Okay, so I haven't posted recently. The last few days have been interesting. I got my recommendation for graduation form. Nothing's really stopping me now from graduating with my BA. With the form came a note about some award. I'm not sure if it's the same as the award I already received or a different one. In the meantime, I finally know that there's a project I can work on that I should eventually get paid for. It's nice to know. :)
In the news: The federal election has been called (no duh) and the Liberals are not doing as well as everyone expected them too just a couple of months ago. The new Progress Conservative/Reform/Alliance now called Conservative party is making amazing headway. All Canadians should now be figuring out whom to vote for and what their local representative's stand is.
So, I've apparently got work. It's a bit of a commute, but by the sounds of it, much of the time, I'll be able to work from home. I was meeting with the company owner on Friday. He's a really nice guy. I look forward to working with him in the future.
Saturday, I went and took a long drive around Waterloo Region. There's some rather nice areas where you find very little housing. It's rather nice to play in. My passenger was able to direct me to a nice little place on the south end of the county where some friends of ours live, but, alas, they were not home. We did however get to meet a turtle that was walking up their driveway. It would seem that turtles don't like being petted, at least not wild ones. I think maybe he thought I wanted to eat him, 'cause he hissed at me when I reached out to pet his shell. Okay, it wasn't a hiss, but I don't really have a good word for the sound he made.
So, I'm still waiting to get an offer for this project I'm looking into. It seems to take a while to hear back from them. Meanwhile, I've been helping a friend build an addition on his house. Three days this week. I'm not going back tomorrow. I'll find something else to do. Tonight, I'm relaxing. Tomorrow, I'll see.
This morning's Record had a story on the front page about the Conservative candidate for Kitchener-Conostoga. He was reported to have claimed that homosexuality is unnatural and suggested people should try to seek counseling. I can't understand why the paper is pushing this so much, or is suprised that a Conservative politician would think or say such a thing. He made a statement of apology, but no one really believes it, he might have gotten more respect if he'd stood his ground. Mind, he would likely have been booted from the Party, they're trying not to rock the boat until after they're elected. There's much more pressing issues to the majority of Canadians, like gasoline prices (not my recent posts on the subject), employment, affordable housing, terrorism (I hate the amount that word's been used, but it's because people are thinking about it), marijuana (it's not much in my mind, but lots of people are thinking about it, many more than the number of people who are worried about whether they can marry someone of the same sex), the gun registry (again, I'm not too bothered by it, but most rural people are), road maintenance, and the amount of violence in Toronto recently. It would be much better if the candidates and the newspapers concentrated on those issues and just ignored statements by third rate canididates who are unlikely to win their riding. KW has been a Liberal stronghold long enough that I'm doubting that a Conservative will get in.
So, I didn't go back today. I kept out of sight for the most part today. I've been teaching myself Javascript and CSS (what together used to be called DHTML) and have some menus that work just how I like them ... in Mozilla 1.4. I have no idea how they will look in other browsers. I tried my page in Lynx and it gave a not horrible rendition, though not quite how I would like.
In the wacky news file: Man beats horse in Welsh race.
Apparently, a man with determination and training can cover 22 miles of open countryside faster than a horse. It's a really interesting style of racing.
Yesterday after church I went over to a friends house. They have a pool and well, we went swimming. There were about 12 people in the pool. Much fun was had. I'm slowly learning to swim. I can kinda swim from one end of the pool to the other and part way back before I'm too tired or something to go much farther. I don't think it's just because I'm out of shape. I can maintain other active pursuits for longer than that. It seems that swimming requires more work for me than most because I can't seem to float. I think if I just completely relaxed, I'd float somewhere just below the surface. It'ld be very hard to breathe. Whenever I try treading water, I find it almost as much work as running. I'm more of a sprinter than a long distance runner, so I will tire from that after a not horribly long time. I'm obviously not in the same situation as people who claim to be able to tread water for hours. I really can't see myself doing that, at least not in fresh water. I remember it was much much easier in the Gulf of Mexico.
News: There's supposed to be a debate between the parties on TV tonight. Too bad I don't get cable anymore.
