Regular readers of either this or my FusionAce "Life" blog will realize that I'm not big on editorials - in fact I've probably written only one so far... the rest have been mostly drivel about every-day life. But tonight - I'm inspired (thanks, biker).
Is technology ruining our sense of interpersonal relationships? Funny this would come up today because I was just reading the latest issue of Legion of Super-Heroes. Old-school fans will recall that the Legionaires inhabit the distant future version of the DC-Universe - several millenia removed from the world of Superman and the Justice League. The premise? What if you lived in a boring world where "patterned behaviour" was the choice lifestyle? What if the most popular choice was to just sit at home and browse the Net instead of actually going out to see people? What if you could do something about it? What if you and your buddies had unusual "powers..." As the tag-line for book reads: "We're so sick of it, we could scream."
In fact this very issue (#4 for those keeping track) starts off with Sun Boy and some fellow Legionaires visiting his folks...
Dad: "Tell them how we met, Dear."
Mom: "In person."
But is all hope for humanity lost? I doubt it. I lean towards to the tech-optomist perspective. Always figured that if we couldn't do it ourselves, technology would help us do it. (But not necessarily do it for us - that's a different story altogether - go see the trailer for Stealth now).
Geeks of a feather:
In the span of 24 hours I met up with a bunch of guys I rarely talk to... true, they mostly came over to my office to get a look at the PSP. But look at it the other way: it's making connections. One of these days I'll be carrying it around in public and some total stranger will hit my wi-fi connection for an impromptu game.
Babou was telling me about a weird World of Warcraft encounter he had last night. A fellow player positioned his character in front of his last night while Babou was in the middle of something (reading a manual, I think he said). The stranger broke out in a fit of virtual laughter. Unsure what to make of the jolly creature in front of him, Babou opened a chat window with the stranger and joked: "Do I know you? Maybe I'd recognize you better naked." 'Lo and behold, the other player used some kind of preset macro to strip all the clothing off his character...
They decided to sit their characters down at the local bar and start chatting together. While this was going on, another character - this time a female version of the same creature walked over and danced for them a little. Babou made his character applaud.
All this made him realize something: even without the actual gameplay of going out into the virtual wilderness to slay virtual beasts and whatnot, the game had become its own entity. It was a platform on which he was just having a good time communicating with folks just like him around the world. Sometimes the best part of that was just knowing that there are indeed real people just like you out there.
Call me wishy-washy. But geeking out brought Starfish, Babou (his wife included), and myself closer together...
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
PSP Video 9 - the next essential conversion tool?
If you read my other blog you may notice FusionAce had a pretty heavy day today... lots to folks to speak to and catching up on work and such. What I didn't mention over in the F-A office-blog is that the PSP was a huge hit for all my visitors. Starfish was suitably impressed (you'd think that an avid gamer like him would've been up-to-speed with the latest gadgets... he's not). Even U.D.G. took one look at it and said, "hey - I approve ...make a lot more sense than that DVD player you wanted to put in your car!" ^o^;
Came home eagerly to try something new: PSPvideo9
This is a tiny little freeware app used for converting typical AVI files into the appropriate format recognized by the PSP's video hardware. The result? Download the usual DiVx file of whatever, watch it on the go.
The downside to all this: well, the files are going to be media files regardless of conversion. That is, you'll be buying a rather large Memory Stick Duo at some point in the near future. The standard 32mb card that comes bundled with the PSP is just enough for... oh about 5 minutes of video give or take.
The app itself is pretty straight-forward and is about as user-friendly as possible. With a little bit of tweaking during setup, it'll even copy your files over to your PSP when the encoding is done.
That said, it does have its own shortcomings. The first I encountered was that the interface did not allow me to tweak the final resolution of the video. Presets are great for 4:3 sizes and 16:9 but true widescreen was nowhere to be found. With the help of previous forum-users, I pieced together how to edit FFMPEG custom flags in the XML file (the explanations on the forum don't seem to apply to the current version of PSPVideo9).
Am I happy with the result? Sure... will I keep using this app? Probably. Would I recommend the app? Yup. Do you have a PSP for yourself? you should... ^_^
Came home eagerly to try something new: PSPvideo9
This is a tiny little freeware app used for converting typical AVI files into the appropriate format recognized by the PSP's video hardware. The result? Download the usual DiVx file of whatever, watch it on the go.
The downside to all this: well, the files are going to be media files regardless of conversion. That is, you'll be buying a rather large Memory Stick Duo at some point in the near future. The standard 32mb card that comes bundled with the PSP is just enough for... oh about 5 minutes of video give or take.
The app itself is pretty straight-forward and is about as user-friendly as possible. With a little bit of tweaking during setup, it'll even copy your files over to your PSP when the encoding is done.
That said, it does have its own shortcomings. The first I encountered was that the interface did not allow me to tweak the final resolution of the video. Presets are great for 4:3 sizes and 16:9 but true widescreen was nowhere to be found. With the help of previous forum-users, I pieced together how to edit FFMPEG custom flags in the XML file (the explanations on the forum don't seem to apply to the current version of PSPVideo9).
Am I happy with the result? Sure... will I keep using this app? Probably. Would I recommend the app? Yup. Do you have a PSP for yourself? you should... ^_^
Monday, March 28, 2005
Bleah ...am I out of it
Labels:
life
Feeling out of sorts now that it's Monday and I'm still not at work. Still got 2 days off that I can blow - and not sure what to do with them. And this morning I couldn't even post comments right on other bloggers' pages.
Got word from the Babous that thay cancelled their anniversary trip yet again. *sigh* I feel for them as they are the one couple who can never get a break. I was just saying to them the other day that I should probably visit more often and play with the kids a bit more - y'know, just to give the little ones someone other that themselves to socialize with.
Maybe next weekend...
Played a game of WH40K last night. Damn it - I really need to read the rulebook more often just to get the games going a little faster. After only 3 turns I decided to call it quits (it was midnight: we started around 9pm). Sheesh. It didn't help that I was still running on lack of sleep from the previous night.
Anywho... sounds like my brother just got up (not sure if up means "alive" or just "not asleep." Gonna go bug him for a while...
Got word from the Babous that thay cancelled their anniversary trip yet again. *sigh* I feel for them as they are the one couple who can never get a break. I was just saying to them the other day that I should probably visit more often and play with the kids a bit more - y'know, just to give the little ones someone other that themselves to socialize with.
Maybe next weekend...
