Muckhead's Chronicle

Okay, Okay, SO it's been awhile!

So it has been quite awhile but things happen and they always will. I took a break from computing to get some work done in other areas...

More to come soon that will explain all...

Just for the record, NO I AM NOT WORKING IN THE PRON INDUSTRY!

However, if anyone knows of a position that is available, please forward it to my email !

It is Funny, Maybe Even Ironic

Many who know me can remember a famous saying that I used to use: "I'll just quit and take up Macramé".

Well...

While waiting searching for a new job I have taken up Hemp Beading and found it to be very relaxing and have made almost 100 items that I plan to sell at our big Garage Sale in May.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not going into the Hemp Jewelry business just yet, but it is surprising that over a dozen people I know are wearing my stuff and each day the number increases. I will post some pics of my stuff here soon and you can tell me what you think.

Doggie Got Bigger

Well since I had pictures of the cute little puppy I have decided to post the grown up version. She still has a lot of growing still to go but at this point she has grown enough.

Right now we are dealing with an ear infection with her that has cost so far $162.00. She has already been fixed and all shots, so the hospital bill is with any luck under control.

Overall she is a great dog, she is so smart it is ridiculous. You can tell her to do things, and she listens but it goes beyond that, she even does things ahead of time. Knows when to go to her crate for the evening and such It is so awesome.

We are currently training her with a special collar that is designed for her not to pull on the leash, which currently is an improvement.

I will say one thing, when your kids say “get a dog, and we will do everything, clean the yard, take her for walks, feed her, everything" DON'T Believe Them !

Long Time No See

Well here I am...

Have gone through a lot the last 8 months. First off I gained back 40lbs of the 90 I lost the year before that. Going to the gym just didn't hold up to the different shifts i was working and therefore I stopped going.

That has been a big obstacle in my life because I reached a point where I was in the BEST shape I have ever been in, and I blew it.

Now I am embarrassed to go back. I mean I was a poster-boy around there, often talking to people who asked how I did it, and was an inspiration to many. I couldn't go a week without someone coming up and complimenting me and asking for tips and pointers on how to get as far as I did.

I look at it as letting a lot of people down but more importantly myself. I even have avoided contact with some people (Arc), strictly because of the fact that it is fucking embarrassing.

I have started again, going to the gym that is. The way I look at it I can do it again, I already proved that; the only thing is that I also know how hard it was to get there. My mistake was not realizing that I could have backed off to only 3 days a week and I wouldn’t have slipped.

I was going to post some new pictures of Java, but I seem to be having difficulties connecting up via FTP to transfer them up. Arc if you read this, can I please? That is if it is anything on that end.

Well it is a new year... sorry for hiding.

First Bath

Here we are at our first bath. Puppy has been quite a chore; it IS JUST LIKE HAVING A NEW CHILD. For the most part it has been a lot of fun though.

A name change could be a possibility at this point, as Kaluha is just not fitting. So, it is not official, but "Java" is now being used and she tends to respond well to it.

Crate training is up on the agenda for the next few weeks. This is going to leave me with some sleepless nights but we have talked to so many HAPPY crate trained dog owners it seems to be something beneficial to your pet.

So.. more Puppy info to come....

New Family Member

Introducing the newest member of our family "Kaluha".

She is a Chocolate Lab that we have acquired through some friends of ours that decided to breed their dog. The choice came mainly because "Echo" the mother is such a well behaved dog.

So far the kids are doing most of the work, although Daddy had to stay up the first night coddling the puppy.

I always promised Tyler a dog, so i figured it was time. The only thing is it has put another family member's nose out of joint as she (Marlee), is not getting as much attention.

I forgot myself how much fun puppies are. :P

Use The Force

Just another moment in my life as a Jedi, or at the least a Jedi Wannabe. It has been awhile, so on lunch I figured what the heck, post an update.

So here is my monitor at work, decorated after seeing SW-EPIII, of course we have more at home, but it seems fitting to have these three together. The kids enjoyed the movie, I think that it wasn't as good as the second one, and there are some things I thought should have been left unsaid.

Any who.. there it is...

I'm ALIVE ! ! !

At least for now anyway. I had someone ask if I was still alive.

So it's been awhile so here goes:

On the Gym Front:
I got sick, then continued to workout, then got really sick and ended up taking 2 weeks off from the gym to recover. I am back at it now.

On the Work Front:
I have in the past been unable to find where many others work on their web-site so I am not going to start a trend and say where, but I have gone back into the workforce. I still plan to go further with my own software company, but I am in the process of getting used to working shifts again.

Life:
I am currently negotiating a bulk purchase of Dilbert mints from the manufacturer in the states to I can stock my current workplace.

Plans:
To catch up on the bills, and buy camping gear so Tyler and I can go hiking and camping in the surrounding mountains this summer.

Life Goes On

Here I am with a few minutes free during lunch at work. I haven't been posting much lately, as I have been so busy. I go to work, and get home, work out and sleep.

Actually I was still doing my long workouts and I was finding myself not getting home for supper until almost 9:00pm. So my trainer adjusted me to a more core body routine. I now workout on a workout disc for core while weight training.

So I get home around 7:30 - 8:00pm...

Life Goes On....

Weekend Hike

Well Tyler and I went for our usual weekend hike up Teapot Hill; we made it in record time, shaving 10 minutes off our average form last year. What I couldn't believe was the amount of people on the trail. It was ridiculous. I am taking at least 50 people on the trail at any one given time.

We are going to have to start hiking somewhere else.

First Entry since the Major Upgrade Fiasco

Well I learned a few things about MT the last 5 days or so, some things make sense and some don't. The good thing is that I am back up and running, this entry should post, the comments and subsequent notifications should be made and received.

Maybe they will magicly show up?

Maybe the notification emails will magically show up overnight.

I give up for today, after searching the web and trying too many things, I will try again tomorrow.

All Back To Normal... Almost

Well I had quite the day, one thing valuable I learned "Netscape Sucks"!

If you are going to use the MT Import/Export utility, then use FireFox to save your entries.

I still have to change the look to more of a personal feeling, so that is next, but I am through for today, will tackle it tomorrow.

Total Wipeout

Going to try something here, just an idea.

Comments not working now

I fixed the style sheet issue with my entry screen, then I received a comment notification from silverstr, indicating that it could be a problem with the style sheet..

The point here is that no comments are showing up now. So much for the simple upgrade, I can't even post a comment to my own BLOG. Searching for answers online, if anyone has a clue let me know.

Thanks

Upgrade Completed I Think

Well that was fairly painless, and of course I should have done it long ago. I am now running MT-3.1 and MTBlacklist 2.04b.

The only thing I don't like is the entry screen I am typing in right now is the size of a postage stamp and only allows about 5 words wide while typing, very strange and CRAMPED to say the least, if anyone knows how to change this it would be greatly appreciated.

Other than that the install and upgrade only took about 30 minutes. Now I am curious as to whether or not it will stop or slow down the SPAM.

New Years Web Album

I know I told a bunch of you around the holidays that I would be posting a Web Album of New Years, since I took like 170 + pictures that night.

So I got around to it as I said I would eventually, here is the link. I have also put a link to it at the bottom left hand side menu under the heading Muckhead Specs.

Cheers

Making Some Changes

I think i will be making some changes to my site, it has been a while since I have looked into the upgrading to the latest Movable Type. SPAM has slowed to a crawl lately on the site as well (watch I will get DUMPED ON NOW), which was one of the main reasons I looked into the upgrade in the first place.

