Sunday, December 19, 2004

If a Robot could draw what hand would it use?

If a Robot could draw what hand would it use?

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Exam: PHY101

Wrote the long PHY101 exam today. From 9:00am to ~2:45pm. Wow. I'm so glad I jumped to the 'long' problems at the end to start. It was all about getting this one question I wanted to get.



Came home and just relaxed. It's been a long exam period with lack of sleep and food.



Watched 3 episodes of, "Six Feet Under" season 3.



Later watched the DVD, "I, Robot". Had some interesting 'ethical' underpinnings.



Petit-P phoned later, something about a favour.



Friday, December 17, 2004

Studying all day for PHY101

Another long day of studying for PHY101. Went to bed ~@1:30pm. The exam is early tomorrow.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Exam: MAT105 & CSC201

Today was the MAT105 exam @9:00am and the CSC201 [take-home] exam. I finished the MAT105 exam @~12:00pm and briefly chatted with some class mates then off home to finish the CSC201 exam. I had written it before and had until 3:00pm to do corrections. After having lunch and doing some other miscellaneous things got it done.

Monday, December 13, 2004

MAT105

Studying all day today for MAT105.



It's also ECY bornday today. I tried getting him a gift yesterday, it didn't work but maybe it's for the best. I also tried calling him ~@10:00pm but no answer. I knew he was working but I thought I'd try anyway. Eventually he phoned me @~11:00pm. Great person. He wanted to go to the Grande-M [at least on my suggestion] but since he's malade I didn't want to take a chance because of my exams. He's working a lot these days and he didn't go to school today but did manage to go to work. He also mentioned that he may go away for Noel. Excellent!







Sunday, December 12, 2004

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Exam: MAT190

Wrote the MAT190 exam today. 2-3 questions I didn't get perfect on, but should have known. Now onto CSC...





Friday, December 10, 2004

Exams: MAT108

After asking if my Prof. received my second version of my CSC201 Term paper he responded yes "coincidently [I] had just read it and gave it an, 'A'." Cool.



Wrote the MAT108 exam today. It's really hard to tell how that went. I'll wait and see. Now onto MAT190.

Thursday, December 9, 2004

Sunday, December 5, 2004

Books: Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things

"For example, I don't read fiction. I want to read facts about things I can apply in a practical way."



After reading this sentence I was thinking that maybe thats one of problems with people in the , "Computer" world. There's a tendencey for 'computer' people to also be into Science Fiction and Fantasy. Maybe they read and think so much about fantasy that they don't see that the work they are doing today effects all of us tomorrow. Or that they will fix problem XYZ but not today, but in the next/future version.

Saturday, December 4, 2004

An executive that just doesn't get it

"EA's senior vice president of human resources Rusty Rueff to staff at the company has revealed that the firm is contemplating a change to how it classifies jobs with regard to overtime eligibility." --- unfortunately the article goes on the reveal that basically he's going to do nothing.



Here's a link to the ea's spouse article referred to in the article.



Computer Ethics

Now that we are at the conclusion of my Computer Ethics class I was thinking about what some of the non CSC major got out of the class. What does a non computer geek think of the computer world. Some people in the class thought hardware was less reliable these days. With examples of hard drives and video cards dying being the most dominate. Though I'd agree with them on this I don't agree with their follow-up point being that software is now more reliable. Absolutely NOT!. How can a piece of software that used to run on a non multi-tasking OS be more reliable? It used to be the case that your word processor would run and nothing else. It was great. No interupts no pops nothing just productivity. Now look at what's happening, a machine fighting for resources, with an ever present chance of crashing. But I don't just have a problem with software after installing it, the problems start before you even open the 'box'. Have you ever read the EULA (End User License Agreement) it's all the 'legal' stuff you agree to before installing the software. Basically it says we take no responsibility for your machine and we do not guarantee our software will do anything we told you it would do. My God! Imagine if other industries took this view. "We stand behind nothing" - they would say. Are you likely to buy? Do we as customers not look for a warranty when we buy any major product? How can the 'tech' industry continue this policy? And with the lack of certification of the Computer Science field it's no wonder software is so poorly written these days. So what's the solution. First let's go about creating a set of ethics that all programmers will be taught as part of a formal education. No not the ACM code of ethics something that truly represents what is good for the customer. Secondly certification. Not Windows certification but certification in the same sense as Engineers do. Where once certified there's a certain expectation of professionalism knowing that the work you do can cost people's lives if not done properly.

Friday, December 3, 2004

Last Day of School & Harry Potter III

Today was the last day of classes. Now exam started.



I needed to get the car fixed before the XMas vacation. ~$420. Not great.



Watched the DVD, "Harry Potter III". Very dark. Unclear where this series is going.



Also handed in a second v2.1 of my CSC201 - Term Paper.



Saturday, November 27, 2004

Petit-P to FutureShop w/Ami & Arrested Development

Took Petit-P and his friend to FutureShop. He wanted to buy, "Halo 2" for his new XBox. While I was there I decided to buy the DVD series, "Arrested Development" Season One. It seems like a good find!

Friday, November 26, 2004

MAT105 & DVD, "The Terminal"

Stayed up late last night [@2:30AM] doing a MAT105 assignment.



Went shopping. Bought some u.w. Actually for the first time saw someone in my class at the Grande-M. Great.





Petit-P phoned ~@7:06pm saying he was caught out in the cold and needed a lift. No problem. Returned to continue watching the following DVD.





Watched the DVD, "The Terminal" w/Tom Hanks. It's a Steven Spielberg movie so one expects a bit of quality. It was O.K. An interesting tale of a person in an airport terminal.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Lots of School work & Petit-P's BornDay & Harry Potter III

Really busy now with school as we enter the last 2 weeks of the term.



Today was the arrival of, "Harry Potter III" (HPIII). Went to return my 'weekend' DVDs and pickup HPIII but no luck, all gone.



PHY101 tutorial 2nite @5:00pm.



It was Petit-P's bornday today. I didn't hear if the 'thing' that was suppose to happen at school actually happened. It sounds like it did not.

Monday, November 22, 2004

Women And Collaboration

After a computer ethics class week I've begun to think that if I were to design a collaborative piece of software that I'd hire a team of ALL women. Why? If in the 'real' world women are much better at communicating doesn't it make sense that therefore they could build a better collaborative environment? I thing so. I believe this would make a great experiment. Details to follow.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

MAT190

Spent from 1:00pm -> 8:30pm doing math. for the assignment due tomorrow.



Also up late talking to Alex. He was telling about Google.



Went to bed ~@1:20am

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Petit-P's Bornday Party

Well I put together a little 'sex' sac for Petit-P's BornDay party. I wasn't sure how it would go over and I didn't get to go into the full explaination that I wanted to. People gathered 'round for a quick look. Not bad. I hope they enjoyed the package. Took some photos. Talked to some new people. Stay for 30-45 min.

Friday, November 19, 2004

PHY101 - MidTerm Test #2 And SciFi night

The whole week [if not past 2 week] was to be about today's PHY101 MidTerm Test #2. I'll comment on how I did once returned.



The afternoon was spent searching for some small stuff for Petit-P's upcoming Bornday.



Also bought the game, "Tribes Venegance". Was going to buy Doom3 since it's a good price, $39.99, but it wasn't clear that it was on sale or if this is the new price.



Watched the DVD, "RiverWorld". Not good. And the movie, "Battlestar Galactica 2003" the movie, which I believe is introducing a 'new' Sci-fi series. They've got some of the 'old' stuff there, but I'd like to see a lot more. But no doubt it was a much better movie then RiverWorld.

Monday, November 15, 2004

One Year Anniversary

Well it's been exactly one year since I moved out here. Some have asked me if it's gone by quickly. It's hard to say. As I look back on a collection of photos I've certainly changed. This of course begs the question how much have I changed over my life time, but that's another story.



It's been exciting and I'd honestly say that I don't regret it. I'm in the middle of some tough stuff right now at school so I not happy this second but I have no doubt that in general the move here was well worth it. If you examine this blog over the past year there's been lots of ups and downs. I been pretty positive throughout [or at least more then usual].



I was hoping to hear from some people yesterday but they didn't contact me. Little disappointing but not surprising.



In other news spent some time planning out my exam schedule and when my x-mas vacation starts.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

PHY101 Tutorial

Spent Sat. morning relaxing and ~3:00pm -> ~6:00pm went to a PHY101 tutorial session. We covered the first mid-term and some current material. It was worth going to.

Friday, November 12, 2004

Usual Fri.

Went to the Subway for Fri afternoon's lunch. Has some coupons so what the he$%. Bought lots of little things pillows, uw and a new game. The game is XXX the racing game. It only comes on DVD which is fine with me. Unfortunately it's copy protection doesn't seem to be working on my machine. Upgrading to the latest Far Cry, played briefly.



Watched the DVD, "The Medallion" with Jackie Chan. Exactly what you would expect.

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

School concerns

The next two weeks are all about concerns about school. Lots of work to do.

Monday, November 8, 2004

First part of Petit-P's Gift

Went and got the first part of Petit-P's gift. Details to follow in 2+ weeks. Picked up the two XX and also visited his x'xxxxx to pickup 2 xxxxx.



Unfortunately as I was doing all of this Petit-P phoned and asked about the last custom photo I had done of him. Since I had concerns about if I was going to his bornday party I asked him and he said no. It's going to be very difficult to give him my gift if I'm not there. It's a 'group' gift really.

Later that night on Messenger he finally allowed me to come after I suggest a scenerio that would work. Never the less it made me feel ackward. Oh well, moving on.



I'm thinking of creating some party packages. Only a thought.

Sunday, November 7, 2004

A Week before

I was happy to be invited to Petit-P's place for diner. I had not gone over in any formal way for a while. We sat down for diner, as meat pie. Not my favourite. :-( , however the home made 'jam' was great, so maybe that makes up for that. I had luckly remembered to have a drink of water before going in as I always get thirsty when I'm there. Petit-P had got his hair cut the previous day and his Mom pointed it out. I had noticed it before. I'll have to hold off on my opinion. Since this was suppose to be a 'Bornday/Arrival Anniversal' I put together some things quick for Petit-P since they only told me a day or two before the event. I gave him a orange shirt and two custom football photos I had developed. One photo was good it was him with Conan in front of the team. However when Japan Camera printed it it needed to be cropped and unfortunately there was no good place to crop it. The other photo was of just him with a B/W background. The 'technique' is interested but a) there was some problems with the color areas 'leaking' over and I don't think anyone was a fan of the face he was making in the photo. $2/photo (5x7).