Played a game of WH40K last night. Damn it - I really need to read the rulebook more often just to get the games going a little faster. After only 3 turns I decided to call it quits (it was midnight: we started around 9pm). Sheesh. It didn't help that I was still running on lack of sleep from the previous night.
Anywho... sounds like my brother just got up (not sure if up means "alive" or just "not asleep." Gonna go bug him for a while...
Sunday, March 27, 2005
My feel-good morning
Happy Easter folks. Got up at 9:30am this morning - which is (somewhat unbelieveably) the latest I've slept in for quite some time.
So after going out for local cuisine (ie: greasy-spoon) ^_^;
...ran out at got that PSP I wanted. Sweetness. And timing worked out great. I was able to get a hold of an old college buddy who still lives in the area. So I left the new gadget charging and headed out to spend the evening with them. When I got home later (about half past midnight) I was told there had been a power blackout... so my brother had the opportunity to watch a movie on my new gadget. Yay.
As for myself - the evening was very nice. Didn't catch up on as many details as I wanted (what do you expect - hadn't seen them in like 2 years). But what the hell, I had a good time.
This morning - just bummed around. My parents and I watched a few movies ...typical. What else to do on a day off... I guess my folks are just glad to be off their feet for 24 hours.
So after going out for local cuisine (ie: greasy-spoon) ^_^;
...ran out at got that PSP I wanted. Sweetness. And timing worked out great. I was able to get a hold of an old college buddy who still lives in the area. So I left the new gadget charging and headed out to spend the evening with them. When I got home later (about half past midnight) I was told there had been a power blackout... so my brother had the opportunity to watch a movie on my new gadget. Yay.
As for myself - the evening was very nice. Didn't catch up on as many details as I wanted (what do you expect - hadn't seen them in like 2 years). But what the hell, I had a good time.
This morning - just bummed around. My parents and I watched a few movies ...typical. What else to do on a day off... I guess my folks are just glad to be off their feet for 24 hours.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Hmm... car blocked in - lonely Saturday morning
Must be my 9-5 existence intruding on my weekend life. As usual I'm the first one up when I come home to visit my folks. Naturally, if I figure to go gas up (avoiding daytime traffic of the sleepy small-town environment), I can't. Can't even wash my car.
Hmm... I wonder - maybe that should be on my to-do list. Y'know - just water down the dirt and salt that's accumulated during the winter. Doesn't even need soap.
Which reminds me - I bought a carwash ticket at the station near my office the other day. It's March now - and the ticket indicates an expiry date for June! WTF? Whatever, I aim to use it next week anyway.
Heh - with a cheque for a few hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket I've taken to day-dreaming about all the cool sh*t I could waste it on. The curse of the tax refund - knowing that the money was yours all along and that the government is just returning it to you. And knowing that means: "it's as good as spent."
My brother was showing off his new digicam last night. Pretty slick little Kodak. I want one now.
It's either that or perhaps that neat PSP I've heard so much about. Saw it on a store shelf just yesterday. Oooh.... sweetness. Now that the "real-world" reviews are in (don't really trust those big-name professional reviews), I'm pretty much sold. Especially since they've got that limited edition bundle available that comes with the Gretzky-endorsed hockey game.
Oh yeah - did I mention? That silly Canadian Tire -edition MasterCard arrived in the mail this week. I believe you get 1% CT Money on purchases not made at a CT store. So I figure slapping a $300 goody like a PSP on it means I'm entitled to a free bottle wind-shield washer fluid. And you know - you can never have too much washer fluid. ^o^
Should check the weather but I think it's a balmy 2 degrees plus at the moment... just good enough that I won't turn the car into an ice-cube if I water it down... ^_^
Hmm... I wonder - maybe that should be on my to-do list. Y'know - just water down the dirt and salt that's accumulated during the winter. Doesn't even need soap.
Which reminds me - I bought a carwash ticket at the station near my office the other day. It's March now - and the ticket indicates an expiry date for June! WTF? Whatever, I aim to use it next week anyway.
Heh - with a cheque for a few hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket I've taken to day-dreaming about all the cool sh*t I could waste it on. The curse of the tax refund - knowing that the money was yours all along and that the government is just returning it to you. And knowing that means: "it's as good as spent."
My brother was showing off his new digicam last night. Pretty slick little Kodak. I want one now.
It's either that or perhaps that neat PSP I've heard so much about. Saw it on a store shelf just yesterday. Oooh.... sweetness. Now that the "real-world" reviews are in (don't really trust those big-name professional reviews), I'm pretty much sold. Especially since they've got that limited edition bundle available that comes with the Gretzky-endorsed hockey game.
Oh yeah - did I mention? That silly Canadian Tire -edition MasterCard arrived in the mail this week. I believe you get 1% CT Money on purchases not made at a CT store. So I figure slapping a $300 goody like a PSP on it means I'm entitled to a free bottle wind-shield washer fluid. And you know - you can never have too much washer fluid. ^o^
Should check the weather but I think it's a balmy 2 degrees plus at the moment... just good enough that I won't turn the car into an ice-cube if I water it down... ^_^
Friday, March 25, 2005
long weekend on a roll ...is it just me?
Went out for breakfast with my folks. Then helped out at the restaurant a bit. Nothing particularly spectacular but well... it pays the bills, right? Then my brother and I visited a local hardware store.
We were looking for a sheet of wood to overlay on the kitchen table - about 6 feet by 4 feet. Trying to extend the table to suit a typical game of miniatrue warfare. I believe our table is actually 5 by 3 - just barely fitting a small-scale skirmish. We figure an extra 12 inches both ways would make a significant difference when it comes to scaling the artillery fire.
Oddly enough, we had a really hard time finding cheap partical board suitable for overlaying an existing table. Firstly, 4 by 6 certainly won't fit in a Toyota Corolla. Secondly, we couldn't find something simple like a pair of 4 x 3 (I guess that's just a non-standard cut). We wound up across the street at a lumber yard and picked some kind of thin MDF-like panels that were 2 x 4 and only about 1/4-inch thick. Three of them in hand and $20 later, we loaded them into the trunk and headed home.
Oh ...and I'm slightly irritated by my own butter fingers. After many years with the same pair of prescription shades, I finally dropped them once. It's like the first time you get a scratch on a new car - the scratch is just glaringly obvious to you and nobody else.
Now it's getting pretty late. I'm thinking I should eat a little something and call it supper. ¬_¬
Should probably also give my old pals G&N a call since I'm in town for a few days. See what they're up to and if they'll like to spend an evening together - it's been a few years.