The last few days have been interesting. Tuesday I finally heard a bit more about this project I hope to be working on. The company owner had some idea that I was going back to school in the fall and should therefore not be hired due to lack of long term availability. I'm really not sure where he got that idea. Some of my friends seem to think I'm not done school yet. Well, I am. I'm graduating this afternoon. Yesterday, I tore apart a brick wall. A large hammer and a large crowbar, together with patience and an endless supply of energy, will easily take apart a wall. By 4, I was so exhausted I had trouble lifting the crowbar. We wrapped up around 5 and had a relaxing evening. I go back tomorrow to start building new walls.
In the news:The Toronto Star reporters seem to be expecting a Conservative Majority now. They're already trying to figure out who will be in Harper's cabinet. Harper, himself, is predicting a majority, and the NDP seems to think that the Conservatives are the people to beat up on, not the Liberals. So I would recommend, if you want to see a non-Conservative government in power in Canada, go and vote! If you want to see a Conservative government in power, go and vote! Personally, I'm voting based on my local constituent. But I expect few people to do that....
So, I graduated Thursday afternoon. Then I went to the reception. The only people I talked to though were a couple of my profs. It was kinda sad that I didn't know anyone. Then I went home, watched a movie and went to bed. I was up the next morning and building walls. That evening I was doing sound for a Stag and Doe. Meh. Next time, I'm going to insist on having a play list. I played a number of songs, some that I was assured were what were wanted, but, nope, they were wrong somehow. Agghh. I have no idea about music. I told the organiser that. Somehow that didn't make it into his head. Yesterday was more building walls and then painting. I christened myself with a half gallon of paint. Made a nice good mess. Last night was bonfire. I think I was too tired to really enjoy myself. Sorry, I'm venting. I should stop now
Today I'm resting. The last few days of last week were a little too much. I need a much larger capacity to keep up such a schedule. I'm also waiting to hear back about this work project. He said he'ld get back to me by Tuesday. Heh.
This morning, about 3 hours ago, a private (ie non-government) rocketship slipped above the atmosphere to a height of approximately 100km. It was a test for the Ansari X-Prize which is a $10million prize to the group that puts the first passenger carrying spacecraft up so high twice in two weeks. Today's run did not have passengers, so it doesn't count, but we can expect them to be carrying passengers (or ballast equivalent) soon.
Here's a story about pay day loans and their effect on the poor. What kind of person charges 890% interest? Including fees and other charges as interest (which is standard practice for law enforcement when calculating whether usury has been charged) that's what some of the loans come out to. I'm reasonably sure that that would quickly lead me into debt slavery if I had a few bad months in a row. I always thought credit card debt was bad, but this stuff blows it away. The article goes into a long list of things that various consumer groups think should be done to combat such practices. Brrr. It's a cold world out there.
It would appear that the Supreme Court of Canada has told the world that Canadian Residents have a new duty. That of testifying at terror trials. The law was passed some time ago, but the Court decided that it was fair and, therefore, the witness must testify, even if too terrified. Uhmm, does anyone expect a witness that was too scared to testify not to end up perjuring himself, by simply not saying whatever he was too afraid to say? Such a rule seems a little over reaching to me. But, well, it's the government, who passed the law, and the court, who upheld it. It's not like we expect them to look at things from the point of view of the little guy.
Apparently, Canadians are too nice to kill. Some bloke from down east drove to Toronto because his neighbours were too nice to kill. He thought he'd try Toronto instead, but was foiled by a woman with a dog. So it turns out being nice to strangers can save your life!
I should note. I'm not going to be getting that proposal I was expecting. I guess that means I have to go scratching for ye old 9-5 employment.....
Today was election day in Canada. In a few hours we should have an better idea of who's who in the Canadian political scene.
Today I noticed a new store had opened up in the building that Maxi & Co. had had five years ago. It's a company called The Real Canadian No Membership Required Wholesale Club (or something to that effect). I wandered around inside this afternoon and the prices seemed lower than say Zehrs, but I didn't do a proper comparison. I wonder if Zehrs will do as they did to Maxi & Co. Buy it out and close it down? Better do a comparison, then shop while I can...
Thursday
by alan on Thu 3rd Jun 2004 5:22PM
Okay, so I haven't posted recently. The last few days have been interesting. I got my recommendation for graduation form. Nothing's really stopping me now from graduating with my BA. With the form came a note about some award. I'm not sure if it's the same as the award I already received or a different one. In the meantime, I finally know that there's a project I can work on that I should eventually get paid for. It's nice to know. :)
In the news: The federal election has been called (no duh) and the Liberals are not doing as well as everyone expected them too just a couple of months ago. The new Progress Conservative/Reform/Alliance now called Conservative party is making amazing headway. All Canadians should now be figuring out whom to vote for and what their local representative's stand is.