The night continued and Petit-P did the usual. Goofed around, took some photos, watch some, "Family Guy", played "Playstation". I'm afraid that since this day was created because his Mother didn't want to celebrate my anniversary on the proper day it wasn't as 'exciting' as it was suppose to be.



Friday, November 5, 2004

Long day @School

Another long day at school. Two assignments due today. Physics and Math. Afterwards did the usually Grande-M and magazine visit. Petit-p sent me some photos he took at school. There looks like at least 2 or 3 that I can modify.



Finished watching the DVD, "Thirteen".

Sunday, October 31, 2004

Another Photo avec Petit-P

Finished another photo with Petit-P. I used some of the Football photos from Sat's BCS game. Also did some studying for tomorrow's Math Quiz.



Watched the DVD, "Spy Games".



FireFox here I come

After having undefined problems with IE v6.x on Windows I decided to move to FireFox. I had tried this several months back and though it was OK I just didn't make the day-to-day shift to FireFox and though it's too soon to say that I've made the shift I'm certainly more impressed this time around. Microsoft, with all it's 'intelligent' developers should be ashamed that a smaller group of people can come a long a build such a better browser. And after watching a Channel9 video with the Program Manager for the IE team we can expect little in the way of the innovative features the browsers like FireFox offers. Here's the first piece of software that I've seen in years that has kept things simple. It's got a refreshingly clean interface. What a pleasure to see this.

Building Software

I've been thinking recently how poorly software is written and how poorly it serves the everyday person. Can we as an industry not create truly useful software? Can we not know what users want [hell lets ask them] and design something they want? Is it really that difficult? I hereby make a plead to all those involved in designing not only software but anything that people are suppose to use to take extra steps to involve your potential customers early on and to design for them from day one. Now some might argue they've been doing this for years so what's the problem? The problem is we should have this down to an art form by this point. It's been over 20+ years since we've had programmable computers and program design seems to be an art that few if anyone have mastered. What's the problem? The first problem is the people who are designing the software are the last people in the world that will ever use it. In the industry it's called, "eating your [own] dog food". It's the process of a company using the software they've written in a real world situation. Why is this so difficult? My guess is the way we deliver software to the market. In a typical development life cycle it's: design, code, test and ship. The problem with this is the testing part is usually minimized and if and when it happens shipping soon follows. I propose a "dog food" period. Any software you design must be used internally by your company for minimally 6 months if not a year. Yes, an entire year. The software will be consider finished at one stage and then go into "dog food" mode where it will be used for internal projects. During this stage any problems will be fixed and optimizations are made to allow everyday users to be more productive. For example: short-cuts added, custom reports, etc. I project that as part of the daily use of a piece of software that the designers and programmers will see the end users using their software in ways that they never imagined. It's been said that end users are great at suggesting 'minor' features and these can be compiled from Beta testing feedback but that the more 'fundamental' features are only thought of by the architects/designers/coders. I believe this is a valid proposition. But I also believe that we have yet to create a methodology for understanding what users want and that we go into projects almost completely ignorant of what end users really want. How can this be? ...


Star Wars III: Teaser Poster now available

Everytime there's a new StarWars movie there's a new 'teaser' poster that comes out, and for Episode III - it's no different. But the thing that is different is this one really looks like it sucks. My God how did George Lucas let this go by. Come on! Who's in charge? Is this the type of quality we can expect? Disappointing.

Halloween - When I was a kid

When I was a kid Halloween seemed to be more exciting. Things started late you went around for what seemed to be hours and apartment buildings were like gold mines. Today it was around 3:30 when I saw the first mother/father/son walking on the street. My God. And the number of houses 'participating' this year on my street seems really small.

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Football @BCS

I was very undecided about going to see Petit-P play football today. I had lots of work to do today and the season was official over, this was just some 'extra' game they were going to play. Besides I didn't really want to get up and out for 10:00am on a Saturday. Well I thought if I do go I'll go for ~11:00am. Turns out that I guess they played quick today 'cause the game ended ~11:30am, I managed to get some photos during the game, but I don't think I ever saw Petit-P play. However all was not lost for some reason someone organized it so that a few of us could take full team photos after the game. It was great. Something I always wanted. Perfect!

Afterwards I walked around the campus. The game was played at BCS a private school for English student. I think it's ~$20-30K/year to attend. The school is incredible. Took some photos of this as well.



Watched another episode of the DVD, "6 Feet Under", as well as the DVD, "Van Helsing". It was OK.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

PHY101: MidTerm

Wrote the PHY101 MidTerm today. Things were going well until the prof said you only have 20 min. I had thought that it was an 1hour 1/2 exam, not an hour :-(. I can only hope I did really-really well on the first section.



In the good side, it was my LAST midterm!



Now back to a normal load...

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Returned some of yesterday's DVDs and visited ECY

It's been a while since I've visited ECY and I needed to send a fax. I went there twice the first time there was no answer so I head to Zellers. Picked up some cleaning stuff and Holloween glow in the dark cream and some underwear.



Thought I'd take another chance and check if ECY was back so I drove by, "on the way home". Lynda was looking 'preppy' today. It looked like ECY did the, "hey I need some cloths" so I think she bought him some more cloths today. $110 sweater. I'm glad to see him spending money on cloths instead of the car. He showed me his new car tires ($500) and he did some painting of the motor.



In other news he says he's got a girlfriend now. Apparently one of the girls from the school photos. Good for him. I hope everything works out.



Watched the DVD, "I Spy" with Eddy Murphy and Owen Wilson. It was OK. Watced another episode of, "Six Feet Under".

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Petit-P's Last FootBall Game

Well today was Petit-P's last football game. It was an "away" game so I wasn't able to go. Got some studying to do anyways. Apparently it was a 'tie' game 16-16. Since they only won 2 games in the season they didn't make the finals so the season is over. I think he enjoyed playing and I managed to get a few photos. Not enough. But maybe in 10+ years he'll enjoy them. Wish I could have done a 'team' shot.



Finally did some Sat morning Blog reading but then suddenly thought I'd like to get caught up on some house cleaning. :-()



I passed by just after 5:00pm to drop off a mouse-pad and Family Guy disc #2. I was quickly 'booted' but it was OK I had other plans. As well Petit-P said he was going to a FootBall party. Great.



As the night went on I could see that he wasn't going to the party. Not sure what happened here.

Friday, October 22, 2004

MAT109 MidTerm

Wrote the MAT109 MidTerm today. From 1:30pm ->3:00pm. Not surprisingly I forgot my calculator. I think I did OK, but one never knows.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

MAT105 - MidTerm

Wrote the MAT105 MidTerm. Unfortunately, I didn't finish Ass #3 before hand and of course one of the questions was on the test; prove an odd+odd # = even. Got it now, after finishing the assignment. The question how many 'part' marks can I get ;-()

Sunday, October 17, 2004

A neighbourly thing

Well I thought I'd support the local school fund raiser by buying some apples. $8 a bit prices but it's for a good cause, right? Well since they were dropped off the other day and they were red ones, which are not my favourite and decided that I'd gift half of them to the people upstairs. So I knocked on the door @11:05am and tried to talk to the person who answered the door. He [being the youngest] didn't speak a word of English so it was easy. Basically I ended-up telling him that here's a gift.



Physics tutorial today @4:30pm. Odd day for it to happen, but yes today went for ~2.5 hours.



Petit-P continued his stupid attitude today. Not really sure what to do about it.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

2% of Office???

Went to see Petit-P play his second last Football game. Since he didn't play very much I didn't get a lot of photos, but some turned out OK. I need to re-interate to some of the people involved that though the photos are somewhat interesting today it's my hope that it's in 10-20 years that Petit-P and his mother look at the photos and really enjoy them.

Got home ~@1:30pm and wasted a lot of the day watching DVDs. Watched, "All I want" and "Pitch Black".



What a perfect example of someone not getting it. How much of an Office zelot do you have to be? We know Office is a good product, but as Zaine Ridling (see comments from above post) correctly points out all people want is, "a typewriter with a spellchecker". Let's just get this working and make it stable. This is what people want. Does Grandma really need to attach an XML schema to her Word document? I think not. And certainly Alex Moskalyuk [the next commentor] makes a valid point, "why would you buy Office 2003 today if in 2005 Microsoft will release Office 2005...". Let's focus on what users want. Maybe it's time that Microsoft create a, "home" version of the Office Suite. In fact they could do this for all of their products. Maybe then we'll really see some useful features for Grandma.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Matchup at School and Computer Ethics: OSF

Well I took another chance and searched for Petit-P after school/pratice. I just happened to be in the area 'cause I had to return some DVD's and wanted to get a hair-cut. Well it worked our rather well. I picked Petit-P and Dominique (aka: Conan) and another fellow. Gave them a ride home. They all live pretty close to school. Interesting the other fellow was looking for Conan but didn't seem to really know him and Conan couldn't tell me right away if Petit-P was at practice today. He's apparently from the US. I thought that was kinda cool. Interesting bunch.

Well I got home and spent some time looking for info on Open Source vs. Proprietary Software (PS) on the 'net. I have to argue tomorrow pro-PS.

Had a late shower.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Hard Drive - Dead!

My Hard drive died! God it looks like I've lost quite a bit of work. Luckly I've got backups of some stuff, but can you ever have a really 'recent' backup. Managed to restore most of my photos and my Outlook .pst file but macros and 3 or 4 'experiment'al photos are [hopefully] only temporary gone. This will no doubt effect my long holiday.

Friday, October 8, 2004

More Six Feet Under: Season 1; Episode 1,2.

The plan: After doing the reading for Computer Ethics yesterday now write the 1 page essay. No problem. Ooops. First problem when the computer starts up it doesn't find Windows. Interesting Windows was there yesterday. Fuzz! Ok, no problem work-around-the-problem; use another computer. After doing an outline and just about ready to start the final version I hear a car pull up. It's ECY. Odd, he's suppose to be in school. OK if I answer the door he will explain in the first minute what he wants. Perhaps just looking for something, he could be on lunch! Nope. Turns out he fell on his back at school early in the morning and his friend took him to the hospital. Nothing serious but no work for a week. I wants to go look for another car, but I say after 1/2 hours so I can finish my essay. Probably 1.5 hours later I'm still not done but decided that he's waited long enough. We go. He puts a deposit ;-()

After we go visit, "Rouge-tate". Then waste sometime at my place. Then finally they go off ~@8:00pm...now I can either investigate my "Windows" problem or relax and watch a DVD...

