For every success, there is a failure.
The place whose name we shall not speak.
I will not details the failures. It is counter-productive to invest any time in a detailed listing of all that is screwed up. We shall conclude with, its screwed up, and move on. Suffice it to say, there are more problems than solutions on the table.
On the bright side, Clarence and I got my new, High Definition satellite system up and running this morning. A couple days ago we started the project, and eventually gave up as it was too dark to see what we were doing anymore, and we needed to start over from scratch anyway. So we abandoned that for the night. I monkeyed with it for a few minutes last night, about midnight, and made some progress on a few points. I was encouraged to the point of trying again this morning.
Clarence and I went back to my house this morning, for about an hour, and monkeyed with the system. I had some ideas I wanted to explore. We followed the directions in the manual precisely, and got every response we were expecting, except for a satellite signal on Expressvu 82. We couldn't do anything that would dial in that satellite. Then I got word of another fire back at the office and we had to abandon the project.
I went hope at lunch. Clarence suggested I call the help line, and see if we were missing something. I did, including going through the byzantine phone system to get to a live person. I outlined my problem to him, and then he asked me a couple of questions. The one being, what transponder are you on? It turns out I was on the wrong one. We had Expressvu 82 dialed in when we tried before lunch. We just were on a transponder that was giving no signal. After I set it to transponder 7, it was fully functional, and we registered it, and before I came back to work, I had full digital, HDTV in my house!
That was almost enough to take the black stain off my week. Sometimes a success, no matter how minor, is enough to get your through a day. That is my enduring hope.
Toodles!
Friday, April 02, 2004
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
I think I'm developing an aneurysm. Can you develop such a thing, or does it just happen, all of a sudden?
Would someone, I don't care who, PLEASE line me up a date with a sexy, uninhibited young girl!?! I think a significant proportion of my stress problem is unrelieved sexual tension. And if it turns out I'm wrong about that well, it certainly wouldn't hurt the situation at all. 8-D
Would someone, I don't care who, PLEASE line me up a date with a sexy, uninhibited young girl!?! I think a significant proportion of my stress problem is unrelieved sexual tension. And if it turns out I'm wrong about that well, it certainly wouldn't hurt the situation at all. 8-D
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Well, there went another Tuesday!
I kind of wasted my day today. I drove to Maple Creek and back. That's it, that's all. There was only minimally more than that that I accomplished. During the drive down I had AMPLE time to consider my budget situation, with respect to the project in Maple Creek. I have it some hard, analytical thought, made a couple calls to confirm things, and decided I needed $5000 to put all parties to the deal at ease. Including my own sense of comfort, at not eating too much of the cost for 'additions'. About the only useful thing I did today was come to this $5000 conclusion. Having made it, I really didn't need to drive to Maple Creek to address it. Using the phone would have sufficed. But sometimes you do P.R. just for the sake of it, and this would be one of those times. I'm learning that its often the appearance of interest that is important, and not the actual interest.
Interesting to note from the 8 hours and 800+ kilometers was the extreme police presence on the highways today. I don't think I'd be lying if I said I saw a dozen police cars, in the course of my trip down and back. One followed me for awhile, between Vanscoy and Delisle. I saw one parked in Vanscoy. I was passed in the opposite direction by a cruiser, just outside of Rosetown. Met yet another cop on the road between Kyle and Rosetown. One was parked in Elrose. (I think it was Elrose) Saw a couple on the Trans-Canada Highway, as I headed west towards Medicine Hat. Stared at another cruiser across a weird three way stop in the Town of Maple Creek. Took note of a speed trap set up by the police, in a blind spot, on the Trans-Canada Highway. They were set up to nail people heading to Alberta. (Good idea, Alberta drivers are maniacs) Saw a cop car in Vanscoy on my way back into Saskatoon, and once I got here again, sat at a red light with a police car and the Avenue C and Circle Drive intersection. I think I missed a few, in that above rundown. I have a vague recollection of another cop car in Rosetown but I can't crystallize the image in my head so it won't go on the count. A dozen or not, it was a LOT of police presence during my drive.
They didn't get me, as I'm Johnny Law-Abider. All of you that believe that, please email me. I have a real estate deal for you that you simple CAN'T pass up!
Toodles!
