Category: Personal

One might wonder why it has been nearly a week since I have blogged; perhaps the snow wolves had finally claimed me?  Maybe I had eschewed my blog instead for a full-time LJ and Back Mascarra act?  Maybe I was just busy with the whole move thing.

It's a bit of them all really.  I was out there in the snow, dodging abandoned cars and skirting huge snow drifts (if skirting mean blowing through them yelling BOOOM).  This was in pursuit of getting down to London for my first day of work with my new employer.

I couldn't shake the feeling that I was intruding on a very insular place when I got there, and that my presence was a nuisance.  We'll see how the next week goes.

As for the move, hmmm.  The kitchen roof leaks when I have a shower and the plumber thinks it is because I am slopping water all over the place when I shower.  Overlooking the fact that I leave towels all over the floor by the shower when I have a shower and that my showers only last about 3 minutes because my water heater has NO capacity.  This plumber also overlooks the clear and ongoing water damage that was already there in the kitchen.

Anyway, what is going on there?

I signed up for velcom for internet service and have already dropped it.  DSL sucks for me it seems.

In this case it was a decision based upon service organizations; velcom is serviced by unintelligible morons and Rogers is staffed by people who could answer my questions without excessive pauses of 3 to 10 minutes.

I was schmap'd too. 

So it was a week.

One more thing, this week went like this   LOOOOOONNNNNNGGGG DAY  -> blink night is over -> LOOOONGGGGG DAY -> blink night is over -> and so on.  What was your's like?

Originally posted on nitemayr.vox.com

Road Closures: 9:00 p.m.

The list of road closures in our area is getting longer tonight, because of whiteouts and blizzard-like conditions.

Barricades are up across the following highways:
Highway 4 from Elginfield to Exeter
Highway 4 from Blyth to Teeswater
Highway 86 from Amberley to Wallenstein
Highway 87 from Bluevale to Harriston
Highway 8 from Stratford to Seaforth
Highway 23 from Elginfield to Harriston
Highway 7 from Stratford to St. Marys
Highway 10 from Orangeville to Chatsworth
Highway 6 from Tobermory to Fergus
Highway 9 from Clifford to Harriston.
Highway 21 from Goderich to Springmount.
Highway 89 from Shelburne to Mount Forest

All highways and county roads in Bruce and Grey are closed because of
the hazardous conditions. A number of county roads in Wellington, Huron
and Perth are also closed because of poor visibiliy or abandoned
vehicles. Many plows have been pulled off the roads tonight, and won’t
begin until early tomorrow morning. Police are recommending you stay
where you are.The Listowel Salvation Army is initiating it’s Winter
Storm Assistance efforts. Those that are stranded in Listowel can get
warmth and a place to sleep at the church on Main Street in Listowel.
Anyone in Listowel that can offer overnight accomodations is asked to
call the Listowel Salvation Army at 519-291-3200.

Dammit!

Originally posted on nitemayr.vox.com

When we unpacked Jen’s PC it wouldn’t turn on.  Some searching at the Gateway site confirmed that the 3 Beeps we were hearing were a failed memory check

Damn.

I reseated the memory in the other slots and the machine booted fine.

Well, after I fixed the sata cables.

Oh Well.

Originally posted on nitemayr.vox.com

I was supposed to go to London today, driving to my new home. Instead
every rode between here and there is closed and the wind chill made my
fingers lose all sensation in about 30 seconds.

Damn Snow!

Look at this crap:

Road Closures/Conditions-5pm

ALL HIGHWAYS AND COUNTY ROADS IN GREY AND BRUCE ARE STILL CLOSED.
IN DUFFERIN COUNTY, THE OPP SAY ALL THE ROADS IN THE SHELBURNE AREA ARE IMPASSABLE, AND ARE CONSIDERED CLOSED.
HURON OPP ALSO REPORT VISIBILITY IS EXTREMELY POOR, AND DRIVING IS NOT A GOOD IDEA.