Watched some more, "Six Feet Under". Well it's obvious it's a soap opera/drama. Kind'a pulls you in. After all I did watch Episode 1 and 2 even though I try to only watch 1 episode at most a day but it was a long week so what the he$%.

Thursday, October 7, 2004

Six Feet Under: Season 1

Watched the DVD, "Six Feet Under: Season 1; Pilot". Somewhat interesting.

Monday, October 4, 2004

Friendship?

Can one ever have too many friends? In the world of computers and unsocial behaviour can one ever meet too many people? Or is this like saying can a guy ever have too much sex ?

Sunday, October 3, 2004

Watch a DVD with Kieffer Sutherland and Miss. Tomb Raider called, "xxxx".

WordPress

Interesting Movable Type competitor: WordPress.

Amazon.com: Books: Family First : Your Step-by-Step Plan for Creating a Phenomenal Family

Why does everyone agree that kids these days are 'fuzzed' up but few do things about it? In the large view why are so many 'truths' buried in society under the premise of being 'kind' to others?

Can things simply work?

There is no doubt in my mind why I don't have a PDA or a Smart Phone or an iPod or a Window's Mobile-based Media Device. I just know they are going to be too complicated. Can you gurantee that they are going to simplify my life? I think not. I can just imagine the 'syncing' issues. Why can't I just plug it in and sync? Why - because that's only the first thing that I would want. Of course I want control over what gets synced and hence the problem. Once you give me the ability to specify what to sync, it now becomes more then a one step process to sync and that's too much.



This problem can be seen at a much broader level with computer software. I want ease of use, no matter how much it conflicts with the software industry. Technical support, consultants and the tombs of books at our local bookstore are just a few examples of other businesses that are built around hard to use software. Can we stop it? Maybe, but it's probably too late. Once this much money is being made in secondary industries it hard to stop.



Can things not be made to be easy? How can I explain how to use this thing if it's that complicated? Sure, after you become an 'expert' it seems easy. In fact it becomes so simple that you haven't got the time to deal with people who don't, "get it". So people who find technology to be difficult will always be left behind. And those who become experts gladly leave behind those less fortunate.



I've been responsible for many software projects and designed what I considered to be great, flexible and easy to use software that does everything. But right there is the problem. As soon as someone says, "you can do everything with that software" the reality is that means the majority of people can do nothing with it. Let's take Adobe's Photoshop for example. Wow, an absolutely amazing piece of software, in fact it's on my top 10 list of favourite software. What's the problem? Any person picking up that software today at version 8 would have no chance of understanding it's complexities. Think about it, all your Father wants to do is send you a small digital photo. Good luck. And who's fault is it? Is it the arogant software publishers who think they know what customers want? No. In reality it's us the everyday end-user. Why? When was the last time you wanted a new version of software that had less features? That's right less. They took something out! How about it? Contact a software publisher and tell them you never use feature(s) x,y,z and tell them you don't want them. Take it out. How does this help? In order to understand this we need a little insight into the software development world...

Saturday, October 2, 2004

Another day of OD'ing on Blog info

Another Sat OD'ing on Blog,

Spent the day reading blogs and finding computer ethic articles. Being referred by a friend to, http://www.itconversations.com/ I 'wasted' a lot of time listening to this web-site. It's a GREAT site for audio.

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Someone came by the house to sell 10lbs of apples. I said sure. Not sure when they are going to return with the apples and/or ask for the money.

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Haven't seen ECY in a while,



It's been awhile since I've seen ECY so when he got on Messenger I thought I'd invite him over. As usual nothing very exciting when he came over. However he did bring his new digital movie camera and showed me some of his new movie. It's great!

He also showed his amazing social skills as we talked to the manager of the local hotel and asked if we could film on the roof. He's amazing with people. A great life skill.



Saturday, September 25, 2004

The week was long,



The week was really long and since I was sick it was that much harder. I got everything done, but no time for blogging :-(

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Sickness continues.

Spent most of the day watching DVDs. Just too sick. But did continue the IT Web Project that was started yesterday

Saturday, September 18, 2004

Way too sick.



I was way to sick to do any of the work I needed to do. Just went out to return some DVDs and pick-up some more medicine. The weather was nice. Too bad. Bought the DVD, "The Apprentice".

Friday, September 17, 2004

The start of a cold.



I think after ECY visited me he left behind his sickness.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Kill Bill 'causes problems,

It was a wonderful visit to Petit-P's place. I wanted to visit as usual for, '5 minute' and ask his mom about where to go to register a business locally. The visit lasted for 2 hours, starting ~@7:00pm. When I arrived Petit-P was [I guess] just out of the shower. He must have immediately went into the shower after football practice because practive ends ~@6:00pm and by the time he gets home. Wow. He was finishing diner and didn't appear to have any homework. We had a nice 'comedic' conversation about my first class of French II. I learned a lot, but unfortunately the class is just too late. Right now it might be OK but I know I'm going to get really busy and it's just not going to work. The prof. also said it's offered again in Jan. [but not with him].

As usually we went a goofed around a little and I kept trying to leave and at some point during the evening I gave him the DVD, "Kill Bill Vol. 2", after all he did ask for it. Well his Mother didn't like it. I guess she's heard it's violent. Oddly he's already seen the movie so I do know what the problem is. So this create a little problem, but no more then usual. Left, felt a little bad.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

The First Match,

Today was Petit-P's first Football game. I was told it started @11:00pm, but I think it started a bit earlier. Though I didn't get a call from his mother and I ended up calling her [no response] I eventually phoned his Father to verify where the game was. Got there ~@10:45am and it finished ~@12:50pm. The day started really cool and fogging but cleared up tremendously. Unfortunately they lost. I think it was 30 to 12, something like that. Enjoyable. Took some photos. I'm sure they will get better.

Friday, September 10, 2004

The first 'repeat' day,

Since Friday's schedule tends to repeat M,W,F this was the first repeat day. I also decided to it in on Calculus I. He's already given the first assignment and is not going to be around next week for questions. The Physics romm has now been changed. Certainly for the better, it's probably in the biggest lecture room.

Also got notified that I got both jobs that I applied for.

Thursday, September 9, 2004

Second day of school,

More panic running around trying to get organized. Books are a lot more expensive this year. Each one is ~$100+. And I was surprised that none of the books I used last year are being offered. Of course some of the courses are not offered. Still trying to settle the schedule.

Wednesday, September 8, 2004

First day of School,

Well it's back to school. Lot's a math courses this term and a French class.

Tuesday, September 7, 2004

First 'reg' day of school,

Today was the first unofficial day of school. Classes officially start tomorrow, but I went in to apply for a job.

Returned my Costco cordless phone. I'm thinking cordless phones <$30 just don't sound good.

Also went to FutureShop to buy some DVDs.

~@6:00pm went to the shopping mall parking lot to talk to Richard about rollerblading lessons. He seems like a decent guy. Hang around for 1 1/4 hours. Tried on his 'old' skates he wanted to sell me. Now he's got me trying 9.5. But he says they are ~$400 and he's willing to sell them for less. Should I buy them?

Monday, September 6, 2004

Went to Petit-P's Mom's place in the morning to return the two DVD she loaned me. Neither worked.

After went ot ECY's place woke him up. Chatted with him for ~1.5 hours. Maybe. Left went home.

Watched the DVD, "From Hell". OK.

Sunday, September 5, 2004

Another day of searching for RollerBlades...



Watched the DVD, "" with Harrison Ford and Josh Hartland. Not great.

Saturday, September 4, 2004

In Search of...

Well today was another day spent searching for RollerBlades. I'm totally confused about what size to buy. Some say +0.5 your shoe size others say -0.5 your size. Totally lost. I tried a 9.0 and they seem to big but the store doesn't have a 8.5 to try. I've also noticed that I might be able to buy cheaper elsewhere.

Seems I made a bit of a mistake about a 5:00pm meeting. I should have met up with Petit-P's Mom at this time but I don't recall making a definite appointment. Turns out she was expecting me to buy the, 'blades' and go today with her then after go to a new Pizza place. God, I feel a little bad. Hopefully allowing her to watch a movie of mine will make it up. I doubt it, but maybe.



Friday, September 3, 2004

Recent wonderings...



I've been wondering recently what makes a person interesting [to me]. After having moved out here I meet an interesting person, Petit-P. He's fascinating to be around and on a few occasions when we can goof around he's really fun to play with. Let me make it clear neither of us are GAP or anything he's just a great person to talk to. Yes, he's got problems and yes there's things I'd like to change about him. For instance he periodically says the cruelest things, he's not the most compasionate person, he's not the coolest person nor the most fashionable. Also he really doesn't, "play" a lot. But recently in thinking about changing people I've come to realize that maybe it's the things that one doesn't like about them that make them interesting. I call it the, "fashion-model" syndrome. Have you ever seen a fashion model? For the most part they are unbelievable looking. Extraordinary in fact. But there are times when [I guess] they are asked to wear the ugliest clothing you've ever seen. So you take these 'Goddess' like people and dress them in the weirdest clothing. It's just a shame and it's a tiny thing you just want to change and you think if you'd just change that you'd be perfect. This is how I see Petit-P. There's a couple of things that if he'd just change he'd be perfect. But as I said maybe it's these things that make him truly interesting.



I'd say he's got an easy life. His parents are well off and he's into a lot of 'rich' activities and this will allow him do well in the social aspects of life. Speaking of his parents. His Mother is interesting. She's very restrictive in what he can do. She kind'a plans out his day with little bits of entertainment here and there. I'm fascinated by it really. I think of it as a, "kidnapper's" syndrome. I'm not sure he likes it, but when he's not being controlled he wants/needs to be. His Father on the other hand seems to be the opposite [ed note: they are divorced]. I don't really know his Father too well but he seems a lot more relaxed. A week over there seems to start with some exciting weekend entertainment and then continues into the week with relaxed but still reasonable expectations of school work, etc.



