Pickle's Perspective

I'm baaacck.

2011-09-13T09:49:00.001-05:00

Well. I had moved the blog. then after 3 years, I shut down the blog as I wasn't finding the investment of the .com domain was worthwhile. There are such a small number of readers of my blog that there wasn't much point in continuing.

By now, I expect I've lost all my readers, but I will start putting content back here on blogger.com eventually, if my words are of interest, readers will return!

Blog is Moving.

2007-11-24T02:00:00.000-06:00

For some time I've been playing with Word press and I've decided to import my blogger info into Word Press. This blog is now closed.

To continue reading my blog, please update your bookmarks, favorites, etc.

the new URL is http://blog.germanpickle.com

I will have a new feed there also.

Thanks.

-The Pickle

Dear Anonymous

2007-11-21T14:22:00.000-06:00

Based on your comments, I would guess that it’s you, not I that is the hot head. Fact of the matter is that I laughed while writing my last post. I laughed because of how ridiculous some of your comments were. However, I’d like to clarify a few things for you.

One. I have an open mind, and two I am willing to learn from the interaction; hence the reason why I chose to open my mouth. So, being a man of my word, I did some research for both our benefit. As stated earlier, I am no lawyer, but I believe that I’m intelligent enough to be able to understand the following two websites, within reason.

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/

In case you haven’t guessed by the url, it’s a link to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I’ll help you out. Here’s a cut and paste of the Fundamental Freedoms.

Fundamental Freedoms

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association.

As you see, bullet B indicates, “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including the freedom of the press”. This means that whatever is written in this, or any other blog, is protected by that freedom. This applies within the limits of the Canadian Justice System.

So, let’s look at the Criminal Code of Canada.

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/

PART VIII of the Criminal Code of Canada is titled, Offences Against the Person and Reputation, probably a good place to start. Let’s see…. …

Section 298 belongs to the sections regarding “Defamatory Libel”, which is what the anonymous reader has accused me of.

Section 298 reads

298. (1) A defamatory libel is matter published, without lawful justification or excuse, that is likely to injure the reputation of any person by exposing him to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or that is designed to insult the person of or concerning whom it is published.

Interesting. So In order to injure the reputation of an individual does that individual not need to be identified? No names have been mentioned. So I see nothing in this section that makes me or any other person referred to in “Anonymous” reader’s comments that indicate actual libel. Lets keep reading.

298. (2) A defamatory libel may be expressed directly or by insinuation or irony

(a) in words legibly marked on any substance; or
(b) by any object signifying a defamatory libel otherwise than by words.

Very interesting. So Libel can be marked on any substance. That means, I could arrange Alphagettis into a libelous sentence. Cool! Lets read on.

299. A person publishes a libel when he

(a) exhibits it in public;
(b) causes it to be read or seen; or
(c) shows or delivers it, or causes it to be shown or delivered, with intent that it should be read or seen by the person whom it defames or by any other person.

So, I’d have to publicly display my alphagettis. Sorry, I’d have to publicly display my alphagettis in a manner that shows intent that I want the person I’m allegedly defaming to read my noodles.

So before I continue, my blog, and that of “Mr. Justice” has already not met several key requirements for libel.

1. No person has been ridiculed, insulted, or exposed to hatred.

2. Although both the blogs in question are publicly published, it has not been stated that either blog has been published with intent that it should be read by the person it defames.

3. Furthermore, since no name is mentioned even had there been ridicule, insults, or exposure to hatred, no person was identified, therefore there’s no way to prove whom this alleged ridicule, insult or exposute to hatred is about. This makes points 1 and 2 mute.

But please let’s continue.

300. Every one who publishes a defamatory libel that he knows is false is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

301. Every one who publishes a defamatory libel is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

Libel has strong consequences. Let this be a warning to all. Including those who publicly publish a comment indended for me to read, addressed to me calling me a “Pompous Ass”. This is clearly a statement directed at me to insult me (meets qualifications of section 298) and it was delivered with intent that it should be read by me (Section 299). And, since I was being accused of libel, anonymous clearly knows all about law, so that would mean section 300 would apply. Five years rather than two.

Lastly, lets look at how this legislation applies to blogs. What is a blog? Blog, or Web Log is a journal published by an author intended to provide items of public interest and public discussion. Sections 309 and 310 apply to this.

Public benefit

309. No person shall be deemed to publish a defamatory libel by reason only that he publishes defamatory matter that, on reasonable grounds, he believes is true, and that is relevant to any subject of public interest, the public discussion of which is for the public benefit.

Fair comment on public person or work of art

310. No person shall be deemed to publish a defamatory libel by reason only that he publishes fair comments

(a) on the public conduct of a person who takes part in public affairs; or
(b) on a published book or other literary production, or on any composition or work of art or performance publicly exhibited, or on any other communication made to the public on any subject, if the comments are confined to criticism thereof.

So if it can be stated that the Pickle’s Perspective, and Justice4Fathers Blogs are journals where the respective authors, publish material which is, on reasonable grounds considered true for the purpose of public interest for the public benefit would NOT be deemed to have published defamatory libel.

So, based on these readings, my beloved readers, here are the facts, about libel in Canada. I’d like to thank all my readers, whether you comment or not. I write this blog for your entertainment. For your input, and for your benefit. If my posts make you question something, I’ve done my job. This trip into my mind is bumpy, funny, ridiculous, and sometimes offensive, but it’s always 100% the pickle’s perspective.

The Truth About Libel.

2007-11-20T21:40:00.000-06:00

Recently my blog was spammed by an anonymous reader claiming that I, by posting a link to another blog, could become legally responsible, if said blog contained libel. I've never backed down from a confrontation on my blog, and I surely won't now.

Once again, I'd like to make two comments.

1. If you know absolutely nothing about a subject, then either button your lip and don't open your mouth, or two, listen to what others tell you and gain knowledge and experience from the interaction.

2. If you have a closed mind you should have a closed mouth.

Now to continue. Here's the exact quote from the comments on my other blog post.

"YOU ARE JUST AS GUILTY of these acts as the man who wrote the Justice Blog because you posted the link to his. You are in essence making this available to a wider public audience. This is injurious and grounds for a civil suit against you too. It is no defense in law if you just repeat but did not originate the defamation.

The fact that the blog was written with malice is also important in civil cases.

You can state your opinion, but you cannot perpetuate this libel. You are the owner of the blog, and you must share in the damages when awarded."

So, lets set something straight: Oxford Dictionary defines libel as: Noun - the publication of a false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation.

Let's examine this definition. First off. Libel means false statement. I personally have made no false statements. Secondly, in order for statements true or otherwise, to be damaging to a person's reputation, they must include identifiable details about said person. This did not occur either.

A few months ago, an individual posted a website containing libel about me. The website was created in retaliation to negative ebay feedback I left for a seller that sold me an open item when it was claimed to be in a factory sealed box. This libel website contained my full name, my email address, and my paypal account information. I contacted the RCMP, and Vancouver Police department for assistance.

As it turned out, the seller broke no Canadian Law. First off there a freedom of speech. Secondly in Canada it must be proved that the person who is suspected of writing the libel is in fact the person who typed it into the keyboard. Using an IP address as evidence isn't sufficient. Lastly, posting personal information about me on the Internet didn't violate any Canadian Privacy Legislation if the personal information contained on the website was publicly accessible in another fashion. Post your email on any media for any reason yourself and that email address is now publicly available.

So I may not be a lawyer, or a judge or an enforcement officer of any kind. However I have something called common sense and intelligence. With those two combined, I can easily deduce that based on my experiences; the person who essentially threatened me with a civil suit, knows nothing of what they talk about. Clearly any person who reads a post on the internet, especially a post that mentions no names, and still thinks the post is libel about them, is clearly confused and misguided.

That's all. You can go outside and play now.

The Moving Baby Swing

2007-10-29T12:17:00.000-05:00

IF you have this swing, be careful. Some parents put a baby into a swing so they can do some chores around the house. Our baby loves her swing. She swings and naps, giving us time to clean up etc. Well on the weekend, I was doing some computer work, when I noticed little girl was right beside me.

Check out the video.

I called Graco to log a safety concern. They are investigating and appear quite pro-active at this point. I'll keep you up to date!

Unfaithfulness = Die Young!

2007-10-18T16:08:00.000-05:00

Based on a Cambridge University Study, it appears that the competition over sex is the reason why males live shorter lives than females. The Cambridge study compared males of various species and found that, the more polygamous a species was the shorter the life expectancy was of the male in regards to the female. In these examples, the males ages quicker also.

So, if the dishonesty of cheating isn't a strong enough deterrent to infidelity, perhaps the fact that it can shorten your life, may be!

See the original article here: http://www.livescience.com/animals/071016-male-age.html

Don't be Ringing My Doorbell!

2007-10-16T22:10:00.000-05:00

As Halloween approaches and we grownups decorate and prepare for an evening of Ghouls and Goblins terrorizing our front lawns, I have only one simple request. DON'T be ringing my doorbell.

This must be a sign of a society that's getting ever lazier. Last year, one kid, must a been 15 or so, (Voice had already cracked) rang the doorbell and exclaimed, "Gimme some candy."

Yeah, Piss off!

When I was a kid there were rules to Halloween.

1. Dress up.

2. Shout at the top of your lungs. "Trick or Treat" or "Halloween Apples" If we yelled trick or treat, we knew we could be getting the trick.

Nowadays it's a "Ding dong" and silence. Bahh... maybe I'm becoming an old fart, I dunno....

Nonetheless the 2 rules should still hold true. In the past I've done the tricking from time to time. Jumping out at kids, lighting fire crackers behind them, or other such childish antics. So all you kids, if you expect good candy and effort on my part, you best not be ringin' my doorbell. You'll need to put a little effort in too... if you know what's good for ya.

Can You Live Greener Without Changing Your Habits?

2007-09-18T12:13:00.000-05:00

That's a question I asked myself not to long ago. We hear so much about global warming and climate change. We're reminded daily that we need to change to make a difference. But realistically many people aren't ready to scrap their gas guzzling SUV for a Smart Car. Many people go on with their lives believing that to live greener, you need to make significant changes.

So is it possible to lower your carbon footprint, without making any changes to your habits? Maybe not, but what if we make very small changes to our habits? Go ahead keep the huge SUV, Don't car pool, Don't take the bus, and still drive the V8 monster across town to buy milk rather than combining the trip with a commute.

I believe that even if you're major day to day habits aren't changing, can you tweak the little things to reduce your impact on the environment. More change is better, but there's a few things that anyone can do. In fact I think you can have a profound affect with some very simple changes that will barely affect your routine. Here's my list of how you can reduce your carbon footprint, with minimal changes to your comfortable suburban lifestyle.

1. Switch to green power/ be powersmart.
Depending on where you live, you may have an option to switch to green power for close to the same price. Here we are very lucky. With all of our power being hydro-electric or wind power, we're a green producer and efficient producer resulting in a cost of 5.94 cents per kilowatt hour.

2. Be Powersmart
Turn off lights when you're not in the room. Use fluorescent and compact fluorescent bulbs in your home. Turn off the computer when not in use. If you're going away for a few days or longer, turn down the heat, or turn off the A/C. Also turn down the Hot water tank to it's "vacation setting". Unplug your electronics if you're not using them for a longer period of time.

3. Recycle
You're already bringing your garbage to the street once a week for garbage delivery. Get yourself a "blue box", and put your recycling out too. In many places you don't need to separate your various types of recycling. In some areas they don't even ask you to rinse your empty canned goods cans. Glass is the only item that we manufacture that is 100% recyclable so buy the ketchup in glass rather than squeezable plastic. If there's no recycling program in your area, contact your local municipal office and inquire about why.

4. Donate/Freecycle
Perfectly good items you have that you don't need, don't turf them. Clothes, furniture, toys, electronics etc. can be freecycled or donated. In many areas for example, the Diabetes Association, for example, takes donations for exerything from clothes to vehicles. These items are sold with the proceeds funding diabetes research. These items are re-used and kept out of the landfill a little longer. If you'd rather not donate to diabetes, consider the freecycle network, which is a network of individuals that give away useable items to others in attempt to keep things out of the garbage.

5. Buy local
This is such a no brainer when you rationalize the reasoning. Why buy potatoes that came from a farm 2000KM away, when you can buy local grown potatoes? first off you're supporting the local economy, and you're reducing your carbon footprint as these items aren't driving by 18-wheeler across the continent. Meat is another great example. Local slaughtered livestock means the product probably has less preservatives and travelled less to get to your plate. This holds true with clothing, and other consumer goods also. Often, if you shop smart, there's a negligible cost impact. For example. I know that Warehouse One has a local jeans factory. They're jeans are comfortable, and priced very reasonable. Before I finalize my selection, I look at the tag. "Made in Canada" Well there's a change at least that this was made locally, minimizing the shipping of the item, therefore less greenhouse gases spewed into the air during this item's manufacturing lifecycle.

6. Use e-Billing
This is really one that takes next to zero habit change. Contact your utility providers, and arrange for e-Billing. Pay your bills electronically. Canada Post offers e-Post services. If you've ever been in a mail room, you'll be shocked how many tonnes of paper are used to send bills. Using eBilling can save tons of paper. The carbon reduction is also significant. From heavy equipment that's doing the logging to the delivery to the paper mill. Then the paper process which uses bleach and other chemicals, through to the paper delivery. Then there's the final delivery of the mail.

