Today should be considered a good day. First and foremost, HIGH SPEED internet is now alive and running in the Central Water Conditioning office. I set up our router this morning, and get everything working in about half an hour or so. Stupid thing. The default IP address that the router uses I had already programmed into the computer we were using for the satellite internet. So, I wasn't able to connect to the router because my idiot computer had learned the 'Server' was 192.168.0.1. I'm suffering from insomnia right now so I'm not fully on top of my game and it took me awhile to get this little incongruity figured out. {for all you that like to upbraid me for my loquaciousness, I'm still alert enough to use the words incongruity and loquaciousness :-P} Long story short, I unplugged the 'Server' computer so only the router was using 192.168.0.1. Oh yeah, since I'm using Microsoft software, I also had to reboot my computer. WTF!!!!

The other piece of really good news for today is, it would appear our shop drawings have FINALLY been approved. There is a massive pile of paper on my desk that I'm much too fatigued to want to look through. I've scanned a few pages from it and it appears to be approved shop drawings. Hallelujah, holy , !!! I truly did not expect this day would ever arrive. As astounding as it seems to me, I think we can finally move on to the next phase of the project and actually order some materials. I refuse to take responsibility for this outrageous delay. According to the original schedule, we were supposed to be starting construction already. They just approved the shop drawings. I pass nearly all the responsibility for this delay onto the consulting engineer. Yes, they had some questions and concerns about the package we submitted. Why didn't they address those specific questions with me in October, instead of waiting until December? And then taking 6 weeks after that to approve the package? Yes, they had some legitimate concerns but most of the wasted time was their fault, not ours. Bygones.

Toodles!

Sorry I didn't get a blog entry in yesterday. Its kind of a work thing I do, and I toasted my computer yesterday around 10:00. I didn't have the internet for the rest of the day and into the morning until, coincidentally enough, 10:00. I now have a brand spanking new computer and it works super slick. There's more stuff I want to install. 'Non-standard' stuff :-D that I'll put those things on as I want/need them.

Now that I have real high speed at home, this satellite connection at work is really chapping my ass. I will be so glad when we have real high speed here too. That's supposed to happen while I'm gone. I'll set it up first thing when I get back and then the horses of war can really be unleashed! :-D (That's my favorite emoticon for the day.)

I better get going. I'm off to Edmonton for a conference for two days. I don't expect there'll be a blog entry until Friday. Toodles!

It would appear I'm going to do the insomnia thing again. ...sigh... I don't really want to do that right now but for whatever reason I'm having trouble sleeping. This is night three of being awake most of the night. I went to bed early, about 10:30, because I was tired. Head nodding to the side tired. I go to bed, crawl under the blankets and bling!, I'm awake. I really hate that. Maybe I should start sleeping on the couch, with my contacts still in, to remove the, trying to sleep, aspect. If I'm just tired I can fall asleep but if I try it doesn't work. I woke up a bunch of times over the course of the night. I didn't bother looking at the clock because I could tell from the radio not being on that it wasn't time to get up. So I lay there, and rolled from side to side, and didn't really sleep. What a frustrating thing!

There was a car accident near here this morning. We heard a bunch of sirens wailing and then news filtered back that there'd been a crash. I didn't participate in any conversations about it but everyone tends to congregate at the cash register, which is just outside my door. Consequently I hear most of these conversations. There was heavy fog this morning. Some woman pulled out to pass a car and slammed into oncoming traffic. It makes you wonder about the mentality of someone that would try passing in such heavy fog.

I'm printing manuals here this afternoon and my latest batch of print jobs just ended. I'd better queue up another set. Toodles!

Sorry about yesterday. I totally forgot to do an entry when I got home last night. I was in Souris for a meeting yesterday. That was a big waste of time. It was a site meeting; an opportunity for prospective bidders to examine the water treatment plant and ask any questions they might have about the tender package. We didn't need to be there. Our presence was not utilized and we just stood around for 1-1/2 while contractors went around tape measuring things and taking pictures. I examined the pilot plant. That was my biggest contribution to the day. Then we went to lunch and listened to the problems of the project engineer. Considering all the grief I've been put through over this project, I don't feel particularly sympathetic to their plight.

I have some ominous news. Ominous for me really, not that much for anyone else. I'm not sleeping. This concerns me because with my medication I always sleep. Last night was the second night in a row that I did not sleep well. I woke up at 2:30 last night and never really got back to sleep after that. I dozed, but ended up rolling over to check the time, again and again. I'm really hoping this does not settle into a pattern of no sleep. I need it, quite desperately in fact. I feel just awful right now. The plan is to go home at lunch, lie on the couch, and maybe snooze for a few minutes, if I can. Not sleeping only leads to further bad situations, for me.

