Now Playing . . . Billy Idol - Cradle of Love

Now Playing . . . Guns 'n' Roses - November Rain

Now playing . . . Proclaimers - I'm On My Way

Now playing . . . Hooters - And We Danced

Now playing . . . Melissa Etheridge - I Will Never Be The Same

Now playing . . . Underworld - Born Slippy

Now playing . . . Ice Cube - No Vaseline

Some reflections at the end of an exhausting day.

I got the truck that I want, for the price that I want, under the circumstances I want. My existing truck will be taken on trade at the value needed to make it disappear. I'm ony 4 dollars over my pre-established budget and its got everything I wanted, and a little bit more. I think I won.

The other thing on my mind tonight is, my computer. It makes this strange clicking noise, but only some of the time. I thought it was hard drive but, it doesn't seem connected to hard drive operation. Sometimes its clicking and at others its not. And it will cease the noise for no reason at all. Any thoughts my blog friends?

Now I feel better. Toodles.

I need to get a few things (well two actually) off my chest.

One is a subject that came up last night. Sean tells me this story about a girl he knows. Its kind of messed up in the first place. He meets her under the pretense of a date only to find she has a boyfriend (nearly betrothed). But I digress, back to the story. Sean has a conversation with this girl, and during the course of it she confesses that she's dumped her boyfriend because he cheated on her 5 times, as she just found out. But here's the part that sets my blood to boiling. She wants him back.

What the hell is wrong with people? Five times!?! How do you forgive that? At some point you have to understand that this one is not the one for you. Once maybe you can forgive. Even that isn't fair. Once you can forgive but its probably time to say goodbye. Or maybe not. I don't know. But five times!?!?! How can that possibly be forgiveable? I can understand the desire to not be alone, and the wrenching loss of a long relationship but FIVE TIMES!?!?! That's not commitment honey.

And the other thing on my mind is, coffee breaks. What is it that the bloody world ceases to rotate on its axis when the poorly defined event knows as 'coffee break' occurs? I'm at the production shop this morning and when this annointed event arises, tools drop to the floor and we nearly sprint for the coffee machine. I had about 5 more minutes of discussion I needed to do with the one technician but nope, the world stops for coffee. It has to wait. That just drives me insane!

P.S. The idiot car dealer won't meet my terms on the truck I wanted. I guess I have to go look somewhere else.

This is the point where I'd usually go 'Toodles' but I'm much too depressed to do that.

Its kind of interesting how we get into patterns. I came home to Watson last night. It was a bit of an odd experience. I'm never here on weekend evenings. I haven't driven back to Watson on a weekend evening in so long I don't even remember the last time I did it. Going to bed here on a Sunday? It almost never happens. I almost didn't know what to do with myself. As it was I needed an hour or so to wind down and get my bearings before I could go to bed and sleep.

On the positive side of that however, I'm having a good Monday. No, the work or stress level is not down, but surprisingly I'm in better spirits. I think it was the relaxion I indulged in over the weekend. That was sorely needed.

Thanks for listening. Toodles!

Its time for a rant.

What the hell is the deal with salesmen? I go to a dealership today, to see if I can get another quote on a model of vehicle that I like, to further put into perspective what I'm going to need to pay, to get what I want. So I get this complete idiot. And I don't use that terms lightly. This is his business. Selling cars is what he does. And yet, when it comes time to price out the options that I want (as he didn't have a model in stock that fit my criteria) he doesn't even know how the pricing schemes are set out for the vehicle.

Its like this. If you want leather seats, and all the little extras that are lumped into the leather convenience group, you have to get what is termed the 'SLT' model. That's significant to remember. In essence the SLT represents top of the line. This tool of a salesman tries to tell me that if I want the leather seats I have to get the Envoy XL. The guy is retarded. An XL is a larger version of the standard Envoy that includes a third row of seats. I try, as politely as I can, to explain to this idiot that I don't want an XL, I want an SLT Envoy. He won't come off his assertion that I have to get an XL. All I could do was, shake my head in frustration, watch them make idiots of themselves by being way over budget, and then leave.

Thus my question becomes, shouldn't a salesman actually KNOW these things before he tries to sell me something? I go into the dealership and I end up knowing more about the vehicle in question than he does. That seems wrong to me.

Thanks for listening.

Some interesting things that happened to me today.

The truck leasing thing has run into another roadblock. Basically its come down to the upfront charges that are necessary. Its $2400, rounded loosely. I have a problem. I don't have $2400 cash, and I can't afford the extra in monthly payments rolling that into the total would amount to. So, I will have to find it somewhere. My boss has already stepped up, saying he'll help me, so I feel confident that eventually the deal will get done.

It turns out I was already set up for direct banking. I did not know this. After some fooling around with getting a new password (one that I actually KNEW) I was online and exploring my account. I have money. LOL I can't do much with the power just yet. I need to set up some bills online, so I can do everything from my computer. I think I will like this.

BTW, my telephone assistant with BMO was named Christiane.

Those were the highlights from my day. Sorry they were kinda boring (except the last, neat little coincidence).

Toodles!

Well, I've been crunching numbers on my truck problem this afternoon, and its starting to come into focus. Its looking like a Chevy Trailblazer is going to win. I just need to get in touch with the dealer who's offered me the best price, and nail him down on his numbers.

I won't mention the numbers, as that's not fair to the people I've been in conversation with. It is interesting to see the machine at work, and where the numbers fall out when they give you your lease payment at the bottom. I've learned a thing or two, again, about how they price these units.

I don't know if this is the best way to have handled this vehicle leasing situation but, at the end I have to go with what is the best deal for me. Maybe I try too hard to make everyone happy and I just need to be selfish about this. It ends up being a lot of money. I suppose I deserve to get the best deal for my situation. I still feel a little bad about the back and forth. Oh well. I never told anyone that they made to beat someone else's price. I let them give me their best numbers and left it at that.

I still can't think of a blog question of the day. Sorry.

Toodles.

I'm watching Newlyweds again. I forgot to mention something on the first entry. For some mysterious reason the blurred Jessica's boob!

Here is your weekly synopsis of my favorite show, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. It was kind of a clip show this week. There wasn't an overriding theme to this one. The funny moments came in little bits throughout.

Before I get to that, I gotta ask, what the hell must be going through your head if you try to lie to your wife about what you were doing the night before, if there are camera crews following you everywhere? We opened with Jessica going to New York to do promotional work, while Nick was in L.A. They met up in Florida, and he actually tried to tell her he wasn't out partying when she couldn't get him on the phone. Hello, they showed clips during the comversation! Might Jessica not be able to see these? That seemed a little goofy to me.

Jessica is performing at some 4th of July show in Florida, and before she goes on, there is a girl who has a rough time on stage. She can't hit the notes. To contrast this, Jessica goes over the top with "God Bless America'.

Let's see, what else was there? They come home and have to decide what and where to eat. How can it take anyone this long to make up their mind. The restaurant was funny in that the little girl wanted Jessica's autograph but barely acknowledged Nick's presence.

The couple is off to the Bahamas for most of the rest of the show. As you'd expect, much of the hilarity that follows is related to drunken hijinks. I like how Jessica can just put it out there and say, 'I'm drunk'. I respect that.

They are obviously married and in love. We got a few clips of them canoodling one another.

Swimming with the dolphins was interesting. Not so many funny moments, as just amusing. Jessica didn't seem too thrilled to be in the tank with the dolphins but over the course of it, seemed to warm to the experience.