We were looking for a sheet of wood to overlay on the kitchen table - about 6 feet by 4 feet. Trying to extend the table to suit a typical game of miniatrue warfare. I believe our table is actually 5 by 3 - just barely fitting a small-scale skirmish. We figure an extra 12 inches both ways would make a significant difference when it comes to scaling the artillery fire.
Oddly enough, we had a really hard time finding cheap partical board suitable for overlaying an existing table. Firstly, 4 by 6 certainly won't fit in a Toyota Corolla. Secondly, we couldn't find something simple like a pair of 4 x 3 (I guess that's just a non-standard cut). We wound up across the street at a lumber yard and picked some kind of thin MDF-like panels that were 2 x 4 and only about 1/4-inch thick. Three of them in hand and $20 later, we loaded them into the trunk and headed home.
Oh ...and I'm slightly irritated by my own butter fingers. After many years with the same pair of prescription shades, I finally dropped them once. It's like the first time you get a scratch on a new car - the scratch is just glaringly obvious to you and nobody else.
Now it's getting pretty late. I'm thinking I should eat a little something and call it supper. ¬_¬
Should probably also give my old pals G&N a call since I'm in town for a few days. See what they're up to and if they'll like to spend an evening together - it's been a few years.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
eerily quiet night
Just about midnight now. I should be in bed but I took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. Needed to catch up on sleep from the last few days. Cousin S left at lunch (took a quick trip to McD - *shudder* but it was all the time I had). I ran back to my office afterwards...
Checked my mailbox tonight: tax refund arrived - yeah!
Got sniped on that wristwatch ...again. Sometimes I'm almost tempted to quit eBay and buy retail. But that's not the way of a Chinese. ^_^;
I will find it on auction again.
Reviewing my end-of-fiscal year balances at the office today: turns out I've got hours (if not days) of OT to burn. Left early today (and will get in late tomorrow morning). And I also told the bosses that I'd take next Tuesday off too.
True - I could cash in but ...a day's salary? That's stupid.
Gotta pack a bit before going to bed... Probably will leave town from my office tomorrow instead of coming back here.
Checked my mailbox tonight: tax refund arrived - yeah!
Got sniped on that wristwatch ...again. Sometimes I'm almost tempted to quit eBay and buy retail. But that's not the way of a Chinese. ^_^;
I will find it on auction again.
Reviewing my end-of-fiscal year balances at the office today: turns out I've got hours (if not days) of OT to burn. Left early today (and will get in late tomorrow morning). And I also told the bosses that I'd take next Tuesday off too.
True - I could cash in but ...a day's salary? That's stupid.
Gotta pack a bit before going to bed... Probably will leave town from my office tomorrow instead of coming back here.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
catching up on all but sleep
Whole bunch of stuff to report on for those keeping track.
I'm back from a long-weekend. Entertained my cousin and her boyfriend (they're still in town but I knew I couldn't stretch the long weekend much further since we have Easter coming up anyway). The weekend was nice and we took a walk over to the famed "Byward Market" yesterday afternoon. Stopped by a little known place called "Oh ...So Good" - their desserts are to die for. The place was empty - I guess I'm just not used to seeing the Market on a Monday. Kept forgetting that I was the one who had the day off and no-one else.
Picked up a Jane's book - history of air forces around the world. Huge hardcover - impulse buy. Not enough photos but I'm happy with it anyway.
Another impulse was the PS2 "Eye Toy" with a game called Antigrav... I strongly encourage anyone with a Sony PS2 to pick up one of these babies. I had a blast with the game. The premise is incredibly simple: you control a Back-to-the-Future sort of hoverboarder on the screen by tilting your head and waving your hands... the camera tracks your movement and the guy moves accordingly. Sort of a very primitive VR. It's surprisingly responsive and really cool.
My volunteer week for fetching milk from the nearby grocery store came up again. Seems there's been some theft because I had restocked the fridge on Friday afternoon before I left for the weekend. I'm told that on Monday morning, we were down two bags of milk. Hmm... ~_~
U.D.G. walked with me during our lunch break while I went for more milk - got a 4litre 3-pack. She was at the mall for some new shoes for the little one. It was far from her mind though - she was busy telling me how her current boyfriend freaked out this morning because a guy phoned her. Turns out to be an ex-boyfriend from junior-high that she stayed in touch with all this time. She mentioned how pissed off she was that her boyfriend totally lost it this morning - said that it was worse because when they first started seeing each other he'd already warned her "I've got lots of friends who are female so you need to be cool with it if I spend time with them." What a bunch of crap... how the hell is that fair?
Hmm... should probably call my cousin's cell and see what they're up to now: maybe I can meet them for dinner instead of dealing with the traffic to get home...
I'm back from a long-weekend. Entertained my cousin and her boyfriend (they're still in town but I knew I couldn't stretch the long weekend much further since we have Easter coming up anyway). The weekend was nice and we took a walk over to the famed "Byward Market" yesterday afternoon. Stopped by a little known place called "Oh ...So Good" - their desserts are to die for. The place was empty - I guess I'm just not used to seeing the Market on a Monday. Kept forgetting that I was the one who had the day off and no-one else.
Picked up a Jane's book - history of air forces around the world. Huge hardcover - impulse buy. Not enough photos but I'm happy with it anyway.
Another impulse was the PS2 "Eye Toy" with a game called Antigrav... I strongly encourage anyone with a Sony PS2 to pick up one of these babies. I had a blast with the game. The premise is incredibly simple: you control a Back-to-the-Future sort of hoverboarder on the screen by tilting your head and waving your hands... the camera tracks your movement and the guy moves accordingly. Sort of a very primitive VR. It's surprisingly responsive and really cool.
My volunteer week for fetching milk from the nearby grocery store came up again. Seems there's been some theft because I had restocked the fridge on Friday afternoon before I left for the weekend. I'm told that on Monday morning, we were down two bags of milk. Hmm... ~_~
U.D.G. walked with me during our lunch break while I went for more milk - got a 4litre 3-pack. She was at the mall for some new shoes for the little one. It was far from her mind though - she was busy telling me how her current boyfriend freaked out this morning because a guy phoned her. Turns out to be an ex-boyfriend from junior-high that she stayed in touch with all this time. She mentioned how pissed off she was that her boyfriend totally lost it this morning - said that it was worse because when they first started seeing each other he'd already warned her "I've got lots of friends who are female so you need to be cool with it if I spend time with them." What a bunch of crap... how the hell is that fair?
