Tuesday, October 25, 2005

So far so good...

I am enjoying this Blogger site - (For those of you reading this on my MSN Spaces site click here. ) more and more. The configuration available seems limitless or about as limitless as you can get with out the overhead of your own server. ;-) I still have a long way to go with it, but can see it being used more and more. Can't wait to organize things a bit before advertising that this is up and running.

Cruising out this weekend for a camping trip, heading up to China Creek,near Port Alberni. Weather is supposed to be marginal, but hey who cares! It's time out there away from the day to day stuff. Its late October in Canada so typical fall weather is to be expected, nothing that a good campfire, large drink and warm company can not fix. We were at this location in Thanksgiving last year, had it to ourselves and hope it will be the same this year. I should have some great pictures when I get back to update the flickr website with. Did the Turkey up this past weekend, with my special stuffing of course, so we will have a delayed Thanksgiving dinner in the woods.

I got some great news on the camping front. Looks like the wife's friend and her hubby have bought a camper and want to begin some winter camping together. Perhaps heading to Tofino or Long Beach for a few trips over the winter. That should be a blast, I have never camped on the ocean in the winter and expect the storms and the waves to be impressive. Maybe they may want to head up to Mt Washington or Strathcona Park for some snow camping? That could be a lot of fun, don't know how our little hounds would handle it, but Andre has done the winter temperatures before and does fine in it.

Sad news on the passing of Rosa Parks, someone who must have had a very strong will to challenge the Laws of the days, to stand against such an oppressive Government and Law enforcement and to do so in a time when there was little support for her actions. I am sure that she will long be remembered for her actions on the Bus that day, and for actions taken ever since. Even though it has more bearing on the American history than anywhere else I am sure that she has worldwide recognition as being brave enough to stand against the wrongs being done to her and her people for all those years proceeding her initial actions. I would hope that she had in her time seen some improvement for the Black Americans and that she would have known how key her role was in making the positive moves forward. Time Magazine has an excellent article on her here

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Thursday, October 20, 2005

Day of Reckoning

Quake 4! The return of one of the most intense and paranoid games should occur today. I say should as I had gotten my hopes up once before this week. The Launch date was moved back from this past Tuesday, (Tuesday always seems like a bizarre day for a Launch Date anyways) to today. I thought I better pre-order, ok I am sure they are not going to run out but wanted to make sure. All things being equal I am sure I will be very bagged tomorrow when I am getting up for work. At least I am hoping this to be the case, just another sign of an addictive game. Happy fragging!

Security Now, a great 20 minute Podcast covering the full range of basic security concerns from Passwords to DDOS, from Spam to Rootkits. Hosted by Steve Gibson ( Shields Up, SpinRite) and Leo Laporte (TWITs, Call For Help). This Podcast is a quick and dirty overview of individual subjects, the show notes are all located on the site as are the links. I try to make a habit of listening to them on the walk in to work, some solid information.

Is there anyone else on the planet besides me that has not seen Serenity? Somehow the original series escaped my wandering eye. Now I am playing catch up with the original series before seeing the movie. I am not sure it will still be in theatres by the time I get caught up, may end up on the rental list. March of the Penguins is out on DVD at the end of November, that is one that is going into the collection. I wish they offered the alternate soundtrack on it though. Emilie Simon's intro song "All is White" is very captivating and goes well with the fly in scene to the icebergs.

Camping at the end of the month! Be excellent to get away even if only for a few days. With issues at work the vacation schedule was thrown out the window this year, so even a few days away is nice to get. Heading up to China Creek near Port Alberni. We were there Thanksgiving 04, an awesome site right on the ocean. Spent much time cursing myself for not having a rod with me, yet listening to salmon splash every evening and morning. My furry friends, the ones that do not need a fishing license, left much evidence of their existence. Calling cards... A.K.A. Bear Skat. They pretty much kept themselves hidden. It is something I have noticed that differs much between the Bears here on the Island and the Bears of the Northern Portions of the Province. The guys up there are no where near as timid about showing themselves, I would venture to say that the Northern bears are much more bold in asserting themselves. Perhaps the Island Bears know that stealth is their protection here. I received the Book " Among Grizzlies", this is the diary of Timothy Treadwell, and am looking forward to reading it during the upcoming trip. What better to read about while you are out in the wilderness. :-)

Our local Cable Provider has come through in a huge way for me. Recently I was able to add Fox World Sports Soccer to our lineup. Absolutely Brilliant! Timing is great too every night I can watch a game from the English Premier league, now just to work out when the Scottish one is on, got my collection of Glasgow Rangers Jerseys ready to go. It really is one of the most enjoyable sports to watch for me.

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Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Bleeding on the Blogger



Welcome,
This is my first post to the blogger blog, hmm blogger blog? I have decided to try this out, after running my own from one of my servers at home, this turned out to be quite demanding as my admin plate is already overflowing, (yes my cup overfloweth ;-) ). Recent Hardware issue with my other server has taken up much of my personal time that I normally use to work on personal projects.

A few months back I decided to give MSN Spaces a shot, they took a lot of the day-to-day role away from me freeing me up to focus on other things that needed to be prioritized. While the Spaces site is very slick , easy to post to, and most of the people I know are on the IM client from them, it allows a larger range of fresh eyes to check my posts out, the only drawback is the a lack of freedom with respect to what can be added to it to individualize it.

Don't get me wrong it is a pretty good config for a simple blog. So long story short, well guess too late for that, that is what has gotten me to the Blogger option. I am also using Flickr and will start to combine the digipics I take with this blog.

I am hoping that you enjoy your visit here, I hope that I can share some thoughts with you or even expose you to information that you may not see elsewhere. Look forward to your comments
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