Musing over Coffee

Musing over Coffee v42.7: Something Different

2012-01-19T18:10:00.001-08:00

Don't Panic! This is still Musings over Coffee :)

I've decided to try something a bit different with my Musings over Coffee. I've been sitting on this blogger site for a long while now and decided to give it a shot. I was able to import all my posts on my Wordpress site into Blogger and it seems to be working just fine.

I'm going to make a go of this again to see how it goes. For now, I will be going through my old posts (all 475 musings) and making some adjustments and making sure all the formatting imported properly. Hopefully with a little luck, I'll be able to get back on track :)

Until next time...

Cheers,
Al

Musing over Coffee v42.6: August What?

2011-11-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

I can't believe it's been three months since I posted last. I was reminded about my lack of writing lately by the fact that November is NaNoWriMo. No, I don't think I'll be taking part in NaNoWriMo this year; I just don't seem to have the time to actually dedicate myself to the word goal.

Anyway folks, just a quick post to let everyone know I'm still here :) I seem to be having an issue with Word Press through Firefox right now which is making it VERY difficult to write. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it seems to be causing my browser to "stop responding" in the middle of typing randomly which is starting to get really annoying.

I will write again soon; I promise :)

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v42.5: "Socially" Acceptable

2011-08-04T03:25:00.000-07:00

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." - John Wooden

There's nothing like a good storm to get the inspirational juices flowing. Especially when the power goes out and you lose access to all of the "life distractions" that seem to inhibit inspiration. On Tuesday this week we had an impressive thunder and lightning show here in Halifax which lasted for a good 8 hours in total. I have never seen or experienced anything like it before. There were times during the storm where I was sure my apartment building was going to cave in on me because the thunder was so loud. I lost power at my place a couple of times, but it only lasted for a minute. It got me thinking though: how would society cope if our access to data, news and social media was abruptly cut off?

You see it everywhere you look these days. Smart phones, tablets and laptops are a common scene in our daily society. News and information is readily accessible wherever you go and social networking is on the rise. I have been using Twitter since it came out and I recently started using Google+. I'm amazed at what people like to post sometimes. I constantly see things like: "I'm on the bus, heading to work" and "Sitting at home, watching TV". While it may be entertaining, there comes a point when you just need to keep certain things to yourself. There are some "famous" people who have climbed on the social media wagon and are bad for this. These people have literally thousands and thousands of followers who read everything they write. In most cases, their followers will often comment which can lead to a simple post about "Going to bed for the night" into a frenzy of "good night"s and "sleep well"s flooding the stream. What is the point of telling your fan base you're going to bed? What ever did we do before we knew what time 'famous" people went to bed?

We (yes I'm including myself in this) are addicted to social media. We are "net junkies" who constantly hit multiple sites all day long to get the latest updates on things and to see what our "followed" are up to. I'm just as much to blame for this as anyone especially since I live alone and spend my evenings on my laptop reading streams and commenting. Hell, I even have a blog where I write about completely useless topics and drink coffee. Of course I wouldn't consider myself famous, but I do have a small following and my posts are being published on most of the social media streams out there today. My site will even allow people to share my blog posts to various social media sites if they like what I have to say and want to share it with their followers, so feel free to share.

Now that I've written all this, let's go back to my original thought: how would society cope if all of a sudden our access to data, news and social media was abruptly cut off? I'd be interested to hear your comments or thoughts on this.

Musing over Coffee v42.4: Getting Things Done?

2011-07-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Our office hosted a little seminar today on David Allen's Getting Things Done work-life management tool. I must admit, I was a bit impressed/inspired by it all. There are definitely some parts of the system that I could apply to my day-to-day life that would help quite a bit to ensure I get things done properly. As I was listening to the session, I was trying to put it all together in my head; how to make it work in both my work and my personal life. Unfortunately, with the way we do things at work, there is no easy way to bridge the gap technically. I was thinking a smart device like a Black Berry or iPhone must just do the trick, and it may if I could get my hands on one. I have a Black Berry for work now, but due to the security policies on it, I'm not able to do anything with it except make phone calls and read/send corporate emails.

The first part of the seminar we were asked to grab a sheet of paper and write down everything we had in our heads that are things we need to do. For example, I wrote stuff like:

Pay Power Bill

Pay Cable Bill

Do Laundry

Wash Dishes

Sweep Floor

etc.

These are things that are constantly on my mind and when they start to add up, you have a greater chance of forgetting things. The whole idea behind GTD is to write it all down so you don't have to remember it. This way you can take the things you need to do and categorize them into buckets or areas. You could create some lists like "Home" and "Work" where you could list things you needed to do for each. You could have another list called "Call" where you could list all the people you had to call for whatever reason; include the telephone in the list so if you're using a smart device like an iPhone or Black Berry you can easily dial out while looking at the list. These are great things you can do while driving in traffic or when you have a few minutes waiting for something. Been putting off calling the garage to get your car in for maintenance? Add it to the call list so you don't forget it.

Of course this whole idea of lists and writing things down is pointless if you don't review it. The guide to GTD has guidelines on when to review lists; some are daily while others are weekly or monthly. This way you are only focused on the things that are most important while the other things can be followed-up on less frequently. The idea is clearing your mind from all the unnecessary "remembering" and taking the things you need to do and getting them done by organizing them. It really is an interesting system, but it will only work if you invest the time to do it properly. If you're interested in learning more about GTD, I highly urge you to head over to David Allen's site and read about it.

Well folks, just a quick update for now. I will definitely be adding "blog on my favorite blogging site" to my list of Getting Things Done :)

Cheers till next time,

Al

Musing over Coffee v42.3: Canada Day

2011-07-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say Happy Canada Day to my friends and family in Canada. It has been a nice day here in Halifax (for a change) and there are a lot of tourists and families around the city taking in all there is to offer on this National Holiday. If you're working today, I feel for you. I had to work this morning but was lucky enough to get away for the afternoon to enjoy the nice weather.

-slurp-

Please don't drink and drive and have a safe and fun Canada Day!

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v42.2: That was close

2011-06-24T02:17:00.000-07:00

Morning folks,

-slurp-

I realized this past week that I had inadventantly allowed my domain to expire. I had a couple emails from the registrar reminding me about it, but I would read them and immediately forget about it. This week I got yet another reminder, but this one told me that the domain has expired and they would modify my DNS so the domain would redirect to an alternate site; if I didn't pay to renew the domain, it would be sold off to one of those domain holding companies after 30 days. Needless to say, I promptly logged in and renewed it for another year.

-slurp-

I'm still waiting for summer to get here. I'm not sure what the weather is like in your area of the world, but Summer has definitely been late in arriving here in Halifax. Our temperatures have been low, it is has been raining non-stop and I think I've even picked up a viral upper respiratory tract infection. It isn't uncommon for people get "catch" a cold during the transition from spring to summer but since it doesn't really feel like summer around here, I can't say that is the reason :) While technically Summer started this week, I can't help but feel a bit robbed of the nice weather. I can count on 1 hand the number of nice days we've had in the last month and even then, spectacular they were not.

-slurp-

Well folks, work beckons and I must heed the call. I have a lot of work to get done today so I can relax this weekend and not have to work (like I do most weekends). Working in IT was not my career choice when I was younger, but at least it pays the bills (almost :) ). I need to approve a bunch of time sheets (which hopefully are submitted on-time), I need to put together a spec document for a new project my development team will be working on and I need to clean up some old tasks that have been lingering around. I should be able to get it all done today if I put my head down and actually work, but it's Friday and we all know how motivating that can be :)

Take care everyone and I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend! If you plan on having a drink or two this weekend, have one for me :)

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v42.1: Stalagmites in my Freezer

2011-05-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Today was much like any other day. I got up, got ready for work and headed into the office. I worked. I came home, ran a few errands, came home again and decided to have a glass of Pepsi. I opened the freezer door and stopped. I couldn't help but notice all my ice cubes in my ice cube tray had little ice spikes sticking out of them. It was the oddest thing and initially I thought something was wrong. Why the hell would my ice cubes have stalagmites sticking out of them?

-slurp-

Of course I had to look this up and apparently it isn't uncommon to see ice cubes with stalagmites sticking out of them. I bet you're all wondering how this is achieved? I examined the ice cubes for a few minutes, but I couldn't figure out exactly how it happened. Did someone break into my apartment and fashion these out of ice? Was there water dripping down from inside the freezer in precisely the exact spot where my ice cubes were? Are there microscopic organisms living in my freezer who can only survive in sub zero temperatures and they build these structures to live in?

-slurp-

After a quick search on Goggle, the answer finally presented itself to me. This strange phenomenon happens to ice cubes when they freeze from the outside in. Since water expands when it freezes, there is no where for the liquid to go - but up - when the ice starts to form. Seems so simple doesn't it?

-slurp-

On the gaming side of things I've started playing WoW again. This time I've decided to start up a little Blog to record some of the adventures and to just talk geek about WoW. Initially I had the domain wowgeek.com registered, but I let that domain expire and go away, so I've decided to use my old domain fiendz.net to house the new blog. If you head over to http://www.fiendz.net you can check it out. I don't have any content there right now, but I'm slowly building the site up and plan on doing some posting there soon.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, time to head out for now. I hope everyone had a great day today!

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v42.0: What the Frack?

2011-05-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

Evening everyone,

-slurp-

I just wanted to post a quick note to let everyone I'm still here and I haven't forgotten about you. Work has been quite busy lately and my life has been going through some massive changes. I haven't been doing any gaming lately, which is strange for me; I have always been a huge gamer. I have, however, been thinking of reactivating my WoW account. Most of my gaming friends have also moved on to other things and none of them (that I'm aware of) are playing WoW these days. I had thought about firing up Rift as well, but I'm not really looking to start a new game right now.

-slurp-

Well folks, time for me to sign-off for now. I'm going to try and post more frequently here in the coming months. Hopefully my writing dry spell clears up.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.9: Roll Up the Starbucks

2011-04-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Apparently while I wasn't looking, the Roll up the Rim contest has come to a conclusion. Imagine my disappointment when I got a coffee yesterday and I was handed a standard brown cup. Of course that doesn't mean there are not Roll Up cups out there in Timmy town, just the Tim Horton's I frequent.

-slurp-

This year I barely drank any coffee in comparison to previous years. In fact, I believe I drank 60% less coffee than previous years, which is saying something since:

This is a Blog about musing over coffee

I'm a huge coffee fan

I like coffee

Perhaps it has something to do with the broken driver's side window motor in my truck and the other personal issues I've been dealing with these past few months. I'll be honest here, my coffee "tastes" have drastically changed recently. In fact, I'm finding Tim Horton's coffee to be a little on the weak side now and I almost prefer to drink (GASP) Starbucks coffee. I know, many of you are probably as floored as I am about it, but recently I've been drinking (GASP) Starbucks coffee. I've even picked up a French Press which I use to make my own Starbucks coffee here at home. It is something a little foreign to me since I've never been really picky about my coffee and I've always been a huge hater of Starbucks.

-slurp-

Of course that doesn't mean I won't stop by and have a Timmy's every once in awhile; in fact I had a Large Timmy's today. I don't know what changed, but coffee has taken on new meaning lately and I foresee some interesting musings in the future. In fact, I may go to an actual Starbucks sometime and write a musing from there. What a grand idea!

I just need to take baby steps with it, there is no hurry to rush off to the nearest Starbucks and start trying to fit in. I start off with buying their coffee and slowly work my way into the Starbucks club. Eventually I will be accepted by them and they will welcome me in as their own. Then, and only then, will I be worthy to sit in their coffee shops and use their free WiFi to Blog about being there and using their free WiFi.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.8: Laughter is the Best Medicine

2011-03-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Lately my life has taken an unexpected turn. I've been down, I've been up and I've even gone a bit sideways with things. Despite the way things have gone, I've managed to maintain a bit of my humor and laugh every so often. It isn't easy, especially with the way my emotions have been. Today when I was checking the administrator portion of my site, I was greeted by this joke in my spam folder. Normally I delete spam from my site's spam folder without reading it, but for some reason I decided to read it today and found this little gem:

Oh To Be 12 Again…(Humor)

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing his wife, looking at herself in the mirror.
Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she’d like to have for her Birthday.

‘I’d like to be twelve again’, she replied, still looking in the mirror.

On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Coco Pops, and then took her to Alton Towers theme park.

What a day!
He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Corkscrew, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Monster Roller Coaster, everything there was.

Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park.
Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down..
He then took her to a MC Donald’s where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.

Then it was off to the cinema with popcorn, a huge Cola, and her favorite sweets…………M&M’s.

What a fabulous adventure!

Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted.

He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, ‘Well Dear, what was it like being twelve again?’

Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed.

‘I meant my dress size, you retard!!!!’

The moral of the story:

Even when a man is listening, he is gonna get it wrong.

-slurp-

I thought I'd share that with everyone in hopes it brought a smile or laugh.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.7: Short Update

2011-03-21T01:43:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I've been very bad at keeping this site updated lately. I've been keeping my coffee winnings and losses update (when I've had a chance to get to Tim's) but as far as posting and writing, I've been slacking. There have been a lot of changes in my personal life lately which I'll refrain from sharing with you now, but know that I'm doing OK and things will eventually come around and get somewhat back to normal again.

-slurp-

If you've been following along with my Roll up the Rim 2011 page, you'll notice I am well above the 1 in 6 odds of winning this year. I don't believe I fell below that at all which is different for me. Granted I haven't had nearly as much Tim Horton's coffee as I've had in previous years, so the odds are a bit more in my favor in that regard. The Roll-up season is starting to wind down so hopefully I can get a few more coffees in between now and then.

Well folks, as the title suggests, this is just a short update today. Work beckons and I must answer the call. Hopefully I'll get some time this week to post something worthy.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.6: Thursday O'Clock

2011-03-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It's Thursday! Isn't that exciting?! Not really, but Thursday means the work week is nearly over and the weekend will be here. I have no plans this weekend so I'm not really sure why I'm looking forward to it. Normally I would say that the weekend means no work but lately work has been the only thing keeping me sane. I've actually started to enjoy things there and the work is actually starting to get a LOT better; which is nice for a change.

-slurp-

So if you've been following along with my Roll up the Rim winnings you've probably noticed that I haven't had a Tim Horton's coffee in a few days. Actually, I had one last night but I didn't get a Roll-Up cup so I was a bit put out by that. Allow me to explain.

I'm usually a pretty lazy guy first thing in the morning. I'm also a create of habit and when I get into a routine, I tend to stick with it and rarely deviate. Lately I've been finding myself going to the local Irving near my apartment to get coffee. First off, the price is right ($0.99 for any size) and they lots of different flavors to choose from. Secondly, it is quick and it doesn't taste all that bad. Thirdly, they give me a little card that is stamped every time I buy a coffee and after 6, the next one is free. Normally I don't ever use the free one, so I have 3-4 cards in my truck that have free coffees on them (2 per card) that I'm saving for when I don't have any money on me and really need a coffee.

This works out since I had an unfortunate incident with the truck last weekend. For whatever reason, the driver's side window started to act up when I used it. I was heading to the Tim Horton's drive-thru to get a coffee last weekend and when I pushed the button to lower the window it began to lower (slowly) and about half way down I heard a bit of a crunch sound. I was a bit worried, especially when the window failed to go down any further. I pressed the button up and down and it didn't seem to be doing anything. I could hear the mechanism in the door moving, but it wasn't moving the window. I pressed the down button until I couldn't hear it moving any longer and then I gently pushed down on the window and it just slid down. Of course it was raining out and I was getting wet while waiting for my coffee and I was mildly annoyed that the window was having issues after only owning the vehicle for a little over a week. Regardless, I drove away, hit the up button and low and behold the window began to raise, VERY slowly. I was a relieved when it went all the way to the top. The last thing I wanted was a broken window in the down position during a rain storm.

It seemed to work on and off most of Friday and Saturday, but Saturday night the thing really broke. The window wouldn't go up or down and the window was sitting about 1/4 of the way open. I could slide the window up with my hands, but it would just slowly crawl back down again. It was frustrating. Thankfully we didn't have any snow or rain that night because I was forced to leave the window down all night because it was late and I didn't feel like fumbling my way around in the dark trying to figure out how to keep it closed.

The next morning I woke and went outside with my son and we took apart the door to see if we could figure out the problem. The door was fairly simple to take apart and after getting it open, I noticed a snapped cable inside which (I assume) is responsible for pulling the window down and pushing it up. A quick trip to my local Canadian Tire told me that due to the year and the type of part that was busted, I would need to take it to the dealer. I figured out a way to keep the window up so at least I could remain dry and warm this week, but it has really sucked getting into the parking garage and going through drive-thrus when I don't have a window to roll down. Needless to say, I haven't been to a drive-thru since this happened which means I've been drinking a lot of Irving coffee and haven't been going to Tim's.

-slurp-

Last night Kate had a job interview at one of the Tim Horton's near our place and when she left, she grabbed a free coffee (interview perk maybe?). Of course because the coffee was free, there was no Roll up cup with it. The funny part is, I had sent my son in to buy me a coffee while I was waiting because I wanted to be able to roll-up and post about it, but alas, it wasn't meant to be I guess.

I plan on giving the dealership a call tomorrow to see if they have time for me to take the truck in and look at it. I'm not sure how much this is going to cost me, but I suspect it will be expensive. the part itself seems fairly simple, so I don't suspect that will cost me much, but the labor will definitely cost me.

-slurp-

Well folks, time for me to take off for now. Hopefully I'll get some time tomorrow to post again.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.5: Regulated Gas Prices

2011-02-25T00:40:00.000-08:00

Morning folks,

-slurp-

It's FRIDAY! My work week has finally come to a close and now I have a weekend to potentially look forward to. This week has gone by quite fast for me. I've been quite busy at work this week so my days seem so much shorter. It's a good feeling to be working away on something and then look at the clock and see the time jump by several hours.

Here in Nova Scotia we have regulated gas prices. Basically, that means the price of gas is controlled by a group of people who raise (or lower) the price of gas every week based on various factors. Last night I drove by a gas station and noticed there was quite a line up of cars waiting to get gas. Normally I hear on the radio what the projected increase (or decrease) is going to be, but for whatever reason I didn't catch it yesterday morning. I assumed gas was going to go up, hence the line of cars waiting at the pumps. Normally people freak out over a couple of cents a liter. When you consider the average car has a 40 liter tank, if the price of gas went up 2 cents a liter, you're looking at an additional 80 cents to fill up your car. Seriously people! Is that a good reason to wait in line to get gas? You're probably spending that much in gas just waiting to beat the 2 cents per liter increase.

Unfortunately, the price of gas jumped 4 cents per liter here in Halifax last night, which still isn't a whole lot when you consider the 40 liter tank again. Unfortunately, my truck has at least an 80 liter tank in it and at $1.21 per liter, I'm looking at approximately $100 to fill the thing. Truth be told, I have no idea how big my gas tank is but I know the last time I filled it up, it took $100 easily so the tank must be a bit larger than 80 liters. Regardless, an increase of 4 cents a liter is still a lot when you look at the overall price of gasoline in the city right now. I haven't been following the price of oil lately, but I suspect that, combined with the conflicts over in the middle east, are the primary cause for the sudden jump.

-slurp-

Well folks, just a quick musing this morning to start off my day. I hope everyone has a great weekend and if I get some time to post this weekend I will definitely do that. If you live in the Halifax area, drive safely today. There is going to be a ton of rain today and then the temperature is going to drop suddenly tonight, causing it all to freeze. Take care.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.4: The Truck

2011-02-23T01:14:00.000-08:00

Morning folks,

-slurp-

It's hump day! At least for those of us who typically work a Monday to Friday work week. For those of you who don't, this is Wednesday to you and could be the start of your work week or the end. Either way, Happy Wednesday.

Last week I took a drive up to New Brunswick to visit my father and to buy a new vehicle for the family. My family has grown a bit over the past couple years and there is no way a standard 5 passenger vehicle is going to cut it any longer. We got by for a few months after the baby was born last year, but it is starting to take its toll on us and we needed to get something a bit larger. Originally I had driven up to visit my father to buy a mini-van, but after arriving at the car dealership, I was surprised to see they had no mini-vans in stock. I was a little distraught by this as I was really looking forward to getting a vehicle that day. I did, after all, drive all the way up there to get one.

-slurp-

After looking at the few vehicles at the dealership (which also happened to be a full service garage), I finally found the one I wanted. Normally I wouldn't look twice at a vehicle like this because they are typically very expensive. Fortunately for us, this vehicle is a few years older than I was looking for and it was going for a great price. It is a 2003 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer edition. This truck is fully loaded (and I mean fully loaded) and seats 8 people very comfortably. In fact, the middle row has 3 seats and we can easily put the two car seats there with lots of room for a 3rd person without begin squished. In the old Matrix we had, two car seats took up most of the back seat with a small spot for my 8 year old daughter to sit; and she was squished. Needless to say, this vehicle will serve its purpose and there is more than enough room to take everyone out at the same time and do whatever we need to do. The one downside is the size of the engine and how much gas it consumes. With the prices of gas being so high right now, it is a pain in the ass when it comes time to fill it up. Oh well, the price we pay for the convience of having a vehicle that will seat at least 6.

-slurp-

Well folks, it is time to do some work. This week promises to be as busy as previous weeks and while it is only Wednesday, it feels like it should be Friday for me. I hope everyone has a great day and hopefully I will get a chance to post again tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.3: Return of the Roll-up

2011-02-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It has been a long time since I've posted here. I've been taking a break from the writing lately, mostly because I just can't seem to come up with anything new or interesting to write about. Well, seeing as I've started a tradition of writing during the months Tim Horton's has their Roll-up-the-Rim promotion, I couldn't let day 1 go by without posting.

-slurp-

So the official kick-off for Roll-up-the-Rim started today. Of course I had no idea this was starting today so I was quite surprised when I pulled up to my local Tim's and saw the familiar red cup with the huge yellow arrow on the side. I was excited! I immediately started wracking my brain for useful and/or interesting topics to post about as I began the journey of writing here again during the roll-up season. Of course I drew a blank, which seems to be happening a lot these days.

I decided instead to make a quick post here and then think on some new topics tonight so I can start off fresh in the morning. I still can't believe it has been almost 2 months since my last post, where has the time gone?

-slurp-

Hopefully I will get the opportunity to post daily like I've attempted to do in the past for the roll-up season. You'll notice I've already started a new page where you will be able to follow along with me and keep up-to-date on my current winnings and losses this year. This will be the 5th year I've been doing this and I'm excited to get a chance to do it once again.

Anyway folks, just a quick note to let you know I'm still here and to welcome the roll-up season for yet another year. Wish me luck!

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.2: Happy Holidays

2010-12-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Added a nice little snowing plugin to the site to get people in the festive mood. Of course we're getting rain here right now and there doesn't sound to be much in the forecast to suggest we'll have a white Christmas this year. Seems like only a few days ago since my last post but after checking, double checking and triple checking the post dates, I realize I've missed quite a few days of posting; this has been a crazy busy month.

Gaming wise I've been laying low. I was able to get my Blood Elf Mage to 85 last weekend and then I just stopped playing. WoW just doesn't seem to have that hold on me it once did. Perhaps it is because most of my friends are not playing the same times I am or perhaps it is just because I don't have the time I used to have. I watched a fun little video this morning from Oxhorn which I thought was fitting. Forgive me if you're lost and have no idea what this is about:

-slurp-

Nothing like a video about WoW and Christmas at the same time. I love it when people make video game movies.

Well folks, I wanted to just drop by and say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope to get back and post again sometime before the end of the year, but I can't guarantee anything at this point.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.1: Cataclysm

2010-12-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Yesterday Blizzard released their 3rd expansion to their award winning game, World of Warcraft. The expansion is titled Cataclysm and it truly is a cataclysmic event which has taken hold of the gaming world. Basically, the entire world as we have known it for the past 6 years has been forever changed. Old borders have been redrawn and old enemies have been reborn. Where there was once lush greenery there is now destruction and barren landscape; barren landscape has brought on new life.

Initially I wasn't going to pick up Cataclysm being so close to Christmas and all, but a friend who I have been gaming with for the past 5ish years wanted to buy it for me as an early Christmas present. I'm most gracious that he did and I've been exploring all the new zones and experiencing the new races available in this expansion. Tonight we decided to take a trip into one of the new instance to check it out. For those who don't know what an "instance" is, it is basically a dungeon that you can go into that only contains you and your party. Other groups can run the same instance at the same time, but they experience their own instance with their party. Think of it as a mirror image of the same place for every group that wishes to enter it.

So far the new zones have been underwater. I must admit I was a bit worried about underwater combat. I used to play Dark Age of Camelot and their 3rd expansion was an underwater expansion which was done fairly nicely. Blizzard has taken it a step above and has provided us a beautiful underwater realm to explore; I'm quite impressed. I have only scratched the surface of this new area, but so far I'm really enjoying it.

-slurp-

Work has been fairly slow this week, of which I'm very thankful. Work from home has given me the flexibility and time I need to assist my wife with her recovery. I've been making the meals, changing most of the diapers and ensuring the other kiddies are taken care of and keeping out of my wife's hair. For the most part things are going well, but I can already feel the strain of taking all these things on in addition to my regular day-to-day job. Thankfully work has been very accommodating and understanding.

Well folks, it is getting late and I have a few things I need to do tonight before going to bed. Saturday is the annual Christmas tree cutting event, my youngest daughter's 2nd birthday party and poker night with my sisters and their significant others. It's going to be a very long day, but should be fun and good times. See you all tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v41.0: December 5

2010-12-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It is Sunday, the Lord's day, the day of rest. Why is it we tend to do more work on the day of rest than we do the rest of the week?

Today I was fortunate enough to get a visit from both of my sisters. Normally my sisters never drop by but today I got a visit from both of them; thankfully not at the same time. :) Of course I jest a little bit. It was nice to see them again and spend a few moments conversing. While my youngest sister was visiting, I may have inadvertantly got my future brother-in-law (Juggs) hooked back into Eve Online. Sometimes I don't even think before I speak and I just start going on and on about a game. Now he's all signed up and starting Eve again and even joined us in the Eve Poker room last night and hopefully made some ISK :) I walked away from the table up about 25 million ISK, which made me feel good.