I hope he can balance the many aspects of life.



I've recently been practicing a lot with digital retouching and not only have my skills improved but I really hope that we are creating some memories for him. I hope everyone involved gets something out of it because I know I am.

Thursday, September 2, 2004

Lots of little things,



Since I'm planning on moving phone providers and decided to return my recently bought lan telephone from Zellers for a similiarly priced one at Costco. The Costco ones caught a display for Caller-ID.

Finally filled out the form for QSAP.

Went to ECY's school today ~@11:45am to ask him about using his Mom's fax and find out when he'd be home tonight.

Went looking for rollerblades. Don't really understand the correct size. According to the internet you go up a size, but the salesman says go down a size.

Went to watch 30 min. of Petit-P practicing football. Since I forgot his jersey number [I don't know that I ever really knew it] it was hard to spot him. Took a few photos. Meet up with him after and Dominique and some other person. Drove Petit-P home and stayed to chat for ~20min.

Rented some DVDs, "Kill Bill 2", "Scorpion King" and "Emporer's Club". Watch Emporer's Club. OK.

Wednesday, September 1, 2004

Got my new Mouse,

Cashed in my 'raincheck' for the mouse I was waiting for. Did a new Home Page photo for Petit-P. Went looking for RollerBlades. Watch the DVD, "Starsky & Hutch". OK.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Finally Finished....



Finally finished the photo, "EuroPe", the vacation photo with Petit-P. Took a long time, but I had put this photo aside for awhile.



Watched the DVD, "The Others". Not bad. But since someone had told me a while ago something about the ending it kind'a spoiled the movie.

Monday, August 30, 2004

Too long,



It simply takes too long to get Petit-P to have some fun. I spent sometime this morning talking to and hoping Petit-P would want to have some fun today. I'm not sure what his Mother's plan was for him, it looked like transfering some VHS tapes to DVD. Finally he agree to be picked-up ~@1:30pm. Oddly ECY phoned from his car [I think] and said he was coming over. I thought he would be with Mini-Pomme and I was right, they came over and I spent some time trying to figure out how to explain to him. Ultimately I failed and we went to pickup Petit-P at his place. With a little problem with his Mother I think not trusting me with ECY AND Petit-P at the sametime, we returned to my place, where we started some Excel lessons. After yesterday's intro in the car. Petit-P is quick to learn this stuff. We talked about sorting lists and his 'accounting' program.



After the lessons we played some games and even played outside with the water gun(s). Petit-P can be absolutely amazing when he wants to be. Tres Cool! I only hope everything is fine with his Mother we arrived 15 min. late. :-(

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Another Day in Montreal,



Oddly today was suppose to be a visit to the park because there was some sort of local coummunity 'hot-dog' thing. Then after visit Petit-p [who BTW: Is no longer petit :-(]. Oddly he phoned to chat but then said Mother and him were going to Montreal to go to Winner's. After too much back and forth I went along. I'm sure I wasn't wanted, but it's difficult to say. We visited some cousins of his after going to Winner's and A&W [which I haven't been there in a while]. A new baby had arrived in the family so they had to, "come-see-the-ba-a--by". Took lots of photos. I've come to think recently that with the problems of reproducing digital photography [eg. resolution and cost] and after seeing some, "professional" photos at their cousin's place, maybe it's better to consider, an 'analog' camera. Probably not going to happen.

It was raining on the way back so they dumped me off at my car ~@7:20pm and I phoned ECY. He sounded bored out of his mind and I told him I had a couple of DVDs I could bring by. He said, "ya sure". Popped by, did a little dance. Didn't know Mini-Pomme was in the closet. They gave me dinner. Everyone [except me] look tired. We watched some, "Family Guy" looked at some photos and then went to the Grande-M. Home by ~@11:50pm.

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Watched a couple of, "Channel9" vidoes. Worked a little on, "Cradle 2 the Grave-P" [working title].

The day was boring. Went to FutureShop to see if the Wireless mouse that I've got a raincheck for came in.

They've got one type of it, but not the style. The raincheck is apparently good for 30 days so I'll try again.

The sales guys said Wed. and Sat. are when shipments come in.

Had some hot-dogs for diner. Not that interesting but I just didn't want the 'regular'.

Worked some on "Chair-P". Proving to be more difficult then it should be.

Friday, August 27, 2004

After School and DVDs,

Since high-school just started, I thought I'd go pickup Petit-P at school. I think I arrived a little bit late and the buses were leaving and I've never successfully caught him before he's got on the bus. Little disappointing but it was unclear what we were going to do after anyways.

Decided to go to rent some DVDs, "MatchStick Men", "Adam", "", "". Watched, "MatchStick Men". The movie was OK, but the behind the scenes was some much more interesting. It showed the full pre, prod and post-production process. It was a long documentary as well. Great stuff.

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Got up for and appointment at ECY's 'car' place @10:00pm. We got there on time but I wasn't feeling that great since I was up late last night. It took 2+ hours for them to check the security system in the car. We took his friend home after.

~@1:00pm ECY had his final driving lesson.

~@2:30pm I went over to Petit-P's place with the water-gun(s). Kinda cool but he hadn't finished cutting the grass and for some reason wanted to leave early for Football practice. I dropped him off ~@3:30pm. Also saw Dominique for the first time since the Europe trip.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Finished more photos,

Finished three more photos of Petit-P, "Violin-P", "Muscle-P" and for the first time posted, "African-P".

Later in the afternoon went around the town with ECY. Visited his school. The 'photo' teacher didn't seem to be too interested. Went to go get APJ in his other town and bring him back to his 'girl friend's' place. Found out that APJ insurance company is only paying $5000.

~@8:00pm dropped ECY off for a party. It was later ~12:00am that he would phone and ask if it's OK to come by. He eventually came by ~@2:30am. I stayed up for ~25min. chatting.

Monday, August 23, 2004

Went to School,

Since the schedule was for Jul-2004 and I had some questions I thought I'd go and visit the campus. Didn't really get the answers I wanted since they referred me to the web.

Came home and finished off three photos of Petit-P. He was suppose to have his first Football practice today ~@3:00pm.

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Boring Day,

Though it was a sunny day, I was rather bored. I started another photo, "Violin-P". In the morning I was impressed that Petit-P managed to change his entire web-site from a, "frame" based to a, "normal" web-site. I re-did the 'experiment' page.

I was going to go biking but the landlord recently moved the 'garage' and has appeared to some how jamed the door. I can't just sit around on a sunny day so I decided to do something else. The neighbour upstairs left a message 'cause she was having the same problem.

I went to Grande-Mall and sat in the car listening to the radio, for about 20 min., because there was an interesting interview with Simon Winchester who wrote the book, "The Meaning of Everything". I was so facinated with his voice I decided to buy the audible version of the book when I got home. I bought a belt, a wireless phone and some stuff atToys 'R' us.

Also started the photo, "Muscle-P".



Saturday, August 21, 2004

The Office,

Got a good deal on the DVD, "The Office" from FutureShop today. Season I/II for $24.99. Watched the first 3 episodes and another episode of the, "Family Guy".

Friday, August 20, 2004

ECY over last night.



Since ECY stayed over last night that meant a 'wasted' morning as he slept thru it. I decided to take the time and signed up for my first school courses starting in the fall. Looks like 2 Maths and a Physics so far.



In the afternoon we went looking for a electric razor. In the mail arrived my Camera's replacement USB cable(s) from eBay.



Thursday, August 19, 2004

Montreal Visit.



I went to Montreal yesterday. Went with Petit-P and Mother. Her original plan was to 'dump' us off at Winner's and come back a couple of hours later. My God, how long can two guys spend in Winner's? So when her 'gentlemen' friend came to meet her, I begged him to take us to downtown Montreal, which was 20 min. away. He said yes and off we went. About 5+ hours later they phoned us as, Petit-P and I walked around shopping downtown. I bought a new Camera Case from FutureShop for $19+. I was hoping to find some cloths but didn't come across anything. Petit-P saw a leather jacket at, 'Simons' for $75, so his Mom bought it for him. I had to pay for his lunch earlier in the day to make up for the gas to Montreal. We returned to Winner's where we left the car. Did some shopping. His mom picked out 3 jeans for him. He showed me them. God I hated everyone one of them. The kids got a fashion problem. I tried to explain to him that they didn't look good.



We had a good time. Got home ~@9:00pm then ECY phoned and wanted to come over. It was a long day. He slept over

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

LAN Party,

Well today was the first time that I tried a, "LAN" party. Petit-P brought his computer [and his friend Mathieu] and we tried playing with three people. Not much success with the third computer. It was a reasonable day. We played, "True Crime". I'm not a big, 'gamer' anyways. I've begun to notice the Petit-P is getting more immature when with me. I'd be interested to know if he's changing with his Mom. He's very interesting when he's respectfull but recently he's sometimes acts like a Jack-A#$, and in a bad way. Yes, there a, "good-way". I love 'stupidity' but doing things that I tell him not to do repeatedly (4x with the unplugging of the mouse) is just stupid.

One of the other good things that happened today was my Camera Battery Charger showed up today along with the Battery replacement. I can start taking photos again!

Later on in the evening Petit-P asked about how internet servers are created and connected together. It's always fascinating to see the learning process.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Another day with Petit-P,



Went to buy 'fresh' ham today at the local butchers. Also went to Costco for buns, vegetables, etc.

Petit-P came over and played, "True Crime" for most of the day.

Watched the DVD, "PayCheck". Not bad. I had seen the ending at ECY's place before, so I wasn't really paying attention.

Monday, August 16, 2004

Another Crime!

Petit-P was with me early on in the day and we were just arriving at the local magazine store to pickup some golf photos when ECY phoned. He told me that his friend, APJ's car was stolen the day we got back from the P's place. I said it's not all bad the insurance company will pay for it, but apparently they've already said no. I'm sure he'll fight that decision.

I later went to the Grande-M with Petit-P. It was a perhaps a surprise that he paid for his own meal. I don't know. I don't mind buying him stuff here and there, but I know his parents are loaded, and me not being rich why should I always pay?! I'd like to see him get some cool cloths for back to school but I get the feeling that's going to be difficult, 'cause Mom's not going to like the style or the cost and Dad's never around to ask. And it's not something I can justify.

We left ~@7:50pm to get him home just after 8:00pm. I then returned and watched the DVD, "xxx".

