Month: March 2003

Categories
Miscellaneous

Time Traveler

Ok, this link is what I like to call a “must read“. I expect to hear some feedback on this one as well.

“Federal investigators have arrested an enigmatic Wall Street wiz on insider-trading charges — and incredibly, he claims to be a time-traveler from the year 2256!” He started out with only $800, and in two weeks he had created a portfolio worth more than $350 million.

I kind of wish that this guy was for real, even though it’s obvious that he’s a lunatic or a really incredible liar. What I find the most interesting part of this article is that, “the Security and Exchange Commision source admits, “No one can find any record of any Andrew Carlssin existing anywhere before December 2002.”

Categories
Miscellaneous

Beene There Done That – TV is the Pitts

Has anybody noticed that Fox’s new show, Oliver Beene, seems to be a rip-off of the Wonder Years? Everything about the show screams, “I wish I was Kevin Arnold!” The TV show not only copies The Wonder Years premise by following Oliver growing through his adolescent years in the 60’s but it also copies every other character in the show. You may think this comparison is pretty weak, but consider the following. The teacher drones on like Ben Stein, Oliver has friends that seem just like Winnie and Paul. Not even the trademark Wonder Year scenes of showing black & white newscasts in the background are cut from this cheap copy. Even the narrator’s voice sounds like it came straight out of The Wonder Years. They could have at least based the show in the early 80’s giving us Gen-X’s something to relate to. Who do they think their target audience is anyway?

Continuing with my rant about lame new TV shows, comes my take on The Pitts — it’s Fox’s other new show. I guess I never gave it much of a chance, but from what I did see (about the first 15 minutes) the show gets two enthusiastic thumbs down. The premise of this show is that a supposedly normal girl (who can’t act) lives with a family of psychotics that have very bad luck ? think Malcolm in the Middle but less funny. I didn’t watch the ending, so I don’t know if they are keeping all of the characters but in this particular episode they hired a nanny who has been obsessed with the Father ever since he stood her up on prom night 25 years ago. Why couldn’t he remember her when he hired her? Lame, lame, lame!

Where did all the good shows go? I’ll take the Internet over TV any day. Although, I must admit, I do like the occasional cartoon.

Categories
Health life

Life Saving Society Competition

I finished up at the pool this morning as Equipment Manager. We finished early yesterday and today and it looked like it would have been a fun meet to compete in. I had the chance to try out some scuba gear after the events yesterday and again this morning.

Amy, one of the lifeguards at the Max bell and my WSI instructor, mentioned to me that I was on the list for call-backs to be a lifeguard there. I’m pretty excited to finally be getting a job here in Lethbridge. It will make paying the mortgage a lot easier.

Newsflash – Quarantine

The Calgary Sun reports that because of SARS, “Thousands of people, many of them health workers, are under quarantine in Winnipeg and across Ontario”. Personally I think this SARS thing is slightly more dangerous than the West Nile scare last November, but I still think it will be one of those things we hear about but never have any personal experience with. Although I think Mom said one of the students at her school contracted it.

Categories
computer life swimming

Linux Update and the Competitive Life Guarding Competition

Ahhh, there is nothing quite as relaxing as sitting down to the quiet hum of your computer in your own home, drinking a nice refreshing Pepsi and posting to your blog. I have lots of things to post tonight so without further ado…

Today I emailed a guy from the Linux club here in Lethbridge and asked him for a copy of Linux on CD. Not only did he respond promptly he actually volunteered and delivered the CD to my house. I still haven’t installed it, but I’m planning on setting up a Linux server on that other computer one of these days.

As I may or may not have mentioned, I volunteered to help out at the competitive life guarding competition that is happening tomorrow at the Max Bell (the University Pool). I am pretty happy that I did because I got a free Level 2 training tonight and although it did take 4 hours from my life… I am now a certified level two official which if nothing else is a nice addition to my resume.

The actual event sounds like it will be very fun to watch; of course more fun to be in, but what can you do? Some of the things they must do are: race across the pool and drag a manikin back in the fastest time keeping “the head” above water, swimming through an obstacle course, and doing it all in relays among other things. As it stands right now, my job as a volunteer will be to make sure that all of the equipment is in place and ready to go at the start of each race. I have 3 or 4 assistants helping me out and I think it will be a great experience. I’ll let you know how it goes.

When I was in Medicine Hat the other day, I bought a Maxtor 1394 PCI Adapter Card for my computer which will allow me to link up firewire devices, specifically digital video cameras, and then I’ll be able to do my homework here at home. I guess it was a little late considering the school year is almost over, but I figured it would be good to have for next year and in case I get my own digital video camera or other firewire device. I haven’t installed it yet, but as soon as I have an afternoon with nothing to do I’ll get right on it.

It’s amazing how fast a 710 mL bottle of Pepsi goes. Til next time keep the comments coming, I love them.

Categories
cooking

Pita Melt by Anna-Maria

Anna-Maria made the second recipe from her Poppy yesterday night. I have the picture of how it turned out and I’d have to say – it was just as good or better than the first recipe. I can’t wait til we make the next one.

What you see in the picture is a pita, covered in smashed avocado, cheese, tomato, fresh garlic, and more cheese. You can find the recipe for the Avocado melt in the section on the right (Just click to expand the menu). Anna-Maria and I decided only to add the recipes after we try them, so there will be more added in the coming weeks. By the way, if you just make the Avocado part, it makes a great dipping sauce along with sour cream and salsa.

Categories
Miscellaneous

Milnerdesign.com

I just want to say how angry I am at one2host.com. My site is down AGAIN!!!! What a waste of money – I wish I could get my money back! The site is down, the email server is down, even when I try to contact them via their website I can’t get through. If I had the site running on an old computer with just a linux server and my DSL connection it would be better than the crappy service that One2host has given me. I hate those guys.

Categories
cooking

Recipes

Anna-Maria was emailed a bunch of recipes from her “Poppy” back East. She tried one last night that was quite good. We’ll post each recipe as we try them along with suggestions. I figure it was a meal that Mom and Dad would just love. (Beans and Corn and stuff all mixed together). Just wait for the recipe.

Categories
Miscellaneous

Property Taxes and The Leaky Faucet

In my mortgage agreement with the bank I pay back my property taxes with each payment I make. I, therefore, will not have to pay a huge $1600.00 tax once a year. But thanks for looking out for me.

I know this isn’t really newsworthy, but I am so pleased with myself that I want to post that I finally fixed the leaky faucet that has been driving me nuts for months! It only cost me like $5.00 at Canadian tire to get the part I needed. I also bought a handsaw for installing a new outlet for the dryer and some needle nose pliers (it was an impulse buy but at $2.99 how could I resist?)

Categories
Miscellaneous

Some American Companies are just plain stoopid

Wired Magazine is covering an interesting story about company that is refusing to sell it’s products to anyone living in Canada, France, Germany, or any other country opposed to the war in Iraq. Apparently the company had a laser printer on sale on EBay and when they found out that the highest bidder was from Vancouver, BC they changed their mind about the sale.

Categories
Miscellaneous

The Simpsons Movie

The Simpson family will be around for at least another couple of years making it the longest running comedy of all time. Simpsons creator Matt Groening also confirmed that a movie is in the works. “We’re talking about doing it. We just want to make sure, if we do, it doesn’t follow in the dismal footsteps of other currently-running TV shows turned into movies.” Of course it looks like the new Simpsons movie won’t be made for a long time, and maybe not even until after the show stops producing new episodes.