I wanted to start the next chapter in my book today. I've been putting it off and putting it off, waiting for divine inspiration on where to take the story in this next chapter. I've decided that type of epiphany is not likely to occur. I know how I want things to open, in this chapter, so I'm just going to start, and see where my typing takes me. That usually a pretty good method for me to get from point A to point B when I write. I don't know if this book is any good but I'm enjoying writing it, when I sit down with it. I just wish I could devote more than an hour a day to it. I just get into the narrative again and its time to go back to work. I'd write in the evenings but then I watch TV, chat with people, play games, and so on. I wonder how some other people make a living at doing nothing but writing?

Toodles!

Its been kind of a weird day. Why do I say that? I don't really know. Today has just felt weird. Mostly this afternoon has felt weird. There has been this sense of disconnection for that going on around me. Its kind of like floating but not really. I see everything but its just . . . not . . . quite . . . real. I get this feeling from time to time. Its somewhat disconcerting. I think I have to get things straightened around if I want this type of thing to stop happening. I'm not entirely sure how to accomplish that goal though.

On the good news front, my camera is now IN stock with TechData. What I fail to understand is, why a computer distributor for the whole country would only get pick up on their packages at the end of the day. Let's take a minute and think about it. Maybe I only think they get picked up at the end of the day because the courier company doesn't issue tracking info until the end of the day, when their driver brings the package to the depot. That explanation makes a lot of sense. Of course, it does nothing for me sitting here, waiting desperately for tracking info so I know my camera is in route. Okay, I admit, I have a problem. I should not want something THIS bad! I accept and acknowledge that its a problem. What I have yet to figure out is, how to change the situation.

Another piece of good news is, Murray okayed the purchase of a new computer for me. Its a very good system and while I had no complaints about my computer at work, this is going to be a kick ass machine! I'm looking forward to getting it now. I'll probably build it on the weekend. Over the course of one day, yesterday, Orange Computers went from cash lite and stock heavy, to stock light and lots of sales. Funny how business can be like that. Hopefully things can be slow but steady all year. I like doing the computer thing but not at the exclusion of everything else. Here's to hoping we can have a good year!

I spent last night keeping Tara company. She left me a Yahoo! message from yesterday morning saying she was really sick. I was deeply worried about her the minute I finished reading it. Luckily she came online soon after that and I got to ask her how she was. She wasn't good but at least it was okay enough that she could smile when I made jokes. I kept her company for a couple of hours and hopefully made a difference. I hope she's feeling better today. I probably won't get to find out because I'm going to Souris after work for a meeting in the morning.

That's been my day, since yesterday's entry. I may not make one tomorrow because I don't know if I'll be home. I guess you'll just have to check back.

Toodles!

I'm glad I waited to write my blog entry for today. I thought about writing something this morning but, there wasn't really anything I wanted to say. I would have been just filling in space. I figured today was going to be a pretty big write-off.

I GOT MY HIGH SPEED INTERNET CONNECTION TODAY!!!!

It was 2:13 in the afternoon when I got the call. I was sitting at my desk here in my office when my cell phone rang. WTF!?!?! I thought. Why would I be getting a call on my cell phone? At first I thought maybe it was Greg. But that was silly. Greg had phoned me in the morning, on my office phone. Why would he call me on my cell phone now.

So I answer it. Its someone I don't know. I checked out the number before I answered. It was a Watson and area number. That had me even further mystified. The person asks if its me. I say yes. The guy asks if he can hook up my high speed internet a day early. Would that be a problem. HELL NO!!! I can be home in five minutes, how long until you'll be there. He tells me 15 minutes. I race home and rip EVERYTHING in my office apart. I had that satellite modem out of there, and all the cabling tore apart in record time. He shows up and the install takes only a few minutes. There are some issues because its Windows 2000 but a simple reboot fixes that and soon I'm surfing on high speed. The SaskTel guy leaves and I put in my NEW router and hook everything up. I check my living room computer, its on high speed. Everything is golden..

I'M ON HIGH SPEED!!!! I don't know if I could be more enthusiastic about anything today.

KICK ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Toodles!