Hmm... should probably call my cousin's cell and see what they're up to now: maybe I can meet them for dinner instead of dealing with the traffic to get home...
Friday, March 18, 2005
heh - go figure... at least they let me know this time
Labels:
life
So when they last emailed me, my cousin and her boyfriend wanted to know when I got off work. I assume that means they'll be here in the late afternoon, 'natch. No. I get home to an email saying "car trouble - will be late, sorry."
Which is all fine and dandy - what another few hours, right? So long as the car is in good shape before they leave (better that than to be stranded halfway ...and you don't wanna be stuck stranded in Kingston! ^_^).
But I figure - okay, I'll take'em out for a late supper and in the meantime I'll make a light snack for myself. That's when my PC goes "bloop-boop" - ah, a Messenger contact. Must be my brother cause he's the only person who'd be home at this hour.
It's my cousin saying, "we're just about to leave - see you soon!!" That was about 6:30pm... hell of a time to start a road trip. At which point I decided, oh screw the snack.
I suppose it worked out better anyway since I went out for some Greek (fresh gyro - yum!). Probably the most filling meal I've had all week. @_@;
Guess I'll go veg in front of the boob tube now while I wait. They'll probably show up just in time for Leno.
Which is all fine and dandy - what another few hours, right? So long as the car is in good shape before they leave (better that than to be stranded halfway ...and you don't wanna be stuck stranded in Kingston! ^_^).
But I figure - okay, I'll take'em out for a late supper and in the meantime I'll make a light snack for myself. That's when my PC goes "bloop-boop" - ah, a Messenger contact. Must be my brother cause he's the only person who'd be home at this hour.
It's my cousin saying, "we're just about to leave - see you soon!!" That was about 6:30pm... hell of a time to start a road trip. At which point I decided, oh screw the snack.
I suppose it worked out better anyway since I went out for some Greek (fresh gyro - yum!). Probably the most filling meal I've had all week. @_@;
Guess I'll go veg in front of the boob tube now while I wait. They'll probably show up just in time for Leno.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
change of pace
Labels:
life
Woohoo - my cousin got in touch with me. She and her boyfriend are driving up from Toronto to visit me this weekend! I'm normally not too thrilled with visitors. I mean - ya gotsta make the place presentable and all that. I actually vaccummed today. Gave the bathroom a scrub last night (now I know why the commercials always make such a big deal about scrub-free products). Man, didn't realize how much soap scum had actually deposited until I saw what the tile was supposed to look like!
And unlike my brother and/or my grandfather - they do have some energy when they're here. Which is nice because then we're not hanging around my appartment all the time (which is essentially what my brother did - that bum). I take them all sorts of places and try new restaurants and stuff. There's something to be said about having an open mind towards meals in general - it's great fun all around.
My cousin called me a few days after she got home last time to complain that she'd gained about 5 pounds during her weekend with me. ^o^;;
I aim to beat that record this time around. ^_~;
And unlike my brother and/or my grandfather - they do have some energy when they're here. Which is nice because then we're not hanging around my appartment all the time (which is essentially what my brother did - that bum). I take them all sorts of places and try new restaurants and stuff. There's something to be said about having an open mind towards meals in general - it's great fun all around.
My cousin called me a few days after she got home last time to complain that she'd gained about 5 pounds during her weekend with me. ^o^;;
I aim to beat that record this time around. ^_~;
the ongoing saga of the CD-MP40
~_~;
I'm half disappointed this morning... up until now it was perfectly justifiable to replace that head-unit with a newer model if only because it simply did not do what I needed it to do: play a disc of MP3 while I'm on one of those long drives home. With 700Mb of music, I wouldn't need to fumble with changing discs while driving (in fact, it's something I never got used to - I remember actually serving a bit back when I changed cassettes...).
Well, my experiment was both a success and failure this morning. Brought two discs with me:
1) An MP3 disc on a CD-R
2) A audio CD on a CD-RW
And again... the rewriteable wouldn't play. I've seen this before - on a portable "Discman" style player - after a while, it just didn't seem to like RW discs.
Ah but now what? Now I've got a machine that's still a working radio, still works as a CD player, still plays MP3 (albeit on a permanent CD-R - lucky those are cheap nowadays). It has just become very difficult for me to justify buying a new machine just so I could "save a couple of CD-Rs." *sigh*
On the bright side - there's never any shortage of gadgets and goodies on my wish list. I think I'll go shopping tonight after work anyway. Speaking of work... maybe I should just get on it now.
I'm half disappointed this morning... up until now it was perfectly justifiable to replace that head-unit with a newer model if only because it simply did not do what I needed it to do: play a disc of MP3 while I'm on one of those long drives home. With 700Mb of music, I wouldn't need to fumble with changing discs while driving (in fact, it's something I never got used to - I remember actually serving a bit back when I changed cassettes...).
Well, my experiment was both a success and failure this morning. Brought two discs with me:
1) An MP3 disc on a CD-R
2) A audio CD on a CD-RW
And again... the rewriteable wouldn't play. I've seen this before - on a portable "Discman" style player - after a while, it just didn't seem to like RW discs.
Ah but now what? Now I've got a machine that's still a working radio, still works as a CD player, still plays MP3 (albeit on a permanent CD-R - lucky those are cheap nowadays). It has just become very difficult for me to justify buying a new machine just so I could "save a couple of CD-Rs." *sigh*
On the bright side - there's never any shortage of gadgets and goodies on my wish list. I think I'll go shopping tonight after work anyway. Speaking of work... maybe I should just get on it now.
Monday, March 14, 2005
...or maybe not.
Labels:
auto
Okay - I just don't get it. It's got to be a laser error... after coming home to the tunes on an audio CD I wanted to retest my head-unit with an MP3 CD (which, in my view is a bare essential for car audio nowadays)... well, it gave me the same error as before and ejected the CD-RW I was attempting to feed it. Then I reloaded the regular CD and it played just fine - and I was able to skip forward and backward on the disc okay too.
I'm thinking I'll put up with this for a couple of weeks (try a few different audio CDs). Maybe even burn an audio CD to a CD-RW just to see if maybe it's the fact that it's a rewriteable it doesn't like (which is possible, I guess). I suppose I could live with that.
