The Tao of Joel

The refinement of Google+

2012-02-13T05:08:00.001-08:00

A new feature, unannounced and unknown as far as I know, was introduced into Google+ and nobody seems to have noticed. There is now.a."what's hot" circle that tells you what is going viral right now. Kinda like digg or trends, it simply draws attention to what is being shared by lots of people. To me this is.cool. its awesome that the public is able to declare what they like, and ignore what the

The dealer

2012-02-04T22:02:00.001-08:00

The man looked shifty. Consulting a text on this expensive smart phone, he moved towards the dark parking lot where an unimpressive Mazda approached. A woman got out, and in quiet voices she opens her trunk. An arrangement made, the man hoists a loaded cooler from the dark hatchback and without looking back takes his unidentified container dragging noisely behind him on plastic wheels on the

Two steps.left of.Stalin

2012-01-27T06:45:00.001-08:00

So Toronto's mayor has compared the city councillors who.refuse to get rid.of a local land.transfer tax as two steps left of.Stalin. Now Stalin was, in most bad respects, the equivalent of Hitler. And Hitler was.pretty bad. Easily the worst person in the history. And Stalin is right there next.to him! I think he.meant Karl Marx. Or maybe he should.have gone.with someone less historically bloody.

The Ultimate Smartphone Camera

2012-01-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

Considering how much time I invest in camera gadgetry, it might surprise you that most photos I take is with my smartphone. Not because I'm particularly pleased with its quality (I'm not) but because it's almost guaranteed to be with me at any given point in time. So far, I've been continually disappointed. Now it didn't help that my first camera phone was an LG Shine - a dumb phone. And

Very cool.

2012-01-05T18:21:00.001-08:00

C - Trailer "C" follows the story of an idealistic flight officer who hijacks a spaceship during an interplanetary cold war.

Christmas a day late

2011-12-26T10:11:00.001-08:00

Christmas is.today. Most of you celebrated it yesterday or the day before , but you were actually a eh or two early. We opened our gifts this morning, having Santa makes special trip just fir Kay and gwynnie because of the unfortunate er trip. So merry Christmas! We dont hold.it against you if you celebrated a day it two early. And a special shoutout ti Santa for making the extra trip. Yes a

Sleep when youre dead

2011-12-13T19:16:00.001-08:00

I forget what life was like before kids. I dont remember having.loads of.time, but.i must have. My potential to write blog posts, or.short.stories,.bad.they might be, somehow got lost when kids arrived. The number of.days.when I have slept.in past 8 am, let.alone.9 or 10 in the last 3.5 years can be probably counted.on one hand. But really, is.sleep a luxury or a requirement? I contend young

I don't want to brag but...

2011-11-29T14:19:00.000-08:00

I am a novelist.As part of November, potential writers are encouraged to drop everything and try to write 50,000 words before the end of the month. Nanowrimo - http://www.nanowrimo.org - provides support, encouragement, meetup groups etc for aspiring writers who take on the 50k word challenge.In truth there isn't much verification. But there is an automated word counter that, after Nov 25th you

Tablet wars

2011-11-13T11:07:00.001-08:00

I am typing on the pandigital tablet with my baby in my lap. Blogging should never be done on virtual tablets.

November is Novel Month! Write Something!

2011-11-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

Check it out: http://www.nanowrimo.org/In case you weren't aware, November is Novel Writing Month, where people with zero to little talent try and write 50,000 words in a month. The idea is to get writing, to get it all down on paper, with the expectation that you might edit it later. No stopping, no editing, just write - 1500 words per day, every day.I'm up to 8600 words of pure, colourless

happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T14:48:00.000-07:00

test. blog. post.

This changes everything... A tiny bit

2011-10-05T01:08:00.000-07:00

By now.everyone.saw.the new iphone 4s and its been a tiny bit disappointing for ifans. The hardware doesn't change much except for a.faster processor (kind of.a.given) and a better camera. Some new software that looks more gimicky than useful, and.thats it for another year.Maybe rim can get a foot up again to say, hey! Iphone aren't that much better.With android phones coming out weekly, they

Tablet – Continued

2011-09-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

So I’ve annoyed my wife by playing with this device far too often, attempting to get more functionality (or better/more stable functionality). As an e-Reader, it’s decent. I can get Android 2.2 Froyo on it, but still only install the Flash Lite (Flash 10.3 is in the market, but it won’t install for some dumb reason). The Flash Lite displays videos, but they don’t stream. You download the whole

My Tablet – A Glorified Phone Without the Phone

2011-09-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

I did it. I pulled the trigger. I bought a tablet. The cheapest, crappiest tablet you can buy not designed for kids under 8. It runs Android of some kind (2.1 I suspect) with no Google Market or Need For Speed or anything beyond the basics. It’s actually classified as a eReader but since it runs android, it has potential. It’s called a Pandigital Novel and despite the horrible reviews about it

So where are we going with this?