I found an interesting internet site. Its called www.picturejudge.com. You can pick from different categories of pictures, and you look at them, and give them a rating. There doesn't seem to be a limit on the number of pictures you can rate. I tried another one, www.rankmypix.com (I think) and you could only rate 10 pictures before they hit you with a plug to subscribe to a pay service. I miss free stuff on the internet. This is is a neat way to pass the time but its not so much fun that I want to pay $10 US a month for the privilege. I don't the internet works as a revenue pool. If you deliver good, original content then maybe you can make money at it. There are so few people putting out original content though. Its certainly not worth the subscription fees most sites want to charge. There have only been a few that I would consider getting a membership to and I've resisted the urge every time. I guess someone must be paying up because these sites do exist, and must be making money, otherwise they'd fold.

That's just my two cents worth.

Toodles!

I'm feeling nervous this morning. I ordered my digital cameras from TechData on Tuesday night. I didn't get confirmation on the order being shipped until this morning. That was a relief though because 80% of the order has now shipped. I don't think anything will be here for tomorrow but, the camera's I ordered for customers will definitely be here next week and I can give them to them, and they can be happy.

What is making me nervous is the third digital camera, for myself. I split the order between Mississauga and Vancouver because they had 2 in stock in Vancouver but Mississauga had an earlier ETA date on the next shipment. TechData and their ETA's always make me nervous. I love the ability to order stuff online as it makes things really simple. But, not having a person to talk to, when you need something that isn't in stock, is very frustrating. On the TechData site they post ETA's but the information is nearly useless because they change them, move them back, and sometimes the stuff never ships. I ordered a CDRW drive from them once and the ETA kept going back and back and back and I never did get the drive. I'm worried about that with this camera. According to the site they have 150 on order, to be delivered on January 30th. But, earlier in the week they were supposed to be getting 16 in on the 21st. What's the truth? Will I get my camera before my trip? I hate all this uncertainty. I'd feel loads better if the damn thing was in shipment already.

So, its a nervous morning.

Toodles!

You know you are living in the year 2003 when:

1. Your reason for not staying in touch with family is because they do not have e-mail.
2. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.
3. Your grandmother asks you to send her a JPEG file of your newborn so she can create a screen saver.
4. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home.
5. Every commercial on television has a web site address at the bottom of the screen.
6. You buy a computer and 3 months later it's out of date and sells for half the price you paid.
7. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go get it.
8. Using real money, instead of credit or debit, to make a purchase would be a hassle and take planning.
9. You just tried to enter your password on the microwave.
10. You consider second-day air delivery painfully slow.
11. Your dining room table is now your flat filing cabinet.
12. Your idea of being organized is multiple-colored Post-it notes.
13. You hear most of your jokes via e-mail instead of in person.
14. You get an extra phone line so you can get phone calls.
15. You disconnect from the Internet and get this awful feeling, as if you just pulled the plug on a loved one.
16. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.
17. You wake up at 2 AM to go to the bathroom and check your E-mail on your way back to bed.
18. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. ; )
19. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
20. Even worse; you know exactly who you are going to forward this to...

It's been a pretty productive day. I've completed two projects that needed doing. The last set of shop drawings for the Manitoba project went out on the courier this morning. When they phoned Monday, they had no changes left they wanted, just the last two copies. So, all things being equal, we should get them APPROVED!!! by the end of the week and maybe we can get paid the outstanding amount for delivery of the shop drawings. What an ordeal this process has been. I wonder if I'll relax any, having achieved this milestone? Somehow I'm doubting it. I still have lots of other stuff bugging me. It would be nice though if I could relax just a little. I feel tense. I've been having stomach troubles again since late last week. I'm reducing my diet accordingly, to try and mitigate the number of trips I must make to the facilities. What a pain in the ass this process is.

On the good news front, Murray took me and Kim for lunch today. That was really nice of him, I thought. Actually, there was no real plan to it. We all left the building at the same time. Kim was going to the Esso restaurant anyway, since she didn't want to drive back to Englefeld when it was this cold, and Murray was going there too. I don't think he had any lunch waiting for him at home. So he invited me along and he paid for all of us. That was really nice of him. I'm always free for lunch because all I ever have is a muffin or bun or something. All lunch is, for me, is a chance to get out of my office for awhile. That is a needed respite too.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. Without the big project looming like an axe over my head, I don't know what I should do. Its kind of odd to sit here and realize that they are finally satisfied. I almost feel like I should celebrate. That, along with getting high speed Monday, has made this a pretty kick ass week. Even the cold weather can't get me down.

Have a good day everyone. Toodles!

I know, I know, I just got back from a week in Tampa Bay. I should have plenty of material for a blog entry. Unfortunately for you, dear reader, I am much to excited to remember anything about my trip. Today's blog entry will be very short because there is just one thing on my mind right now.