Better that it outright died though since I really need a legit excuse to go out and get a new unit anyway. Still have my eye on that Kenwood KVT-715 at Best Buy too. That'd be pretty awesome (and the asthetic matches my car interior too). Anybody out there know if it'll play music even with the screen closed? Although the controls are exposed in the closed position, it doesn't appear to have any form of display... just curious. This particular unit is incredibly lacking in user reviews on the web. Ack! Maybe I'll just head over to the store tomorrow night with a few of my own test discs and try it out. Any excuse to tool around with a demo unit...^_^
I'm thinking I'll put up with this for a couple of weeks (try a few different audio CDs). Maybe even burn an audio CD to a CD-RW just to see if maybe it's the fact that it's a rewriteable it doesn't like (which is possible, I guess). I suppose I could live with that.
Better that it outright died though since I really need a legit excuse to go out and get a new unit anyway. Still have my eye on that Kenwood KVT-715 at Best Buy too. That'd be pretty awesome (and the asthetic matches my car interior too). Anybody out there know if it'll play music even with the screen closed? Although the controls are exposed in the closed position, it doesn't appear to have any form of display... just curious. This particular unit is incredibly lacking in user reviews on the web. Ack! Maybe I'll just head over to the store tomorrow night with a few of my own test discs and try it out. Any excuse to tool around with a demo unit...^_^
Sony does it to me again...
I'll never get this... after settling my income tax return and finding that I should expected several hundred dollars in refunds, I started to reconsider that MP3 player for my car again. This morning, for the hell of it (since I had a couple of CDs I was going to bring to work), I decided to stick a disc in and see what would happen. 'Lo and behold, the CD started playing!
This all reminds me of a portable Sony keyboard I have for my Palm... It crapped out and wouldn't work for several months. Then one afternoon, I decided to plug it in and surprise - I was able to type text into my Palm normally.
The ultimate irony of the situation is that in the last two months I've really gotten used to listening to talk radio on the way to work. You get all the latest news headlines without having to read anything (making for a much more productive day since I'm not distracted by reading news on the web).
But now that I've got money... @_@ What to do ...what to do... ??
This all reminds me of a portable Sony keyboard I have for my Palm... It crapped out and wouldn't work for several months. Then one afternoon, I decided to plug it in and surprise - I was able to type text into my Palm normally.
The ultimate irony of the situation is that in the last two months I've really gotten used to listening to talk radio on the way to work. You get all the latest news headlines without having to read anything (making for a much more productive day since I'm not distracted by reading news on the web).
But now that I've got money... @_@ What to do ...what to do... ??
Sunday, March 13, 2005
not so minty anymore...
Have a few minutes while waiting for my tax return to print out...
Funny thing about reading forums is that you get reminded of stuff you put aside... far off to the side. Great Mazinger arrived in the mail some time last spring making him one of the very few in my collection that is actually considered "mint condition" for more than a few weeks. Ironically he's not particularly nostalgic to me (in fact, he's one character I know very little about from my childhood). So when I read on
Robot-Japan Forum about people wondering how long each of us waiting before tearing open boxes of shiny new toys... well, it occured to me that while Great Mazinger was on display next to Goldorak (Grendizer) and Tranzor-Z (Mazinger Z), he wasn't actually complete.
While cleaning the windows of my cabinet last night I decided... oh what the hell:
See that little blue pentagon in his navel? That used to be a gaping empty hole. See, Great Mazinger has a spring-loaded missile that fits in there. For over a year, he stood there as an innie ...and now he's an outtie! ^_^;;
Hey waitaminit - I just also noticed that from this angle, Great Mazinger completely obscures the guy behind him, making it seem like he's got 4 arms and a couple of extra heads coming out of his shoulders! ^o^
So I cut that little plastic panel off from its factory-molded sprue. *sigh* Was nice while it lasted. But on the other hand, I guess I'm much happier now that he looks "proper" next to his super-robot brothers.
Anywho...back to work since my return just finished printing. Gonna give it the once over and then hit Netfile. Or maybe I should have lunch first... whatever.
Funny thing about reading forums is that you get reminded of stuff you put aside... far off to the side. Great Mazinger arrived in the mail some time last spring making him one of the very few in my collection that is actually considered "mint condition" for more than a few weeks. Ironically he's not particularly nostalgic to me (in fact, he's one character I know very little about from my childhood). So when I read on
Robot-Japan Forum about people wondering how long each of us waiting before tearing open boxes of shiny new toys... well, it occured to me that while Great Mazinger was on display next to Goldorak (Grendizer) and Tranzor-Z (Mazinger Z), he wasn't actually complete.
While cleaning the windows of my cabinet last night I decided... oh what the hell:
See that little blue pentagon in his navel? That used to be a gaping empty hole. See, Great Mazinger has a spring-loaded missile that fits in there. For over a year, he stood there as an innie ...and now he's an outtie! ^_^;;
Hey waitaminit - I just also noticed that from this angle, Great Mazinger completely obscures the guy behind him, making it seem like he's got 4 arms and a couple of extra heads coming out of his shoulders! ^o^
So I cut that little plastic panel off from its factory-molded sprue. *sigh* Was nice while it lasted. But on the other hand, I guess I'm much happier now that he looks "proper" next to his super-robot brothers.
Anywho...back to work since my return just finished printing. Gonna give it the once over and then hit Netfile. Or maybe I should have lunch first... whatever.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Happy happy joy joy!
Labels:
life
Anybody remember that phrase?
Well, I finally got a response from the bank - they sent me a phone number I could call to figure out what was up with my receipts. Firstly, I'm amazed their offices were open on weekends (the guy explained that they were available on weekends but that actual transactions you wanted to make might be held up until Mondays, depending on what you wanted to do - like if you had to wait for markets to open if you were dealing in mutual funds).
Secondly, the guy had full access to check out my accounts on-line - he explained that because the term deposit I made was in the middle of the year last year, there wasn't any income for 2004 just yet (silly me, I forgot I'd redirected my GICs in July when the interest rates got better). So basically, I'm not supposed to get a tax slip for that one this year anyway. For a person who prides himself on knowing exactly what's what with his state of affairs, this is thoroughly embarrassing. ^_^;;;
Thirdly, the guy on the line was also able to confirm that my RRSP contribution went through okay and that a paper receipt for it was issued in late February... his advice was that since I knew what my contribution was anyway, I could go ahead and do my taxes but that if I still didn't receive the receipt in the mail, I should call back in a week or visit my branch and sign for a new receipt to be made out to me.
After all that, well, I got to work on my QuickTax... and guess what? For the first time since I moved here, my net balance is in the positive. I over-estimated my Ontario vs. Quebec offset to my HR department and even though a few hundred bucks comes out of my pocket temporarily, the refund from Ontario more than makes up for it. (That is, I've been deducting a little extra at source over the course of the year). What to do with all that money that'll come to me...