Sadly I can point to any defining moments in this episode. It didn't have any breakout moments. Still good, as always. I eagerly await next week's episode.

I was watching 'Life Or Something Like It' at lunch today. I couldn't stay to the end to check something. I think the movie, or part of it at least, were filmed in Vancouver. The part where Lanie gets her prediction from the homeless guy, I think it was filmed in front of the building where Suncorp, the company I used to work for, had a Vancouver office. It was a distinctive building, and the few glimpses I got of the structure makes me think it was the same one.

On a related note, I don't think Angelina Jolie has very good teeth.

MUPPET NEWS FLASH!!!

The first snow of the season has begun to descend on Watson!

People everywhere are falling into despair. It would be pandemonium if everyone wasn't crushed into such pits of gloom.

More on this story as news breaks.

We have an update on the Jerome situation!

Things look pretty grim for Jerome. In an evenings television entertainment yesterday, I did not notice his presence on my television screen. It seems quite likely that Jerome has passed on to the big screen TV in the sky, no longer around to torment and frustrate me with his presence.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Jerome had become so much a part of my daily life that he'd almost elevated himself to the level of pet. I actually kind of missed him while I was watching TV last night.

I need help.

Toodles!!!

I know I do this a lot but, I have a question.

Why can't salesman just tell you the whole story? What is it that makes them have to obfuscate everything? Is it just that they're stupid, or do they think they're pulling the wool over my eyes?

I'm investigating this vehicle lease idea. I talked to this guy last week. He knew I wanted a high kilometer lease. So he calls me this morning, and leaves a message on my voice mail. It includes a number for the lease rate of a vehicle that meets my desires. It sounded like a good number. So I called and asked him for some paper work. And this is another thing that pisses me off. Stop jerking me around. I ask for some documentation and already he's in backpedal mode. "Well, well," he goes, "its just like I said." Yeah, I know buddy, so put it in writing. Why can't they just do that?

So he sends me the form with the pricing on it. I examine it closely. It only allows for 24,000 km per year. GROAN!!! I made it clear to this guy that I would need more kilometers than 24,000. If that's all this one lists, its essentially useless to me. I need a number that covers everything.

This is why I hate buying big ticket items. No one wants to give you a price. Its all, 'a little bit from Column A, plus a little bit from Column B." ARRGGGHHHH!!!!

Toodles.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts,
And I looked and behold: a pale horse.
And his name, that sat on him, was Death.
And Hell follwed with him.

Friday, October 10, 2003 Blog Question Of The Day:

Why do I change my passwords to incorporate a specific girl, only AFTER I lose her?

Do you have a minute?

What is the deal with SaskTel high speed internet? What did I do to be put in 'The Villas' yet again? I've already lost track of how many times I've had, dropped service, this morning. What the hell is the deal here? Do we get all the 1960's network equipment here in Watson? If more than three people try to access the internet simultaneously, the system crashes and has to reboot? What's going on?

This pisses me off. I pay the same price as a city dweller, for my SaskTel internet connection. Why can't I have the same reliability? Its obvious we have second rate network equipment, or undersized network equipment, here in Watson. Why is that? I suppose I should be happy just to have high speed internet but how useful is it if it drops me every 5 minutes?

That's just my opinion though. I could be wrong.

Its time for a rant.

First of all, I admit, part of this is my fault. I should have blocked this moron. I hate doing that. It seems so mean. But in this case, perhaps it was necessary. I can't deal with this level of stupidity.

So I'm sitting here at my desk, minding my own business, when this person I have occasionally chatted with, pops on and says hi. Okay, that's alright, so I hi back. There's the usual, how are you crap. I do my part. I answer, truthfully, and with more than just, fine. And I inquire about her status. Then it starts.

Oh my life is f%&ked up! So I bite, being the nice person I try to be. What's wrong, I ask. Then I get this list of disasters. In debt, have to go to the hospital, need a new car. And my polite comments saying this is unfortunate is met with, Yeah.

How do you chat with someone that just going 'Yeah' to everything. They're your problems. Either they are interesting to you or talk about something else. But say something. Don't respond to me with 'Yeah' on everything. That just drives me. You type something, and you get back 'yeah'. I end up doing all the chatting and I'm really trying to work, and chat with my other friends. What can I do with 'Yeah'.

ARRGGGHHHH!!!!

That is all. Good day to you.

We have a very important blog question of the day today. This is something that I've wondered about, to myself, on many occasions, and never come up with a decent answer. So, I will turn to you, my faithful blog readers, to get an idea of what you think.

What is the best story about me?

Contact me by the usual methods.

In what is to become a new feature on my blog, we will be reviewing the highlights from this week's episode of Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.

We had tension provided this week by both Nick, and Jessica's dealings with record executives, regarding their new singles. In a nutshell, both disagreed with the exec's. They both seemed pretty adamant they were right, and I can't argue to the contrary, because in neither instance did the show's producers give us a full clip upon which to render a decision. Since I like these two, I'll err on their side, and say that the record people needed to lighten up.

These events were fairly stressful, and as they were in Cincinnati for Nick's grandmother's wedding, what better idea than to go out partying!?! The partying itself was a pretty boring, 30 second montage of random shots from the night of drinking. Apparently the idea was to show Nick getting hammered. Funny though that the result was that Jessica had a hangover in the morning. Apparently she's a lightweight.

Jessica's condition in the morning brought us the show's funniest moments. Which isn't surprising because Jessica is the life of this show. Nick is just too 'together'. Jessica is a princess and provides nearly all the comic relief. In this scene she cuts forth with a tremendous, 3 second, burp. Jessica Simpson has the best belching talent I have ever witnessed in a female. She deserves an award. And to top off the hilarity she actually uses the phrase, 'drop the kids off at the pool'.

Nick is unimpressed by the quality of sound production at the old folks home. I think he was asking a bit much from a 75 year old guy. Later on his lack of faith in the 75 year old sound guy is re-affirmed when the old guy can't even get the mic on for Nick's song at the wedding ceremony.

Last up is the wedding itself. But first, we have to watch the couple prepare. Nick, the pretty boy that he is, fusses with his hair, to a degree that I think is excessive. Meanwhile, and this provides some subdued humor, Jessica does some ironing of her dress. Call me crazy but it really doesn't look like she knows what she's doing.

And that was it. In the conclusion we see some clips from Jessica's re-recording of her first single off the new album. She goes into the session saying she has a hangover. Is it just me or is Jessica doing a lot of drinking during the course of production of this show? Just an observation.

Again, another excellent episode of Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. I eagerly await the next episode.

P.S. I hate Jerome

What's the deal with me and new foods?

I've been on this kick lately, of re-trying things that I always was dismissing as food I didn't like. For instance, tonight I had cabbage rolls. Odd, they weren't as offensive as I remembered them to be. Granted, I won't be driving down the road to get them, but the meal itself was not that bad. I did enjoy the buns more than the cabbage rolls. The guy from the U.S. that was also at my bosses for supper didn't even know what a cabbage roll was. That's an awfully weird thing to hear, when they are so ingrained into the culture I grew up in.

On the weekend, my friend Melissa talked me into putting sour cream on my baked potato. I had to admit that it was a pretty darn good idea. I don't really like baked potatoes but the one I had on Sunday was pretty tolerable.