2011-08-29T01:23:00.000-07:00

Interesting: http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/28/the-social-network-paradox/The bigger our facebook friend list is, the less social we are. It's tough to keep up. We can't be as honest, because our desire to appear normal is a desire to the world at large. We can be weird with our friends, strange with those who know us, and utterly neurotic to our families. You can't be free online. You're a

A Star has Risen in the West

2011-07-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Unbeknownst to most of mankind, a child is born. Her name will soon be screamed from the mountain tops, for although she has been born of lowly circumstances, her potential far exceeds that of pretty much anyone else. Yes, even you. And your kids. You see Gwyneth Anne Greenwood was born today at 8:39am when most of you were at or heading to work. Even she was born at a respectable time unlike

wordbook post

2011-05-05T00:41:00.000-07:00

My little.plugin that is used to update my facebook page broke. All that election brillance wasted!

Election results

2011-05-04T01:18:00.000-07:00

Am i happy with a majority of conservatives or an official opposition of NDP? Not really. I would have been happy without an election and for the parties to work together. I definitely am happy that the BQ have been obliterated into non-party status. However, why did we have an election? In theory the oppositon parties didn't like the budget which set the stage for them to bring the govt down.

Tax cuts that matter

2011-04-20T00:40:00.000-07:00

The conservatives saved me almost $600 last year and they didn't need to cut taxes or services to do it. When Ruths cell plan ended, we called up rogers to get a better deal. It was almost September and wind, mobilicity and public mobile were launching their brands. Rogers was losing subscribers and they gave us a better deal than we had. For the same $50 we would get 6GB included, plus rogers

Politics Aside

2011-04-13T01:16:00.000-07:00

I watched the debates last night and was pretty unimpressed. Why d they all look plastic? Where were their vast, far reaching plans for Canada? Why did I waste an hour watching it?I do contend that if Jack Layton was leading any other party, he would probably be prime minister. He is far more charismatic than the others, and just his policies stink. Iggy looked old and haggard, as if he's already

More phone stuff

2011-03-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Actually I've been having fun with this phone, and the network Mobilicity. Everything takes some getting used to. Having played with my blackberry Pearl, and my wifes iphone, the android experience is new and different.Some stuff is off the charts cool (swype), and the gaming experience is far above what blackberry can offer. Its worth checking out, thats all im sayin'

Mobilicity and the Sony Ericsson x10

2011-03-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

The cell phone companies are moving into full-tilt battle mode as they fight over the existing smartphone market in Canada. I’ve seen Rogers, Bell and Telus drop their prices (almost in lock-step) to encourage existing customers to not switch to the new mobile operators (Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile). I consider my cell phone a bit of a frill, so I’ve taken the leap. I’ve kept Telus on for

baby time!

2011-01-19T02:42:00.000-08:00

Now that the baby news is out there, I can post this on my blog and facebook! But not twitter- my followers are nuts.

Weekend Excitement

2010-12-20T02:58:00.000-08:00

I had a great weekend.Getting home was a little tricky. My $100 bike from Canadian Tire is going downhill fast (not literally - figuratively). Leaving the Go Station, it tried to kill me by slipping off the chain causing me to swerve into traffic at the unexpected loss of power. I could not get the chain back on - except for the tiniest gear requiring me to pedal round once to travel three feet.

Test post from blackberry

2010-10-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

Just a quick attempt to post something via my bb. Very cool.

MacOS Doesn’t Just Work

2010-10-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

Ruth just bought a Macbook Pro and unlike those entertaining commercials, Mac’s don’t just work. I consider myself reasonable knowledgeable about computers, so I was expecting this to be about as easy as setting up my Asus netbook. It wasn’t. The mouse. When I use a mouse with my Asus, it required me to plug in a USB thingy and wait while it configures. After 5-10 secs, the mouse worked. With

Stolen From Mount Olympus

2010-09-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ruth has finally found an iPhone 4. She was at the mall today and there was a short line-up at Rogers. The seller told her that they only had a 16GB iPhone left, to which Ruth readily agreed. Her patience has been rewarded! In your face, Zeus! I hope to get my hands on it to try out the camera and the HDTV video. There is also a few apps Ruth has in mind and I’m mindful that although they’re