So over the next week(s) I will be making the move, I mean even the look of my site has grown BLAH. I haven't kept some of the lists on the right up to date with respect to movies and books. You might even say I've been lazy.

I figured that writing it here for everyone to see would help, with the lazy part that is. Now I have to do it.

So Life Goes

I saw this today and laughed my #@* off.

So life goes, I have managed to work off all that I gained over the holidays. You know the butter tarts, chocolate and other goodies. I figure it was about 8lbs, and I am actually up on it a few pounds so that is good.

Been doing some more fishing but have yet to get anything more on the beach, if I do pictures will follow.

Good Start

A good start to Steelhead fishing this year. I went out with my best friend Chris and made ONE cast and caught my first Steelhead of the season. IT was awesome, and to beat all Chris gets one two casts after that so we both bonus today!

Of course I can't tell you where I caught it other than "in the mouth" as it is a sacred spot that we were at. This type of information is worth gold to the fishing populace.

Struck Me as Funny

Saw this one today, struck me as funny.

Brutal workout this morning, but then again lower body always is. I was talking to a lady this morning, she was commenting how she had a chat with David Ford our top Olympic Kayaker that trains out of Chilliwack and works out at the Cheam Centre. He had told her after she commented at how he looked like he was working harder that most, "it is work for me, if I was here to have fun I wouldn't stand a chance". I kind of feel that way sometimes because the workout routine I am doing now has me sweating for almost 3 hours, others come and do their routines and leave, and I am still there sweating away. Then again it is work to me right now.

Well off to get more shopping done today, braving the savage hordes that crowd the malls
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Worn Completely Out

Got up this morning and one of the tires on our Grand Prix was flat. What a bummer, so I get out my trusty portable air compressor and attempt to pump it up but after 15 min of that running I sad to hell with it and got out the all impressive "doughnut”.

Upon removing the tire we saw why it would not inflate, there was steel belting sowing around the inside tread edge, and it had give out in three places. We got 90,000km out of them so that wasn't bad. I upgraded to a better tire, and decided on getting a full set of 4 Michelin Hydraedges, a tire that was designed for the west coast and all the rain and snow we get (mostly snow), $750 later we have a sense of well being on the highway again, but a sense of debt when it comes to our VISA balance. Merry Christmas; like it couldn't have waiting until after the holiday season, “guess what Tyler and Marlee, you are getting tires for Christmas”.

More on HalfLife 2

To steal a phrase from Peter Griffin (The Family Guy) “this game is Freaking SWEET ".

I figured out that there is something wrong with the Audio section of the game, or maybe not. I installed the game and it works fine set to 2 speakers, and as it turns out that is what Windows had the speakers in Control Panel set to. I am now wondering if I reinstall as a four speaker system if it won't fix things.

I will say that the install took half the time that it did last night, and even then it was only about 20min. I read a horror story on Slashdot today about some guy taking practically all night and complaining.

The graphics are SWEET!

I have played the game now and it makes Doom3 look like CRAP!

More as I get it all figured out....

HalfLife 2

Okay, so I go out and BUY HalflLife 2, and after an EXTENSIVE install of a online registration/unlocking hoopla, I start the game only to find that I have no sound. I am using a SoundBlaster Live and my machine more than meets the min hardware requirements.

Oh well, here goes the tweaking part of the installation.

More to come...
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Halloween Stuff

Tyler was asking why I didn't put up some Halloween pictures since I didn't last year. So here they are. I decided as usual to get into the pumpkin carving and do Nemo and Sponge Bob Square Pants

I noticed in London Drugs that Dremel has a pumpkin carving kit out that you can buy that has a battery powered Dremel Tool and a cutting bit. This inspired me to try my Dremel tool this year, so I picked up a drywall cutting tool bit for my Dremel and tried that. What a difference from using the old hand saw! It took about 2 hours to carve both pumpkins this year when it took about 4 hours to carve the 4 pumpkins we had last year.

Of course I also went all out on the make up and decided to do a goth-punker sort of dude. Tyler went as Dracula and Marlee as Snow White, but wanted to fit in with the punker theme Dad was doing so opted for a purple wig for Snow White.

Marlee was a real trooper this year making it all the way around the trailer park without a hiccup. I was happy that the weather cooperated, and the kids ended up with massive load of candy and other goodies.

The only negative part about it is seeing some of the people shaking their heads at me dressed up. You know, I feel sorry for them, more so for their children because my kids thought I was the kewlest Dad on earth dressing up and I wouldn't trade that for a billion dollars. I mean some people just don't get it, and that is their loss.

Hydraulic vs. Pneumatic We Have a Router Down!

So I get up this morning, and go to log on and I can't connect. So here I am running ipconfig /renew and getting an IP address from My FireCard and wondering WTF? Them I notice the Hydraulic Fluid all over the floor, and I have to look no more, it is a problem with my Router.

First off I am thinking it is a Hydraulic cable leak so I am searching the cables, but no the main power adapter that ran the main pump in the Router gave up. So I went outside to the chipper and got some sawdust and laid down a few inches all over the floor so start soaking up all the Hydraulic Fluid and I went out to shop for a new Router.

Well, I was surprised; they have these new Routers that work with just air, god damn it, no shit! I mean Pneumatics has been around for awhile but the thought of everything just working in the air, I first thought the salesman was whacked out on drugs.

Well it turns out that you have to get new "wireless" couplings for your computer for this in-the-air networking to work, so I bout myself an good old-fashioned Hydraulic Router to replace my old one. My only thought was: "Do I have enough fluid to fire this one up"?

What you have just read is me being silly, it was designed to enhance the reading here that sometimes is quite mundane. The pun here of course being old Routers run on Hydraulics, because you have to string cables, and new ones are wireless or using air such as Pneumatic machinery.

Guess where we went tonight?

Well we gave in tonight and went to get some dougnies (as Marlee calls them). AS some of you know, I never do things the plain old easy way, so we didn't go to Tim Horton's, we went to Krispy Kreme.

Here is a picture of Marlee after we got home, all jacked up on sugar. As I write this she is still awake, and Daddy is taking full responsibility for it.

Willing To Try Anything

I just got hit again with about 200+ comment SPAM entries. I am now open to suggestions on how i am going to solve this problem. I know some people were suggesting this and that, what is now the best solution?

This time is was real sick stuff too, the kind of stuff I have been filtering and fighting for my kids not to see online. I mean I am very strict with them and when they are online 80% of the time one of us is close by. Well if all they have to do is go to Daddy's BLOG, or check email and see that Daddy has received over 200 comment confirmations from these sites and I have lost the battle.

Suggestions anyone?

Proof Reeding

Found this one and thought it was worth putting up. It emphasizes why I had a problem proof reading my own work in college; kind of neat huh?

Come to think of it even when Shaaron proof read my stuff it got to the point where she was used to my spelling mistakes and she would miss them too. I know this ( the pic on the right) is more of an extreme case, but hey, I have been desperate for blog content lately.

Back To SCHOOL YIPPEEE ! !

YES!!
It is that magical time of year when all boys and girls go back to school, and get to enjoy the peace and quiet of an empty house during the day.

Actually it was a great summer, Tyler and I have not finished our hiking, or biking. But it will sure be nice to get a little break.

Latest Bitch

My latest bitch, and it is one that I think you all will warrant, is campers that think laws don’t apply. Actually it goes beyond that, it is campers that think they are beyond the laws of common decency. You see I live in the Chilliwack River Valley, which is separate from the Fraser Valley, when you make the turn onto our road quite often you will smell something: CLEAN AIR. The turn also brings about the wilderness in some peoples minds; to us it is just the road. Campers line the sand bars that are formed by the Chilliwack River and set up tents.

