"Thank you, please come again!"

So last night after work, I arrived home to find a message waiting for me on the answering machine... Yes, an old-school cassette tape answering machine! Anyway, it was Channel M calling to tell me my name had been drawn for something I had entered for at the PNE last weekend. For the life of me I could not remember what the draw was for, but I had won something. I called this morning and found out I had won a DVD box set of either 24, Law and Order, or the Simpsons! w00t! And here I was thinking it was going to be something useless. First time I've won something from the PNE!

That is all.

BEAR with me here...

The Bear robot to the rescue

Vecna Robotics has built a protoype of the BEAR robot for the US Army. It's designed to find, pick up, and rescue wounded soldiers. Other applications are possible. Pretty cool stuff. Scroll further down and you'll see pictures; it really DOES look like a bear! At least, its head does... But look past its head and OMG, IT'S JOHNNY 5!!!

That is all.

Riders Paradise: GAME - Cross the River

Riders Paradise: GAME - Cross the River

My writing has been pretty sporadic lately, so I'm posting a link to Erik's latest blog entry. He's linked to a 'Cross the River' game that's a take on the classic river crossing problem involving a farmer and his foxes and chickens. This instance presents the problem with abusive parents (you'll see), their kids, a policeman, and a violent criminal. Now, instead of just the farmer being able to operate the rowboat (classic problem), you have the parents and the policeman all able to operate the raft (new problem). More variables equals more challenge. It's good for a couple minutes of entertainment if you're bored.

That is all.

Interesting coincidences

I know I've talked about the following before... just not here.

Awhile ago, I realized that both Holly and my previous serious girlfriend both had the same birthday: Christmas. They are a year apart in age; Holly, the younger. It was odd, because I knew this before, but it didn't hit until a few months ago. Odd, but statistically not a rare event.

Last night, Holly and I were talking and the conversation turned to names, birthdays, Christmas, Christmas birthdays, and names related to Christmas birthdays... I was reminded of the above coincidence involving Christmas birthdays and I joked that "it's a good thing you two don't have the same name". But then it dawned on me. They both have the same middle name! So now my previous girlfriend and my current girlfriend both have the same birthday and share a middle name. Freaky!

I'm afraid to probe any deeper...

That is all.

Civilized Rant of the Day

GODDAMN ******* ***HOLES!

Let's start with irritating ****s. So many asshole bus drivers (well, drivers in general). So many times have I been waiting at a light, with a bus stop immediately after the intersection, bus waiting. I'm sitting there for the entire red light, with the bus just sitting there, waiting. No pedestrians ANYWHERE near the area, so there's not even a remote possibility the driver is waiting for potential passengers... As soon as the light turns green and I come up on the bus stop, the asshole driver will immediately pull out in front of me (often cutting me off badly, sometimes nearly sideswiping me) and proceed to meander along at a snail's pace... in a single lane. Grrrr. Sadly, I'm only slightly exaggerating...
Don't get me started on all the other bus-related crap I've experienced, both as a rider and a victim driver.

And now for a complete piss-off; the obliviousness of other drivers (optimistic, sort of...) or the downright uncaring nature. This morning, I noticed the left side of my rear bumper was popped off its snap holders a little, so that the side was not flush. I pushed it back in and then noticed a 1/2 foot scuff mark along the corner!! GODDAMN SONOFA!!! From the looks of it, I would say some prick, that was parallel parked behind me, pulled out and instead of properly ensuring clearance, they simply pushed THROUGH my car. There were no finger prints, so I know they didn't get out to check. There was no note (obviously), so the asshole simply hit & run. I'll see if I can buff it out. *sigh* Something was bound to happen sooner or later... I was just hoping it would be later... much much much later.

It's things like the above that, in my 'rantier' moments, make me lose faith in humanity and utter my occasional pledge of "I hate people".

*** UPDATE -- August 25, 2006 ***
After work yesterday, I took a closer look. I found more scuff marks lower down and a scratch that took paint off. @#$%&@*#%!!! Luckily, it's small and it's on the bumper, so no metal is exposed. Regardless, I think I'll probably get a touch-up pen and attempt to hide it. Also, I'll see what I can do with some buffing to get the scuffs out.

And all this before I've had a chance to claybar and wax. Grrrr. Looks like I might be able to do it over the coming long weekend (Labour Day), though.
*** END UPDATE ***

*deep breath*

And now back to your regularly scheduled mindless rambling.

That is all.

Interior design

So I'm now an interior designer at work... We've got an unused workstation area in one corner and a whiteboard with no useful space in front of it in another corner. The idea is to clear out the area in front of the whiteboard, install a webcam, and place a table and chairs so it can be used for discussions, meetings, and teleconferences. That involves moving servers and furniture, and for the last couple days, I've been planning possible moves to make the best use of the spaces. I'll soon have my own 'dedicated' server area complete with KVM.