I kind of wasted my day today. I drove to Maple Creek and back. That's it, that's all. There was only minimally more than that that I accomplished. During the drive down I had AMPLE time to consider my budget situation, with respect to the project in Maple Creek. I have it some hard, analytical thought, made a couple calls to confirm things, and decided I needed $5000 to put all parties to the deal at ease. Including my own sense of comfort, at not eating too much of the cost for 'additions'. About the only useful thing I did today was come to this $5000 conclusion. Having made it, I really didn't need to drive to Maple Creek to address it. Using the phone would have sufficed. But sometimes you do P.R. just for the sake of it, and this would be one of those times. I'm learning that its often the appearance of interest that is important, and not the actual interest.
Interesting to note from the 8 hours and 800+ kilometers was the extreme police presence on the highways today. I don't think I'd be lying if I said I saw a dozen police cars, in the course of my trip down and back. One followed me for awhile, between Vanscoy and Delisle. I saw one parked in Vanscoy. I was passed in the opposite direction by a cruiser, just outside of Rosetown. Met yet another cop on the road between Kyle and Rosetown. One was parked in Elrose. (I think it was Elrose) Saw a couple on the Trans-Canada Highway, as I headed west towards Medicine Hat. Stared at another cruiser across a weird three way stop in the Town of Maple Creek. Took note of a speed trap set up by the police, in a blind spot, on the Trans-Canada Highway. They were set up to nail people heading to Alberta. (Good idea, Alberta drivers are maniacs) Saw a cop car in Vanscoy on my way back into Saskatoon, and once I got here again, sat at a red light with a police car and the Avenue C and Circle Drive intersection. I think I missed a few, in that above rundown. I have a vague recollection of another cop car in Rosetown but I can't crystallize the image in my head so it won't go on the count. A dozen or not, it was a LOT of police presence during my drive.
They didn't get me, as I'm Johnny Law-Abider. All of you that believe that, please email me. I have a real estate deal for you that you simple CAN'T pass up!
Toodles!
Monday, March 29, 2004
Well, that was fun.
Membrane cleaning on the latest set of membranes from Souris has resulted in yet another expense for us. On previous sets of membranes, that had been in service since November of last year, there was considerable iron deposits in the membranes. Thus, it was taking an overnight soak in pure, undiluted, acid to remove the blockage sufficiently that the membranes could be rinsed, and brought back to original condition.
On the last trip from Souris, we brought back some of the original, replacement membranes. They were only a month or so, in place. On removal, they were noticeably cleaner than the membranes that had been in since the fall.
These replacement membranes were hit with an overnight soak in pure, undiluted acid. In the morning, when they rinsed them, there was no iron washing off the membranes. So they switched to a caustic solution, and pounding on the housing to loosen attached scales, and flush them to drain.
Around 11:00 this morning Tim brought me a sample of the water that was coming off the membranes. it was an opaque, white color, with a solid white, powdery, precipitate. I spend a couple hours analyzing the water, and this precipitate, with my 20 year old toy microscope. Murray cut up a residential membrane that was being discarded, and we previewed the two, side by side, under the microscope.
To our eyes, the sample Tim brought me, with the white powder, was the same as that of an intact membrane. The conclusion reached being, they burned up the membranes with their acid soak, rendering them useless. At almost $1000 per membrane, replacement cost, and if all ten have already been soaked, we are out somewhere in the neighbourbood of 10K.
We are not amused.
Membrane cleaning on the latest set of membranes from Souris has resulted in yet another expense for us. On previous sets of membranes, that had been in service since November of last year, there was considerable iron deposits in the membranes. Thus, it was taking an overnight soak in pure, undiluted, acid to remove the blockage sufficiently that the membranes could be rinsed, and brought back to original condition.
On the last trip from Souris, we brought back some of the original, replacement membranes. They were only a month or so, in place. On removal, they were noticeably cleaner than the membranes that had been in since the fall.
These replacement membranes were hit with an overnight soak in pure, undiluted acid. In the morning, when they rinsed them, there was no iron washing off the membranes. So they switched to a caustic solution, and pounding on the housing to loosen attached scales, and flush them to drain.
Around 11:00 this morning Tim brought me a sample of the water that was coming off the membranes. it was an opaque, white color, with a solid white, powdery, precipitate. I spend a couple hours analyzing the water, and this precipitate, with my 20 year old toy microscope. Murray cut up a residential membrane that was being discarded, and we previewed the two, side by side, under the microscope.