-slurp-

Well folks, it's late and I'm very tired. Hopefully I'll have some more for you tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v40.9: December 4

2010-12-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Let me start off by saying, Poker + Eve is a bad combination.

I'm a fan of Poker and I love playing Poker. I miss our weekly Poker nights and and playing Poker with family and friends. There are a lot of free online Poker sites out there but when they're free, you tend to not play the same when there is real money on the line. Well, a certain Corporation in Eve has created an online Poker site where you buy chips with in-game Eve currency. While in-game currency is still technically not real world money, it does have a certain value since it is required to buy things in-game.

-slurp-

Basically, this site has a bunch of different tables you can play at. They range from 20-40 chips to the thousands. A single chip costs 100,000 ISK (Eve currency) so if you're looking to buy-in on the smallest table, you're looking at a minimum of 2,000,000 ISK for 20 chips. Last night my friend Bim and I decided to check it out (we're both avid Poker fans) and several hours later we were still sitting at a table playing the table, Rounders style.

I don't know how much I lost (or gained) but I think I ended the night down 20 chips (or 2 million ISK). Not bad really, not as bad as Bim who ended the night (much later than I played) down over a 100 million ISK. There was one game where I was up over 200 chips and then a bad run of cards saw me leaving the table with nothing. It happens.

-slurp-

We decorated our artificial Christmas tree last night. It was a stressful, painful and annoying event (kids can find the oddest things to fight about), but we ended up finishing and the tree looks great, despite being fake. I'm not a fan of the fake Christmas trees, but our apartment management doesn't allow for real ones so we had to fall back on our fake one. Today we plan on finishing up the decorating and hopefully find a place for everything. It didn't help that I slept until almost noon (gaming until after 3AM does that to you) and feel like I wasted half a day in bed.

Anyway folks, I hope everyone has a great Saturday and we'll see you again tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v40.8: December 3 - Eve Online

2010-12-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It is finally Friday! Despite the fact I've been working from home since my son was born back on November 23rd, I was still looking forward to this day. Tonight we plan on decorating our fake Christmas tree. Typically, my wife has our place all decorated and ready for Christmas as soon as December 1 hits, but this year she hasn't been able to get up and move around much as she recovers from the c-section. That won't stop her from getting the tree up and decorated though. Or I should say, it won't stop her making me get the tree up.

-slurp-

Tonight I plan on playing some Eve Online with friends. Eve has been reborn for me lately and I've really been enjoying myself.

What is Eve Online?

Basically, Eve Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (or MMORPG) where thousands of people play simultaneously in an ever changing world. The concept of MMORPGs is not new but the folks who developed Eve have done it a little bit differently than most of the other games out there. Here are a few key points that make this game interesting for me:

It is in space. The background story is interesting and basically there are 4 races of humans who have been scattered all over the universe and fighting for their own piece of space.

The entire game takes place on a single server. Where WoW has multiple servers (hundreds) which are just copies of the same world, Eve only has one server where everyone plays. That means if you play Eve, you can contact me and we have the ability to meet up in-game. WoW doesn't have this. In fact, if you meet someone who plays WoW there is a very good chance they play on a different server/faction than you and therefore, you cannot communicate or connect with them unless one of you pays for a transfer or one of you recreates a character on that server/faction.

Player run economy. Economy in games can be very tricky and Eve does this beautifully. People can make ships, weapons, etc. and sell them on the market. People can view this market and choose to buy items or set themselves "looking to buy" a particular item for a particular price. Basically, the players decide how the economy works and a single player can drastically change things if they wish.

Space travel. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and space related shows (Battlestar, Star Trek, etc.) so this game just fits the bill all the way around. Also, the ability to travel at warp speed, sub light and regular thrusters makes the game interesting. Players have the ability to "jump" between solar systems and the size of this world is unmeasurable. I've been playing this game for a few years (off and on) and I haven't seen 1% of the universe.

Strategy vs. Twitching. Twitching is a term used to describe a type of play style. For example, most people who play first person shooters would be considered twitchers since it is the person who can react the fastest and the most accurately who wins the fight. People who are relatively slow at reacting will be quickly slaughtered in games like those. Eve does have a certain bit of "twitch" to it, but the majority of the game is strategy based. You need to carefully plan your fights ensuring you have the right kinds of ammo on you and the right devices turned online for particular fights. Space flight isn't very "fast". Yes there are some ships that are faster than others, but the overall fights are not very fast paced. You need to target an enemy and then decide whether you want to fire all armaments at them or target multiple enemies and spread things out a bit. I won't go into all the different scenarios but there are a lot.

Corporations. Corporations could be likened to guilds in other games but at the same time they are nothing like guilds. Corporations are exactly what you would expect from the name, they are companies. Recently a few friends and I decided to start our own Corp. and they decided to make me the CEO (big mistake lol). I've been going through all the different options available to a CEO and I must admit, it is a bit overwhelming. You can set people as directors, sell shares and there have even been situations in other Corps where CEOs have been "dethroned" because enough people with shares have voted the CEO out. What you do with your Corp depends on you. People have setup corporations to do just about anything. There is a corp out there that is dedicated to running a Lottery, people send them money for tickets and every week (or bi-weekly) they do a draw and the winner(s) get in-game currency. Some of these corporations are quite huge and very well organized; more organized than most of the corporations out there in the real world today.

-slurp-

Eve Online is also a beautifully artistic game. The graphic artists have done a great job building all the various solar systems and regions. I'm very impressed with the game graphically and if you look up any official videos for Eve they pride themselves in the fact their videos are all shot in-game and are not done in CGI.

Well folks, that is about all I have for today. Hopefully I'll have something interesting to write about tomorrow after gaming tonight. Until next time.

Cheers,

Alan

Musing over Coffee v40.7: December 2

2010-12-02T06:39:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

I appreciate the company I work for.

I can hear the gasps already. I've spent so much time bashing my job(s) that it feels strange to actually praise it. There have been so many times over the past year that I've wanted to quit and find something else but every time I even being to entertain the thought, I'm brought back to compare what I have today versus what I'll have tomorrow. My bosses are very understanding and very flexible. They are truly good managers. I have a lot of perks at my job that I just wouldn't get at another company:

Being able to take comp time whenever I need to

Ability to work from home in the event I need to and don't want to take a vacation/sick day

Being flexible with my schedule so I can drop off and pick up the kids from school so my wife can rest

etc.

There are so many things I've taken for granted and I highly doubt I could find another company in the city that would offer me these same benefits for the same money. In fact, I would be very surprised if I could find a better job anywhere in the Maritimes.

-slurp-

Not much is new on the gaming front right now. I'm debating on whether I want to create a new character in WoW to help pass the time but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. If you're an active WoW player and have logged in recently, you'll know that "The Shattering" has taken place and the entire world as we knew it has been changed forever. For those who don't play WoW, there was a cataclysmic event which took place in the game and the entire landscape that has existed since WoW was released in 2004 was severely altered. Most of the capital cities have been changed and almost all of the landscape has been altered and changed. New lines have been drawn and places that were once occupied by the Horde are now controlled by the Alliance and vice versa. Blizzard has done an amazing job with this expansion and I'm really looking forward to experiencing what they have in store for us next week. Of course I won't be able to experience the expansion when it comes out, but you can bet I'll be there the weekend after and loving every minute of it.

-slurp-

Well folks, that about all I have time for today. Tomorrow is Friday and I plan on writing a bit about Eve Online since that is probably what I'll be playing most of the night tomorrow. If you're interested in learning more about Eve, tune in tomorrow for an overview of the game. Until then.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v40.6: December 1

2010-12-01T06:19:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

We are officially on the last month of 2010. It's hard to believe another year is almost behind us, again. A lot has been going on in our lives these past few months and while my mind has been on my musings, I haven't written anything. That is about to change.

-slurp-

This month I've decided to write every single day. The musings will take on a little bit of a different flow than most of you are used to, but I will definitely do my best to offer quality content while keeping you up to date on what I'm doing.

As most of you already know, we have a new addition to the family. On November 23rd my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. We have named him Mattius Graham and he weighed in at 7lbs 2oz. This was probably the most difficult pregnancy my wife has gone through out of the 4 children and we are both very glad it is finally over. The birth itself was an adventure. Initially we took her to the hospital for other reasons and while she was in there we found out she was in labor. The baby wasn't cooperating and we needed to have an emergency c-section. I was home with the kids while this was happening and I got the call from my wife to let me know we were having this baby. I contacted my youngest sister who came over to watch the kids so I could rush down to the hospital to be with my wife. While on-route to the hospital I received a call from the nurse telling me that the baby was facing the wrong way and they were going to need to operate. At first I didn't realize what she was talking about, but when I was half way to the hospital the reality of the situation finally hit me and I "quickened" my pace.

Baby and mom are fine and at home recovering now so everything went well. Mattius got to meet his Auties, Nanny and Papa this past weekend and everyone is fine.

-slurp-

Gaming has also been slow this past couple months. I started a brand new Blood Elf Paladin in WoW (yes, I'm playing Horde now) on the Medivh server. I leveled him from 1 to 80 in a couple weeks with a total play time of 4 days, 7 hours and 32 minutes (103.5 hrs). Up until around level 70 I was averaging 1 level per hour played. After it was all said and done I averaged 1 level for every 1.2hrs played so I'm pleased with my progress. I didn't use a "Refer-a-Friend" account, but I did have heirlooms which provided me a +20% bonus to experience gained. My goal was to get to level 80 before the baby came but because the baby was early, I missed it by 1 day; at least he's level 80 before the next expansion hits on December 7th.

Since I hit level 80 I've been taking it easy on the gaming front. I've been spending most of my "free" time playing Eve Online which is a much "slower" game and doesn't require 100% of my attention while playing. I started playing Eve a few years ago but never really got into it. Now that I've started to get into it and spent some time reading up on all the various things in the game, I've developed a new love for the game and spend as much time as I can playing it. Perhaps I'll post more on Eve in another musing for those who may be interesting in learning more about it.

-slurp-

Well folks, it is time to bid you farewell for now. Keep checking back every day this month for a new musing. As stated earlier, I plan on posting every day this month leading us into the New Year. Until next time.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v40.5: Reason for Religion?

2010-11-16T11:32:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

First off, let me start off by giving a quick update on my NaNoWriMo progress. So far, I'm sucking pretty bad at keeping my word count up. The month of November is half over and I'm nowhere near half way through the word count. I should be over 25,000 words right now and I'm not even half way to that goal. Of course I'm blaming WoW for my lack of progress. The next expansion for World of Warcraft is coming (out December 7th) and there are a ton of things going on in the world right now that are leading up to that expansion. I'm getting a bit excited about this expansion.

-slurp-

I'm sure you've all heard the story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. There have been so many different variations of that story over the years it is hard to tell which (if any) is the right story. The story talks about how Arthur became the King of Camelot and how he pulled the sword from the stone and all that fun stuff. It has been retold and passed down over the generations. Did it really happen or was it just a story?

I often wonder if some of the "stories" in the Bible are similar. I mean, how many of these stories were written by the people who actually lived them? Take the creation of the Earth for example. Obviously this wasn't written by Adam or Eve; in fact, the book of Genesis was written primarily by Moses. Moses tells the story of the creation of the earth and tells us all about the fall of mankind after the first sin. Moses wasn't around when the earth was created and he definitely didn't witness the first sin or the first murder. These are simply stories. In fact, if we take the book of Genesis for truth, it would have occurred around 4000 B.C. and poor old Moses wasn't born until around 1550 B.C. So you have approximately 2500 years worth of "stuff" going on that was put into a single book of the Bible. Some believe the stories we read in the bible are nothing more than stories to convey a religious message; similar to the way some Pastors will tell stories today. Of course people will believe what they will and everyone believes something slightly different from the person sitting next to them. That is what makes us unique and special :)

This begs the question, if the creation of the earth was nothing more than a simple story told by a man thousands of years later, is it safe to assume that nobody has a sweet clue about how the earth was created and they simply created a story to make God look all powerful? I was always told that there was nothing God could not do and he was all powerful. Personally, if I was God, it wouldn't take me 6 days to build a plant. I would build it in less than a day and I wouldn't need to rest afterwards; but I digress.

-slurp-

Of course this also raises some other interesting questions about the Bible and its authenticity. Think of all the times in the Bible where God "spoke" to people. Now I haven't gone through the effort to find the original word for spoke to see if it means verbally spoke or "spoke" through other means but given the fact there is text as if God was speaking, I would have to assume it meant he literally spoke with a voice. Why doesn't that happen today? I find it hard to believe that God is shy or has issues with public speaking. What made the people in ancient times so special that God actually spoke to them?

Don't get me wrong folks, I'm not trying to tear apart anyone's religion here. I'm just trying to figure out (for my own benefit) what the point is. If I've learned anything over the years of studying religion it is that they all believe in something bigger than themselves. Who's right? Are any of them right? Is there even an all powerful being out there that listens to our needs and shelters and protects us? Unfortunately that isn't a question I can answer and everyone believes something different so there's no help there. Personally, I'm beginning to think people need to follow their own heart and their own beliefs. Religion isn't all about worshiping something greater than you, it is about living our lives and making the best out of this short life we're given. Think of it as a set of guidelines for people to follow and how to live good lives and respect others around them. Think back on all the bible stories you've heard. How many teach a lesson in one form or another about being kind to others or respecting others. The bible is full of stories like this and they all teach us right from wrong.

Unfortunately religion has turned people against each other and has started more wars and fights than anything else in the world. In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if I received some hate mail or nasty comments here because of this topic. Personally, I don't care. If you feel you need to say something, then by all means, post a comment or send me an email. I'm always up for a good debate.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, WoW is calling to me and I must listen. I hope you all have a great day and hopefully things will slow down enough that I can post again soon.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v40.4: NaNoWriMo Begins!

2010-11-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

The long awaited month of November is finally here and with it, NaNoWriMo! I've been anxiously awaiting this to start and have been brainstorming ideas on what I want to write during the month of November. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, NaNoWriMo simply stands for "National Novel Writing Month" where every November, writers from all over the world take the time to write a novel of their own choosing and upload their progress to the NaNoWriMo site. The goal this year is 50,000 words and I fully plan on making it this year.

Last year I was a bit disappointed in myself because I was only able to achieve approximately 20,000 words, but I was pleased with what I was able to accomplish and some of that novel I wrote has been posted here for others to read and enjoy. It is still unfinished and perhaps some day I'll return to it and finish it off but this year I've decided to do a completely new novel. I'm taking some advice from my sister and I'm writing about something I really know and enjoy, World of Warcraft. I'm not going to write a strategy guide or anything crazy like that. I'm simply taking a single adventure with my friends who play WoW and I'm writing about it. I'm really excited about this year's NaNoWriMo project as it is something I really know a lot about and think it will be a lot of fun writing about it. I'm not going to bother changing the names or places, the goal here is to write as much as possible in 30 days and hopefully have something that vaguely resembles a novel by the end of it. Proofreading and editing will come later.

-slurp-

Speaking of gaming, the gang and I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Cataclysm, the newest expansion to the World of Warcraft collection. To help bring in the new game and the new content we've all decided to start fresh on a new server. As if that wasn't challenging enough, we've also decided to play the other faction to add even more "newness" to the game. For those who are not into WoW or understand what I'm talking about: World of Warcraft is a massive game. Approximately 11 million active subscribers spread across hundreds of servers. A server is basically a copy of the same game which houses thousands of players. Since each server is virtually identical, it doesn't really matter which server you play on to experience the game. Having multiple servers is a way to help spread the population out to avoid latency so you can have hundreds of thousands of players playing at the exact same time. You can't communicate with other players on other servers and if you were playing on a different server than I and standing in the same place I was, you wouldn't see me. It's a tricky concept to explain to someone who has ever played.

This coming February will mark approximately 6 years of playing World of Warcraft for me. I still find it hard to believe that I've been playing the same game for so long but WoW has "something" that keeps me hooked and as long as Blizzard keeps doing what they're doing, they'll most likely keep me for years to come. I've met a lot of friends through WoW and made just as many enemies. I've even met people in real life that I've played with which is strange and cool at the same time. World of Warcraft isn't just another game, it is an experience and no, Blizzard isn't paying me for saying that.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, just a quick post and quick update so you know I'm still here and alive. I'm taking the two things I like to do the most and I'm combining them into a fun and awesome project; World of Warcraft and Writing. Wish me luck and hopefully during the progress I can keep you all up-to-date on how things are going. Maybe I'll create a little site widget and update my total word count each day so you can see how far I've progressed. We'll see.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v40.3: Dried Up

2010-10-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Have you ever had that feeling where you know you're supposed to be doing something but you can't seem to muster the strength or motivation to get it done? I'm sure we've all been there at one time or another, after all, most of us are human right? Lately I've been suffering from this lack of motivation when it comes to writing and updating the site. I can't really pinpoint the exact cause for the lack of motivation or desire to write but it is annoying the hell out of me.

I will admit that work has been quite busy lately and my thoughts seem to constantly drift toward my job. I'm even finding myself looking in during the evenings or weekends just to check on things; how sad is that? I do take my job very seriously and I do give my 110% when there but for some reason I feel that just isn't enough sometimes; like I could be doing more.

Perhaps my mind has been dwelling on the new baby and what life will be like with another child in our family. It's not that having children is a foreign concept to me, but having 4 kids is not something I'm familiar with. How much more difficult is having 4 versus having 3? I guess I'll find out in a couple of months; Christmas is going to be interesting.

I've been trying to come up with interesting and challenging topics for the past few days and I fully intended to post over the weekend when I had some downtime at my father's house, but I just couldn't come up with anything. So rather than wait for something to come to me, I decided to write about what was going on with me so you all didn't sit and wonder why the hell I haven't posted for awhile. I've also been thinking on the NaNoWriMo coming up in a few weeks and I still haven't come up with a firm idea on what story I'm going to write. I have a few ideas for stories, but I've done next to no character development or plot planning. It should be quite interesting.

Anyway folks, I must take my leave and bid you farewell for now. I'll be wracking my brain all day tomorrow trying to come up with something to write tomorrow night so hopefully there will be more meat and potatoes in tomorrow's Musing. Mmmm... meat and potatoes....

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v40.2: Happy Thanksgiving; Canada

2010-10-10T03:02:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It is Thanksgiving day here in Canada today. It has been quite awhile since I updated last (nearly a month) and for that I can only apologize. I wish I could say I was super busy these past few weeks and didn't have time but the truth is I just haven't been "inspired" to write about anything these past few weeks. Call it writer's block or laziness but the fact remains I've been seriously slacking lately with keeping the site updated and for that I can only apologize.

-slurp-

I'm thankful though. Thankful to be with family on Thanksgiving day as we all sit around my mother's table and partake in some good home cooking. I've been looking forward to this day for quite awhile. My wife is a great cook and her meals are quite tasty but there is just no replacement for a mother's home cooked meal.

Of course my friends in the US won't be celebrating their Thanksgiving until next month and I could never understand why, out of all the holidays we share, is this one on a different date. Regardless, we have a specific day each year where we can take time to gather with family and ponder on the things that we're the most thankful for.

-slurp-

Well folks, just a small update while at my mother's house this weekend. I promise I will provide more regular updates in the future.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v40.1: Avast Me Hearties

2010-09-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

As some of you know, this weekend on September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. As a special treat, I've installed a plugin that will convert the entire site over to Pirate Speak. If that's not your cup of tea, fear not, I will disable the plugin after the 19th and all will be back to normal again. If you're celebrating this festive day along with us, make sure you raise your bottle of rum, adjust the patch over your eye and let out a loud resounding YARR.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v40.0: Getting Back to Reality

2010-09-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

I have a problem. This isn't a problem anyone can really help me with but I figured I'd bring it up anyway since I'm probably not the only one with this problem. My problem is with Reality Television shows. Now I'm not a huge television watcher but when the television is on at our house it is usually Tree House TV (young children's shows) or Reality TV with the odd movie here and there.

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors.[1] The genre has existed in some form or another since the early years of television (primarily with game shows), but has expanded significantly since the series Big Brother first aired in 1999.[1] Programs in the reality television genre are commonly called "reality shows" and often are produced in series.

Of course Reality TV isn't ALL bad. Take, for example, "Ice Road Truckers". If it hadn't been for that Reality TV show, I wouldn't have known it was dangerous to drive a huge rig over frozen water. Who really thinks about that?

Fred: Hey Bill, let's take this fully loaded 18 wheeler weighing 40 tons out onto the frozen ocean!
Bill: You sure that's safe?
Fred: I hadn't even thought of that, how much weight can ice hold?
Bill: ....

There are a lot of other life lessons I've learned over the years of Reality TV. I'm sure most of you can relate:

Having a baby can hurt and sometimes have complications

Men and Women can fall in love and have their feelings hurt

Traveling all over the world is considered a race if there are others doing it too

Cutting down big trees is dangerous

Some people have a lot more kids than I do

Policemen chase criminals and arrest them

Thankfully we have Reality TV to tell us these things otherwise I would have been lost.

-slurp-

On a more serious note, why the hell do we have these shows anyway? Yes the may provide a certain level of entertainment but is it the right kind of entertainment we should be subjecting ourselves to? Coming back to my example of "Ice Road Truckers", would you watch a show where people drove big rig tucks on ice and nothing happened? Probably not, there isn't much point in watching trucks driving on ice if there wasn't something there to make it interesting. What if there was a commercial for an upcoming episode of "Ice Road Truckers" where someone died because their rig crashed through the ice? I bet you'd watch it then. Why? Because we've been twisted and deformed mentally by the evil that is Reality TV. No, that isn't very fair, Reality TV isn't "evil", it's sick. What would you think if someone followed you around every day with a camera recording your life in the hopes you got hurt or died? The average person's day-to-day life is fairly boring and not very interesting but when they get hurt or die, the ratings sky rocket!

I won't go into these hundreds of other Reality TVs shows out there today like the ones where people sit and watch brides to-be pick out a dress. For the love of God, it is like the shopping channel but instead of you looking for something to buy yourself, you're watching someone else buy it. I am having a difficult time understanding how someone can justify paying money to make a show about absolutely nothing; they are either very smart or very dumb.

I digress of course. Reality TV has brought some good and there is something to learn from some of the shows out there. Take a show like the "Worst Handyman" series. They teach you a lot of important tips on doing things around the house while you get to watch people screw it up. Not only is it informational, but it is funny to watch as well. Same goes for the "Worst Driver" series. I know a lot of this "think" we know all the rules of the road but there are some lessons on that show that I didn't know. Let me throw a question out there. Without looking it up (information these days is too readily available :) ), who has the right-of-way in a merging lane? I was surprised to learn the correct answer to this question and I learned it on "Canada's Worst Driver". There is also another show that I do like to watch on occasion that is borderline. It is called the "Cake Boss" and it is basically about a bakery in New York that bakes and decorates these amazing cakes for different events. They do show you how to make a lot of cakes and they give people a lot of great ideas for making cakes themselves. Of course a television show about people making cakes sounds terribly boring so they have a camera crew following these guys around day after day and make episodes where mishaps happen. Again, we watch the episodes because there is going to be a cake falling over, but at the same time there is something to learn so that is why I consider this show borderline. Thankfully there are about 100 shows about cakes now so if I'm ever really bored and want to watch a cake fall over, there is a fairly good chance I can turn on the TV just as a cake is falling over. That's sad.

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Well folks, I think I've mused (ranted?) enough about Reality TV. At the end of the day when you're tired from working or whatever you did that day, sometimes it is nice to sit in front of the TV and watch mindless entertainment like this. Just don't let it go to your head and stop looking (hoping) for bad things to happen to people, it isn't right.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.9: IGOR! Yes Master?

2010-09-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It is starting to look like we're in for another hurricane here in the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Hurricane Igor, which is currently a category 4 hurricane, is projected to make its way up the Atlantic and could possibly hit us here in Nova Scotia. It is obviously still too early to tell where it will end up, but there is a slight chance it could make it this far north like Hurricane Earl did.

I find it interesting how they come up with these names for Hurricanes. I'm sure most of us know already that hurricane names are picked out ahead of time and they alternate between male and female names each year. If a particular hurricane causes extensive damage (Hurricane Katrina for example), they retire the name and it is never used again. If you're interested in seeing the list of hurricane names for the next 5 years, check out this site.

Some of you may have remembered me talking about my 5 year work anniversary gift I ordered a few weeks back. Well it finally arrived today. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed to have to pay a brokerage fee when the item arrived at my door step. Perhaps disappointed isn't a strong enough word. I was pissed off! I've spent 5 years at this company and I've put in a lot of time and effort into my job and never have I asked for any kind of reward or recognition for my efforts. I realize getting a gift for n years of dedication and service is something above and beyond for a company to do for an employee, but if they are giving gifts, please for the love of God make them gifts so the employee doesn't get the shaft when it shows up on their door. Of course I could sit here and bitch about it all night long, but I really don't have the energy to waste on dwelling on it. I put forth the question to my boss as to whether there will be a reimbursement for my "loss" and he pretty much told me I was SOL, but he would escalate and maybe I'll get it back.

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So I'm betting you're all wondering what I ordered? Well, this bad boy is the Kitchen-Aid 7qt Stainless Steal slow cooker! It retails for around $199 at Sears and has food temperature alerts, programmable digital timer and a host of other features I've been anxiously looking forward to using. I enjoy making stew in the slow cooker for the family, but with the family growing and the slow cooker getting smaller (or seemingly so), it was time to upgrade and when this rig showed up on my 5 year rewards, I didn't even think twice about ordering it. Now I can cook stew for the entire family and have left overs for another day. I plan on putting this thing to use on Saturday and have some stew cooked and ready for family members for when they come over to our place Saturday night for some drinks and games.