On a different note, I've enabled keyword verification for adding comments. I've been getting more and more botspam comments and it's getting irritating deleting each one. I'm sure you've all used these before, but if you haven't, it's pretty obvious. Sigh, the price you pay for popularity...

That is all.

Breaking the speed limit...

Well, I would have, if the speed limit had been in effect.

Saturday evening, Holly and I were rollerblading along Henderson Rd. behind UVic when we came upon one of those portable radar gun trailers with the display. You know the ones, the self-contained boxes with display that tags vehicles as they drive past and displays their speed for all to see. Anyway, for the longest time I've wanted to know how fast I can go on rollerblades. I've looked into different options, like rollerblade speedometers, but those are kind of expensive. I had the idea of getting a friend with a bicycle speedometer to pace me, but that requires effort. So when I saw this radar box and a clear, smooth, flat stretch of road, the light bulb flickered on. I went up the road a little and waited for a few cars to pass, then I made my run. To my delight, I was picked up and registered a speed: 31kph. If the school zone had been in effect, I would have been speeding! I made for a second run later when we passed it again on the way back. On the second run, my speed was confirmed as I was clocked at 31kph again.

I'm happy with that speed, but I know I can do faster. These aren't excuses, but I was already tired from rollerblading earlier in the day and I had a backpack on. Plus, my rollerblades need maintenance, as the last time I cleaned and rotated the wheels was probably about 1.5 seasons ago and they're definitely due for rotation. I should be able to squeeze a few more klicks out.

That is all.

Bomb threat on the high seas...

... or at least in Tsawwassen.

Yesterday I was in Richmond helping my brother and his wife move into their new place. Catching the ferry back home was interesting. If you caught the late news last night, you'd know why. I got to Tsawwassen a little before 8PM and was greeted with a two sailing wait. Joy. Ten o'clock sailing and I'd get home around midnight. Not unexpected, but not fun either. I forgot the Abbotsford Airshow was on that weekend, too, which would also explain the busy sailings.

So I'm sitting there as the 8PM sailing starts to load cars and it stops partway through, cars lined up on the ramps. After a long pause, there's an announcement that there has been an 'incident' loading cars and that hopefully loading would resume shortly. Thank you for your patience and please remain in your vehicles. Five to ten minutes later, same announcement. Again at another five to ten minutes. Repeat indefinitely. At about 8:30 or so, a police car drives past towards the ferry. A few minutes later, another (Delta) police shows up. At about 9PM, two more police cars. By this time, the 9PM ferry has shown up and unloaded its load of cars. The crew starts diverting and moving the 8PM ferry traffic onto the newly arrived ferry. They leave about quarter past. Meanwhile, a firetruck shows up.

I got out and started wandering again and headed towards the dock. I sat there watching what little you could see in the distance; basically, the four cop cars and firetruck parked there, as their occupants and some BC Ferries crew milled about the lower vehicle deck. After a long time of nothing, I heard a couple of the guys yelp in surprise and immediately after heard a firecracker brick go off. Suspicion confirmed, it was a bomb threat.

Nothing much happened after that. Nearing 10PM, they made an announcement to passengers in lanes blah blah blah and maybe blah to return to their vehicles as the ferry will be loading soon. I was in lane 'blah' of 'blah blah blah'. The ferry sailed around 10:30PM, not far off when I would have sailed anyway. As we neared Swartz Bay, an announcement was made saying that the '8PM' ferry had just sailed and was about 1h10m behind us. It was only about 3.5 hours late in leaving Tsawwassen...

Good times... good times...

On another note, my computer is rather screwy right now. My main user account has no network access whatsoever, while the Administrator account still has net access to most sites... just not any of my webmail sites. Only http access works, so I can't get my mail or log in to MSN Messenger. I feel very deprived... My only sources of access right now are at work and Holly's. (I suppose I could use my old old old computer, but that's not right.) I've ran through a bunch of ideas, but nothing yet. At this point, I'm going to be backing stuff up and wiping over the next few weeks. Consequently, updates here and otherwise will be rather spotty.

Also, if you notice any signs of withdrawal, you'll know why...

Sadly, that is all.

Choose Your Own Adventure installment #2

You faint. As you come to, the hallway is once again lit and the face you saw is gone. You get up and continue down the hall. You come to an open door at the end of the hall and enter. The room stands barren, save for a lone computer. On the monitor you see "Hugo's House of Horrors" loaded. Unable to resist, you hop onto the computer and immerse yourself in the horrific house of Hugo. "Hey, my name is Hugo!" You play for hours on end. When you finally finish, you get up & see several dead bodies around you. "Hmm, what did I miss?"