To our eyes, the sample Tim brought me, with the white powder, was the same as that of an intact membrane. The conclusion reached being, they burned up the membranes with their acid soak, rendering them useless. At almost $1000 per membrane, replacement cost, and if all ten have already been soaked, we are out somewhere in the neighbourbood of 10K.
We are not amused.
Greetings to all on a Monday!
We will open with some pictures!
Brier Reward
Isn't that just the biggest piece of beef you've ever seen!?! That was, as I labelled it, my Brier Reward. Western Concessions provided for us, the trench grunts from the Brier, one day to be treated like royalty, in compensation for all we experienced at the Brier.
Was it enough compensation? I would answer with, absolutely! The day started at 3:00, when I arrived at the Sheraton, in Saskatoon. I checked in at the desk, and was greeted with the wonderful news that all expenses had been taken care of. All I had to do was, sleep in the bed. That's a pretty good deal.
Not long after I arrived, it was off to the water slides!
Shooting the Tube
I love watersliding. Its never more fun climbing stairs, than when you get to come zooming back down again, on a slide covered in water. I apologize for not posting to this blog all the pictures I took at the waterslides. I have to conserve my webspace, as its a finite amount, and I want to save space for continuing additions to this blog. I have the watersliding pictures, and they all turned out, so if you'd like to see them, just email me from above, and I will ship you off my collection of pictures.
Brier Bandits
Here we all are (at least most of us) enjoying the hot tub, after some exciting waterslide action. Not everyone is in this picture but this is the majority of us. Speaking only for myself, but probably encompassing everyone, it was a great time. It is hard to choose between the water sliding and the meal, for which I enjoyed the most. I'm guessing the meal, but the sliding was great too. The only disappointment was that there wasn't enough time to spend on any aspect of the night, to fully satisfy my enjoyment. I could have easily spent more time by the pool, but we had a reservation for Carvers, so the pool time had to be cut short. I suppose I could have gone back after supper but . . .
No more Cowasaurus
I ate the whole thing. And a salad, and some delicious French Onion soup. I wasn't really in a condition that was conducive to physical activity at that point. So I joined the boys in the hospitality room that was provided to us, by the hotel. That too was a nice time, if a little subdued. I think everyone was feeling much the same as I, fat and lazy. There was some cards played, and a few songs heard, along with multiple drinks consumed. Not a wild party by any stretch of the imagination, but a nice culmination to a grateful reward.
Sunday morning dawned, and some of the group went for breakfast. Chris was hogging the bathroom, and I wasn't hungry anyway, so I skipped that. At 11:00 I checked out, and sadly my Brier Reward experience was over. It was with some sadness in my heart that it came to a close. It had been such a nice time that I felt it ended too soon. Oh well, all good things must come to an end.
Was it worth it? My vote goes for yes. Thank you to Kevin, Cowan, Wendy, Al, and all that made the event possible. It was a wonderful token of appreciation. I thank those responsible.
Toodles!
We will open with some pictures!
Brier Reward
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Isn't that just the biggest piece of beef you've ever seen!?! That was, as I labelled it, my Brier Reward. Western Concessions provided for us, the trench grunts from the Brier, one day to be treated like royalty, in compensation for all we experienced at the Brier.
Was it enough compensation? I would answer with, absolutely! The day started at 3:00, when I arrived at the Sheraton, in Saskatoon. I checked in at the desk, and was greeted with the wonderful news that all expenses had been taken care of. All I had to do was, sleep in the bed. That's a pretty good deal.
Not long after I arrived, it was off to the water slides!
Shooting the Tube
.jpg){kind=link}
I love watersliding. Its never more fun climbing stairs, than when you get to come zooming back down again, on a slide covered in water. I apologize for not posting to this blog all the pictures I took at the waterslides. I have to conserve my webspace, as its a finite amount, and I want to save space for continuing additions to this blog. I have the watersliding pictures, and they all turned out, so if you'd like to see them, just email me from above, and I will ship you off my collection of pictures.
