Ah, the wonder of the five and dime. Try that line on your children and they’ll be convinced that you’ve come in via time travel, but the same hodge podge and degree of quality is still out there. Locally we refer to such bazaars as the Dollarama; your local label will vary. Sometimes, the best solution is the cheap one.
posted in economy, ham radio | Comments Off on The modern five and dime | 268 words
Canadian autumn. That wonderful season where the grass grows slowly, the trees are in full bloom, the light is changing and every sport possible is on TV, all at the same time. Not just TV; out and about, you can find a place to spectate without any real effort. Baseball, hockey, soccer, football – I haven’t missed any, since golf isn’t exactly in the same mindspace. We’ve even got a huge tennis championship underway in the city.
posted in food | Comments Off on Spectator sports and little variety | 286 words
The stories used to come in, and we’d laugh; stories that were too good to be true. The thieves in Tignish who robbed their local grocery while wearing hockey jackets with names on the sleeve, or the would-be bank withdrawal specialist, who handed over a note (you know, that kind of note) with an identifier on the recto. Giggle, etc. There’s an updated version out today, from Pennsylvania: the housebreaker who paused to check his Face account, and didn’t remember to log out.
posted in computing | Comments Off on Unbreak my boot loader | 276 words
To boldly go where few have gone before; to take a computer that is functioning well and try something new. Tonight, my little netbook is getting a “make over”, and things are going fairly well. Not perfectly; somewhat akin to trying out a new haircut (and I don’t do that any more).
posted in computing | Comments Off on Jumping into new waters | 319 words
One of those little pleasures; kicking back and reading a good book. Except that not every book qualifies. Sometimes, you have to work your way through from beginning to end, just to see if the original premise of the author will hold. I’ve just finished that “awaited bestseller” by Dan Brown, the Lost Symbol, and my critical sense is tingling again.
posted in history | Comments Off on In search of the lost symbol | 305 words
Here’s a great idea for a party: how about we celebrate the 90th of a great musician, and we get a bunch of other, great musicians to take care of all the details. And we can show it to a select subset via the wonders of PBS (while soliciting those necessary donations). Even better; let’s make Pete Seeger the guest of honour, so we can salute the finest of folk music from the last century. There. Done.
posted in music | Comments Off on A cool birthday party | 255 words
I’m not as patient as I think I should be. This afternoon and evening, my domain host had a outage in the email wing, and for about eight hours, I couldn’t access any of my accounts. Stressful! At first, I put it down to bad karma. Then, I tried going in through the control system and resetting passwords. Ever more desperate, I toggled between SSL and insecure. Nothing. Finally, I called; after thirty-eight minutes in one of those queues that invites you to go play in the traffic (that is what I understand when an automated attendant tells me that all support personnel are currently busy serving other customers), I sent off an email message to support services, with another valid address as the place to let me know WHY OH WHY.
posted in education | Comments Off on All support personnel are currently busy | 304 words
Hard to believe that the laundry room has been in service all afternoon. Where do all these dirty socks come from? How many shirts does it take to get someone through a week at school and play? Even with the “cold water cycle” that the major soap manufacturers are now recommending, I figure my carbon footprint is big as a Sasquatch right now. Good thing I don’t have to stand down by the riverbank, beating cloth on the rocks.
posted in education | Comments Off on Dirty socks and an day of monologues | 271 words
My own, personal Tower of Hanoi. Today we moved beds around, and given that the house contains a few other articles of furniture, things had to be done with forethought. By the time the dust settled we had one brand new bed in place and four other adjustments as followthrough.
posted in food | Comments Off on New bed and new taste | 268 words
What line do you cross when things move from strange coincidence to synchronicity?
Tonight we were all out on the town for a birthday supper. The usual kind of thing, where you scramble to get everyone into the car (yes, a Versa can hold five adults, comfortably, as long as all involved remain polite). Once pointed in the right direction, the city finds you, as long as the roads haven’t been closed due to (name the mysterious reason here).
posted in environment, food | Comments Off on Unexpected meetings | 282 words