Y'know... I still haven't replaced that crapped out MP3 player in the car... Hmm... I wonder about the rest of the weekend. I'm gonna get myself in so much trouble. My parents aren't going to like this one bit. Ha. ^o^
Well, I finally got a response from the bank - they sent me a phone number I could call to figure out what was up with my receipts. Firstly, I'm amazed their offices were open on weekends (the guy explained that they were available on weekends but that actual transactions you wanted to make might be held up until Mondays, depending on what you wanted to do - like if you had to wait for markets to open if you were dealing in mutual funds).
Secondly, the guy had full access to check out my accounts on-line - he explained that because the term deposit I made was in the middle of the year last year, there wasn't any income for 2004 just yet (silly me, I forgot I'd redirected my GICs in July when the interest rates got better). So basically, I'm not supposed to get a tax slip for that one this year anyway. For a person who prides himself on knowing exactly what's what with his state of affairs, this is thoroughly embarrassing. ^_^;;;
Thirdly, the guy on the line was also able to confirm that my RRSP contribution went through okay and that a paper receipt for it was issued in late February... his advice was that since I knew what my contribution was anyway, I could go ahead and do my taxes but that if I still didn't receive the receipt in the mail, I should call back in a week or visit my branch and sign for a new receipt to be made out to me.
After all that, well, I got to work on my QuickTax... and guess what? For the first time since I moved here, my net balance is in the positive. I over-estimated my Ontario vs. Quebec offset to my HR department and even though a few hundred bucks comes out of my pocket temporarily, the refund from Ontario more than makes up for it. (That is, I've been deducting a little extra at source over the course of the year). What to do with all that money that'll come to me...
Y'know... I still haven't replaced that crapped out MP3 player in the car... Hmm... I wonder about the rest of the weekend. I'm gonna get myself in so much trouble. My parents aren't going to like this one bit. Ha. ^o^
Galactus Hungers ...I oughtta eat something...
It's past noon and I'm still in my PJs. What the hell?
I haven't had breakfast yet. I cleaned out my leftovers during the week so the only thing that's "ready to eat" in the place is some oatmeal cookies (which would be nice... but is hardly breakfast) and maybe I'll see about that loaf of bread in the fridge. I suppose I'll settle for toast. Maybe some instant coffee. I'm so not in the mood for anything.
The best thing of the last week? Maybe it was watching "Get Shorty" again. The new DVD package that just came out is great - disc 2 is what DVD is all about. Lots of interview material with Travolta, Hackman, and DeVito (well, yeah, Rene Russou's there but she wasn't particularly fantastic in this film anyway so...). I wish all DVD were produced this well.
I also remembered that a while ago I successfully found a bit-torrent for Bucky O'Hare and had it sitting on my drive. Not sure how that all came together but Neal Adams was known for doing a lot of the super-hero comics in the early 80s - particularly his rendition of Batman. Adams eventually left DC Comics and started up Continuity (they're more an animation studio nowadays, I think). But back in the day it was one of the few independents that had more than a few titles on newstands (thanks in part to a license-deal to do adaptations of "Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future"). The other "little-guy" was Dark Horse, famous for a little known project called Alien Versus Predator -y'all might've heard of that somewhere.
So anyway, Adams put out this ridiculous cartoony green rabbit in a red uniform and a pistol. Teamed said hare with a 4-armed weapons master duck in a baseball cap, a cyclops robot engineer and a bezerker baboon. Then threw them all into a tiny space-frigate christened "Righteous Indignation" in a war against the evil Toad Empire. Sound silly enough? Yeah. It went as far as a cartoon show (sadly only lasting about 13 episodes or so - but still, let's hear it for the little guy).
None of this alters the fact that I'm still hungry for toast now. Maybe I oughtta check the canal (hope their web-cam is still up and running). Looks cold enough for a quick skate this afternoon. That oughtta get me off my ass.
I haven't had breakfast yet. I cleaned out my leftovers during the week so the only thing that's "ready to eat" in the place is some oatmeal cookies (which would be nice... but is hardly breakfast) and maybe I'll see about that loaf of bread in the fridge. I suppose I'll settle for toast. Maybe some instant coffee. I'm so not in the mood for anything.
The best thing of the last week? Maybe it was watching "Get Shorty" again. The new DVD package that just came out is great - disc 2 is what DVD is all about. Lots of interview material with Travolta, Hackman, and DeVito (well, yeah, Rene Russou's there but she wasn't particularly fantastic in this film anyway so...). I wish all DVD were produced this well.
I also remembered that a while ago I successfully found a bit-torrent for Bucky O'Hare and had it sitting on my drive. Not sure how that all came together but Neal Adams was known for doing a lot of the super-hero comics in the early 80s - particularly his rendition of Batman. Adams eventually left DC Comics and started up Continuity (they're more an animation studio nowadays, I think). But back in the day it was one of the few independents that had more than a few titles on newstands (thanks in part to a license-deal to do adaptations of "Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future"). The other "little-guy" was Dark Horse, famous for a little known project called Alien Versus Predator -y'all might've heard of that somewhere.
So anyway, Adams put out this ridiculous cartoony green rabbit in a red uniform and a pistol. Teamed said hare with a 4-armed weapons master duck in a baseball cap, a cyclops robot engineer and a bezerker baboon. Then threw them all into a tiny space-frigate christened "Righteous Indignation" in a war against the evil Toad Empire. Sound silly enough? Yeah. It went as far as a cartoon show (sadly only lasting about 13 episodes or so - but still, let's hear it for the little guy).
None of this alters the fact that I'm still hungry for toast now. Maybe I oughtta check the canal (hope their web-cam is still up and running). Looks cold enough for a quick skate this afternoon. That oughtta get me off my ass.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Maybe I should get back on the weights after all
Finally, a non-work-related blog entry that I can post.
I was chatting with U.D.G. over lunch today and she was saying that she previously always dated jocks in her younger days. So she was accostumed to macho male attitudes whereby men just have to show off their "feats of strength." Even her son's father (who's long since been deleted from her life) was one of those types. But as of late, she's been noticing that the guy she's with now never even jokes with her when she demands, "carry me!"
"I'm starting to realize that he's just not a very strong guy and it's kind of a turn-off. Does that make me a shallow person," she asked? "I bet I could win if I arm-wrestled him."