Brier Bandits
.jpg){kind=link}
Here we all are (at least most of us) enjoying the hot tub, after some exciting waterslide action. Not everyone is in this picture but this is the majority of us. Speaking only for myself, but probably encompassing everyone, it was a great time. It is hard to choose between the water sliding and the meal, for which I enjoyed the most. I'm guessing the meal, but the sliding was great too. The only disappointment was that there wasn't enough time to spend on any aspect of the night, to fully satisfy my enjoyment. I could have easily spent more time by the pool, but we had a reservation for Carvers, so the pool time had to be cut short. I suppose I could have gone back after supper but . . .
No more Cowasaurus
.jpg){kind=link}
I ate the whole thing. And a salad, and some delicious French Onion soup. I wasn't really in a condition that was conducive to physical activity at that point. So I joined the boys in the hospitality room that was provided to us, by the hotel. That too was a nice time, if a little subdued. I think everyone was feeling much the same as I, fat and lazy. There was some cards played, and a few songs heard, along with multiple drinks consumed. Not a wild party by any stretch of the imagination, but a nice culmination to a grateful reward.
Sunday morning dawned, and some of the group went for breakfast. Chris was hogging the bathroom, and I wasn't hungry anyway, so I skipped that. At 11:00 I checked out, and sadly my Brier Reward experience was over. It was with some sadness in my heart that it came to a close. It had been such a nice time that I felt it ended too soon. Oh well, all good things must come to an end.
Was it worth it? My vote goes for yes. Thank you to Kevin, Cowan, Wendy, Al, and all that made the event possible. It was a wonderful token of appreciation. I thank those responsible.
Toodles!
Friday, March 26, 2004
Another day, another water plant installation with problems.
Today we were in conversation with the management of one of my company's very first, municipal drinking water system, clients. They are doing an upgrade to their system. It seems that demand for good water was under-estimated in the original design, and system purchase. The system runs flat out, 24/7 and has developed some operational problems since installation in 2001.
It was kinda funny, the moment at the end of the meeting when the water treatment plant operator, the guy that checks the equpment daily, opened up to share his thoughts on water treatment. Bear in mind that I think this episode was 'funny' primarily because I work in water treatment and I share the majority of his views. Those of you not in water treatment will probably fail to see the humor in it, but I suspect you'll appreciate the irony.
We're sitting in the council chamber, of the band office. There are council members, important people in the day to day operation of the reserve, along with some professional types/management, who were at the meeting for the provision of technical advice and direction. I would be among that group.
The meeting was concluding and I wanted to ask a quick question about the condition of the system now, and whether they needed some loaned membranes, to get them through to the conclusion of the upgrade. This opened a can of worms that the plant operator took, and ran with. This guy is not schooled. I'm sure he went to regular school, but nothing seemed to indicate a higher level of scholastic achievement. In fact, he seemed to be playing on that angle a little, when he made his point. It came out sounding like 'I'm just a lowly plant operator but I can see why this doesn't work, so why don't you?'.
The point in question? Iron filtration by use of manganese greensand filters. I almost howled this was so funny to me. I'd just spent 5 hours in the office last night, not leaving until 12:45, going over this very same topic with my boss. We discussed, in great length, the lack of technical merit to having greensand filters ahead of a membrane plant. Then, in a meeting the next day, this plant operator put to his design engineer/management team, the question of, why are you using this stupid, antiquated technology that, time and again, proves itself to NOT work adequately.
I know, its probably only funny to me. Nonetheless, it was refreshing to hear someone say to a design engineer, these stupid greensand filters don't work.
Toodles!
Today we were in conversation with the management of one of my company's very first, municipal drinking water system, clients. They are doing an upgrade to their system. It seems that demand for good water was under-estimated in the original design, and system purchase. The system runs flat out, 24/7 and has developed some operational problems since installation in 2001.
It was kinda funny, the moment at the end of the meeting when the water treatment plant operator, the guy that checks the equpment daily, opened up to share his thoughts on water treatment. Bear in mind that I think this episode was 'funny' primarily because I work in water treatment and I share the majority of his views. Those of you not in water treatment will probably fail to see the humor in it, but I suspect you'll appreciate the irony.
We're sitting in the council chamber, of the band office. There are council members, important people in the day to day operation of the reserve, along with some professional types/management, who were at the meeting for the provision of technical advice and direction. I would be among that group.