7. R.O. rather than bottled water
Recently there's been a lot of discussion about how unfriendly the bottled water business is. Personally I enjoy the tast of the water out of my tap. I'm not disillusioned, so I know I'm probably the minority. But what if you could get the benefit of the bottled water taste, with less cost? all it would cost you is the fact that you wouldn't be walking around with the bottle of "Aquafina" or "Disani" when out in public. Instead you'll be walking around carrying the "Nalagene" bottle. In fact, over two or three years this could save you money. The solution. Get yourself an R.O. system at home. Reverse Osmosis, is the process many water cooler companies use to "make" their water. If you fill up your cooler bottles at the local grocery store dispenser, you're getting RO water already. This water isn't coming on a ship from Fiji, for example. An R.O. system can be purchased for as little as $500.00 making it a relatively inexpensive upgrade that will most likely give you a r.o.i of under 2 years, depending on how much water you purchase. Now get yourself a refillable Nalagene bottle and your good to go with a portable, re-fillable water bottle.

Yuhai Sensei

2007-08-21T15:19:00.000-05:00

Funny how small the world can be. Yesterday, I was asked to show a local college student about my job. This student, who was taking the same IT program at College that I graduated from in 1998 was on a mentor-ship program at at our company, and as school is about to start again, he was given a view of different IT positions in our organization. My co-worker friend (who was in my graduating class) came to my cubicle to introduce me to this student. An introduction was not needed, as I recognized my old Elementary School friend instantly.

This friend, let's call him Tom, was a judoka since we were young kids. Tom, had nearly made the Olympics on several occasions And may have even made it a couple times too, I don't know.

We took a couple minutes to catch up on 13 years of not seeing each other. the conversation included his Judo career. As we discussed the martial arts I mentioned to him, that I had taken a few years of Jiu-Jitsu and hoped to get back into it some day.

the world being as small as it is, Tom knew my Sensei and the places where we trained. Sensei Ron Fulton, what a great man. That's when I found out..... Sensei Fulton has passed away...
The place we trained on Thursday nights belonged to Sensei's friend Darwin. He's also passed away.

Strange. I haven't seen these people in years; and based on their age, I knew there was this likelihood, yet I'm saddened. This post is me paying my last respects to Sensei Fulton

YUHAI

How much power does that use anyway?

2007-08-10T11:02:00.001-05:00

Leave the computer running, or shut it down in the evening; it's a debate many can't seem to agree on. Over the years I've changed my standpoint on the subject more than once. However, I think I now have a solid argument for shutting down your computer when it's not in use.

My co-worker, recently loaned me an energy monitor-logger. This device will log the electrical usage of a circuit. Whether it be one item or multiple items on a circuit, no matter. The monitor stores it's readings into internal memory. It then estimates a monthly electrical cost for the use of the circuit based on the readings in memory. The unit connects to the computer using USB, and the data can be downloaded from the device to analyse the usage of the circuit. So what does a computer use on electricity. Well it'll depend on your computer. I think I have a run of the mill set up. (well it's a dated set up, but still)

Generic Tower
AMD Palimino XP2600+ with 1.25GB RAM (DDR400)
120GB and 80GB hard drives.
DVD Burner
CD-ROM
Ethernet
Modem
Soundblaster Audigy
Ati All-In-Wonder Radeon 7500
19 Inch Flat front CRT Monitor.
Wifi Hub
Cable Modem
5.1 Surround speaker system
InkJet Printer

So What does this set up consume on electricity? While the computer is running; with average usage; My computer setup draws between 960 - 1100 Watts of power. Average usage means surfin' the web. Listening to mp3s while doing it and maybe doing some flickr uploads at the same time.

At 6.5 cents per killowatt hour (and that's a pretty good rate), if I was running the computer 24/7 I'd be looking at ~$40.00 - $50.00 per month on electricity. Now a breakdown showed that around 300 watts were consumed by my monitor alone. So I could probably save myself somewhere close to 6 bucks a month by buying an LCD monitor, assuming it was running 24/7. The LCD monitor would pay for itself in a couple years. A good way to justify an upgrade, wouldn't you say?

How about idle time? My computer, when sitting unattended; hard drives not spinning, monitor in powersave mode, speakers off and printer turned off, still consumed over 500 watts of power, or about $20.00 a month. Kids, that's $240.00 per year.

Lets assume that you're not using a gaming system, and that an $800 computer does the job for you, and lets assume that you use your computer for 5 hours a day. By shutting off your computer when not in use, you could save the equivalent of a new computer in under 4 years. That's assuming you're paying 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour.

If you want to look at it another way..... If you could save $200.00 per year. If you earn $10.00 an hour, and are in a15% tax bracket, you'd have to work an extra 23.5 hours per year to pay for your computer running idle while you're not using it.

So... is it better for the computer to be turned off? I don't know, but I know what's better for my wallet... and the savings...well they'll get absorbed someplace into my budget, but at least when the computer does need replacing, I can justify it that much more easily.

Off Work.... SURPRISE... Take 4

2007-08-02T12:22:00.001-05:00

For crying out loud, when is enough enough already?

So a couple days ago, I come out of work; I walk to my motorcycle, which was parked behind the office and notice that the bike is laying lifeless flat on it's right hand side.

As if? Like Come on... Wasn't it enough that I had the Home From Work? SURPRISE then the Off Work.. SURPRISE Let's not forget the most recent Another After Work SURPRISE! Now some asshole has to go and tip over my bike too?

I have crash bars on my bike that protect the motor in case the bike falls over, so the bike was resting on the crash bars in the front, and on the passenger footpeg in the back. Damage was restricted to a little bit of scuffing on the throttle side hand grip.

At first I thought maybe somebody backed into it, and drove off, but then I noticed that the kickstand was up. The mirrors were twisted around, and all the controls were played with. Gasoline had leaked out of the tank to the extent of leaving a nice puddle on the pavement.

I put my helmet down and picked up the old lady. Sat down, straightened the mirrors, unlocked the steering and started her up. A few sputters and she came back alive.

I went back into the office to talk to the security guard...

Apparently a drunk guy stumbled into the building and told the security guard that he lost his keys to his bicycle, and would like the guard to cut his bike lock. The guard proceeded to chase the pathetic drunk off of company property. This is when the guard saw my bike laying on the ground.

The next day the guard told me that he had reviewed the video footage, and although the bike wasn't fully visible in the video, he could see the drunk guy at my bike playing around. By the sounds of it, he tried stealing it. I assume that when he realized that it needed a key to unlock the steering and that he wasn't going anywhere with it, (aside from in circles.) he just pushed it over and proceeded to attempt his luck at a bicycle.

People always talk about the benefits of working downtown. "everything's in walking distance" "Public Transportation connections are great", or arguments, like "You don't have to go ouside because so many buildings are skywalk connected" I paint a slightly different picture. Overpriced parking. Inadequate parking, and an overabundance of trouble makers, sniffers, huffers and drunks. All I can say is, the guy's lucky I didn't see him push over my bike. Most people are smart enough to know, you don't mess with another man's (or woman's) motorcycle.

Cruisin' The Dub!

2007-06-20T20:09:00.001-05:00

Cruisin' The Dub! Car Hops are back!!!

Well, okay, I admit that back in the 50's my parents were still learning their ABC's and simple mathematics, so I can't refer to the good ol' days, but we all know about the Car hopping days. Teens in their now classic cars, heading to the local A&W for a Root beer and teen burger, served on roller skates to your car window.

Well.... Those days are here again... Sort of.

Granted, the server isn't wearing a skirt, and she's definitely not on roller skates, or blades for that matter. But this summer; if you visit an A&W on a Tuesday between 5p.m. and 8 p.m. you can have some good ole' car hopping service.

A&W is celebrating 50 years this year, and with that, they've brought back the car hops. All you need to do is park your car in the designated parking stalls, (They'll be marked with a car hop sign) and a server will come to your window to take your order. This is a throw-back to the old times, so no Interac please, as that'll end you up with a trip into the restaurant, which completely spoils the mood imho!

When I heard about the car hops returning, I wanted to go. With the wife in the car, and kid in the car, we headed to the A&W. We ordered 2 mama burgers, two fries, a Rootbeer and a Coke. For dessert we ordered two apple pies. The drinks were served in glass mugs. (which not all A&Ws use now-a-days)

Our meal arrived as prompt as a drive through order, with trays that attach to the window of your car. (Note. don't bring a vehicle with highly slanted windows as the tray won't sit straight.)

We ate our meal, enjoying the novelty of eating in the car while listening to MP3s. (okay some stuff has to be modern.)

When we finished eating, the server came and took our tray and we were on our merry way. We pulled out of the parking lot on our trek home. We commented on the car hopping experience and then moments later, the MP3 player skipped to the Next song. as luck would have it, the song that it played was "Earth Angel", by the Penguins. A perfect way to complete the experience.

So, if you're looking to Car hop this summer. It's at your local A&W 5-8 p.m. Tuesday evenings, all summer long.

The Tennis Ball

2007-06-07T12:24:00.000-05:00

So, Before I start... Don't tell me that I'm silly, or that this is ridiculous or that I have too much time on my hands.... The first two are accurate, then third one is not.

So... Here's the story. Last year when we moved into our home, and finally had a garage again, my wife asked my to hang a tennis ball in the garage to help her find the "Optimum parking spot" Essentially she wants to park as close to the overhead door as possible so we can still navigate around the workbench etc. After a little bit of chuckling at the stereotype of Women's ability to park, and after I good charlie-horse courtesy of my wife, I obliged her request. I took some twine, put a knot in the end; jabbed the knot into the ball with an awl, and hung the ball from the rafters.

People enjoyed this ball so much that we couldn't have company without the guests punching or kicking the ball. Within hours I was readjusting the ball, within days I was replacing the twine. After that Every time company came for a visit, I was readjusting and checking the location of the ball. (We didn't want the car's trunk under the door so a constant eye needed to be kept on the ball. Finally somebody hit the ball and the twine got tangled in the chain drive of the door opener.

I began to scheme. A sensor on the ground that would light up a light on the wall... An infrared sensor that beeps. This had to be a DIY thing, and had to be something that wouldn't need constant care and feeding. Lastly It needed to be done with items on hand.

What did I come up with? A tennis ball. But not on a rope. It's a ball on a stick. Doesn't that sound dorky and simple? So I needed to accessorize! I have 200 LEDs at home.

Hmmm...

So I started digging. I needed small "Stick like conduit" I found some plastic tubing at my parents' place. Too short but otherwise useable. The conduit wasn't very straight, but enough to do the trick. I decided to route some wire through and Plastic weld a few pieces together. I drilled two holes in the ball. One facing the car's windshield and the other on the top. I then fed the wire through the ball and then soldered 330Ohms worth or resistors on and then soldered a bright blue LED on. The LED was then pulled into the ball and hot glued into place. I did the token "Burn your finger on the the glue gun"

At this point I was giggling like a mad scientist. The neighbors must have been wondering what I was scheming...

I plugged the other end into a 9V AC/DC adapter I had laying around and the LED lit up. Now What?

Okay. Hang the "stick"... But what purpose does the LED serve? Hmm.. I know make the light light up when the car touches the ball showing you've hit the perfect spot.
Once again, I thought what can I do here. Ahh.. Yes.. A washer and a cotter pin. the "stick" moves, the washer touches the pin and the contact is complete.

Well into hour two of this project, I was frantically rummaging through my collection of cotter pins. I tried several, none seemed to do the trick to my satisfaction. I soon realized this was because the pins had zero elasticity to them. So this meant that once you contact the stick with the car, the stick flexes. If a person comes up to the stick with a swift kick, it'll break. I didn't want to be fixing this contraption. Building it was crazy enough thank you very much. So I thought of something with Spring to it. Sheet metal, a piece of Automotive antenna or something like that. I searched for an actual spring, but only found one and it was way too stiff. Then it dawned on me. I let out a Dr.Jekyll cackle and bolted into the house. I needed to make a sacrifice. I found my subject in the form of a "Vendor" corporate pen from my employer. I dismembered the pen (R.I.P), tossing all but the spring . I then soldered the Spring to my cotter pin and Voila! A working switch.

Now to mount this thing. I took some wood, put a nail through the "Stick" and mounted it while still allowing it to swing like a pendulum. I then mounted the switch to the top.

All finished. and it works fairly well. I need a slightly longer and stiffer spring to prevent the ball from bouncing off the windshield when you first enter, but otherwise it works very well. The last thing I will do is hook up the power to the Door opener light so that when the time delay light goes off in the garage, the LED does also.

So Do I have too much time on my hands? Definitely not, but something compelled me to put all my chores aside for the 2 hours to build this incredibly useless contraption. But I bet it's the only one....

Watch what you say on that Cell Phone!

2007-05-23T19:00:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder who's listening in? Here's a scary thought. Do you have a digital cellphone? Are you sure you're the only one listening? .... .... Watch this

Do you still think you're the only one listening? It's been common knowledge that cordless phones and baby monitors etc. could be listened into. Many people knew (although I don't know whether it was common knowledge) that analogue cell communications could be listened to. But digital? I didn't have a clue. It wasn't until I stumbled onto this that I realized it. In fact, at first I thought it was an analogue phone, but if that's the case then there's a lot of analogue phones still out there. A little digging on the Internet, specifically some of the scanner forums and groups, told a different story. I know from now on, my cell phone conversations will not include any communication of credit card info, banking info or any other very personal information. Now I ask. If any Joe can listen in.... What's Big Brother doing?

Got a Scanner!

2007-05-13T14:19:00.000-05:00

I was at a Garage Sale on Friday, and found a radio scanner for $7.00. It's a realistic Pro-34 radio scanner. An older model but still works. I've spent some time this weekend reading up on things. Yesterday I went to the park and was able to get Air Traffic Control weather, Air Canada, and I think one of the taxi cabs. Lets see if I can get the EMS or Police frequencies!