The Ominous Return

2010-08-03T00:48:00.000-07:00

You see, I’ve been on vacation these last two weeks. Despite the monumental activity on Facebook, that was all done while on vacation or by my wife Ruth. Not one day was spent worrying about the Project or coworkers or wearing pants. My mind was clear. Imagine my surprise when I started to think about tomorrow yesterday. It occurred to me I might have meetings. I considered the possibility I

Kaylah Learns to Swim

2010-07-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

Each day here in Florida, Kaylah and I enjoy a long swim in our house rental’s pool. Most of the other family (Townsends and Watki’) are sleepy or still groggy – but Kaylah and I put on our swimsuits and enjoy the clear cool water and the rapidly rising hot sun. Within the last few days though, she’s showing incredible progress. She’s kicking the water with force, she’s not gripping me in fear in

Impending Vacation

2010-07-07T15:01:00.000-07:00

At the end of next week, my family and I will fly to the distant tropics of Orlando, Florida. We’re going to Disneyland! I’ve never been, so I have no idea what to expect. Similar experiences in Canada – such as Wonderland, African Lion Safari and/or Marineworld – are all basically one day affairs that begin with an early morning, dehydrated afternoons, topsy turvy rides in the afternoon, ending

Year of the Wedding

2010-06-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

In case you didn’t know, Parry Sound is on a beautiful little bay boasting serene, quiet waters – perfect for swimming, boating and fishing. I did none of those things. No regrets. Ruth and I attended a lovely wedding for Ryan and Eloisa. The ceremony was outdoors and looked out onto the water in what could only be described as absolute perfect weather. The main attractions both managed to miss

Folks Have to Eat

2010-06-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

I’ve recently acquired smaller positions in two Canadian companies that are in the transition from income trusts to corporations. Prime Restaurants (TSE:EAT) and Coastal Wholesale Appliances (TSE:CWA.UN) are two equities with respectable dividends (if they continue). EAT receives monies from East Side Mario’s franchises (amongst others) but has done poorly as Canadians have stepped back and ate

When Can I Get an iPhone?

2010-06-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

Like most silly people who own cell phones, I am not satisfied with just talking. I make use of my cell phone to take digital pictures, perform math calculations and occasionally make me unlost. I get the phone through work and pay a measly third of what Ruth pays. Ruth is set to get an upgrade in July coincidentally precisely when the new iPhone 4 comes out. It may surprise you that I’m jealous.

Party with Friends

2010-06-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

There’s something nice hanging out with friends on a lazy, quiet Sunday afternoon. Ruth had a few friends over, one from Australia with her 10 month old child, to eat and talk and eat and talk. I had the BBQ going and had lots of deserts and munchies to leave us sugar-highed and a tiredness usually reserved for family Turkey dinners. It really was just a nice afternoon. I’m still working out

Today is my birthday…. of my preciousss…

2010-05-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Little Kaylah turns two today. Sometime around 4am, on this day in 2008, the little child-to-be was ripped from her mother’s womb in a emergency C-section. She was the first child Ruth and I would beget that would go on to create a utopia for all mankind, discover Kaylatronics which finally allowed mankind to travel the stars, and author the world’s bestselling novel – My Father, The Greatest

37” 1080p LCD TV = Awesome

2010-05-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

I picked up a 37” Dynex LCD TV for $400 from Futureshop last weekend. It’s not the biggest TV. It wasn’t the most expensive. But it did provide a level of quality that I’m amazingly satisfied with. Even the regular non-HDTV cable from Rogers looks great. DVD’s look awesome – although we’ve only tried kids cartoons and they’re not blue-ray. I finally found a use for that S-video cable that was

Why Isn’t Every Country as Great as Canada

2010-05-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

Today Greeks rose up in a populist uprising demonstrating against their country’s attempt to balance its books. Greece is overspending its budget by 11% – or at a rate that will double its debt every 6.5 years. Do the Greeks believe their government should cut up its credit card? Absolutely not. There’s a European Contagion that threatens to destroy the entire economic stability of Europe (or at

You Want Money? Buy the Magazine!

2010-04-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

“It was the Icelandic economy’s dying request to have its ashes spread across Europe.” I found the joke funny at least. With house prices soaring, there’s a 4 bedroom townhouse in our complex selling for $237k – cheap in comparison to what a detached would cost. It’s on the corner of Gananoque and Shelter Bay here in Mississauga. I expressed a desire to switch from our 3 bedroom but the idea

Invest with Me

2010-03-29T13:18:00.000-07:00

Pssst I have an investment for just you that returns 8% compounded monthly and there’s NO RISK! The fund is called “MMR Financial Holdings”. Expanded out it’s called “Make Me Rich Holdings” where investors give me money, I spend it lavishly on boats and houses for myself, and in return I provide them with an account statement telling them they’re earning gobs of money. Because they can’t find a

To the mean, boys!