The meeting was concluding and I wanted to ask a quick question about the condition of the system now, and whether they needed some loaned membranes, to get them through to the conclusion of the upgrade. This opened a can of worms that the plant operator took, and ran with. This guy is not schooled. I'm sure he went to regular school, but nothing seemed to indicate a higher level of scholastic achievement. In fact, he seemed to be playing on that angle a little, when he made his point. It came out sounding like 'I'm just a lowly plant operator but I can see why this doesn't work, so why don't you?'.
The point in question? Iron filtration by use of manganese greensand filters. I almost howled this was so funny to me. I'd just spent 5 hours in the office last night, not leaving until 12:45, going over this very same topic with my boss. We discussed, in great length, the lack of technical merit to having greensand filters ahead of a membrane plant. Then, in a meeting the next day, this plant operator put to his design engineer/management team, the question of, why are you using this stupid, antiquated technology that, time and again, proves itself to NOT work adequately.
I know, its probably only funny to me. Nonetheless, it was refreshing to hear someone say to a design engineer, these stupid greensand filters don't work.
Toodles!
Thursday, March 25, 2004
I swear that I will get to the task of telling the story, around my sister's house purchase. Its just not going to be today. More crap from, the place which we do not name. I believe I am developing a cerebral hemmorhage from that place. Intestinal problems for sure.
In the mean time, some happiness to share.
Candace's NEW house!
My preliminary assessment is, it looks very nice. I am totally jealous now. And a little peeved she managed to resolve the whole thing so quickly. I was looking forward to house shopping with her. Oh well. Candace seems thrilled to the gills, so my momentary disappointment must be swept away.
Congratulations Pooh!!!
In the mean time, some happiness to share.
Candace's NEW house!
My preliminary assessment is, it looks very nice. I am totally jealous now. And a little peeved she managed to resolve the whole thing so quickly. I was looking forward to house shopping with her. Oh well. Candace seems thrilled to the gills, so my momentary disappointment must be swept away.
Congratulations Pooh!!!
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Okay, I've got a god damn question!
I'm sitting here at me desk, in the office. I never went home. As previously reported, I have NO computers at home that work. Thus, if I want to continue being productive, I had to stay here and work on my office computer.
That part is fine. I don't mind. Its quiet, the phone won't ring since business hours are over, I can get something done. And I did. In the 90 minutes between 5:00 and 6:30, I got an excellent amount of stuff completed. I was close to being done in fact.
Then the play turned into Grand God Damn Central! My boss came in. His wife came in to do her cleaning (she's the janitorial service). The wife's assistant came in. The office manager came in, with child in tow. What was a peaceful, quiet, relaxing place to get something done, turned into this shrill cacophony. I'm in a bad, god damn mood.
And I'm not finished yet.
P.S. Stay tuned to this blog for an exciting announcement regarding my sister. She has some BIG news, but I'm holding off on spilling everything until I hear back from her meeting this evening.
I'm sitting here at me desk, in the office. I never went home. As previously reported, I have NO computers at home that work. Thus, if I want to continue being productive, I had to stay here and work on my office computer.
That part is fine. I don't mind. Its quiet, the phone won't ring since business hours are over, I can get something done. And I did. In the 90 minutes between 5:00 and 6:30, I got an excellent amount of stuff completed. I was close to being done in fact.
Then the play turned into Grand God Damn Central! My boss came in. His wife came in to do her cleaning (she's the janitorial service). The wife's assistant came in. The office manager came in, with child in tow. What was a peaceful, quiet, relaxing place to get something done, turned into this shrill cacophony. I'm in a bad, god damn mood.
And I'm not finished yet.
P.S. Stay tuned to this blog for an exciting announcement regarding my sister. She has some BIG news, but I'm holding off on spilling everything until I hear back from her meeting this evening.
Okay, I need to know what god-like deity I pissed off to have so much misfortune rained down on my head. Is there a deity for computers? If there is, that god must hate me.
Let's review:
Toshiba notebook computer was broken. Required a replacement motherboard. Returned to me from Microage, but not currently in my possession because I have loaned it to my uncle.
Toshiba PDA will not connect to the wireless ethernet in my house. Connects fine at work. I can not figure out the problem that prevents surfing the internet on the PDA when at home.
Main desktop system in Watson has gone south. No longer boots. It was halfway working, but that performance has disappeared as well. I get POST error beeps when I try to power it up. Needs at least a video card, and maybe a new motherboard as well.