Here's what the scanner looks like.

Garage Sale Season Returns

2007-05-06T12:48:00.000-05:00

Woohoo.... Garage Sale season is back! An exciting year of digging through other people's old junk hoping to find that one treasure I need.
On the list of things to find:

Motorcycle Chaps.
"The Communicator" helmet to helmet by Collett Electronics (1996 or later model)
Baby items.
French Press
Porsche 944 Turbo RC by Nikko. (resells well on eBay)
Porsche 928 telephone (resells REALL well on eBay)
Satellite equipment.

Yesterday I scored good at 3 sales.

1. 2 sets of low voltage outdoor lights. One set brand new, one used. $12.00 for both sets.
2. Mountain bike seat, $1.00 (brand new condition.)
3. Jensen headphones, like new condition and work super well. $3
4. The Communicator Helmet to Helmet, multichannel by Collett Electronics Like new condition. $2

Wish me luck and hopefully you'll find some good bargains on your garage sale travels too!

She cough cough runs!

2007-05-04T00:19:00.001-05:00

So I bought this bike back in February. It was the coldest day of the year. I gave the bike a good looking over. It looked clean and wanted to start, but at -35 it wasn't going anywhere. So... For the first time in my life.... I took a chance and bought a vehicle without hearing it run. Granted, the price was cheap.

A couple weeks ago, I tried to start the bike. It cranked and cranked and cranked. Finally she lit and came to life... for about 10 seconds. The bike sounded like 2 carbs were plugged and only ran on 2 cylinders. I pushed it back into the garage, and parked it for a day with more time.

Tonight, I finally got some time. I spent the approximately 4 hours pulling the carbs, dismantling , cleaning and re-installing them. All the jets came out and got a solvent bath. The orifices got a scrub and the everything was blown out to make sure there was no fluffies from a rag on anything when I finished. I put the tank back on, connected the carbs, wheeled the bike over to the boosting station (no battery yet.) and gave her a crank.

The bike lit up instantly. She started a little rough but within about 15-20 seconds she smoothed out to a slow idle.....then stalled. A slight idle adjustment and she purred away. I let the bike warm up. All four pipes got hot relatively quickly. I smiled :-) . It's just after midnight, so I figured, no cops out, lets see how it drives. Just once up and down the road to see what it needs for a safety. I walk behind the bike to disconnect my booster cables and look down... I see blue smoke spewing out the left pipe. The right appeared fine.

Looks like my goal of riding by June 1st isn't materializing. I am not riding a bike that is burning oil that's a rule. When it comes to vehicles... I'll drive rusty, I'll drive old, I'll drive ugly.. I won't drive something that belches blue smoke out the pipe. (unless it's a drive to the shop or scrapyard) Over the next few days I'll need to weigh the options on selling the bike, buying a different motor, or fixing this one. I'm pretty confident that right now, that if I sell it, all I can lose on this bike is the 5 hours work I put into it. It's unlikely that I would lose money if I sell it.

I must admit, I am a little deflated. Let's see what the classifieds have to offer.

Do smokers have outdoor-a-phobia?

2007-05-03T10:52:00.001-05:00

I have a question for many of those smokers out there. What is the reason for standing right next to the doors at a building when going out to smoke? Is it out-door-a-phobia?

I’ve noticed that, despite the weather being really nice last few days, it’s not uncommon for people enjoying their “lifestyle break” stand right next to the building doors while puffing away. In fact, not too long ago, a gentleman puffing away had to move out of the way so that the door could open unobstructed. And yes it was the only door that opened in that entrance. It kind of reminds me of the movie Beatlejuice. Step outside and the sand monsters will get you! Stay as close to the door as possible so you don’t get sucked out!

This makes no logical sense. Now it’s not all smokers that do this. There’s a couple that block the bike compound at work, which is really nice for those cyclists getting off their bike after a moderately intense ride. And yes there are those that smoke where non-smokers are not forced to walk through the blue cloud; THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I understand your right to enjoy your smoke, but I do prefer not to have to walk through the smoke that hovers in the doorway as I enter a building. Let’s have some common courtesy between us. How’s this sound….. I won’t nag you about your smelly cancer stick, and you don’t block the doors when I try and enter/exit a building. Please, enjoy the sunny weather and take three to four steps away from the door so that the wind can carry the smoke away. That’s all I ask.

What are the chances?

2007-04-24T11:39:00.001-05:00

On April 11^th, 2007 I called the Service desk at work because my computer crapped out. It appeared like a Push was happening over the network, and then a bunch of files seemed to vanish off the drive, including some program files. The machine was doing funny stuff for some time, so the LAN admins suspected hardware failure. A new machine was requested for me.

I got my new computer on April 13^th, and it looked good. I finally had the machine configured almost to how I wanted it by the 20^th. A few settings here and there; a couple apps that I run for my job needed to be placed on the PC. None of these require installation; they only need to be unzipped to a directory, they way all should run IMHO.

Yesterday, my PC crapped out again. Looks like the same issue. LAN Admins attempted to reimage, but it appears that the laptop won’t take the image. A new machine will be coming to me again. Another day wasted at work…SIGH!

The Bike Thief Returns.

2007-04-18T00:34:00.000-05:00

I only wish I was there to witness this! I'd love to share a couple words with this individual.

I was parking my bike in the bike compound... (Thanks Humvee for the free bike!)

I opened the lock to the compound and noticed that ... ...

If you look carefully you see the boltcutter imprint in the metal. I wonder what/who spooked the crook, but I wish it was me.

Moral of the story. Lock your bikes in the compound!!

Another After Work SURPRISE!

2007-03-28T22:28:00.000-05:00

First there was Home From Work? SURPRISE Then came Off Work.. SURPRISE

Today was part three in what I hope is only a trilogy in this Saga.

Sorry. No photo to accompany this post, as there's nothing to photograph.

When I drive to work, if the weather's okay, I'll only drive part way to work, park in free parking and then bicycle into downtown. This week was the first time I drove myself to work in months and the first time since last summer that I ditched the truck and cycled into the office. Today, all was fine aside from some bad weather. That's okay cold and a light rain was survivable on my way home from work.

At work we have a locked compound to put our bikes into. When I got to the bike compound after work, I noticed that somebody took a pair of bolt cutters and cut the lock. Only 2 bikes remained in the compound, and I'll give you one guess who's bike wasn't one of them.

I must have the shittiest luck with these things, and each time I have to pay out of my pocket for other peoples actions.

I'm pissed off.

Don't Support these Guys.

2007-03-23T23:18:00.000-05:00

Don't support these guys. Why? Simple. I've taken a new approach. I hate Spam and in your face advertising. A German Singer/Songwriter named Reinhard Mey said it very well when referring to wathcing a movie that was being interrupted by commercials. "I pay attention to those companies that advertise, and then I don't buy any of their products. You see, I tell myself, I can't buy the coffee in the morning from the company that steals my time in the evening."

So with this very reasoning in mind I've decided to have the same approach. These Gentlemen spammed me today. So they stole my time, and internet bandwidth in attempt to sell me a service I don't want, nor need. Since there's little I despise more than spam; I urge you to use a competitor that doesn't solicit via spam when you purchase or sell your next home.

Hear Reinhard Mey's quote from above here mp3(155k) and wav(2.2MB)

Why Not to buy an immobilizer

2007-03-22T14:36:00.000-05:00

For about 2 years now, MPIC has been pushing Immobilizers. They are applying pressure to the driving public to retro-fit their cars with these anti theft devices. There’s even been talk about mandating this retrofit. I am completely against this. Now before you make judgment and tell me I’m a wacko, let me explain my point of view.

Recently a few cars were stolen in the city that were ultimately used to run down some joggers. One jogger, last I heard, was still in hospital in serious condition. The car, a Pontiac Sunfire, I believe, was not equipped with an immobilizer, despite MPI claiming they had sent six letters to the owner encouraging a retro-fit of an immobilizer. Reaction from some people was that the car’s owner should be charged with negligence as their refusal to install an immobilizer facilitated this crime.

So why on God’s green Earth, would I advocate against such a device? Well, honestly, I don’t advocate against these units. I advocate against a required retro-fit of these units.

First off; history has shown us that the only way to move the yard stick on vehicle standards and safety has been legislation. The government mandated seatbelts be installed in all passenger vehicles. Old vehicles were not required to retro-fit. Same goes for the 3^rd break light, Airbags, and daytime running lights. Similarly, this also applies to emissions etc. (If there’s ever been a mandate to retrofit a 60’s car with an O2 sensor and catalyst, I sure have never seen it.) So based on that premise, there’s no reason to require it for an immobilizer. All of these retro-fits would save insurers and other services money when it came to particular incidents. I guess this argument is like the old analogy of a kid saying “Why can’t I go out and play today, Tommy’s mom lets him play.”

When a car is built, much like any other manufacturing process. The assembly is streamlined, all parts are properly aligned and things are placed where they ought to be. Retrofitting a vehicle with other options ends up being “open heart surgery” in an automobile. Do you know anybody with power locks and windows, that’s decided to Retro-fit their car with a command start? How many of those people haven’t had a single electrical problem with their car after 3 or 4 years that could be attributed to the installation of this command start. I would say, from the people I know. Probably 30%-40% have had some kind of problem with an aftermarket command start. It’s very simple science folks. Immobilizers are electronic components. They’re hacked into a car's electrical and fuel delivery system requiring wires to be twisted turned, spliced, and soldered. Each and every one of these weakens the wire. Where the sheath of the wire has been exposed, you’re not increasing the susceptibility of corrosion with increases resistance and can lead to electrical failure. If you buy a brand new car with an immobilizer, and it breaks after 3-4 years, there’s a chance that warranty will cover it.

How about a retro fitted immobilizer? Well, the warranty will be one year maybe you’ll be lucky and get two on parts, but definitely not on the labour. Now where do you tow the vehicle for a repair? To the dealer? Well, I can guarantee you; they’ll charge you more to fix an aftermarket immobilizer than a factory one. This all spells bad news. For the DIYer, Just you try removing this bloody thing from your car. It’s built not to be bypassed, good luck removing this thing without introducing more problems. Problems do happen with factory immobilizers. Do a Google search on “Immobilizer problems” and see for your self. At least with a factory installed immobilizer the dealer has the knowledge and parts available to repair/replace the device.

In my opinion, there are only two plausible solutions. If an insurer is going to mandate such an item, they should hold the bag for its support and repair. Arguably, this isn’t a safety device, it’s an insurance cost saving device. My reply to MPI, “If you want to mandate it into my car, then you support it.” The other option is already in the works. Mandate all new cars to be equipped with a factory immobilizer if they are to be sold in Canada.

The Best mail-in rebate I've ever cashed in.

2007-03-21T09:39:00.000-05:00

So on Boxing Day I drove to Futureshop to pick up a new DVD Recorder as mine cashed it in just a few weeks earlier.

Anybody that's ever gone Boxing Day Shopping totally understands the long line-ups that are all too common at Boxing Day sales. For this very reason, I'm usually anti-Boxing Day, especially as I find that often the savings aren't that huge. After all, if I were to equate my time to a value, I could safely say that waiting in a line up for 45minutes to save 10 bucks over a regular sale would be stupid. Despite better judgment and the fact that Boxing Day Sales now extend the entire week, I ended up in the Futureshop on the 26th of December nonetheless.

As I waited in line, for what seemed to be an eternity, I noticed a store flyer on the shelf next to me. Since I had nothing pressing to do, I decided to do some "quality reading".

One of the smaller items in the flyer was a TrendNet WiFi Router w/USB Dongle, in a kit. The ad stated "regular 49.99, 9.99 after savings." Then it stated 15.00 instant rebate, $20.00 mail in rebate. I already have a router, but I figured; TEN Bucks! Can't go wrong for that I can sell it for more than that on eBay!

But was a $10.00 router/USB adapter worth waiting in line all over again? Nahh... Screw it. The flyer hit the shelf from whence it came. Then a Saviour in red came by. A young Saleswoman (wearing the standard red Futureshop golf shirt) was trolling the cashier lines, asking people "anything you've forgotten? Let me know, and I'll grab it for you. No need to leave the line." Sa-weeet.

Almost a month later, I had finally decided to mail in the rebate. I pulled out the receipts and noticed that the rebate amounts were separate for each item. The router rebate was $30.00 and the WIFI dongle rebate was $15.00. No I didn't miss type. I'm actually looking a photo copy of the receipts right now. So, let’s recap. I bought a Router and WiFi adapter for 35.00 plus tax. That's $39.55 after tax. Yesterday I got a cheque in the mail from TrendNet. The value, $45.00

I almost forgot to mention. I posted the Router on http://www.usedwinnipeg.com and sold it for $25.00

Okay, I can't pay off my mortgage on this deal, but Canada wide, I wonder how much free money went back to consumers like myself.

Who needs a brand new WiFi USB adapter... For Sale CHEAP. ;)

USB Drives... are they worth the hassle?

2007-03-13T01:04:00.000-05:00

What's your thought on this?

I've had a Lexar Jump Drive Sport 256mb. Lasted 2 1/2 years before it crapped out, lost some valuable photos, and documents. I expected this one to die as I dropped it in the snow and didn't find it until sprint. It was rusty, but worked for another 1/2 year at least.

Then bought a San Disk Cruzer 512MB. I figured, I have their memory sticks for my digital camera, and they seem rock solid. Shortly after I bought the Cruzer, one of my camera cards died, Sandisk replaced it under warranty. After a little more than a year the Cruzer died. After months of looking for the bill so I could make a warranty claim, I tossed it.