Speaking of which, my sisters and their significant others will be coming by Saturday and I'm looking forward to a great evening of family, friends and fellowship as we partake of some beverages of the alcoholic variety and have some freshly cooked stew and snacks while hunched over the kitchen table playing poker. Yeah, Saturday night is going to be a good time I think. :)

Well folks, it is getting late and I have a few things I need to get done tonight before heading to bed. Tomorrow I am working from home because of a Dr's appointment my wife has so hopefully I'll have some time during the day tomorrow to write. I really need to get back on the wagon with writing or I'm going to be in bad shape when NaNoWriMo starts up again in November; another thing I'm looking forward to.

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Take care my friends and remember to always check under the toilet seat before you sit down. I heard a story one time of a lady who failed to check under the toilet seat and was bitten by a spider and died. True story, it was on the Internet :)

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.8: Butting Out

2010-09-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It has been awhile since I've posted anything new. I've been wanting to post but either I've been too busy when I thought about it or just didn't have the energy to sit and write anything meaningful. Sometimes I struggle with finding new things to talk about that are interesting and meaningful. After all, Blogs are supposed to be interesting right?

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I received an email from my mother this weekend; she has finally decided to stop smoking again. I am happy to hear this despite the fact I will missing going for a smoke with her when we visit. Growing up my mother smoked and I remember her sitting in the kitchen with her friends sharing laughs and socializing over cigarettes. I used to get my mother to make these "frogs" out of her cigarette package. I couldn't wait for her to be finished her pack so she could carefully fold and shape the package into something that slightly resembled a frog (at least to a 5 year old anyway) and when you pushed on it just so, it would hop around the table. It's interesting to think that back in those days, it was completely acceptable to smoke with your child in the same room (or in the car) and it was common for parents to send their children to the store to buy cigarettes for them (along with milk, bread and other various things). I don't recall ever buying cigarettes for my mother, but I do remember going to the store a lot so it could have happened.

Shortly after I turned 8 my mother butt out and stayed off the cigarettes until shortly after her and my father separated. It lasted about 10 years. Of course divorce can do strange things to people and I don't blame my mother one bit for going back to smoking after the divorce. I don't know if I was fated to smoke or not (I always liked the smell as a child) but when I was 22 I started smoking. I smoked until December 2005 when I finally decided to quit; I had quit for just over 3 years and started back up again. Let me just say that nobody is perfect and whether you're addicted to cigarettes or something else, there is still an addiction there. Usually people who quit smoking try to find something else in their life to be addicted to. Since there is a regain of appetite after you've quit, people tend to get addicted to food; putting on a lot of weight (like I did when I quit) and in the end feeling bad about themselves. Others get addicted to sporting activities and working out; not a bad thing, but again it is still an addiction. I don't want to sit here and talk about addictions because people are addicted to many different kinds of things. Whether an addiction is bad or not is relative and not always the same to everyone. Yes cigarettes are addictive and yes they will cause lung cancer and other various problems but they don't affect everyone in the exact same way. I'm not trying to defend my smoking to anyone and I will definitely quit when I'm ready, when my mind is in a place and I want to stop smoking. That, my friends, is the key to quitting an addiction, your mind.

My youngest sister bought me a book awhile ago called "Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking". This book doesn't focus on the fact you need to quit smoking because it is bad for you, it focuses on getting your mind right with quitting smoking. Quitting cigarettes isn't the simple act of stop smoking, there is a whole other piece many people fail to see. My sister quit smoking a number of years ago after reading this book and hasn't had the urge to smoke since. I quit in 2005 and I felt the urge to smoke the entire time because my mind wasn't where it needed to be to truly quit smoking. I still haven't read the book (Sorry Megs) but when I'm ready to finally butt out for good, I will be reading the book and then I will be thanking my sister for the wonderful gift. After all, not everyone is the same right? :)

There are also alternatives to smoking. No, I'm not talking about the gum or the patch or the pills. I'm talking about something known as eCig or E Cigarettes or Electronic Cigarettes. I had no idea these devices existed and I'm glad my mother forwarded me a link to one such product. I did some research on these eCigs over the past couple days and they seem like a really good idea, even if you're not ready to quit smoking yet. Basically, they are like an inhaler. You have an electronic part (a rechargeable battery) that connects to a device which contains some kind of solution which can have nicotine or not in it. You can also get them flavored with such flavors like chocolate, cherry, grape and a lot of other varieties. I don't know about you other smokers out there, but when I put a cigarette to my lips, the last thing I expect to taste is passion fruit; it doesn't seem right. These product contain to be completely harmless and eliminate 99.9% of all the harmful chemicals you get from smoking cigarettes. They are basically a simple flavor vapor that you inhale (just like a cigarette) and the act of smoking feels almost identical to the real thing. You can even order regular tobacco flavoring if you're really missing that authentic cigarette taste. These things also boast that there is no smell and you can smoke them virtually anywhere. It may be possible to smoke them anywhere, but I'm pretty sure if I pulled one of these out while sitting at my desk at work and I started "smoking" it, there would be a few looks and probably a trip to the boss' office to "talk" about proper office etiquette.

These devices usually start at around $50 for a starter pack and can go up to the hundreds of dollars. The "refills" usually cost between $1 and $2 each and are the equivalent of 15-20 regular sized cigarettes. Since the average price of a pack of cigarettes is $11 here, that can be a savings of $9-$10 a pack if you smoke the eCig exclusively. There are some downsides of course. I couldn't find any place local that sells them which means, unlike cigarettes, you can't just run out to the nearest convenience store and buy them. In some cases, the only way to get them is to order them online which can take time for delivery. Not the kind of thing you want to do when you're down to your last refill cartridge and your order is a week away. I guess you could be more proactive and order a bunch at first and ensure to always have a weeks supply on-hand, but who has time in their busy schedules to worry about "inventory" for their eCigs? :) I can hear my sister's thoughts now, "Or you can just quit and not worry about it at all!". ;)

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Anyway folks, it is time to wrap things up here. I hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week. To my mother, keep it up, stick with it and I hope you succeed at butting out for good.

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Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.7: Post Earl Excitement

2010-09-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Well, we just had Tropical Storm Earl pass through today. I must say, it wasn't much of a show other than the car parked by my balcony looking like it was going to flip over when the wind gusted. I haven't heard much in the way of damages around the city and a drive to the store later today didn't yield much. There were a few broken trees and a broken fence but other than that it looked like any other storm.

Yesterday I went out and picked up a new laptop. I definitely shopped around for this one and I'm glad I got it. It was a little more than I was initially going to spend, but it will be worth it in a few years. It is a Dell Inspiron 1546. It sports a nice AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile 2.2GHz CPU and has 4GB of RAM. The hard drive is a bit on the small side at only 250Gig, but thus far I'm only using 20% of it with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, a bunch of other pre-installed applications and World of Warcraft (over 20Gig by itself). The 15.6" display is brilliant and the back lit LEDs are gorgeous. The video card is no slouch either (for a laptop), it has an ATI Mobile Radeon HD 530v with dedicated 2Gig of memory. I've owned laptops before but this is the first one that had a dedicated video card; those shared ones are such a pain. This thing has full HD capabilities yet only comes with an 8x DVD R/W drive. Of course it has all the other bells and whistles like webcam, 3 USB ports, SVGA port, 7-in-1 media card reader and much more. The price tag was not too bad and it was on sale for $100 off.

Of course I'm writing this musing on it right now as I sit in the comfort of my living room watching television. Oh, and the thing is very light as well, only 5.8lbs (2.64kg). I'm really looking forward to getting some use of it this fall, especially this November when NaNoWriMo starts. Yes, I will be taking part again this year and I have every intention to achieve the goal this year. I have some great story ideas floating around in my head so I'm getting a bit excited about November and being portable.

Well folks, it is getting late and for some reason I couldn't sleep last night (must have been the post celebration blues) and was up at 6:30AM completely exhausted but couldn't bring myself to sleep any more. Don't you hate it when that happens? To my mother, I'm really enjoying that "Snipping Tool". It makes getting images to embed into my posts a whole lot easier. Thanks for showing it to me!

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If you lived in the path of Earl this week, I hope all is well. I'll see if I can dig up some pictures tomorrow and post them so you can see some of the things that Earl did (bad boy). Take care all and have a safe Labour Day weekend!

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.6: Back to School!

2010-09-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

If you're a parent with children still in school, you're probably just as happy as I am that they are going back. I'll never understand why they make the kids go back before Labour Day. What is the sense of going back to school for a day or two only to have a long weekend? I'm sure there are reasons behind it, but like most things, don't make a lot of sense to most of us.

I haven't had a lot of time to actually sit back and write these days. Summer has busy for us and we've been doing quite a bit as a family. The past couple weekends found us in the South Shore visiting family which was nice. We don't get a lot of chances to go out of town to visit family so it was a treat to be able to do it two weekends in a row. I'm sure my mother was thrilled to have us there.

We're being hit by some freakish heat wave here in Halifax. Yesterday it was 32C, today was 33C and tomorrow they're calling for a booming 34C (89.6F - 93.2F for my American friends to the south). Of course we're going to pay for it this weekend when Hurricane Earl blows through here on Saturday. Currently a Category 4 Hurricane just off the East coast of Florida, Earl is projected to pass right through Nova Scotia and is predicted to be at least a Category 1 when it hits early Saturday morning. A lot of people around here are reminded of Hurricane Jua n which hit Nova Scotia without mercy in 2003. The rumor is, the weather just before Juan hit was just like it is now, very hot and very humid. Today, with the humidex, the temperature was around 43C (109.4F) and it is expected to be higher tomorrow. I wasn't living here when Juan blew through, but from what I've heard, I'm very glad.

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So what does this all mean for us? Probably nothing. I don't suspect we'll get hit with anymore more than a bit of wind and rain. These things tend to get a lot slower as they approach the Northern Atlantic and run out of steam.

As I mentioned in my last musing, I'm anxiously awaiting my bonus which should be arriving on the 3rd of September. I've been thinking a lot about it actually. I'm also really looking forward to spending Friday night with some family here at our place in celebration, it's not every day the company I work for gives away free money; as you may have noticed if you're read through the last 5 years of musings.

I've also been thinking about what to do about the extra income. I really don't have much in the way of bills right now given that I only pay for electricity and cable/phone/internet which together is less than $200/month. I'm mostly caught up on everything so I plan on ensuring everything is topped off completely. I've also put a lot of thought into buying a laptop. I'm not looking to spend a lot of money on one but I'm also not looking to "cheap" out and just get one for the sake of having one. There are a few things I absolutely must have in a laptop but I'm not willing to spend most of the bonus on one so unless there is a good sale (and there are) I won't bother wasting the money. I've been wanting a laptop for awhile now. There is something to be said about portable computing and being able to take it with you wherever you go.

These past couple weekends I brought the work laptop with me to my Mother's house. It is a slow piece of crap (IBM Thinkpad T42) which is running a corporate image of Windows XP that is painful to use. It makes a great web browser and surfs the web well (when it connects) but a lot of the "features" of the laptop are either disabled or not working properly (thanks to the afore mentioned corporate image) which only makes it more annoying. I can't even "discover" wireless networks, I have to manually type in the SSID and keys to connect; it's a strange device for certain.

Anyway, I've decided to shop around and find the perfect laptop for me in the price range I'm looking to spend. If I can't find one, I won't buy one but with the deals going on right now for Back to School, I'm sure I'll find what I'm looking for. The sad part is I found the perfect laptop for the perfect price already, but the sale ends on the 2nd and I don't get my bonus until the 3rd. Oh well.

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Well folks, it is time to say farewell for now. The heat is starting to drain my soul into an eternal abyss of fiery hell from which there is no escape. It's also very hot outside. Until next time, remember, just because ice is cold, doesn't mean it's safe to put in places that are hot. You know what I'm talking about Juggs :)

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.5: Speechless

2010-08-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

I know it doesn't happen often, but I'm speechless. Today started like any other day, I woke early, got ready for work and drove to the office. I arrived at work shortly after 7AM and began the usual tasks of checking email, restarting services (if needed), answering email and coding. I do this all day long.

Today my boss' boss sends me an IM shortly after 8AM and asks me to come talk to him. Usually I don't think anything of this since we get along well and he usually only needs to chat with me if he needs clarification on something or has some task for me to do. I strolled over to his office, knocked on the door and walked in. I started to worry a little bit when he asked me to close the door. The only time he ever asks me to close the door is when we're talking about private things (work related you sick-Os) and he doesn't want to be overheard. My first thought was I was being laid-off and would need to find another job.

Ever since I was moved to this new billing code at work I've been thinking the worst. My boss explained to me that being put into this code would potentially be bad. He explained the good and bad but emphasized on the bad parts because worst case scenario, I would be unemployed.

I sat down in the chair across from him and he immediately started with, "I'm sorry, but things just aren't working out...". My heart dropped in my chest and for a split second, my entire career flashed before my eyes. He smiled, let out a chuckle and said, "Just kidding". You bastard!

The reason he had called me to his office was to let me know about an Employee Bonus incentive reward plan at work. He wanted to let me know that he put my name forward to receive this reward and I was approved. I couldn't tell initially if he was joking or not, so I went with it. Basically, because of the hard work and good job I've been doing, I was recognized and as a result, my next pay will have a nice sized bonus on it; almost doubling my bi-weekly pay. Now that isn't a ton of money, but it couldn't have come at a better time especially with the kids heading back to school and needing money for school supplies and other back-to-school things. Needless to say, I was very happy with the meeting and left his office with a spring in my step. Who would have thought such good news could come on a Tuesday?

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Well folks, I must take off for now. I just wanted to share the good news with everyone.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.4: Musing from Mom's

2010-08-22T05:20:00.000-07:00

Morning folks,

-slurp-

I'm writing to you today from my mother's house on her newly formatted Windows 7 laptop. We've had a great weekend here this weekend though it did start off a little strange.

We drove down Friday afternoon shortly after noon. The traffic was good and we were able to make good time which had us arriving earlier than predicted. I wish I could say the drive was without incident though. The first thing we noticed as we arrived in town was the caterpillar invasion that had taken over. The trees were littered with caterpillars and they were everywhere. Despite the heat outside, we were forced to roll up the windows in the truck so they couldn't make it inside. It was like something out of a horror movie where people were being slowly eaten alive by millions of caterpillars. We made our way to my mother's place and the first thing we saw was their house, completely covered by caterpillars. My step-father was outside with the firetruck hosing off the house (he is a volunteer firefighter for the town) which seemed to be working quite well. The pressure from the hose was not only getting rid of the caterpillars, but it was also killing them. In no time at all he had the complete house uncovered and most of the yard cleared. My mother stepped out of the house with a flame thrower strapped to her back and tinted goggles and with a maniacal laugh she started shooting fire at the remaining caterpillars.

If that wasn't enough, the neighbor was standing in the upstairs window of his house with some strange music playing very loudly. I could hear the man chanting something and he would release balls of fire from his hands which were consuming groups of catepillars wherever the landed. The chanting was a little creepy and I tried my best to not draw his attention to avoid having a spell cast at (or on) me. The whole scene was something out of a movie.

We pulled into the yard and my mother tossed the flamethrower aside and ran over to give us all a big hug. When I asked her what had happened here, she curtly replied that they were having a slight pest problem and they had it under control. I glanced at the discarded flamethrower and shrugged. The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful. We had a great afternoon/evening at the lake on Saturday and now we are preparing to have a big Turkey dinner today. It has been a great relaxing weekend.

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Well folks, time for me to take off for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.3: What a Week

2010-08-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

This has been a super crazy week. I've been working quite a bit more than usual and every time I think I'm finally caught up on things, I find something I forgot about and have to play catch up all over again. To make matters a bit worse, I was sick on Wednesday which only added to my work load today as I tried to cram two days of work into a single work day. Ugh..

-slurp-

Thankfully tomorrow is Friday and I am lucky enough to be taking half a day off so I can take a trip with the family down to visit my Mother and Step-Father for the weekend. I'm excited about leaving the city again. I'm not sure what it is, but ever since the week of camping, I've had this strange craving to get out of the city more. In fact, I wouldn't be opposed to leaving the city entirely.

Of course the reality of it all comes crashing down and there is just no viable way we can make it work; at least not right now. What I really need to do is find a job that allows me to work from wherever I am rather than have an office to drive to every day. I know there are jobs like this out there and I even have a few friends who have found such jobs and are doing very well with them. One friend in particular has even given taken it another step and works remotely from his boat. I'm a bit jealous :)

Of course I digress. I have been feeling the pull to move to a small town for awhile now. I grew up in a small town. Of course growing up in a small town sucked as a teen, but now that I'm "older" and have a family, the small town is much more appealing. Yes in a small town everyone knows everyone's business, but everyone knows everyone. There is a closeness in a small town that you just won't get in a big city.

So what is the next step? To be honest, there really isn't one right now. We take it day by day and eventually we will get back on our feet and have the ability to make a decision like this. Of course winning the lottery or finding a job where I can remotely will change all that very quickly :)

Well folks, like I said, it has been a hell of a week and I'm very tired. I'm really looking forward to getting out of here for the weekend and relaxing with family. I hope everyone has a great Friday tomorrow and a great weekend.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.2: Back from Vacation

2010-08-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

I had half a musing typed up and for some reason my Firefox decided to crap out on me and I lost all of it (apparently Auto-save wasn't working either). Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes I guess.

Technically I was back from vacation a week ago but haven't had much of a chance to write all week. Work has been super busy and despite having only worked 4 days, I still ended up working over 40 hours this week. I don't think work has ever been this busy.

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Let me start off by saying that camping (specifically tenting) and I don't seem to get along. Every single time I've gone camping (regardless of the weather forecast), it has rained. I'm not talking a little shower or a light rain, I'm talking full on torrential downpour to rival the wildest tropical storms. It rained so hard, I thought the tent was going to collapse under the weight.

We made our way out of the city on the Monday and arrived at the camp ground sometime around mid-afternoon. I had never really been to the Annapolis Valley before so I wanted to make sure we got there as soon as possible so we could take it all in while the weather was nice. Keep in mind, the weather forecast for the valley was calling for sun Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with a slight chance of showers or rain on Wednesday and Friday late afternoon. Sounds like a perfect week to do some camping doesn't it? My father and step-mother were coming camping with us but they were going to be delayed a day so we would be on our own the first night.

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As I mentioned, we arrived at the campground around mid-afternoon on Monday and proceeded to setup our 10-Person Cabana tent and screen room. This tent is HUGE and I love it. There are compartments on the side which are designed to hold luggage and even have a rod for coat hangers to hang your clothes. We got the tent for 50% off a couple years ago and have really only gone camping in it once, (yes, it rained then too). The people in the camp site next to ours had the same tent but colored slightly different (blue, grey and yellow trim vs. ours which is teal, black and orange trim). Just a quick word about this campground. The sites were we were tenting in were basically in a huge field with a roadway all the way around and through the middle. Each site was designated by a fire pit (made from the hub of a huge truck) and a little sign that indicated this was the camp site number. Our 10-Person tent filled up the entire site width wise and about half of the length leaving only a few feet to the campfire from our screen tent. It was cramped.

We had a few "small" tarps with us that we used to cover parts of the top of the tent in the event we did get a little bit of rain. We also put a tarp between the screen tent and the main tent to create a bit of a shelter between them so we could travel between the tent and screen room without getting wet (again, in the event it rained). After camp was setup, we decided to go for a walk and check out the campground. There was supposed to be a heated pool so that was the first place we checked. It was a pool, not heated and not very big. At least it had an 8ft deep end but there was no jumping or diving allowed; not a huge deal. We then took a walk down to the basin shoreline to the swimming beach there. The beach was quite rocky and the water was cold and looked quite dirty. Just off to the right of the beach was a huge hydro power facility which (for whatever reason) decided to fire off its siren every day at Noon and then randomly throughout the day. According to my wife's aunt (who lives in the area) the siren is used to let people know when there is a fire or other type of emergency. We got to experience that later in the week.

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Needless to say, I wasn't overly impressed with the campground. The camp sites were much too close together and not nearly big enough. The campers and RVs seemed to be almost on top of each other and it looked like a trailer park. For the price it definitely wasn't worth it, but I was out, I was camping with the family and I was in the Annapolis Valley, what more could I want? After a quick tour of the place we decided it was time to try out the pool so the kids and I got into our bathing suits and headed for the pool. There were only a few other people in at the time so it wasn't overly crowded. The water was quite cold for a "heated pool", but after getting in it was quite nice and an enjoyable swim.

We had some supper around the camp fire consisting of roasted hot-dogs. It was then that I realized we brought nothing with us to cook food other than matches to light a fire with. It was then that I knew we were going to get rain and we wouldn't be able to cook our meals over an open fire. Thankfully my father and step-mother would be arriving the next day so we would have access to some form of cooking should we need it.

The first night was fairly calm and clear out. There was a lot of "highway" noise which was a bit annoying and our neighbors in the tent next to us had some kind of media player and were watching movies most of the night. We had some roasted marshmallows and then decided to head to bed. I remember laying in the sleeping bag listening to "Marley and Me" for about an hour before I finally dozed off.

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The next day was spent mostly just bumming around the camp ground and awaiting the arrival of my father and step-mother. They didn't get to the camp ground until around 4PM which meant we spent most of the day just touring the campground and chasing the baby around. She discovered that there were no walls in the great outdoors and decided she was going to go exploring at every chance she could get. The kids went for a dip in the basin (which apparently was VERY cold) and we ate supper at my Father's camp site inside their screen tent; pork steak, potatoes and vegetables. My Father has a fairly nice rig to camp in. It has a TV, couch, queen sized bed and a bathroom with a stand-up shower. He's definitely roughing it in that rig. We spent the evening around the camp fire until the rain started and then played some card games while the kids watched a movie on the TV. My neighbor had put up a huge tarp which covered his entire tent and I was a little jealous since I had two tarps on my tent and most of it was still exposed. According to Environment Canada, we were only supposed to get a little bit of rain so I wasn't too worried.

A little bit of rain turned into a LOT of rain and a lot of thunder and lightning. It kept us up most of the night and there were definite signs of water making it inside the tent which threatened to ensure most of our stuff was nice and wet. In fact, our suite case, which was along the side of our air mattress, was completely soaked and most of our clean clothes were drenched. I got up at first light and started to assess the damage. Thankfully nothing happened at our camp site but my Father didn't get away so lucky. His screen tent (which had seen a lot of usage and was falling apart anyway) had collapsed under the weight of the rain and wind sometime in the night and was a pile of twisted metal filled with water. His campsite was full of water and it looked like his camper was sitting on a little island in the middle of a small lake. The water was deep too as it came up to the wheel rims of his truck. The rain eventually broke and we were able to start cleaning up. My Father and I made a quick trip into Annapolis Royal in search of rain boots only to find every store (all 2 of them) were completely sold out. We decided we would make a trip down to Digby which is where the closest Wal-Mart was. It rained off and on all afternoon, but nothing major. While at Wal-Mart we picked up a huge tarp for my tent and got some change for the dryer at the campground so we could dry our clothes and bedding. The tarp was huge and easily covered the entire tent and half of the screen tent; we were ready for rain! As luck would have it, there was no rain at all Wednesday night and most of Thursday was foggy and overcast.

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We spent the day Thursday touring Annapolis Valley and taking in the sites. My Father and step-mother has camped in the valley before and they knew some nice places to take us. Once place in particular was a small zoo just outside of the town of Aylesford called "Oaklawn Farm Zoo". Normally I'm not a big zoo person but there were a few highlights I would like to point out:

They had a Zonkey! Now I don't know what kind of sick twisted person it takes to make a Zebra and a Donkey mate, but this zoo had one. It was odd looking and I still wake up at night with nightmares of a Zonkey attacking me.

Watching my baby girl playing with a baby goat; what a kid (hah).

Lions and Tigers and ... where were the bears? I think this is one of the only zoos I've ever been to that didn't have a Bear exhibit.

6:30PM is big cat feeding time! We didn't stick around to witness massive cat animals eat, but I'm sure it was disgusting.

After the zoo we decided to head back to camp and get some supper going. It was a simple supper of hot-dogs and hamburgers but it was good. We were all exhausted from the day so we spent the evening sitting in my Father's camper watching movies. It has been on and off all day with light rain and I was a little disappointed that it wasn't raining harder so I could test out my new tarp. Fortunately someone was listening and as soon as our last movie was over and I was about to head back to the tent, the downpour came. The rain was thundering on the roof of my Father's camper and I knew I was going to get completely soaked walking from his site to ours. I waited for a small break in the rain and then ran over to our tent, it was bone dry inside. The tarp was keeping the rain out and I was happy. It rained most of the night and there was thunder and lightning again which kept us up most of the night but at least we were warm and dry.

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jubife uji vjuf

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Apparently my baby daughter wanted to say hi while I was away from the keyboard.

Friday was beautiful, sunny and hot. Perfect weather for taking down tents and packing up the camping stuff. We loaded the truck up and headed out shortly after lunch. After a "quick" stop at a nearby town to pick up some food (why do they advertise food along the highway and make you drive for 30 minutes after you exit?!) and made our way back to the highway and headed for Halifax. We were exhausted but happy that our week of camping went so well. My Father and step-mother were making their way to another campground where they planned on spending the weekend before making their way home.

Of course the relaxing week was quickly forgotten my first day back in the office and this week has gone by in a blur. I wish I had enough vacation time to take off the entire summer and do nothing but camp with the family.

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Well folks, time to get back to my Sunday and do absolutely nothing. Hope everyone had a great weekend and hopefully things have quieted down enough at work that I will have some time this week to post more.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.1: Post Reunion Blues

2010-07-26T15:13:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

What a weekend. There is just something about family coming together to socialize and enjoy each others company that makes it special. This past weekend was just such an occasion and if I could sum up the entire weekend into a single word, it would be "Epic".

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While the actual event didn't begin until Saturday, a bunch of us showed up Friday to get things started early. And in pure family fashion, as soon as there was word of alcohol and camp fires, everyone who could make it out joined us. I got to see a lot of family members I haven't seen in quite awhile including my cousin Brian who I haven't seen in 13 years. I also got to see a good family friend who I haven't seen in almost just as long. Needless to say, good times were had by all and I'm really glad I had the opportunity to go down and spend the weekend. The weather, despite calling for rain on Saturday, was fantastic, hot and sunny all the way up to Sunday when it finally started to rain, just as I was getting ready to tear down the tent. Let me just say that taking down tents isn't one of my favorite things to do and doing it in the rain makes it even less fun. Thankfully we have plans to go camping again next week so hopefully the weather is nice and I'm able to dry the tent out.