Desktop in Saskatoon will not connect to portable hard drive, because I can not recover the original FAT32 partitioning on the drive. All re-partititions require that I use NTFS which is incompatible with Windows 98 on the computer in Saskatoon.
If I must reboot my desktop at work in Watson, the video refuses to work, and I must re-install the video drivers. It happens every time, and since I don't have the luxury of multiple hours to fix it, I must live with the situation of never turning off my computer.
The Blue Furnace will not accept a Windows installation. I attempted to bring the Furnace back online, as a stop-gap measure for this week. I have tried Windows 98, 2000 and XP, and all three error upon attempts to install the operating system software. I have run two complete diagnostics of the hard drive, and there are no errors, according to the diagnostic tools. The computer works in all other respects. I guess I could install DOS on it.
My previous satellite internet server has also seen an attempt to revive it from the dead. It accepts power, and makes some starting up noises but, I never get display, and judging from the beeps and whirs emitted from the tower, I do not believe it is following a normal boot-up procedure. The system would appear to be DOA, in its present condition.
I still have a tower in my home office in Watson that is broken. It was a PII-350 server that I'd had the parts for, for several years. The power supply blew up last summer, and I presume it friend most of the components inside. Nevertheless the tower itself sits in my home office, mocking me.
I have a 17" Packard Bell monitor that will not work. When it is plugged in, the power light blinks rapidly, and it never produces an image on the screen.
I have all of this equipment. By my count, that's 8 systems that are not functioning properly. Despite the presence of 4 towers, and a wireless capable PDA in my house in Watson, I can not get on the internet at home. I am seriously posing the question, am I cursed? It seems farcical, to the point of absurdity, that I could have this much equipment, and not be able to accomplish a basic task. I should probably get mad but its so surreal I can barely believe it.
Anyone got a Pentium 166 kicking around? I might as well go low tech.
Toodles!
Let's review:
Toshiba notebook computer was broken. Required a replacement motherboard. Returned to me from Microage, but not currently in my possession because I have loaned it to my uncle.
Toshiba PDA will not connect to the wireless ethernet in my house. Connects fine at work. I can not figure out the problem that prevents surfing the internet on the PDA when at home.
Main desktop system in Watson has gone south. No longer boots. It was halfway working, but that performance has disappeared as well. I get POST error beeps when I try to power it up. Needs at least a video card, and maybe a new motherboard as well.
Desktop in Saskatoon will not connect to portable hard drive, because I can not recover the original FAT32 partitioning on the drive. All re-partititions require that I use NTFS which is incompatible with Windows 98 on the computer in Saskatoon.
If I must reboot my desktop at work in Watson, the video refuses to work, and I must re-install the video drivers. It happens every time, and since I don't have the luxury of multiple hours to fix it, I must live with the situation of never turning off my computer.
The Blue Furnace will not accept a Windows installation. I attempted to bring the Furnace back online, as a stop-gap measure for this week. I have tried Windows 98, 2000 and XP, and all three error upon attempts to install the operating system software. I have run two complete diagnostics of the hard drive, and there are no errors, according to the diagnostic tools. The computer works in all other respects. I guess I could install DOS on it.
My previous satellite internet server has also seen an attempt to revive it from the dead. It accepts power, and makes some starting up noises but, I never get display, and judging from the beeps and whirs emitted from the tower, I do not believe it is following a normal boot-up procedure. The system would appear to be DOA, in its present condition.
I still have a tower in my home office in Watson that is broken. It was a PII-350 server that I'd had the parts for, for several years. The power supply blew up last summer, and I presume it friend most of the components inside. Nevertheless the tower itself sits in my home office, mocking me.
I have a 17" Packard Bell monitor that will not work. When it is plugged in, the power light blinks rapidly, and it never produces an image on the screen.
I have all of this equipment. By my count, that's 8 systems that are not functioning properly. Despite the presence of 4 towers, and a wireless capable PDA in my house in Watson, I can not get on the internet at home. I am seriously posing the question, am I cursed? It seems farcical, to the point of absurdity, that I could have this much equipment, and not be able to accomplish a basic task. I should probably get mad but its so surreal I can barely believe it.
Anyone got a Pentium 166 kicking around? I might as well go low tech.
Toodles!