I replaced the cruzer with a Memorex Traveldrive Mini w/U3 512MB drive. the drive was on sale @ futureshop for like 15 bucks. I've maybe had it for 7 months now ('cause I just recently tossed the Cruzer) and just minutes ago, my computer made the USB device disconnect sound. Guess What... Flash Drive's dead!

I kept the bill for this one. But Damn! I've had them die in different PCs so it's not my computer.

Are these flash drives even worth their hassle, or is it just me? SIGH...

2 Particles of Hydrogen - 1 Particle of Oxygen.

2007-01-08T22:37:00.001-06:00

While shopping during the holiday season, I saw a Brita ad on the front of a shopping cart. You know what I mean? Those poster holders at the front of the cage of a shopping cart. I don't remember which store I was in, but that's not important anyway.

This ad read, "You deserve better water than you mop with."

This ad outraged me. I tried to find a copy of this ad to include in this blog, but I could not find it. Recently on the TV, I saw a Brita ad that showed a draining glass of tap water to which there was a sound of a toilet flushing."

These ads are part of the "You deserve better Campaign" and I have a bone to pick with this campaign.

First off, We're extremely lucky to live in a country where our drinking water is as safe as it is. We don't need to worry about hepatitis in the water. And although we've had the odd e-coli scare in Canada in the past few years, our drinking water is still very safe. to compare our water to a cesspool or to compare it to dirty mop water. Yes, we pipe the same water into the whole house, but is this really a good idea?

Lets take the city of Winnipeg for example. Winnipeggers use an average of 400LCD (Litres per capita per day)1 To put this into perspective, If you are a family of 4, your household uses, per day an average of 1,600 litres of water. If you equate that into cans of soda, it works out to 4507 cans of soda every day, or 400 4Litre milk jugs everyday. 70% of this water is used, in order of most to least consumption 1. toilet, 2. shower, and 3. laundry1.

It's no secret that we have a water shortage on a global scale. With pollution and climate change and other problems the world is running out of potable water2. So why do we waste water so much? Brita makes a very good point, but I see it differently. We shouldn't be pumping the same water into our toilets and laundry rooms that we pump into our drinking faucets. We should be recycling water. Water run off that doesn't come from our toilet; shower, sink run off, laundry, and rain run off could easily be reclaimed and pumped back into non-drinking water supplies. There are current systems that use sewage run-off, recycle it and use this water to irrigate crops3. Singapore uses this technology to supply some of their drinking water4.

So when I think of this Brita ad, I'm appalled. Simply because Brita is using the fear factor to sell a product. Furthermore, they're corporation is doing nothing to further public knowledge. They want you go say "Ewwwww, I drink the water in my toilet!?!" and run out and buy a Brita.

In reality, we should be saying, "Yes our water is so clean and plentiful that we waste it by running it through our toilets." Now think of the African kid that walks for miles each day to get contaminated drinking water each day.

Do we really have it so bad?

Should we look at re-claiming water?

At very least, shouldn't we get ourselves informed before we buy into these advertising scams.

Stop, and think about things before you run out and buy.

Sources
1.http://www.winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/water/waterfront/howuse.htm
2.http://tinyurl.com/qohm9
3.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reclaimed_water
4.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWater

Christmas Trees Offensive? What Are You Smoking?

2006-12-15T12:15:00.000-06:00

Last night, while watching TV from a Maritime Channel, I saw a "News Update" during the commercials. The anchor mentioned that [don't remember the public building] had a Christmas tree standing in it. People apparently complained saying they were offended by the tree.

Hello? What are you smoking? What is offensive about a Christmas Tree? In my opinion, the two most abused phrases in our language are:
1. That's Racist
2. That's Offensive

The racist one is a separate issue and I won't get into that now.

That's Offensive!

Let's look at the meaning of Offensive. (from dictionary.com)
of·fen·sive
adjective
1. causing resentful displeasure; highly irritating, angering, or annoying: offensive television commercials.
2. unpleasant or disagreeable to the sense: an offensive odor.
3. repugnant to the moral sense, good taste, or the like; insulting: an offensive remark; an offensive joke.
4. pertaining to offense or attack: the offensive movements of their troops.
5. characterized by attack; aggressive: offensive warfare.

Let's pick apart the meaning of offensive.
First, a coniferous tree doesn't give off an offensive odor, and if it did then people should complain about the species of tree in an urban area, not the decoration on said tree. So that rules out number 2
As for the repugnant, insulting etc. I didn't see the tree look at somebody and say to them, "an Islamic and a Jewish guy went for a walk...." so no offensive jokes or bad taste. That rules out number 3.
I don't know about you, but I've sure as hell never seen a Christmas tree roundhouse kick a passer by with Ninja precision. Nor have I never seen a Christmas tree Commando roll into the room and kill people with an assault Rifle, so Number 5's out too.
Since we know Ninja trees don't exist, there's no need for them to advance across a battle field, so nope, number 4's right out!

That leaves #1; Causing resentful displeasure; highly irritating, angering, or annoying. Okay. this must be what people complain about. Let me tell you what's annoying. Being cut off in traffic is annoying. Let me tell you what's irritating. People that need to make themselves feel better by attempting to oppress others. A Christmas tree is not either of these. Let's look at a Christmas tree as a religious symbol. How is a Christmas tree any more or less offensive than The following.
1. A Statue of Shiva, the Hindu God
2. A Statue of Buddha Shakyamuni (Not the belly rubbing Buddha)
3. The Islamic Symbol of the Crescent moon and star.

Is it the fact that a person has a different point of view what makes it offensive? If so, does that mean that the other items on this list are offensive to if the person being offended is of none of these faiths? Does this "offended" person give any thought to how they may be offending other hyper-sensitive people with their religion/believe structure? this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I ask each of my readers to tell me how can a tree be offensive and not the other items shown above? careful how you answer that, 'cause I may call bullshit and then call you a hypocrite. If anybody out there believes in a Flying Spaghetti moster, cool, but I tell you a 50 foot statue of the spaghetti moster would prompt me to take a photo, not issue a public out cry that I was offended.

Heck, when I see and of these symbols of people's faith; I think about how these religious influences help people lead a better life. I don't say, "Hey I don't believe in Buddha, it's offensive get rid of it" It's the most ridiculous thing to think. Each religion has it's own values, and they're own symbols and statues etc. Unless any of these items undoubtedly imply the persecution or destruction of others, I see absolutely no offensive meaning to them. I say undoubtedly because the swastika is recognized as a sign of evil, but is actually a very sacred symbol in Hindu belief (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika); therefore, people need to use something called "the brain" before they fly off the rocker and claim Offensive. Yes a swastika is offensive, IF and ONLY IF used in the context that refers back to the Third Reich.

There's an age old saying. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. You won't see a 25 Metre tall Christmas tree in Tiananmen Square, and you won't see a huge Menorah lighting up this weekend in New Delhi. Why not? Simple the foundation of those countries values are not based on these religions. In North America, we are much more accepting than many nations in the world. People of different faiths are told to be proud and should be. All peoples human rights are observed and they may practise their religion. That right doesn't just include non-Christian religions, It includes Christians too... Hmmm.. I guess therefore, the Christmas tree is just as protected as other symbols. :-)

These people need to give their head a shake, isn't there something better to spend your energy on? If you have that much energy to bitch and complain, go and help out at a homeless shelter; Do something that will better the life of others. There's nothing "Offensive" in a Christmas tree. Quit trying to fill your own personal agenda and look at the bigger picture..

Sheeeesh....

No More expiry on Gift Cards; Hopefully.

2006-09-27T13:01:00.000-05:00

In Ontario, it is illegal to put restrictions on gift cards from merchandisers. Yesterday CJOB reported that Manitoba is seriously looking at following suit. This legislation would be covered under the Consumer Protection Act. If you ever have used a gift card, you are probably away of some of their restrictions.

Futureshop gift cards for example, can not be used to pay off your Futureshop card. Some gift cards, expire after six months also. As far as I see it. Money given to the retailer in exchange for a certificate should be a binding contract. An individual has given a retailer money in good faith that the voucher can be used for merchandise of the card holders choosing. To put limitations of this is a crock.

Boy, do I hope this law passes!

Can't we all just play nice?

2006-09-27T12:55:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, this hit the news.

” 17-year-olds Amy and Jesse Pasternak won their case in front of the Manitoba Human Right's Commission last week, allowing them to try out for the boys' team. They argued a rule preventing them from playing was discriminatory.”

The story is that the two girls mentioned went to the human rights commission because although a women’s team was available they wanted to play with the boys on the men’s team. The human rights commission awarded them $7000 in damages to go toward coaching. After all was said and done, they didn’t make the team

Yesterday, I heard on the news that boys are signing up to play on the girls team. As the high school ridicule of “Steve’s playing on the GIRLS team” could be a major blow to the male ego; there’s only 3 reasons why I could see boys wanting to play on the girls hockey team. Here they are from what I perceive to be most likely to least likely.

They want to drive the point why Men’s and Women’s hockey has been separated, by playing very physical.
Plain and simple. Many rinks only have 1 locker area per team. Co-ed showering anyone?
A boy doesn’t make the cut on the boys team so decides to go to the girls team as the physical requirements are less.

Knowing how my friends reacted in high school, I should have reversed option 1 and 2. Nonetheless, doesn’t anybody else seem something wrong here? Is it that bad that we reserve the right to separate certain things by gender? Any woman that works out in a Women’s only club would most likely agree with me. I could take the stand point that it’s against my human right to not be allowed to work out there, but realistically. I know women have different needs then men.

How can two people that are physically different, be considered equal? Scientific experiments have shown time and time again that there are cases where men excel and cases where women excel. Why must we try to equalize something that Nature has made unequal. Men and women complement each other, a woman makes up for a man’s short comings and a man makes up for a woman’s short comings. By no means are we equal. Not physically, mentally or in any other aspect.

Let me make one thing clear. Now that I have completely shot down equality here; how do I feel about women in a workplace? This is the simplest one to answer. I haven’t shot down equal opportunity, I’ve only shot down the way governments, and social groups have defined equal opportunity. Personally I can’t believe how this ever became an issue. It’s quite simple. A job opening exists as there is a need to fulfill a service. A person with proper qualifications should fill this position regardless of age, religion, gender, size, color, etc. Saying that Women are encouraged to apply, or minorities are encouraged to apply, is not equality, it is socially accepted discrimination. But my explanation of that is another rant.

In Memory of Steve Irwin.

2006-09-04T23:58:00.000-05:00

Steve Irwin,
originally uploaded by Bella Of Bacardi.

I guess we all have our reasons for liking or disliking an individual. Steve Irwin was resented by some of his fellow country-men for portraying a stereotype of Austrailian culture. Many of those of us in the rest of the world saw him as a hero; an activist for fair treatment of all animals; whether it be a spider, crocodile or a tiger.

I was fishing today; looking into the water I thought about how this happened. A stingray stinger through the heart. Sounds unbelieveable. Apparently this was the only known stingray attack fatality EVER caught on tape. I bet steve would want people to use this footage to study and learn about the animal. I don't want to see the footage, but I bet a lot can be learned from it.

My condolences go out to Terri, Bindy Sue and Bob, they lost an amazing husband, and father. Steve's work will always remind us about how important life is and how fragile we are.

I thought to myself, what was my favorite episode of the Crocodile Hunter? What was yours? My favorite one was where they went to see the komodo dragons.

Although I will never be able to fulfill my teenage dream of meeting Mr. Irwin in person, perhaps I can visit his zoo, and see the work he's done. Perhaps there will be a plaque honoring him. Perhaps I can still witness the affect he has had on Austrailia and it's people first hand.

Steve Irwin should be remembered and respected in the same regard as people such as Mr. Jacques Cousteau

So many of us feel like we know him as he's shared so much with us. He treated his viewers like a family. Up close and personal. It's ironic that he died in an animal attack, when he spent so much time relocating animals to prevent this same thing from happening to others.

A moment of silence.

May the Lord bless your soul.

Whoooooah, Horsey!

2006-08-25T11:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my sister, brother-in-law, niece and wife went for a horseback ride through a nearby provincial park. The ride was scheduled to start at 7pm, but with 13 people at the stable to go riding, gearing everybody up and mounting us on the horses was a 20 minute affair.

The horses were well behaved to (to the most part). My wife's horse, whose name escapes me, was somewhat flatulent at the beginning of the ride. Otherwise there were no issues there. The horse and rider in front of my wife were a perfect match. The Horse and rider had a bad temper. I guess the horse didn't like being followed as he did the occasional kicking type movement at my wife's horse. We joked about the horse's bad manners to which the rider rolled her eyes, and smugly defended the horse. My wife and I rode side by side for a few minutes. She hung back and I went behind "Bad Manners". It wasn't more than a few minutes until "Bad Manners" had issues with my horse, Whiskey. Once again, "Bad Manners'" rider piped up with concise directions of what I was doing incorrectly. As the typical male I am, I simply turned the selective hearing to tune her out.

The rest of the ride went uneventful. After the ride, we met up with my niece's grandmother who elected not to ride, and we had an evening picnic in the park.

By now it's late dusk. We pull into the parking spot next to a bbq pit, and unload the van. My niece Proclaims, "Hey, didn't we do a geocache around here a while ago." My sister and brother-in-law must have cringed as they are trying to keep me from catching up to their find total. So without GPS we went to collect the geocache, and signed in as finders.

We heated up our grub over an open fire, as I was out of white camp fuel. Apparently Kerosene doesn't make for a good replacement as it engulfed the stove in flames 2 feet high.

