Sunday, June 26, 2005

Gnomedex 5.0 - Impressions

This is the second conference I have been at that is filled with technical people and laptops. The big difference is that they are all connected to the internet. (Well not everyone was connected until the bandwidth got increased.) They need to come up with a name for this type of conference as it is unique in the sense that all the information that is presented is documented by the listening audience on a real time basis. Text, pictures, audio, comments, etc. is available during and within minutes of the closing of each presenter. You begin to see differences in how various individuals present information. It seems we all have these "filters" that create our own perceptions of what has taken place. Your own view of what has been stated is appreciably enhanced by viewing the posts of others. It really is amazing, like reading 20 newspapers about an event that you participated in. No two are completely alike and yet each adds to your own experience of what happened. Couple that with a podcast (audio) and the dimension grows further. A novus dimension conference?

Next - some of the topics...

Monday, June 20, 2005

Summer already?

I just finished a blog entry and lost it when trying the spell checker. Sometimes you forget what a word processor should be used for.

Our 3 hanging baskets are growing like weeds. We never had trouble growing weeds before just growing flowers. This year we purchased 2 shady and 1 sunny moss type hanging baskets. They need water everyday but they really are much better than the manufactured plastic pail fuschia buckets. The buckets seems to last all of 2 weeks before the flowers start dropping off. It pays to get something so you can enjoy it ALL summer.

Supper time. What to make? It really doesn't matter because the younger set in the household will always prepare their late afternoon snack at the same time you make supper because they are starving and probably won't make it to the mealtime which is only 45 minutes away. Funny how the definition of starving has changed over the years.

Friday, June 17, 2005

Public Transit

Yesterday I took the Skytrain and bus down to BC Central (South-west end of the Burrard Street bridge) instead of driving through the nightmare on Broadway. With 12th closed between Nanaimo and Fraser, Broadway is a parking lot.

The trip was enjoyable. Of course there was the solicitation for change and the standing due to no seats but you could really feel part of the city that you don't when you are stuck in traffic in a car. And the people were so varied and different. It is a pretty remarkable system to get from A to B. The only complaint was the Skytrain. Why don't people at least make an effort to move away from the doors so that people can get off the Skytrain instead of standing in front of the door when it opens? You are forced to push through with all the grace of a 300 pound gorilla just to disembark. A big suitcase would be handy to use as a wedge to get through the crowd.

Monday, June 13, 2005

A recovered Monday

Yesterday when we went shopping there was a large choice of hot sauces on the shelf. A hot sauce company located in Salmon Arm, Denzels, seemed to have the right ingredients. So we picked up Gourmet Habanero. Well last night I had the biggest heart burn for the longest time because of this bottle of dynamite! This stuff is HOT and not for the weak tongued. They have it rated 6 out of 8 on their heat level. This morning went back to get something a little less tangy - Lil' Smokehouse (2 out of 8) made from smoked red jalapeno peppers. Excellent! Even mixed just a smidgen of the Habanero with it to bring it up the spice ladder. This product is as good as it gets. Take a look at Denzels site.

Monday, June 06, 2005

What is with golf?

Today I was all prepared to have a great game after the 93 last week. Should have known better. At the clubhouse the cashier had an opening "If you can get out there right now". So you hurry up to the teebox looking for the glove, ball, tees, etc., tee up the ball and away you go. But you didn't even have time to find out what kind of ball you hit! From there it got worse with the low point being the marshall telling us to hurry up. Sure buddy. We are a walking foursome and the two guys in front of us have a cart. No problem in keeping up with them. Well with the back nine I finally settled down and got a few nice pars in but the final score was a disasterous 103. Yuck! The good part, and that is what really makes the game, is playing with 3 pretty nice people. You always get to meet people you would never meet otherwise. Now if I could just get to meet my golf ball sometimes!

Saturday, June 04, 2005

The Saga of the pick-up trucks

Seems these posts get fewer and farther between.

In the last few weeks it has become apparent that there is a new type of driver hitting the asphalt. Last week a large pickup truck passed me on the freeway. Yessirree passed me on the freeway. I was in the slow lane, a car was coming up in the fast lane and the pickup track passed on the right hand side using the shoulder as the driveable highway. That is the second time that has happened in over 10 years of daily freeway drving. I wonder what driving school he went to.

Today was a typical incident. Driving in the slow lane with a number of vehicles coming onto the freeway. You can't move into the fast lane due to traffic so you keep you speed constant allowing those coming onto the freeway to adjust either a faster or slower speed to merge. Typically the pickup truck must have expected me to stop to let him on the freeway because he had to slow down instead of me. Looking in the rear view mirror was the proverbial finger. Then the fast approach on the left hand side with the wife-beater T-shirted passenger shouting obscenties, leaning out the window with his arm and middle finger held high, sort of a salute to the gods of ignorance. What do you do? Shake your head and wonder. Yes these young bucks own the road, they have paid their fair share of taxes (like about 2.43 years) and they drive a leased and certainly not fully paid for truck. Pillars of the transportation elite. Oh to be a law enforcement officer for 5 minutes!