-slurp-

Tradition: an inherited pattern of thought or action

As with most annual gathers, there are certain traditions that form. Despite this only being the 2nd annual family reunion, I think we already have a tradition or two in the works. Unfortunately one of the traditions is my fault and despite my strong objections, I did it again this year with some help from Juggs (thanks Juggs). What is this mysterious tradition I'm avoiding? Let me go back about a year when it all started. As with most family gathers on my mother's side, we tend to drink quite a bit of alcohol and do some crazy fun stuff. I was quite intoxicated and not of sane mind when my cousin Karl handed me his guitar he brought to the lake. I had no idea what I was doing and was simply asked to play "something", anything at all. I hesitantly took the guitar from his outstretched hand and strummed a few chords. The sounds of the guitar filled me as it usually does when I play and I was taken by a desire to play something. It was then that a certain song popped into my head and despite all my efforts, I couldn't shake it. I strummed the first chord and that's how it came to be that on a warm Saturday night with the campfire as my spotlight with the Loons singing backup that I sang to my entire family, an Adam Sandler tune entitled "Medium Pace". I played the guitar and sang the entire song, every word when I ended there was a brief moment of silence and then everyone clapped and cheered. I felt like a star.

For those of you who know the song, I can feel your smiles already. For those who don't, I have provided you with a video so you can give it a listen; this isn't safe for work folks so make sure you've got some privacy.

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Now something like that isn't easily forgotten and that is why I had a feeling this year I would be roped into singing it again. Of course it wasn't until my cousin Karl showed up that all my fears became true. He stepped out of his truck and walked over to me with a big grin on his face; he knew I remembered and I could hear the words going through his head; Medium Pace! So there I was again, one year later finding myself on a warm Saturday night with the camp fire as my spotlight, screaming out the lyrics of Medium Pace again. Thankfully I had my buddy Juggs there to back me up and the two of us pulled the song off like champs. I felt good. I went over, sat down next my mother and she simply told me that would have been a song my grandfather would have really enjoyed. I agreed.

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Well folks, those are the highlights from my weekend. I'm sure there are others but thanks to alcohol, too much sun and jagged lake rocks, I don't recall much else worth writing about. I hope everyone had a great weekend and hope everyone has a great week.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v39.0: Versions are...

2010-07-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.

- Mark Twain

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Apparently I've been taking examples from work with my versions for Musings over Coffee. For whatever reason, I skipped a few versions and just noticed it today. Such is the way things go sometimes. What's a geek to do?

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I thought I would be clever and post some witty definition of version but upon looking it up I was greeted with a lot of definitions that I just had no idea existed for version. For example:

manual turning of the fetus in the uterus (ouch)

an eye movement involving both eyes moving synchronously and symmetrically in the same direction (what are you versioning at?)

Of course the version I'm talking about is none of these, but simply a specific form or variation of something. I use versions in Musings over Coffee mostly because I like numbers and this is an easy way to incorporate numbers in my daily writing. I'm also a bit of a coder and tend to use versions in my coding when I make updates.

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You see versions everywhere. Think of some well known operating systems out there like Linux, Windows and MacOS. They all have versions and with each version they attempt to get better (well, Linux and MacOS do anyway). Even movies have "versions". No, I'm not talking about Terminator 1 and Terminator 2, those are technically called sequels since they are not updates to the same movie but different movies altogether. But movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth which were older movies remade into new are technically considered different versions of the same movie. So why am I going on about versions? I have no idea.

-slurp-

Well folks, I'm constantly getting distracted here so I better get this saved before I completely forget why I'm typing. This weekend the family and I are heading out to the lake and I'm really looking forward to having a great time with family and friends drinking copious amounts of rum and heading out onto the lake. Good times.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v38.9: Introducing Jupiter Squirrel

2010-07-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Hard to believe today is Wednesday; seems like just yesterday it was Tuesday. I'm looking forward for this week to be finally over and done with. This weekend is the family reunion on my mother's side and we're really looking forward to heading out to the lake and spending some quality time with family we haven't seen in awhile. I moved back home to be closer to family so it's nice when an opportunity comes up and it is only a few hours drive away versus a 6 hour plane ride.

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I bet you're all a bit confused by the title of today's musing. This has been an idea I've been throwing around for the last few years. I came up with the idea for a cartoon character one day while watching television with the kids. Kids shows today are crazy. It is almost like someone took a bunch of hats with different ideas in each one. Then they took an idea from each hat and made a show out of whatever the ideas combined into. How I came up with Jupiter Squirrel is pretty much the same thing. I knew I wanted to do a cartoon character. I also knew I wanted this character to live in space and I wanted it to be something absolutely random; I mean, the cartoons in space has been done to death. I started my research with Google and began searching for lists of "things" for my new character. I grabbed a list of random places in space, a list of random animals, a list of random names and a list of random occupations. Then, closing my eyes, I randomly picked two from each list. Initially I had wanted to combine the two from each list but I don't think anyone wants to watch a show about a squirrel cow mix; or do they?

-slurp-

The end result was a squirrel who, oddly enough, doesn't live on Jupiter. He actually lives on a planet called.... well, I don't want to spoil the story. I have already done some sketches and have come up with some concept drawings that I will be sharing with everyone when I get them finished and scanned in. I'll probably start with something simple like a comic strip and see if I can figure out how to create an actual cartoon. Hell, I've even got a voice for him already so I'm pretty pumped about getting this project going.

-slurp-

Well folks, it is time to bid you all farewell yet again. I've been doing some work on the site these past few nights and I've been cleaning up some old posts that had nothing to do with Musings over Coffee and I've been slowing going back through all the posts and correcting spelling/grammatical mistakes as well as adding tags to all posts to make them easier to search for. I've also been looking at designing my own theme and time permitting I'll have that up and running soon as well. Lots of exciting changes and I'm really excited about getting things done.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v38.8: Hold Reset, Press Power

2010-07-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

As most of you know, I'm a gamer. I'm someone who enjoys many different types of games and play as many different types of games as I can get my hands on. I've always been a gamer going back to my early years and the family's first computer; a Commodore Vic20.

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I recall spending countless hours at the old Commodore Vic20 writing basic programs from the back of a computer magazine. You may be old enough to remember doing this yourself. It was a long, tiresome and sometimes unrewarding task but it sure felt good when you executed the program and it worked. Watching my first pixel ball float across the screen brought great joy, and it only required a thousand lines of code. Of course this doesn't have much to do with gaming, but may explain why I enjoy doing development work at my job. My primary position is a team lead, but I would much rather do development full-time. Back in those days, if you were lucky enough to own an Atari, you may have enjoyed games like Asteroids or Space Invaders. Arcades were also a hot spot for me and whenever I would walk by an arcade at the mall, I would beg for coins to go in and play.

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I remember the day we first got an NES at home. We had been begging my parents for months and months to have an NES. We rented one from the video store a few times and all my friends owned one but nothing could have prepared me for the surprise of getting our very own NES. I don't remember the exact year, but it was during my birthday that my parents decided to spring the surprise. I'll never forget it. I had finished opening all my gifts on my birthday and my father surprised me with one extra gift he must have been hiding. It was small and rectangular in shape. I looked at it, turned it over in my hands trying to figure out what it was. I opened the gift and low and behold there was an NES controller wrapped inside. Immediately my eyes went wide and the excitement was starting to build. Of course my father couldn't let me have the NES. No, I was given the NES controller for my birthday. I was told the other controller would be given to my oldest sister for her birthday and then the console would be given to my youngest sister for her birthday. My dreams shattered and the excitement of having my very own NES was gone, replaced by sadness and anger at my parents for giving me a teasing gift like this. I pleaded for them to give me the NES but my parents were trying to make a point. This NES was for the family, not for me, and they wanted to make sure I understood. Of course I understood, my parents bought me an NES for my birthday!

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That NES has seen many years of play. It's received a few beatings as well but we won't get into that. I still have that console today, it sits in a box waiting for the day that I have the room I need to setup all my old consoles and hook them up to a dedicated television for the kids. For now it waits. Of course this is the 21st century and gaming has gotten a lot more accessible. For example, I have a PSP (slightly hacked) with an NES and SNES emulator installed on it. In addition, I have approximately 700 NES and SNES games on a memory card that I can access and play at anytime I want. It's great. Imagine being able to hold the entire Nintendo library in the palm of your hands; that is the kind of technology a gamer like myself can appreciate.

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While I'm on the subject of NES games, remember how you used to have to hold the Reset button down before pressing the Power off? I always wondered why this was necessary. I was playing some SNES games on my PSP today and for whatever reason while I was saving my progress in one of the games I thought about the old NES and having to hold Reset before turning the unit off. I decided to do a little digging because that was a question I've always had but never actually thought to look it up. Apparently, according to various sources I looked up, the reason for holding down the Reset button was to avoid a potentially dangerous power surge to the game cartridges by just cutting the power. Some of the cartridges had battery powered memory chips in them that would allow you to save the progress in your games. By simply shutting down the unit by hitting the power button, you were at a risk of wiping the memory and having all your saved data erased. Apparently, by holding down the Reset button first, you sent a signal to the chip to finish it's instructions thereby allowing you to turn off the power. This was something Nintendo fixed with their SNES consoles and the need to hold the Reset before powering off was gone.

-slurp-

Well folks, it's time to bid you all farewell for another day. I hope everyone has a great day and hopefully we'll see you here again tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v38.2: What's wrong with TV?

2010-07-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Things have been very busy for me lately. Last week we had several clients visiting the office to put on some training for my team. I spent quite a bit of time in meetings with them as well as a lunch meeting and an after work get together. All-in-all, it was an OK week but I'm glad it is over.

-slurp-

I remember watching Marry Poppins as a child; ok, you caught me, I watch it still. I like having Children sometimes because I get to watch all the "kid" shows again that I used to enjoy as a child without the creepy single old guy feel. I mean, how many men in their mid-30s do you know who sit there and watch Wizard of Oz by themselves? See my point?

-slurp-

I've tried to introduce my children to my childhood and the television memories I had but my kids just don't seem to be able to get into them. There are these new shows which are basically carbon copies of the shows I used to watch as a child but with their own different twists. Remember "Saved by the Bell"? Today kids have various shows like that one but when I sat the kids down and showed them an episode of "Saved by the Bell", they didn't get it. Surely it can't be because we were more mature as children and that kind of humor was funny, could it? Have the show makers resorted to "dumbing down" their content to capture the audience's attention and keep viewers interested? I know there is this rule of thumb that states you need to switch scenes within a certain time-frame or your audience gets bored. Imagine watching a scene from CSI where you followed around a single CSI for 10 minutes as he went from lab to lab and gathered the evidence needed to solve the crime. There would be no breaks, no fancy camera switching or flashing city fly-overs, just one cut, one scene, one boring show. I'm sure the show wouldn't have nearly as many viewers and the content would be so boring nobody would want to sit through it. It's bad enough sitting through commercials these days, please don't make my television show boring too.

-slurp-

Did you know the average hour long show on Television only runs approximately 40 minutes? That's right, download any hour long TV show off the Internet that has the commercials and credits cut out and the actual "show" time is only around 40 minutes. What are you doing the other 20 minutes? Sadly, it would seem commercials take up close to a third of our hour and that just makes me dislike television. Now think back on all the hours of T.V. you've watched over the last year and start adding it up. Since we were already talking about CSI, let's assume that you're a dedicated CSI fan and you've seen every single episode ever made. There are currently 3 CSI shows on T.V. right now and each one of those has approximately 20 episodes per season. Just to give more accuracy to my calculation, I'm going to head over to the CSI website and get an exact count of episodes from the last season for each:

CSI Original: 23 Episodes

CSI Miami: 22 Episodes

CSI New York: 23 Episodes

That means if you're a hardcore CSI fan, in the run of a single "season", you watched approximately 68 hours of television. Now, if you do a little bit of research, you will see that each episode runs approximately 40-45 minutes without commercials. Let's error on the high side of that average and say each episode runs 45 minutes which means we're watching 15 minutes of commercials per episode.

68 episodes X 15 minutes = 17 hours

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I'll give you a minute to digest that a little bit.

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What if you watch other shows in addition to these? I mean there are 7 days in a week and a lot of people watch their "shows" every night of the week. What would this number look like for someone who spent 2-3 hours of watching T.V. a night? Over the course of a month you could be spending close to 100 hours a month just by simply watching T.V. Keep in mind that for each hour of television you watch you're spending approximately 15 minutes watching commercials.

100 hours of T.V a month X 15 minutes = 25 hours

That's right folks, in the course of a month you have lost more than a full day to commercials. Depressing isn't it?

-slurp-

Of course my intent was not to depress anyone with this information but I did want to educate you on some of the issues with television today. Typically I won't watch television live as I download episodes off the Internet and watch them at my own convienence. That's another thing about Television I dislike, but that is a topic for another musing.

-slurp-

Well folks, I think I've ranted enough about T.V. for now. I've got a list of issues I have with T.V. but yet I'm a cable subscriber and I have several television sets in my home. If you ask anyone who knows me, they'll tell you I'm a "flicker". I hate commercials and when a show breaks for a commercial, the channel flicks to something else to watch. In the run of an hour long show, I can watch at least two T.V. shows at a time. Television is so predicable these days, I don't even need to watch every minute to get the story, and that's sad. Anyway folks, have fun out there and enjoy the summer weather.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v38.1: Warm Rain

2010-07-12T01:20:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

As the title suggests, it is raining here today. Normally I don't use Musings over Coffee to discuss the weather but I felt it was significant enough to talk about since I've rarely seen rain this heavy before. In fact, I don't believe I've ever seen it rain this hard since Alberta.

-slurp-

Thankfully, unlike Alberta, the rain is heavy but it is warm. I was drenched this morning leaving our building to get to my car and it was only 10 steps away. Then as I was driving up to Tim Horton's the rain was blowing right in my window and got me soaked again. I blasted the heater to try and dry off (of all the days to wear white pants) and thankfully was mostly dry before I arrived at the parking garage at work. Unfortunately, I walked outside instead of taking the long way around to stay dry and got a little damp walking into the office. Going from wet to dry several times in a morning can't be good for you. In fact -cough- I think I'm starting to feel a little cold coming on.

-slurp-

Thankfully the rain held off (mostly) for us this weekend during our family BBQ. We didn't have everyone in attendance but I believe the majority of the family showed up and we all had a great time. The food was fantastic and I was even introduced to a yummy marinated moose burger. I've had moose before in the form of a roast, but I've never had a moose meat marinated in a type of sweet and sour sauce served on a bun. It has the consistency of a pulled pork sandwich and tasted excellent. The secret to making the meat tender and delicious is cooking it in a crock-pot and letting it sit. There were also sausages and burgers and 4 or 5 different types of salads. Katie crafted one of her family famous cakes again which was designed to look like a BBQ grill with hamburgers, a hot-dog and a steak cooking on it. It actually looked pretty good, her talent is definitely developing and I can see her really making some nice cakes in the future. Not saying this cake wasn't nice, but she is still learning and still perfecting her technique which means her future cakes will be something to rival the "Cake Boss". I'm not certain if I'm giving away a trade secret here, but the "coals" of the cake were made from dyed marshmallows with some sparkly red sprinkles to give it the illusion they were hot. It really did look nice and it was funny to see nobody wanting to put a knife to it and be responsible for ruining the look.

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Overall the weekend was well and despite a 5 hour visit to the hospital on Sunday (my oldest daughter may have child arthritis), it was a fairly relaxed weekend. I didn't do a heck of a lot in the way of gaming but my son and I had a few hours to game together on Sunday and we created new characters in Dungeons & Dragons Online which was fun. Alas, nothing lasts forever and here I am again back at work preparing for another week of fun and political games.

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Well folks, the clock on the wall tells me there is no such thing as time travel and no matter how many times I click my heels together I won't just appear at home. Some days I almost wish I was having a dream and would wake up in my bed as a child, having dreamed most of my life. Wouldn't that be an interesting story. :) Until next time.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v38.0: Friday Checklist

2010-07-09T01:15:00.000-07:00

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

- Mark Twain

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Friday has finally arrived! I have been looking forward to this day since Monday and despite only having a 4 day work week, I still feel as if I worked all 5 days. There was something about this week that really made for a long week. Perhaps the heat was a factor or perhaps it was just "one of those weeks".

-slurp-

So does anyone have any big plans for this weekend? Perhaps some of you are making a big trip somewhere or perhaps you're staying home and doing things around the house. Myself, other than doing some good old fashioned gaming tonight, we have plans to head to my grand-dad's house this weekend for an annual get together. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate with us again this year, but there should be good times and fellowship had by all. The family on my father's side likes to get together a couple times a year: usually around this time for our annual BBQ and usually just before Christmas for the annual tree cutting.

-slurp-

We also have a family reunion on my Mother's side this month which is typically a bit more lively than the one on my Father's side; I enjoy both. Since this seems to be the month for family reunions, I thought I would put together a little list of activities families can do during their reunions (taken from Wikipedia):

Historic Skits Reenactments that highlight pivotal points in a family’s history. Participants are introduced to the art of developing a timeline as well as period research with a focus on costume design, customs, dialogue and social, economic and technological developments.

Story Telling A fascinating art that brings to life tales of ancestors and their accomplishments. Along with stories of legends of the past, life lessons are taught. The meaning behind family traditions are shared while relaying important family history factoids and the ties that bind.

Genealogy Tours Takes the family on an exciting tour of important genealogical hot spots including the family homestead, the towns in which the family settled, the jobs they held, machines they worked, markets they traded and streets they walked as well as social activities they immersed themselves into.

Genealogy Presentations A Presentation of historic documents and vintage artifacts that identify timelines, economic status, historic events and locations of ancestors.

Of course not all families will go to such great lengths. In the case of our family, most of us live relatively close together so we see each other on a semi-regular basis. Traditionally, family reunions were used to gather everyone together at a single time; some who never get to see their family members any other time of the year.

-slurp-

Well folks, the clock says it is time to get some work done. No seriously, my clock talks and it is saying "time to get some work done" right now. That means I must bring this musing to a close and do what it says. Perhaps I should reprogram my clock to say "time to go home" instead.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend. Remember, it is summer and as such there will be a lot of drivers on the roads; some of which will be tourists and unaccustomed to the roads in your area. Keep an extra careful eye out and be safe.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

“I always give 100% at work:

13% Monday

22% Tuesday

26% Wednesday

35% Thursday

4% Friday”

Musing over Coffee v37.9: Tired Thursday

2010-07-08T01:12:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It is finally Thursday though it feels like it should be a Friday. Despite being ill on Monday and missing work, I still feel like I've worked a full five days this week. Perhaps the longer days of sunlight help create the illusion you're working more than you actually are. I'm not working many more hours than I did over the winter months so why should the summer months feel so long?

-slurp-

Yes, Summer is finally here. We are getting hit with a mini heat wave here this week and the temperatures have been hot and humid. Of course I caught myself complaining about it yesterday, mostly because I was dressed in jeans and wearing black shoes. The casual dress code allows us to wear shorts to work but I don't really own a nice pair of shorts that I can wear to the office, something I may need to remedy quickly if these first few days of July are any indication of what the summer is going to be like here.

-slurp-

My great Uncle (my grandfather's brother) passed away just recently. My mother forwarded me the obituary yesterday and as I was reading through it I began to think about my ancestry again. I have an account on ancestry.ca and I've been working on filling in the gaps of my family tree for the last year or so. My father had quite a bit of information on his family tree and I was able to go back several generations (to the early 1700s) on that side of my family, but my mother's side is still a bit of a myth to me. A couple of weeks ago I was talking about this and my mother told me I should contact my great Uncle as he had a whole bunch of history on the family and it may help me fill in a bunch of the gaps. So far, I've only been able to go back to my great grandfather on my mother's side of the family and everything else is unknown to me.

-slurp-

I don't know why I've taken a special interest in my family history lately. Perhaps I'm trying to find some distant royal blood line or see if I can trace my family all the way back to Adam and Eve :) The whole idea of Adam and Eve doesn't make sense to me. As a child, going to church, it was something we were taught; the creation of the world in six days and the creation of man and woman (from man) and how they were told to be fruitful and multiply. Well they were definitely fruitful and they definitely multiplied, if the stories are true. After all, that is all the first chapter of the Bible really is, a story written by a man who didn't live during the time of creation. What would happen if I wrote a story about the creation of the Earth and the first humans and then for whatever reason there was a global tragedy which wiped virtually everyone out leaving behind young children who stumbled upon my story somehow. Would they believe it and retell it for generations to come, swearing this was how the world was created? I'm not trying to be disrespectful to those who believe the Bible and live by Holy book, I'm only questioning my own beliefs and thinking for myself; something that seemed to be frowned upon when I was going to church.

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But enough about religion and the Bible. The last thing I want is to offend someone by saying something negative about the Bible or God. I grew up in the church, I studied the Bible for many years and nearly went to Bible school after Grade school to learn more so I could become a pastor. The fact that I'm sitting here behind a computer working in the UNIX field was completely by accident and mostly out of a need to survive and make some money. Funny how things can turn out sometimes.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, it is time for me to bid you all a good day for now. My sister and I have swapped vehicles this week and the big ol' V8 has just dipped below the half mark on the fuel gage. I suspect that is going to cost me a good $50 to fill it before she takes it back tonight. Not bad, considering the driving I did in it. I hope everyone has a great day and if you're stuck in this heat wave, try to keep cool.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v37.7: Some Quick Stats

2010-07-07T01:10:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I'm a fan of stats, or more specifically, stats related to my websites. Stats can tell me a great deal about the traffic to my sites as well as provide me a way to track what kinds of musings people like to read and which ones are most searched on. I could sit here all day and write about cute kittens and probably get a ton of hits in a single day, but who really wants to do that?

-slurp-

So here are some quick stats for you to enjoy. Yes, I'm taking the lazy man out today and decided to do something a little more laid back.

For starters, let me give you some quick Wordpress stats. Wordpress is the tool I'm using to serve my Musings over Coffee site. It is the application that allows me to publish and allows you to read. Wordpress has a way to keep track of things within Wordpress like number of posts, number of comments, etc.

Wordpress Statistics

Total Posts: 455 (456 including this one)

Total Pages: 18

Total Comments: 286

Total Spam Comments: 843 (these are caught by a Wordpress plug-in and I delete them)

Total Tags: 311 (this is considered low I'm told, each post should have several tags assigned to it which help to identify content and allow for easy searching)

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Of course these stats are fairly useless, they tell you things you pretty much already know about the site. Here are the web server statistics; these will tell you how many people have visited the site, where they came from and all sorts of information about them. I've even added a little ClustrMap to the sidebar of my site which attempts to pinpoint locations of visitors so you can visually see them. This doesn't take into account past visitors, it only starts recording from the day I put it up.

Webserver Statistics

In 2010 I've had a total of 3,374 unique visitors to my site. These are unique visits not those of you who visit several times a day.

In 2010 I've had a total of 9,535 total visits. These are total visits to the site whether they were unique or returning.

In 2010 I've had a total of 66,476 page hits. This means 9,535 visitors have viewed 66,476 pages on my website since January 1.

67.3% of all traffic this year were direct requests. This means someone typed in my URL and came here directly.

17.9% of all traffic this year was referral traffic from another site somewhere. This could have come from a number of sites out on the web that have my URL recorded. I have the referral data, but it is too long and too boring to share.

12.6% of all traffic this year came from a search engine. This means someone typed something in a search engine and their query matched something on my site and they clicked the link.

The remaining 2.2% is other. This means my webserver was unable to determine where the traffic came from. It could be something simple like a browsers it didn't recognize or a web search it wasn't aware of. There are many reasons why something could come up as other.

-slurp-

Well folks, time for me to get back at it and begin my day. I hope I didn't bore you too much with the stats and hopefully some of you find it a tiny bit interesting. I was going to spend some time digging up my 2009 stats, but perhaps I will leave that for another Musing.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v37.6: Gaming Update

2010-07-06T02:50:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I haven't posted any gaming updates lately so I thought I'd make a quick post about what I've been up to with regards to gaming lately. After all, this site is supposed to be senseless ramblings from a UNIX administrator and gamer.

-slurp-

First off, I've decided to get rid of Windows entirely from my system. I have been debating this decision for a few months and finally decided to take the plunge and get it done. I've been happily running Linux on my desktop for the past month and am really enjoying it (again). There are some things I needed to get used to again, but overall the experience has been fun. I actually stayed up until 4AM over the weekend working on stuff which is something I haven't done in a very long time. I remember the days when I used to be a hard-core Linux geek and would spend countless hours playing around on my Linux servers; those days died off shortly after I moved to Halifax and I haven't really spent a lot of time (outside of work) working on it.

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The biggest hurdle would have to be getting my games working in Linux. Not just working, but working well. Linux has quite a list of games available natively but for the games I enjoy playing (MMOs) there isn't a heck of a lot out there for Linux. This means there is a lot of tweaking required to get things that run on a Windows machine to work well on a Linux machine. I'm using Wine for the most part which is an application for Linux that allows for Windows programs to run. It isn't perfect but it runs the games fairly well with some tweaks made. In fact, the past couple days I've been working on getting one game in particular to work, Darkfall Online. This game is relatively new and has a lot of features that I used to enjoy back in the mid 90s when Ultima Online first came out. There are no levels to grind through, only skills which level up as you perform actions. If you want to be a good sword fighter, you go out and start swinging a sword. This creates a lot of flexibility in character dynamics and allows for characters to be very different from each other; something a lot of MMOs out there today are sorely lacking.