As we finished our meal, jokes of wild animals coming to feed on us and aliens crossed the conversation for the benefit of my 9 year old niece. My brother-in-law, in attempt to settle her fears again, told her that if wild animals were near, we'd see their eyes reflect from the flashlight beam and he shined the light across the field. About 30 meters away to the east he spotted something; yup bright reflecting eyes! It was a red fox. Looked like it was still younger, and obviously not aware of our presence as we were downwind. We watched the fox for about a minute until it had enough of the blinding light and it ran off into the bush to the south. We discussed the cool factor of the sight, and panned the flashlight to the left, about 60 degrees when we spotted a young doe grazing, maybe 20 metres away. We attempted some photography, but with next to zero luck.

Shortly there-after we headed home. We crossed the fox again as we were leaving the park. We headed home, and discussed how fun the day was. Tame horses and then wild animals all in the same day. What could be better??

A dumbass

2006-08-02T15:58:00.000-05:00

Found this on the CJOB Website.

“A man who burned his 2002 Ford Mustang in March 2003 has been convicted of Arson and Public Mischief, fined $1,200 and ordered to pay Manitoba Public Insurance $26,129.

Danny Dimko Atanasovic, now 22, admitted to the offences when he appeared in Provincial Judges Court last week.

Evidence showed Atanasovic was having trouble meeting the lease payments so he decided to burn the vehicle and claim it was stolen. He drove the vehicle to a remote location near Marquette and after setting it on fire, made a theft report to the local RCMP office and a claim for benefits to MPI..

The charges were laid after a lengthy investigation by the Special Investigation Unit of Manitoba Public Insurance, working in cooperation with the Headingley RCMP.
Manitobans are reminded they can anonymously report fraudulent claims by calling 985-8477 in Winnipeg, or 1-877-985-8477 outside Winnipeg or email tips@mpi.mb.ca.

CJOB's Robert Holland reporting

“

Napoleon Dynamite called me!

2006-07-13T18:22:00.000-05:00

The heading may be a little deceptive, but this guy sure sounds like a wanna be!

I know you read my SaddleSore ride report, so you know my motorcycle was kaput. So after mulling it over for a few days, I decided that I wouldn't have the time to fix it this year. And even if I did get it fixed, I wanted to get rid of the bike for a bigger one. So I thought, since it's currently high season, and since the bike still had a valid safety certificate, now is the time to sell!

Here's the ad I ran in the local Bargain Hunter paper.

1984 Kawasaki GPZ550, Safetied until July 8, 2006 4 to 1 Hi Perf. Exhaust, K&N Intake, Spare parts Incl. Needs motor repair, but does run. Have spare motor for parts. No time to fix. Call after 5pm

My ad is very straight up and fair. The bike needs repair and does run (I was driving it.) I had a spare motor to give along with the bike to re-build the old motor. What was broken.. I didn't know at the time. (I found out after I sold the bike though)

Anyway.. So that's my ad. The bike sold on the first day too, I may add. Today I checked my voicemail on my cellphone. I don't know when this message was left as I had a loaner cellphone while mine was away on warranty repair, and the loaner phone was kind of unreliable.

I listened to my voicemail and was astounded as the message was from such a monotone person, he sounded like Napoleon Dynamite. Then to boot, what he said reaffirmed that and made me laugh hysterically. So for your listening pleasure... Here's the voicemail from Mr. Dynamite.

Higher Highway Speeds? what about road design?

2006-07-05T15:43:00.000-05:00

CJOB reports that Gary Doer favours higher speed limits on Manitoba highways in this article http://tinyurl.com/l5onw titled "Doer Favours Higher Highway Speeds"

As much as you know that I enjoy driving on the highways, and that yes, on occasion I even let the pedal go down a little farther than I should, I would like to propose something other than faster speed limits on the highway.

Lets take a trip from Brandon to Kenora as an example. Driving at 110km/h for one hour instead of 100Km/h saves you 6 minutes. However, having to slow down for a single red light on the highway robs you of half of that due to deceleration, stationary time and acceleration time again.

So, it's pretty easy to see that it’s all about average speed not top speed. Rather than increasing speed limits on the highways, why don't we look at how to design the roadways more efficiently? For example, Roads that don't warrant an interchange should not be given direct access to the Winnipeg bypass (a.k.a. the Perimeter). Roads that must have access to the by-pass should be upgraded to having an interchange. Speaking of the perimeter highway; there is no reason why a driver should EVER have to reduce his/her speed on the bypass, barring weather conditions, obstacles (granny drivers for example) or debris. The purpose of the road is to guide a driver around the city, and do it quickly. Dangerous turns (like the ones near Hwy 15) should be removed, the speed should be a constant 100km/h and roads like Pipeline, Sturgeon and Brady should have no direct access to the highway. Instead Service roads should connect these secondary routes to the primary route which then uses the interchange to route traffic onto the perimeter. Roads like St. Mary’s and St. Anne’s need an interchange, and for heaven’s sake, Fix the partial interchange at #59 North!

I know that for most the drive out West begins and ends in the ‘Peg, and these suggested modifications have next to zero impact on your holiday drives. But the principal remains the same. There’s similar things in other area. Elie, Brandon, for example both have traffic lights, both see enough traffic to warrant an interchange.

Aside from fuel savings, it’s a safety issue also. Slowing a vehicle from 100KM to zero has an inherent risk that is gone if you maintain speed. I don’t know how many people smack into each other each year on some of these roads, but I have seen a few nasties on Pipeline and the Perimeter. I wonder… At what time does the province pay more on insurance claim payouts than just forking out the cash to build a proper road way?

Once the roads are safer… lets boost the speed limit… Well that’s how I see it anyway…

Ride Report Saddle Sore 1000

2006-06-20T19:35:00.000-05:00

Well. You've read the hard work I put into the bike the last few weeks. The bike was repaired, the carbs were adjusted and sync'd and other work was done. I even gave the bike 400kms of exercise before leaving on the saddlesore to ensure that all would work a-okay.

On Friday, the bike was running sweet. A little lean on the main jets, but quite well on the pilots and needle jet as both were richened up with the addition of the K&N intakes.

Richard came over after work for dinner, we discussed the next day and around 11pm we went to bed.

Saturday we woke up at 6am and prepared for the ride. A cup of coffee, some breakfast and off to load the bikes and go. My neighbour came outside to greet and witness the start and said, "Tobi, hand me the keys to your truck incase you need a hand," I listened.

Our route let us out of Oakbank across the the North Perimeter to Hwy 6 where we turned North toward the Lake Manitoba Narrows. I had what felt like a wet arse, so we pulled over to check my backpack. All was good. COntinue on. We travelled a decent pace to the Narrows, where we stopped for a photo opp, and came across some curious, yet naive kids. After a pee break we pushed the earplugs back in and pressed on. Near Rose du Lac we started to face a horrible head wind of about 50km/h. The sky turned gloomy and it started to pelt rain. Did I mention that my saddlebags were stolen, and as a result I forgot to repack rain gear. Within moments I was soaked.

Next Stop was in Yorkton, Saskatchewan where the weather was sunny again. I was dry and lunch at Tim Horton's was yummy. The day was looking up. A missed call on my cellphone was from the bike shop to tell me some parts I ordered were in. SWEET.

On we pressed to Wynyard. Still with the strong headwind. The bike could barely hold 110km/h with such a strong head wind. Richards bike was blowing so hard that I saw his rear wheel skate across the pavement on more than one occassion.

Fuel Stop in Wynyard I noticed that my house keys, and my entire keyfob had gone missing. The key for the bike was still in the ignition, but everything else was gone. I filled up and paid for my fuel. I noticed that 6/49 was at 16 million, so I played$8.00 on lotto. When I got back on the bike I noticed that my trip odometer was at exactly 666KM, and all of a sudden it started to rain.

We stopped for a photo opp at the kandahar, Sask. sign, simply since, well ... If you come to Kandahar, you need a photo... Skies were still dark, and the insane head wind still persisted.

20 KM to Saskatoon, my trusty steed finally decided to pack it in. A loud pop and rattle, and all power was lost. The bike was doomed. At 70Km/h, we crippled the bike into Saskatoon. I was cold, and wet, and on a broken bike. A stop at Zeller's for warm, dry clothes and oil was necessary. We skipped our scheduled stop for Vern's Pizza and decided we needed to get home asap, slow and steady and hopefully the bike will hold.

We drove down hwy 11 toward regina, not pushing the bike, I drove the bike a pace it seemed to like. steady but not hard. This strategy proved, for 200 KMs, to be successful, but with just a few kms to Regina, Richard, frantically beeped his horn to tell me that the tailpipe of my bike was now spewing oil en-mass. We pul over and the bike dies instantly.

We discuss contingency plans. We realize for the first time, that the Iron Butt may not be a success. The plan is to get my bike into Regina and double back to Winnipeg. With a running push, my gpz stumbles back to life and I start down the hiway... Richard disappears behind me... Where is he? "Richard, Dammit, where are you. I can't turn back.... DAMN DAMN DAMN.. I turn around and drive against traffic to find my friend. He's driving slowly down the highway and hand signals to his clutch. His cable has snapped.

We limp our bikes into Regina, and fll up with fuel (and I with oil). A phonecall home dispatches my neighbor who offered to meet us. We decided to stay in Regina, but my obsession to press on and I convince richard we must keep on as long as the GPz allows it.

BIG Mistake. 40km later, it's pelting rain again. we're doing 70km/h down the highway, and there's next to no wind as the at speed as we're now getting the free ride from the wind. My oil light flashes and we pull over to add more oil. My pant leg and my bike are covered in oil. We press on.

Indian Head Saskatchewan, approx. 80KM East of Regina, we stop for oil, and Richard says, "Tobi, stop, we're done." I can't take it, I'm in denial, but alas, I conceed that this is getting too dangerous. Heavy rain, two broken bikes, pitch black darkness, and other vehicles not prepared to give us room or slow down a little as they pass.... Richard.. Thank you, you did the right thing by putting me straight.

I parked my bike on the side of the highway for the rescue vehicle to see, and we entered the tavern. A sketched sign said, "Private Party" ... We entered.

A staggette was taking place and the girl joked as we removed our jackets that we were the male entertainment. We closed the bar down and waited another 2 hours for our rescue.

When the rescue came, we loaded the bikes into the truck and got the truck stuck in the mud. An hour of persistence got the truck unstuck. Homeward bound.

I left on this ride with a motorcycle and dreams of success... I came home with neither. The bike will not be fixed by me as I just don't have the time ... ... The bike will either be parted out on ebay or sold as a mechanics special.

The lottery ticket didn't pay off...

Saddlesore - 1000 The Final Countdown.

2006-06-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

Well it's 3 sleeps away. And here's the latest list of work done.

- New plugs
- Synchronized Carburetors
- Added shims to the slide needle to richen the fuel air mixture
- Built a GPS mount for the bike.
- Had the locksmith fix 2 keys that worked in the ignition, but not
other locks.
- Valve adjustment check

On the way to work today, the bike hesitated like crazy, until it warmed
up. Once it warmed up it ran quite well. The valve ticking that
started a couple days ago has not subsided. I believe that something
has happened there, but I'm not going to pull the motor again, I know
the valve adjustment values, and I know the compression in the
cylinders. I'll do a head job in fall.

I looked for my saddle bags yesterday, and I can't find them anywhere.
I'm trying to think where I had them last. Did I leave them someplace?
Did they fly off the bike (Almost impossible) or were they stolen? I
just can't remember. I think on Saturday I had them on the bike, and on
Monday evening, they were not on the bike when I picked it up from the
shop. I called the shop but they aren't open on Wednesdays. So after
all my big mouth comments on not wearing a backpack.... watch, I'll be
wearing a bloody backpack on the ride. $&%@!

There are a couple things I still need to do on the bike before this
ride materializes. First, I want to put another set of shims under the
needle to richen it out a little more. I think it helped enough to
warrant another set. Second, I need to make myself a power cable for
the GPS. I know where to plug it in on the bike, and I have the plug
already, I just need to make the cable and put the connectors on.
Hoping that I'll get to that tonight.

So aside from the saddlebags, and the 4 extra shims, I think I'm just
about ready. Mentally I'm pumped, but a little worried at the same
time. I think the out ride will be great, but the in ride will be
absolute horror.

Saddlesore 1000 Prep Update 2

2006-06-07T11:17:00.000-05:00

Okay another evening of wrenching. The following progress was made last night.

- Repaired the Instrument illumination so I can see my speedo at night!

- Refitted the carburetors

- Replaced the rear turn signals, and they look sweet.

- Ripped a turn signal apart and fixed the front signal

- Re assembled fairing and connected electrical.

- Mounted fuel tank

- Mounted tail end

- Mounted side panels

- Mounted seat

- Attached kick stand

- Full system electrical test (except ignition)

To Do.

- Mount exhaust pipes

- Fill gas tank

- Start engine to prove it runs

- Have carburetors serviced

- Figure out GPS mount.

Probability of being ready for the SaddleSore1000 on June 17^th 95% up from 90% yesterday.

The route has changed slightly. We’ve decided to drive North through the Narrows and through the city of Dauphin. The Sites are supposed to be much nicer, and therefore less boring. I’m getting extremely excited, I can barely contain myself. I want to RIDE… I have a hunger for the open roadway.

SaddleSore1000 Prep update.

2006-06-06T09:32:00.000-05:00

The SaddleSore 1000 is a day closer. The motorcycle engine is back together (I really hope I didn’t screw that job up!), and made it back into the frame last night, but not before the neighborhood heard me use a collaboration of words that I didn’t even know existed! Engine electrical is all connected. Sprocket and chain are on. Horns are back on, oil cooler’s in place and carbs are on (but need to come off again). Before packing it in, I replaced the rear left turn signal with a short stalk signal, just to make sure it fits.