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
I am giving my endorsement to Shoutcast. I really like this service. Stuck out in Watson, I can't get any conventional radio stations. It seems like this place is a black hole for radio waves. Reception is fine until you get the the junction of highways 5 and 6. Then it goes from fine, to non-existent. I wish I understood why the effect was so pronounced.
Thus I am relegated to being my own DJ. That was fine, for quite awhile actually. But doing that means you have to keep looking for new material constantly. Again, not a huge, huge problem. It can be managed. But its kinda frustrating sometimes when you don't really care about what you're listening to, as long as there is some noise to fill the air.
So I got this Shoutcast idea from Kevin. Actually, I had to do it because I forgot the portable hard drive in Saskatoon (DOH!!!) and didn't have any music. It is a great service. Just pick a genre and it tunes you in. I love it! Now, to get up the ambition to figure out how to capture these songs as MP3's that I could listen to on my own. For instance, the song that is playing now is Alice Cooper - Poison. I don't have that on CD. If I could rip it, the song would be in my collection. Project for later I guess.
I have nothing else to say this afternoon. I just wrote a job description for the technicians that are going to be assigned as my employee's. Everyday I work here, I find new responsibilities to assume. Not that I mind all that much. At least that way I SHOULD know what's going on. Knowing what's going on would help. I really hate when stuff happens and I don't hear about it.
I should get back to it. I have a quote to finish before Thursday.
Be well my friends!
Thus I am relegated to being my own DJ. That was fine, for quite awhile actually. But doing that means you have to keep looking for new material constantly. Again, not a huge, huge problem. It can be managed. But its kinda frustrating sometimes when you don't really care about what you're listening to, as long as there is some noise to fill the air.
So I got this Shoutcast idea from Kevin. Actually, I had to do it because I forgot the portable hard drive in Saskatoon (DOH!!!) and didn't have any music. It is a great service. Just pick a genre and it tunes you in. I love it! Now, to get up the ambition to figure out how to capture these songs as MP3's that I could listen to on my own. For instance, the song that is playing now is Alice Cooper - Poison. I don't have that on CD. If I could rip it, the song would be in my collection. Project for later I guess.
I have nothing else to say this afternoon. I just wrote a job description for the technicians that are going to be assigned as my employee's. Everyday I work here, I find new responsibilities to assume. Not that I mind all that much. At least that way I SHOULD know what's going on. Knowing what's going on would help. I really hate when stuff happens and I don't hear about it.
I should get back to it. I have a quote to finish before Thursday.
Be well my friends!
Monday, March 22, 2004
Monday morning has dawned upon us all again. It was a nice weekend. I hid from the prying eyes of the world, for most of the weekend. I just wanted to vegetate. 9 days of Brier, and then back into it in water treatment had left me with a body that was requiring some relief. So I found some. Hiding out in the basement, watching TV and playing with my computer.
(By the way, it would appear my computer is broke. No end of problems with in Friday night and Saturday morning. And then, it went away. I don't completely understand that. I may buy a new video card.)
However, back to Monday. I was kinda groggy when I got to work this morning. I took my pills too late last night, and my head was still covered in wool socks. I wanted to take awhile and just clear the cobwebs. No such luck. Three phone calls and two visitors later, and I'm buried in issues again. I don't seem to get much down-time at work anymore. It seems to work like this. I sit here, and if I just wait, something will come along that needs doing.
I will get back to averting calamity. The rest of you, have a great day!
P.S. To all of my readers from Winnipeg, could you please keep Kiki out of trouble? She's showing an alarming trend towards hanging out with potential serial killers. I'd like to keep her safe, and harm free, if we can arrange it. Thanks
(By the way, it would appear my computer is broke. No end of problems with in Friday night and Saturday morning. And then, it went away. I don't completely understand that. I may buy a new video card.)
However, back to Monday. I was kinda groggy when I got to work this morning. I took my pills too late last night, and my head was still covered in wool socks. I wanted to take awhile and just clear the cobwebs. No such luck. Three phone calls and two visitors later, and I'm buried in issues again. I don't seem to get much down-time at work anymore. It seems to work like this. I sit here, and if I just wait, something will come along that needs doing.
I will get back to averting calamity. The rest of you, have a great day!
P.S. To all of my readers from Winnipeg, could you please keep Kiki out of trouble? She's showing an alarming trend towards hanging out with potential serial killers. I'd like to keep her safe, and harm free, if we can arrange it. Thanks