I've had mayonnaise on some sandwiches lately and would have to admit, it was no offensive. I tried pickles too and I have to say, they still don't do anything for me. I will pick them off. I also still don't like mustard. I've tried it on sandwiches and burgers a couple times this year, mostly because i forgot to say, take it off, but I can't get myself to like that. But, again as a result of my friendship with Melissa and Christiane, I've been having subs instead of burgers or other such fast food. (I think those girls have been an excellent influence on me) There's really no point in paying $8.00 for a sandwich, if you're going to leave everything off, all the vegetables and so on, so I've been ordering them with the works. Tomatoes, for instance, is something I've historically said I didn't like. On my sandwich, I really don't mind them.

This brings me back to my question. Why am I suddenly trying all these new foods? I will concede, many of the instances can be traced back to simply being open minded to a friend's suggestion. But why do I now like things that I before didn't like? Do tastes change over time, even if you're not constantly probing and testing them? Can boundaries shift, without any impetus to move them? Its all very curious.

Toodles!

What an up and down day I've had!

There was a big, closed door meeting this morning. I immediately went into panic mode, as I do with anything that is 'hush-hush'. That broke up about 10:30 and I moved into Murray's office, as I had a variety of things that needed his attention. Keep in mind I'm still churning my guts. We talk about projects and related stuff until noon and Murray calls a break for lunch. In passing, as we leave, he mentions that his earlier meeting involved me. This did nothing for my panic and I had what could accurately be described as a 'panic attack' for the entire lunch hour.

So back we come after lunch and resume the previously suspended meeting. Murray brings up what he'd discussed in his earlier meeting and while about me, was not even remotely close to what I'd managed to dream up. The guys in the shop were just frustrated by the drawings they had to work with, in constructing all these units we're doing. Murray and I batted that one around for awhile, and I explained where I was coming from, the strides I had in mind for future action, and how I would welcome some feedback from the guys doing the actual building. It sounds like this is getting transmitted so I think that was resolved.

Bouyed by the success of having my dire fears reputed, I strove forward with an issue that had been plaguing my mind since last week. And to my enormous relief my boss was ameniable to the solution I proposed to alleviate my stress, where my vehicle is concerned. I think that situation will be coming to an adequate resolution pretty soon.

So I went through some gyrations today but it ended in a good place. I feel reasonably satisfied. I look forward to the evening.

Toodles!

Tuesday's blog question of the day. (its a thought provoking one)

Do you think that humanity will colonize another planet (or moon, cellestial body of some kind) in your lifetime?

Well that helped!

Its been a, trying, morning. I won't go into it because its the same story, just with different players. Too many people, asking too many questions, most of which have answers that they already have, if they'd take the time to examine the situation. That wonderful burn of stress in the gut was sure evident. I could definitely use the punching bag I'm thinking of buying.

But I went home at lunch and watched Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica. That show is hilarious. Today we had Jessica sulking because Nick was going to be interviewed on Playboy Radio, and then attend a party at the Playboy mansion. The girl is blonde, busty and beautiful and still she worries. I don't quite follow how that happens but that's probably a blind spot on my part. Then they went golfing. That was uproarious. ever second thing Jessica had to say was, I have to pee. They're on the driving range, and just as Nick is about to swing, Jessica say, I gotta pee. Needless to say he shanked it. I believe that was when he fired his driver into the bush.

Which brings us to the blog question of the day.

Do you think Jessica Simpson's boobs are real?

You know what to do. Toodles.

Its official. Sean's good friend 'Murphy' has changed addresses. He is now residing with me, riding shotgun in the truck that's not driving anymore.

I blew a rear differential bearing. Some of you might now what that is but I'd never heard of it until this morning. To fix that, and the other sundry stuff they found under the hood, will cost me about $1500. I'm not too impressed. I didn't need this, right now. I've kind of mortgaged myself heavily with commitments recently, and I needed stuff to hang together until January. That fell apart in spectacular fashion yesterday. You really can't ignore a metallic grinding noise from the rear end of your vehicle.

So, today's blog question of the day is:

Should I trade in my truck for a lease on something new?

Email is as usual. Later folks.

This will be a short blog entry because, while I have lots that I could say, I haven't the enthusiasm to spend the time typing it.

There is something wrong with my truck. A squeaky noise coming from the rear of the vehicle, that I'd identified before, has magnified into something very ugly, and ominious sounding. It was too late for service today, but I'll be up early in the morning, bending over to take the news. I'm praying silently, but like the Pope, the outcome does not look promising.

Good luck to all of you with your coming days.

Block question of the day for Tuesday, September 30th:

What are the top three things on your Christmas list this year?

I am not happy.

I'm sick. Well, not yet, but I'm getting there. I woke up with a scratchy throat. That is the precursor of a cold, for me. I expect I will get progressively worse through the course of the day and when I wake up tomorrow morning, I'll be in hell. I hate when it builds up like this. Having a cold to look forward to is not something I appreciate.

Consequently, I had a bad night's sleep. I didn't really think about it until I got up and saw the mess I'd made of my sheets overnight. In retrospect I realize I woke up several times last night, which I suspect is another symptom of my burgeoning sickness. I really didn't need this. A 7 plus hour drive with a growing cold does not sound like fun.

I think I'm going to wrap up this blog entry and slink away to a quiet place here at my desk where I don't have to think much. Here's to hoping you all feel better than me.

Toodles.

Monday's blog question of the day.

What thing have you accomplished that has made you the most proud? What have you done that has made someone else feel the most pride in you?

I have good news! For all of you who emailed me about it, the chicken cup was back in the cupboard this morning. My hot chocolate tastes WAY better because of it. :-D

I have a question.

I like to buy my gas at Mohawk stations whenever possible. For one reason, I can show my CAA card and have the purchase count towards a discount on my yearly membership. With all the travelling I've been doing for work, this is going to add up to a healthy sum, and my CAA membership, when it comes due in December, should be much reduced from its full price. However, the second reason, and I consider it the more important, is that I can get mid grade gasoline, that has ethanol added, at the same price as regular.

Now what I want to know is, why would anyone still get the regular gas, if you can get the better octane, and more clean burning ethanol added gasoline, for the exact same price. I pulled up to the pumps last week, and there was one person there. He was at the regular pump when the mid-grade pump was available. Why? Its like turning down the second item on buy 1 get 1 free. Does anyone have an explanation for this?

Toodles!

I don't know if I'm really 'supposed' to be doing this BUT hello to you all from the Blades game. Apparently there is wireless access in Saskatchewan Place. :-D

Toodles!!!=

A sausage and an egg were being fried in a frying pan.

The egg said to the sausage, "don't you think its hot in here?"

The sausage said, "God damn! A talking egg!"

What a slow news day it has been so far. I tried, with no success, to write a blog entry three times this morning. I had nothing to say. My motivation for work has been low. I blame a lack of sleep. I woke up for the first time about 3:30 this morning and didn't sleep solidly again after that. Still have a low grade headache that while I can feel, isn't bothering me that much. Picked away at a task this morning and found I'd done most of the work already. All that is needed is to put together the final document.

One piece of noteworthy news was the strange dream I had last night. I dreamed I was on campus at the U of S. I have forgotten the specifics of why I was there, but the part of the dream I remember had me walking through the 'bowl' on campus. Somehow this rolled together with doing a Sask. Place shift, and I discovered myself sitting on the grass and the narrow end of the bowl, between the library and the geology building, trying to balance a cash tray for an event. I had my money, and my count, and I was trying to reconcile the numbers on my PDA. My calculation of the number of beer I'd sold was not making sense to me. I think it was something like 13x24 and I was getting a number like 724. Suffice it to say it wasn't making sense. People kept coming up and bothering me, because it was taking me so long to figure out this deposit. Eventually I just threw up my hands and crunched my brain to figure everything out in my head. It was right about then that I woke up and it was 3:30.