Honest probability of my bike not being ready and adequately tested before the ride 10% and declining.

Tonight the bike needs the following work.

- Rear right turn signal replacement, and front left turn signal repair.

- Trouble shoot instrument lighting and repair (right now I can’t see my speed after dark, not a good thing.)

- Reconnect the auspuff. (I’m teaching you German… What’s an Auspuff?)

- Reconnect the Kick stand.

- Remove the carbs, connect the throttle cable, and mount the carbs again. Dumbass me forgot to connect the vroomie handle to the carburetors. (and yes vroomie handle was a term used in a foreign language section of a dirtbike manual I read once)

- Remount front fairing

- Mount and connect the fuel tank

- Connect computer module

- Mount saddle

- System Test

After all that, I will roll it our of the garage, keep the gas off, and crank it over for a good while to try and get oil back into the heads. After a good cranking, I’ll add some vroomie fluid and give it a go. She should start, but run like crap. If so Success, and off to the shop for a carb synchronization.

Getting Ready for the SaddleSore 1000

2006-06-05T12:04:00.000-05:00

I'm getting ready for the most challenging motorcycle ride I've ever done...The SaddleSore1000. My friend Richard and I are doing the ride together and it'll be a blast! To qualify for certification for the ride, we must cover 1000 Miles (1,620km) in under 24hours, and provide witnesses and gas receipts for proof.

The ride is an unscheduled ride, so we make up our own route and departure date. We've spent hours on top of hours discussing the dates and routes we thought would work. We've settled on June 17th and a Westward route that will take us from Winnipeg, to Saskatoon, then through Moose Jaw, before turning around and coming along Highway #1 back to the 'Peg.

I've spent hours working on my bike for this ride. I'm putting my motor back into the frame tonight, and then the bike's going to the shop for a carb syncro adjustment.

Hopefully the bike will run real well then, and I'll be ready for the ride.

I still need to fix the display lights at the speedo and I need to make a rig for the GPS. Once that's done, it's time for a shake down test drive. A few hundred kms should do it.

the big ride's under 2 weeks away, and I have to get my ass in gear. Here's an early revision of the schedule. It doesn't have the ride into Mooose Jaw calculated in it, but it give you a rough idea.

07:00 - start oakbank
07:05 - get timestamped receipt from Bank machine in Oakbank
07:07 - Head North to Garven road.
07:10 - Left on Garven
07:12 - South on 59
07:17 - West on 101 North
07:43 - Gas Stop in Headingley (56KM into the ride)
07:50 - Depart Fuel Stop - Head West #1 to Hwy 16
08:44 - Turn N. on Hwy 16
09:44 - Arrive Neepawa Continue Hwy 16
10:00 - Turn N. on Hwy 10
10:05 - Turn W. on Hwy 16
11:28 - Arrive Russell MB, Shell rest/fuel (386KM in, 330 since last fuel)
12:58 - depart head West #16
13:58 - Turn N. onto 9 (486KM)
14:00 - Arrive Yorkton - Left on Broadway
14:03 - Right on Gladstone Ave. N.
14:04 - Left on Hwy 16 (489KM)
16:00 - Arrive Lanigan, SK - Fuel/Break (693Km in, 307KM since last fuel)
16:10 - Depart Lanigan West
17:12 - Arrive Saskatoon, Turn Right Boychuk Dr. (807km)
17:16 - Left onto 8St. E
17:18 - Arrive Vern's Pizza (812 km)
17:28 - depart, West 8th S. E
17:28 - Turn Left onto Circle Drive.(becomes #11)
20:08 - Exit right onto ring road east (1060KM)
20:13 - Exit Vicoria Ave E. to Hwy #1
20:14 - Turn left # 1
20:15 - Next fuel Stop/break (1068KM in, 375km since last fuel)
20:30 - depart #1 East
24:00 - Arrive Brandon Fuel/Break (1427 in, 359 since last fuel) - 17Hr Mark
02:00 - arrive Perimeter Fuel (1620KM im, 193 since last fuel) - 19Hr Mark
02:20 - Arrive @ Richard's finish Celebrate
03:10 - I arrive home.

Always shop around... Part One.

2006-05-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

Always shop around.... And you never know when a deal will fall in your lap.

A little over a week ago, my dad asked me to keep an eye open for a good, used, cheap, lawn tractor. You see, my dad bought a nice Kubota a year ago, but doesn't want to beat the thing into the ground, so he wanted a second one for mowing the approx. 2acre section of their yard that has untouched prairie grass (and is very uneven).

So on Friday, I'm heading home from work, and I see that a town I pass thru on the way home is having a "Town Garage Sale"... I was going to pass by, but I looked at the clock, and knew there was no time I could make it to the post office to pick up my mail, so I stopped. I bought a hot dog and a Diet coke from the church, and checked out the garbage sales.., I mean garage sales. Like usual 95% were crap. 65 year old ladies selling the 1976 Eaton's winter catalog for $5.00 or selling those hideos 1980 bedroom lamps that were just a square piece of glass.. You know the ones I mean... those cheap hangers, holding the suspended glass. I thought I had wasted my time. Deflated. I jumped in the truck to head home.

That's when I say a blown over sign that said "more sales in the Community Club"... Why not? I drove the block and checked it out. It wasn't garage saleish in there either... more bake saleish. Which was okay. Then I saw some DVDs, and then I noticed a photo on a sign of a lawn tractor. (finally the story is comming together)

The sign said $200.00. Yup $200 I asked the guy..

"What's the deal with the tractor? does it run?"

"Yup, it runs, but I have to tell you, I was mowing the lawn on Monday, and when I finshed I noticed a little oil leaked out of the motor"

"But it runs?"

"Yup, I asked a guy I know, and he said it's a most likely a Head gasket, which would cost about $100.00 with labor to repair, but I'm not a repair kind of guy. I just bought a new one."
"There's nothing else wrong with it?"

"Nope, I'm not a mechanic, and I'd rather just sell it than tinker."

This sounds too good to be true... I call my old man... Tell hm about it, and ask him what he thinks. He's touch and go based on my description. I tell my dad to think and call me back.

I look at DVDs. .. In the background I hear cell phone ring after cellphone ring. Each time I hear the guy say "leaks a little oil, nope not home now, you can come look at it in 1/2 hour"

I am quite convinced it's a deal now. I reach in my pocket, and pull out a nice crisp Sir Robert Borden, and say tothe guy (while he's still on the phone)

"Hey, you say it runs right.... If it runs, here's a hund, the next hund at pickup."

"um...", speaking back to the phone, "you know, I think I just sold it, can I call you back later?"

He ended the call, wrote me a letter stating the down pmt. and I agreed to call him in 1/2 when he's at home as his daughter is taking over the sale stand.

I went home, emptied the truck, and called him. When I drove to his place, there was a car waiting incase I didn't show up. The tractor ran GREAT! Clean oil, clean oil filter.. the works... this tractor was well maintained. about 10-15ml of oil was puddled on the frame under the engine.

I took this tractor to my dad's place, he was impressed. We figure this thing would sell as is no prob for $500. we laughed we drove it, and we had a beer. It pays to shop around.

(the photo is not the actual tractor, although it looks quite similar)

Off Work.. SURPRISE!!

2006-05-17T18:31:00.000-05:00

Some of you will remember my Home from Work? SURPRISE post from last October, where I came home from work to find my truck had the windshield smashed....

Well I repaired it myself as the insurance company was useless to me. I decided to be pro-active and lower my deductible.

Today I come off work, had a great day, I may add.... SURPRISE.... Broken glass.... Nope not the windshield this time... but the drivers window. The truck was in good shape otherwise except for the fact that it was now sans stereo. My mp3 stereo, was only 3 months old and as good as new. So somebody is now the owner of a nice new FREE stereo.

Two things really burn me about this. First is the fact that I have to work hard for my money, and then somebody else just helps themselves to my stuff. But even that I can live with as I'm used to this shit (read my blog you'll see I'm not the world's luckiest person.) But what burns me most is this.... I know other people who park near where I do every day, that have had their cars broken into. I see broken glass often in the parking lots I park in. I'm aware of this. Therefore I leave my doors unlocked and the tooks for removing the stereo in the ashtray.

Do you think the thief checked for either? NOPE... Like all I ask... If you're gonna screw me over and rip me off, at least check to see first. Save me the hassle of replacing the glass.

So all's said and done. I called autopac, and it's still cheaper for me to just replace the glass myself and wait for the stereo to come on sale again, as they just won't pay out. I'm becoming a firm believer that people don't attempt insurance fraud, but rather that insurance is a fraud in itself.

Anybody that ever asks me why I don't gamble, or make bets on things, obviously has never read my blog...

Hope your day was better than mine.

GSpot.

2006-05-16T11:36:00.000-05:00

Okay, Get your mind out of the gutter; this blog isn’t about sex. I just wanted to talk about a little application I found that I think is absolutely amazing. Chances are pretty good that you’ve downloaded videos from the web at least a few times. Tell me. Have you ever seen your video player tell you that it can’t display the video because I codec wasn’t found? I think that it’s so wonderful that the program knows what codec it needs, but the programmer didn’t think it was necessary to tell the user which codec it couldn’t find. So as a user your stuck trying to figure it out on your own…. Well not any more. This is the GSpot application. It tells you what video and audio codec you the video file uses and whether or not you have it installed. So lets say for example, you get a file from a friend’s digital camera. You go to play it and you get the error. Now launch GSpot and open the file in GSpot. It will now say, for example, Video codec MJPG. Status Not present. Now all you need to do is surf the web for a free MJPG codec. Simple huh?

Best of all … GSpot is Free… You can get it here.

Chuck Norris' Roundhouse Kick.

2006-04-18T13:32:00.000-05:00

This made me laugh beyond belief. Enjoy.

What a day....

2006-04-05T15:50:00.000-05:00

So yesterday, I woke up and took a shower. When I got out of the shower and got dressed, a momentary queeziness rushed through me. You know the kind you feel a day or so before a flu hits you?? Well, since it wasn't as intense as normal, I thought, it was just due to a chilly night.

I got dressed, and jumped on the motorcycle to go to work. Normally I wouldn't have taken the bike, but the night before I figured out that the battery in my Pickup is toast, and the bike is the only way back into the city. I was planning on bringing another battery home with me.

It was still below freezing when I jumped on the bike. (barely. the thermometer at home read -0.4 C) I got the the end of the street, and turned left onto the highway. I was surprised to see that the roads were damp, most likely from condensation. There were even slippery spots. I made sure to drive carefully. Aside from a couple small ice patches, the ride to work was completely uneventful.

My fleece lined pants did wonders at keeping me warm so I was completely surprised, when I got to work and felt cold. I put another shirt on under my shirt. ( I have a spare shirt and towel at work from when I worked out at the gym at work.) after 5 minutes I was cold again, and I wrapped myself up in the towel. At this point in time, my co-worker Bruce offered me his sweater, which I gladly put on.

By 11:30 I was feeling like a dogs breakfast and told myself I was going home. I left work at noon, walked to the bike, put the saddle bags on and pulled the bike back out from the bicycle rack where I park my bike. I remembered that I was low on gas, and should check whether I have enough to go home and get the battery. (If I'm not feeling well I need the truck in case I need to drive somewhere.) I proceed to open my gas filler, and "SNAP" my key breaks off in the gas filler, which is now open.

I hunt through my pockets for a spare key, but alas, this was one of the few days that I didn't carry a spare with me. I can't get at the tools under the seat, as I need a key to release the seat, so there's no option to bypass the ignition. Only option.... Walk to a locksmith and have a new key made. So, bike in hand, and Bruce to join me for the walk, I push the bike for 15 minutes to the locksmith. Not paying attention, probably due to my headache, and stuffed sinuses, I walk the motorcycle into a tree and bust my left turn signal.

1:30pm. I'm tired, I'm feverish, and finally, I have a key for my bike. But I don't want to close my fuel filler as it may not open again. I still need gas after all, this is what got me into this predicament in the first place. I stopped for gas, and filled up. Once again, not wanting to close the filler all the way I drive homebound. Gas oozes out of the bike, running all over my pants and spilling onto the ground.

I pick up the battery for my Pickup at Costco (which was along my way home) and head home.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and I was home by 2:30ish. but by now I had a major fever and fell asleep pretty much instantly.

Today I still have a fever, and still feel like crap. Hopefully I'll be up for work again tomorrow.

Easter Health Hazard. - Caramilk Eggs.

2006-03-31T13:10:00.000-06:00

Just a notice for all of you that may be buying Easter chocolates this year. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a Health Hazard Alert regarding hard plastic pieces that may be found in Cadbury Caramilk Eggs.

The affected products include the 39 gram Cadbury Caramilk, Caramilk Maple, and Caramilk cafe flavours, in the singles or multipacs. There has already been one injury reported from the consumption of these products.

For more info, please visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Website and the health hazard alert.

Personally, these eggs are my favorite Easter chocolate, so I'm somewhat disappointed, but by now the affected product has hopefully been replaced in stores.

Have a safe and
Happy Easter.

Canadian Border Guards and Guns.

2006-01-25T12:06:00.000-06:00

Most Canadians will agree that in Canada, gun ownership should remain to be a priviledge, not a right. Most Canadians agree, that effective gun control is a must. (effective the key word here. The gun registry is not effective and we all know it.) Most Canadians agree that we don't buy guns for self defense against other people.

