30th September 2014

Eccentric callers on display

Another week underway. I know, there was yesterday, but it didn’t count, exactly.

Anyhow, today meant another opportunity to visit the local EcoCentre, where the guard wanted to see some photo ID before allowing me to unload. Are they getting people from outside of the tax basin visiting? Glad to know that only authentic resident junk will be added to their reserves. For me, a chance to hand over a few VHS and DVDS players. Oh, and a telephone with an eccentric caller display. We bought something “new and improved” yesterday, so the delay between surplus to our needs and gone was shortened substantially.

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posted in environment | Comments Off on Eccentric callers on display | 259 words

29th September 2014

Saw a saw or two today

At an early age, TV taught me that cakes were useful, if you even went to jail. A friend, on the outside, would prepare a tasty plate, filled with creme and a hacksaw blade. After dark, the bars on the window would give way to a few careful strokes of the saw, and you could leap from the window to the back of your faithful steed (always a whistle away).

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posted in technology | Comments Off on Saw a saw or two today | 299 words

28th September 2014

Antenna packer

Six years ago, after careful planning, I installed a new vertical antenna. HF bands, with a full set of radials. And today, with careful planning (for an eventual reinstallation), the process was reversed. No bolts jammed or broken. Nothing in need of replacement. Six years of Canadian weather…

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posted in ham radio | Comments Off on Antenna packer | 266 words

27th September 2014

Music on demand

Music on demand. Not the content available on the radio, and there have always been radios around the place, including one with a B battery that my father kept in the ktchen. Rather, music in whatever the packaging format of the day happened to be.

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posted in music | Comments Off on Music on demand | 288 words

26th September 2014

Big books

Teachers in the kind of schools I attended had one, standard, piece of advice for a student with a need for (a) definition: “Look it up in the dictionary”. There was always one available.

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posted in education | Comments Off on Big books | 251 words

25th September 2014

Updated app

Sort, pack, pitch and pause. The two bins are full, and until the big trucks pass by for refuse collection, our great dump is halted. We can get back on task for the weekend. The alternative, where one rents a great metal box has been avoided for now. We’ll see what a deadline brings.

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posted in computing | Comments Off on Updated app | 266 words

24th September 2014

Out, out, damned books

With enough empty boxes, and a long reach, one can acquire sore arms. Spent today reducing the personal library; found a local bookstore that thrives on donated material.

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posted in environment | Comments Off on Out, out, damned books | 274 words

23rd September 2014

Storage room blues

After a second day of sorting and throwing away, I’m caught between two thoughts.  Should a storage room be labelled in the old way: “Beyond here lie dragons“, or the more usual “Let sleeping beasts lie“?  Both fit.

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posted in environment | Comments Off on Storage room blues | 270 words

22nd September 2014

Start the downsize

Odd start to the day: my domain was suspended by the ISP due to “suspicious traffic”. One of those PHP files that make WordPress whiat it is had received an injection of numbers that equalled something else, I it was up to me to fix that. Stat, as they say in the healthy world. And so I did.

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posted in environment | Comments Off on Start the downsize | 271 words

21st September 2014

Tip of my iceberg

Gadgets are the bane of my budget. Too many things that are just plain cool (and just plain expensive). If an excess of cash suddenly appeared on my horizon, there would be issues. Others want to travel; I want to play.

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posted in technology | Comments Off on Tip of my iceberg | 266 words

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