Sunday, August 15, 2004

A Sunny day,

Today was great weather but after yesterday [and probably the vacation] was I pretty tired. Since I've been away for a few days headed to the Grande-Mall and FutureShop. Got some 'small' things at Simon's and went to Zellers to get some more hangers. On the way back rented some DVDs, "Hell Boy", "Perfect Score" and "yyy". Watched, "Hell Boy". It's more about fighting then anything. But it's OK.

Went back and touched-up the photo, "Harry Potter-P" and started a new photo, "Patio-P". Got some bad news that the Phil Mickelson photo that I did for Annie! didn't print well. This is going to be tricky since it printed OK here. I asked her to send the, 'proof' to me.

Saturday, August 14, 2004

Not a regular day,



The day started with the final day/concert of Petit-P's Musique Camp. After the 'Attitude' situation from yesterday I wasn't sure how this was going to go. He phoned @~8:15am and said picked me up and get me to camp by 8:30am. I don't think so. So his Mother took him. I prepared for the concert that started @11:00am.



Went to the concert, found his Mom, sat down watched the show, while filming it as well. After took some photos but it took awhile to find him. Don't know where he went. I was happy to see that his Mom bought a 'calendar' of the event. There was at least two pictures of him.



After the concert his Mom left and we walked around the University. We ended up at his place @~3:00pm. Unfortunately his Mom said it was 'grass-cutting day'. It went exactly how it did the last time. My God. How can one be so picky about cutting grass? Her grass is not that good to start with so I wouldn't worry about how 'perfect' it's cut. I would think he's been doing it for a few years by now [maybe not] but just allow him to do it. Her 'reviewing' the 'job' after is a questionable thing. Both Petit-P and I no doubt are thinking the same thing that no matter what you do there's no way to win. It really creates an unfortunate feeling 'cause you know you can't satisfy someone. Oddly after she pampers him with a drink and letting him lay down on the 'new' swing upstairs outside the house.



So 'Mother' prepared diner and we goofed around downstairs on the computer. It was after diner that oddly the 'binary system' came up. I knew that Petit-P was more then capable of understanding it. So I said in 30 seconds you can understand it. And indeed it was rather easy to explain. He got it. I was happy. We also talked about 'nslookup' and 'ping' commands. He's a little stuck on the fact that he believes you can only program computers that have command-lines. So that whole Mac programming is confusing for him.



The night ended in a nice way by virtue of letting it just end when it was finished. I didn't leave @9:00pm, I left when we were finished ~@11:20pm. Cool!



Friday, August 13, 2004

It's all attitude,



Well today was the long (5hr 37min) drive back from the P's place. ECY was driving so that was a change. We were certainly both bored of everything and each other. The ride went smoothly it's just a question of mindset. You could 'explode' at each other or you can just relax and play. I know he's over joyed with using his 'new' car and it's certainly a cool car, but I get the point. I don't need to drive around in a 'hot-rod' and impress people. If that's what it takes then I guess I'm, "fuzzed".



The whole day was arranged so that I could get back in time for Petit-P's concert. And what a concert it was. I was very impressed. Petit-P didn't come out for awhile so I was a bit scared. I was thinking he might not be there or maybe I was in the wrong place. Eventually he came out. Made quite the impression for me anyways. Clearly the best dressed person. Not that others weren't dress up but my God Petit-p was, "all" there! The concert was also the best sounding violin concert that I've heard him at. I enjoyed it and it went for one and a half hours. Not too bad. Maybe it's an attitude thing when you know how long something is going to be and you have control over the situation [read: no one else with me] things go rather smoothly and then...When he saw me after the concert all he could talk about was his Mother's attitude. Apparently the day before both his mother and father {+girl friend} were at the "Gilligan" concert [which I unfortunately missed] his mother was upset that after the concert was over that he first went over to his father {+girl friend} and said hello. I don't know what really happened but you wouldn't think it would be so important. Then he seem to continue the conversation where we left off before I went on vacation with the horror movie topic. Good God. The attitude changed when we got back to his place and his Mother basically ignored him. She kind'a used me to get back at him by kissing me first. I don't know kind'a childish. I fortunately got out of there pretty quick [that's a first] and went home. Before I left I said if you need a ride call me.



EOL.

Thursday, August 5, 2004

Today's my BornDay!,



Today was my BornDay. It was nice that some people phoned in the morning, starting with mon frere. After, Annie phoned. The biggest surprise was when the UPS guy showed up with a gift from FutureShop. It was a surprise that I got a DVD, "StartUp.com". I'm guessing it was from Alex [it's the kind'a thing he'd understand]. I wanted to watch it right away but I knew it would be better saved for later tonight. I did however watch a good 30+ min. Of it while I had lunch.

The day was mostly about starting and finishing a 'vacation' photo avec Petit-P [aka: African-P]. This one was rather complicated [it's got 15+ montaged photos in it]. I'm pretty happy with the result. The hardest part was finding the right size for the frame that France gave me. I would imagine there's a different, "margin" or "gutter" space for each frame.



Later in the day I finally got around to phoning ECY. ~@3:40pm I gave him a call and reminded him that it was my BornDay. He said he had to work tonight but maybe tomorrow. I continued to work on the photo. Petit-P phoned thru out the day. Always nice. Annie also phoned about the Battery Charger. I headed to the Grande-Mall to get the final price for the charger from the guy who quoted $50 before. When I arrived the other sales guy said $99+. The suggested list is $69 so forget that guy. I'll return on Friday to speak to the original sales guy. If I can't get it I'll order from T.O. I also found what I think is a good deal on USB cables on eBay. Locally one store said, $40 for a Sony one. Fuzz that.



In the evening ECY proposed that I pick him up after work and we hang out. Sure no problem. ~@11:50pm I arrived at his place we, "swapped" cars and went around town in his 'cool car'. After, back to my place and went to bed @~3:00am.

Wednesday, August 4, 2004

Hmmmm,

Today I finished another photo of Petit-P. This one is tentatively called, "Padl-Shoe". It turned out pretty well. And now with the printer I was given on my last vacation and can do some prototyping. Great stuff.

Went to the Grande-Mall to pickup the Battery Charger for my camera. The guy quoted $50 before when I got there today it's suddenly $100 from the, 'other' sales guy. Needless to say I'm not buying in. Suggested list is $69.99 (Cdn).

Well today was [also] about going to Rona and picking up and Hammer and some Neednose plyers. I'll use the first to fix the door that the painter, "fuzzed", and the second for taking apart the frame. Also went to Costco for some food.

At ~@ 4:30pm went to pickup Petit-P from Musique Camp. Looked for him for 10 min. and he was probably waiting for me for 10 min out front. Sorry. After went to my place for 5 min. to drop off the food and then off to his place. I was determined to leave really quickly but once again it's so impossible to leave quickly. I left ~@10:00pm. It's fun, but I don't want to get in the way. I want them to have their lives. If I could I'd be there everyday. It's entertaining.





Tuesday, August 3, 2004

Raining most of the Day,

Since it was raining I stayed inside for the day. Started the, "Shoe" photo avec Petit-P.

Monday, August 2, 2004

First Day of Camp,

First Day of Camp for Petit-P. It's a musique camp held at my University. It's a combo Violin [plus some others] and 'Drama' camp for 2 weeks. What does it mean for me? Well good question? It's certainly means I'll need to occupy my days. There's lots to do before school begins. First off today, pay tuition. ~$1218.00 :-(. I just happen to see Petit-P while I was there paying tuition [he didn't see me] but of course I was looking for him. He's clearly the oldest one there and I think it's a tough time for him to continue with any musical instrument, for anyone at this age. And he's obviously too old for this camp. I'd say the maximum would be 12. But good luck explaining that to anyone. I'm certainly not going to be able to do this. Recall I believe that it's the diversity of his, 'dual' life that makes him interesting. It's really fasinating how we try to change people to be something we want. Why is that? Would you want someone like yourself?

Sunday, August 1, 2004

Biking Riding and Trying to Fix the Problem with my nouveau Mother,



It was a great weather day today, but in the morning I ended up watching the DVD, "Secret Window". I good movie, worth the rental. In the afternoon decided to ride to the city's University where they were having the last day of the local, "Olympics". I rode around a bit and looked at the event. Stayed for about 10 min. then left. The ride home was easier and faster then I thought. Came home had some ice-cream and relaxed a bit. Later I setup the new printer and it works from XP no problem [well there's a small margin issue :-(].

~@8:45pm Petit-P talked to me on the computer and started talking about not being able to come over on Aug-05. Of course I don't remember inviting him in the first place. God knows why he would think this. There's certainly a communication problem. After his mother thinking that I said I would buy something that would convert VHS to DVD I'm really starting to be disappointed with the, 'little' things. Clearly kids need some control in their life.

Saturday, July 31, 2004

Cabin Vacation Fini,

Got back from my Parent's cottage today. Left ~@ 11:40am and arrived home @2:40pm. It was raining for most of the trip. The first place I went was Petit-P's place. And that was the first mistake. By the time I got my stuff out of the car, they were going out. I don't think France likes my 'popping' in. I would think after not seeing them since Wed. that it would be OK. So I had to immediately move the car. No problem I headed home. There's certainly something in the 'air'. Went home eat and slept a little. Prepared for the, "Olympic" competition @~5:00pm. Waited in front of Petit-P's place for a good 20 min, but they did phone @5:00pm to let me know where they were. Gave France the wine [I bought at my Parent's cottage place], she unfortunately had nothing to say about it :-( And Petit-P and I went to the competition. It was raining hard. We got our sits where I think everyone took any covered sits. Unfortuntately it really started coming down and oddly Petit-P's mom gave him nothing for the event (eg: umbrelia, food, money, clothing), I was surprised. He wore the shirt that certainly shouldn't be worn never mind to this event. We left after about 30 min. 'cause he wanted to go. Just as we were leaving it stopped raining. Headed back to his place and then to the DVD rental place. Rented, "Queen of the Damned", "xxx" and "yyy". Watched Queen of the Damned or at least part of it. His mother wanted him back by 9:00pm, so we were unable to finish the movie. Basically cutting my vacation early to come back for the sporting event with him was a waste of time. Had it been good weather I would have been really disappointed. Oh well. It seems recently that there's something going on. Not sure what. Petit-P seems more 'wild' and mother seems more 'cold' to me. I certainly can't think of anything I've done. Hope everything is fine.