I GET HIGH SPEED INTERNET ON JANUARY 28!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello from Florida everyone! This is your intrepid reporter bringing you the scoop from the sunny Sunshine State!

I don't have much good news to report, unfortunately. The business portion of the trip is going well enough. We had our first class today and it was good. I got some useful help from it. The part about how a membrane unit is put together was very informative and filled in some wide gaps in my understanding, from how I'd tried to visualize it from the book I read.

On the down side, my face hurts. Or more specifically, my left eye. To the point, it feels like someone punched me in the eye. Its not comfortable. I hope it gets better, or at least doesn't get any worse. I do NOT want to have to look for medical help here in the USA.

My most interesting note from yesterday's travels would be the enormously poo-bomb that was getting through US Customs. That was the biggest screw up I've ever seen. There had to have been 600 people in line, trying to get through Customs and onto their planes. They ended up having to delay a bunch, including mine, because they couldn't get people through. Someone needs to have a talk with the Americans. If they want all that security, you gotta pay for it. There were 20 aisles available for people to be processed through. They had six agents available for putting people through. That is not performance. If anyone in a position of power is reading this, FIX THAT SITUATION!!!

To my family, I hope they read this, lots of love.

Toodles!

Today is a total non-day. Nothing is happening, at all. It is at once both disappointing and comforting. How odd.

I took a spare power supply home at lunch today, to confirm my worst fears. They were confirmed. The computer known as the Linux box is dead. I threw in a new power supply and the computer did nothing at all. It is a complete boat anchor. Thus ends my foray into dual processor computing. :-( I'm fairly sad about this because they motherboard that I had in that computer was one I bought off eBay for a fairly respectable sum of money. I spent that much because its a dual processor motherboard. I could have put two Pentium II processors on it. (I never did get around to buying another one) Now that particalar dream is dead. I would guess I've lost at least the motherboard, and probably the chip and RAM as well. I guess it doesn't really matter since the stuff is old and I can't salvage it into another machine. Nontheless it is still disappointing to have your equipment go up on smoke.

Today is my one and only day in the office for the week. Tomorrow is a travel day, and then the rest of the week is my conference on reverse osmosis water treatment in Tampa. I've kind of lost my enthusiasm for this trip. I had some last week but a series of minor setbacks, all happening one on top of each other, has dampened my enthusiasm. I need to find an outlet for my emotions in situations like these. I bottle everything up and wind up depressed. Its not a good situation. All answers point towards spending money that I don't have, leading to further depression. I need another job.

Toodles!

I think everyone's life needs to have a describing theme. Mine has one. Its 'clown shoes'.

So I go home for lunch today, the same way I do every day. I had in tow a stick of RAM that I'd brought to work, to test Kim's computer. I knew this stick of RAM was good so I put it in her computer because I suspected the RAM in that machine was faulty. Lo and behold I was correct, it was faulty. I subsequently discovered that power supply was also bad but that's a story for another time. Back to the main story. I go home for lunch, and I take this stick of RAM with me. I put it back in the computer I'd taken it from, and I turn it on to make sure everything is groovy (since I'd swapped in and out of several machines) The computer comes on with a fearsome SNAP! from the back. A poof of brown smoke follows the sound which itself is trailed by a disgusting, acrid smell. Another Techtronics power supply bites the dust, and with it, probably all the parts in that system. :-( I'm holding some hope (very minor hope) that maybe the power supply alone went. When Dean was in Watson to came in the spring, his computer blew a power supply and he didn't lose all his system components. I don't expect to be that lucky but I might as well hope, right? I was so demoralized by this that lunch did not taste too good, and I really didn't enjoy my Tang. ...sigh...

Clown shoes.

Toodles.

I just remembered a dream I had, a few minutes ago. The strange thing is, I can't remember when I had this dream. Nor can I recall enough of the details for me to write down an account of it, so it might make for a decent narrative. The gist of it was, I was in this huge game. It was like a board game, but on city wide scale. There were different zones, and you had different missions, or tasks, to complete to move on to the next one. It was not like I was in a video game though, even though the mission aspect is a video game concept. Everything was live, and the people in the dream human, and not video game constructs. As you can expect, I was playing the game, completing missions and moving on. I had this general sense of dread about not finishing a mission, like I would physically die or something if I did not finish it successfully. I was never told that I would die though. The last mission I was involved in was searching around this big park for a priestly artifact. I found it on top of a giant stone sculpture that was very cube-like. It was a bizarre dream.