However.........Most Canadians do not agree on whether or not, Canadian Border guards should be allowed to carry a side arm. For our American friends that read this post, let me explain to you who legally carries a side arm in public in our Nation. Some armoured car operators have permits. These people usually are former police officers. Police officers, military and Justice sheriffs (they work for the courts). Security firms, border guards, commissionares, etc. do not carry side arms. You won't find a gun behind the counter at a convenience store, and a loaded firearm in a vehicle is strictly forbidden. In fact, leaning a loaded rifle against the hood of your truck while in the bush deer hunting is considered a loaded firearm in a vehicle and can get you in big trouble if Natural Resources find you. Natural resources, by the way, have firearms in their vehicle, but I have never seen one with a side arm. Same goes for Provincial and Federal Park Patrol.

So why is this a big deal, if so few officers, civil servants, general public carry side arms? Canadian Border patrol are seen by many as the tax collector. Welcome to Canada, open your bags, show what you bought and pay your Canadian taxes on it. Welcome to Canada. Well, I think we should give them side arms.... On occasion, these people are all that stands between a dangerous fugitive in a foreign country and a dangerous fugitive in our country. I'd rather keep that dangerous fugitive out.

CBC news posted this article today. Murder suspects from California tried fleeing into Canada via the Peace Arch Border south of Vancouver, B.C. Following a shootout, they made it within a metre to Canadian soil, before being captured by police; American Police....

Where were the Canadian border guards you ask? They invoked the "Right to Refuse" clause as stated section 128 of the Canada Labour Code and walked off the job!

My take on this scenario is simple. Border guards need to be reclassified. They should be re-classified to make their job listed as potentially dangerous, and offered special training and the tools to perform their duty. This would mean police style training, access to firearms, and most importantly, they would be excluded from section 128 of the Canada Labour Code, since the right to refuse can not be invoked if,

(a) the refusal puts the life, health or safety of another person directly in danger; or

(b) the danger referred to in subsection (1) is a normal condition of employment.

In this case point B would apply.

Had these events unfolded differently. If that suspect car made it 100 metres further, if the shootout resulted in stray bullets striking a child, if... if... if.... I'm glad it didn't go to those scenarios but then we could at least say, "Our Border guards were equipped and prepared to deal with the situation, and handled it as best as possible." Had those if's happened under current structure all we could say is, "Well What can you expect, would you stare down the barrel, or would you refuse and walk off the job too?"

I don't know about you, I don't eat a meal with toothpicks, I don't wear sandals at -30 and I sure as hell wouldn't want to be asked to show up at a gun fight with a rubberband and a stick, and I think it's unfair that we ask it of them also.

I am not an expert in the field, these are just my opinions.
Please leave your comments. I know many will not agree, and I'd like to see some comments.

Soup and Moving Rocks.

2006-01-18T12:35:00.000-06:00

If there's one topic I thought I'd NEVER blog about, it would be the relationship between soup and moving rocks. What do these two really have in common anyway? More than you'd think.

Yesterday my co-worker and I were discussing the moving rocks of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley California. There's an interesting article about the mysterious Moving Rocks I read. This article talks about the rocks, some as big as 700Lbs., and their ability to wander across the countryside. Kind of a walkabout if you may. There's several theories about how these boulders make their way across the countryside. (has anyone ever asked where they're going and why?) One of these theories is a wind driven ice sheet, another is that the clay swells when wet causing little hills that the rock slides down. I will offer another theory. A theory that includes soup. Not any soup, but my bowl of soup, the Cream of Chicken soup I had for lunch today (Seen above.)

I was in the lunch room at work, preparing my soup. (Mental note... buy a new can opener.) I followed the directions quite closely. I emptied my condensed soup into my oversized bowl. I then filled the empty can with hot water from the coffee machine's near boiling, hot water spigot. The can became unbearably hot and I plopped it down on the counter; a little water spilled.

I added a little small amount of water and stirred the soup. Added a little more and stirred again. Each time placing the blisteringly hot can back down on the counter. As I stirred my soup feverishly hoping to remove any lumps (it's a cream soup after all), a noticed the can was moving... Or was it my eyes playing tricks on me since I was stirring so feverishly?

I monitored the soup can. It was definitely moving. Much like the playa, the counter got extremely slippery when a small amount of water puddled on top of it. At first the soup appeared to be moving because the water in the can was sloshing. I let the can settle down, until there was no visible movement in the can. I started to stir my soup; and much like Bernie, from Weekend at Bernie's, as soon as I started stirring, the can(over half full of water) started moving again.

So... You see.... the minute vibrations from my stirring were transfering into the countertop and causing the can to move. This means....... I solved how the rocks move in death valley. (and I'm not suggesting that there's a big bowl of soup near by)

Here's my theory. The clay in the Playa gets wet during a rainfall or run off from the mountains. Being near the fault line, there's earth movement. Once the clay is wet, it's slippery, very slippery. All it takes is a little movement in the earth to cause the rocks to glide over an uber thin layer of water, just like my bowl of soup did. The tremors probably don't even need to be powerful enough to be felt.

That's my take on it... The moving rocks are like my soup. But my soup tastes better.

Blond Joke.

2006-01-16T15:27:00.000-06:00

This is the funniest blond joke I've seen in a long time.

New PDA

2005-12-23T18:40:00.000-06:00

I'm posting this from outside using my new Palm Zire 72s w/wifi! as luck would have it, I locked myself out of The house and with pda in hand, decided to tryout the wifi

I really like the Zire. Like my Clie, the Zira has a camera. the screen isclearer and the stylus has nicer weight. 1t appears that battery life isn't as good though.

Anyway, I've tested the pda wifi now, so MERRY CHRISTMAS All
the Pickle
p.s. goin' wardriving..........
..

What's Next?

2005-12-06T09:48:00.000-06:00

On my way to work this morning, my pick up slid across the ice when I turned right at the street next to the parking lot I park at. A truck coming the opposite direction started to slide, and we barely touched. No damage no harm done. However I was blocking this guy's door, so I backed up.... Crunch.

Some chick Didn't look ahead and came into the intersection and stopped literally 6 inches behind me. I didn't notice this as thes whole thing took all of 5 seconds. I put the truck into reverse instantly. I don't even know if she was moving. She claimed she was stopped, but I have no way of knowing.

So what would have been a no worry, go on with your day issue, now will become a lengthy insurance deal. Worst of all, although this is a minor fender bender, it will cost me thousands due to a loss in claim free driving discounts. My only hope is to deal with this outside of insurance. We'll see how that works. For now, Christmas is on hold. Between a $2,000 engine rebuild on the wifes car, and now this, oh yeah... and the friggen windshield in the truck that now I'm paying for cause the guy who threw the bike into my windshield won't pay up... Well lets just say I don't feel very Christmasy right about now..... BAHHHH Humbug.

Why I'll NEVER buy domestic again!

2005-12-05T10:33:00.000-06:00

We have a 2000 Dodge Neon. The car’s got 80,000KM on it not much at all, considering my Nissan truck’s running strong at 310,000KM and my Porsche 944 has 230,000KM and still motoring along.

I did an oil change on the Neon a few weeks back and noticed an oil leak. I took the car to the local Mechanic Shop, to find the leak. I expected it to be a crank seal as that seemed to be the location of the leak. Today I get a call from the mechanic. Apparently, one of the main engine seals is shot, meaning an engine pull, and ship off to the machine shop. The mechanic told me that since the engine needs to be pulled, and split apart, we should consider a full re-build.

Did I mention this car has 80,000km on it? How is it possible, that after 80,000KM, a failure so significant can occur that it justifies a FULL REBUILD? What happened to the whole promise of 100,000Km before the first scheduled tune up? I’m completely pissed! There’s absolutely no reason for a $2.00 seal to go after that amount of use.

Furthermore, literally for pennies more, the manufacturer could have put a better seal/gasket in there. Even if it raised the price of the car $50.00 (which would be like 100x markup), there’s absolutely no reason for this. Instead I have to pay a shop rate to yank a motor and motor and put it back in. Never mind the cost of the actual work! And the Domestic manufacturers wonder why they’re financially strapped. Who I ask you the reader; would you go out and buy a Neon now?

I want my Accord back….

I chose Citibank, not Sony

2005-11-25T11:48:00.000-06:00

Six years ago I got myself a Citibank MasterCard, because they put the cardholders photo on the front. In the past, I've found that my signature was rarely verified, furthermore, I could even have a friend take my card and use it without suspicion. This made it clear to me, that I needed something extra for protection. Shortly after I received my card, I noticed that Citibank was offering a card that earned Points toward Sony products. I saw this as an awesome opportunity to earn points toward new receiver or something else Sony.

This week I received mail from Sony. They are no longer partnering up with Citibank, and the Sony card, will now be offered under MBNA. I always thought that I was a Citibank Customer. Everytime I called to check my balance, or to talk with customer support, I always spoke with Citibank personnel. As a result, I was quite surprised to see the letter from Sony; furthermore the fact that in January 06, I will receive an MBNA credit card.

I called Citibank, and asked them to move me off my Sony card onto another one of their cards. They told me they can not. Apparently I need to re-apply for a card through Citibank and then cancel the Sony Citibank Card. Strange.

So now I have just over 50,000 points, and I wonder what I should buy with my points. I have several options. What are your thoughts?

I can get one of these options with my points.

24 inch Wega TV and 6 Movie passes
20 Inch TV and a 256 MB MP3 Player.
7.1 MP Sony digital camera
DTS 7.1 Receiver
Dolby Digital 6.1 Receiver and 6 movie passes.

Option 1 burns up all my points leaving 3 points, and the TV in my bedroom died. So it's a favorite. I like the sound of a 7.1MP camera, but I have a 3.1MP with 10x optical zoom, and I don't need to worry about buying different memory cards. I could use a new receiver but I'd need new speakers too then.... The 20 inch TV would adequately replace the 20 incher in the bedroom, but would a Sony MP3 player quench my iPod envy?

It's just too hard to decide...... what would you do? have a look at their catalog. What would you do with 50,553 points?

Steadman Giving away their Music Library!

2005-11-21T10:25:00.000-06:00

I recently heard an interview with a British band named Steadman. They have a pop music style, some songs having an Oasis type sound. The band was signed by a major label a few years back, and then the label was merged into another company. When that deal went sour, they went Indie and moved to the USA. They then signed under Elektra. One morning they showed up at the office and they asked, "Where is everybody?". to which they were told, "Oh They've been fired". Elektra was bought out by Atlantic.

At this point the band said that Atlantic had nothing invested in them, and wanted out of the deal.... 12 months later, they were free of their contract, and back in the Indie scene, selling their music in places like Amazon.ca. Now, Steadman has decided to stay in the Indie scene as most labels don't offer publishing contracts. (I believe publishing contracts are the contracts where the artist maintains the copyright, but I'm not sure.)

Steadman has gotten rave reviews from some real music icons. For example, Paul McCartney said the following about Steadman:

"The band steadman have the songs, the musicianship, the energy and the enthusiasm to blow the top any club, arena or if given a listen, have the rare quality, the ability to deliver. I Like this band"

So, what's with the free music you ask? Well, Steadman wants to be successful in self marketing, and will be selling their future albums through indie channels. So, Steadman is giving away their entire back catalog for FREE off their website, http://www.steadmanband.com. There is a donation button on their site. If you like the music, consider donating, or just enjoy all 150 songs. Simon Steadman, is hoping that Podcasters will help spread his bands music and that people will enjoy it. I've downloaded most of their tracks already.

I hope Steadman does really well. It will be nice to see another band show the music industry that the times of them pushing artists around is over; so go download the music, copy it for all your friends and crank it in your radios. :-)

Sony to Recall CDs with XCP Rootkit.

2005-11-16T11:52:00.000-06:00

For those of you who listen to my podcast, know that I've been following the details on the "Scandal" (for lack of a better word) Sony Copy Protected CDs containing the XCP rootkit. These CDs were only supposed to be distributed in the USA, although there's been reports of numerous infections in the UK and other places.

The BBC News website as well as others indicated that Sony announced that they are recalling titles with the XCP copy protect rootkit, existing copies off store shelves. Sony released a tool that removes the rootkit from computers, however there've been problems with this, so there's also rumor that Sony may be offering a swap for customers that already own a copy of the CD with the rootkit.

There are 20 CD titles known to contain the rootkit; they are:

Trey Anastasio - Shine
Celine Dion - On ne Change Pas
Neil Diamond - 12 Songs
Our Lady Peace - Healthy in Paranoid Times
Chris Botti - To Love Again
Van Zant - Get Right with the Man
Switchfoot - Nothing is Sound
The Coral - The Invisible Invasion
Acceptance - Phantoms
Susie Suh - Susie Suh
Amerie - Touch
Life of Agony - Broken Valley
Horace Silver Quintet - Silver's Blue
Gerry Mulligan - Jeru
Dexter Gordon - Manhattan Symphonie
The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity
The Dead 60s - The Dead 60s
Dion - The Essential Dion
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
Ricky Martin - Life

If you own one of these CDs, and would like a swap. Please call your local retailer, and inquire about a replacement.

Why Pay When it's Always Been Free.

2005-11-09T12:21:00.000-06:00

Broadcast - verb - To transmit (a radio or television program) for public or general use.

As many of you know, ABC is selling Desperate Housewives and Lost on the iTunes store for fans to download and watch. According to this article by the Associated Press, CBS and NBC are jumping on the Bandwagon also.

CBS and NBC aren't going the iTunes route, instead NBC has struck a deal with DirectTV to offer re-runs of popular shows like CSI and LAW & Order SVU demand for $0.99 each. However to view these, subscribers will need to purchase a DVR (Digital Video Recording box) which will be available in a week. CBS has a deal with Comcast's digital cable service. These re-runs are said to still have advertisements, but users will be able to "zap" through them with a remote. These services start next year.

Either I'm stupid, or this is completely backwards.

