Search Engine

I have yet to fix my site so that the search engine works properly, but rest comfortably gentle reader, it's only a few days off.

Last week, someone searched my site for the following phrase:

titan chunky compositions

What the heck were they looking for?

Light the Night

Last night, I went to Illuminares at Trout Lake.

I was quite amazed at how many people were there, and the diversity of lanterns that people had.

I brought my camera with me, but after a couple swigs of Glenlivet and a sip of Merlot, I couldn't remember how aperatures, f-stops or anything else worked. So I guessed. I'll post the pics when they are developed.

Derek got me a great book on photography a few years back. Maybe I should read it.

Ice Blocking

The day was so beautiful yesterday, I decided to go ice blocking.

This sport requires a block of ice, a towel and a steep grass slope. Go to the top of the slope, put the block of ice down with a towel on top of it. Now sit on the block of ice and give yourself a push.

For the hill, I chose Burnaby Mountain Park, which has a great West-facing slope that is pretty steep.

After a few tumbles and false starts, I managed to find my balance and make it down the hill with respectable speed.

A couple of refinements later and I was able to go pretty fast on this little block of ice. I have a new respect for luge.

Hear Your Website

Do you have your own website? Then do this today:

• Get the trial version of IBM's Home Page Reader


• Learn the commands (there are only about 10)


• Turn off your monitor


• Go to your site

This is how to surf if you're blind. It's an eye-opener.

Another Must Have

If anyone reading this is a recent lottery winner and they are trying to disperse their winnings, consider this as a gift to me.

I promise to cache something special for you.

Upcoming Movies

Even though I don't go to many movies these days, I still like to check out UpcomingMovies.com from time to time to see what's going to be showing at the local megaplex.

Recently, while looking up a few of my favorite actors, I came across this movie which will be out in the next few weeks.

I already love it.

Life Just Got Easier

Thanks to the fine people at Oklahoma State University, my life just became a little bit easier and much less messy with this amazing invention.

You can even read about the technology behind it all.

If I counted up all of the Peanut Buttered knives in my sink ... well, there'd be a lot of them.

Thank You, CBC

Do you see that? That smile on my face?

CBC decided to make my Monday night viewing eminently better with re-runs of Twitch City.

Not enough people saw Don McKellar and Bruce McCulloch parody our television-obsessed culture and the series died. Somewhat ironic, no?

See that smile getting bigger?

Tuesday night just became stronger with the still-running Da Vinci's Inquest, currently the best Canadian produced show on the air.

The CBC isn't all that bad.

The Hip: Hip Once Again

Aside from being Canada's favorite band, The Tragically Hip have managed to pull the same trick with me with each new release. Even though Music @ Work has been out for a year or so, I only enjoyed the title track.

Until I started listening to it a lot. Now I love it.

The same thing has happend with every previous album clear back to Fully Completely: At first listen I don't like the music, but after a few revolutions of the album it becomes a regular selection in my playlist.

Now I have Music @ Work on infinite loop. It isn't their best album, but I'm sold on it as a solid musical effort.

How does this band keep luring me in like this?

The End is Near!

There's a killer galaxy on the prowl, and it's heading our way: Andromeda.

In about 3 Billion years, our galaxies are going to collide, causing both to spin off many of their stars in the process. Since our own little solar system is near the edge of the Milky Way, things don't look good for us if we're all still here at that point.

Take a look at what happens when two galaxies pass by one another (video is a short way down the page).

This Just In

Photos from my trip up to Whistler resort last weekend are now online.

Boys Only

Having the ability to choose your baby's sex is dangerous, especially in societies where one gender is preferred over another.

In parts of China, this has led to an extreme sex ratio imbalance:

"...in one township of Liaoning Province the male-to-female sex ratio had reached 306:100"

Hazards of Hiking

Met while hiking at Whistler this past weekend.

Want

Hoping to fulfill the requirements for one of my numerous schemes, I have been in search of a portable DAT recorder for some time now. I was going to borrow one, but the owner abruptly moved to Calgary, taking the unit with him.

Subsequently overcome with a covetous nature, I have been visiting this page repeatedly, hoping that I could somehow will one into my possession.

It hasn't worked so far.

However, if you know of someone who will lend me one for a couple of weeks, please let me know. I'll shower you with praise. Or buy you a drink.

Writing and Dying

"Fundamentally, all writing is about the same thing; it's about dying, about the brief flicker of time we have here, and the frustration that it creates."

- Mordecai Richler (1931 - 2001)