Stuff

The Globe and Mail Business section had an article by Mathew Ingram on Web 2.0 applications. He mentioned dabble db, a Vancouver entry into this ever growing group of web applications.

PopChar has a new version out that seems to finally have made the grade. It is one of those products that never seems to quite make it. You can always find that one character some other way. This must be one of the oldest Mac utility programs around.

Comming home on the freeway tonight the line up into the city was backed up at 176th Avenue. The other side, going east, was packed with everyone getting a head start on the long weekend. Just when you are coming down the hill to the bridge you could see an accident on the other side. Some guy, with an older stationwagon, loaded up completely with travel stuff and pulling a trailer and boat on top, rear ended a Jeep. He was on the cell phone. The woman was in the passenger seat, hands folded, glaring out the window. "Well honey, there goes the holiday!"

Flickr

Today I upgraded my flickr account to pro. After spending some time with the menus and what you can do it definitely is worth it. IF you are into digital photography to any great degree this program will allow you to share those pictures that you think are shareable. With the bandwidth they give you there is ample space to fill their storage area with whatever you want. You can see the stuff I've downloaded at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinfoiling/

#9 Boundary

Had to go to the dentist today for a 2 hour session. To get there I take the Skytrain to Commercial Drive then the #9 along Broadway to MacDonald. Great route for seeing cosmopolitan Vancouver. This afternoon when coming back the bus was about half full. At Kingsway this fellow gets on with a liquor store bag and a backpack. You can see he is a roofer with dirt and sweat just caked all over him. He had a red bandanna on and looked like he had worked hard all day. So he sits down near the back. There is another guy next to me and a lady by the other window, all of us watching as he packs the 2 six packs of beer into the knapsack. When he is finished he looks up and says "one 6 pack for the game, the other 6 pack when the Oilers win!" Everybody at starts laughing and the conversations begin. I am pretty sure if the law allowed it there could have been a bunch of people at the back of that bus starting a pre-Stanley Cup party. The guy in the bandana was the type to pass around a few of those beers without any hesitation.

Peace Arch

This weekend we spent it down at the seaside retreat at White Rock. The weather was great and there was hardly anyone down there so it was quiet and peaceful. On Saturday we walked over to the Peace Arch and milled around the "Hands Across the Border" event. They say there was 12,000 people participating, mostly Girl Guides and Boy Scouts from the US and Canada. It was pretty neat to see so many young kids having fun. They have this event every year and this year they celebrated the Peace Arch's 85th year.

It was interesting to walk about and feel that you were no different than the citizens of this country you were in. In some ways it is amazing how at home you feel. And in other ways how different the two systems are.

Today the tide at noon was extremely low and we made it out to the 49th parallel marker in the bay. There were a lot of starfish and anemones surrounding the cement marker and an eaglet in a nest at the top. There were a bunch of people harvesting crabs and clams. Given the size of the buckets they were over their limits.

Yes down to the States both days without going through customs!

Google Reader

Just came across a very good link by Jason Toal on a screencast of Google Reader. This really points out some great benefits of using this tool. RRS feeds are best appreciated when you have a lot to read and only want to look a information without the noise.