Now for the bitching: you see I like tenting, camping and all that, having fun is great. YOU HAVE TO TAKE YOUR GARBAGE WITH YOU. These people, usually from the big city think they can leave it all behind, hence the picture here of garbage in a pile on the beach. To beat all we now have bears coming down (see other picture) to investigate the garbage.

On a separate note, during the fire ban (province wide, that has now been lifted), we were nightly calling the fire department to report raging bonfires on the river. Seems these idiots also have no respect for FOREST FIRES, which are usually caused by such carelessness.

GO HOME AND POLUTE YOUR OWN BACKYARD...

Catch-Up on Things Part II

Many things have happened since I last regularly posted, the family went to our friends Annual Anniversary Barbeque (as linked by the picture here of the spit roasted piggy's behind).

We had a blast as we do every year, and It was an "official cheat day" so I made sure I have plenty of food, drink, and deserts. Yes deserts! I stuffed myself and it felt good, I deserved that after all the work I put in to loose 75 pounds in 4 1/2 months.

Any way, I have linked the web album I made-up for the Durren's to the picture of the pig's rather roasted behind if you’ all want to take a peak
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Catch-Up on Things Part I

It has been awhile, yes I am alive and doing well. Today however I am a little out of balance. I arrived at the YMCA and found it to be closed due to an electrical problem. The lights are all out and they are allowing nobody inside. So, what the heck do I do for exercise?

Well, what I have been doing is trying to get back on track. The entire month of July was spent at roughly the same weight. I reached the 75 lb of weight loss and proceeded to gain back 5-8, the loose 5-8 then gain etc. I changed the amount of carbs I was eating from 20 or less a day to about 30-40 a day. This would be great for maintaining, even loosing really slowly, but not for weight loss at the rate I was at.

So I am back on full blown Atkins Induction, and I have lost 10 lbs in a week, back to the 75 lb mark and heading to 80.

What's New and Exciting

It has been a while since I have been in front of the computer for more than a few minutes. I have been taking a break from everything to spend more time with my family, and more importantly myself. Last week Tyler and I climbed Teapot Hill, a local hike that is part of the Cultus Lake set of trails. The first picture here is from the first lookout at the top which overlooks Cultus Lake.

The second one here is of a giant Devil's Club that was growing just off the trail and was being highlighted by a beam of sunlight. It caught my interest, so I stopped and snapped it.

The hike itself is listed as a 2hr return trip to the lookout, but even with our numerous stops for Tyler to catch his breath we made it up in about 45 minutes and down in 20. This hiking thing is new to me as I have always been to big to hike more than 2o yards without stopping. It feels so good to be able to get out and do things in life that up until now have only been in dreams.

More and More

It is now more than just a daily thing. I now am getting MT-spammed twice on some days.

Lovely.

Pain in the Butt !

It is now a daily occurrence. Get up, have breaky, and before I go to the gym, I log in and de-spam the content from the night before. What a pain in the butt. To think, do these people really think that if they flood enough sites with this stuff people will just accept it and become regular users of their product?

Any way it is all taken care of for today, thank god I have MT Blacklist installed or I would be shutting down my blog.

On the home front I have been battling the weight loss. I got down as far as 70 lbs and now I am hovering at about 65-68 lbs. I just had to indulge in some cherries, they are one of my favorites, and my body was craving the carbs. Oh well, during the plateau I have managed to loose inches.

Also I have carried my camera almost everywhere, and still have nothing to show for it. As soon as I leave it at home we go out and something exciting pops up.

Doom 3

Ok, now that the game is done, I am asking my dear friends for suggestions on what video card to buy. I think I am ok with the CPU power as I am running an AMD XP Barton 2800+ (2.09GHz) with 1 GB of RAMM.

So, I am wondering what I should be looking at for a good Video Card?

SPAMED Again

Seems like every few days now I have to deal with more and more SPAM on my blog.

Been very busy, Shaaron is off for 2 weeks (I think I mentioned that), so we have been out and about.

Bare Naked ! !

I am feeling naked, BARE NAKED, I started my computer to find a naked blog. Wow, it has been too long since my last post.

Well I am at the 70 lb weight loss mark; although since starting my new program on Monday at the gym i gained back over 6 pounds this week. I am starting to see that this will happen so i am not TOO discouraged as it has now today started to slip back down.

I have now lost over 38 inches off my body in total; I had to go buy some new clothes yesterday as I am running out of stuff that fits.

I will get some photos up ASAP; Shaaron is off on holidays so I have been taking some too.

Damn SPAMers

I have finally become victim of MT SPAM on a larger degree than just a few here and there. The last 2 days I have been hit with 460+ (yesterday), and over 400+ comment SPAM hits.

I am really glad at this point that I took the time to install MT-Blacklist, which take only but a few minutes to install but save hours of time. IT took about 5min or less both times to clear out all bad content.

Damn all those with this sickness! !

Strange MS-IE Thing?

I was just pointed out that my thumbnail pics don't show up on in MS-IE. Yet if you go to the archives and pic a month they do. Very strange that they don't show up on the main page where I posted them (the most recent being the big 10 inch floppy).

If anyone else cannot see the thumbnails please let me know and I will investigate it further.

Or if anyone else knows what the frick I am doing wrong please, enlighten me.

So I wipped out my big 10 inch!

At least as Aerosmith would put it.

Well, as it turns out, my big ten inch is only an 8.5.

I commented on I Feel Old Now last night thinking I am in the possession of my big 10 inch floppy, and it turns out that I seem to have made it out as something it is not. Of course 8.5 is nothing to sneeze at.

Photo Week/Month ?

I was thinking that it was a lot of fun last year when we all did the photo of the day thing. So I want to see if there is any interest to do this again? I got a new 5.1 MP camera a few weeks ago, and although it is - start - deep feelings of envy nothing like what some of us own - end - deep feelings of envy I am capable of clicking the little button that stores pictures to memory (oh, and I have learned that it comes with a cable that allows you to download the pictures to the computer, neat huh).

Note: I proposed this once before and no one said much, so if anyone else wants to re-propose it on their blog, feel free.

Not A Lot to Say

Not really much to say lately, I have been up to no good as usual. I have now reached the 50lb mark for weight loss and as usual I have semi-plateued again. It seems to happen ever 10 pounds or so, I sort of stall at the turn of the tens digit a bit( so to speak), but still I loose inches. I have now lost 6 inches off my waist, which is quite dramatic. I am now getting noticed and complimented by so many people. Talk about a boost to my self esteem.

I am still myself though, and will not be really happy until I have gotten under a certain mark, (which is about 10 pounds away). I also have 50 pounds to go to reach my eventual goal, but I know if I keep it up I will get there.

The little things are getting noticed now, like the way I have to club down one club again. A few years ago I had to go up one club while golfing because I lost some distance. Well now I can smack’em again. I am hitting some long balls with irons and my driver. Whooo Hooo !

Great Long Weekend

Well I had a great long weekend, even though the weather only semi-cooperated. I managed to get caught up on some work during the lull in the weather Saturday, as well as some reading.

Finally got out golfing with Bear on Sunday morning, and although it was not our best scoring round I had a lot of fun getting out and playing a round with my good friend.

Yesterday, Shaaron and I played a round with two of our best friends and had a great time. It was Tad's first time out this year so he had his hands full just hitting the ball, but Trace was hot, as she came about 8 inches away from getting her first hole in one on the 8th hole.