2010-03-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

When things are going well, you have to expect they’ll get worse. And no matter how bad things are going, expect them to get better. For large enough populations (say one) this appears to be a universal constant. As the good book says, “This too, shall pass.” So ask yourself: are things going to get better or worse? For me, things are going awesome. So I should prepare for the worst. Ride the

Some Folks Don’t Deserve Kids

2010-03-09T12:15:00.000-08:00

Last week was a bad one for stories about kids. I started to read The Economist article on Gendercide and didn’t get past the first column. Killing baby girls hit home. While watching CTV a Korean couple let their child starve to death while surfing on the internet at a cafe. They even had a photo of the malnourished child. Every once in a while some parent kills their children to get back at

Run, White Boy, Run

2010-03-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

At every Go Train stop, there will be several stragglers running for the train. Perhaps hundreds of people get on at every stop, and 3-5 will be runners. Those,in suits or high heels, willing to sacrifice their dignity and pose to just make a break for it in a final, desperate attempt to be on time. Should they make it, they will be awash with Olympic victory and revelation. Should they fail…

Kaylah Should Get the Vote

2010-03-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

Blacks. Women. Natives. It’s time for kids to get to vote. There is an injustice in Canada and elsewhere where intelligent, free-thinkers are unable to choose the way in which they are governed. For the moment, I’m probably under the mistaken belief that I came up with the idea on my own. But why is the age a factor when intelligence is not? Suppose you needed money. Instead of say, going out

Experiments on Children

2010-02-25T14:19:00.000-08:00

A recurring theme on the hit TV shows Fringe is Doctor Bishop’s unethical and frightful experiments on children in years past. Occasionally he comments on some of his failed experiments and the people affected by them with a very dry and calloused “The university settled with him - he probably never had to work a day in his life.” Ruth and I watch it religiously for its humour and its twisted

Give’er your O-Face

2010-02-17T14:44:00.000-08:00

That’s right – that face of unsurpassed elation. That face of excitement. That face of release. Give’er your Olympics face. Because right now is the sports event of a LIFETIME (if your life span is < 2 years, like say, an insect). That’s right, every two years is a Olympic event (summer or winter) where the entire country comes together to care about sports they otherwise don’t. If it weren’t

Ode to Saint Valentine

2010-02-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

Are you aware that Valentine’s Day is approaching? There are some who hate the holiday. Some who dread it. And even some who forget it exists, much to the disgust of their wives. It tends to be male orchestrated, as women prefer to be its target and not the one with the bow. Indeed it’s almost unfair (from a gender perspective) that there isn’t any corresponding Lust Day where women target the

Mediocre Failures

2010-02-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I had almost posted how well I was doing. Commonwealth Bank shares were up 25%. Tidewater was up 7%, Bombardier was up almost 20% and with exception of Precision Drilling, I was up quite a bit of money. This week, not so much. Commonwealth is down, though I’ve bought more. Tidewater came out with reduced earnings that missed expectations and I sold Bombardier today for a

The Inherent Risk of an Index Fund

2010-02-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

There’s always a latest rage in investing. This is ironic because in actual practice, investing is boring. Investing means reading quarterly reports. Investing means pouring over numbers to decide if a company is worth owning. Investing is not exciting. Yet there are such things as “investment crazes”. The tech boom was one. Millionaires were made over night. High schoolers were successful

Two Competing Investment Philosophies

2010-01-21T12:12:00.000-08:00

If you watch Mad Money, or read some of Jim Cramer’s books, he’ll spell out in great detail how he ran a successful hedge fund through the 80’s and 90’s. Despite the stupidity of his TV show, he does follow a systematic approach to investing. Basically he chooses sectors that are growing, then chooses businesses that are first or the best in that sector, while carefully avoiding “paying too much”

Invest in Index Funds

2010-01-16T03:23:00.000-08:00

I recommend XIC, XIU or some other low MER% index fund of the whole TSX if you’re Canadian. But for whatever reason I’m going to invest in stocks directly. Here’s my list that I believe are or were trading below intrinsic value: Bombardier (BBD.B)– bought at $4.59 plus commission last month. Now trading at $5.55 or so now. When I bought, the price-earnings was 8x. Now it’s almost 12x. Waiting

