how I can become famous enough to get away with murder? Posted by Greg @ 05:53 PM PST [Link]

2002115

Today, like all days, I write about today. Rich grabbed his stuff today, he was staying with me two days a week for the last month while he was in transition. He's got a place; a room in the basement of the house with a couple dope-addled construction-worker types. I'm sure his blog will have all sorts of interesting and not terribly positive things to say about this arrangement. I do think I will miss having him here to chat with and jam on guitar with though. Today I had a talk with the head of HR in the firm I work with, who I have to say is not my favourite person. She's about as tactful as a rubber projectile...she doesn't kill, but she can cause a lot of harm. This talk was about my position's title. I dislike what I am called in the firm: System Technician. To a geek's sensitive ears this sounds a little like an insult; I'm used to being called a System Administrator, and my job title to me sounds like all I am expected to do is put together computers on a factory line. She doesn't understand the difference, or why I would want it changed. She gets the titles from VALA, which makes it's money deciding names for titles and what salary range they should be paid. I'd love to see what the salary range for a System Technician is, and where I sit in that. More money can always make me care less about the names they call me. Hell, for $100k they can officially title me Pat Buchanan's towelboy for all I care. My boss agrees with me, so that's cool. I like my boss, he's a good guy and feels more like a partner than someone who directs my work. This is a good thing and makes me work harder. I've always found myself having loyalty to people and never to organizations/companies/firms and I don't understand people who can think of a group of people as an entity itself. Also started a little bit of contract work tonight, which makes me happy. Hoping that that becomes a bigger thing and something that when I move off to another job (or my own small business, preferably), allows me to survive a little better. Certainly I won't be at this job forever...as it is right now the stress is painfully large. Might ease up a little once Jen is here. ;) Posted by Greg @ 10:09 PM PST [Link]

2002114

Lots going on, enough that point-forming it isn't all that bad an idea: First, bought an SMC Barricade Router/Firewall for hom here. Most things seem to be working EXCEPT DNS. For my original site Gadgeteer.net this was ok because my DNS records were also being held over at Paralynx Internet for that domain. Unfortunately this is not the case for Geekly.com, my yet-to-be-really-announced blog. If anyone knows why DNS fails even though portforwarding is set up for port 53 (UDP and TCP), please let me know. 11 days until I am married. Cool :) Yesterday, since Jen is going to be moving in with me I cleaned the crap out of my house. I pulled an amazingly amount of crap out of the carpet. I also poured nasty chemicals down the drain which caused me to get really ill. I found a link to the Voynich Manuscript on BoingBoing. Cryptography or glossolalia? I wrote a really nice poem for Jen on the way home. I made her cry apparently...but in a good way. Since I didn't see this happen, I didn't cry, but if I did, I would have. On the way home the other day on the Skytrain, a young black woman threw up on the floor and some people. The smell was incredible, obviously tainted by alcohol. She cried for a while, called a friend to pick her up at the other end, then laughed. I left the train just because of the smell. Not sure what that means. Because Canadian Immigration has so much power, I got a letter of Proof of Employment from my work to show that I can support Jen for the period where she will be unable to work. Without jumping through hoops for them they could turn Jen back at the border, even though we are married and (I think) quite obviously in love. Now obviously they have to be able to do this if they suspect a fake marriage, etc. But it does bother me that the burden of proof is on my side. I have to prove I am married, prove I love her, prove that she won't be a drain on the system. Cleaning up my apartment, I hired a friend of mine to help out. I paid him some cash, bought him lunch and gave him an old computer and a fishtank. The fishtank I was glad to get rid of, because all I ever did with it was kill animals. In that tank 6 Neon Tetras, and 4 Corys and a few hundred snails died. I hate killing things, even though I am an avowed meat-eater. Which reminds me...trying to cut down on the amount of Red Meat I eat. I feel a little...clogged...much too often. I'm hoping that more chicken and turkey and more veggies will help that. Plus drinking a lot more water than I normally do. I've gone a week where the only liquid I was drinking was a cup of tea in the morning and a glass of juice at night. It's no wonder my body is so screwed up. Called my Dad and he was a heck of a lot less drunk than usual. This is a good thing. He got my wedding invitation and found out that I am getting married in Alabama. He's not going to make it, and I can't decide whether to feel guilty or relieved. BoingBoing posted the X-Face I made for them. Good night. It's been a day. Posted by Greg @ 10:08 PM PST [Link]

2002111

OH MY GAWDS I HATE WEB BROWSERS THAT F%#$ING CRASH WHILE I AM WRITING MY BLOG. *soft weeping from the corner* An hour lost. of my life. 20 researched links gone. A well thought out discussion of linux and politics has disappeared. ...you can kill me now. Posted by Greg @ 06:27 PM PST [Link]

LINKS and STUFF

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.