Shaaron and I had a few great shots, mostly Shaaron; she holed about a 45 ft putt and made some incredible tee shots. I however can only remember a few shots of my own, I was busy relaxing and having fun with people that mean a lot to me. This is something that I enjoy more than any golf game.

There was one minor mishap that got my goat; on the 5th hole I hit my shot (a slice) into the 4th fairway. I walked over to get it, and I hit it there often, I know where they usually land. I witnessed an older guy looking at a ball on the ground, once, twice, and then shrugging his shoulders and hitting it. Then I could not find my ball... hmmmmm

I let it go by the next hole and continued on, had fun, end of story :)

What's New

Well not really much new here, same shit different pile. I am working on a total restructuring of my website and marketing plan, after being enlightened by some recent resources.

Played men's Night last week and plan to attend this week as well, so far I haven't played that well but I haven't even played 10 rounds yet this year, last year I had about 30 in by now.

With the weather changing I should be getting out more. I have slowed a bit on the weight loss, hanging on at a few pounds away from the 40 lb. mark. I go back to work with the trainer on Thursday, where she will measure and weigh me and put me on the next, more advanced workout.

Just for Fun

Here is a link that a good friend "Russell” sent me that I have been meaning to share with those that have a sense of humour. Happy Tree Friends are, well, a little disturbing, but funny just the same. Thanks Russell, I too am partial to eye candy, it kind of makes you cringe though!

Still Breathing

Well I am still breathing, actually doing very well this week. I have now reached the 30lbs of weight loss, and I am heading to the 40lb mark. It has been 6 weeks now for Atkins, and I must say that if I can continue to loose 10lbs every 2 weeks I will reach my goal before my birthday (of which I turn 40 this year).

I am still religiously going to the gym everyday, alternating the cardio weight program I am on and just plain cardio workouts each day I go. I am bound and determined to take it off and KEEP it off this time.

Well like I said this has bee a great week, I am getting back at things and getting things done, and of course there's people that can be thanked for their support and dedication to my improved attitude (or lack there of).

Getting Serious

First off WELL DONE Canucks on the division title, and the recent success, it is good to see them play with heart again. And here I rescinded on my beginning of the year prediction for them going all the way to the finals. Maybe I will have to admit I was wrong to do so (boy I hope so).

Secondly, we took drive up to the Othello Tunnels this weekend, and strolled through the first set of them. It was quite a site, I had never been to them yet and the kids were really impressed.

Thirdly, I have decided to hire a BCRPA Certified Fitness Professional to help get me on the right track as far as my workouts are concerned. I used to know a lot more about cardio weights and proper workouts but that was over a decade ago. Terrina Mason works out of the Cheam Centre, and takes my personal health and goals into mind, and creates a proper workout system for me to follow. Let’s just say I am getting serious.

Off My Ass

Well my back is getting better, I actually went for a good walk today and it seems to be holding up. I stopped the procrastination and installed MT-Blacklist after a barrage of the usual spam hit me last week. I was surprised at how easy it was, I think I spent al of about 5 minutes on it. IT is funny how I do that, put things off when they really could be done that quickly.

Started the Induction phase of the Atkins Diet (way of Life) on Saturday, things are going well; I am surprised at how much negative publicity this way of life has received. I think the critics should really read the fact before mouthing off (actually I used to be a critic DOH!).

Viruses Galore

I have been getting bombarded with Viruses the last week from all of my email accounts, especially Shaw. W32.Netsky.D@mm seems to be the biggest culprit, but I have received some others. Norton Antivirus has caught them all to this point, but the amount of them seems to be growing exponentially. What a fucking pain in the rectum!

Speaking of which time to go rest my back !

Related? Who Knows

I back up my computer with Norton Ghost... I do it on a regular basis, mirroring partitions from one drive to the other for data redundancy.

I install MSN Messenger... the next day.. Ghost has a problem; Windows reassigns all my drive letters. I take the time to reassign them back and now Norton Ghost doesn’t run.

I try re-install.. Knowledgebase search.. NOTHING..

Guess who is going to wipe out the boot partition and reload this weekend?
Who cannot use Ghost to back up his data before such a bold move?

Maybe I will stick to ICQ.

Rotten Bastards

Since when did they close off sales off at 12:00 midnight ! ! !

God Damn Rotten Fucking Bastards ! !

I guess it's my fault for running low on Corona !

Clarification

All of the email mentioned in my previous post was filtered and didn't infect my box. It has just been a pain that I have had so many hits on my company's email addresses.

Spam Posts

Looks like I am going to have to take some time and install the Spam Filter for MT, as I too have now been hit with a few. The thing is that it is I only had 4 of them, I am thinking to get it done before the onslaught hits.

OK It Was Only a Joke

So I am not really an American Hating Minority, it was only a joke, Gesh. To think, I checked stats on my Company’s site and my software was downloaded by the US Military. I wonder if I am now under investigation. Hey, you never know.

What Te Heck, I'll Bite

Thanks to Tiggersol
for the link, what the heck I'll bite.

I am a Hippy



Which America Hating Minority Are You?

Take More Robert & Tim Quizzes
Watch Robert & Tim Cartoons

Roads Are The SHITS

I live on an important road, with respect to the fact that there are government run buildings or complexes further up the road. So, when there is any snowfall they clear the roads and have them in tip top condition. This I have no complaint over, it is the roads in downtown Chilliwack that are the SHITS. I mean they are horrendous, not to mention the people that drive on them. I was born in London Ontario when this would be considered only a light sprinkle of the white stuff; it is still here and many of the roads are still covered and there doesn't seem to be any real interest in doing a damn thing about it.

What is worse is the complex I live in, the paperboy, mailman, and the garbage people have all complained because it is downright hazardous. There are ruts in the road where it melted and then froze; we are talking about 20-30 cm high ruts. This is not bad for me, but this complex is full of the elderly, and how the hell are they supposed to drive, let alone walk to the corner to check their mail, that is if it gets delivered because the mailman won’t come in and deliver!!

Guess I Should Check In

Ok, so I am still alive, some may or may not appreciate this, but at this point I do. Been busy over the holidays, family and friends are big in my life, without them I would be lost.

I had an exceptionally good time New Year's Eve thanks to some very special people in my life, Pictures are available here if you want to take a look. I decided to drink after being sober for almost 10 years (actually been drinking earlier in the holidays), and I had a great time, and will remember that one for many years to come.

I am putting 2003 behind me, many mixed memories, but they are just that. I am going to dwell not on the past or the future, but what is important today. Other than that my only real resolution for this year is to loose weight, this time from the aspect of not trying to loose pounds, or meet goals, but rather a complete lifestyle change. Sure I am going to get back into going to the gym, but also eating better, and getting more involved in the good things in life.

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S ! !

MERRY CHRISTMAS from my family to all of yours and your loved ones. May the holidays be a joyous experience to you all.

Going to post some pictures as soon as I get time, later today. Go forth and enjoy, go forth and give of one’s self, for it is the sense of giving that truly brings happiness to this season.

Return of the King

I will be going to see the movie over the holidays; I have been swamped the last few days by people who have seen it. I just would like to take this opportunity to thank those that have said nothing, and respect my "virgin" status when it comes to the movie.

I am the kind that lets the line-ups die down a tad before indulging, and I of course will not settle for anything short of Mission or Langley to see it on the big screen.

And Now For The News

It turns out that there was something wrong with the local news server, as Bear and I both pointed out to Shaw. They sent me a message saying the problem was with a certain few individuals with "extremely large amounts of bandwidth consumption".