Then Patrick Starfish turned around and made a funny comment that I didn't catch. In fact, the rest of the conversation was pretty much lost on me because I was busy sizing her up and wondering to myself, "one-twenty...? um. maybe 130 pounds? hmm... I wonder if I could carry her myself?"
No no no - let's not take this the wrong way.
In fact, U.D.G. was just saying earlier in the day that the guy called her for something and my name came up in the conversation (again) prompting him to start ranting, "Ben this, Ben that! You're always talking about this Ben person - who is he? what's going on between you and him?!"
There are times when I wish I could just meet the man and put his fears to rest. *sigh*
I was chatting with U.D.G. over lunch today and she was saying that she previously always dated jocks in her younger days. So she was accostumed to macho male attitudes whereby men just have to show off their "feats of strength." Even her son's father (who's long since been deleted from her life) was one of those types. But as of late, she's been noticing that the guy she's with now never even jokes with her when she demands, "carry me!"
"I'm starting to realize that he's just not a very strong guy and it's kind of a turn-off. Does that make me a shallow person," she asked? "I bet I could win if I arm-wrestled him."
Then Patrick Starfish turned around and made a funny comment that I didn't catch. In fact, the rest of the conversation was pretty much lost on me because I was busy sizing her up and wondering to myself, "one-twenty...? um. maybe 130 pounds? hmm... I wonder if I could carry her myself?"
No no no - let's not take this the wrong way.
In fact, U.D.G. was just saying earlier in the day that the guy called her for something and my name came up in the conversation (again) prompting him to start ranting, "Ben this, Ben that! You're always talking about this Ben person - who is he? what's going on between you and him?!"
There are times when I wish I could just meet the man and put his fears to rest. *sigh*
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Musical merit? Or just noise?
Labels:
music
I was watching Ellen the other day and she said you know you're getting old when you start using words like "newfangled." Reminded me of this one time when Red Green mentioned that today's music wasn't "too loud, it just sucked."
I'm not sure when it happened, but at one point in my life I stopped listening to what was popular. For a time, I didn't even own a radio. It was at a party a few months ago when someone put in a disc I was unfamiliar with (probably because I'd also given up walking into record stores too). It turns out that maybe I had dismissed hip-hop and alternative-rock a little too easily. Maybe I was being unfair. In fact, on a whim, when I saw it on a shelf yesterday, I decided "what the hey... let's buy this."
The album is titled "Collision Course" - you may have heard of these names: Jay-Z and Linkin Park. It's a 6-song EP that comes with a DVD documenting how in only 1 day, these two artists got together and basically jammed until they had something presentable and put on a small concert. And what's funny now is that after watching it, it occurs to me that these guys take their work pretty seriously. Now is that any less respectable than, say, hearing about the production process of a progressive-rock band?
Or maybe I'm just not as "old" as I was feeling 24 hours ago. ^_~
I'm not sure when it happened, but at one point in my life I stopped listening to what was popular. For a time, I didn't even own a radio. It was at a party a few months ago when someone put in a disc I was unfamiliar with (probably because I'd also given up walking into record stores too). It turns out that maybe I had dismissed hip-hop and alternative-rock a little too easily. Maybe I was being unfair. In fact, on a whim, when I saw it on a shelf yesterday, I decided "what the hey... let's buy this."
The album is titled "Collision Course" - you may have heard of these names: Jay-Z and Linkin Park. It's a 6-song EP that comes with a DVD documenting how in only 1 day, these two artists got together and basically jammed until they had something presentable and put on a small concert. And what's funny now is that after watching it, it occurs to me that these guys take their work pretty seriously. Now is that any less respectable than, say, hearing about the production process of a progressive-rock band?
Or maybe I'm just not as "old" as I was feeling 24 hours ago. ^_~
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Wish I had THAT connection to my childhood
Typical Chinese my age - most folks would easily assume I had my fair share of kid icons like anime or sentai heroes (Power Rangers) before they ever made it big here. But that's actually not so true since I grew up here. And you know, that's a shame because I just saw the most incredible video clip tonite.
Around here, you're expected to "grow up" at some point in your life and all of a sudden, it's socially unacceptable to enjoy childhood interests like cartoons and stuff. But what if (for the sake of arguement) there was a singular icon from your childhood that you just couldn't let go of. I don't mean you watched Star Trek as a kid and that you're a geek now for still liking reruns from 1968. I mean, an icon that was designed expressly to entertain kids. And let's say that icon was so huge that everyone in your generation remembers it just as fondly as you do. And let's also assume that the production company knows that it can tap into that nostalgia and come up with a special live performance that reunited the cast of such an icon. Perhaps the original artists who performed the theme songs or something. And better yet, all these participants are actually not embarrassed by their involvement in this iconic franchise and are thrilled to put on a show - Just. For. You.
Now wouldn't that just be a load of fun?
Alas, such a thing wouldn't ever happen here... but it happens in Japan on a fairly regular basis.
Back to the video clip: it's from a concert put on by the cast and singers from the original Sentai team Goranger. From circa 1975, the show is so old that it never made the transition to American "Power Rangers" adaptation. But the fans were gobbling it up. The clip is a professionally recorded performance of one of the theme songs and very clearly, the aging star of the Goranger show (now in his late-50s) was smiling the whole time and everyone on stage sang their hearts out and seemed to be having a blast. And at choreographed moments during the song, would wave their hands in typical "ranger" action poses. And it got better: the fans in the crowd, let's assume their in their late-20s/early-30s, clapped along and at their cue all pumped their fists in the air and shouted the battle-cries at the right moment... the whole image was just surreal to see so many grown men and women enjoying their childhood heroes on stage.
If I were a little ambitious (and I'm not) I'd post the clip on a Yousendit.com address and share it. But well, I'm not quite sure it's worth that effort. If you really wanna see it, find a homepage called #TV-Nihon and go to their bittorrent page... Look for a torrent called "Super Sentai Spirits 2004 Live." It's just so... weird to see.
Anyway, I kinda feel like I missed out on something special having grown up here in North America...
Around here, you're expected to "grow up" at some point in your life and all of a sudden, it's socially unacceptable to enjoy childhood interests like cartoons and stuff. But what if (for the sake of arguement) there was a singular icon from your childhood that you just couldn't let go of. I don't mean you watched Star Trek as a kid and that you're a geek now for still liking reruns from 1968. I mean, an icon that was designed expressly to entertain kids. And let's say that icon was so huge that everyone in your generation remembers it just as fondly as you do. And let's also assume that the production company knows that it can tap into that nostalgia and come up with a special live performance that reunited the cast of such an icon. Perhaps the original artists who performed the theme songs or something. And better yet, all these participants are actually not embarrassed by their involvement in this iconic franchise and are thrilled to put on a show - Just. For. You.