MORRIS-TURNBERRY AND HOWICK TOWNSHIPS HAVE PULLED THEIR PLOWS OFF THE ROADS UNTIL CONDITIONS IMPROVE.

Other road closures include:
Highway 4 from Arva to Exeter
Highway 4 from Blyth to Teeswater
Highway 86 from Amberley to Wallenstein
Highway 87 from Bluevale to Harriston
Highway 8 from Stratford to Mitchell
Highway 23 from Elginfield to Harriston
Highway 7 from Stratford to St. Marys
Highway 10 from Orangeville to Chatsworth
Highway 6 Tobermory to Fergus
Highway 9 from Clifford to Harriston.
Highway 21 from Goderich to Springmount.
Highway 89 is closed from Shelburne to Mount Forest

Wellington County Road 7 from Salem to Teviotdale
Wellington Road 109 from Harriston to Arthur

Perth County Road 119 from Stratford north to Perth County Road 7
Perth County Line 26 and County Road 112 to Tavistock

Visibility is down to zero at times because of the blowing snow and stationary snow squalls..

At least I was able to get Jen's computer online and set up with XP.  I had to dig a bit to get the drivers and so on, and the DVDRW drive was stuck closed (and is again)  but the PC works and is all set for Jen and the rest of the adults here at my 'rents to use.

Holy crap, the wind just made stuff fall off the desk as I was typing this.

I snagged a video of the squalls while I was dropping Jen off at work, but I don't think I'll get out of here until the morning now.

I hope my new employer understands.

Originally posted on nitemayr.vox.com

I watched the "classic" Blob movie this morning (starring Steve McQueen if you are not sure which one I am referring to).  Besides observing why Steve McQueen was popular (dude could act).  I percolated an idea for a sequel that would use the trope of current events to unleash the Blob on middle American once again, and I don't mean .

     The premise, 60 years after the Blob was airlifted from Downington to the Arctic, the dire warnings of Al Gore have found the ear of the Air Force personnel in charge of monitoring the Downington Blob and they have decided that the Arctic is no longer cold enough and decide to move the Blob south to the center of the Antarctic.  An airlift is organized and the capsule is retrieved from the Arctic. 

     Mid-flight (over the US, in a bit of bad planning of course) the plane is downed by a massive thunderstorm over Arizona.   The Capsule is dropped west of a small town, not far from Phoenix.  A massive heatwave has forced all but the hardiest of the citizenry into their homes, even late at night.  The Blob defrosts into a series of smaller chunks that spread through the sewers of the town, crawling into homes via their toilets and sinks.  The Blob slips into the throats of sleeping citizens and gestates there, taking over the bodies while keeping them alive along to keep the Blob at body temperature.  Some citizens are walked into the capsule to be eaten, some are used as puppets to maintain secrecy.  The giveaway is that the intrusion of the blob gives them a distinctive walk or wight loss (as they have been eaten from the inside out).

    Obviously the military investigates the crash, but are dissuaded about the capsule by a Blob puppet who shows them an emptied portion and "confirms" that the blob was simply burned up by the crash.

    Like the first film, the Blob is discovered by some kids who attempt to convince the authorities that there is something going on with the people that have been taken over by the Blob.  They use cell phone cameras to video tape an old woman being collapsed from within by a Blob and post it on YouTube.  In Downington a 67 year old Steve (played by Damien Lewis in makeup) sees the video on his Grandkids computer and investigates it with his contacts in he Air Force.

    The Air Force decides to cordon off the town with the help of the National Guard and the Army.  It is too late, as some of the puppets have made their way to Phoenix.

    The movie is left with an apocolyptic moment when a Blob rises from the Desert Floor, ringed with thunderstorms and tornadoes, making it's own weather due to its sheer volume.  Phoenix is destroyed by the Blob before Steve works with Danny (his Brother in Law) to develop a refrigerant bomb that causes an endothermic reaction in the Blob, killing the main body.