Never for a thousand years

2010-01-01T03:51:00.000-08:00

Something started in 2000 that will not be repeated for another 990 years. No longer will we refer to the year as two-thousand and one or two thousand and two etc. Today, we start referring to our year as twenty-ten or twenty-eleven (next year). Not until the year 3000 will we once again refer to the year in the long form rather than the butchering of the English language we normally used for

Holidays are not for relaxin’

2009-12-31T03:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve to New Years Eve has been the busiest time for me this year, period. Four Christmases in 24 hrs (Ruth’s family for Dec 24th supper, our own family Christmas Dec 25th morning, my extended family for lunch, then Ruth’s extended family for supper) is a hefty toll. It involved a fair chunk of driving and Kaylah took a few days to recover. That didn’t mean however, we slowed down. After

Filling Other People’s Shoes

2009-12-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

I took a photo of Kaylah that summarizes my title. I’m sure I could BS some philosophical theory and write a blog post about it, but mostly I found Windows Live Photo Gallery and want to see how well the integration works between it and Live Writer. So far so good. To the right is the inline photo. I want to write AROUND the photo because I think that when it takes up space between paragraphs

The Ultra Boring Investment Fund

2009-12-22T15:13:00.000-08:00

So I face an uphill battle. First, I’m trying to beat professional money managers at their own game. Second, I’m going against the Efficient Market Hypothesis that claims I can not consistently do better than an index fund. Third I have a full-time job, a wife and child so my time is at a premium. On the other hand, I have a few things in my favour. First, I can’t be fired. It’s my money.

When I Grow Up, I want to be an Investment Manager

2009-12-21T14:27:00.000-08:00

Perhaps you may have heard this recently from a cute child, wide eyed and innocent basking in the desire for untold riches and insurmountable power. But I never have. Few people watch Wall Street (starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen) and want to be either character. The ugliness of their greed is unmatched nay for the recent mortgaged backed security crisis of 2003-2007. However I’ve

Where'd the Recession Go?

2009-12-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

Remember when we were in a recession? Banks and Investment Institutions raced to be the first to say we were out, with the Bank of Canada making the prediction in the summer. Prices of houses had dropped... briefly. June 2008 came roaring back turning a buyers market into a seller's. The latest news for housing noted the only place still a buyers market in Canada is Saguenay, Quebec. Otherwise,

What if you won the lotto 6/49?

2009-12-08T13:25:00.000-08:00

Chances are, within 3-5 years, you’d lose it all. Poor, depressed and alone. Why? There are many reasons, but probably the first is that you spend it, give it, or lose it. Spend it: let’s say you won a cool $4 million after you shared it with those dough-heads in Alberta who guessed the same numbers. Still, that’s lots of money and you’re cool with that. First, if you’ve got a mortgage of $150k

An Autobiography Written By Someone Else

2009-12-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

I’m reading The Snowball, an autobiography of Warren Buffet, one of the wealthiest men in the world and who has and controls billions. The enormous book explains in detail his moderate upbringing and the lengths he went to to build wealth throughout his youth. Anybody could have come up with his business ventures. They weren’t brilliant, but they took effort and more importantly, immediate action

Thanksgiving – What are you thankful for?

2009-11-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

Is this the best Thanksgiving ever? Not really, if you’re Canadian. You don’t get any turkey or family get togethers. You’re completely out of luck. You had Thanksgiving back in October. But I see no reason not to take this moment to express what you’re thankful for. Maybe you’re thankful for witty blog posts. Maybe you’re thankful for finding that $10 in your pocket after you washed your jeans,

Evil Governments vs Evil Corporations

2009-11-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

Which one do you see as more evil? This comes up in our society again and again. Is it the US government, secretly spying on its citizens, spending untold hundreds of millions of dollars? Is it those deceiving multinational conglomerates that seek to exploit the nations who provide their labour before moving on and leaving everyone in the lurch? Do you see Stephen Harper as the villain of the

Wireless Routers Are Unsafe

2009-11-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

Did you know that in Europe, it’s common knowledge that wireless devices kill? I was told recently by a coworker from Luxembourg that there was a study where rats were exposed to radiation common to wireless devices. Nothing relevant occurred until the radiation was turned off. Then 50% of the rats died. But I for one see this as not a bad thing but a welcome scream for progress. Now that the

Don’t You Hate the HST?