Now wouldn't that just be a load of fun?
Alas, such a thing wouldn't ever happen here... but it happens in Japan on a fairly regular basis.
Back to the video clip: it's from a concert put on by the cast and singers from the original Sentai team Goranger. From circa 1975, the show is so old that it never made the transition to American "Power Rangers" adaptation. But the fans were gobbling it up. The clip is a professionally recorded performance of one of the theme songs and very clearly, the aging star of the Goranger show (now in his late-50s) was smiling the whole time and everyone on stage sang their hearts out and seemed to be having a blast. And at choreographed moments during the song, would wave their hands in typical "ranger" action poses. And it got better: the fans in the crowd, let's assume their in their late-20s/early-30s, clapped along and at their cue all pumped their fists in the air and shouted the battle-cries at the right moment... the whole image was just surreal to see so many grown men and women enjoying their childhood heroes on stage.
If I were a little ambitious (and I'm not) I'd post the clip on a Yousendit.com address and share it. But well, I'm not quite sure it's worth that effort. If you really wanna see it, find a homepage called #TV-Nihon and go to their bittorrent page... Look for a torrent called "Super Sentai Spirits 2004 Live." It's just so... weird to see.
Anyway, I kinda feel like I missed out on something special having grown up here in North America...
where does the time go?
Labels:
life
...before I knew it, the day had just disappear (like sand in the hourglass, so go...).
@_@
Wha-?
Came in on time for a change - jumped into the whole acting-team-leader bit. Manager wanted a poll on reactions to the possible team-reorganization. Personally: "Typical - when the government wants to slip something between the cracks, they shuffle stuff people around." Sat in on an hour-long management meeting. Bleah. Then another team leader in my section paniced and asked about the release migration to testing since their staff member in charge of that called in sick - I switched into my acting-release-coordinator role and negotiated the system impact with the Resynch team. I also found out that I'm security officer again tonight.
When do I get paid for this again? ~_~;
One thing: I'll never make fun of a team-leader's job again.
It was time for lunch before I could stop and breathe. Pizza was good for a change. The company helps: UDG was telling me that her son was getting in video games. Ah yes, the next generation corrupted as we speak! ^_-
She also mentioned that the little guy was starting to notice the subtle differences between his body and mom's body. Time to stop bathing with him, she supposed. To which I couldn't help but joke: "I dunno what you mean, maybe you oughtta show me these differences!" ^o^;;
Speaking of oddball conversations... I finally got a hold of some old friends from back home. We spoke on the phone for over 90 minutes (thankfully I with Bell First-rate so my long-distance charges top out at $20 each month). Money well-spent anyway. It was good to hear that they're doing well. Life goes on: I haven't seen them since those two got married and they couldn't believe when I told them that was over 5 years ago.
Hmmm... sometimes I'd just like to sit down forget everything for a while. *sigh*
@_@
Wha-?
Came in on time for a change - jumped into the whole acting-team-leader bit. Manager wanted a poll on reactions to the possible team-reorganization. Personally: "Typical - when the government wants to slip something between the cracks, they shuffle stuff people around." Sat in on an hour-long management meeting. Bleah. Then another team leader in my section paniced and asked about the release migration to testing since their staff member in charge of that called in sick - I switched into my acting-release-coordinator role and negotiated the system impact with the Resynch team. I also found out that I'm security officer again tonight.
When do I get paid for this again? ~_~;
One thing: I'll never make fun of a team-leader's job again.
It was time for lunch before I could stop and breathe. Pizza was good for a change. The company helps: UDG was telling me that her son was getting in video games. Ah yes, the next generation corrupted as we speak! ^_-
She also mentioned that the little guy was starting to notice the subtle differences between his body and mom's body. Time to stop bathing with him, she supposed. To which I couldn't help but joke: "I dunno what you mean, maybe you oughtta show me these differences!" ^o^;;
Speaking of oddball conversations... I finally got a hold of some old friends from back home. We spoke on the phone for over 90 minutes (thankfully I with Bell First-rate so my long-distance charges top out at $20 each month). Money well-spent anyway. It was good to hear that they're doing well. Life goes on: I haven't seen them since those two got married and they couldn't believe when I told them that was over 5 years ago.
Hmmm... sometimes I'd just like to sit down forget everything for a while. *sigh*
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
That point in the day - you know the one I mean.
Labels:
life
...how did this happen to me? Supervisor just came by to ask me to fill in for him for the rest of the week. And so did my colleague in charge of release-coordination for the section. And someone from Ops-Support came by to ask me if I could be the security office on call overnight.
I've just about reached the point where I think I'd like to just log-off and go home so I can get to work on a fresh pot of pasta sauce. I picked up a bunch of mushroom, zuchinni, and ground beef last night. And I'm pretty much fully stocked on seasonings nowadays so it ought to be fairly easy to come up with something for this batch. Maybe drop some onion in there. I think I have some baby bok-choy leftover - I wonder how that'll taste.
Nothing's too ridiculous ever since I learned the secret ingredient for a great cake: 1 cup of mayo.
I've just about reached the point where I think I'd like to just log-off and go home so I can get to work on a fresh pot of pasta sauce. I picked up a bunch of mushroom, zuchinni, and ground beef last night. And I'm pretty much fully stocked on seasonings nowadays so it ought to be fairly easy to come up with something for this batch. Maybe drop some onion in there. I think I have some baby bok-choy leftover - I wonder how that'll taste.
Nothing's too ridiculous ever since I learned the secret ingredient for a great cake: 1 cup of mayo.
Off-topic life blog entry
Labels:
life
This entry's one of those that I categorize under "life." But it seems like ebloggy's server is acting weird and won't accept my connection. Anyway, just wanted to mention, for those of you keeping track, I got another phone call late last night from mum. She reports that my aunts arrived in Hong Kong a few days ago and my grandmother's doing just fine for the moment. She's no longer wearing the oxygen mask and appears fairly lucid (as lucid as a Alzheimers victim can be anyhow). In the meantime, mum has still applied for a passport renewal just in case anything happens. I reassured her I'd come home this weekend just for the hell of it. If I were really anal I might have insisted on visiting after my mail order stuff came in since I'm sure my folks would get a kick out of seeing the latest HK flicks... Not a big deal.
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