Whatever the problem really was it has been fixed and I can get back to my music.

No News is Bad News

Well something recently has changed and I have been cut off from Usenet. No more newsgroups for me and for a few other people I know of. I was using Forte Agent to collect a great selection of music, until a few days ago when all it does now is time out when trying to retrieve anything.

Is there anyone else having problems getting stuff from Shaw's news server lately?

Justice?

Ok, I am trying to figure things out here; they discover Saddam in what most would call a underground prison cell, with the luxuries of a ground hog. Now they are going to take him, properly cloth, shaves, bath, feed, and keep him in good health.

Should they not have simply kept him in the hole? Of better yet just put a rather large chuck of rock on top of the entrance?

I mean sure, I guess they could try to get him to talk, but wouldn't that have become a given if he were sealed in a hole? I mean apparently he put his hands up and surrendered, seal him in there and would he not sing?

Just a thought, I am big on not wasting good money on shit.

Lights Up Smoker a Smokin

Well I actually dragged my ass out of the computer room and got some stuff done around the house this past weekend. I still haven't tackled the fish tank as we had planned to do, but I did manage to put the majority of the lights up. Also I smoked the Xmas salmon, some of you have experienced this yearly event and others, well you will just have to pop by over the holidays if you want a taste.

The only thing missing at this point is the chocolates, been cutting down on them lately, although I still can't resist a good Lindor.

Still have that fish tank to get done, and oh yes a tree....

Ho Ho Ho ?

It just doesn't feel like Christmas yet! I am usually all over the Christmas thing, with a special fondness for Christmas Chocolates, but this year it just doesn't seem real. I am putting the lights up tomorrow; we have been limping along with a strand that was left up from last year so far. Next comes the tree a few days later, or maybe not until the end of next week (payday).

I am heading out tonight to get some items to refurbish the aquarium, since Jack passed away , the tank ahs been empty so I am going to give it a new look. Will put up a picture of it or two once it is done and maybe even once we put some new fish in it.

Other than that I have been busy working, doing mail outs, brochures, cold calls, and working on some code. Still kicking for those that wondered, going to make a new year resolution this year to more regularly make entries here.

I Just Had To

I was checking out some of my usual haunts, and noticed this picture, and I had to do a double take. Does this not look like Wim? Sorry Wim no harm intended and I am sure you could post some awful pictures of someone or animal that I may look like, but this picture has some merit.

What do you all think?

Welcome Back Rain

Welcome back rain, where did you go? Ah this is BC, cold wet damp, makes you feel like you are home. The rising water levels of the river that come ever so close to flood conditions, mudslides and washouts, what more could a good BC resident ask for?

What is even more in place for the season is the literally thousands of tourists that invade our road this time of year. Fishing season brings them from all over the world; they park in the wilderness, camping in their RVs and SUVs. They deposit their garbage on the sides of the roads because it is not "their backyard", and it is the wilderness, no one will notice. Heck I like the extra color the full garbage bags left at the side of the road add to the beauty of the season. After all the leaves are changing and falling why not garbage too? The extra hue of orange and red from McDonald’s dinners thrown on the sides of the road by fishermen really spice up the base for this beautiful picture that Nature paints us in the fall.

Ah yes, it is good to live in BC.

One More Sleep

One more sleep unitl opening night..

Holy Shit! It is pissing out!

Lightening Bad !

Good Weekend Ending Not-So-Good

Friday, I didn't get to sleep until 5:30am Saturday morning, least to say when the alarm went off to go golfing at 6:30am, I could do little more than lean over and smack the alarm clock a few times until finally doing more than hit snooze and successfully shutdown the annoying beeping sound. Sorry Bear for not making golf Saturday morning.

Sunday was Shaaron’s birthday so I decided to not golf the usual Sunday morning either, since we (Shaaron, Tracy, Marilee, and Myself) were to head out for a round at 12:16pm. Marilee was a no show, apparently doing some great white telephone talking at about that time (big birthday bash the night before for her hubby). So, we got Jesus put with our now threesome to make up the foursome. I had a shitty round (after all Jesus can make you nervous, the guy actually exists, real last name Jesus), but we all had a gas. The weather held up and it was a great afternoon.

The down side to it all, Shaaron and I caught a chill of some sort, Shaaron worse than me. She is home from work along with both kids, and I ended up sleeping in until almost noon.

Road Trip Today

Well my better half was attending a seminar at the Landmark Hotel on Robson in Vancouver today, and hates driving in Vancouver. I had picked up a power inverter for the car so I can charge the old laptop when needed, and this sounded like a good opportunity to try it out. The idea here was I could at worst stay in the car and code all day while Shaaron attend her seminar.

I didn't get to sleep until almost 3:00am so after the drive in I ended up sleeping for a few hours in the car. Shaaron woke me up at her first break and I coded until lunch. We had a nice lunch at Fog & Suds, and I decide to come into the lobby to see if there was a power outlet.

Next thing you know one of the attendants is opening up the board room for me to work, yes the boardroom all to myself. At the afternoon break the manager of the hotel comes down for a meeting in the board room and I thought this is over quick, but no, he opens up a conference room for me. Here I am coding at the head table with a few hundred empty chairs. An attendant of some kind comes in late in the afternoon and asks "where are all your people”, and I jokingly answered, "They’re all LATE!”

The long and the short of it, I got a bunch of work done in some very different environments today.

The Assplunders Are Here... The Asplundhers Are Here ! !

It is actually spelled Asplundh but it sounds better when there is a group of them. They do tree trimming in our area and are currently working on the main road to my place. They were parked at the end of the street the other day and we were heading out in the car and I yelled out “The Asplunders are here”, "The Asplunders are here”, quick, run and hide thy rear ends!

OK I have a sick sense of humor, but at least I have one.

Older and Wiser

Funny I don't feel any older or wiser. To celebrate my birthday, since I didn't do much yesterday, I am going golfing at The Falls . Will have pics up later today.

Related Post

I posted the previous entry, then went over to Silverstr's , and noticed a realted link. Looks like I am not alone on this issue.

The Comforts of the Internet

Maybe it is just me, but sometimes I like to sit back and take in all that is available at my fingertips. For instance, I now have an absolute awesome wallpaper on my desktop which I got from reading Iambe's site this morning of hurricane Isabel (incidentally it is just a luxury to be able to get there lately since my FC woes were addressed by Silv).

It might be just a small thing, but to me it ranks right up there with:

• Receiving software rebate cheques in the mail
  
• Downloading music you own and haven’t heard for over a decade
  
• Getting new hardware
  
• Getting really old hardware
  
• Nerf Guns
  
• Chocolate
  
• Compiling an hours work without errors
  

But then again I could be just an odd sort that enjoys a good morning caffeine rush and reading his friends sites, and a bit of a wallpaper freak (see Digital Blasphemy link).

Made Some Changes

I am experimenting with a little CSS with MT. Let me know what you think, and even more importantly if anything is hooped because of it. I was bored and figured it would be fun, so I thought what the heck.

Does it look better, worse, not viewable in some browsers, or is a three column look kind of screwy? Fill me in, thanks.

Working, golfing, upgrading

Had a so-so round of golf this afternoon at the club, managed to win a skin for a bird on the 5th, which was nice. It was a nice walk, and a chance to get out. It has been pretty busy the last few days.

Upgrading a friends computer for them; basically I had a 20GB drive in my test unit and really all I will be using it for is testing my software, so I took it out and swapped it for their 8GB drive. Also they have a Korean exchange student living with them this year so I installed support for Korean in XP for them so Jim can write home to his Mom. Tomorrow they are getting cable so I am going over to set up a firewall for them and a few other things. This is better than going over to reload their system after a virus attack or worse. I just can’t say now to good friends, they needed some fixin.