2009-11-18T12:51:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know what I’m talking about? The HST, for those who don’t care, is the Harmonized Sales Tax that affects Ontarians after July 2010. Like all tax increases, there’s vague claims that it’ll save governments or businesses money that will eventually be passed onto the consumer/taxpayer. Most revenue-neutral taxes aren’t. But you can feel sort of good that your 8% in additional sales tax

The Lack of Purpose Driven Life

2009-11-17T15:29:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, life was simple. I had a job I didn’t care for, few responsibilities otherwise and lots of free time. I slept in often, including work days because I was out til midnight every night. Nowadays I’m hitting the pillow at ten and wake up before the sun. Kaylah is a fixture in my life, a gravitational force unto her own that impacts every celestial orbit of my existence.We chose a

Swing Out to Dangerous Dan’s

2009-11-16T15:33:00.000-08:00

My Saturday morning started at 6:38AM when Kaylah announced to the world it was morning. An attempt was made to put her down a little longer but failed. It appears the terrible two’s actually begin well before her 18 month birthday. It was morning and it was my fault. Each evening Ruth will carefully put away all of Kaylah’s toys so the house looks neat and tidy. Kaylah, on waking, will

Friday Blues

2009-11-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

Who has Friday Blues? It’s the end of the work week so why should anyone feel sad or depressed? Well some people might enjoy working, and so the parting of ways with co-workers, no wait – friends – is a sad and uneasy loss. Will this be the final time you see them? How will they change? What torment will they endure without you? Those hours of productive growth are replaced with laziness,

Make Sure it’s the Brake

2009-11-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

This morning when I passed the Streetsville Go-station, I saw a car ditched. The weather is clear and balmy. There’s no rain or any other precipitation to cause any misfortune. It’s 7:45am so there should be no drinking impairment. And with the recent law change, the driver was probably not trying to text or talk while they tried to park. Yet there I see an accident where the driver hit the gas

They Call Us the Zoo-Walkers

2009-11-09T13:39:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was my birthday and my Ruthie gave me endless wonderful gifts. Although I’m super-thrilled with the netbook and its accessories, it was the trip to the zoo that she suggested that I’ll always remember. Although it’s on the other side of Scarborough, the Toronto Zoo was less than a 40 minute drive. With no traffic and a beautiful balmy November day, we walked the zoo in t-shirts.

Stuff that Comes with a new PC

2009-11-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

I’m sitting here looking at stuff on my new netbook. I have no idea what half this stuff is, and some of it are Microsoft products. Have you ever heard of Live Writer? Neither have I, until today. You can type blog stuff offline and submit it to your Wordpress blogs (and/or Facebook). I’m trying it out on the off chance it’s actually useful. It also allows you to submit photos from a MS-Live

Swine Flu or Whatever it's Called

2009-11-07T01:24:00.000-08:00

A lot has been said about long line-ups. Really, to avoid line-ups you must like differently than everyone else. Ruth went online and found that H1N1 line-ups were non-existent in Halton. Twenty-five minutes we were in Georgetown waiting to get the shot. We were in and out within an hour.Ruth got it (she works with old people) and Kaylah got it (being high priority). It's not like they were

What do you do with your spare time?

2009-10-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

I've downloaded some sort of plugin to link my blog with my Facebook. Not sure how this works or even whether its desirable. My blog up until now has been a pond of tranquility allowing me to post what I think/feel without the responsibility of expecting anyone to read it. Posting to Facebook really gets it out there.In other words - this is a test.

Ikea-Fukea

2009-09-27T23:23:00.000-07:00

Ikea furniture. That very descriptions draws an image in the brain in an instant. Quite often, it’s a description of cheap, poor quality, make it yourself furniture. My dad makes the joke "Don't you know? 'Ikea' is Swedish for 'crap'." Though he's quite impressed with our kitchen and has never set foot in an Ikea store. Ruth and I used quite a bit of our wedding cash to buy Ikea furniture. Our

These feet are made for walkin'

2009-09-22T23:52:00.000-07:00

Last night while on the Go Train, I crossed my legs and noticed that the heals of my black, leather dress shoes had collapsed and no longer maintained the integrity for which they were bought. I had only purchased them but a few months ago, and in the previous week yet another pair of (red-brown) dress shoes had also been destroyed (heels split in half). I don't like buying shoes. And so the

Weekend Work

2009-09-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

On weekends, what is work? For some, they run off to their cottage and spend their weekend fixing foundations, readying it for winter. For others, they clean their house or spend time with family. For me - I use it to pursue my passion of photographing models in fabricated situations in silly outfits. Sure I had dinner with the in-laws (+ cousins) on Saturday. Sure I spent some time repairing

TFSA

2009-09-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

Sept 15th marks a special day. I signed up for my free Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) and set up a monthly automatic withdrawal. Sept 15th was the first day that money left my account and to buy a Canadian index fund to begin the long journey of… something. I don't know what the money is being saved for. It just is. I might use it to buy a bigger house (since RRSP's can't be used again). More

The Mighty Eight Percent

2009-09-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have heard that the markets have dropped. Some others may have heard that the markets have rebounded. It appears that my own investments have rebounded to all but 8% of their former glory. At one point, they were a mere 58% of their 2007 height in what most advisors would call an 'aggressive growth investment strategy'. However, with a little mucking with their asset

Welcome TIFF!