Hopefully you, my faithful readers, had a better sleep than I. I wish you another one tonight. Toodles!

Another tidbit of news from an enormously hectic day.

An old friend messaged me on MSN today. My buddy Darren from my days at March Consulting said a hello to me this afternoon. That was a nice, and welcome surprise. I hadn't heard from him in some time. It was good to catch up, even if it was only for a few minutes. He has a baby now (well, he's one and a half actually) so Darren was babysitting and duty called. Still it was good to say a hello to an old friend. Hopefully he will make it online again in the future.

Toodles!

Bloq question of the day.

Why am I blessed with having high speed internet out here in the hinterlands of Saskatchwan, but similarly cursed by having the connection be so unstable during the day?

The 10:30 Blog question.

Why does my keyboard stop working when I plug my digital camera into my USB hub?

On Kevin's suggestion I decided to have a hot chocolate this morning. The only problem with this plan was, some dirty so-and-so has taken my favorte chicken cup. Its just not the same without the chicken cup.

This has been your 9:00 news break.

Do you know what I hate? It really frustrates me when I wake up early in the morning, for instance 5:30 like I did this morning. The waking up isn't the frustrating part. That can actually be nice because you look at the clock and realize, oh good, I can go back to sleep for a couple hours. The part I hate is when you wake up early, but its that sudden, jolting awakeness, and you get the adrenaline rush of, oh crap, I slept in and I'm late for work! Then you look at the clock and its 5:30 and you can go back to sleep. Trouble is, the adrenaline rush has made you wide awake, and going back to sleep is nearly impossible.

This has been your 8:30 rant. Toodles!

I just remembered the other thing I wanted to add to my blog for today. Funny how you always forget at that point where you have to remember it. This can double as the 'Blog Question of the Day'.

Does anyone know how to add a hit counter to a blog hosted on Blogspot?

What a weird day its been. First of all, I couldn't log onto the Blogger site all afternoon. I tried three times and each one its errored and wouldn't load my TELK page. Oh well, I'll blog as I wait for my supper to defrost.

Today was frustrating at work. More of the usual nightmare; dealing with consultants. Why is it they have to be obtuse? I was sorting out all the conflicting design decisions, and mis-specified equipment. Wrong tags on things, missing tags, incorrectly placed equipment. On top of the fact that all the analytical equipment is just plain wrong for the application. This stuff we have to use is all wrong for a small scale membrane treatment unit. There are some mistakes on our part too. Some equipment was located in the wrong place on the unit, some equipment was not ordered, and its all combining for one big headache. I'll be working on it again tomorrow. I hope I can put the majority of it to rest by the end of Thursday.

There is some good news however. I'm looking good for completing payment on my big screen TV. I ran some numbers this evening, after paying a couple of bills, and the money should be there to cover that very large expenditure. That gave me a nice, happy, warm feeling. I had a brief panic attack when i forget to add my next paycheque to the numbers. It all looks good and I think I can relax.

That's all from here. Have a good one folks.

Toodles.

MUPPET NEWS FLASH!!!

I have secured vacation time for the new year. The situation came to a head this morning and I had to do something. So, I went ahead and asked Murray for two weeks off in the early new year. He said 'okay' without hesitation.

So, to summarize, I will be going on vacation, to the Mayan Riviera, in Mexico, for the week of January 9-16. I have not figured out how to pay for this yet but with luck, something will work itself out.

I will also be at the Nokia Brier, in Saskatoon, from March 6-14. This event is important to me because I missed out on most of it the last time it was here. I just see it as an experience to be part of the crew that pulls off this show. I'm looking forward to this.

Thanks for listening. Toodles to all!

News from my house this evening.

It appears Jerome has a friend. I had two flies up on the screen this evening. I need to spray some RAID in there or something, to get rid of them. Damn pesky flies!!!

Toodles.

Today's blog survery question.

Should there be a TELK fan club?

You know what to do.

Another couple of examples from the list of, things that piss me off. They are from Microsoft products, which should come as a surprise to no one.

Why does Microsoft default the margins in Word to 1.25"? How picked that as a standard? Maybe its is a standard somewhere, and I'm just not up on typesetting but it seems to me that 1" would be a much better standard. I've asked the question of people and I hear the same complaint. G&D D#$M Microsoft, makes me change the margins every time!!! If someone could explain this to me, I'd sure appreciate it.

What is wrong with Word in that, I can have the whole document at one font size, lets say 14 point. I copy a section, from the same document, to another place in, the same document, and when it pastes, its a different font size. Why does it do that? They build all these 'smart' features into the program, and it can't even do that right?

Just some stuff on my mind. Toodles again!

Monday morning has arrived and I have a few points to comment on. As none of the following information is really paragraph worthy, I will summarize in short.

I guess winter will soon be here. I got up this morning and drove back to Watson. The truck thermometer showed -2 at one point. Its cold. BRRRRRR

Thanks to Sean for writing a blog entry. It was nice to hear what's been happening on the farm. It was further nice to read a perspective that was rural, and not urban.

I hate the race track. Its dirty, ugly, and dilapidated. I also have issue with the amount of alcohol consumed during the racing event. Its 10 degrees out, why are you morons drinking COLD beer!?! Sometimes I just don't understand people.

This is the worst time of year to drive, for me. On Friday nights driving into Saskatoon its right into the sun, and Monday mornings when I come back to Watson its again into the sun. I need a Darth Vader mask.

These are my points for the morning. Check back with me later for more hilarity. Toodles!

I miss Sean. Its kind of depressing to constantly check his blog and never see an entry.

Okay people, its time for a rant.

Do you know what pisses me off? These people that come on the internet to chat, but then forget who they're talking to. That really gets on my nerves. You'll be having a conversation with them, and after 3 minutes they'll say, who is this? Who is this!?! You started talking to me? Why the hell do I have to explain myself to you now!?! Or, and this is maybe even worse, they ask you the 'who are you' question, and then proceed to ask you a series of questions, basic ones, that they've already asked you once before. Are you that scatterbrained that you can't remember a few basic facts? Am I alone here? Is this a deep, dank forest to which I alone know the path through!?!

ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!

Just something that was on my mind. Toodles.

The shifting sands of life, and love, can be mournfully depressing.

Its hard when the feelings that once existed, are now dissipated. You're left with what you feel remaining, but its sad and withered, faded by the passage of too much time. The emotion is still there, in all its intensity. But a chasm exists between what is, and what was. The situation is not the same as when it bloomed. You look across this void and see what you did. But you see the shadow cast, and not the image you desire. That which you desire has passed on to some other state of existence, where you will only touch it in the briefest of moments.

Maybe it can be re-captured. Perhaps feelings that once burned bright as the sun, can re-ignite in a moment that seems to be missing something integral. But it can feel like you have to re-learn truths that used to be simple. Moments that had been accepted as gospel, are now noted as remarkable. How can something that was perfect, fall back into question?

Life changes, it evolves, it makes new things from the old. Perhaps that's all that I've seen. The new that will grow, may be better than the old I lament. I wish it to be true.

Here I shall remain.

I've found my show! This is freakin' hilarious!

I'm watching 'Newlyweds: Jessica and Nick' This is so much fun. Normally I don't like reality shows but I can't help but laugh at this. I dunno how much is real and how much is acting but who cares.

Jessica buys lingerie and doesn't look at the bill until she leaves and its $750. So what does she do? She calls Nick.

They blur a dancer's ass.

They bleep the word 'dick'.