-slurp-

In addition to Darkfall I am also playing Dungeons & Dragons Online. This has been a fun change for me. It isn't "Care Bear" easy like WoW which is a nice change of pace. I haven't even thought about WoW since I started playing DDO and at this point, I have no intention of ever returning, even when the expansion hits later this year. DDO is a Free-to-Play game. This means you can download, install and play the game completely for free but some content requires points to unlock and open. For example, in order to play in certain dungeons, you need to "buy" the adventure pack for that dungeon. The adventure packs vary in price from a hundred points to several hundred points. Once you've bought an adventure pack, it is unlocked for you for all characters on all servers for all time. So rather than pay a monthly fee (which is available and unlocks everything for you), you can pick and choose which things you want to do and only buy the adventure packs you want. In the end, you wind up only playing a fraction of the price to play and you have the option to leave out content you don't want. Since the game is Free-to-Play, you never need to worry about a monthly subscription and it is quite easy to progress through the game without ever having to buy a single adventure pack. Points are relatively cheap to buy and cost real money. For $50 US you can buy several thousand points in the "DDO Store". The DDO store is quite convenient as it sells all sorts of goodies like potions, armor, weapons and all sorts of things to help adventurers. If you're in the middle of a dungeon and find yourself out of potions, you can simply click the DDO store icon, buy a few more with points and they immediately show up in your inventory so you can continue on. You also do not need to buy points as you can earn points just by simply playing the game. In fact, since I started playing DDO I've managed to get ~500 points just by questing and gaining favor. You can even unlock some of the player races and classes just by playing the game. Of course if you want to advance faster, you can buy the points but they are not required.

-slurp-

Well folks, that's about all the time I have today. I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and hopefully you all have a great week. Until next time...

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v37.5: The Big Clean

2010-07-02T05:16:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It is Friday and I'm working from home. I'm glad I have the option to work from home when needed. There are only so many vacation and sick days one can take in a given year and "wasting" those on days where there are doctor appointments makes me annoyed. The flexibility at work makes the work that much more bearable.

-slurp-

I have started the painful task of combing over my posts with a fine toothed comb (figuratively of course). I've subscribed my site to various other sites to perform checks on the code, spelling and various other things to determine where I need focus. Obviously there are a lot of spelling mistakes as I typically write early in the mornings and randomly do spell checks. I'm also lazy and rely on Mozilla's dictionary addon to highlight spelling mistakes for me as I type which does not work some of the time. Also, there are obvious grammatical mistakes where I began typing a thought and then switched that thought mid sentence, resulting in a thought that makes little to no sense. This little "project" is going to take me weeks to complete as I go over every single post on this site and cleaning them up. I don't want to take away from the messages and I don't want to change my musings after they've been published, I simply want to make them easier to read and correct a lot of mistakes I've made over the last 5+ years.

-slurp-

What are some of the sites I'm using? There are two in particular which are really useful:

Free web site spell checker - This site allows me to enter the URL of the site I want to check and an email address to mail the results to. This site assumes you are the site owner and verifies the email address you've entered is from the same domain as the URL you've entered. It does a full scan of all the pages it can find on your site and then generates a report of all the spelling mistakes it finds. It isn't perfect and there are a lot of false results, but it does a real nice job of finding the major ones and creates a nice link to the document and highlights the word on the page for you. I will be using this site quite a bit in the coming weeks to clean up all the spelling mistakes I can.

Nibbler - This is an interesting site I found this week. It does a complete analysis of your site and reports back things like:

Accessibility

User Experience

Marketing

Technology

Just thinking about going through all this work is making me tired, I could sure use an editor :)

-slurp-

So what is the point? Why am I bothering to go through this exercise and creating more work for myself in my already too busy day? The primary reason is because this site represents me. I'm not perfect, but I want to ensure my content is as perfect as possible by removing errors and cleaning up code, I hope to create a much nicer experience for new and old visitors alike. A lot of the time I type things as they come off the top of my head and while it makes sense in my head as I'm typing it, going back and reading it afterwards really points out the flaws and mistakes. This is why I should proof read all my posts before publishing them but I rarely seem to have the time to write, never mind proof reading. Another reason I want to do this is for potential publication of my musings into a book. I don't expect anyone to buy it but for myself, having my work published in hard copy is something I've always wanted and even if I'm the only one to have a copy of it, I'd be happy. Seeing something I've written in published print is something that will make me feel that much closer to my dream of being a writer; it also may look good on a writing resume as works I've published.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, there is work to be done and things to get done. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend. To my friends to the South, have a great July 4th!

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v37.4: Canada Day Riddle

2010-07-01T06:36:00.000-07:00

Morning folks,

-slurp-

Well it is Canada Day! This is the day most Canadians get together, celebrate and drink copious amounts of alcohol to commemorate the Dominion of Canada as a united country. Exciting stuff isn't it? Imagine if the people who started this country in 1867 could see it today.

-slurp-

Well, I don't have a lot to say but I do have an interesting riddle for everyone. I'd like to see how people try to solve this riddle because it had me stumped for a very long time. Here goes:

There is a family of 6, 2 adults and 4 children. The family vehicle seats 5 passengers. Only one of the adults has a drivers license. The children are young and cannot be left unattended and there is no extra room in the family vehicle for the 6th person. How can this family of 6 drive to their destination?

-slurp-

I hope everyone has a great Canada Day. To my friends to the South, your day is only a few days away. Until next time.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v37.3: Back to Basics

2010-06-30T01:01:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I have been musing over coffee for quite awhile now. I've some fairly good entries and some real bad ones. There have been grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and just bad information all around. I don't care. Musings Over Coffee is my way of putting it all out there, on the screen for everyone to read. I've had some nasty comments, I've hurt some feelings and have made some people angry with me. Initially I let things like this bother me until I remembered that these are my thoughts and you can never please everyone.

-slurp-

I have been spending a lot of time lately reading through my past Musings. Some I hardly remember writing, others I wish I could go back and rewrite. Most of the time when I write have a certain topic in mind but mid-way through the musing my focus shifts and I end up writing about something else. That is the beauty of Musings over Coffee, it is completely random and doesn't follow any set standard or pattern. I've been following other blog sites out there like Zen Habits and Life Hacker but those are fairly big blogs with a huge reader base; something I don't have (right now). These folks have a lot on their plates and, in some cases, are full time bloggers who get paid to write articles for their reader base. Right now, that is dream of mine, but I really need to get my ass in gear and really come up with a great idea. I've spent a lot of time, money and effort on this site and I'm planning on going the distance with it.

-slurp-

I've also been researching publishing companies in an effort to publish my Musings. Will anyone buy a copy? Perhaps I may sell a few copies to friends and family members, but I have no delusions of selling a million copies of my musings since they are, for the most part, ramblings from a UNIX Geek and Gamer. For me it is about seeing my work in another form, like a book or digest. I have some ideas on how to accomplish this, but it is going to cost me some money (which I don't really have) and I will need to spend some time doing some massive editing. Also, I'm thinking of finishing my short story and getting that published. Hell, even if it's complete garbage, it is still something I've written put into a book with an ISDN tag which makes it legit; even if it only sell 1 copy (to myself).

-slurp-

Of course none of this will happen over night and none of it will happen without an investment of time and money on my part. I've actually been "inspired" to write this week and have been doing a fairly good job at dedicating some time each morning to write, regardless of everything else going on. This is something I made a conscience decision to do and so far it is working out. I don't want to work in IT for the rest of my life, it just isn't that interesting and with hours starting to get longer and work load starting to go up (without an increase in pay I might add), the motivation to do excellent work is starting to decrease. Don't get me wrong, I still feel I do a great job given the circumstances. I've seen others here who seem to just "shut down" and don't give a shit. Coasting by, doing as little as they can collecting their pay and doing barely enough not to get fired. Of course to get fired here you would really need to do something drastic like rebooting several production trading servers during trading hours. No, I've decided to not let the lack of raise and increased work load get me down, it doesn't make me feel good and it definitely doesn't make those around me feel good. I'm here to work and when I work I do a damn fine job at it. That is the way I am, that is the way I was raised and by God I'm not going to change now.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, with that said, I should get back to work. Tomorrow is a holiday here in Canada and I'm looking forward to a nice day off to break up the work week a little bit. My friends to the South have their Holiday on Sunday (and if you're lucky, Monday as well) so I foresee a few late night gaming events and good celebration. I hope everyone has a great Canada Day tomorrow. I'll be around and hopefully will be Musing about it. So until then, keep your sticks on the ice.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v37.2: The Queen

2010-06-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It is an overcast, foggy, rainy day here in Halifax. In fact, it has been this way most of the week. We've been blessed with some nice hot weather lately so having a few days of rain and cooler temperatures has been nice, hopefully we have nice weather on Canada Day.

-slurp-

As I mentioned yesterday, the Queen of England is in town this week. She arrived yesterday and has been fairly busy ever since. For an 84 year old lady, she sure is a spry young gal. Despite the rain and poor weather conditions, she was out and about most of the day yesterday seeing the sights and attending festivities. Today she is doing a fleet inspection of approximately 22 naval vessels from all over. In addition, a very special certificate from the World Ship Trust will be issued by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. This is something that makes me very proud as the certificate is the prestigious International Maritime Heritage Award which will be given to the same ship my Grandfather served on during the Pacific war; the HMCS Haida.

-slurp-

[caption id="attachment_1263" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="HMCS Haida"][/caption]

"Built as a Tribal Class destroyer in 1941 for the Royal Canadian Navy, the HMCS Haida was converted to a destroyer escort in 1950. HMCS Haida is the last of its kind in the world. She is also Canada’s most decorated warship."

I have a painting of this ship in my house which I received after my Grandfather passed away. It holds a special place in my heart and is hung where it can be seen with pride and honor. It gives me great pride to hear this special dedication and certificate will be given to the Haida. I spent a great deal of my childhood hearing about the ship and even though my Grandmother has been gone for many years, I can still hear her voice in my head telling me stories of when my Grandfather would ship out and how life was like for her and her children as each day they waited to hear whether he was coming home or not. I can only imagine the sacrifice.

-slurp-

Well folks, time for me to head back to work and try not to let my mind wander today. I hope everyone has a great day.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v37.1: Lineage

2010-06-28T01:03:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Have you ever sat there and wondered whether you had any ancestors in power? Perhaps a great great great grandfather was a Lord or King of some country somewhere hundreds of years ago or perhaps you have royal blood flowing through your veins due to some royal love affair. At the end of the day we are all just people but people like to be tied to something important, to feel important and to have something that nobody else has.

-slurp-

A few years back I started researching my family tree through ancestry.com. For the most part, this website is free to use and you can trace back through the generations to find people and connections you never knew existed. Thankfully for me, I had a friend at work who had paid for a month on this site and was able to do a little more digging and find other things for me that were not available to the free account. I was able to find documents, immigration papers and even a signed document from my great great grandfather. It wasn't easy finding these people and thankfully through ancestry.com I was able to trace my lineage back to a point and then found where someone else had done some more in-depth research which helped tied my family tree into theirs and go back even further. I haven't checked the site in awhile but I believe I was successfully able to trace back the my lineage to the early 1800s or late 1700s.

-slurp-

Of course this site only really has names and some documents. It doesn't tell the story which is what I'm most interested in. Who was my great great grandfather? What sort of things did he accomplish? Why did he decide to come to Canada? Unfortunately I may never know the answers to these questions which only deepens the mystery of my lineage. I wonder how far back we can actually go?

-slurp-

Anyway folks, just a short musing this Monday morning to get the brain going. If you haven't tried ancestry.com out yet (ancestry.ca if you're in Canada) I highly recommend it. If you're a member of my family you should be able to hook into the tree I started and see if you can get any further than I did. I think the reason I wanted to write about this today is because I was watching "A Knight's Tale" last night on TV and the Queen of England is visiting Halifax today. I hope everyone has a great Monday!

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v37.0: Happy Fr?gedæg

2010-06-25T01:09:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It is Friday! For me this has been a very long week. I'm not sure whether it was the sleepless nights or the long working days but this week seems to have dragged on and on. I actually thought yesterday was Friday.

-slurp-

Regardless, here I sit on a Friday morning writing to you all. Since we've moved my commute to work is almost nothing. I spend approximately 20 to 30 minutes a day in my car and that is driving both to and from work. It is nice to not have a long commute to work and even nicer to spend less money on gas. In fact, I can easy go at least 2 weeks (or more if I don't do any extra driving during that 2 weeks) on a single tank of gas right now. This is quite exciting for me since I was spending close to $40/week on gas commuting from our old place. To make things worse, the summer months are upon us and the regulated gas hogs have decided to jack up the price of gas again. This morning gas was over $1.03/litre (approximately $4.12/gallon) which only confirmed the summer months. Every year they do this as the supply for gasoline goes up to power those massive motor homes.

-slurp-

This weekend promises to be another hot one with some rain forecast on Sunday. I'm not sure how warm it is going to be but it really doesn't matter because the humidity makes it bad regardless of the heat. Next week will be hectic here in the City as we get ready to host the Nova Scotia Tatoo. Every morning this week I've had the pleasure of hearing them practice. My office is less than a block from the convention center so whenever there is a big event like this coming town we hear it days in advance. My grandparents used to go to the Tattoo on a regular basis, apparently it is quite the show.

-slurp-

Well folks, time for me to get back to work and getting ready for the weekend. Hell, who am I kidding? I've been ready for the weekend since Monday morning :) I hope everyone has a great weekend and remember to keep your sticks on the ice.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.9: Robot, I am

2010-06-24T01:10:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I've come to the conclusion that I am a Robot. While my insides may not be a clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk, I am still considered a robot by definition:

A robot is an automatically guided machine, able to do tasks on its own. Another common characteristic is that by its appearance or movements, a robot often conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own.

-slurp-

I'm sure you're sitting there scratching your head wondering what the hell I'm talking about. Fear not, for I spent the better part of my evening doing the exact same thing. Take a look at that definition of a robot again and break it up into pieces:

A robot is an automatically guided machine
- I'll come back to this one :)

able to do tasks on its own
- I think it goes without saying that we are able to do tasks on our own.

by its appearance or movements, a robot often conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own
- If you were an alien on a space ship overlooking the human population on this planet, what would you see? Would you see chaos amongst order or order amongst chaos? Would you see cars moving about starting and stopping on command from a little light box? Would you see people walking on the streets coming and going following strict pathways and also stopping and starting because of a little light box? We're not that much different from the traditional "robots" you see on TV

So what the hell am I talking about here? Quite simply, I'm talking about programming people, human beings just like you and I. We have been taught at an early age the differences between right and wrong, legal and illegal. The bottom line is, we are born without boundaries and then struggle to live withing the boundaries set by others. Like a robot, we don't usually know those boundaries right away and need to test them so we know where they are. Eventually we figure them out and learn how to live within them. We are programmed from day 1 to follow a strict set of guidelines and subroutines that we call society. From an outsider looking in, I would say we would very much look like a society of robots.

-slurp-

Of course not everyone is like this and there are those who test those boundaries further than they should and typically either get in serious trouble or die from it. You see, like a child safety gate, these boundaries are in place for our protection and the protection of others. Next time you're driving along the road or highway keep an eye out for guard rails on the side. There are some that make sense but then every so often you'll see a guard railing that makes no sense, you don't see any reason for it being there. Let me assure you, it is there for a reason. Feel free to pull over to the side of the road and check it out. It shouldn't take you long to discover it's purpose. We are sometimes blind to the dangers around us; the dangers some of these boundaries are meant to protect us from. We go about our regular routines day after day (much like a robot would), most of us live within the confines of our rules and laws and hopefully age, grow old and eventually die. That is the ultimate goal in life is it not? To eventually die of old age and move on to the next life (whatever that may be). It is what you do from the day you are born until the day you die that defines who you are.

-slurp-

Well folks, I sort of got way off track with this one. That's what I get for skipping out on my Tim Horton's coffee and drinking this generic gas station blend. I hope you all have a great day and remember, you are a robot. :)

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.8: Whiskerando Wednesday

2010-06-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It is Wednesday, mid-week, hump day, ISO 8601, Wodnesday or whatever else you want to call it. For those of us who work the typical Monday to Friday work week, this is the day where we reach the climax of our work week and begin the long decent to the weekend (getting over the hump). Throughout history, one can find references to Wednesday having significance in both culture and religion; it is a very special day.

-slurp-

We have an executive vice president visiting our facility today and as such we need to ensure everyone is dressed appropriately and on their best behavior. I always found it strange that we would need to dress up when someone from the same company was coming to visit. Our dress code at work is considered casual and sometimes we need to dress business casual when a client is visiting. Why do they make a point of enforcing business casual when someone from the same company comes to visit? Do they not know that our dress code is casual? Is our office trying to hide something? Is there really a secret to getting the soft flowing caramel inside the Caramilk bar? I sense a conspiracy.

-slurp-

Allow me to let everyone in on a little secret about the Caramilk bar, there is no secret! I get a kick out of Cadbury's latest "contest" with the hidden keys inside their chocolate bars for a chance at winning some money. Do you really think a company that relies on their "Caramilk Secret" is going to willingly give away that "secret" to the general public? We're talking about a simple chocolate bar with pockets of caramel in it, the only thing they have going for them is the fact people speculate how they got the caramel inside. Imagine how many bars have sold because people were curious and wanted to see if they could figure it out? The advertising alone has revolved around this one idea. If they gave out the "secret" what would they advertise? How would they sell their product? What would set them apart from other chocolate bars out there? I have a question, how do they get that powder fizz in the middle of a fizz candy? Now THERE is a mystery worth solving.

-slurp-

Of course I'm a fan of the Caramilk bar, I enjoy the soft chocolate with the little pickets of caramel. In fact, just writing about it makes me want to head over to the vending machine and buy one. You see what they've done don't you?

-slurp-

Anyway folks, now that I've made you all crave a Caramilk bar, I must be on my way and try to get some work done today. Remember, just because it looks good to eat, doesn't mean it is good for you.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.7: What If?

2010-06-21T01:18:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I'm sure you've asked yourself the question before: "What if this happened?" or "What if that?". I find it interesting at how much time and energy is spent dwelling on the "What If" in life. Don't get me wrong, I do it as well, but there are some people who seem to always dwell in the What If scenario and never step back and take a look at what they have to be thankful for here and now.

-slurp-

In 1957 a man by the name Hugh Everett came up with this theory that we exist in a layer of reality among many different layers. The basic theory is: whatever can happen, does happen in a different reality or layer. I believe I've talked about this theory before in a previous musing but in the event I have not, here is a really simple example of how this works:

Johnny and Jane are thinking of breaking up:
- Universe 1 - Johnny and Jane break up and go their separate ways.
  - Johnny finds out years later that Jane had been cheating on him:
    - Universe 1.1: Johnny shrugs it off and moves on with his life
    - Universe 1.2: Johnny hunts down Jane and makes her pay with her life
- Universe 2 - Johnny and Jane decide to stay together and eventually get married.
  - Johnny finds out a year later that Jane had been cheating on him:
    - Universe 1.1: Johnny and Jane get a divorce
    - Universe 1.2: Johnny succumbs to his anger and murders his wife

I could go on and on with these scenarios but I think this paints a fairly good picture of what I'm trying to say. In summary, anything that can happen actually does happen in another universe (or layer if you prefer). This means somewhere out there is a universe where you do not exist. Just think of all the things in life that would have had to happen in order for you to exist today. Think about your parents, think about your grand parents and keep going back for many generations. Think about all the things that could have gone wrong which would have eventually led to you never being born. This is the ultimate "What If" scenario.

-slurp-

There was a television show in the 90's called "Sliders" which was about this exact same theory. The idea behind the show is this scientist found a way to create a "hole" in space-time which would allow them to "slide" between alternate realities. Each episode found them on a different Earth where things were drastically wrong. For example, I recall one episode where it was the world as if Hitler won the 2nd World War or an episode where the human race had not yet discovered Penicilin and were dieing because of a fairly common (in our universe) flu. The show lasted 5 seasons and by the 3rd or 4th season, became a complete disaster and completely random.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, that's enough chatter about "What If". I'm feeling a little ill today but yet here I am, in the office, trying to stay focused on the tasks in front of me. Remember, try not to dwell too much on the "What If" scenario; be thankful for what you have and where you are today, it could be a LOT worse.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.6: Where is my Timmy's?

2010-06-16T01:02:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Another day, another dollar or so the saying goes. Since we've moved I have hardly had a single cup of Tim Horton's coffee to drink. In fact, I haven't had a single drop of Tim Horton's coffee all week. It isn't because I've been cutting back on my coffee, it is more because there isn't a convenient Tim Horton's between my new place and the office. I've been a loyal Tim Horton's drinker for a long time (16ish years now) and it feels strange not to have that Tim Horton's coffee first thing in the morning.

-slurp-

But I digress. Coffee is coffee right? Instead of finding a Tim Horton's close by that I could get a coffee from, I decided to stop at a local gas station near my place and pick up my coffee from there every morning. It isn't the same thing, but it is coffee and it gets the job done. So here I sit, well before 8AM in the morning writing this musing over bitter gas station coffee.

-slurp-

One could spend many hours writing about coffee and I believe I've written about it in the past. You could talk about the origins of coffee and how it was first discovered to when it was first used as a drink to the multi-billion dollars in revenue coffee beans (as a whole) bring in for many companies around the world. Tim Horton's alone generated 2.24 billion dollars of revenue last year (2009). Granted they sell more than just coffee but for a relatively small coffee shop like that, 2.24 billion dollars is a LOT of money. When you look at larger chains like Dunkin Donuts who generated 5.5 billion dollars last year, it is not hard to see that the "coffee" business is making a lot of money. While I'm at it, I should also point out that Starbucks generated 9.77 billions dollars of revenue last year. You add that all up and you're looking at 3 companies generating over 17.5 billions dollars of revenue in 2009; supposedly one of the hardest economic years in a long time. Interesting.

-slurp-

So there is money to be made in selling coffee, perhaps I'm in the wrong line of work. Of course there is a huge difference from begin the person serving the coffee and the person running the show. At the end of the day, it is all about economics and business sense. These companies didn't start out huge and they only got to where they are today because of hard work and smart business sense. Something I know little about :)

-slurp-

Anyway folks, I'm off for now to see if I can get some work done today. I'm doing performance reviews this afternoon so hopefully those go well and I can be in a good mood this evening. I hope everyone has a great day today and if you have some time, check out some of the more famous coffee chains you can think of and see what kind of revenues they're generating. I would be a bit surprised if you tallied it all up the total revenue of all of these chains is over 100 billion dollars; and don't even get me started on fast food chains :)

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.5: All Moved

2010-06-11T02:36:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Well we've finally finished moving. There are still a few odds and ends at the old place which we will hopefully finish up this weekend, but 98.33 (repeating of course)% of the stuff has been moved and we're slowly unpacking and making the new place feel like a home. This past weekend reminded me just how much I dislike moving and I hope I don't have to do it again anytime soon.

-slurp-

This week has been fairly hectic. I had Monday through Wednesday off and spent most of the time helping unpack and making a few trips with the car to load up on stuff left behind after the weekend move. I would like to take this time to thank (again) the family members who showed up on Saturday to assist with the big move. I know moving sucks and helping someone else move sucks even more. But that is what family is for right? Now we begin the painful journey of getting the place setup and finding a spot for everything. Moving from a small townhouse to a house was easy, there was lots of room for everything, but moving from a house to a small apartment is no cup of tea and despite all the things we threw away and donated, there still isn't much room and next to no storage to "hide" things.

-slurp-

I'm just glad it's over. I came into the office yesterday an was greeted by a ton of emails and deadlines that needed to be met. I was also scheduled to perform a change for tonight which is fine and expected. Needless to say, these past two days have felt like a full week and I'm just thankful I took 5 days off instead of the 4 I was originally going to take. In addition, my boss from NY is in town next week and you can bet there is going to be a lot of meetings and discussions had which is only going to chew into my already busy week.

-slurp-

Well folks, it is time to get back to work. I wanted to post something mostly because it has been a week since I posted last and I wanted to make sure I put something down this week. As we get settled and things start returning to "normal" again, I'll be posting more. I hope everyone has a great weekend and if you're traveling, please drive safe.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.4: Why Sci-Fi?

2010-06-02T01:03:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It would appear that another day has dawned and the Earth has rotated another 360 degrees so our side can face it once again. Imagine living thousands of years ago thinking the sun was the one that was moving?

-slurp-

I used to be a huge astronomy fan when I was younger. The planets, stars and just overall "space" used to interest me. It is no wonder that in later years I enjoy sci-fi shows that take place in space. Star Trek was a favorite for awhile, but I contribute that to my Father who seemed to always have Star Trek playing on the T.V. when we were younger. Every time we walked into the living room, Star Trek was on. I don't know whether Star Trek was played a lot back then or if it was just my perception that it seemed to always be on, but it was sure on a lot at our house.

-slurp-

Technology has come a long way since then and the sci-fi shows of today are a lot more realist and probable. Scientist today are looking to create real-life devices from some of these older sci-fi shows and are sometimes adopting the same names. There was a documentary on T.V. not long ago that talked about how Star Trek influenced science and technology; it is really quite interesting even if Star Trek isn't your thing.

-slurp-

Recently my wife and I have started watching the Stargate Atlantis series. For some strange reason she really likes it. I was a bit hesitant at first as I used to watch SG:1 and wasn't a huge fan of it. Atlantis seems to be a lot different (yet similar) and has everything you could want in a T.V. show, including humor which has caused me to lol. The show is fairly predictible but that doesn't seem to bother me much as there are enough twists in there to make it interesting and keeping the viewer interested to see what happens in the next episode. Another series we watched together was the remake of Battlestar Galatica. Taking an old idea and throwing a new spin on it was what really interested me in that show. You really felt connected to the characters which made the show that much more interesting. I also liked the fact it wasn't your typical Star Trek with a nice clean ship with beautifully sculpted panels, chairs and computer systems; Battlestar Galatica was like a massive submarine in space with no view screen to see outside or anything like that from the bridge. It felt "more real" somehow.

-slurp-

Of course I could go on and on about science fiction and space and all that other fun stuff but I'm sure most of you are dozing off right now so I will call it a day and start getting some work done. As I've already mentioned, we are moving this week and I have the rest of this week off and most of next week off to get things settled. If I don't get an opportunity to post again this week, I hope everyone has a great week and a nice weekend. Until next time...