2009-09-09T00:52:00.000-07:00

Right now they're setting up the TIFF Gala event at Roy Thompson Hall across from where I work. I took a stroll around to see if there was anybody famous walking around. There wasn't - at least no one that I knew. I noticed that we're far enough west that MEC is nearby. I wandered in, keeping my eye out for famous people who need camping equipment. There wasn't - at least no one that I knew.

Why Don't I Post?

2009-08-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

Because sometimes I post to the Meadowvale Photography site instead. In the past, I'd post ad nauseum post after post of whatever hobby I was involved with. INSTEAD I'll post my photography posts there, leaving my political diatribes, random rants and annoying economic predictions to be posted here.Everyone wins, except this blog and its hugely gigantic revenue source from the ads. I think I'm

Picasa Google Clean-Up

2009-08-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering why some of the previous links to photos no longer work (i.e. that photo with me with Miss November 99 and Miss March '00) well it's because Google Photos finally was full and something had to be removed. I took out old Before/After renovation pictures and the 4 wedding albums I still had up. The pigs of Port Dover was wiped clean and no longer are there 30 photos of

The First of Many Anniversaries

2009-08-10T00:13:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, Ruth and I went to one of her ex-coworker's wedding. Kaylah stayed with her Nanan and Grand-Daddle while Ruth and I partied it up, open-bar style. The wedding was both extravagant and simple - like all weddings, the bride's style and taste decided on splurging on some things and cutting out others.Having never really met the bride before, I managed to

Coffee Maker - Revisited

2009-08-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

Some of the wedding gifts we received failed to pass the first year of our marriage. The coffee maker was a device that continued to work [per se] but failed to work very well. Rather than deal with the irritant of a flaky coffee maker, we bought another. It was the same make but an updated model. We didn't learn our lesson - but it matches the other applicances...It wasn't just the coffee maker

Up Town - Summer in the City

2009-07-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

In case anyone was wondering, the first step towards making the house a oversized fridge will begin shortly. The A/C unit has never worked in our house and I've made recent moves to address this. Not only does it go toward the rennovation tax credit brought in my the Conservatives, it will also make life just a little more bareable. And for those of you keeping track, we've replaced the stove,

Since you've been gone....

2009-06-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

Amazing. Three weeks after I came home from our trip I have YET to go over the 2000+ photos and sort them into Brilliant, Awesome or Just Good categories. Which is odd because I have managed to sort the photos from a model shoot, a Wheels in Motion volunteer effort, a Toronto Skyline shoot etc... Apparently I can be daunted my the huge number of waiting pictures. I am weak.Kaylah continues her

For Queen and Country!

2009-06-09T03:07:00.000-07:00

It's easy to summarize the last two weeks for our much anticipated trip to England (and Wales). We flew there. Then we flew back.But we did more than that. Much, much more. We went to Blackpool - Pleasure Beach is the Canada's Wonderland of the English North West. We went to Scarborough (mispronounced by the Brits as Scaw-Bruh) to see the seaside. Alas there was no fair to go to.We even went

Return to the Britains!

2009-05-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

Ruth, Kaylah and I are heading to the UK this Thursday for a two week firestorm of meeting family, more family and finally some more family after that. I haven't met most of Ruth's cousins, aunts, uncles etc and these next few weeks we mean to rectify that. Little of our time will be spent in the regular tourist destinations but we *might* find our way into London.There's also a small concern at

Father Fire!

2009-05-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Two words that normally don't go together.Recently photos of Kaylah have proliferated across Facebook after I bought a new lens in Canada's black market. This older Nikon 50mm AF F1.8 lens (made in Japan, not China) that works with my D50 is considered optically superior (per dollar spent) than any other lens out there. Everyone should have a low-light fast lens. There's just no delay when you

Hey People! It's Not All Us You Know!