Hahahhaha
by alan on Mon 7th Jun 2004 5:15PM
So, I've apparently got work. It's a bit of a commute, but by the sounds of it, much of the time, I'll be able to work from home. I was meeting with the company owner on Friday. He's a really nice guy. I look forward to working with him in the future.
Saturday, I went and took a long drive around Waterloo Region. There's some rather nice areas where you find very little housing. It's rather nice to play in. My passenger was able to direct me to a nice little place on the south end of the county where some friends of ours live, but, alas, they were not home. We did however get to meet a turtle that was walking up their driveway. It would seem that turtles don't like being petted, at least not wild ones. I think maybe he thought I wanted to eat him, 'cause he hissed at me when I reached out to pet his shell. Okay, it wasn't a hiss, but I don't really have a good word for the sound he made.
Friday!
by alan on Fri 11th Jun 2004 11:55PM
So, I'm still waiting to get an offer for this project I'm looking into. It seems to take a while to hear back from them. Meanwhile, I've been helping a friend build an addition on his house. Three days this week. I'm not going back tomorrow. I'll find something else to do. Tonight, I'm relaxing. Tomorrow, I'll see.
This morning's Record had a story on the front page about the Conservative candidate for Kitchener-Conostoga. He was reported to have claimed that homosexuality is unnatural and suggested people should try to seek counseling. I can't understand why the paper is pushing this so much, or is suprised that a Conservative politician would think or say such a thing. He made a statement of apology, but no one really believes it, he might have gotten more respect if he'd stood his ground. Mind, he would likely have been booted from the Party, they're trying not to rock the boat until after they're elected. There's much more pressing issues to the majority of Canadians, like gasoline prices (not my recent posts on the subject), employment, affordable housing, terrorism (I hate the amount that word's been used, but it's because people are thinking about it), marijuana (it's not much in my mind, but lots of people are thinking about it, many more than the number of people who are worried about whether they can marry someone of the same sex), the gun registry (again, I'm not too bothered by it, but most rural people are), road maintenance, and the amount of violence in Toronto recently. It would be much better if the candidates and the newspapers concentrated on those issues and just ignored statements by third rate canididates who are unlikely to win their riding. KW has been a Liberal stronghold long enough that I'm doubting that a Conservative will get in.
Yumm.
by alan on Sun 13th Jun 2004 1:14AM
So, I didn't go back today. I kept out of sight for the most part today. I've been teaching myself Javascript and CSS (what together used to be called DHTML) and have some menus that work just how I like them ... in Mozilla 1.4. I have no idea how they will look in other browsers. I tried my page in Lynx and it gave a not horrible rendition, though not quite how I would like.
In the wacky news file: Man beats horse in Welsh race. Apparently, a man with determination and training can cover 22 miles of open countryside faster than a horse. It's a really interesting style of racing.
Wet
by alan on Mon 14th Jun 2004 5:34PM
Yesterday after church I went over to a friends house. They have a pool and well, we went swimming. There were about 12 people in the pool. Much fun was had. I'm slowly learning to swim. I can kinda swim from one end of the pool to the other and part way back before I'm too tired or something to go much farther. I don't think it's just because I'm out of shape. I can maintain other active pursuits for longer than that. It seems that swimming requires more work for me than most because I can't seem to float. I think if I just completely relaxed, I'd float somewhere just below the surface. It'ld be very hard to breathe. Whenever I try treading water, I find it almost as much work as running. I'm more of a sprinter than a long distance runner, so I will tire from that after a not horribly long time. I'm obviously not in the same situation as people who claim to be able to tread water for hours. I really can't see myself doing that, at least not in fresh water. I remember it was much much easier in the Gulf of Mexico.
News: There's supposed to be a debate between the parties on TV tonight. Too bad I don't get cable anymore.
Exhausted
by alan on Thu 17th Jun 2004 2:19PM
The last few days have been interesting. Tuesday I finally heard a bit more about this project I hope to be working on. The company owner had some idea that I was going back to school in the fall and should therefore not be hired due to lack of long term availability. I'm really not sure where he got that idea. Some of my friends seem to think I'm not done school yet. Well, I am. I'm graduating this afternoon. Yesterday, I tore apart a brick wall. A large hammer and a large crowbar, together with patience and an endless supply of energy, will easily take apart a wall. By 4, I was so exhausted I had trouble lifting the crowbar. We wrapped up around 5 and had a relaxing evening. I go back tomorrow to start building new walls.