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.3: June Bugs

2010-06-01T00:25:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

June is finally upon us, again. Where did the last 5 months go? I find it difficult to believe time could go by so fast, and yet, here we are at the beginning of a new month and almost at the half-way mark of the year. I believe the old saying goes, "Time flies when you're having fun.", but I find it hard to believe we're having that much fun.

-slurp-

I'm not sure if you have June Bugs (or June Beetles) in your area of the world, but here in Eastern Canada (and other areas in Canada) they are everywhere right now. If you're the scientific type, the technical name for "June Bug" is Phyllophaga (from the Greek word Phyllon meaning Leaf Eaters). They are basically a huge beetle (up to 25mm in size) that seem to appear anytime between late May and early June. They are as dumb as a post and can be very annoying at night.

-slurp-

You can hear them at night, especially around light sources. They are attracted to light and because of their size, you can really hear them buzzing around. Several nights ago I was outside and the air above me seemed to buzz. There must have been hundreds of them flying around, some banging into the house and others flying through the tree in front of my house. Being outside late at night when there is no traffic on the road really seemed to amplify the noise they make. Then, the next morning you'll usually find a bunch of them dead around the house in water or just laying on the ground near outside lights or lamp posts. I'm not certain what the connection is between these beetles and June but I suspect it has something to do with the fact they start out as grubs (some can be up to 45mm long) that live underground for 3-4 years feeding on plant roots. Once the weather starts to warm up, these grubs turn into beetles and then take flight, all at once. Oh, and I won't describe how these things mate either. Like most insects, it is creepy and never ends up good for the male. If you're interested, you can read about it yourself.

-slurp-

Well, I think I've talked enough about the June Bug. Before I take off, I will share with you a recipe for a drink called the June Bug cocktail. No, it doesn't contain any June Bug parts. I suspect it got its name because of the color since June Bugs in other areas of the world (0ver 260 species) can be quite colorful. So without further ado, here you go:

Ultimate June Bug Recipe: (taken from Wikipedia)

-1oz Midori melon Liqueur

-½oz Malibu coconut rum

-½oz banana liqueur

-1 ½oz sweet and sour mix

-1oz pineapple juice

Blend all items together and serve over ice in Collins glass.

13% alcohol

-slurp-

Well folks, that is all I have for you today. Keep your head down if you're walking around at night, especially around lights. If you get a chance to head outside tonight, take a listen for the June Bugs flying around.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.2: A Time for Change

2010-05-31T01:31:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Amazing how quickly another week has started. Before I realized it, here I am back at work and almost a whole week has gone by without posting. Of course that wasn't my intention, but then again, the world is paved with good intentions isn't it?

-slurp-

This week promises to be a fairly busy week for me. Not necessarily "work" busy, though I'm sure that will be the case. This week my family and I are moving. It isn't anything super major and the primary purpose of the move is to save money and try to get back on our feet again. Time has been rough on a lot of people lately and I don't think anyone was immune to the economic problems that took place last year. Things have started to swing back around but the residual effects of that are still looming and causing major problems for a lot of folks. We've been contemplating this decision for a long time and we finally decided this was the right course of action in order to provide for the family and start saving some money. I won't go into any personal details but let's just say, life is about to become easier for us financially.

-slurp-

Of course nobody ever likes to move. Moving can be very tiring cleansing experience where you say goodbye to things you've held on for a long time because the item no longer serves a purpose. I'll admit that I'm a bit of a hoarder sometimes when it comes to certain things. No, I don't keep food because someday I may need it; I don't keep useless crap that really holds no meaning. I keep things like pictures, crafts and other various things my kids have made over the course of their lives. I don't know why but I seem to have issues with throwing stuff like that away. It is as if I'm holding on to my children when they were little so I can always remember it, especially now that my oldest is in the double digits finally and feeling more and more independent all the time. I have other things as well that really have no real purpose but keep them as they are pieces of my past that remind me of other people or other times in my life. I'll admit it, I've collected a lot of stuff over the years that I could easily part with but if I can find room for it in our new place, I'm bringing it along.

-slurp-

Our new place is going to be significantly smaller than our current house and it also has a lot less storage space. This means we're watching what we pack very carefully and are throwing away a lot of unnecessary things. I'm looking forward to the move, but not looking forward to moving.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, the time for me to write has come and gone and now I need to return to work. I hope you all have a great day and I'll try my best to get another post in this week before the big move.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.1: Happy Monday

2010-05-25T01:12:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I know you typically don't use the words "Happy" and "Monday" together but today is a special kind of Monday for me. We had a long weekend this past weekend and my "Monday" is actually Tuesday which means I'm already a day ahead. I love short weeks after a long weekend; much better than having a long weekend followed by a regular week.

-slurp-

Last week I posted about TLAs. I was looking for a bit more in the way of comments but I understand that recently I haven't been updating on a regular basis so people may not be checking daily like they used to. I'm going to make every effort to ensure I post at least a few times a week, even if it is only to say Hi. That said, I plan on giving people until the end of the week to comment on my TLA post with their "thoughts" as to what they mean and then I will post the results in a follow-up musing on Monday.

-slurp-

As I already mentioned, we had a long weekend this past weekend; to be more specific, it was Victoria Day on Monday here in Canada and as such, a lot of businesses were closed for the day. Next weekend is Memorial Day to our friends to the South. These two weekends are typically called the "May Long Weekend". Up here in the cold white north, the May long weekend is typically when camp grounds open up for the for summer season and when people hit the beaches and test out the lakes that were frozen over only a few months earlier. It is a sign that Summer is almost upon us and nice weather is finally on its way again. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting away and doing some camping this Summer. Last year we didn't get a chance to make it out when my father came down to visit but this year I plan on making every effort I can to make it out; even if I have to tent.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, the time has come once again where I need to bid you farewell for now. The office is starting to get busy with people coming in to start their day. I've already been working for approximately 30 minutes which is nice because it's TUESDAY! Yeah, this is going to be a good week I think.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v36.0: Terrible TLAs

2010-05-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It has been awhile since I last posted. I'm not exactly sure what the issue is but I can never seem to find the right time to post. My mornings have been super busy and since I started training my replacement for my old team, I'm finding I'm busy from the moment I walk in the door until I get a chance to leave for home. Lately I've been putting in close to 10hr days; it is starting to burn me out.

-slurp-

I'm sure you've all heard about TLAs. If not, I'm almost certain you've seen them before because they are everywhere we look. What does TLA mean you ask? It simply stands for Three Letter Acronyms. We use TLAs a lot at work and sometimes one TLA can mean more than one thing which can be quite confusing when talking between different groups or teams. I'd like to try a little experiment with you. I will list off a bunch of TLAs I use here at work and I'd like to see your comments on what they mean to you. I will make every effort to post the results early next week (provided I have any results to post then) and let you know what these TLAs mean to me.

-slurp-

So here we go, in no particular order:

Now, when you've completed reading the rest of this musing, reply with a comment listing your answers to the TLAs above. Should be an interesting exercise and I'm very curious to see what people think of when they see these.

-slurp-

We see acronyms everywhere these days, especially on the Internet through social media sites and Internet chat. Let's face it, some of these acronyms are being used as real words and have been somewhat adopted by our culture. I've heard people saying LOL before, rather than laughing out loud, they say LOL to convey laughter. Seriously!? The whole reason we have LOL is because people couldn't express laughter in online chat so they created an acronym for it. Now that acronym has done a full circle and has been adopted in our daily language. There are many other examples out there and I could probably go on all day about it but I have work to do. Next time you're talking to someone or are listening in on a nearby conversation, take a mental note to listen to the acronyms being used. Some may not make any sense because you're missing the context, but others you'll pick up on and know exactly what they're saying. For those of us who spend quite a bit of time online chatting or posting, we don't immediately pick up on these things because they are part of us, but imagine how someone who doesn't know the commonly used acronyms (WTF, LOL, ROFL, etc.) must feel?

-slurp-

To put it simply, we've grown lazy (in my opinion). It is actually quite funny when you think about it. We spend so much time and effort to shorten things all the time and the rest of the time we try to find ways to extend our lives as much as possible. Perhaps the reason we use acronyms is because life is too short to waste spelling it all out? I'm curious to see what the next 10 years will bring; what will our language evolve into if this continues. Maybe it is my North American naiveness (is that even a word), but I can see the Internet lingo becoming a common global language that everyone will know and be able to read and write. It is actually quite interesting if you look at it that way.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, the time has come for me to get to work and try to accomplish something today. If you're in Canada this weekend, I hope you have a great long weekend. To my friends to the south, you're long weekend is next weekend.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.9: In Memory

2010-05-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Today the Royal Canadian Navy celebrates 100 years of service. The city was all a buzz today as military personnel paraded the streets in their dress uniforms. The HMCS Fredericton even made it into port early this morning just in time for the celebrations. It was a proud day not only for all Canadian people, but especially for those who have friends and loved ones who serve, or have served.

-slurp-

My mind drifted to my grandfather a lot today. Every time I saw someone dressed in their military dress uniform I was reminded of him. It made me a bit sad but at the same time it made me proud to know he served and fought. You've all heard the stories of D-Day. You've probably even seen movies about it and how many lives were lost that day as the allied forces invaded Normandy. Some of you may even know the date it all took place (June 6, 1944) as over 175,000 troops hit the beaches of Normandy in what was known as the largest amphibious invasion of all time. It was a victorious day.

-slurp-

What you don't hear about is what happened before D-Day; specifically the night before. You see, the Germans were prepared for an attack from the sea. They had mines setup in all the channels and entry points to all the beaches all along the coast of Normandy. They had some pretty nasty mines, some that would go off if there were vibrations from a passing ship. Others were just below the surface of the water designed to detonate on impact when the underside of the ship came in contact. They were dangerous, and unless the waterways could be freed of these mines, there is no doubt that the loss of life on that day would have been greater; maybe even turned the tides in the German's favor allowing them to hold the beaches.

-slurp-

That is where my grandfather came in. He served in World War II and was there on D-Day. He wasn't one of the men storming the beaches but he was there ensuring safe passage of the allied boats by clearing away the mines. The ship he served on was nothing more than a military modified fishing vessel and in that fishing vessel the scoured the channels and waterways along the coast for German mines under the cover of darkness. Praying... hoping. Not only were they at the mercy of potential mines they couldn't "see", there was also the threat of German boats and aircraft who were also patrolling the coast. I recall my grandfather telling me the story of D-Day and how he played his part. I remember sitting in silence as he told his story, relived his memories and I could see the tears welling up in his eyes as he recalled old friends lost in battle. He was one of the strongest men I knew and I looked up to him. I wish he was still here today so I could tell him.

-slurp-

Sometimes I feel guilty for not following in his footsteps. Maybe it was the stories, or maybe it was the honor but ever since I was in my late teens I always felt this "pull" to serve, to join the Navy and feel like I made a difference; like my grandfather. I thought about that today as well as I saw the men in women walk by in their military dress uniforms. Of course I wouldn't trade my life and the things I've accomplished for anything but there is this part of me that wonders "what if?".

-slurp-

Well folks, I apologize for the somber musing today (and for the lateness). Given the day I feel it was appropriate.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.8: Yawn

2010-04-27T01:13:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Just wanted to fire off a quick musing today. I haven't gotten a roll-up cup in almost a week so I think it is safe to say the contest is officially over. I will be archiving my Roll-Up 2010 page into my Life section of the site so if you don't see it at the top of the site anymore, don't fret, it has only been archived and still available.

-slurp-

This year I didn't drink as much coffee as previous years. I think that is mostly because I've gotten in the routine of only having 1 cup a day and rarely seem to have time in the afternoons to go down and get another. It is actually quite funny when you analyze the data and see the difference from the first year I did this in 2007 where I had 105 coffees and this year where I only had 56. That is nearly a 50% drop in 4 years. Of course back in 2007 I used drink double doubles (2 cream, 2 sugar) as well so that means I've dropped 154 single cream and 210 single sugar shots that I normally would have had during the roll-up season. I almost feel sick to my stomach thinking about it.

-slurp-

Needless to say it has been very busy at work lately. I started training my replacement on my team so someone can take over my responsibilities so I can move to the new team which will be starting in May. It wasn't until I started teaching my job to someone else that I realized how much work I truly do here. Granted a lot of the things I do today will follow me to the new team, there is an amazing amount of things I will be able to offload to the new person which will hopefully remove some of the stress of my day-to-day job. I can't say yet whether this new team is going to be a good move for me or not. I'm still at a place of uncertainty. I'm sure things will work out just fine and I'll find I enjoy the new position even more, but I still need to on-board and train 9 people all while I keep things running with the 6 people I already have. I think the time to step back as a technical resource and embracing the leader within is finally at hand. There is absolutely no way I'm going to be able to manage a team of 15 people and remain technical at the same time.

-slurp-

Well folks, there are a ton of other things on my mind today but I don't really have the time to write. I promise I will find some time this week and write something truly magical and inspiring. Until then, remember to turn off your car while waiting to avoid idle fumes.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.7: Common Decency

2010-04-22T01:07:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It has nearly been a week since I last posted and I really have no excuse other than I couldn't find the time. Things have been very busy lately at work and at home and we have a lot going on right now we need to prepare for. It isn't going to be fun. I apologize for the lack of posts but as things settle down you should start seeing the post count climb steadily again.

-slurp-

I had to take my wife to a Dr's appointment a couple days ago. This was a follow-up appointment to another appointment which was also a follow-up appointment to another. She hasn't been feeling well lately and as a result the Dr's are putting her through test after test trying to figure out what exactly is wrong. They've done almost every test I can think of as well as tests I hadn't thought of. We showed up at the Dr's office 10 minutes early for her appointment hoping she may get in a bit early. Hope, unfortunately, was not working very well for us.

-slurp-

I went on a huge rant after the appointment as we were driving home. Not only did we need to wait in the waiting room for over an hour, she was only in the patient room for a few minutes before coming out with yet ANOTHER form to get more blood tests done. I think Dr's offices need to handle their patients better. If they had given us a call at home letting us know the Dr was over an hour behind in appointments, we could have left a bit later rather than hurry there to be early. Also, because the Dr obviously had some idea of what she was going to tell my wife, she could have easily emailed the form to us (this is the 21st Century after all) and we could have printed it off and skipped the wait.

-slurp-

I don't know why things need to be so difficult when it comes to Dr's offices. It really should be a simple matter. We have the technology to connect Dr's and patients without actually having to be in front of the doctor. If there is no need for us to be there, we should have been called instead of scheduled to come down there. Now I wasn't in room with my wife to hear all the Dr said but from what she told me, it was a simple "Hi, we still don't know what's wrong and we need to do more tests. Here's a blood request form, come back in 2 weeks.". SERIOUSLY?!

-slurp-

Dr's offices need to show a little bit of common decency. Yes they make a lot of money, yes they see a lot of patients day after day. Yes they expose themselves to potential deadly diseases and deal with miserable annoyed people but that is the job, that is what they signed up for when they spent the money and years in school to become a Doctor. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but Dr's need to embrace technology (not just in the operating room) and utilize it in their day-to-day patient handling. This isn't the dark ages anymore, we have computers, wireless devices and mobile email.

-slurp-

Speaking of mobile email, I laugh at my sisters all the time when we're getting together for a family event. Sister A will be at my house while Sister B is somewhere between their house and mine. Sister A will "TEXT" Sister B asking where they are. Of course Sister A does this from her mobile phone. See it? Yes folks, they have a mobile phone (you remember what a phone is right?) that has the capability to call out and immediately get in contact with someone. No, of course the mobile phone is so 1990s, these days everyone texts to each other which is considered "faster" and more reliable. I just don't get it :) Maybe I'm old fashioned or maybe I lack the understanding of texting. I can see it's uses like when you want to send someone a quick note to remind them to pick up milk on their way home, but when you need information (like "where are you?"), it may be easier to just dial the number and get someone right away rather than waiting to see if they ever answer your text.

-slurp-

Ok, I'm done for today. This was more of a Rant than a Musing over coffee, but they are almost one in the same anyway. It just so happens this was on my mind this morning and I decided to write about it. I hope everyone has a great day and with any luck I'll be back here tomorrow to wow you all with my genius. Or at least say Hi :)

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.6: Friday WoW

2010-04-16T01:40:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

What a week this has been. I wish I could say it is over but I still need to make it through this day before I can finally say my work week is over. I won't say it hasn't been stressful but it has definitely been busy. Between things going on in the office and things going on in our personal life, I've barely had time to sit and relax or even play any games.

-slurp-

It is a good kind of busy. The kind of busy where you work for 8 hours straight and at the end of the day you've felt like you've accomplished something and the day flew by because you weren't sitting there staring at the clock waiting. Almost every morning this week I've been greeted with "something" that occupied most of my day. Wednesday there was approximately 5 hours of meetings in my agenda (one was 2.5hrs long by itself) and that ate up a good portion of my day. We also had a couple of outages with our product this week due to a piece of code that was reverted back. I like development work, it actually seems challenging and fun, despite the headaches and yelling.

-slurp-

Tonight is our gaming night. Every week (typically on Friday) my wife and I login to our addiction (WoW) and meet up with a few friends of ours and lay the smack down on some dungeon. It is the one night a week I really look forward to and the fact that it takes place at the end of my week makes it all the more fun. Sometimes we run into issues and sometimes there is frustration but at the end of the night everyone has had a good time and can't wait for next week when we can do it again. Of course there is usually a follow-up thread on our message board about it where usually the same person has an issue about something we did. We typically banter back and forth for the majority of the week about it and then have a good laugh about it in our next run. These people that we play with every week are real people, not computer controlled avatars. These are real flesh and blood individuals who have good days and bad days just like me. Sometimes it is easy to forget that this is only a game and nothing more. Some people take it WAY too far and become so addicted they have difficulty separating real life from WoW. This is dangerous.

-slurp-

Recently I've cut back my WoW play time. Not because I want to, but more because I need to. It is easy to get caught up in the game and play it every single night but with the new expansion only a few months away, people are hurrying to complete things in-game that will be going away with the expansion. Part of our Friday night runs we've been working on an achievement where we complete an entire dungeon without anyone dieing on any of the bosses. If we can pull it off, everyone will get the title "the Undying" beside their name. Yeah, that's it, just a title. But hey, when they take that title out of the game nobody else will be able to get it so those of us who worked hard to get it will still have it. It becomes something to be proud about even if it is only a virtual title.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, time to take off and get some work done. In 8 more hours I'll be done and my weekend will begin! I'm excited. It is also my wife's birthday this weekend so I'll need to make sure I make that day extra special for her. Until next time...

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.5: Statistically Speaking

2010-04-13T02:04:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

In 1978 there was an airplane flying from London to Boston. Approximately half way across the Atlantic the plane suddenly disappeared; no wreckage was ever found, not even small debris. To this day nobody knows what exactly happened and despite numerous efforts to find the wreckage, not a single piece has ever been found.

-slurp-

You've heard it a thousand times, statistically airplanes are the safest form of travel. Safer than walking, safer than driving and safer than taking the train. Yet if a plane goes down you can almost guarantee all passengers aboard will be killed. If you get into a car crash there is a chance you'll survive; especially with all the safety features available today. So how does someone come up with a statistic on air travel being the safest form of travel?

-slurp-

Personally I think statistics are mostly made up numbers. A friend of mine once told me "14.7% of all stats are completely made up". There's a hidden joke in there somewhere. When you hear things like "1 out of every 5 North Americans own a gun" you start to think. I don't own a gun, my neighbor doesn't own a gun, the guy next to him doesn't own a gun; that's 6 people right there. Of course it wouldn't take many people in my neighborhood who do own guns to make that statistic true but how the hell can such a statement be made for all the people in North America?

Statistics: a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters.

-slurp-

Can you think of other statistics you've heard and questioned? Take a look at the Stats Canada website some time (I'm sure there's a U.S. version for my friends to the South) and just look at all the data they've collected. They have stats for virtually everything on there. Have you ever wondered the percentage of people who cars or who own houses? How about how many people have been diagnosed with some disease or sickness? There are all sorts of things on there that people have taken the time to collect data and analyze. Look at my website, I keep statistics on my Tim Horton's roll-up-the-rim contest winnings and losses. You see stats everywhere you look and most of us eat them up as truth without ever doing a little bit of digging to find the truth.

-slurp-

Take my opening paragraph for example, that is a completely made up story that holds no facts. You probably believed it because you've heard similar stories of planes vanishing. I wrote that story to prove a simple point, people believe almost everything they read without ever taking the time to do a tiny bit of research to validate it. I've said it many times here, "Don't take my word for it, look it up for yourself". I've written about a lot of things over the past 5 years and I'm not always 100% accurate in my statements. Even with all the research I do there are times when I'll pick up inaccurate data and write about it. Sometimes I'm corrected and I'm thankful for that as it shows me there are still "thinking" people out there. While I do try and be as accurate as possible, I am only human and I do make mistakes.

-slurp-

You know what? Statistically speaking, 18% of all publications are inaccurate and false? Yes, I just made that up :) I'm sure it holds a certain bit of truth and the actual percentage is probably a lot higher, sadly. Just remember folks, there are times when you should really do a little bit of research on the side to validate things you read. People like prey on the ignorance of people; sales people are a great example of this. They fire off a few stats (which could be completely false) and sell you on something you either don't need or could find a better one. Be informed and know your data and don't be afraid to question stats.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.4: Sweet Tooth

2010-04-09T03:44:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

First off, happy Friday. We've finally made it through another week. This week seemed a lot longer than usual, probably because last week was short due to the holiday. I'm really looking forward to the weekend at this point, only a few more hours away!

-slurp-

This morning started off like every other. I got up late, jumped in the shower, got dressed and headed out the door. I pull up to my regular Tim Horton's and there is a massive line-up of cars at the Drive-Thru. Normally I would park, get out of my car and head inside but today I was feeling lazy and tired so I decided to wait in the line-up.

-slurp-

After waiting for approximately 10 minutes, I finally place my order; Extra Large Coffee with cream. I wait a couple more minutes to get to the drive-thru window and I was greeted with a smile and a coffee. I took the coffee, gave them my money (keep the change) and drove away. Normally my coffee is too hot to drink right away but as I put my hand on the cup this morning I could clearly tell it was only a little hot, easily drinkable.

-slurp-

Now normally first thing in the morning I'm very thirsty. I usually grab a drink of water before heading out the door but this morning I was in such a rush (see getting up late) that I forgot about it until I got my coffee. So now I'm thirsty and happy the coffee is cool enough to start drinking. I open the top and the first thing I noticed was how light colored the coffee was. Normally, and extra large with a single cream is still fairly dark but this coffee looked like it had several creams in it as it looked like chocolate milk when the bottle is empty and you pour milk in it to get the very last bits of chocolate out. That mixed with the fact that the coffee wasn't piping hot, tipped me off that this was not the coffee I ordered.

-slurp-

I cautiously brought the coffee up to my lips and took a taste. Yep, wrong coffee. Clearly someone (either ahead of me or behind me) likes more cream and sugar than actual coffee in their drink. If I could describe the taste for you I would have to say it tasted like puréed gummies mixed with cream and a hint (and I really mean a hint) of coffee flavor. It was disgusting but I was so thirsty I ending up taking a few sips of it before I had to finally set it down. It was the sweetest coffee I have ever tasted. Since becoming accustomed to drinking coffee with no sugar, any amount of sugar in coffee makes my stomach turn. Personally I think coffee should never have sugar in it, but that's just me.

-slurp-

I made it into work only a minute late; thankfully traffic was light today. I walked in and immediately went to the kitchen where I proceeded to dump the entire contents of the Extra Large coffee into the sink. I rolled up the rim (to win!) and it said "Win Rav4". No, not really, it said "Please play again" and I cursed and threw the cup into the garbage disgusted and annoyed. Not only did I get a cup full of crap, but it was also a losing cup which only soured my mood. Since there was no coffee, I decided to not write a musing but then fatigue started to take over and I decided I had to go down and get one. This time they got it right and this coffee is perfectly the way I like it. Will I win something? You'll have to check my Roll up the Rim status to find out ! :)

-slurp-

Anyway folks, that was my unaltered morning. Yes it really did happen that way and it was just as boring as I made it seem. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Get outside and do something, you'll feel better. Remember to watch for fire ants, the have one nasty bite.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.3: Happy Easter

2010-04-05T01:37:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

First off, let me start by saying Happy Easter to everyone out there in .com land. Easter is officially over, but since I didn't have much of an opportunity to say it this weekend, I'm saying it now. I had family over all weekend long and there were some good times had by all. In addition, I celebrated my 20th Birthday (again).

-slurp-

Easter is one of those holidays (like Christmas) where a lot of people tend to take part and it means something different depending on your situation. Easter was primarily a Christian holiday as that is when they remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. For others, it is a holiday where a happy little bunny comes to your house (at night of all times) and hides eggs all over and leaves behind chocolate. I remember believing in both sides as a child. One has to eventually ask themselves, what the heck does a rabbit have to do with eggs?

-slurp-

Well in a few short sentences I will explain the origins of Easter, the bunny and the eggs for you. Initially, Easter was a German holiday called Osterhase and was considered one of "Childhood's greatest pleasures". In fact, the very first edible Easter Egg was created in Germany sometime in the 1800s and was made primarily of pastry and sugar.

-slurp-

The bunny seems to have become the primary symbol of Easter even though initially it was the egg. Easter is a Spring time holiday. It symbolizes fertility and flowers and the exodus of Winter meaning nice days are ahead. I'm sure most of you have seen the Children's movie "Bambi" before. The spring time was depicted in that movie as a happy time where boy and girl animals fell in love, flowers bloomed and the scene was very colorful. Since rabbits typically give birth to very large litters, it was chosen to represent this fertile spring-time holiday. It is one of those things that doesn't make a lot of sense, but somehow it was adopted and now we recognize the rabbit as a symbol of Easter which is a symbol of spring.