Friday, July 30, 2004

Cottage Again,

Went for the usual 'big-walk'. Mother and Father stopped 'half-way' and I continued to the tracks and around back to the house. I don't know that it was relaxing my mind was too much on other things.

We played some badminton. I goofed around as usual. I hope I entertained the others. It went for a while. We had another fire. And went to bed @~11:00pm.

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Another day at the Cottage,

Nothing exciting today. Great weather. And that's why I'm here. Need a back-to-school tan. We went into the city for a 'shopping' day. I didn't find anything. I tried a couple things on, but couldn't find anything. Saw Alex [the kid next door]. He hasn't changed much. They mentioned that he had a recent hair-cut, unfortunately he looks exactly the way he looked the last time I visited. I don't even know if he's gotten any bigger. Had a late night fire.

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Off to the P's Cabin,



~@11:00am today left for the P's Cabin (Cottage). I first popped by Petit-P's place to say good-bye. It took 2hrs and 45 min to get there. I arrived Brother and Family was there. The wife has lost 70lbs in the past 9 months. She's looking a lot better. The younger kid has lost weight as well. I don't think she's on a diet but by virtue of the mother being on one she's on one.

The weather was great. We went to the local town's fireworks. Brother went in another car and was ahead of us. They decided at the last minute to pay to go in and see the fireworks. It's $11/person + car + parking + etc. Kids under 11/12 are free. So they snuck the, 'elder' one in. I guess they had a much better view. We [Father, Mother and I] drove around the neighbourhood looking for a good spot. We first put the car at the local Church and found a place to watch the event. The problem it was raining. And we were inthe middle of a mountain of dirt. So we decided to leave 10 min. after arriving. Just as we were leaving other people were arriving. Clearly we had the right idea but probably arrived to early. The event started at 9:30pm and we had left @~7:00pm and it takes maybe an hour to get there. We headed back to the car and drove into a side street, parked and waited for it to start. The show lasted for 30 min. It's some soft of international competition. We had a reasonable view as we rested against the back of the car. Lot's of traffic on the way home. But remember the journey is the reward.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Looking for Canon,

Spend most of the day up to ~@3:00pm looking for the replacement parts for my Canon. Didn't find a single place that carries the parts however did find two places that carry 'universal' battery charger. The problem? Too big. And I really didn't like it.

Afterwards went to my place with Petit-P and he play on the computer until ~@6:40pm. He also tried onthe 'gansta' cloths thatI had bought on eBay, and the Apple hat the Alex bought me from California. I'd like to give him some of this stuff but a) I kinda like them myself, b) I Paid ~$50+ for the pants and C) The hat was a gift.

Monday, July 26, 2004

My Car is broken into!,

   Well today was the anniversary for meeting France and Petit-P. It's been exactly two years since they first meet me in T.O. when they visited the Pope. But after France's girlfriend cancelled lunch for some strange 'speaking' problem, the day just went down from there. We went to a Chinese buffa(sp). Afterwards we went to Church. Through out the whole day I was trying to leave only because France gave me the impression she prefered to be alone avec Petit-P. Well I should have listen to my feelings because we ended up going to a place to roller-blade and my car was broken into. They went thru everything and one could tell they tried to 'brake' the steering wheel to steel the car, but unsuccessfully. But they did steel one important thing for me and that was my Camera case. It had two cables in it and a battery charger. It's a good ~$150. Completely useless for them [I would imagine]. Oh well. Go with your gut!





Sunday, July 25, 2004

Petit-P's First visit after my T.O. vacation,



Petit-P phoned me after I asked him to in the morning. The day would consist of going back and forth between his Mother's and Father's place and the Grande-Mall. We finally ended up at his Mother's pace for 5:00pm where we had diner. I brought over some coloured face markers and he went crazy. I'm not sure how happy his Mother was but we will see tomorrow. We also installed Microsoft's new Visual Studio VB.NET Express Beta. It took awhile, but it finally did install. It finished around ~@10:00pm, at which point i had to leave. Today was also the first day that I gave Petit-P a, "Max Pain".

Thursday, July 15, 2004

More Shopping

 

  Went to TigerDirect`s. It`s a computer warehouse. Not much there of interest kind like that last time. And just like before I bought some headsets for the computer. Not really sure why. I`ll give one to France, maybe. After that I went to Fairview Mall. There was a couple of good deals on shirts and shorts so I bought.

 

  Next headed to the Kennedy Mall. There`s a Chapters and a CompuSmart. Still looking for Petit-P`s Spider-Man 1 game. It`s difficult to find. By this point and was getting bored and tired headed to The Scar. Town Centre (STC) to phone Rob at just after 5pm. On the way to the centre I caught a 50% off sports place and saw a Dad`s cookie`s place. The Dad place close minutes before I got there but the clothing place was openned. I bought a $5 pair of hockey shorts. Good deal I think. Since Rob`s car broke down earlier this week I went to pick him up and we went ot the Pacific Mall to eat Chinese. Nice. Haven`t talked to him in probably 11 months. So we had our usually conversation. Then we thought about a movie so we headed back to the STC. We were 30 min. late for Harry Potter and Shrek 2 I want to see on DVD and it was expenseive $13.00 for the movie so we said forget it and went to the mall. I bought some face paint, after looking for a water gun.

 

  Next we went to the Crispy Creams. Got a sample donut, and sat and talked until 10pm. I dropped him at home and returned to `my` place around 11:10pm. Went straight to bed.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

More Shopping,

 

  Went to Miss. for the RipZone Factory Warehouse with Jo. Unfortunately this place had moved and the new place wasn`t openned yet. We moved onto Square One and planned on seeing Spider-Man 2 at the local theatre 2:10pm. We eat just before and saw the movie. It was OK. Exactly what you would expect. After, got a bit lost on the way home. Carmen arrived while we were returning with the dog. Took Jo to work for 10:30pm. Talked to Carmen a bit, watched some more TV `not too much` and went to bed.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Downtown,

   Went downtown to meet Annie!. Always a pleasure. She paid for lunch and we eat the Eaton`s Centre in a open `Hawon(sp)`ish place. Huge Coke`s. We both had Club sandwiches. After I went to the CompuCentre looking for Petit-P`s Spider-Man 1 game. They said it`s in a box :-(Well at least they said they have it). After went to all the usall downtown places including: the World`s Biggest, HMV`s. over to College street for my favourite computer store, which unfortunately had closed and ànother`bookstore openned inthe same place. I looked around the area, there`s lots of undiscovered Chinese computer places, saw that I paid the `standard`price for my DVD and walked along Young and Bloor back to the subway. Got home around 5:30pm. To my surprise Jo go a 'Dragon' tattoo. He's becoming more and more cool. After I got home J and I we went to Sherway to look for shorts he wanted. Carmen came home soon after and we had a nice super. Jo went to work. Talked to Carmen for a while and watch some late night TV. I`m not missing much, but I can tell it`s oddly addictive. Weird.

  



Monday, July 12, 2004

Vacation,

 

   First of my vacation. Left 11:00am, but just before dropped off the VCD at France`s place. It was a long drive 8+ hours, but I was `making good time` until they pulled us off the highway for 45+ min. Then just inside of Scar. I started hearing a car noise. I went to the Pacific Mall. When I parked I looked under and saw something hanging down. Went into the mall and bought a new Dual-layer DVD writer for $136/9+tax. Seems like a good deal. The only thing is it`s so new no media is available. The guy said in Aug, but if you want it now $30. On the way out I could hear the `thing`dragging so I went to the nearest `mechanic` the guy `knocked`the piece off, said it was the cover to the catalitic(sp) convertor and it wasn`t important and you can go a get it spot welded back on, but it was OK to drive. So I put it into my trunk and continued on. I arrived at 8:30pm which was really good timing considering when I left. Chatted to Carmen and Jo. Had a shower. Stayed up and watched some late night TV, recall I don`t have a TV and went to bed.



Sunday, July 11, 2004

The day before vacation,

   Decided to go to Church and surprise Petit-P and mother. It was the last day I`d see them before my vacation and I wanted to see Petit-P`s new iPod (15 GB)! Spent the day there, as always never thinking I`d spend more then 5 min. She`s great we had after Church food. They had to go see someone in the hospital for an hour so I went back to my place and started writing the DVD they wanted of their friend`s wedding. It took 1 hour+ for a less then 5 min. video and the quality was not DVD quality. They arrived probably an hour later and Petit-P stayed at my house a couple of hours. We didd the usually goofing around. Oddly he wanted to shave, so he did. I don`t a `full`shave for maybe 3 hairs. OK what the hell. Then after suddenly he shaved my face. There`s a painfull experience. I was a bit nervous, potentially blood everywhere, but he managed to `scrape`everything off. She said come home before 6:00pm for diner, so at 5:50pm and started poking Petit-P to get off Need for Speed and getting going. We needed to get gas so unfortunately we were late 6:25pm.  She made a nice diner after feeding us bread and water `cause we were late. Spent the nigh goofing around. I talked to her more then Petit-P but after 9:00pm she said go play with him. Of course he was to into his new iPod to be entertaining.  But we still had fun. Around 10:00pm I left. Got home and started a little cleaning for tomorrow`s vacation. Went to bed around mid-night. The plan - leave for 10:00am!

Saturday, July 10, 2004

A day avec ECY,



Arrived just after midnight ECY's place. He was funny. He pretended that when I got out of the car that I had run him over. Funny stuff. I need more of this. I had planned to bring over my most recent purchase of the DVD, "Family Guy", but I forgot the DVD and just brought the case. Dooooh. We did the usual watched TV until late. I got up several times in the night and I think ~@3:00am turned off the TV and the computer.



Woke-up ~@10:15am and waited for ECY to wake-up. Decided to wake him up ~@11:00am. After having breakfest we went to his friend Ron's place. He wanted to create a CD. As with other of his friends he seem pretty rich. He's got a big house and a piscine. After ~45/1hr we went to another mall near ECY's work place and to another place to pick up some food, recall his Mother went on vacation and left him some 'gift' cards to buy some food. So on the way home off to Provigo. Picked-up some stuff and on the way out the door he met some of his friends. I thought they looked a lot younger then ECY but he says they were older. In fact 18 years-1 month. They asked ECY if he could buy a cigar for them. We went across the street to the gas station and attempted to buy one. I thought they wanted cigarettes and would take 'anything'. Not so they wanted a specific type of Cigar. We left with nothing. Back to ECY place, eat some hot-dogs and wasted the afternoon until he went to work.