Hot Hot Hot

Took the usual Saturday Morning golf round off to finish what was started Friday evening and help Bear's move. The entire family got involved this time, as Shaaron showed up with some boxes and the kids. I got to meet Bear's sister and brother in-law (Damned if I can remember both of their names, I am bad with this). So everything went into high gear as we basically cleaned house. Everything went into the van, truck, another van, or the trunks of our cars.

Arriving at the new place with all the stuff we went to work (I must say I had a little less enthusiasm) at getting everything into the new place. It was getting pretty hot out there; at one point Roy and I had lifted something into one of the bedrooms and found it to be real cool there, I suggested we just sit down and hide for awhile.

It was all finished by about 2:00pm. Or should I say the work has just begun? When I left the new dwelling was a sea of boxes. Bear and Lin's real work has just begun, UNPACKING

Started to Move

Not unlike any of the rest of us Bear had a change of dwelling in his immediate future, so I jumped in to help Friday evening. I was blown away at how fast it took us, but I cannot take the credit for tenacity. Roy, Bear's Dad, set the pace. This man is over 70 and he was setting the pace of a 20 year old. We filled the rental moving van in a record 1 1/2 hours, with just the three of us in this heat.

We were done so early in the evening that I arrived home to a locked house (Note to self: take a set of keys to your dwelling with you next time). So I had to wait until the family arrived home to bask in the air conditioned comfort of home.

Break It Down

Going to break this into smaller chunks...

Great week, Busy Weekend

Had a very productive week at the SEP Workshop, some days better than others. I am not always optimistic (go figure), but I found it to be a very integral part of the big picture of “self employed”. I pointed out to William, the guest speaker on Goal Planning yesterday that if I only successfully fix six of the obvious problem areas that I recognized I will be so much more successful than I would be without. Some of these things are the little things that one over looks because they think they are insignificant; right down to the really important things one can overlook until it is too late. It was a well worth it week of knowledge.

This weekend is time to take a bit of a break, although I have some work that has come directly from this past weeks information (goal setting, marketing, customer service policy, other policy manuals etc), I am attempting to qualify for the men's championship at the club on Saturday afternoon with Bear, Bruce and another member. If we are successful we get to play in the men's championship on Sunday. Only the top 20 gross and top 10 net (plus ties) get to play. So let’s have some good mojo coming our way Saturday afternoon. I will post how we made out later in the weekend.

Which Way Is Up?

It is that kind of day, seems like I am jumping form one thing to another and not getting any one thing accomplished. Trying to get some things cleared up this week before i go to the SEP Workshop next week (it is a week long workshop where they go over things like advertising, marketing, business practices etc.).

Heading up to the club with Bear this afternoon, so that will be a welcomed break.

I mentioned the other day hiding under a rock with the new windows virus threat. Well the rock wasn't big enough, as I have to go over to a friend’s and fix their system. I was talking to Bear this morning and he was heading over to do the same for someone today. Point being that despite being fairly well protected myself, hiding under the rock can keep one's spare time to one's self. I really don’t have the time to go do house calls right now, but I am also no good at saying no so I am heading there Monday evening(first time we are both free).

Oh well looking forward to golf.

Crusty Shorts

Unlike Jack Handy's "Deep Thoughts”, Muckhead's Crusty Shorts are ...

Ok it was an idea, be it ever so demented, it was an idea, a section of one's blog/chronicle/journal (whatever) designated to the little comments one would make during the day. Put up on the net for ridicule.

It was an idea, oh well I guess the plan for the day is to go hide under a rock until the coast is clear. There is a big virus out there you know. I was approached by people last night in London Drugs( because I looked like a computer person, funny, I must have had a chip showing or something, thought I put my case on before I left), wondering what they should do with the latest virus. I was tempted to tell them that I hide under a rock.

Ended up getting an active KVM switch that works just slick by the way.

Hum Drum

It's that kind of day for me. I think it is the rain. Don't get me wrong, we NEED rain, but it has me in a semi-comatose frame of mind. Feel like kicking back and having a power nap.

Pretty hum drum weekend, I was cut off from going to a friend’s on Friday, and had no golf on Saturday, which led to Sunday, which couldn't have been all that exciting as I don't remember much.

$ $ $

Got paid today, then proceeded to pay bills (and not all of them), and now I am broke. Sound familiar? I guess I should be grateful after all is said and done.

Just becasue I like these

Thanks to Foz for this one.

A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.

Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life greets it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere.

Roughing it

Last night the kids and I finally got everything in place to try and sleep in the tent. I set it up in the backyard, just a little four man unit. Marlee didn't last very long, but Tyler and I managed to rough it out for the night. It was surprisingly cold, a nice change form the heat.

Tonight is the big Night Golf Tournament at The Club , Shaaron, her friend Tracy, and Tracy's sister Kelly, and myself are making up our foursome. It's a Texas scramble played in the dark. They put glow sticks on the pins, and you play with a ball that has a mini glow stick in it so you can see it fly through the air. It is a blast, I will have my camera with me, although since it is played when it is dark it may be early tomorrow before I have any pics up.

Thursday as usual

I am glad it is slightly cloudy out, as I am heading up to the club shortly for Men's Night. I am taking my camera so who know's, not going to promise anything. I will try to get some pictures.

I stayed up last night until almost 5:00am. I wasn't feeling well yesterday and ended up passing out for 5 hours in the afternoon, so I wasn't very sleepy intil early this morning. The good thing is that I managed to import all the archived data that I have to this point into MT. I know I started this chronicle earlier, but I don't know where the archived data went to; so it only goes back as far as March. I still have some plugins to install, and a few other things to tweak, but it looks like it is coming along fine.

Back To Normal I Guess

Well my little contest didn't go over that well, but hey I tried. It was a novel idea: take a picture of one of my little desk rats, modify it with PhotoShop, see if people can recognize it. Maybe it was someone in the wrong music era? Bear was the only respondent, so he gets to determine the fate of the HP 5500c Scanner. Like I said it can be anywhere from it changing hands to me running over it with the Broncosauris Erectus and posting pictures (sort of Office Space-esq) of the act at different stages.

Any who, it is back to the normal routine with one BIG exception today, It is my daughter Marlee's 3rd Birthday !!! Mmmmmmmm cake and ice cream. Ths will prove to be an eventful day yet.

I Get Mine Online

First off I had some pics I was going to post from the weekend but it seemed to slip my mind. I was out to visit Arcterex, and take care of some business in Abby on Saturday and snapped these pictures of clouds. They were doing these sort of skid marks in the sky( not that kind ! ! ), that looked pretty neat. I even got one of the sun behind a section of cloud with a neat halo effect. Something where the naked eye would get burned on by the attempt. So enjoy or bear with them as I go on here.

I too get mine online, ehm, my music that is. I have to agree with some of my friends recent posts on this issue, and I am thankful for usenet this point. I have been collecting the odd album that I legitimately own on LP in storage, as well as collecting many others that I own on cassette, both formats I really have no use for anymore, and I don't feel like paying twice. My beef is just this, if you paid a painter to paint you a piece of art, would you need to re-pay for it if you hung it in another room? No way ! I guess it could also be put the opposite way: if you paid an artist to paint you some artwork on your car would you have to re-pay them to put it on your new car if you sold the old one? In this case I guess so. (Note: I have never been good with analogies, but I think you get the gist).