2009-04-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

In a bizarre twist of fate, yet another appliance of ours has gone on the fritz. Ruth's laptop - specifically its screen - has started to flicker and wash out colours. As her main tool for music therapy (iTunes) and patient assessments, it wasn't the sort of thing I could persuade her to delay. So with my tax refund well in hand, we went to the near-by Best Buys/Tiger Directs/Futureshops 'to just

Investing

2009-04-02T02:36:00.000-07:00

I picked up a well-perceived investment book called The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham with an introduction from Warren Buffet claiming "By far the best book on investing ever written."Simply put, I agree. The book has been updated with footnotes to describe similar events in the recent 1990-2002 era to note that the advice is still very much relevant. This particular book was published

Weekend Update

2009-03-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

I watched the finale of BattleStar Galactica. It was very long and had far too many 'fake endings' similar to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. New rule - blacking out the screen should only be done AT THE END. It does wrap everything up into a tight little package that pretty much destroys any attempts to have a sequel. Prequels are always fair game though.We also watched The Trials of Ted

The Green Eyes of Africa

2009-03-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 07, 2005In an age before civilisation, when mankind walked the deserts of Africa, a volcano erupted sending plumes of dark smoke high into the air. The gods were angry at mankind for once again failing to provide a large enough sacrifice, or not having enough sex in the idols presence, or perhaps maybe just for their bad personal hygiene. Who knows why gods got

Neglect

2009-03-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

Walking off his job, Noel felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He felt oddly happy - despite that he only minutes before had been solely responsible the destruction of his entire civilisation. His life had been spent learning a trade that no one else could or wanted to do. He and two other men of varying ages were responsible for the maintenance of a giant computer over 100

Dirty September

2009-03-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

"Damn, the network is still down!" thought Abdul as he attempted to log into his PC. Last night the IT team had properly warned of an impending upgrade and it appeared that this upgrade like many others had been less than successful. It was 8:30am and he had just sat down with his carefully prepared Starbucks coffee. He flipped open his blackberry to see if he had any email. Nothing since last

The Meatens

2009-03-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 30, 2006The MeatensThe sun rose early today. Micky's alarm clock had adjusted itself for daylight savings time during the night and dutifully woke Micky one hour earlier than it had the day before. Micky's thin arms reached out from under the blankets in a blind attempt to turn off the blaring noise but the clock maneuvered its way out of reach so as to prevent

Sickness

2009-02-20T02:13:00.000-08:00

Since the dawn of time, mankind has been plagued by... plagues. Viruses and bacteria that we treat today with some fluids and bed rest used to bring humanity to its knees, killing off huge numbers of people before disappearing into the shadows again.But with the dawn of antibiotics and anti-viral drugs that work sorta, men can wake up sick with something, puke their guts out and be at work within

Hey Baby! Wanna go for a ride... on my bicycle?

2009-02-17T02:56:00.000-08:00

I road my bike to the Go Station this morning, the first time in weeks. I've recently been in the habit of driving my father-in-law's car [parked in my garage] in a sign of my laziness and the incredible recent cold weather. Or wet. Or snowy. Or almost any excuse for weather at all. It also didn't help that the front brake was disengaged and the back brakes only screamed, instead of slowing the

JGPEEF

2009-02-12T03:18:00.000-08:00

The Joel Greenwood Photography Equipment Enhancement Fund. You won't get a receipt, but email me if you want to contribute.

Invasion into the Mother Country

2009-02-06T06:04:00.000-08:00

Ruth has begun working again and the signs are in the air... mostly that there's now a small amount of money left over at the end of each month. So to celebrate our new found riches, we're planning a trip to England in May to visit all manner of relatives in Ruth's family.Lots of things are still up in the air (like where we're going) but some things have already been set in stone. First, we're

Best Photos of 2008

2009-01-17T08:04:00.000-08:00

Because Digital Photography School told me to, I went through all the photos of 2008 and selected the best ones (IMHO). A few rules to keep me out of trouble: No family pictures or photos unless they're somehow artistic. Otherwise this exercise just fills my album up with various pictures of my kids and/or family so I can avoid guilt. Maybe I'll allow myself one. No pictures that I technically

Eggs

2009-01-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love photos of eggs basking in the warm glow of candlelight?Me too!

Weekend Wrapdown

2009-01-12T05:56:00.000-08:00

Ruth and I are the proud owners of a new dishwasher and stove! Both were picked up and installed over the weekend and are pretty fab. Our old dishwasher didn't actually clean the top shelf. Our new one solves this problem by having a sprayer for both the top and bottom trays.Our old stove used to beep without reason and burn hotter than normal (I had to replace the stove element) requiring us to

Tax Free Savings Accounts

2008-12-30T03:30:00.000-08:00

Tax Free Savings Accounts (or TFSA's for those "in the know") are a recent change that allows Canadians to increase their savings. The investments in the TFSA can grow and do not incur tax-penalties ever. They can be withdrawn tax free and they grow tax free.Each year, another $5k is added that can be saved each year. If someone withdraws any amounts of money from their TFSA, that amount is added