Jessica almost cries, numerous times, as she watches the sexy dancers cavort around her husband.

She is such a priss, and so painfully insecure. I gotta wonder if some of it is playing for the cameras because its so obvious. But what is with the bleeping and the blurs. You can't be rude on MTV? When the hell did that start!?!

You know what I hate about having multiple computers? When I'm logged into MSN on one, and then when I turn on another one, it logs me in there, and logs me off where I wanna be. It happened at lunch. I turn the 'Out To Lunch' flag on my MSN when I leave because I watch cartoons at lunch at home. But I had to email myself something, so I turned my computer on at home. Opening Outlook Express automatically fires up MSN. I tried to cancel it ahead of time but it didn't work, and it logged me out at work. I didn't log in at home, because I cancelled it. In the meantime Tara had messaged me on MSN.

I hate when it does that. I seem like I'm being rude when its just coincidence. I hope nobody thinks I'm ignoring them when something like that happens.

Toodles everyone!

WARNING!!! If you have a weak stomach you may not want to read the following blog entry. WARNING!!!

Grant's Cast Removal

It started well. Showed up, on time. Forgot my extra sock and shoe so I had to go back to the truck and get it. The temperature is a little too chilly to be barefooting it across the parking lot. I was the only one in the waiting room so I got in almost right away. It was only 10 minutes from when I showed up until I saw the doctor. A few minutes of chit chat; 'how's have you been', 'any pain', etc. Everything was good so it was cast removal time!!!

Had a really good nurse for the cast removal. It was obvious she'd done this many times before because she had a procedure and knew exactly what she wanted to do. First she opened the cast along the inside, coming from the foot to the ankle, and then from the knee to the ankle. She had some trouble on this side with the cast material right at the ankle. It didn't want to cut all the through. But the nurse was very thorough and this was eventually remedied. Then she moved to the other side, and made a similar set of slices on the outside of the cast. With much less difficulty she opened this side, and now my foot was no longer encased.

I'd caught a whiff of it, from time to time, over the past week or two. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty when we got inside. The nurse took some scissors and cut the guaze material that lay between my skin, and the fibreglass wrap material. One blast of it hit me when she got to the ankle, as she cut from my toes. I braced myself, and she must have too, because she didn't flinch as she cut the guaze. As the last slice was made she put away the scissors and pried the cast apart. My foot was free! I gingerly pulled it from the material that had surrounded me almost continuously for the last 7 weeks.

It was awful! Truly heinous. I knew it would be but even that didn't prepare me from what I saw. And smelled. The smell wasn't as overpowering as I expected. It was the same lingering thing I'd gotten a whiff off for a couple of weeks. But it was bad. As I attempted to pull my foot from the cast material, the gauze stuck to my skin. Not that weak, clingy feeling of a wet sock, but the bound on, glued to the surface feeling of pulling away melted plastic. It actually came loose with an audible smack. Like I've already said, the odor was offensive. It wasn't as powerful as I suspected, but the odor was distinct, and vicious. I can't even put a description to it, because it was bad in a way I've been unable to properly decide for myself. Can you remember in your head that smell you get in the theatre, with the popcorn and the little trays of nachos. How it smells hot, and richly inviting? Well imagine that smell again, but consider the heat was making it smell bad, and not good. That's an approximation of what this is like.

So she pulls the cast away, as the last of my skin becomes unglued to the gauze. I get a brief look at the inside of the cast and the view is nauseating. The inside of the cast, around my foot and up past the ankle, is all brownish-orange with stale perspiration. It looks like ear wax, spread literally along the inside of the gauze. It was sickening to look at. I turned my eyes away from the cast, and aimed them at the foot. I was looking for evidence of this same orange buildup on my skin. I couldn't see it there, which was a blessing. I assume it must have come off with the bonding of my foot to gauze.

I stepped down on the floor and walked around. It felt oddly peculiar. It was like my foot was on air. I couldn't really feel the ground under my toes. It felt similar to when your foot is asleep, but without the heavy, leaden sensation that goes along with that. Rather it was the opposite, a feeling of extreme lightness. I walked around in a few circles, trying to get used to the feeling. It didn't go away, but lingered. I also noticed the stiffness in my Achilles tendon, and around my ankle. Lack of mobility had made me stiff, and there was some discomfort but nothing I'd call pain. Rather, the whole sensation was one of relief.

The nurse prepared some wash facilities for me, and I bathed my foot. I was again brought witness to the ugliness that had grown beneath the fibreglass. As I swabbed my foot with the milk white cloth, it came away from my skin with ugly stains of orange, yellow and brown. I frequently had to rinse the terry cloth so that I didn't embarass myself with the ugly stains I was leaving behind. Soap helped, and the warm water felt good. After many minutes of scrubbing, I actually felt relatively clean.

As I completed my scrubbing, and went for another couple circles of the floor, the doctor came in. He examined my foot, and pressured various points. Nothing was painful. I was given the go ahead. With a shake of his hand, my broken foot experience was over, and I exited the building, laughter in my heart.

Toodles!

I just noticed something new in the movie, Not Another Teen Movie. At the end, when Janie Briggs has left the prom, and Jake has realized he loved her, and is chasing after her. Well, before that happens the weirdo Ricky stops him and they have a civil argument about who loves Janie more. Then they start racing down the street after her. (forgive me the long windup)

Anyway, they're running down the street and get to a street corner. Jake sprints across without issue but no one will stop for Ricky. If you read the name on the store window, of the shop on the corner, you'll notice that its called 'Spicoli's'

Why are Subway restuarants called Subway?

I gotta be careful. Lately I've been feeling tired so I go home and lie down on the couch. It was so comfortable today. I didn't want to get up. That might have something to do with the fact that the temperature in my house is about 12 C and it was nice and warm under that blanket. I should probably turn the heat up. But I do like it a little on the chilly side. And its not just warm, but cozy too, underneath a blanket. Oh decisions!

Toodles!

Second Blogger survey question of the day.

Do you think I would make a good Jedi?

Address is above. Send your vote and comments.

I am officially pissed off again.

What is wrong with AutoCAD? I mean, you set the stupid thing up to AutoSave your drawing for you, because you know you're careless, and don't always remember to save. But does AutSave do anything? No! Its completely useless. AutoCAD fails on me and boots me out. But before it does it gives me a, do you wanna save, box. So I say yes. Where's my saved drawing? I don't know. I don't think the computer knows either. AARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! This is so frustrating. Why can't things just work? That's all I wanna know. What can't stuff just work?

Frustrated.

Toodles.

Today's Blogger survey question of the day.

Do you think I would make a good Amish person?

Address is above. Send your vote and comments.

I must be doing something wrong. I was plagued by more, vivid, dreams last night.

I won't be able to supply many details today because I had more than one dream last night, and the details of them are all mixing together into a giant, coagulated mess, that I am having trouble extracting meaningful scenes.

Part A of last nights dream involved my childhood buddy, Tim Williams. I'm not sure why this came up last night as I haven't thought about him in awhile. I met him on the street, College Drive for those of you that know Saskatoon. For some reason he was walking in traffic. I followed him around campus, and the Engineering building in particular, and then home. He seemed to be marginally tolerating my presence. Then I followed him home, where his sister was there, with a guy that was presumably the boyfriend. They were in the basement of the house. I followed Tim down the stars and whacked my head hard on the low roof at the base of the stairs. That hurt a lot. The dream ended somewhere soon after that, when I was trying to excuse myself from the house.