Thursday, July 8, 2004

To my great surprise,



Petit-P phoned in the early morning after go to his Father's place to edit the video he did with his friend yesterday. Apparently his Father's Apple G3s(?) were not good enough to do the editting so he phoned me to see if he could do the editting on my machine. Sure no problem. What another great day. Again just goofing around with Petit-P. He's started his own Blog by the way. Cool.



After picking him up from Father's work ~@11:03am in the morning we went to Provigo to get a 'Bud' and some soup. Recall he recently got braces and after the minor accident was told to have soup for 2 weeks. I bought some Clam Chowder and we went to his Father's place first to get his cell phone. We continued onto my place where we spent most of the day editting the video. At 'high-res' it takes beaucoup du space. Unfortunately he wasn't satisfied with the music and never finished editting the movie. But as I've mentioned before he's very good with Movie Maker v2.1. We ate some soup and watched part of the DVD, "Bowling for Colimbine". On his out of the door I told him about the 'video' I wanted to do a, 'GTA: Vice-city' take-off. The first version went great, but of course one wants multiple takes. The second one was terrible, not only did we screw up the 'exchange' at the car, but we were out of frame. After the first take I couldn't help but think hay this 'kid' just drove off with my car and all I have is his camera. We were about to do a third take but for some reason he wanted to get going. Dropped him off at Father's place ~@5:00pm, returned home.



ECY had phoned during the afternoon so we managed to make some plans about getting him from work after 12:00 midnight. He ended up phoning me ~@11:30pm and said he would be finished ~20 min. I arrived at his place [he had taken his Scooter] ~@12:07am. He arrived moments later. We watched three consequentive 'cartoons'. Probably fell asleep after 2:00am and we had to get to Summer school for ~@8:15am.

Wednesday, July 7, 2004

Boring Day.

Woke-up did a quick one off of Petit-P with a Liberal sign, because I saw he had changed his MSN photo to a Liberal photo. Sent it to him. He didn't really like it.



Since it was sunny I decided to go for a ride. I thought I'd head to ECY's place, and maybe meet him there after school. Since summer school ends at lunch time I'd have to leave ~@11:30am. This was a little too late for me. Remember: never wait. I decided to leave ~@10:15am, and on the way I could pop-in on Petit-P. First mistake. Though he was online when I got to his place he didn't appear to be there. Some 'public' people just arrived to cut the lawn. I not really sure if he was there of not. I left after 1-2 min, continued biking down the street and phoned a couple min. later. Still no answer. Ok, maybe in the shower. Continued onto past the public pool and went into the forest behind Mini-Pomme's place. No trails there and a fence to stop you exiting. Second mistake. Heading back home, 'cause way to early for ECY and relaxed for a bit.



After having lunch I took the car to the next town west of here. Absolutely nothing out there. There was however a 'sex' place and a WalMart. On the way back went to the WalMart, picked up a pair of boxers. Headed home. Boy was I bored.



During diner watched the DVD, "K-Pax". OK. Finished ~@8:30pm and decided to walk to ECY's place. Mistake three. If you take the main street it's a pretty far walk. Took ~1hr. Arrived ~@9:30pm and phoned ECY. He was with APJ and Marylin, watching a movie. He said he phoned me after ~@10:00pm. I wondered around and headed to the Grande-M hoping he would phone. I waited until ~10:10pm and left. It was a long way home [I thought], but ended up not being too bad. Found a different way to walk back with a side entrance to the street. As soon as aI got home dropped into bed. After a ~2h walk [~8:30pm -> ~11:30pm] I was dead.

Tuesday, July 6, 2004

Surprise but not.



Went to pickup ECY from summer school. Arrived on time and there's certainly lots of students there unfortunately at the last minute I noticed his Mother came and got him. No problem :-( Off to the Grande-Mall.



Watched the DVD, "Confidence". Great!

Monday, July 5, 2004

Dentist,



Today was Petit-P's Dentist day. What makes it special? Well he's getting braces! I can't help but be reminded of when I had braces. Boy was I ever afraid. The situation is a little bit different, I was told that I might need the 'cage' thing on the outside and have to wear that to school. In knew the other kids would kill me if that happened [this was in High-school so everything was out of proportion]. Turns out it was something that I only wore at night and was, 'easily' removed. Thank God. Braces are a great thing they certainly fix up your teeth. I know I had a big space between my two front teeth and everything was much better after. It took two visits to put them on. One to glue on the braces and another to attach the 'rope/track' that goes between them. You don't want to do both on the same day 'cause the glue has to seattle first then you can start attaching them. Well mon frere's dentist did it all in one 1-2 hour visit. Cool, maybe the technology has changed since I got mine. We took some film and photos at the dentist [Remember Petit-P is incredible with Window's Movie Maker - or at least I think so] so maybe he can splice together something interesting. Certainly there's some reasonable 'raw' footage. He seemed to hold up very well. It's not a painfull process but any visit to the Dentist is not fun. Of course me coming in and out with a camera probably helps.



We left ~@3:05pm and he for some reason wanted to come back to my place. So, no problem. I warmed up a quick pizza and sat down for a little meal.

Now I know eating things like a pomme would not be good for the braces but pizza! There's nothing 'softer' is there? Well one or two bites in and Oooops there goes one of the 'suckers'. One of the braces at the bottom right front popped off. It didn't fall out or anything 'cause it was still attached to the 'rope/track' thing. "Phone toi Mother", I said. And he did. Moments later an appointment was made for tomorrow morning @10:00am. Not an emergency but not sure if they, the dentist, understood what happened.



We continued to goof around. He played, "NFS: UnderGround 1" and "Far Cry" on the computer [I don't think any of Petit-P, ECY or MiniPomme enjoys the game as much as I do]. And watched some of the DVD, "Kill Bill Vol. I". And left ~@6:20pm to go back to Mother's place. We picked up his computer at his Mother's place went back to his Father's placed, dumped him off. I always get a sense that he thinks other people are not good enough to be at his Father's place. Don't know why. Just a feeling. His Mother is no doubt more strict then his Father and his Father is probably more 'well-off' so maybe this explains it. Always seemed to be awkward with his Father and I, but then I've only talked to his Father a few times over the last 2 years so no big deal.



I returned to the video place. Picked up the DVDs, "Reality Bites", "K-Pax", and "Confidence". @~8:00pm I watched the DVD, "Reality Bites". It was OK. Ben Stiller's Directorale debu(sp). Watched some of the 'bonus' material - always more interesting to me then the movie. And went to bed ~@12:00pm.

Sunday, July 4, 2004

Biking,



Well after yesterday I thought I'd go biking. I planned to visit Petit-P for 5 min. before I started, maybe pop-in after Church, or go to the Church and wait for Petit-P and Mother. But as I was just leaving I noticed Petit-P on MSN so I dropped a quick message. Good thing 'cause he said he was going to go Roller Blading. So I said I'll be there in 10-20 min wait and for me. I thought I would see him off. When I arrived [it's a fast 15 min. to 'cycle] his Mom said he didn't want to go RollerBlading and was using his ordinateur. So I told him to change so we could go [it was such a nice day] that I was going to enjoy it. After a little coaxing he final came but it took a good 45 min. Then his mother didn't want to go because, 'it wasn't a good time' [being in the middle of the day with the sun beating down]. I never accept this excuse. So we left.



We first returned to my place to pickup the camera. Petit-P wanted me to take some photos for the web-site. [Ya sure] No problem. After getting the camera we were off to the 'track' for roller-blading. We took some good photos and did some 'skit's with the movie camera. Should be good. After ~1hr went back to Petit-P's place and goofed around on the ordinateur, played some music. Very enjoyable. Also looked at some family photos of mon frere when he was, "tres petit". ~@6:00pm his Father came by to take him to diner. Off he went and ~20 min. later I left on my bike. His mom lent my his school bag so I could carry my camera home. Very nice.



Got home. Had some Pizza for diner.

Friday, July 2, 2004

Petit-P returns!!!

Spend most of the day on the phone with a computer company trying to get my DVD working. Never did get it working with their suggestions. I'm now thinking it's a 'pin' problem.



Well after weeks my brother has returned. I must say I did miss him for a little bit, but as things get busy one moves on. I'm so glad his Mother phoned and allowed me to go with her to pick him up. I was so looking forward to this. She phoned ~@7:30pm and said come for 7:50pm so there was a rush. There needn't be the bus didn't arrive until ~@8:45pm. I filmed a little.



After we went back to his place. I took some photos and he started MSN'ing his friends. Must have been a long day for him 24+6 hours, but he looked very 'healthy'. I managed to get out of there before his Mother went to bed. I just know it's way too important for him to talk to her about the vacation as opposed to me. I'm sure we'll get caught up in the next few days. Looking forward to it.

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

How to explain today?



I phoned ECY ~@10:05am and he was sleeping. Went for a great Bike rid to the school. Some absolutely amazing trails and sights to see. Took a quick tour around the University. There's a summer camp going on with tennis as part of it. Great stuff!



ECY phoned me ~@12:00pm he said Mini-pomme wanted to come over and grab a CD. Sure no problem. I finished the photo I did of him and posted to the Net. When he saw it it's really hard to say if he liked it. His mind was on something else. I like the photo - that's enough ;-)



We goofed around a bit played War Craft III and Need for Speed: UnderGround, just for a little bit. You watch these people play and one can not help be fasinated by the learning process. How can they possibly understand how to play when it's not even in their language.



Just before leaving for the Grande-Mall Petit-P MSN'd me from his vacation. Always great to hear from him but I couldn't chat too long 'cause we were heading out.



We left and went headed to the Grande-Mall, trying to time it for when APJ would be finished work. Well we end up stuck in the parking lot of the Grande-Mall where Mini-Pomme refuses to leave the car because he's wearing shorts that don't fit properly and he thinks that girls are going to look at him funny. Somehow it's ok in my place and around town but not in the mall!?!?!? So we ended up at FutureShop. For some reason there's no girls at FutureShop. Well not true this time. After this 'performance' I was reminded of just how much of a 'punk' some people can be. Moments of greatness followed by stup#$@. No matter entertaining.