At a loss, you wonder aloud "What do I do now?". One of the dead bodies stirs.

"You should help me up, I'm not dead."

Once again, you faint. As you come to, the body that the voice belonged to hovers over you.

"Hi!" she says.

"Hi, my name's Hugo" you say, getting up.

"I'm Heidi! Nice to meet you" she replies.

You survey the room again. All the bodies have disappeared. "What happened to the dead bodies?" you ask.

"What bodies?" Heidi replies.

You look at her, a little unnerved. But as you stare into her eyes, you find yourself lost in them. Your heart begins to thump.

*thump* *thump* *thump* *thump*

"I SAID, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" she screams over the sound of your thumping heart.

She grabs your hand & leads you out of the room. You still couldn't hear what she said, but she's holding your hand, who cares? Your eyes only see her body as she walks ahead of you. "Mmmmmm, niiiice." She looks back as you realize that was out loud. You try to look natural, but a goofy grin betrays you. To your surprise, she smiles and winks at you. She comes upon an open door and pulls you through. You look around. "Heeey, this looks like a bedroom." As you enter the bedroom, the door mysteriously shuts behind you. "How does that keep happening?" you wonder. You turn away from the door, still wondering. Suddenly the lights go out as lightning flashes across the window. You walk toward the bed and the dark figure you assume is Heidi. Your foot crashes against something and you fall onto the bed. You roll over onto your back. You feel soft hair brush your arm as it moves to your face. You feel the hot breath as Heidi hovers over you. A thought creeps into your head. "I wonder if she's a werewolf?" You silently curse your friend for planting the idea. The thought leaves your mind as you are drawn into a kiss. Your mind reels as the passion overwhelms you. Your hand begins caressing her back. A giggle escapes as you reach a ticklish spot. A smile unfolds across your face. You suppress more giggles as you kiss her deeper. You roll Heidi over onto her back. Awkwardly, you continue and roll off the bed. With a goofy grin lost in the darkness, you return to the bed and Heidi's waiting lips. You brush a stray lock of hair from her eyes. As your gaze trails across her face, you are captured by her soft, tender lips. At a loss, you take a moment to ponder what to do next. You gently kiss her again. Your tongue plays across her lips. Her tongue meets your's as if by a lovers tryst. Your hand travels down her side in a loving caress. You slide your hand in her pants. Suddenly, you're on the floor as she throws you off. Before you can recover, Heidi is on top of you. A gasp is muffled by her kiss. You feel a hand on your ass and grin. She doffs her shirt. You put a chastity belt on that Little Harlot & tell her "No sex in the Champagne Room"... as you start stripping.

"It's good we aren't in the Champagne Room" you say, as you remove the belt. You deftly rid her of a bra & replace it with your hands. You start to remove your pants. After struggling for several minutes, you realize it's easier if you don't keep your hands on her hooters. Your hands leave her body & move to take off your pants. As you remove them, your foot gets caught. You unexpectedly give the floor a kiss. A muffled "ouch" escapes your lips. You hear a quiet laugh as you shake the stars from your head. Heidi finishes taking your pants off and starts with her's. Heidi pushes you gently onto the bed. She straddles you and begins showering your chest with tiny, little kisses.

We now interrupt this scene for a word from our sponsor.. Crazy Monkey brand cheese. "MmmMmMmm, cheese!"

---

That is all.

Choose Your Own Adventure installment #1

Hugo drove home through the dark streets. He had just come from a monthly Hugo's House of Horrors LAN party. Suddenly, his car died and he coasted to a stop. As he got out, lightning flashed. "Who didn't expect that?" he muttered. In the distance, a house loomed. "What should I do now?" Hugo wondered aloud.

You search the car & find your All Purpose Mystery Toolkit, complete with a Solvin' Hat. Handy! You walk to the house. Nearing the house, you hear a noise behind you. Looking, you see your car stripped bare.

"THIS ISN'T LA!" you exclaim.

At the house, you see a shuttered window, a door & a door knocker. You try the door. Locked. Rifling through your Toolkit, you find a lockpick kit. You pick the lock & enter. A trapdoor opens. Crap! With a thump, you land on your ass. Ow! You find yourself in a dark basement full of dust and cobwebs. You turn on your flashlight & see a shadow loom over you. Wondering how the shadow is cast from behind the light, you turn around. As you turn around, a figure slips through a door, closing it behind. You drop the light and it goes out. Grabbing your light, you wonder what to do.