Part two of last night's feature was kind of an action adventure/science fiction movie. I'm a little sketchy on details. The jist of the dream was that, I was escaping some enclosed installation with some stolen items. At one part of the dream it was paper money, but at the end it was some gold, and neopolitan ice cream colored metal bars. Most of the dream was furtively walking through a series of installations, that were strikingly similar to shopping malls. There was some looming deadline where I had to get to a shoemaker's shop, called 'Mike's'. There was some disastrous event going to befall all of creation, but it wasn't spoke of directly. There was just this sense of having to escape.

Along the way I met up with a mother and son, who were somehow connected to my valuable bounty. The mother left her son with me, and this kid tagged along on part of my great escape. Eventually I had to make a choice, between the money and the kid, and I ditched the kid. Around about this time I stopped to go through the inventory of a sporting goods shop. I was looking for jerseys, for some reason. Then I had a thought from my real life that I couldn't afford to spend $80 on a replica jersey if I wanna get, and do, all this other stuff in the coming months. That kind of tied me to reality again and made me realize this was a weird dream.

The dream wrapped up in a bizarre way. I made it to Mike's, and was led into the back room where Mike and I made the exchange of the metal bars, for paper money. Then the Mom and kid showed up again, and the mom yelled at me for ditching her son. We got into a fight about that because I didn't care about the kid for any reason and didn't understand why she left him with me. She tried to claim my money, and then the doom that was foreboding came down. It turned out to be armageddon, or the apocalypse, or whatever its called when god comes down from the heavens and judges humanity. Curiously it was shown on TV though. I was in this room, peeking around the corner, as a group of people, including Tim and Jennifer Williams, watched the pronouncement from the God creature that life was over. it was during this speech that I woke up and ended the dream.

I gotta lay off the altered-states hullicino-paste. 8-|

Toodles.

Lots of news from the day so far so let's get to it.

I'm sorry to hear about your morning Dean. There's nothing that can be said that will make that alright. I hope you can find some way of dealing with it. I wish you the best of luck.

I've been to the doctor already. The bone is healed BUT, because of the severity of the original fracture, the doctor wants me to spend at least one more week in a cast. Fine, I'll do it. On the upside, I got a boot to put on my cast so I'm walking now. I think the theory is, give the bone a week to get used to full weight before removing the cast. Seems like a sound theory to me.

Gaming sounds alright to me, if we play some games I actually like. I will not be buying Medal of Honor. There is nothing I despise more than playing a first person shooter where my only choice is to shoot my friends. I don't want to hunt my friends. I find no joy in that. Nor do I like the online experience of shooting other 'real' people. I just get too pissed off because other people take too much pleasure in not playing the way you are supposed to. Better to stick to games that I like. Neverwinter Nights would get my cautious approval. I'd like to tinker with it a little more before giving an offical 'yay' or 'nay'.

If you know where I am, could you please just email me in one place? And, if you know I'm at work, could you email me at work? Thanks.

I'm off to Souris in an hour or so. Once again I make the trek to Manitoba for a site meeting where little of any consequence will get decided. Oh well, its part of the job. With any luck I'll be back in Watson, and at my desk, before the close of business tomorrow. I hope so. I've got a few things around here that could use finishing up before the end of the week.

That's a fairly substantial blog entry for today. Thanks for listening. Toodles!

I seem to have a fly problem in my house. I know where some of them came from but today at lunch was the third time since I came back after the weekend that I had to go on a fly killing binge spree. There are forces arrayed against me here. If any flies are reading this, go away, I don't want you!

Toodles.

Do any of you out there have any theories on why I am persistently getting a headache behind my left eyeball?

I have to write a blog this morning and give a good review of my HP Customer Care phone experience. It took some time to get an operator (i.e. don't phone in the afternoon) but I called first thing this morning, and was on hold for only 5 minutes or so. The woman I got was very helpful, friendly, and did an excellent job of making the experience painless. You kind of brace yourself for a lot of penetrating questions, and general disbelief that your product is broken, from the customer service people. She asked only a couple of questions but seemed agreeable to the notion that it was in need of repair. And this is the truly excellent part. The whole repair sequence is going to be covered, for free. I'm getting an email sometime in the next day describing how to ship it to them, free of charge, where it will be repaired, and shipped back to me, all for free. I am very impressed.

Now I simply hope it doesn't take too long to be completed. It would be awesome if it were done in a month or so. As I sit here thinking about it, I wonder if they'll even fix it, or just ship me another one right away. Her comments about, removing the memory card, and wrist strap, have caused me to think maybe they'll not bother, and will just ship a new one. Either solution would be fine with me, as long as I get my camera back. I like taking pictures and its irritating to be without a camera. I still want that new one, but I want the old one back too. (Yes, I'm very greedy)

So in conclusion, a solid thumbs up to HP Customer Care.

Toodles!

How does one raise some money? I have kind of a problem. I want to buy a new camera, but I have no money. Every dime, and a few more after that, are earmarked for other projects that I can't, simply, shelf. There are things I have to pay for. So, I need to come up with a new money making idea. All ideas will be gladly accepted.

Thanks for your help.

Toodles.

Is it wrong that I like Hilary Duff's song?

Have you ever seen that T shirt that says 'too pooped to party'? I need one of those today that says 'too busy to blog'. Every time I think I'm ahead, I find myself way behind again.

Life sucks, eat a radish.

Toodles.

I have learned a new skill. Actually its more of an application of an existing skill, but I have learned how to do a new thing, and thus I am proud of me. I know how to make 'skins' for Yahoo Messenger. I played around with the feature last night and after some thought while in bed, came up with a good idea for a background for my Yahoo Messenger, which I implemented this morning. Yay for me! (you gotta take joy in the little things.)

Toodles!

I just thought of an interesting question. Would the name of every person, currently alive, be recorded somewhere? Assuming this is true, and all this data could be collected in the same place, we could figure out the number of people, in the world, that shared your name. What a stupid thing to want to do, for no good reason. :-)

Our 2:00 song is Three Days Grace - Home. This is an excellent song. In fact, I think Glow Boy should download it. I think it would resonate with him.

Toodles!

This is a super Grant New Bulletin, live from the desk in Watson!

I want The Family Guy DVD series. That show absolutely kills me. I just about wet myself laughing today. Stewie the baby gets me every time. And Meg was really funny today. I wish they still made that show. It is the funniest thing I've ever seen.

This is a heads up to all of you looking for a Christmas gift for me (hint to Mom, Candace): Family Guy DVD's.

Thanks for listening.

More strange dreams last night. :-s

I dreamt that I was in this big mall, and wandering around. I stopped at this hair place because I knew the guy who cut hair there. Once inside I looked in a mirror and noticed I had long, flowing hair. I needed a hair cut. I got in the chair and the guy started cutting my hair. But it was kind of creepy because he was dressed in Roman toga type clothing. As he was cutting my hair it seemed like his toga robes were getting less plentiful. I woke up about the time he was bare chested.

I gotta do something about these dreams. I need a good, old fashioned, wholesome dream to mellow me out.

Toodles!

I forgot to mention this. I've been visited by Sean's friend Murphy. Both my digital camera and cruise control seem to be broken.

Another night of weird dreaming. And no, I didn't have pickles and ice cream.

I don't remember the start of it but at one point we got to a point where my parents wanted to move to a red brick house on Ave. G and 20th Street. I know, WHAT THE HELL!?!?! Let's just accept that particular thing and move on. Anyway, I was driving through Saskatoon on my way to this house, to see what it was like. For some reason it was an incredibly long drive, and it wound through a residential section that was heavily treed and very winding. I remember that vividly. As well as those aspects of it, there were also many hills and for a reason I can't fathom, I was driving a Ford Festiva hatchback. I know, WHAT THE HELL!?!?!?!

