2002/07/31

More classic Dilbert.

Saw Austin Powers III (Goldmember) last night. It was pretty good. A lot of the same jokes from the previous two movies, but this time around it was a little different in that the movie had a very self-conscious feel to it -- the recycled jokes were like mockeries of their originals. Goldmember is basically a fun frop around the silliness of its predecessors, the kind of movie where needed plot elements are just thrown in when they're convenient. The result is a tonne of funny parts, but not a lot to offer in total; in this case, the sum of the individual parts is greater than the whole.
16:22 |

2002/07/29

Weekend. Oshawa. Family. Friends. Fun.
15:43 |

2002/07/26

What an ass. This guy's article pretty much denounces the use of bicycles on the road. I think he just needs to relax and get used to it -- bikes aren't gonna disappear none too soon.

Checked out Shanghai last night. Ate there last week -- yum! -- and learned that Linus (from Organised Sound) spins on Thursday evenings. It was a nice, chill vibe: exactly what I've been looking for in Ottawa :)
16:09 |

2002/07/25

Seems I haven't put up too many updates lately, so maybe today I should share the scoop.

It finally feels consistantly like summer, as the temperature has been decent and there hasn't been much rain (though we could probably use it); so, I've been playing outside quite a bit, going biking and scooting.

dEb and I have recently been bitten by the downhill bug, so we've been heading out to Gatineau Park (aka the Gats, or GP) and diggin' the bike trails there.

I've slowly been working on some robotics projects, including a webpage, along with armchair engineering a bunch of other stuff ;)

The summer seems to be flying by, but it's been a fun ride so far. The MS Bike Tour is coming up (08/10-11), and I've set my personal fundraising goal at $500. If you wanna help out, email me w/ your pledge amount -- the money goes to a good cause, and donating will make you feel good!
17:20 |

2002/07/24

NB: Do not refrigerate green bananas, as they won't ripen.
16:29 |

2002/07/23

Neat in-mouse cryo chamber for Lego mini-figs.
16:28 |

Blogger bugs

Blogger's servers crapped out at the beginning of the month. I've been adding entries, but they weren't getting published. I had to recreate my template, as my original blue one was the victim of a server crash. I thought the problem would resolve itself, but it's been quite a while. So now things seem to be back up and running. Comments aren't working anymore, and neither is the search on the archive page, but I'll fix that later. In the mean time you can read the last few weeks' worth of posts, finally on-line. If you find any weird errors, let me know.
12:01 |

2002/07/22

Starbucks gets jammed by fake coupons.

Clever dj set-up at NYC bar sports two Mac iPods and a mixer so patrons can take turns mixing 7-minute sets. You grab a number, like at a deli, and have access to hundreds of songs for your set. So simple, yet so novel. I dig it.

Andrew Andrew: strange pair in NYC dj w/ iPods and generally attract attention as look-alikes. Say, can I join?

Saw Blood on the Moon; it's a great, one-man-play about the conviction and hanging of James Patrick Whelan, who supposedly killed D'arcy McGee. The testimony leading to Whelan's eventual hanging for the crime sounds like a scheme devised for a quick conviction pressured by PM John A. MacDonald -- but what else is new?
17:10 |

2002/07/18

Article against Orwell's 1984 predictions. Interesting, but a little glossed over, imo, and not very compelling.

Saw Dogtown and Z Boys, a great documentary about skateboarding -- so old school, it's pre-school ;)
16:53 |

2002/07/16

Another classic post on the local newsgroup:
I am looking for a new or used Straight/Strait Jacket.
Ungimicked, medical/instututional style restraint jacket.
Size Medium, chest 40-44".

Neat. A Lego Palm.
16:47 |

2002/07/12

The results are in! Andrew was the 7th most popular name for newborn boys in the US in 2001, and it placed 18th in BC the same year. Now, is this good or bad?
15:44 |

2002/07/10

According to this, Ottawa is the cheapest Canadian city (of five surveyed) in terms of "housing, food, clothing, transportation and entertainment." Housing? If that's true, than yikes for other cities . . .

What kind of animal personality are you? According to the survey, I'm either a penguin, a baboon, or an otter. I don't completely fit any of the profiles, though . . . go figure.

Here's a hilarious Flash bit about a game of Pong gone too far.
16:40 |

Life really is stranger than fiction. Who could have ever imagined, that after a half-ass spring, w/ cool, windy weather, the Toronto garbage collectors would go on strike, just as a heatwave hits Ontario? Now, Ottawa trash workers are condsidering striking. This is stupid. Who's next? Montreal, Halifax, Vancouver!? The 90's and 00's are going to be known as the strike decades. I think it's ridiculous. Maybe I don't know enough about the collective bargaining process, but it doesn't seem like any bargaining ever goes down: a unionized group presents their demands for a 2.6987% raise per year, the treasury board offers 2.121111% instead, and boo-yah, it's time get your strike on, yo.
10:36 |

2002/07/09

The Google mirror.

The boombox museum -- brought to you by the Pocket Calculator Show.
17:19 |

Headed down to the 'shwa this past weekend. I'd been recruited to help my brother w/ the recarpeting of his office. We had to move stuff from room to room while the workers did their carpet-laying magic.

The social aspect of the weekend saw me hanging out w/ Duff and Dan, neither of whom I'd seen for a while. It was a good time.

Went to the monthly Ottawa Robotics Enthusiasts meeting last night and collected lots of info in the way of sensors and microcontrollers. I have a few robotics projects slowly starting to bloom, and I hope to have a robot page up here soon.
15:38 |

2002/07/08

Shift article about the future accessibility ills of all our data currently stored on harddrives having "one year limited warrantees." Speaking of outdated mediums, I know I have a few files on 5.25" floppies that I'll never see again . . .

Amusing Photoshop tennis site for you PS heads out there (you know who you are!).
16:42 |

2002/07/03

The Canada Day weekend was hot. Saturday wasn't too bad; dEb and I went for a ride along the Ottawa River Pathway, east of downtown where we hadn't gone before. Very nice. However, the humidity started climbing on Sunday. Monday was so gross that I chose to hide inside w/ the a/c all day. Checked out the fireworks that evening from Victoria Island, though; not bad at all!

Checked out a few more Fringe shows as well. Canadian Toast was pretty funny, a nice political satire; and The Condom, The Cucumber, and The Girl From Ipanema was funny and, ugh, riske (sp?).

Hilarious post on MeFi discussion about blog article:
So I was blogging along and this blog blogs up to me and blogs, "Blog! What the blog is blogging, blog?" I blogging didn't blog what to blog, so I blogged my blog and blog. Then, the blog blogged all blog, and blogged down the blog, blogging me a blogging blog in blog. I blogged there to blog and blog only when blogging blogged for.

Oh my. Telemarketer saves the day.
16:53 |

2002/07/02

Remember Hinterland Who's Who videos!? The Canadian Wildlife Service has archived episodes here! The streaming versions don't work, but the zipped mpegs do :)
16:43 |

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