ECY drove my car to APJ's work and they followed each other to ECY's place. Apparently not only did APJ's parents kill his dog [yes u read it right] but they sold the house and went on vacation. Leaving APJ for 3-4 days with ECY. That house must be 'packed'. No doubt a 'bundle-of-fun'. Saw Dom again today for a second, waved, no reaction.

Monday, June 28, 2004

Avec ECY,

Well Annie and Petit-P are both on vacation so it's going to be a long week. ECY phoned early today [~@8:50am] to go pickup his car part. More then happy to get going. Mini-Pomme was with him who I haven't seen in a long time. We head over to the car place ~@10:10am. ECY got his stuff and inquired about head lights as well.



After we headed back to his place for some lunch and I met the new 'house guesses'. His mother has a new helper. Actually she seems VERY nice. Apparently a volunteer. Certainly the right age for me. ECY says shes already got a boyfriend. Another new guest downstairs is the 'old' women and her son. I think that's a first that someone has brought their kid. 'Dom' didn't look like the happiest kid ever, but I guess what his Mom's gone thru[?] who would be. Of course maybe it's just a new environment and he's not used to it. I think they moved in yesterday. I think he will enjoy it. He can play with ECY and Mini-pomme.



Speaking of enjoying I had a good time 'hanging-out' with ECY. We took some photos of the new car part and he drove my car in the afternoon. We ended up at my place and it was the first time Mini-Pomme had ever visited. ECY never seems to like to sit still for 2 min. in my place but he's more of an non oeuf-tate. The entertainment ended at ~@3:45pm 'cause ECY had to prepare for work. I returned home and watched the DVD, "The Shipping News". :-(

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Watched the DVD, "Meet the Parents". No.



Also wanted to invite Petit-P's Mom to diner, but unfortunately she had made other arrangements.



Not getting a lot of news where I live I only found out today that Tony Randell and Mattie J.T. Stepanek died, "recently".

Friday, June 25, 2004

ECY phoned and wanted to go visit a car, "parts" place.



So we went and he ended up buying two new muphlers(sp) for his Honda. $115x2+0.03.

We also visited FutureShop, went to his place, fixed his web-site with APJ's photo and returned to my place and he left about ~3:40pm. After not seeing him for several days not exciting. Now that his friend has a car I'm sure he prefers to be with him. Understandable.



Watched the DVD, "Spirit". A little disappointing after yesterday's DVD.

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Watched the DVD, "Find Nemo". Having fallen asleep several times before watching this [no fault of the content] it was nice to get thru it. Great movie.



Today was the first day I got the mountain bike out for the season. Took a rid along the city's bike path. Ended up going the north direction off the main bridge. I'll try the south direction some other day. Went for quite a while and then did a, "uie". Still more to do there. On the return trip the hill to my house takes that last little bit of energy out of you. Felt a little sick, reminding me of biking in T.O.



Finished a macro version of the 'deploy asp.net' vs.net add-in. Thinking about it later that night it's not exactly what's needed. Still need to support entire project and folder deployment and ftp support. But it's a cool v0.1.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Watched the DVD, "Mystic River".



Great movie. You think you know all the way thru, but great 'long' ending. Two thumbs up!!!

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Programming a VS.NET Addin.



~Began programming a VS.NET add-in to support 'deploying' ASP.NET files.

Monday, June 21, 2004

Visited Petit-P's Mother.



Noticed that she begun a lot of summer renovation's to the house. She's got a lot of changes coming. Should be pretty exciting.



She's taken down the kid's swing set and replaced the water heater.



Due to the renovations she called me to take Petit-P's Macintosh. He said he was giving it to me, but due to 'minor' problems in the past I'm reluntant to take it. The monitor doesn't work and I've already got a Mac that I'm not using so I don't really need/want it, but I don't want her to put it in the garbage if that's the alternative.

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Took my first walk in the city.



Decided since I wanted to go visit Paris I'd go walk over to Petit-P's place and talk to his mother.



It takes ~45 min. to walk.



I arrived @~3:45pm [I think], and end up having diner with her and talking family history.



Looked at the agenda for Petit-P's Europe trip and since he's moving everyday and that no other non-kids went on the trip I best forget 'surprizing' him.



Left ~@8:15pm and arrived ~@9:00pm.

Saturday, June 19, 2004

Blog Day



Caught up with the set of Blogs and installed, "Need for Speed: Underground".



Friday, June 18, 2004

Petit-P off to Europe!



Well after visiting Petit-P's place yesterday to say good-bye I was pleasantly surprised to get his phone call today. They wanted me to come down and see him off on the bus. Loved it! Exactly what I wanted. I brought the camera and took lots of photos. Thanks Petit-P.



One of the most interesting tidbits was a conversation with Dominic when I first arrived. He asked about ECY's car and did ECY pass his school year. I was absolutely thrilled that some people undertstand the relationship between having something like this and doing well in school. This is so cool that he understands this. Ya Dominic. (P.S. I need a new name for him!?).

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

More web-site design.



Spent the entire day again working on the web-site. Well at least it's up and it's staying up. Ironically just before posting it someone referred to the, 'old' pictures :-)



Went to visit Petit-P ~@7:00pm. Nice to take a break. He wants me to help him with his web-site. Sure no prob.



I also brought over a, 'temporary' replacement watch he could use while he is on vacation. My old Prof Services watch. As soon as he flipped it around he said he couldn't read it. Oh my. I would never have believed someone who I respect so much because he and his family understand the importance of education would not know how to read 'analog' time. It's come up once before in my life, but it's always a surprise. My immediate concern was if he can't read analog time then can he do basic math, because clearly people are being taught 'digital' time and math with calculators. A quick little test says everything is OK, but I think I still like to confirm some [other] math questions.

Saturday, June 12, 2004

Blog Day

Typical Saturday morning for me. I get caught up with my blog reading. Also played some more FarCry.



In the afternoon at ~4:15pm I needed to be at the Univerisity for Petit-P's violin concert. Before I left I needed to return the DVDs rented the previous day. Left ~@3:45pm for the video store.



Arrived on time at the University, but surprise they wanted $12 for the concert :-(. So I looked around and ended up going upstairs and found an open door and saving a seat for Petit-P's Mom.



After reading an article on doing home video I was more then anxious to be some tips to the test. I'm never really sure what and how much Petit-P's mom want me to film. Since I don't know who long these concert's are I always try to be conservative.



I think it went will - less 'shacky' then normal. Tried to do some 'establishing' shots.



After went to PFK for dinner. Messed around picking 'weeds' in Petit-P's backward and then went in the house to play for an hour or two.



Left ~@10:00pm.

Friday, June 11, 2004

More UPF Web-site design...



Listened in on 20->30 minutes of Carl Franklin's VB.NET Advanced Class via Ultra VNC (a free public screen sharing utility].



Continued to work on Annie's web-site. Now it's based on ASP.NET. I'm still working on a final 'template'.



Watched the DVD, "Bringing Down the House".



Thursday, June 10, 2004

Mailed diploma.



Sent a [mail] post to Annie with the sample Diploma and 8x10 photo. Should arrive by Monday.



Continued working on the UPF web-site.



ECY's phoned and said he wanted to come over and watch a DVD.



We watched the DVD, "The Recruit", after going to get an ice-cream at the place just near Petit-P's Fathers place.



The film finished @~10:45pm and we 'raced' to get him home by 11:00pm

Monday, June 7, 2004

Wow there's a mis-understanding...My first/last[?] rant ???



Went over to Petit-P's mother's place today to find out where the dentist is located. I need to go before the end of the month 'cause I'm in pain now. She help get me an appointment for tomorrow - no doubt I couldn't have done this by myself. But as that was resolved she asked me about Petit-P's computer. Hmmmm...

For some reason she thought that as long as I was living in town I was responsible for letting Petit-P use my computer. I really don't understand how she could misunderstand something so much. He has been without a computer since last Thursday. Let's examine this. Friday he's not there until after school. Saturday is the wedding [all day], Sunday [all] morning in Church. So how much can he really 'need' a computer?! You try and help and this is what happens. 'Am I obligated to fix all their equipment? So we talked and decided that no matter what it was best that they buy a 'multisync' monitor. I went to Costco, after she phoned her previous husband who said he bought two 'flat' screens for ~$149.00. Well when he says flat, he doesn't mean LCD-flat, a common misunderstanding. The Daystar G701 is available at Costco for the above price. I phoned her back ~@4:00pm and told her it seemed OK, after checking at FutureShop.

Sunday, June 6, 2004

Vistors...[A little rant, but positive].



Finally created ECY's CD. ECY came over in the afternnon after I had just returned. We meet up on the street. After messing around with the computer for a while I could see the CD wasn't working. During his visit Petit-P's mother phoned and 'dumped' him off. Really a big surprise. She phoned a few minutes before coming. Not that I mind but I thought they'd just pop by see the place, since we talked about it last week and then off they go. I don't mind anyone popping him. In fact I love it. As she was leaving she said I'll be back ~@5:00pm, it was ~@1:30->2:00pm.

He brought over the video of the wedding they went to the day before. He's surprisingly good at Window's Movie Maker.

He stumbled around my house as usual. Tripped over the cord for the computer, pulling it out of the power supply. As usual when I look back on these things I always think shouldn't the parent jump in and say something. It's obvious that it's not a good thing to happen. Oh well. Still enjoyed their visit.

After they left I started the DVD, "About Schmit". Ran too late for me so I plan to watch the rest tomorrow.

Saturday, June 5, 2004

Went looking for a living room table at the Church garage sale. Apparently this weekend is the annual 'garage-sale weekend' for everyone. Didn't find anything, so I headed over to Petit-P's place. 'Wasted' the morning there as he cut the grass and prepared for the Wedding.



Rented 3 DVDs: About Schmidt, About a Boy and ...

Friday, June 4, 2004

Movie Camera Day.

Since I had to return Petit-P's Mother's movie camera today, I spent most of the day taking the video off and onto the computer. Still can't figure out how to edit the movie and save it back to tape. Look for some software to do editting.

Returned the camera @~3:30pm and was planning on going to get ECY at school, but ended up talking to his Mother for too long. Turns out ECY's mother went to get him anyway, so everything worked out for the better.

Watched the DVD, "Gothica". Nice acting job by Haley Barry.