Toodles!

You know what I don't get? Why is it that all the responses I've gotten off these internet dating sites, have been on this obscure little site that I've never seen advertised anywhere? That Cupid.com thing is on the radio all the time, or was back when I used to listen to the radio. I naturally assumed that if I ever got a response it would be through that avenue. Not even a sniff. I don't even remember how I found this Heart Detectives site that I keep getting messages on. Maybe its all a racket and its just a dupe to get guys to sign up. I suppose that is possible. Some of the responses I've got were kind of head scratchers. Illinois? Why would a woman in Illinois want to chat with me, out of the blue? That one kind of mystifies me. Most of them are from Saskatchewan though. I can look up profiles for free but not read the emails. That's how they get you. You know that you have messages, you just can't read them. Unless someone knows a way to hack it that I don't know. I suppose that is possible. I really don't care enough to attempt hacking a web site to read emails. :-)

Toodles!

I have two jokes today!!!

The CIA had an opening for an assassin. After all of the background checks, interviews and testing were done, there were three finalists, two men and a woman.
For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun. "We must know that you will follow your instructions, no matter what the circumstances. Inside of this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill Her!!!"
The man said, "You can't be serious. I could never shoot my wife."
The agent said, "Then you're not the right man for this job."
The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes. Then the man came out with tears in his eyes. "I tried, but I can't kill my wife." The agent said, "You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home."
Finally, it was the woman's turn. She was given the same instructions, to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one shot after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman. She wiped the sweat from her brow, and said "This gun is loaded with blanks! I had to beat him to death with the chair!"

A guy visits his doctor complaining of a really sharp headache along the left side of his brain.
"Hmmm," the doctor says, ruminating on the problem. "Let me ask you this - do you masturbate?"
Somewhat taken aback the guy replies, "Uhhh, well . . . uhhh, yeah."
The doctor grins and says, "It's great, isn't it?"

Uh, oops.

I've got two things to apologize for today. One, I wrote an entry on Christmas Eve and then haven't added a thing since. That wasn't very good. I didn't have anything to say over that period of time. Nothing notweworthy happened, and I had no interesting stories to tell. It was a quiet, reflective time that I needed even if I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. The least I could have done is post a joke or something that. I apologize. That was bad manners on my part.

The second thing I should apologize for is, no entry yesterday. I was back at work, and thus I should have been back into the routine of making a daily entry. I just forgot. Which is no excuse but it is a reason. Again, I didn't have anything to say which is probably why nothing gotten written. Yesterday was a slow day.

Which brings us to today. Thus far today is not going well. I had an atrocious night of sleep last night. That was the worst night's sleep I can remember having in a very long time. Reason? Well, I think I kind of know why. I had no computer last night. I left it in Saskatoon, at Greg's house, for this weekend's gaming extravaganza. I thought I could go for one night without a computer. I may have been in error on that. It would appear I can not go a night without a computer. Last night was quite horrible and this morning has, thus far, been uncomfortable. I've been having bowel problems all morning. I have a problem and this is going to need to be addressed, sooner rather than later.

Thanks for listening people. Its still early so I will take the opportunity to wish everyone a great coming year. Personally I'm looking for improvements over a lousy 2002. Until later!

Toodles.

It's Christmas eve folks! The wait is finally over. In a few short hours we'll all be awake, and opening the presents we've dreamed about for weeks. I know I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure you are too!

But more importantly, for me, I get to take a well needed break. I will be away from my desk in the office, and away from having to think about all the difficulties that have been plaguing me. The rest already feels good. About 2 hours ago I finally felt the tension begin to seep out of my body. It felt good.

I don't know how many entries I'll make during my vacation. I'll try to jot down anything worthwhile, like interesting dreams and such. Have a good Christmas vacation.

Toodles!

It seems everyone went to the Fox & Hounds for wings tonight. Everyone that is but me. I don't know how to feel about that. I suppose I made my choice when I agreed to work out here in Watson. Its nights like this though that I really question the decision. Yes, I can go back to Saskatoon on the weekend and hang out with my family, and friends, but I'm missing out on the little things. I can't go for wings on a Monday night. I miss cheap night at the movies. I'm not there for weekday gigs at Sask. Place. I suppose maybe I should try to not dwell on the negative so much. For some reason my mind always seems to want to go down that darker road.

On the up side I sold a digital camera this morning. It was pretty easy, my boss just came into my office and said, I want to buy a digital camera. Its hard to mess up a sale like that. :-)

Toodles!