For some reason I had to stop. Or more accurately, we had to stop, as my family was with me. Oh right, I stopped because of my cast, that was the motivation. I needed to fix my cast, as it was falling off. So we go into, not a medical clinic, but some weird general store/health store. Everything that went on there was just too weird for description but I will try. First they wrapped a horse blanket around my leg, like that was supposed to help. That fell apart rapidly and we had to abandon the whole, save the original cast, solution. Then they wanted to give me a plaster cast. But it wasn't a real cast but they wanted to put my leg in a giant, clear plastic pail, and then pour in freezing cold plaster. I didn't get that at all. I wasn't real hip to this plan and tried to talk them into a fibreglas cast, like I have already. Then segued into the next part of the dream.

The person who took over helping me was, an incarnation of the pretty girl that works at the Safeway pharmacy, and who I know from when she worked at the Macs store. Janice by name, to save on confusion from here out. I tried to talk her into the fibreglas cast but she didn't think they had anything. So we hobbled up and checked out the kids section and they had some fibreglas material with kid prints on it. We picked up a few of these and went down the theatre seating (yes, I know) to the bottom, to put it on. But before she could get to work on building a new cast, it was the end of the day (9:00 pm on the clock) and she was done. I hadn't been there THAT long, I didn't think.

So we're into the last part that I remember. At the bottom of the theatre seating is not walls, but open, like a porch, and it empties into a courtyard with little shops and services. Most are health in natural, medical clinic (yes, I know), dental clinic, crutch store, and so on. That's not the weird part. The weird part is there is an old woman who is clearly insane, shouting obscenities at me as I hobble along. So I go back into the store that was SUPPOSED to be closed, and ask Janice what's going on. She tells me to ignore the woman, as she's crazy, and nobody bothers with her. And now, even though everything is SUPPOSED to be closed, she gives me a new cast, made out of green fibreglas wrap.

That's the last I remember. I gotta remember to eat something before bed. I can't have any more of these weird dreams.

Toodles.

I don't know whether I'm bored, or tired or what. First I had a craving for Dairy Queen ice cream treats, now I want a Chicken Chef hamburger. I should probably have more than an apple for supper.

I had a weird dream last night. I'm trying real hard to remember the details but they elude me, like sand through your fist. It had some elements of Star Wars, The Terminator, and there was some weird thing about the CFL having played a season as arena football, with Saskatchewan and Toronto in the Grey Cup, which was played to a full house in Sask. Place. If I can conjure up some concrete details for you, I will do so.

Toodles.

I swear there is code in Windows designed specifically to piss me off.

I put my new USB hub on my desk today, and went about installing it. Its USB, its supposed to be 'plug'n'play' right? WRONG!!! I know the theory is, that you just plug it in, and everything works seamlessly. So why doesn't it do that for me? I plug in the damn thing, and it does the whirly-be-bop stuff that its supposed to, then hangs. It won't finish the install. Well what the hell is going on here!?! It keeps asking for this EHCI installation disk. I don't have an EHCI Installation Disk. So I go to my documentation. No driver disk with the hardware. Explanation? Its USB, its supposed to 'just work'. ARRGGGHHHH!!!! So its to the internet. 20 minutes of fruitless searching brings me back to Windows 'just work' solution. I read the error messages carefully and its actually looking for a 'ousb2hub.sys' file. Hhhmmmmm, that looks suspiciously Windows system-ish to me. Better to a hard drive search. Finish that and Voila! I have the damnedable file on my hard drive. Go through the ridiculous procedure of having to tell Windows where its own damn file is, and once again, Voila!, my new USB hub works.

Bill Gates and his fiendish hellspawn can all toss my salad.

Toodles.

I've said this before but . . .

GOD I HATE ORBITZ!!!!

Having a broken foot officially blows. I'm not sure how many of you will know exactly what I'm talking about but, I went over to the Esso this afternoon to get the peach iced tea that I promised Melissa I'd try. (I didn't mind it.) This is not very far away. Its across the highway from the Central Water Conditioning office. I'd guess the distance from door to door is somewhere in the neighbourhood of one to two hundred feet. Certainly a distance that anyone of reasonable fitness should be able to traverse with little difficulty.

I'm proud. I know this about myself. I take some, little, things way too much to heart. This particular instance is one of them. Its not very far to the Esso. I should be able to go that far to get an iced tea. So I set out on the trip on my crutches. That was a mistake. First of all, I'm not very fast, so I had to wait to get across. Then it took me forever to get across. As well, you never take note of all of the holes and rough ground when you're walking, but when you're on crutches you gotta look out for hazards. And lastly, while it doesn't seem like so far to go on two legs, when you're doing it on one, it tires you a lot faster.

Long story made short, I should have drove over there. Yes, it does seem like a ridiculous thing to do but, I should have done it. I have to get used to the idea that I simply can't do some things right now. Its a very tough realization for me, considering what I know about myself. But I need to put that pride away for the next month, and just heal. Stupid pride is not going to make things any easier or better.

Thanks for listening. Toodles.

What's new in the world of Captain Cripple today? Let's just open the newspaper here and check the headlines.

SEAN AND DEAN ARE WEINERS!!!
Well, we kinda knew this one already. Government workers piss me off. The least they could do is have the decency to not rub in their 'day off' status. If they did, in fact, phone Greg at work, I think that was uncalled for. The poor guy is doing the best he can. I will insist they each give Greg a cookie tonight.

GRAMMAR SKILLS LOST ON NET USERS!!!
Kinda knew this one too. Why is it so hard for some people to type with proper grammar? I don't really understand it. Do you REALLY save that much by typing 'u r' over 'you are'? I hate that. Call it a pet peeve. Just type the damn word! But I'm anal about grammar so maybe I'm getting wound up over nothing. Nevermind. This topic wasn't important.

P2P USERS ARE PRICKS!!!
Again, sort of a well known fact. How rude is it to cut someone off at 99%? Its especially retarded when they don't block you entirely, and you can then just resume the download. I don't get that. Just let people download. IF you've got nothing better to do than watch people download from you, your life is damn sorry.

GRANT IS WORKING TOO MUCH!!!
I'm I alone in seeing a theme here? Once more, its old news being regurgitated. This particular headline is becoming more prominent. Little things are slipping through the cracks as I try to do too much at once. Once set of shop drawings had three different specs for membranes. The material list, the specifications sheet, and the actual cut sheet for the item all listed a different piece of equipment. Not paying enough attention to the details. I gotta shore that up. I also missed the motor mount for the pump on one unit. I don't take full responsibility for that one as no one told me the tubular steel was in appropriate for the purpose. Still, another one slipping through the cracks. I need a break to refresh my batteries. I think I should go hot tubbing. :-)

That's all the news for the day. Toodles!

OH MY GOD!!! The Montreal Expos are tied for the wild card spot in the National League!!!

It is raining this morning. And that doesn't really even cover the weather this morning. It is pouring rain this morning. The water is coming down out of the sky as if poured from buckets. It is a deluge. It is a monsoon. It is truly raining 'cats and dogs' right now.