I really think that the music industry needs to come around and agree to some sort of compromise instead of either supplying us with more tariffs, taxes, surcharges, or bogus online formats. Of course not to mention the price of the product.

Anyway I thought I would throw in my 2 bits, since I have acquired a few things online as well (mp3s mostly). Today was spent working on some graphics, and such, I was supposed to go golfing at 7:12am, but didn't sleep well last night so I cancelled. I sure am grateful to be in possession of an air conditioner though, it is damn hot. Tonight I continue to work, while it is cooler.

Good Weekend

All in all it was a pretty good weekend, had some good golf games with Bear, Saturday and Sunday mornings, and with Tyler in the afternoon on Sunday. Remembered to actually bring the camera out onto the course (I have brought it a few times now and left it in the trunk, so today's pic is of Tyler in the golf cart. He isn't allowed to drive, but I told him we can blur the picture a bit so it looks like he is moving if he wants. Best shots of the weekend were Bear's shot on the 15 par 4 just off the green, and Tyler's shot on 17 just off the green (both most excellent shots with respect to length : skill ratio).

Today it was back to the grind, I am about a week behind schedule but hey, I am only human. It is not like software development is a always a timely process. Spent too much time playing with installation issues, and have now decided and have funding to buy a third party installer (NOT InstallAnywhere!). I will be taking the advice of a friend who suggested WISE Installer, but can't get it until early next week. So I will be pulling some late nights in the near future. Speaking of which I better get back at it.

Something to These Words

Was catching up on some blogs this morning "Blogs felt like the old geocities vanity sites. The idea seemed incestual and self-important, like a bunch of guys from Deliverance drinking cappucinos." There is something to these words that makes me want to squeal like a happy little piggy.

Seriously, I want to say that it is refreshing and entertaining to read some of these journals that are out there. I can't say this for my own as I can't perceive it not read my own the same way, but it is as if the personality of the individual leaps from the text(or maybe it is those tiny voices inside my head again). It is kewl to have this ability. Ok maybe it I have been subliminaly seduced by Arc, but meeting people, or at least hearing from them on a regular basis is amazing. I actually can't wait to see the Giant Mutant Rhubarb.

On that note, keeping with the latest and greatest...

You are Morpheus, from "The Matrix." You
have strong faith in yourself and those around
you. A true leader, you are relentless in your
persuit.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Too Hot to Handle

I addressed my CPU cooling problems last week, excluding today and maybe even yesterday, it was just too hot. So, I bought an air conditioner for my office, its a portable unit(sorry no picture at this moment), that is an air conditioner/de-humidifier/heater/fan. It set me back some, but in order for me to work it is needed, I don't know anyone who could work in a room that was approaching 100 degrees(F). My office gets direct sunlight for most of the day. It was so hot in here on the weekend that the floor was hot to the touch(of your feet). So I had to switch to the laptop for a few days, but it is not the same for me, my production goes downhill, I like to be in my office.

Today was spent re-organizing my room to allow for the install of the air conditioner, to this point anyway. I can't believe how much crap I had in my room. Oh well it is all good now, and it is a nice 70 degrees in here. NOW THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

Not much else to report, I am constantly working on my stuff, going to take a break and go play a round of golf after supper, and then get back at it. Time is a precious commodity, that cannot be wasted.

Things Are Heating Up

I have been noticing that my box has been heating up, lately. Actually it has always ran hot but now that I am going to be needing it on a regular basis, running cool would be the preferred method to operate. With that said I bought a fan that clips on my desk to increase air circulation around the box, since it sits in a corner on the floor under my desk. The box itself has 2 case fans, as well as the CPU fan and the fan on the video card, but ever since I got the AMD chip the box ranks as the hottest I have ever owned. You put in a CD for a few minutes into either drive and it comes out very hot to the touch.

The clip on fan was a piece of s*#t, and easily broke off with the force of my knee a couple of times and the chair a few others. So I went out and bought a different fan, only this time it is bigger and mounted. I have a couple of pics, here and here to show you what I mean. This is a bit extreme, but what the hell, I would rather have this than a bill for a new board or CPU.

So this afternoon when it got too hot I shut down and went out and played a round of golf, which was my best round yet this year, I was only one over on the front; we won't talk about the back side. Oh well, now that I have "Kewl Runnins" I better get back to some code.

Things Are on the Up and Up

Despite the fact that I am very busy, good things are happening in my life now, and things look like they are on the up and up(a cliche but oh well). It has been a long time since things have actually worked in my favour, or at least not against me.

I have been working on the Chilliwack Fish & Game Protective Association's web site(constructive criticism welcome),on the side as well as my own stuff. Of course I got a few tips and links from Tiggersol on CSS so it has been pretty easy.

I have been meeting with a couple of good friends (you know who you are), that have given me insight into things that I have both thought of and not thought of yet, with respect to my business. Thanks Guys! It is always nice to know that you have friends that care. I hope I can return the favour at future meetings.

Went to the doctor today and was basically told the same thing, Loose Weight. I have tried a lot of different things, but being a Diabetic, that is overweight, with heart disease generically running in the family I need to do something if I want to live to see my kids grow up, let alone maybe grow old. I am at a point where I have a lot on my mind with my new business and all, but something in the area of weight needs to be done as well. I was told by the doctor that since my ankles are literally blowing out from the stress of just playing golf that a low impact thing such as swimming would be best. The only thing is, and this may sound silly coming from a grown man, but do you know how it feels to go into a pool and really make a splash( if any of you saw Shallow Hal , you might know what I mean). Or better yet having Greenpeace show up to protest when you go swimming, because they thought there was a captive whale in the water. One quick fix with this is that I wear a fin and flipers and tell everyone I am a the mascot for the pool.

Oh well maybe something will come up, meantime I can go out and punish my ankles some more on the golf course, trouble is I refuse to cart it. I will carry my clubs or I will not golf (stubborn yes). Maybe we can get a gym club/group together again, or the bike Nazi, biking is less impact than walking. Something will come about, it has to.

Mundane Weekend

Well it was just that, mundane, not a lot to be said. I backed off on the golf as my foot is still bothering me. There is something to be said in taking it slow, even when it comes to golf. I should have given my feet more time to recover from a game than just going out and playing 4 or 5 games in successive days.

As for my resigning from the Fish & Game Club website: I officially retracted my resignation after the Club president basically clarified the situation (it is nice to have people agree with me). So I am playing around with some ideas for their site while waiting for the transfer to take place giving me access to the new home of the site (Uniserve).

Still waiting for word back from HRDC on my application for the SEP Program. It has been 4 weeks now so I am getting a little uneasy, but it is a government agency so who knows.

So that was about it, other than the drive we took with the kids to get ice cream at the lake it was a pretty ordinary mundane type weekend.

Loosing Faith In Giving

Everyone who knows me is aware that I have been out of work and trying my best to start my own business. Along the way, over the last year I have not stopped giving of myself to others. My attitude is that I can use some of my free time to volunteer my services to others in need of them. I volunteer my time twice a week at the local slot track, and was the chairman at the Chilliwack Fish and Game Protective Association's Annual Steelhead Derby this past winter to name a few things.

Most recently I had volunteered to administrate the Fish and Game's Website. Well, after almost 2 months of politics, meetings, and correspondence, I have resigned my position. There always has to be an A$$hole in the bunch, this one insisting that the domain, www.cfgpa.com remain in his reseller account. I argued that it should not be in any reseller account but rather be the Fish and Games account. Well last night I had enough bulls@#*t and resigned, after being told that I am only just a pawn, in place to follow directives, and I know nothing of industry standards revolving around these issues. I am growing tired of giving and getting not nothing, nothing would be OK, but rather slapped in the face when doing so. Oh well too bad.