The writer is free to add in social comments like discussions about Global Climate change and Fox News/Pundit jokes.

Originally posted on nitemayr.vox.com

Well, Not Yet.

Not Yet.

Here is our New Place

It is a three bedroom 3 story unit, the master bedroom opens onto the balcony you see above the garage.  I think it faces North and South, which makes for dim mornings and hot afternoons.  It has a nice finished basement which means I can hid my TV and sound system down there.  Good stuff.

I took a few pictures when we toured it, but I'll take better ones when we do the move-in inspection.  I think I will document the whole deal here so that we can be sure that no one forgets it the way it was.

This also mean that yes, I will be living and working in London Ontario.  Starting February 11, I will be working in London for a software firm.  As I don't want to run afoul of any bad luck, I won't spill anything about it.

The Office is about 15-20 minutes from the house, the house is next to a nice school.  Bonus.

There are some stores nearby, I wonder if the nearest Walmart is 24/7?  The best sign I saw was that they had about 20 Rock Band units for the 360 there.  I could have my Family band together by mid-March.  Lol.

I'll be moving in tomorrow and in the unit to LIVE as of Sunday night. 

Oh yeah, if you are in Canada and not aware, the weekend of the 18th is a long weekend.  Also Bonus.

I expect to move this PC that I'm tapping away on to the new house on Sunday, which puts me out of reach for the Internets for about 3 to 5 days.

This also sucks.

I'm gonna call my potential new ISP today and ask if I can have the service setup before my phone arrives.  Should be a fun conversation.

Originally posted on nitemayr.vox.com

Originally posted on nitemayr.vox.com

Please indulge a short flight of fancy whereupon I delight you with a tale of Olde Giants and Vassals to the Lord.

Imagine for a moment that there are Giants that live amongst us, some small giants that are barely larger than a house and some massive giants who can step from continent to continent and their very breath alters the weather as they go.  Now imagine that these Giants crap gifts.  They excrete money and gifts.

Mmmm.

Now, to make a living people can choose to live ON the Giants.  In fact, without armies of people on the Giants to tend to their health and protect them from other Giants, our Giants would actually die.  As long as they have their little armies though, they keep on living, immortal and fairly unaware of anyone but other Giants, their armies (whom they sometimes swipe off to assuage their vanity) and their food.  They stride from place to place pooping out prizes and eating whatever strikes their fancy. 

The Kings of the Lands realize that they can't fight the Giants, but can employ Giants to fight on their behalf.  Whole human armies are supplied by the poop of a given Giant and it's own army of helpers.  Some Giants employ smaller Giants to act on their behalf, but most Giants exist by eating stuff they find lying around or other Giants. 

The Vassals all need to live off of the crap the Giants poop out, because the Lords and Kings have all given the Giants free reign to roam over the lands and people as long as they keep crapping out prizes for the ones that aren't crushed or eaten. 

So Vassals and Lords alike are held in thrall by Immortal Giants who crap prizes and eat up all the land.  Too bad.

Originally posted on nitemayr.vox.com

Originally posted on nitemayr.vox.com

Utilikilt’s irreverent “license agreement” – Boing Boing

CJ from Utilikilts writes: “I am responsible for receiving and cataloging all the images customers send in to our web site. We use the images on our web site, in our marketing literature, etc, so we need to inform our customers about this and get a release from them. So I wrote a release they would WANT to sign! I

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  These pleated affairs are not Kilts, they are skirts.  If you want to wear a skirt, then say so.  Don’t hide behind Scottish Culture’s wrapped tartan midriff to pretend otherwise. 

Basic rules of Kilt Wearing:

No Sporran = Not a  Kilt 
Pleats = Not a Kilt 
Shaved or less than shaggy legs = Not a Kilt

There you go, basic rules for Kilts.  Also, if you can’t roll your Rs, then you are banned from ever evening thinking of wearing a Kilt.  Unless you are a girl, then Sally Forth!