I had a peculiar dream last night. I can no longer remember all the particulars but it had something to do with a criminal organization, and a group of people, including me, that were trying to make money off various illegal schemes. The only part I remember with any vividness is the ending. We were in this warehouse, looking for stuff worth stealiing when my boss Murray opened a can of Tang and got the powder all over the place. This caused the building to explode for some reason. The cast of characters in this dream was odd. As I said, there was my boss Murray, and also the Olsen twins. WTF!?!?! After the warehouse exploded, all the different people in the gang all made a dash across the lower United States to Mexico, which inexpicably was where Florida should be. The purpose of this dash was to get to an airport in Mexico/Florida, that had a secret stash of money. Me and the girl I was with, came in second in the race. I can't even win in my own dreams. :-(

I have a new cast. I got it yesterday. Hopefully this one lasts the full two weeks. I'm going to be confident that it will. It was sure weird to have my foot out of the cast yesterday. It felt numb, or rubbery. Plus my Achilles tender was really sore. I guess that was just from not using my foot for so long. Instead of a blue cast, I have a white cast again. Its still fibreglass though.

That's all from me this morning. Toodles!

This is an issue that came up yesterday actually, but I forget to write it down in the blog.

Why is it that cities around the country are upgrading their, welcome to the city, signs, but Saskatoon still has the same ones that were probably there in the 70's or later. The most striking example I can think of is between Regina and Saskatoon. Regina has some nice, stucco covered (I think) signs that say Regina. They are actually quite attractive. In contrast I drove into Saskatoon last night and it was the same sign I've been seeing since I was small. Reflective green, odd shape, on two structural steel points. Not nearly as impressive.

I think its sad. Saskatoon should not be upstaged by Regina on anything. I think we need to improve these signs. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Toodles!

Does anyone know why I'm so hungry the past two days?

I'm trying to write my EIT report. I hate writing my EIT report. I suppose this has a purpose but its so difficult to do. The essence of it is, tell the association what you've done for the past 6 months. (in the case the last four because that's all I have left) But, you know you're being evaluated on what you write so you have to make it sound as dynamic, and important, as you can, so its seen in a favorable light. While on the other hand balancing that requirement to sound important, with some modesty so you don't come across boastful. Its a delicate balancing act, and frustrating as well. Especially when you'd much rather just be doing stuff. I'm sure this will take me a couple days. :-(

Toodles!

The Expos won last night. We're only 3 games back in the wild card race. Woo Hoo!!! Go Expos!!!!!!

How is that I can go to bed early, sleep in late, and still be tired!?!

How is it that I'm getting all the worst songs, in a row? I set Winamp to have all the songs in my 'My Music' folder to be in the playlist, and then I told it to shuffle. Somehow it has seen fit to play all of the songs, that most tug at the memory I'd be best off not thinking about, all in a row. Is this an omen?

Toodles.

You gotta be careful with cell phones. You just GOTTA be careful with cell phones.

I got my cell phone bill today. $185 and some change. Yikes! Admittedly, that's not all personal calls. I used my phone extensively while on the road last month, so that's where a lot of that money comes from. Nonetheless, the bill is high, and you look at it, and you wonder where they get you. I got nailed twice. They hook me once for the air time to be on the cell phone, and talking to someone, and they get me again with the long distance charge. It doesn't matter where I go, its a long distance call. That kinda sucks but I guess there's no help for it.

I'll be over here, looking for pennies in the couch.

Toodles!

I've been watching a lot of MuchMusic lately. I don't know what has prompted this trend. Probably a lack of good movies on the movie channel, and the move of CFL football to the weekends. Nonetheless I have been watching MuchMusic and I've noticed something peculiar.

What's the deal with Jennifer Howlett's hair? Is that not the strangest looking thing you've ever seen? I try not to make a lot of commentary about someone's look, as its an action that has got me into trouble before. So this is not a commentary. Its a question. What is the deal with her hair? It looks odd to me. Its all pushed over to one side. If you catch only a quick glimpse of her, it looks like she got stuck in a wind tunnel with a head full of hair gel. Why would she do that? Its like she styled her hair with extreme bed head. I don't get it. But then again, maybe its not for me to get.

Toodles.

My Mom is a Pepsi hog.

My boss did up a forecast of upcoming sales orders this morning. We have over $1,000,000 worth of projects on our roster to do. I took a little closer look at the data and that million dollars is almost exclusively the large, municipal projects that I'm working on. A million dollars. That is an imposing, and impressive total. I'm kind of in awe right now.

Toodles!

I don't think this has ever happened before. I came to work this morning, logged on, and I had no Hotmail in my inbox. No spam, nothing. My Inbox was empty. Its almost eerie.

Toodles!

I have to wonder about something. Does there maybe need to be a minimum competence level before you qualify for protection under the law? I don't mean in general intelligence measurements, but in general competence. Can you take care of yourself, and not make yourself a burden on others. In specific I'm talking about stupid people. Those people that say and do things that are some incredibly nonsensical that it makes your shake your head, like you've got water in your ears. Do these people really deserve to be protected by the covenant of law?

Really, should the idiot that walks out into the middle of a crowded downtown street, at lunch time, deserve the right to sue a driver for hitting him? I don't think he should, but we give him that opportunity. The person that goes into the store and says, I want the biggest one you've got, but I only wanna pay have the sticker price. If they then stand there and argue with you about it, are they truly worthy of their free speech? The jackass who cuts you off in traffic, and then slams on the brakes in front of you, does he really deserve protection from your desire to get out of the vehicle and pummel him?

There are so many stupid in the world. So many stupid people, doing such ingloriously stupid things. It boggles my mind, and then makes it hurt. Some days I just can't stand it. I get mad. I wanna smack my own face into the wall until the blunt trauma hurts worse than the pain of trying to understand.

I could say something really hateful about someone I had to deal with today, but in the name of discretion I will refrain. Suffice it to say, they are stupid.

Toodles.

I just had a freaky moment. My boss comes into my office and says to me, there's a supplier out there that is trying to sell a package for $30,000 less than ours, on this job that I really want. My heart dropped into my stomach when I heard that. I kinda had my heart set on getting the job in question, because its a bigger scaled system than some of the others I've been doing lately. Most of the jobs that we've gotten recently have be in the 20-40 USgpm range. This one would be 100 USgpm. I really have my heart set on this project. I would like some plants with a little more size, just to add a touch of prestige to the roster we have lined up. A town at 100 USgpm is a little more impressive than an Indian reserve at 20 USgpm. Plus, when you talk about it, people generally know where a town is, whereas most reserves are unheard of.

So I have a panic attack when my boss tells me this other company is shopping their design around. However, the story continues, and apparently their design is not, apples to apples. My boss phones the design engineer, to just get a sense of what his take is, on this new, potential supplier. I guess the design engineer said the new bidder was up a rope, because they had not requested 'approved equal' status from him, beforehand, so at this point, they would not be accepted. They could come in at $1 and they wouldn't get accepted. Our unit will be the one that is supplied to the town.

That is a big sigh of relief. I could probably find $30,000 in our price to slash, but it wouldn't be easy, and the profit margin on the job would be much lower. I'm glad I don't have to do it. However, it has made me a little more wary about submitting designs and prices to engineers, this one in particular. Apparently this engineer is going to take our designs, as presented, and make them his specification. That's a little unusual for me, as its usually us requesting equal status to a USFilter model. Another thing learned.

Thanks for listening. Toodles!

I was gonna blog about my cast but something else pissed me off.

What the hell is the deal with the MSN.com site? If I wanted to do a search, I'd load a search engine. Don't put my damn cursor in the search box, when I'm trying to type in a web address. I KNOW where I want to go, I don't need any help. Another quality product, brought to us by Microsoft. Idiots!