Quiet Weekend

Decided to take a few days off and get some much needed work around the house done. Got the lawn mower out and cut both the neighbor's and our front lawns, and chopped down a 20 foot Douglas Fir that was getting annoying( was half dead and rotten and the birds seem to like to gang crap off of it onto the cars). Once that was done I detailed my Mom's car for her as she was going away for a convention.

Last night at about 4:30am I got fed up with Windows 2000 on my laptop and decided to wipe it out and put XP on it. It was getting to the point were the HD remained fragmented to some point and it took forever to boot. XP install went well and it boots in half the time (mind you it is a clean install too, not much in the way of utilities). Of course I had to install GVim, and Cygwin so I can code in a decent environment.

All in all it has been a peaceful weekend, just watched The Transporter on DVD, and was impressed with the driving scenes, as well as a few of the fighting scenes. All-in-all it was a good flick that the entire family could watch, no real ultra gore or explicit sex. Back at it tomorrow then.

Too many b's

Note to self, there are two "o's" and only one "b" in scoobyd. Turns out I actually sent the Merilus pics to someone called scobbyd. :P

As for the Canucks.. I still just Believe.

Just Been Busy

Last week, or what there was of it (set aside the fact that there was a long weekend with Monday a holiday), I spent doing Market Surveys as part of my commitment to the SEP Program. Basically you have to prove market interest and that your business is a viable one by getting 50 surveys done. So I went out into the deepest darkest corners of Chilliwack, as well as many other places, to Survey the Market. I got 51 by Thursday evening and summarized the results making my Friday Meeting to go over it all. Big Thank You, goes out to a certain someone for showing up and taking control of the meeting in order to help both Bear and I out. Thanks Dude! !

With the surveys out of the way I spent a peaceful weekend with the family, worked on some things here and there, got some help from another certain someone with filling out the actual application for the SEP grant. Thanks Dude! !

So today was back to actual code, felt refreshing after all the paperwork. More of that to come of course but, well you know what I mean. I was itching all day to hit some balls though (golf balls). SO tonight I am going to get the clubs cleaned out and take Tyler to the range after he gets home from school tomorrow.

My next project, aside from work is to get a gallery going here. I sent some files to scoobyd last week( she had put up some Merilus pics), but she has been pretty busy too with the new job and all and hasn't put them up so I thought what the heck, put em up yourself. So I will have to look into that. Well speaking of which I should get back at it...

PC Fix-It 101

Ok, so I get to our friends house, and I am walking downstairs to their computer desk and their box is connecting to the net all by itself( yes they are still dial-up customers). I got to hear the tell tale modem squeal, haven't heard that for awhile. I then think to myself, this can't be good, as they don't have anything that does this automatically, or at least they didn't think so. I installed some Symantec products (yes I believe in them), and after updating them and scanning the system for viruses, I loaded Ad-aware. I think gator that was the culprit, although it found something called cydoor and alexa running as well. Who knows, it is all clean and clear and they are safe again, for awhile.

Oh, and we were paid in Jello! Our friends make this really kewl layered Jello stuff which everyone seems to go nuts for. I forget what it's called but the jelly is firm so it can be cut into squares. Shaaron and the kids really like it.

I Can See Clearly Now

Well I am now wearing my glasses, although I might say this is going to get a bit of getting used to. The prescription is much stronger than what I had before, but the big thing is I don't wear them, and now I am supposed to all the time. I now have a splitting headache which I was supposed to expect, but it sure is nice when I look at the ole' screen and SEE IT !

Spent 3 hours this morning updating winXP. Yes, it took 3 hours for it to complete, I kept on having to shut down reboot run windows update again and then reboot... this probably comes as no surprise to most of you though. What a pain in the butt.

With all that said, I am taking an evening off (usually don't really work until Tyler is in bed), and heading over to a friend's that has a possible "virus" (god forbid), to check it out. You know, the regular friendly neighborhood computer guy thing to do. Actually they are good friends of ours so it is not all that bad, it will be good to socialize for a change. :)

Sick Thoughts

For a lack of anything else intelligent to post I thought what the heck. After looking at Silverstr's "Diamonds are Forever", and the reference to your pet. Then reading Arcterex's "Keeping the Boys", I thought hey, what an great idea: "Keeping the Boys Forever". Think about it, or maybe not.

Also from the human perspective: What better way to continuously say I love you!

:) Maybe I just read these two articles together at the wrong time?

Time Flys When Your Having Fun

Laying in bed thinking "what a waste of time, I could be doing something more constructive", so I got up to do some work. Crashed really early last night, like 9:00pm, so it isn't surprising that I am up before the birds.

I went to the eye doctors for my usual checkup Friday, and found that I have some early diabetic deterioration in my left eye. Nothing to worry about other than the fact that it has started, and I need more regular visits. I also will be a regular glasses wearer, I submitted my prescription and will be picking them up on Tuesday. My left eye again the culprit, requiring the correction, the good thing is I won't be squinting at the monitor anymore.

Had a good talk with Silverstr on Friday, if anyone knows me I can be lacking in the area of self confidence at times, he helped get me back in focus, Thanks Dude! So the work is steady as ever, tested the inventory application I am working on with 30k items to see if it bogged with really date volume, and it didn't even cough, so thats good. I once again freed up some prior commitments to allow for more work to be concentrated into next week, so things are looking up.

The one thing I haven't mentioned recently is my sound upgrade. Sure it IS NOT something that I absolutely needed, but I had the money in my pocket and couldn't resist, and I think there are times when one just has to do this. Also since I do enjoy my music loud, clear, and crisp while I code I just had to. I went out and bought a set of Altec Lansing 641's, quite possibly the ultimate in computer sound. I know there is better (although you then have to invest more), and many that try to equal these, and some might say "a set of Monsoons does the trick ". You really have to experience good sound before you judge though. These 641's are awesome. I didn't think patio doors could rattle that much from bass! Any way I better get some work done before the kids get up... l8r

Updates to Come More Often

I apologize once again, I have been so busy lately, I am so far behind I think I'm ahead (that never did sound very good but couldn't think of anything better). What I can promise though is that I will be in front of the computer in the near future (like tomorrow) for regular business hours at the bare minimum, and promise to keep my chronicle updated more often, if not daily.

Does anyone read it on a regular basis? If you do please email me with a simple yes as the subject, if you have time, always wondered who does. Since I am one of the last of the people I know not to be running MT or something similar, I have no way for people to comment. Maybe I will make the switch soon, when I have some free time.

I have booked an appointment with the SEP Program people on April 10th to discuss my future business, I have been busy getting all sorts of things done and out of the way so I can devote more time to just coding. I have now 4 beta testers lined up that will be running Inman ( the inventory program I am working on), and will have in place 2 tracks running TrackMan (the slot track statistics program I am working on). I just need to clean it all up and add some more things, the work seems to be growing lately. Every time I get one thing done I think of more to do without getting to the next thing. I guess there is something to be said about time management, I am getting a lot of work done but seem to be a little disorganized at this point. There is light at the end f the present tunnel though, and I do say present tunnel, because I have more planned down the road. The stuff I am working on at this point is simple.

Off the subject of work, I went ahead and bought the RC Plane from Silverstr. I haven't had it flying yet but talked to the instructor today about the flying club in town. Tyler is excited. Well I guess I better get back at it..