Deciding to follow the figure, you open the door. You walk through & it closes behind you. You try it & find it's locked. You find yourself in a hallway, extending to the left & the right. Deciding to go straight, you promptly walk into the wall. Ouch! When you come to, you try a different approach. Heading to the right, you come to a corner. As a student of mysteries, you know corners hold surprises. You jump out and find... another hallway. A door on the left stands slightly ajar. Opening the door, you find... a linen closet. As you close the door, your hand brushes the softest towel you've ever felt. Wow! It's so soft, you contemplate stealing it... but decide to come back for it. Down the hall on the right, you see another door. As you reach the door, you have an uneasy feeling. Slowly opening the door, you peer into the room to find... a man lying prone, blood pooling around him. You roll him over & lean in close. He lets out a groan. Startled, you draw back. Recovering, you lean in. He lets out a groan. You realize your knee is on his crotch. As you pull your knee back, he whispers "bastard!" & promptly dies.

You pull out a fingerprint kit from your Toolkit. Hours later, you find your prints all over. "So I'm the prime suspect. Wait, no…" Dusting for more, you end up covered in dust with no more prints. Hours later, you notice the note on his forehead.

"I warned you. See what happens when you don't listen?" the note reads. You pocket it and continue looking.

Finding nothing else in the room, you move out into the hallway. You continue down the hall to a staircase leading upwards. Reaching the top of the stairs, you find a second flight going up, a hallway & a lever. You pull the lever. The stairs become a ramp and you slide back down. As soon as you reach the bottom, the stairs return. You climb back up. Unable to resist, you pull the lever again. Whee! At the top again, you still have a choice. As you reach the top, you decide to enter the hallway. You peer down a dark hallway, with a lone candle to break the gloom. You begin down the hallway. Suddenly, you hear a loud creak and you jump to the ceiling, heart pounding. As you land with a thump, you realize the loud creak was the floor. You continue down the hallway, clutching the candle. You're suddenly plunged into darkness as you pass by an unseen vent. Dropping the candle with a squeak, you remember your flashlight. As you fumble around in the dark for your flashlight, you hear a whistling behind you. You find your flashlight. You quickly turn the flashlight on and turn around. A face appears in the light. A face, lips puckered, whistling.

---

That is all.

Choose Your Own Toastmasters

The title will make sense as you read further...

Last night, I went to a Toastmasters meeting with Holly. This is the second time I've been to one, and last night was this club's (Nite Shifters) 19th birthday. There was cake and refreshments and birthday gifts/prizes. There were two guests at the meeting, myself and a girl from Toronto, and we both got to choose a prize; the others were given away by drawing names. I got a couple large "Coffee & more cups".

Anyway, the meeting had the same format as the last one I attended. When it was time for the Table Topics, the topic presented was why you joined Toastmasters and optionally why you joined Nite Shifters in particular. Everybody spoke, so rather than be the odd one out, so did I. I talked about coming because Holly had asked me, as with the previous time, and then moved on to how it came to pass that she asked me. How it came to pass was because about four and a half months ago, I asked her out on a date and, well, you know the rest. Or at least, the rest that's fit for public consumption.

On the topic of 'Choosing your own Toastmasters', I'm reminded of a writing project I maintained for a few years, which sadly I put on indefinite hiatus long before starting this blog. Some of you will remember it; it was my Choose Your Own Adventure story I was writing... using my MSN Messenger screen name. The screen name is limited to 129(?) characters, and I reserved enough space for my name so that my contacts knew it was me. That left me with 122 characters in which to write installments of a story. Needless to say, this makes for an interesting restriction. Every few days (I tried to keep to every three days), I would advance the story. When it came time for a choice in the story, my contacts voted by email or IM. I'd then tally the votes and continue on. Choice time always made for interesting contortions because I had to move the story and still list choices. All in 122 characters. *122* characters. Believe me, 122 characters is NOT a lot. It's generally only a couple sentences. You get more characters in a text message sent from a cell phone! (I also resisted shrtning words&using irritating abbr.&subs as much as possible so as to keep it legible.)

I kept this up for a few years, with the last year filled with long pauses and breaks. Sadly, my motivation was waning and I felt the quality of the writing was decaying. I decided to go on an indefinite hiatus rather than let the quality die to something I would be ashamed of showing to people. With that said, I can't say the quality is great anyway, but consider the constraints and the protracted time frame. Protracted time frame is an understatement. In those years, I think I managed to write about four or five pages of 12pt Times New Roman font text.

So why did I bring this up and how does it connect with the previous topic? Well, I've decided just now to resurrect my story... but in a new medium. I'm going to dig out my story and post it here in multiple installments over the next week or so. Then I'm going to dig out the story notes and begin where I left off. The format will be a little different, as I no longer have the 122 character restriction. Voting will take place via the comments. No other votes will count. It was unwritten/unsaid before, but I reserve the right to veto any vote outcome. That possibility came up only once, but the voting went the way I wanted, so it was never exercised. Regular blog entries will continue, with story installments interleaved. Eventually, when the story is finished, I will post the full story in all its glory.

Stay tuned, it'll be a fun ride!

That is all.