Happennings

Hello everyone. It's been quite an eventful time since my last blog posting. Eventful in the digital sense at any rate. My netbook bit the dust a little while ago. Thankfully, it did so gracefully enough to allow me to rescue files and clear off personal info. I'm now the happy owner of a new Acer Aspire 3947Z laptop. That would have put a sizeable dent in my prospects for an exciting Summer and completely wiped out my savings. However, my parents came to the rescue there and purchased it as a very welcome and much appreciated birthday present. I did all the research and found what I believed to be the best bang for my buck knowing that it would have to be something I was satisfied with for years to come. It's on the cheeper end of laptops but Acer has packed an extraordinary amount of power in a package that is far more thin than I would have thought possible. You'd think it would overheet but it doesn't. It was the best bang for what I thought would be my bucks right up until the moment of purchase at the counter. I've always appreciated my father's philosophy of ownership. It's not the spending of money. It's the choices you make and care you take to make them with the best possible information. It's your willingness to live with those choices.

Settling into this new digital home away from home has absorbed quite a bit of time over the past while. The data transfer amounted to around 151 gb of mainly my audio file collections, books, dramas, music etc. I'm still gradually installing the odd bit of software but the main stuff is pretty much in place now. The first writing project undertaken on this new laptop is going to be a review of three separate laptop speaker systems. I spent a fraction of the money originally earmarked for the laptop on two of these sets. Another somewhat larger portion was spent on an extended battery. I haven't done anything really techish in a good while. Also, it seems like a good sensible way to reach out a little to the sighted community. My articles in the newsletter published by my church to its members do that a little. However, I haven't produced anything specifically for the non-religious crowd. I consider my blog to be for everyone but am humble enough to realise that my ramblings about life only become possibly interesting when they intersect the lives of others. That certainly has happenned. One fellow found my blog due to a posting on bedbugs. My x-wife and I had to deal with those while living in Oakville and it was a royal pain and stressor on every level. My hope is to have the reviews posted to The Gadgeteer, a site I've grown quite fond of. Check it out at:

http://the-gadgeteer.com/

It's one of those great stops on the internet for lovers of new creative techno stuff or simply those in battle with boredom. I've often thought that God invisioned gadgets and technology as a salve for the unwillingly single. I find the chance to put them through their paces very interesting. Even more fascinating to me is reading about the ideas and descriptions of small inventions meant to accessorise our lives. I'm very selective when it comes to actual purchases but far less so when it comes to my curiocity.

Rose succeeded in her gole of one hundred consecutive days of at least one and often two yoga classes. In celebration of that remarkable achievement, I hosted a gathering of friends at my apartment. It worked out quite well. Everyone did more work than I had planned on including Rose herself who cooked a delicious turkey. However, everyone nevertheless seemed to enjoy the experience and got to know each other better. It felt wonderful to have my apartment full of such thoughtful and friendly people. Wendy had some great news. She's been hired by a private tutoring agency to teach Math, a subject she's frequently left me flabbergasted with her ability in. I hope the youngsters will appreciate the wonderful talented lady headed into their little lives. Can't wait to hear about how things go when next we visit. There were abundant leftovers. I had around three days nearly free of cooking after that gathering.

Another major event was the Mushroom FM virtual cruise they put on for the station's second birthday weekend. These online events continue to surprise me with how much meaningful interaction can take place digitally. It brought a lot of the separate audiences together who only tend to listen to certain shows and kept them tuned in together for fifty-three hours. The chance to win one of two $222 prizes or snag a totebag certainly proved enough incentive for me to go well outside my usual musical preferences. I did, as things turned out, win a totebag pretty much right off the bat. I did so by instigating the condemnation of a fellow Canadian, one Bruce Toews. I was surprised by how much universal agreement there was that he should walk the virtual plank. What delightful fun... for me. He got accidental revenge upon me later on by playing a truly dreadful version of \Michael Row Your Boat Ashore. I can't stand that song no matter who sings it. It's right down there with that other hated song about how I have a radient and recently minted nickel. Can't stand that one either. All in all, the event was absolutely perfect for those of us who suffer insomnia. I've certainly come away with a good friendly intelligent bunch of new followers on Twitter.

I'm sitting here at the Dam again. Had a brief conversation with one of the young fellows. That'll doubtless be the high point of the whole two hour drop in period. It's been unusually quiet today. Nothing special is happenning that I'm aware of. Seems a tad early for exam-related panic crunching on their part. It's an extremely nice day out there though. It was damned annoying being confused by that section of the route near the playground and basketball court but I can't say I mind the extra time outdoors.

This week has ben pleasant on the whole. After twenty years, I've at last gotten around to seeing how the book Hunt For Red October actually ends. The final tapes in the old copy I once had from the CNIB were worn to the point of uselessness and I never got round to asking for a working copy. Now, it's all digital and I was able to download the book from the online library. At last, I know the actual end of the story as well as the extent of liberty taken by the film.

Ava's sixth birthday went quite well indeed. The family enjoyed a splendid dinner at the Keg and our serving lady Linda went well above and beyond the call of duty to make Ava feel like the little princess we all know her to be. She seems far happier about being six than she was when she turned five. Doubtless, they're in for a Summer of camping and other wild and crazy fun besides. Dan and Allison put a great deal of soul and effort into raising their children as well as their jobs. They must often wind up exhausted. Mom and dad have taken up the role of grandparents with real heart. I can't say I regrette the decision made during my marriage to have that operation to remove the possibility of having kids. As much as I enjoy being an uncle, my creative work and the friendships I'm fortunate enough to have are my worldly immortality. I don't know that I'd make a good father despite often finding myself in the role of a sort of father figure to people. I stil very much hope I get another better crack at being a husband. Absolutely no luck on that score lately. All the ladies in my life are uninterested or already spoken for. It's a frustration that just doesn't ever completely go away.

I took my first shot at doing audio reviews of these speakers I've got. I'm woefully rusty at it and a saturday's worth of efforts came to nothing. I figure I'll try and do the written reviews ffirst over the next while. Perhaps, with my thinking more solidly laid out, the audio creation will go better. I can hope. At least everything's here now including the extended battery. I expected something a lot less slim and more awkward to attach which would perhaps adversely effect the balance of the laptop. What I have is a surprisingly light battery which neatly fits onto the bottom of the back of the laptop and actually changes the keyboard angle for the better. It extends out like a small steep ridge from the bottom. I don't anticipate it snagging on anything.

It's thursday now. Yesterday was a good day. The only real snag was the construction noise outside preventing me from making use of the balcony. The rain and thunder would have kept me in for only part of the afternoon. Today feels too chilly to do the balcony thing. There's a cool wind. Tomorrow is supposed to be an absolutely splendid day. Looks like the new batch of weekly specials have just become active on Grocery Gateway. I'll spend this afternoon working on my order and take advantage of them. I have another two coupons in my spring coupon book and can't quite remember which of them I've already used. One of them saves ten dollars and I'll try to use that one up next presuming I haven't already. Otherwise, I'll save five dollars in addition to any savings on specials.

I guess that pretty much covers it for now. As usual, there's the sense of having missed documenting a great deal of good listenning and interesting thought. Not certain whether I shouldn't just go with the flow and drop the whole blogger's guilt thing about that. I'll keep trying to capture more thoughts as I have them at least on Audioboo. Think it's time I put this post up and got to my shopping on Grocery Gateway.