In the news:The Toronto Star reporters seem to be expecting a Conservative Majority now. They're already trying to figure out who will be in Harper's cabinet. Harper, himself, is predicting a majority, and the NDP seems to think that the Conservatives are the people to beat up on, not the Liberals. So I would recommend, if you want to see a non-Conservative government in power in Canada, go and vote! If you want to see a Conservative government in power, go and vote! Personally, I'm voting based on my local constituent. But I expect few people to do that....
SSSSSSSS
by alan on Mon 21st Jun 2004 1:17AM
So, I graduated Thursday afternoon. Then I went to the reception. The only people I talked to though were a couple of my profs. It was kinda sad that I didn't know anyone. Then I went home, watched a movie and went to bed. I was up the next morning and building walls. That evening I was doing sound for a Stag and Doe. Meh. Next time, I'm going to insist on having a play list. I played a number of songs, some that I was assured were what were wanted, but, nope, they were wrong somehow. Agghh. I have no idea about music. I told the organiser that. Somehow that didn't make it into his head. Yesterday was more building walls and then painting. I christened myself with a half gallon of paint. Made a nice good mess. Last night was bonfire. I think I was too tired to really enjoy myself. Sorry, I'm venting. I should stop now
Rest
by alan on Mon 21st Jun 2004 6:50PM
Today I'm resting. The last few days of last week were a little too much. I need a much larger capacity to keep up such a schedule. I'm also waiting to hear back about this work project. He said he'ld get back to me by Tuesday. Heh.
This morning, about 3 hours ago, a private (ie non-government) rocketship slipped above the atmosphere to a height of approximately 100km. It was a test for the Ansari X-Prize which is a $10million prize to the group that puts the first passenger carrying spacecraft up so high twice in two weeks. Today's run did not have passengers, so it doesn't count, but we can expect them to be carrying passengers (or ballast equivalent) soon.
Here's a story about pay day loans and their effect on the poor. What kind of person charges 890% interest? Including fees and other charges as interest (which is standard practice for law enforcement when calculating whether usury has been charged) that's what some of the loans come out to. I'm reasonably sure that that would quickly lead me into debt slavery if I had a few bad months in a row. I always thought credit card debt was bad, but this stuff blows it away. The article goes into a long list of things that various consumer groups think should be done to combat such practices. Brrr. It's a cold world out there.
New duty.
by alan on Thu 24th Jun 2004 7:31PM
It would appear that the Supreme Court of Canada has told the world that Canadian Residents have a new duty. That of testifying at terror trials. The law was passed some time ago, but the Court decided that it was fair and, therefore, the witness must testify, even if too terrified. Uhmm, does anyone expect a witness that was too scared to testify not to end up perjuring himself, by simply not saying whatever he was too afraid to say? Such a rule seems a little over reaching to me. But, well, it's the government, who passed the law, and the court, who upheld it. It's not like we expect them to look at things from the point of view of the little guy.
We're too nice.
by alan on Fri 25th Jun 2004 12:19AM
Apparently, Canadians are too nice to kill. Some bloke from down east drove to Toronto because his neighbours were too nice to kill. He thought he'd try Toronto instead, but was foiled by a woman with a dog. So it turns out being nice to strangers can save your life!
I should note. I'm not going to be getting that proposal I was expecting. I guess that means I have to go scratching for ye old 9-5 employment.....
Election Day
by alan on Tue 29th Jun 2004 3:12AM
Today was election day in Canada. In a few hours we should have an better idea of who's who in the Canadian political scene.
Today I noticed a new store had opened up in the building that Maxi & Co. had had five years ago. It's a company called The Real Canadian No Membership Required Wholesale Club (or something to that effect). I wandered around inside this afternoon and the prices seemed lower than say Zehrs, but I didn't do a proper comparison. I wonder if Zehrs will do as they did to Maxi & Co. Buy it out and close it down? Better do a comparison, then shop while I can...
Bug eyes.
by alan on Tue 29th Jun 2004 10:01PM
I have bug eyes after staring at my monitor for the last 6 hours