-slurp-

So what does a rabbit have to do with eggs? Absolutely nothing! The origins of the egg are a bit sketchy and I'm not entirely certain about the accuracy of the information but here goes anyway. Back in the early 1600s children would build brightly colored "nests", often out of caps and bonnets, in secluded areas of their homes. The "O_ster Haws_e" would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in the nest. As the tradition spread, the nest has become the manufactured, modern Easter basket, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets (source). It is also said that eggs were colored by boiling them with flowers causing the color from the petals to soak into the egg shell creating lightly colored eggs which would be given to children during this holiday. No where is there mention of a bunny, in fact, the bunny wasn't introduced until sometime in the 1700s.

-slurp-

There are some other interesting facts on that site if you're interested and it goes into a bit more depth on the holiday and its origins. Unfortunately, I need to get back to work and get caught up on 3 days worth of emails. I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great day today.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.2: Happy April

2010-04-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Hard to believe April is finally here. One of the most expensive months of the year for us as we have several birthdays and an anniversary this month. I can't wait.

-slurp-

Unfortunately April brings change along with it. This site has provided me a place to write and express for the past several years. I've enjoyed doing it and I've enjoyed writing but not everything is meant to last forever. I made the decision back in January that I would eventually end this site and discontinue Musings over Coffee in the spring. There are just too many things going on right now and I don't always have the time to write and muse as much as I (or you) want to. As a result, I've decided to close the doors on Musings over Coffee.

-slurp-

I know this probably comes as a shock to some as all I seem to talk about these days is writing. Unfortunately that talk is starting to interfere with my "Day Job" and it has been brought to my attention that certain "people" at my work have started to take notice and will be asking me to discontinue my writing practices at work. It's sad, I really enjoy it.

-slurp-

I won't post a long drawn out musing over this as it has been decided already. I thank you all for your time here at Musings over Coffee and who knows, I may come up with another grand idea in the future and come back. Until then, this is me signing off one last time. Remember to always keep your sticks on the ice!

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.1: Tap Tap Tap

2010-03-30T01:49:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Welcome to another wonderful Tuesday morning of fun. I had a couple messed up dreams last night. I won't go into them in detail but let me just say, you shouldn't flush the entire contents of your Green Bin down the toilet; it won't work, even in the dream world.

-slurp-

So I have a new position at work. Well, it isn't actually a new position for me but it is a new team that I will be joining doing a similar job. My boss' boss came to me late last week to give me the news and asked me if I would be interested. Now before I go any further let me say there will be no more money involved, there will most likely be more work involved and I will be looking after more people than I currently do today. Why would I accept such a job offer? Quite simply because it puts me back into a co-sourced role where I take direction from the customer again and it gets me back into a part-time technical role again; something I've been missing lately.

-slurp-

This new team will actually be 2 teams combined, both co-sourced. Now for those who have no idea what I mean by co-sourced and out-sourced, let me give you a very simple explanation. Co-sourced is when the you have both a company and client manager giving you direction. In these cases, typically, the client has more say on your day-to-day job. Out-sourced is when you have no client manager and get all your direction from the company. This is a very simple explanation as there are also differences in the way we are billed and such but this should be enough to give you an idea where the issues were and why this is a good change.

-slurp-

Up until February of last year I have been Co-sourced and was fairly happy with that role. Then I was sold on this new position where I would be completely Out-sourced and have only one manager to deal with. Unfortunately, I was thrust into the middle of a power struggle between my client manager and my company manager and found myself relaying messages back and forth getting increasingly frustrated and angry at both of them. I even drafted up my resignation letter and had it printed and ready to turn in. It was a bad year.

-slurp-

I think my client manager sensed there was an issue (that and I pretty much told him I was ready to quit) and he helped me out by requesting I join this new team along with 9 others. I thought he was joking but once it was confirmed by my company manager I started to get a bit excited. Who gets excited about more work with no pay increase? I do!

-slurp-

Anyway folks, that is a bit into what's been going on lately and why I haven't been around much. Hopefully I get a chance to post more frequently as I've wanted to; especially during the roll-up season! If you haven't checked out my recent winnings/losses lately, there is a nice little link at the top of the page that will take you there. I try to keep this updated daily so it should always be fairly accurate. Take care folks and remember to take out the trash on garbage day.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v35.0: Finally Friday

2010-03-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I arrived at work a lot earlier than usual. In fact, I've arrived over an hour and a half early. Recent events have made me uneasy and I'm having trouble sleeping so while laying in bed this morning at 5AM, I decided to get up and head into work so I can hopefully leave a bit early.

-slurp-

I'm tired but at least it's Friday! The forecast here for today is calling for cold temperatures with the possibility of snow this afternoon. A definite flip from the nice weather we had last week while I was on vacation. Coming into work this morning you wouldn't know it was going to snow today; it is warm outside and it is lightly raining like a perfect spring day. I can't complain though, we've had hardly any snow this winter (compared to previous winters I've lived here) and the temperature has been fairly warm all season despite the Farmer's Almanac predicting a harsher than usual winter. With summer just around the corner, I think we've seen the worst we're going to see for this season and the weather will only get better from here on.

-slurp-

I need to stop and write about the education system. Specifically in-service days and random days off. I was a kid once and I can't recall ever having as many days off school as kids today get. My kids have an in-service day today which makes at least 3 (maybe 4) this year so far. That is in addition to March break and all the other holidays. Now I realize things have changed considerably since I was a child in school (Principals were allowed to spank and strap children back in my day) and I realize teachers need this day to advance their teaching skills but is it really necessary to have so many of them? Maybe there seems to be more because I'm a parent and not a kid, but it really feels like kids today get a lot more days off school than I used to. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining (really), I'm more curious as to why.

-slurp-

Regarding my Roll-up 2010 page, I wanted to explain the Free coffees I've been getting. If you've been following along you've probably noticed that I've gotten more Free coffee from Roll-Up wins than I've won. This is because I typically buy a hot drink for my wife and kids on weekends when I go get myself a coffee. This usually means I get 4 chances to win a free coffee instead of 1. I only record my personal winnings and losses on the page but when one of my kids wins a free coffee, they usually give it to me. Of course if I told them they could substitute that for any hot drink (Hot Chocolate for example), they probably wouldn't hand them to me :) So if you're looking at the page and wondering how I got so many free coffees with only winning 4 so far, that is why.

-slurp-

For those of you who have been following along you'll note as of this musing, I've won 5 times out of 31 plays. That puts me well under the 1 in 9 odds Tim Horton's advertises so I'm feeling pretty good about my winnings. While I haven't won anything bigger than a Coffee yet, I'm still holding on to hope for the Rav4 or Cash prizes. A couple weeks ago someone won the Rav4 at the same Tim Horton's I buy my coffee from every morning. I was a bit disappointed because on the morning the Rav4 was won, I had to get gas before heading into work so I decided to skip my regular Tim Horton's for the one closer to the gas station on my way to work. I was kicking myself when I found out that someone who bought a coffee at my regular location that morning had won the Rav4. It could have been me!

-slurp-

Anyway folks, the purpose of getting in early today was to get ahead in work and get some things taken care of early. I plan on releasing the next chapter of my novel today so keep checking my Untitled Novel page for that update. This weekend I plan on spending some time doing some editing on the first few chapters to clean them up a bit. The novel is far from complete but I plan on finishing it soon, I just need some motivation. Until next time...

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.9: Hello Mr. Theclaw

2010-03-24T01:17:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It has been a few days since I posted last so I must apologize for not being more on the ball. Sunday I started coming down with a nice little cold and flu which resulted in me extending my time off by a day as I called in sick Monday. I spent most of the day laying down and resting and didn't get an opportunity to post. That means yesterday was officially my first day back in the office and before I realized I hadn't posted a musing, it was already the end of the day.

-slurp-

So here I am, first thing Wednesday morning (feels like a Tuesday) and I decided to post a quick musing before getting started. It is hot in the office today. Of all the days I picked to wear a sweater into work it would have to be the day they cranked the heat. If you're reading this before heading into work, dress in layers!

-slurp-

I started playing a new MMOG (Massive Multi-player Online Game) last night called Allods. This is a free to play game that very much has a World of Warcraft look and feel to it. The game starts off in a tutorial mode which helps new players figure out how to move around and play. Luckily for me the game operates exactly like WoW so there was nothing really to learn. I started a "Druid" character for one reason only, it starts with a pet to assist you in battle.

-slurp-

Now I'm not one who usually talks about online gaming much in my musings but since this site is ramblings from a UNIX geek and gamer, I felt it was an appropriate topic for today. The only reason I mention the game is because I have a friend who plays a Druid class in WoW named Oliver (name changed to protect his real identity) and he is very pro-Druid. Druids in WoW have the ability to shape-shift and turn into various forms to assist in battle. Thus far, Oliver has spent more time in his bear form than any other and he nick names himself "The Claw". I laugh when he says that because there is already a character on our server named Theclaw so when he makes comments like, "The Claw is superior" or "The Claw is the best Druid in the game", I assume he's talking about the other character.

-slurp-

Anyway, 'Oliver' loves his Druid so much that I decided to pay tribute to him with my Druid in Allods. As mentioned earlier, the Druid class in this other game has a pet he controls which is used to fight with the Druid. Well, during the character creation phase of the game, you need to name your pet and change it's appearance just like customizing your character look. It just so happens that the pet you start out with is a bear! Well I decided to pick a skin and color very similar to the way Oliver's character looks in his bear form in WoW and I even named the pet with the same name. I had a good chuckle as I sent my bear into battle and watched him do my bidding. It was so fun, in fact, that I had to take a screenshot and post it on our forums so he could see it. I've posted it here for your enjoyment as well.

-slurp-

-slurp-

Ahh, good times. I don't know if I'll keep up with the game; the price is right but gaming is only really fun when you can play with your friends and I highly doubt any of my friends would be interested in this game. It isn't that spectacular though I've seen some pretty cool things thus far like a Mage casting this icy beam at a mob which made that ice crackle sound as it froze the enemy. Very cool I must admit and later on I can build a flying ship and take part in ship-to-ship PvP (Player vs. Player) combat. Sounds like fun, but we'll see.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, the time has come for me to bid you farewell for today. Remember to always shower before heading into work and keep your sticks on the ice!

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.8: Where did it go?

2010-03-18T03:36:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I am almost certain I wrote a musing yesterday but after looking at the site today there doesn't appear to be one. The lack of daily structure has caused my days to run together somewhat and I love it.

-slurp-

My vacation has been great so far. I'm not thinking on work or anything else work-related that will spoil my free time; my thoughts are on my family and myself and enjoying the week together. Yesterday my son and I spent the later part of the morning washing the car in the driveway. It was a beautiful day (as it has been all week) and the temperature climbed to 14C (57.2F) here. Our car was very dirty and despite our best efforts it is still a little dirty looking. Perhaps today or tomorrow we'll get out the bucket of water again and give it another cleaning.

-slurp-

I'm getting a little taste for what it will be like when we win the lottery. Being able to do what I want every day and spending time with my wife and kids is very enjoyable. Alas, the reality of the situation has me going back to work on Monday and enduring what will be a horrible week of playing catch-up and probably dealing with some issues that happened last week (or at least hearing about them). But right now I don't care, that is still 4 LONG days away and I plan on making the most of them.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, I must take off for now. Remember to always wash your hands after using the bathroom.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.7: Blue Sky

2010-03-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

Afternoon folks,

-slurp-

The sky is blue and so is my mood today. We just got back from the park with the kids and that was the highlight of the last 24 hours.

-slurp-

Times are hard. What makes things worse is family drama. Those of you whom I game with may find this hard to believe, but I hate drama; it tires me out and can be quite stressful. Sometimes gaming drama can be interesting, but when there is real-life drama going on it, in addition to everything else, it can really wear a person out FAST. We've been going through a bout of family drama lately. Not directly related to my family, but with my sister and her family. I'm not going to give any details other than I'm tired of it. I'm tired of seeing my sister get frustrated and angry over this and I'm tired of the bull shit she has had to endure. It isn't fair and it has to stop.

-slurp-

You see folks, life is hard and sometimes people do things they aren't too terribly proud of. I've been there as I'm sure most of you have. Sometimes we screw up bad and it takes a long time to recover from it. In the case with my sister, I don't see any "nice" solution to the problem and I fear it will get worse before it gets better. I often sit here and wonder what the hell happened. I am an outsider looking in and I only see what I see. I've talked to both sides and found myself torn between family and friendship. How can someone be a friend to someone else when they have hurt a family member? On the flip side, how can one throw away over 10 years of friendship? This is the issue I'm faced with (in addition to the plethora of other things I'm dealing with) and this "drama" is starting to really wear me out. I can only imagine how my sister feels, I'm sure "worn out" doesn't even begin to describe it.

-slurp-

We push on and take it one day at a time; or in this case, one hour at a time. It is one of those things you wish you could just wake up from and have it all be a bad dream. Unfortunately, the dream is life and we won't "wake up" from it until we die. So what is one to do? Like most things in life, you just have to deal with it. It's hard and it doesn't seem fair but there is good in all this. For starters, happiness is back. My sister hasn't seemed this happy in quite awhile. My old sister is back and she has a smile on her face, not the facade of a smile that I've seen these past few years. My niece seems happier too despite being dragged through the mud along with all the other drama; something a child should NEVER have to deal with. That almost makes me angry when I think about it. Children are very trusting and naive. They are very impressionable, especially when guidance comes from a parent or close relative. Children deal with things a lot different than adults. While adults put on a good face and hurt on the inside, children wear their emotions on their sleeves and you can usually tell when they're hurting. Children should never need to worry about the things parents worry about and should be sheltered and protected from drama like this; not brought into the middle of it.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, as I said my mood is blue and I'm not much in the mood to write today. Hopefully things turn around tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.6: Time Flies

2010-03-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

Good Morning folks,

-slurp-

I'm finding it difficult to believe it is already Monday. This past weekend is a bit of a blur but at the same time, made up with good memories. I've hosted a lot of LAN parties in the past but this was the first LAN party I hosted that nearly spanned a day and a half.

-slurp-

Before I continue with the story I should point out that I am not drinking a Tim Horton's coffee this morning. Sadly, it has been a couple days now since I've had one. Today is simply a home brew coffee with a touch of skim milk in it; just enough to wake me up so I can write.

-slurp-

The LAN party started Saturday afternoon. Both of my sisters came by for a BBQ supper. We had burgers and hot dogs and a plain ol' good time. It was nice, it has been a long time since we all got together and had a BBQ; though it wasn't the same. My youngest sister has brought over a PC for later when her other half got off work and we were looking forward to an evening/night/morning of playing World of Warcraft. The setup was fairly simple: we grabbed a card table and set it up behind my desk and that is where we moved my Son's PC (who was sleeping over at a friends house) for my sister to use and then we setup the other PC where my Son's desk was and that was where Juggs was going to play. It wasn't a perfect setup, but it worked and we played well into the wee hours of the morning.

-slurp-

The next day was much of the same, most of us only had a few hours sleep the night before so we were all dragging our heels around the house. My sister and her boyfriend decided to stay the day as well and there was more WoW gaming and another BBQ. This time we had roasted potatoes and steaks along with my wife's rich and creamy Caesar salad. There was more WoW afterwards and it wasn't until sometime after 10PM they decided to head home so my sister could get some sleep before she worked the next day.

-slurp-

It was a fun weekend and I'm looking forward to a fun week ahead. Well folks, that's all I have for now. I plan on writing every day this week though there may be days it will come later than normal. I hope everyone has a great day and I'll see you here again tomorrow.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.5: Finally it's Friday!

2010-03-12T01:37:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

What a beautiful morning it is. The forecast for today is sunny with a high of +10C (+50F). This is also my last day of work for the next 9 days and I'm quite happy about it.

-slurp-

I have my extra large 1 cream from Tim Horton's, I am awake and there was only 1 email in my Inbox this morning when I got into the office. Couple that with the other stuff above and you can plainly see it is going to be a good day for me today. Well, I'm hoping it will be a good day anyway.

-slurp-

I wanted to take some time and reflect back over the past few years I've been writing Musings over Coffee. As I've mentioned before, it wasn't originally my idea but a friend of mine who had an email list he sent a mail to every morning while he was at work. The list started off small (a few friends and family members) and slowly grew over time. He only stuck with it for a few months, but every morning we would all look forward to getting that email. After he stopped writing, I decided to pick up where he left off and start my own Musing over Coffee. I had no idea what I was doing (still don't) and here I am 5 years later still doing it.

-slurp-

Some facts:

Originally, Musings over Coffee was written under my fiendz.net domain. It wasn't until around this time in 2009 when I finally registered musingsovercoffee.com to house my Musings.

I have been writing Musings over Coffee since March 1, 2005 when Musing over Coffee v1.0 was first published.

Today's musing is v34.5 which means I've written 346 musings to-date (including this one).

Total published posts to-date: 423

Total comments on published posts: 286

I am unable to get a total word count but on average I would say each of my posts is around 1,000 words, so take that and multiply by 346 and you'll get approximately 346,000 words. Of course that 1,000 is only an average, some of my posts are shorter and some are much longer; I'm sure it all evens out in the end.

-slurp-

Well folks, time to finish up some last minute things before my vacation starts. I still plan on posting daily during my vacation as I sit back at home drinking my Tim Horton's coffee. I mean, who doesn't like having time off and drinking Tim Horton's coffee? :) Take care everyone, and I hope you all have a great weekend.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.4: One More Day!

2010-03-11T01:08:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I have one more day before I start 9 days off. I've been looking forward to this week off for a long time and finally it is almost here. If I remember correctly, this is the first solid week off I've had since this time last year (March Break). How does one burn through 3 weeks of vacation in a year without ever taking an entire week off? Very very carefully.

-slurp-

So what are my plans next week? Other than getting my Tim Horton's coffee for roll up the rim and writing daily here, I have no big plans to speak of. The kids will be out of school and there is a potential for some all-day babysitting for my wife but other than that we will be staying close to home and hopefully the weather is nice so I can get outside and do some minor repairs and clean-up around the house. I also need to assess the pool to make sure there was no damage done this winter and start getting ready to open that up in a few months. All things considered, we've had a very mild winter this year. I can only think of a few days where it was really cold and there were only a couple days where there was a lot of snow and the schools were canceled. I was talking to my elderly neighbor the other day and he was telling me about going fishing in May and there still would be snow on the ground and ice in the rivers. Here we are in March and there is no snow anywhere and the ice is melting off the lakes. They say global warming is a myth :)

-slurp-

I was watching another documentary on TV last night around the 2012 predictions. Last night they were talking about a tenth planet in our solar system that follows a completely different orbit than the others. This plant has passed by the earth before and because of the size and magnetic field coupled with the close proximity it will by the earth, it is enough to destabilize the Earth's magnetic field and cause the tectonic plates to shift. According to the ancient Egyptians, this has happened before and some of the old texts describe this huge ball shaped object in the sky which has brought destruction before and will again.

-slurp-

Now I've heard a few different ways we're going to meet our end in 2012. The movie 2012 actually covers one theory where the Sun will blast the earth with solar radiation causing the plates of the Earth's crust to all shift. While the special effects in the movie were great, I highly doubt things will happen this way should an event like this really take place.

-slurp-

So why 2012? What is so significant about that year? Why do Ancient Egyptians, Mayans and other ancient civilizations all predict the end of the Earth around the same time? I also find the actual date interesting. Since we recognize the Winter solstice on the 21st Day of December, there appears to be some significance to this event (even though it probably happens a bit before or a bit after the actual date) and the year. Scientists are also saying the Solar Cycle will reach its next peek in 2012 and they are predicting this next cycle will be much worse than the last. You can click on the link above to read more about it but from looking over the data and information I could find on the effects of Solar Radiation and the effects it has on the Earth, I highly doubt the next Solar Cycle will be enough to cause any major issues other than some more power outages or loss of satellites in space. But what do I know? I'm no scientist and haven't dedicated most of my life studying the Solar Cycle, so don't take my word on it.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, enough dooms day talk for today. What happens will happen and there is not much we can do to stop it. I hope we have more than a couple years left but nobody knows the day or hour when we will be gone. Well, someone does, but that is a Musing best left for another day :) Take care folks and we'll see you here tomorrow.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.3: Wrong Turn Wednesday

2010-03-10T01:38:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Typically when I have a boring drive into work I tend to spice it up with some fictional events. Well today I don't need to do that.

-slurp-

For the most part, it was a fairly typical drive into the office this morning. I spent an hour of my life in traffic listening to the radio with thoughts of writing my musing on my mind. Sadly, most mornings, I'm usually on "auto pilot" when I drive into work and rarely remember much about the drive unless something out of the ordinary happens, like today.

-slurp-

I would classify my driving as habitual. I rarely drive unless I'm going to work or going to the grocery store. Since I have the destination in my mind, I know all the turns to make and how to get to my destination without thinking too hard about it. Sometimes when we go for a drive elsewhere, I end up taking wrong turns because habitually I'm used to turning right at intersection X when I should have turned left. Well today, I was thinking about what to write in my musing today and there were a bunch of different thoughts floating through my head. It was during one of these thoughts that I took a wrong turn on my way to work and it took me awhile to correct the mistake and get turned back around and heading in the right direction.

-slurp-

I was in the downtown area of the city and making my way to the street where I park when I turned right a street early. Anyone who has driven in Halifax will know the road infrastructure here is a nightmare on the good days and today it was worse. Needless to say, a simple error like this will typically set you back. I somehow ended up on the other side of the downtown core on the "wrong side of the tracks". This is the part of the city where if you look at the wrong person, it could be the end of you. I come to a 4-way stop and am just about to pull away when this man jumps out in front of me and puts both hands on the hood of my car. He had blood running down the side of his face from some kind of head wound and he looked to be quite intoxicated. My first thought was to step on it and get the hell out of there but there was something in this guy's eyes that seemed to ask for help. I rolled down my window and yelled out asking if the guy was ok and if he needed any help. Of course no sooner had the words left my lips when another man came out from one of the alley-ways holding a gun and had it pointed at the man. I was freaking. I began to hammer the horn and in the process nearly ran over the man in front of my car.

-slurp-

The man just stood there, head turned, looking at the approaching gunman. I had flashes of my family in my mind and how I may never get a chance to see them again. Then I heard the guy with the gun yell out for the man to put his hands up and he was under arrest. It was then that I noticed the gunman had a badge swinging on a chain around his neck and then all of a sudden 3 police cruisers came out of nowhere and had me and this other guy surrounded. It was like a scene out of a movie. The wounded man simply sighed and hung his head as if giving up and then all of a sudden he looked up and straight at me through the windshield. He had that knowing look in his eye and a slight smile on his lips and within the blink of an eye he was gone; disappeared right in front of me. If it hadn't been for the dirty bloody hand prints on the hood of my car, it would have been like the guy never existed at all. The cop began to curse and came over to my car asking me if I was alright. I could only nod, I was still trying to figure out what exactly happened and how I could write about this in my musing.

-slurp-

After a brief interview with the police I was allowed to leave and continue my drive to work. As I pulled into my parking spot the wounded man materialized beside me in the passenger seat. I nearly drove my car into the concrete wall in surprise. The man was smiling. He thanked me for saving him and when I asked him what happened and how he had just disappeared, he simply looked down and smiled. As he opened the door to get out of my car he looked at me again. I got the feeling he wanted to tell me something but he just shook his head and got out. As the door shut behind him he disappeared yet again and I was left sitting behind the wheel with the car running wondering what the heck just happened.

-slurp-

Then I woke up. :)

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.2: Neither Rhyme nor Reason

2010-03-09T01:25:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

In 1564 the man who coined the phrase "Neither Rhyme nor Reason" was born. Many of us know who this man is and in his short 52 years of life, wrote some fairly amazing stories and plays. You know him as William Shakespeare.

-slurp-

The phrase actually comes from one of his plays titled "Comedy of Errors" which was written in 1590. It simply means something makes no sense, from either a poetic or logical standpoint. I have encountered such a thing today as I arrived at work; the ever annoying Annual Performance Appraisals.

-slurp-

In general, performance appraisals are a good thing. They allow managers to point out issues (or in the odd cases, good work) an employee is having and also allows the employee to provide feedback and provide a self evaluation. This year I get to do appraisals for my team members and I'm so excited because my company has already stated there were no annual increases this year so really this entire process becomes moot and pointless. I see neither rhyme nor reason to actually do an annual performance appraisal if it has no impact on whether one of my team members is going to get a raise this year. It is completely pointless and a complete waste of time. To make matters worse, the time line to have these wonderful things completed takes place while I'm on vacation next week. So guess what I'll be doing?

-slurp-

I could write about this all day but that wasn't my intention when I came into the office today. I typically spend my drive into work thinking on a topic to write about and usually by the time I get into the office I have either forgotten what it was I was going to write about or I get side tracked and need to work. Thankfully it looks like it was a fairly quiet night last night and things seem to be good today.

-slurp-

Regardless of how much I'd rather sit here and write, I need to go and start my day. I do have a pile of things that need to get done this week before I start my performance appraisals vacation (yay), so until tomorrow..

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.1: No Title Monday

2010-03-08T01:52:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It is Monday yet again. This morning I plan on greeting Monday with a smile on my face and a "spring" in my step. Despite the fact I had to work for a few hours on Sunday, I'm feeling fairly good about Monday. The sun is out, the temperature is fairly warm and there are flowers springing up in my front yard garden. I'm feeling good.

-slurp-

I wish I could say this weekend was a successful roll-up weekend. I had 2 coffees on Saturday and 2 on Sunday and nary a win was had. Currently the odds in winning are 1 in 9 and I believe I'm currently sitting at 1 in 10. The roll-up season started out promising, but is looking to be taking a turn for the worse. Perhaps today will be another lucky day? We shall see.

-slurp-

I did a fair bit of gaming this weekend despite the nice weather. We went for a walk down to the part Sunday morning and let the kids play for a bit. Our baby daughter is getting so big I'm finding it hard to believe she is over a year old already. Time sure is flying by. Sunday afternoon the family chilled out while I was working. Yes, I was online Sunday afternoon at the height of the nice day, and was working. I actually got the call while we were out to the park and when I arrived home and checked my Blackberry I saw the missed call and voicemail. Needless to say, I didn't want to check it but I thought I better since it may be important and anything I can do to make my Monday a better day is a good thing.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, the time has come to bid you all farewell for another day. Now I will roll-up my rim to see if I am a winner!

-roll-

SIGH

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v34.0: Friday Failure

2010-03-05T02:36:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I had a really hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning. I think the only thing that kept me going was the thought of my Tim Horton's coffee. I hope this one is a winner!

-slurp-

Well it is finally Friday and this has been a very interesting week for me. I was in the office a total of two days all week and it still feels like I was here every single day. Will there ever be any rest from the madness? Monday was a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs. The day started off ok, then the Dr's appointment sent us for a loop. This was followed by my special "meeting" in the afternoon which was a ride up which was quickly followed by other things to bring me down again. I typically like roller-coasters but when it is a roller-coaster of life, you tend to get very exhausted. But life is like that isn't it? People have ups and downs all the time. Some have more downs than ups and others seem to be born with one of those smiles that never go away; always happy and cheerful. I had a friend who was always happy and cheerful. You could be down in the dumps and he would come along and always make you feel a little bit better. He often referred to rain as "liquid sunshine"; that's right "liquid sunshine". I tried to avoid him when I wasn't in the mood for cheer because he would always try too hard to make people feel good; sometimes to the point where it was so annoying it would have the opposite effect.

-slurp-

So why is my Friday a failure? Well perhaps failure is the wrong word to use there. I awoke late this morning and had to hurry out the door so I wouldn't be late for work. I had to stop at the gas station and drop $50 in fuel to fill up my car and dodge black ice all the way to work. I watched several drivers switch lanes without signaling and even had one asshat nearly sideswipe me because he just wasn't paying attention. I believe he was even talking on his cell phone which is now illegal to do here without a hands-free kit. I got to work a few minutes late which is no biggie since I put in my hours and often work more than I'm supposed to (last Friday I put in 13 hours).

-slurp-

Last night before logging off I checked my calendar for today. I had no meeting scheduled so I was looking forward to a fairly quiet Friday to get caught up on some things. I arrived to work this morning and my calendar had 3 meetings in it and I needed to schedule one more. What a way to end the work week, in meetings most of the day. But that is the way it goes in the manager world I guess, we get to sit around in meetings and talk about things for hours and hardly ever resolve anything. I find most meetings a complete waste of time that could easily be a simple email thread. Why to managers have this need to block an hour of your time to talk? It doesn't make a lot of sense and I think it is a waste of money.

-slurp-

I digress, of course, I could go on and on about how things "should" work but in practice I fall into the same hole. The only difference is I get flack for not scheduling enough meetings when our team needs them; I hate meetings THAT much.

-slurp-

Well, that's the last of the coffee so I guess I better wrap this up. Wish me luck!

-roll-

SON OF A.... Please Play Again! Oh well, maybe next time. Today feels like a 2 coffee day so maybe I'll win the $10,000 this afternoon. Until next time...

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v33.9: Salty

2010-03-04T04:12:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

Sorry for the lack of musing yesterday. I was feeling a bit under the weather and had to take a sick day from work. It wasn't very nice so I will save you all from the details.

-slurp-

So what started out as a good start to my 2010 Roll-Up season has quickly started to plummet. My first coffee of the season was a win but nothing since then. I did brave a coffee yesterday (big mistake) and it was another loss. We can only hope that this coffee I'm drinking right now will have a winning tab; I'm very excited!

-slurp-

The word on the street is we're in for a big storm today. Almost every single school in the southern part of the province has been shut down for the day as everyone awaits the storm. Every school except the ones in Halifax that is. As I was driving the kids to school this morning my car was being pelted by freezing rain, the salt trucks had been out earlier and all the roads were covered in this fine mist of salt; there won't be much in the way of icy roads today I guess.

-slurp-

Ever wonder why salt is used to get rid of ice? Why do we throw salt on our sidewalks and steps? Why do big trucks full of salt drop it all over our highways and roads? Why do some places use dirt or sand on their roads instead of salt? As some of you know, salt can be a mess and it causes premature rusting on our vehicles. It also causes a lot of salt dust when it dries out on the roads and cars driving will kick this dust up and spread it around; I'm sure that stuff can't be good for the environment especially if is starts to coat the roadside vegetation.

-slurp-

So why salt? Well to put it simply, salt water doesn't freeze at the same temperature as normal water. In most cases, normal water will freeze at 0 C (20 F) where as water with 10% salt solution will freeze around -16 C (2 F). By putting salt on ice, you are causing the salt to dissolve into the ice thereby changing the chemical composition of the water to a salt solution which changes the temperate at which it will freeze. Simple right? Of course this only works when the temperature is above a certain level. Since way up North it gets a lot colder, the use of salt is fairly useless. This is why sand or dirt is used to provide traction on icy roads. It may be a muddy mess when it warms up but it won't slowly eat away at the metal in your vehicle like salt will.

-slurp-

So there you have it, learn something new everyday. With that little tidbit of information I must bid you all farewell for another day. Time to roll up the rim!

-roll-

DAMMIT! Oh well, maybe tomorrow. Until next time, remember to watch out for those icy roads and drive safe.

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v33.8: All A Dream

2010-03-02T01:41:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It is Tuesday. Not that Tuesdays are super exciting, especially when you're at work, but they are a heck of a lot better than Mondays. Actually, today feels like a Monday for me as yesterday almost seems like a dream.

-slurp-

When I think back on all the things that happened yesterday I find it hard to believe it all happened within a single day. It was crazy. Things went well at my "meeting" and I'm excited about the opportunity. I don't know why I wasn't nervous walking in there, I guess it had something to do with that feeling confidence and purpose. I know what I want, I know how to get there, I just need to get off my lazy ass and get it done. Unfortunately, when you're in that "comfortable" zone, it is hard to get up and do something else; but I did it and I'm glad I did.

-slurp-

Roll Up the Rim is in full swing now and I'm loving it. I love this time of year. Everyone is walking around with the red Tim Horton's cups and rolling up the rim. It is an exciting time and I'm glad to be taking part in it again this year. Hey, maybe Tim Horton's will take notice of me doing this and want to link to my blog :) Oh, and don't forget to buy me a coffee!

-slurp-

Well folks, the distractions of started and now I must bid you all farewell for now. Oh wait, I forgot to roll up my rim.

-roll-

SON OF A....

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v33.7: Gold For The Win

2010-03-01T02:42:00.000-08:00

Morning folks,

-slurp-

"He waited until the final moment - with Canada teetering on the brink of a national panic attack - before Sidney Crosby put his mark on this game, this gold medal, this emerging legacy." - CTV News

Oh yeah!

-slurp-

What a great game last night. Just when you thought Canada was going to win it, the U.S. comes back and ties it up with just over 20 seconds left in the 3rd. I cried out; loudly. I don't know what comes over me sometimes when I'm watching hockey. I don't recall ever being a huge Hockey fan but when I get into a game, I cheer and curse like the best of them. For those who have been living under a rock this past couple weeks (17 days to be exact), I'm referring to the 2010 Winter Olympics and the gold medal game for Men's Hockey. It was U.S. vs. Canada in what I'm sure was the most watched hockey game ever on national T.V. I couldn't find any numbers, but there are reports of people celebrating all over the country. Bars spilling out into the streets to cheer and celebrate, some streets were even shut down due to the celebrations. It was a night to remember and a proud day for our country.

-slurp-

Of course I could write all day about the Olympics and all the events I watched and all the gold medals we won but I'll leave that for another day. As I mentioned yesterday, roll up the rim is finally here! My first coffee was a win and to make it even sweeter, it was free. I bought another coffee this morning (forgetting about my win at home) and hopefully I will win again. I will be keeping my Roll-Up 2010 page up-to-date as I win and lose and you can follow along daily. Hell, this would be a GREAT time for someone to buy me a coffee :)

-slurp-

Well folks, I got up late today and there are a couple of important appointments today that I'm a bit nervous about. As I've done every year for the last 3 Roll-Up contests, I will be posting here every single day until the contest is over. It is that one time a year where we can truly celebrate coffee and hopefully win something along the way. Thanks for dropping by and remember, if you see a Moose walking down a busy Canadian city street, just smile, we live in Canada.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v33.6: Roll-Up Has Begun!!

2010-02-28T05:33:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

-slurp-

Just wanted to post a quick note to let you all know that Roll Up The Rim has officially started at Tim Horton's and my first coffee (which was bought for me - Thanks Juggs!) was a winner! Check back daily for a new musing and updates to my coffee list.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v33.5: Ferocious Friday

2010-02-26T02:08:00.000-08:00

Morning folks,

-slurp-

It is a ferocious Friday out there today. Overnight we were hit with a fairly large storm and we're expecting to get a few inches of rain and 100km/h winds today. The drive into work was... interesting.

-slurp-

I wasn't going to come into the office today. If it hadn't been for the loss of power at our house, I would have definitely stayed in. Unfortunately, it wasn't until I was almost to work that my wife called and told me the power had come back on. I'm so excited to be at work today!

-slurp-

So the drive in was interesting, but you have no idea how interesting it was. First off, my regular Tim Horton's was closed this morning because it too had no power. So I drove on to my other spot (which is still on the way to work) and pulled into the driveway. The drive-thru was backed up all the way to the street and this place has a very long drive-thru. I got in the lineup and waited. I'm guessing it was at least 20 minutes in line before I finally got my order. I pulled away from the building and made my way back onto the street and toward the highway. Despite how wet I was and the rain coming down, I was quite thirsty, so I decided to crack open the coffee and take a drink. I damn near burned my mouth. I don't normally drink my coffee as soon as I get it since I only take 1 cream in it. After a quiet curse, I put the coffee back in the coffee holder and continued on.

-slurp-

I got to the highway and was already dreading the drive in. Cars were lined up as far as I could see going in-bound. This was going to be one of those days where I should have stayed home. Against my better judgment I pulled onto the exit ramp and down to the highway. Traffic wasn't at a stand-still but they were moving very slow. The wind was rocking all our vehicles and the raid was pounding hard. Even with my windshield wipers on full-speed I wasn't able to see through the water that quickly covered my windshield. It went like this for at least half an hour until finally I could see what was causing the hold-up, a car in the right lane with their 4-way flashers on. Great.

-slurp-

I decided to pull into the left lane early so I put on my signal and some nice person allowed me to merge in. I gave a polite wave through my rear window knowing full well the person behind me would never see it, but it made me feel better for doing it. Traffic was slower in the left lane as everyone made way to allow for those in the right to merge over. We slowly crept up on the stalled vehicle and that is when I noticed there was someone outside waving their hands at the cars passing by; it was almost as if this person wanted someone to stop, which nobody was.

-slurp-

I passed by the car and decided I would pull over in front of him to see what was up. Yes I was going to be late for work, nothing was going to help that now and yes I was going to get wet but hey, if we don't look out for each other what's the point right? I flipped up the collar on my jacket, cursing that I didn't bring my hat with me, and opened the door and got out. The person ran toward me waving his hands in the air. He was a young male, probably in his mid 20s. I later found out his name was Dave. He ran up to me and grabbed my jacket and started making his way back to the stalled car. I shook free and was getting ready to retreat to my car when I could hear yelling coming from the car. Dave was frantic, couldn't get a single coherent word out. I decided (against everything I was ever taught) to head over and check out what was happening.

-slurp-

I peeked into the car and there was this woman in the backseat and she was quite obviously pregnant and breathing very heavily and in a lot of pain. It didn't take long for me to realize this woman was in labor and, by the looks of things, was about to have a baby in the back seat of her car. Now I'm not some miracle worker here, I have no idea how to deliver a baby but I've seen it done a few times now and figured if something didn't happen now, this poor woman and her baby would die. I turned to Dave, grabbed him by the shoulder and gave him a firm slap across the face. At first I thought the guy was going to hit me back but he blinked several times and seemed to snap out of whatever he was on. I asked him if he had called 911. He nodded yes and said they were on their way. I asked him if he had any blankets or anything in his car we could use; he ran to the back of his car and began tugging on the trunk lid. This guy was frantic and was doing me no good to have him around. I reached in the driver-side door and found the trunk release button, the trunk popped open and Dave nearly fell over backwards. He regained his balance and pulled out a big blanket from the trunk of his car.

-slurp-

By this time a couple more people had stopped and were asking if we needed help, all I could hear was this woman screaming, the rain pounding and the wind blowing harder than I've ever seen it. I started to coach the woman on her breathing, she was obviously scared and had no idea what she was doing. I asked her what her name was, it was Kim. I asked her if this was her first child and she nodded yes between breaths. I asked her if she was feeling the baby coming and she nodded yes and then screamed. I turned to Dave who had calmed down considerably and told him the baby was coming and we were going to need to deliver inside the car. We grabbed the blanket, layed it across the seat under her and began to prepare as much as we could.

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At this point I frightened, I have no idea what I'm doing. I remember the recent birth of our daughter just over a year ago and I recall some of the steps that were performed prior to the birth but we didn't have time, this baby was coming and there was nothing we could do to slow it down. I told Kim we were going to need to deliver this baby in the car and told her she needed to push between the contractions. She nodded. Dave got into the car beside her and held her hand while I climbed in the other side to hopefully deliver this baby. Now there were quite a few people standing around watching, I turned my head to see several dozen people behind me. I yelled out if anyone here was a doctor or nurse and there were no responses. Kim started to yell again, I turned back and could see the head. I remembered this part. I remembered it all too well.

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I'm going to omit the details of the birth. While childbirth is a beautiful thing, there are aspects of it that are a bit too disgusting to write about. I will say the baby is fine, it's a girl, and Kim and Dave are currently at the hospital with their new daughter, happy and healthy. After meeting with the paramedics and police, I cleaned up and made my way into the office, obviously late. I had no idea how I was going to explain myself to my boss or my co-workers. I was a wreck as well, soaked to the bone, hair sticking in every direction and was in no condition to work.

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I sat down at my desk and realized I had daydreamed the whole thing. In fact, the drive to work was uneventful as usual and in order to make a boring drive more exciting I made up a story to keep it interesting. In fact, the only interesting thing that happened my entire morning on my way into the office was my car went sideways on the highway when I hit a massive puddle. I recovered control fine and continued on my way. I really need to get more sleep at night.

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Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v33.4: The Big Sigh

2010-02-25T01:34:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

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I hope everyone is having a great week. This week hasn't been so great for me, but I'm making it through and I guess that's all you can ask for these days. I'm sure you've all heard the saying "Money can't buy happiness". Well, I'm here to tell you today that if I had money, I would be extremely happy!

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Today I'm sighing. I'm not sure if it is a good or bad sigh yet but right now it doesn't feel very good. As some of you may have already heard (through Buzz), the company I'm working for has decided there will be no annual raises again this year. If you've been reading Musings over Coffee for awhile you'll know this came as a shock to a lot of us here. This is the second year in a row we haven't had any raises and it happened 4 years ago as well. In the last 4 years I've gotten one raise and that raise was such a joke it didn't even cover the average cost of living increase in Canada.

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There is this thing, I'm sure you've all heard of, call "Cost of Living" or Inflation. It means exactly what it says. Think about how much money you spend every year to simply live. This cost varies depending on what you're talking about but generally covers everything from home utility bills to food (regular household groceries not fast food). To put it simply, every year there is a hike in the cost of living. While it may only be a few cents for some items, the overall cost of living adds up quite fast when you consider all the necessities people buy to simply live.

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The Bank of Canada has a nifty little Inflation Calculator which will show you how much the cost of living has increased. Take, for example, how much inflation has increased since I was a baby. In the last 34 years, inflation has increased 279.87% in Canada. This means that what would have cost us $100.00 in 1976 now costs us $379.87 today. Granted that is quite a long period of time to use as an example so let's use one a little more close to home; the last 4 years. According to the Bank of Canada inflation calculator, a basket of good that would have cost $100.00 4 years ago would now cost you $106.38. That's an increase of 6.38%. Now that doesn't look like a lot when you compare it to $100.00, but what if you compared that to a year's worth of spending? Let's say for example you make $30,000 a year. Of that $30,000 a year you spend $20,000 a year to live (these are just rough figures folks). Based on a 6.38% inflation over the last 4 years, what would have cost you $20,000 to survive in 2006 will cost you $21,275.42 today. Now you're looking at spending an extra $1,275 dollars a year to survive; that's over $100 a month extra in the last 4 years. I don't know about you, but I could really use an extra $100 a month right now.

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Of course these numbers are only estimates. They don't take into consideration things like rate hikes or tax hikes in certain provinces or states. They also don't take into consideration family changing events like having a new baby or hospital bills and other various "life" expenses. Those too go up and every year will cost more and more. Don't ask me how I got on this tangent, when I initially sat down this morning I wanted to avoid this topic but for some reason it took over and here I am writing about inflation and providing stats. Perhaps I'm in the wrong field of work :)

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Anyway folks, while there may be a sigh of sadness at the beginning, there is also a sigh of relief and hopefully a light at the end of the tunnel. As a result of this recent announcement (as well as other various issues that have happened over the last year), I've decided to finally start looking for work. I know I've talked about it a lot but this time I've actually submitted resumes and already have a couple interviews scheduled. I've been holding onto this job because I was comfortable here. I know pretty much everyone in my engagement and I have a lot of flexibility in my job and time. Unfortunately that hasn't been enough because regardless of how flexible things are at work there are still bills that need paying and when the company you work for doesn't recognize all the hard work and extra hours you put in, they never will and you will never get that increase in pay you deserve.

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Anyway folks, time to sign and get some work done. When is Roll up the Rim going to start!! I'm itching to get going on my 2010 Roll Up page :)

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Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v33.3: All Three

2010-02-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

Evening folks,

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I know what you're thinking, two musings in one day!? Well, you're not seeing things, this is indeed a second musing within the same day. My sister sent me a link today that I just had to share with you all: http://whathappenedinmybirthyear.com/

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For those interested, here is what the site had to say about my birth year:

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In 1976, the world was a different place.

There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo.

In 1976, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was Rocky. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.

Remember, that was before there were DVDs. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects.

Do you know who won the Oscars that year? The academy award for the best movie went to Rocky. The Oscar for best foreign movie that year went to Black and White in Color. The top actor was Peter Finch for his role as Howard Beale in Network. The top actress was Faye Dunaway for her role as Diana Christensen in Network. The best director? John G. Avildsen for Rocky.

In the year 1976, the time when you arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time wasTrinity by Leon Uris. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it? Look at the cover!

In 1976... the first commercial Concorde flight takes off. The trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction begins in Stuttgart, West Germany. The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state. Western Sahara declares independence. General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria is assassinated in a military coup. The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens. Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women. The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song Save Your Kisses for Me. The chimes of Big Ben stopped when part of the chiming mechanism disintegrated through metal fatigue. The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photos of the planet's surface. The video game of the day was Breakout.

That was the world you were born into. Since then, you and others have changed it.

The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Saul Bellow. The Nobel Peace prize went to Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. The Nobel prize for physics went to Burton Richter and Samuel Chao Chung Ting from the United States for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind. The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn't it?

The 1970s were indeed a special decade. Women's liberation continued. The hippie culture faded. There was an opposition to the Vietnam war, and nuclear weapons. The environmentalist movement began. Tom Wolfe coined the decade the "Me decade" due to a new self-awareness. Mao Zedong died and the market began to liberate in China. There was an oil crisis. After the first oil shock, gasoline was rationed in many countries. In Eastern Europe, Soviet-style command economies begin showing signs of stagnation. The Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, witness the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian Arab terrorists. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The Who, Pink Floyd, The Eagles, Bee Gees, Abba and others play their music. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all die at the age of 27. The space mission Apollo 13 nearly ends in disaster. Egypt signed the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. There was a revolution in Iran. The world sees its first general microprocessor. The C programming language makes its debut. Consumer video games show up on the scene. Microwave ovens become commercially available. Margaret Thatcher was victorious in the UK elections.

Do you remember the movie that was all the rage when you were 15?The Silence of the Lambs. Do you still remember the songs playing on the radio when you were 15? Maybe it was I've Been Thinking About You by Londonbeat. Were you in love? Who were you in love with, do you remember?

In 1976, 15 years earlier, a long time ago, the year when you were born, the song Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John and Kiki Dee topped the US charts. Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.

You take the weight off me
Honey when you knock on my door
I gave you my key
Nobody knows it
When I was down
I was your clown
Nobody knows it
Right from the start
I gave you my heart
I gave you my heart
...

There's a kid outside, shouting, playing. It doesn't care about time. It doesn't know about time. It shouts and it plays and thinks time is forever. You were once that kid.

When you were 9, the movie Return to Oz was playing. When you were 8, there was The Karate Kid. When you were 7, there was a Disney movie out called The Fox and the Hound. Does this ring a bell?

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... it's 1976. There's TV noise coming from the second floor. Someone turned up the volume way too high. The sun is burning from above. These were different times. The show playing on TV isThe Bionic Woman. The sun goes down. Someone switches channels. There's Laverne & Shirley on now. That's the world you were born in.

Progress, year after year. Do you wonder where the world is heading towards? The technology available today would have blown your mind in 1976. Do you know what was invented in the year you were born? The Gore-Tex Fabric. Perpendicular Recording. Polyphony.

We better keep all remembering this land now.
This land full of people bent
On gettin' their kicks Lord, Lord.
I think we all better pick up the sticks.
In 1976.
...

That's from the song 1976 by Grand Funk Railroad.

In 1976, a new character entered the world of comic books: Captain Britain. Bang! Boom! But that's just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1976, Melissa Joan Hart was born. And Scott Caan. Colin Farrell, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life.
It's 2010.

The world is a different place.

What path have you taken?

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Thanks Megz!

Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v33.2: Tantalizing Tuesday

2010-02-16T01:31:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

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I'm sleepy this morning. I got to bed at a decent hour last night (11pm) yet I still feel wore out as if I was up until 2 or 3. Of course, it doesn't matter what time you get to bed if you don't sleep well.

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I wanted to start off by getting some opinions from my readers about something. A few friends and I recently decided to start up a communications group. Basically, this is a group of people who get together weekly to discuss various topics and just hang out. For now we will call this group "Alter Ego" to protect the identity since this is all hypothetical anyway. We are a fun group. We have some drinks and swap stories. We talk about the week's events and joke around. This is our way of unwinding and having a good time while doing it. Our venue each week varies depending on how everyone is feeling and we typically decide during the week through Internet communications where and when we want to meet up. Last weekend we didn't have an opportunity to hook up due to a conflict but this week we plan on meeting on Friday.

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Here is the issue I'm facing. I've known these guys for a number of years now (almost 4) and we've been good friends pretty much since the day we met. Yes we've had our ups and downs like all friendships do, but in the end we all choose to hang out together because we enjoy each other's company. Lately, though, a lot of things have changed and our group is no longer as tight-nit as we used to be. One of our friends moved away overseas and rarely has time to talk; two of them have recently had their first child and are experiencing the newness of fatherhood. As a result, our time together each week is less and less and there are some weeks that go by where I never get a chance to speak to some of them because of the life changing events which have happened.

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There are a few of us who are still semi-regular and we typically speak every evening to see how our days have gone and to have a few laughs. With the others being MIA most nights, it makes it difficult (for me) as I'm finding myself quite bored most of the time. Yeah, we could go out just the two or three of us, but I miss the big group we used to be and would love to have that "Band of Brothers" back. But live goes on and lives change.

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So here is my question to you folks. Should we be looking to fill in the "gaps" with new people? Should we build a "different" band with new faces and personalities? As I mentioned, there are a few who have left and we hardly speak to anymore. As a result, our normal 10 is now 7 or 8 on a regular basis and that number can drop as low as 3 or 4 depending on circumstances each week. When you're used to having 10 people getting together every weekend for fun it can be a bit boring when more than half of them don't show for whatever reason and you're left trying to find something else to do that one night a week you get to be out and have fun.

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I've brought this question up before with the group and some of them immediately shot it down; they don't see the problem I see. So what do YOU think about all this? And before you ask, yes these are real people and yes I know them on a (mostly) personal level. We've been friends for a long time and I have no desire to jeopardize that friendship for anything.

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Anyway, enough about that stuff. This was keeping me up most of the night last night because it started really bothering me this weekend for some reason. It isn't often I let things get to me like this.

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Well folks, the coo coo clock on the wall tells me it is time to get back to work. Which is strange because we don't have a coo coo clock at work. Sounds like someone's prescription needs refilling. I must go see what is up. Until next time folks, remember to always keep all 4 legs of your chair on the floor. Tipping your chair forward or backward will never end well.

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Cheers,

Al

Musing over Coffee v33.1: Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T01:42:00.000-08:00

Good morning folks,

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Yes, I know I'm a day late but I hope everyone had a good Valentine's day. It is the one day a year where a guy is allowed to be sweet and mushy and nobody will care. Of course I'm like that everyday so Valentine's day was just like every other day for me. With one exception...

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Most parents rarely get a moment to spend alone with each other. To those out there contemplating having children, keep that in mind. If you're used to being able to spend time alone with your significant other, having children is going to throw a wrench into that. I think I can count on one hand the number of evenings I've had alone with my wife in the last year. I'm sure we could have had more if we found a baby sitter for the kids, but in this day, who can you really trust to watch your kids? Right now the only people I will leave my kids with are family members. Even that isn't healthy since family tends to start getting a tad annoyed with you if you constantly pile your kids on them; especially 3 little brats like mine.

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But this isn't about me, this is about everyone else in the world who had a good Valentine's Day. Yes, there were some who didn't and I'm sorry, but today I want to focus on the good. How did that special someone make you feel special this Valentine's Day? Did they buy you chocolates? Flowers? Take you out to dinner and a movie? Feel free to respond to this Musing and let me know; I'm interested in hearing all the different ways people spent Valentine's Day. It may give me some good ideas for next year :)

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Well folks, short post today. I'm working from home, which is to say I should be working right now. With that, I will bid you all a good day and I hope everyone has a fantastic week. Who knows, maybe this is the week Roll-up-the-Rim will start? :) We can only hope.

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Cheers,

Al