I think this is a classic case of greedy corporate entities inventing a market where this isn't, or shouldn't be one. For 50 years, Broadcast television was FREE. Well, not really free, we paid for the service by subjecting ourselves to the brainwashing of advertisements. The advertisements paid the bills at the TV station. (Now, remember, I'm not talking premium channels here, I'm talking broadcast TV like UHF and VHF). Broadcast Television was sent over the airwaves to be received with a television tuner and antenna. Then came cable. All of a sudden people were willing to dump $20+ dollars per month, for theses same broadcast channels only they were delivered on a cable, yielding a better quality, if your antenna wasn't up to snuff. (as a kid, we received FOX on antenna only on nice days, but we could have paid for it on cable) How about those adverts? Did they go away? Nope,! in fact some may argue that they're worse now than ever before, with product placements on TV shows etc. to boot. So now you're paying for what's free. (I'm omitting the timeline with the addition of Premium channels etc. as it's not relevant for my rant.) Take a few minutes, and let me explain the timeline and my view on things. Once done, leave a comment and tell me....Am I stupid or is this completely Backwards?

Enter the VCR

If you're like me, you probably enjoy a couple shows a week. Shows you pay to receive, even though you could have gotten them free on an antenna. So the show you like is on tonight, but you've got prior engagements and can't watch. You used to (or do) slide the $2.99 reuse-able VHS tape into the VCR, set the timer and watch it later. Then the war started between the commercial advancing VCRs and Embedded commercials that fool the commercial detection. No biggie. Grab the remove and "zap" through the commercials, none the less, although you pay for the service they still shove ads down your throats. Imagine if every time you received a phone call, you heard, "this phone call was brought to you by Ford, Try out the new Explorer at your local dealer today. You may now start your conversation". You'd be outraged because you pay for the phone service. (now! imagine if an hour conversation had 18 minutes of that! I don't see this as any different, it's wrong!

Digital Revolution

Y2K was the turning point where High speed Internet and file sharing came into the main stream. Savvy people had already been recording shows on their computers using video capture cards like the ATI All-in-Wonder for a couple years. Now you could record your show watch it when you wanted, and even have the flexibility to watch it on your computer, or on any device that played Video CDs, but you still paid over $200 annually for those broadcast channels you can get for free. Digital cable and satellite come into play offering higher quality than ever before (useless channels and a higher price too). People are now recording at higher than VCR quality, and having the recording be completely portable, thanks to high speed internet and hand held devices, but really, you're doing the same thing you were doing years ago, only you were using different equipment to do it.

One day, you're VCR,DVR,Computer, DVD Recorder, or whatever didn't record the show you wanted to see, tape full, power failure, whatever it doesn't matter. The next day at work, you ask, "Who taped BillyBobsHardwareShow last night, and can I borrow the tape?" and you got the tape from a friends. One day, nobody taped it, but one guy says, I missed it too, but found it on the internet. Just download it. So, you do. Some call it pirating. Why should it be pirating, if this show is already delivered over the Radio ways FOR FREE, after all as Einstein says, time is relative. Or on the other side of the coin, you already paid to watch the show as pay for that channel on your cable.

Broadcast, Flipped Crushed and Chewed

But this will all change next year.....you see, in several places including the USA and UK, "Broadcasting", according to the definition above, will be shut off. There's plenty of politics behind this. You see, broadcast waves are a low frequency, (VHF 54-88Mhz) which makes them desirable for long range, high power output transmissions. CBC Winnipeg transmits with a video power of 100,000 watts and audio power of 20,000 watts over 87.7Mhz I believe. Once reclaimed, the government can reallocate these frequencies for other uses and cha-ching. Broadcast TV will be gone, and the only way to receive Television will be to pay for it. What's been Free for decades, let me say that again, DECADES, will now only be available if you pay. Furthermore, the broadcast flag, if successfully lobbied in the US legal/political system will prevent you from recording certain shows, IMHO to increase T! V show season DVD sales.

All the assumptions

So.... Now you're paying for your shows. You're paying for the content to be delivered into your home, every last bit of it. You're even paying for the commercials.... But is there a legal restriction of what you can do once it's in your home? Granted you may not re-distribute, but, lets say you had the money and the desire to put a 5 minute delay loop into the TV in your house so you could filter the "wardrobe malfunctions" in between the time you see it, and when it gets delivered to you child's TV downstairs, would this be legal? Now, if you can delay 5 minutes, why not delay 3 days? I've read the policy from my cable provider and it makes no reference to this, so I assume there's no legal issue. So, does that mean it's fully legal for me to delay content? Well. I've just re-worded what we've all been doing for years, videotaping shows. We've come full ! circle.

It all boils down to this (yup, I'm almost done)

1. We know that you're already paying for TV. (once the broadcasts are gone) everyone who has a TV signal, is paying monthly for TV.
2. We assume that you can record, for later use, your TV shows
3. Never, ever have I nor anyone I know been arrested, charged etc. for taping a show and/or lending said recording to a friend to catch up.
4. Any TV show that was on the cable transmission, which I paid for, technically I should be licensed to watch.
- So it's nobody's business but my own how I recorded it or how I watched it.
- If I missed recording said show, and I have 5,000,000 friends online that recorded the show, downloading it is merely, borrowing their recording.

Now, when I've established that 1. TV is free, even though we pay for it, and 2. that we already pay for the TV show, WHY ON GOD'S EARTH would anybody pay TWICE for the exact same thing? The corporations are gouging you, and you're taking the bait. Why would you pay a single penny for something you've already paid for? Seriously..... am I stupid, or is this completely backwards? Somebody give me my sanity back.

Is the Free ipod thing Real or a Scam?

2005-10-16T23:06:00.000-05:00

While checking to see if my Lotto 6/49 ticket was the $22 Million winner, I came across another "Win a Free ipod" Link. So since I have ipod envy I clicked it followed the instructions and went on. I had to sign up for Columbia House video, but no biggie. There I've now done some Christmas shopping.

Now I need to do the referrals. Would you help me? All you need to do is click this link. http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=23913819

My referral id is in the link, and that is what will make me eligible I think. Click the link for me, and leave me a comment. When/IF I get my iPod, I'll let blog it here, and then I'll do my best to help you win yours by visiting the link with your referral id.

Thanks.
the Pickle.

Home from work? SURPRISE

2005-10-13T19:28:00.000-05:00

PDR_1478,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

Nothing like coming home after a long day at the office, enjoy a beer and record a podcast.... Well that was the plan for the day, until my neighbor decided to give me a pleasant surprise..

Let me tell you about my neighbors. To protect their identity lets call the neighbors, Bart, Clara, Daniel. Three siblings, Daniel's the oldest, Clara has a 5 year old daughter, and Bart's a young know it all punk that drinks and drives and has lost his license for it prior to his 18th b-day (dumbass). I'd like to meet a single person on the face of the bloody planet with the same bloody shit luck as Bart. within 7 months, a jeep "stolen" (he came over to me with instructions of what to tell the cops... s9ound fishy to you too?), then rear ended by a stolen car in his MX-6 (which he drives like a lunatic. Within weeks he's put dents in the car. Never his fault. Always colorful stories though. His car was written off and the Fucking rental he had got smacked "by a stolen Car" Can you smell the shit ooozing yet?

He's bashed up Clara's car several times too.. never his fault... Last night he had Clara's Car, but since he doesn't drink and Drive (Sniff Sniff.) he left the cxar behind and this morning... Voila... it was STOLEN... My God. A Dairy farm doesn't have this much Shit!

How about the rest of the clan? I don't know for sure, but this is the shit I put up with.. With 3 of them, I can't blame one alone.
I find empty beer cans and bottles in my yard regularly. I've notice fuel missing from my gas tank (syphoned I assume) motor oil's gone missing from my yard. Some day's I can't park in my own driveway as they have parked all their fuckin' friend's cars in MY driveway. I've even been blocked into my bloody driveway in the morning on my way to work.... Why? Cause piss for brains next door came home Shit-faced at 3 am and parked in my driveway! I had to pound on the his door and wake his sorry ass up so he moved his shitbox so I could get out!

Anyway I digress.....

So.. I come home from work today. I'm in a fairly good mood. Day's over I park my motorcycle in the driveway. Clara's mom, comes to talk to me. She's frantic. She needs to talk to me now. I don't want to deal with the neighbors but fine, what's up...

So she says...

" You see I don't like Clara's boyfriend. I came into the back yard to get this door", she guided me through the wooden pine fence gate and showed me a boxed up door leaning against the house.
"Anyway I tripped over his bicycle, so I tossed it into the driveway and told him to get lost and not show his damn face around here anymore. Then he picked up his bike and Threw it over there." She points at my Pickup truck.
I look over and see the picture above.
I told her to hang on. I wanted to put my helmet in the house and get a piece of paper. When I returned, Clara had come outside and started yelling at her mom, that this was none of her business. (nice Huh?) So here in the driveway you see mom and daughter exchanging verbal blows... it was like an episode of Cops.

So.. I called the insurance.. Here's the kicker.. I'm out $500.00 unless this jackass coughs up the cash to fix my truck.. Talk about a double screw over!

I'm pissed off!

Castles Castles Everywhere.

2005-09-20T01:01:00.000-05:00

PDR_1369,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

While recently on my honeymoon, I took multiple opportunities to seek out castles and various other medieval structures. I was once again in awe much like when I was a kid visiting some of these places. However this time it was different for me.

Touching the walls it was as if I could hear and see the people of times past within these gates.

It saddens me to think of Canada, and it's young history. To know that 100 year old buildings are considered derelict and torn down. We are destroying our history for new Arenas and other complexes. If you have a chance, even if you don't like history, go to an old castle, touch a wall, stop and think... Who built the wall? Who built the cobblestone road. Who lived here? Why? When? It's mindblowing.

Worst of all why can't we build buildings as nice and durable as this anymore?

School Building Ablaze! Who brought the marshmallows?

2005-08-12T19:07:00.000-05:00

PDR_0340,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

Around quarter to six, I started hearing sirens outside. I live across from an apartment complex, so hearing sirens isn't a big deal, there's regularly a false alarm across the street. Today however the sirens didn't stop. One truck after another.

Armed with my Toshiba Digital Camera I scooted out the door and jumped on the ole' steel horse. I got to the end of the street and knew right away what the emergency was. The school across the street had an addition against the gymnasium and it was burning.

I cranked the throttle on the bike and got a better look. I took some photos. You can see them on my flickr account .
http://flickr.com/photos/59428674@N00/sets/743933/

I stuck around for 20 minutes or so. That's when the roof caved in. I think the fire's out by now as I heard some firetrucks drive by again. Although I was at least 100 yards away, I can smell the smoke on my clothing.

Fed up with Internet Archive and Ourmedia.

2005-08-11T00:44:00.000-05:00

Well if you are a listener of my Podcast, available on my other blog. http://uberoddgeekpod.blogspot.com then you're probably aware of my problems with getting the InternetArchive and ourmedia.org to host the podcasts. I've read a few things on their site forums about how unfriendly and frustrating this is for others that I decided not to put up with it anymore. I took the plunge and signed up with a webhost. I don't know how well they work yet as I have to wait for the account to be setup.

So what does this mean? A new .com and a new place to host my content. Well To you, the reader it means that wedding information will move from http://thewedding.homeip.net to http://www.germanpickle.com This blog mayl also slowly go extinct and become joined with the podcasts blog. as I may have blogger update an html file on my new host instead for personal bloggings.

This will all happen after I return from the honeymoon. For now, I'm just going to copy files over and get the bloody podcast working.

Out.

Podcast up (after glitch)

2005-07-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

Hi all.

The podcast is up again after some difficulties at Feedburner.com. I had technical support wipe out my account and kill off my feeds so I could start new. I don't know what happened, but for some reason I couldn't see or update my feed.

The feed's been updated now. The feed location is new also, so please update your podcatchers. The new URI is http://feeds.feedburner.com/uberoddgeekpod I apologize if this messed you up, but now that I was able to syncronize the feed name with the blog and email name I jumped on the opportunity.

Sorry, but it should be smooth saling from here forward.

First Podcast available soon.

2005-07-20T02:14:00.000-05:00

We've recorded the initial episode of the UberOddGeekPod. It should be available soon. the Link for show notes will be http://uberoddgeekpod.blogspot.com hope you all check it out.

Pickle to start Podcasting.

2005-07-04T12:36:00.000-05:00

Good Day,

Some people may ask what podcasting is. Well in it's simplest explanation, it's a like a home based radio show that is saved to mp3 file, then posted on the internet for other people to download. Podcasting empowers the people to have a voice and be heard in a way that was only available to those that worked in radio which is heavily controlled by corporations and government. Here's a quote from another podcast called the daily source code.

Something remarkable is happening here. Radio is springing free of the regulated gate keepers who've managed what you can hear since radio was invented. It's jumping into the hands of anyone at all with something or nothing to say.

The name podcasting may imply the listener needs an iPod but this isn't true. Any mp3 player would work for listening to podcasts. Podcasts can be downloaded off the show's website or by using tools that automatically monitor the podcasts you're interested in for new episodes. Why am I telling you this????

I've decided to start podcasting. I don't have a podcast up yet, but I will soon. It will be called the Uber Odd Geekpod. My fiancee named it for me. She says I'm odd and that I'm a geek so she put them together and came up with the name after I had recorded the initial show (which at the time was called the TTTCast.)

I've decided not to post the original episode as the contact info in the show is all wrong now that I've renamed it. I was also quite tired during the first show, and as such sounded even more monotone than I normally am. I expect the first podcast to be ready before July 10th so that I can still hit part of the iTunes wave.

the show will be 80% tech 20% everything else. I will discuss, usually with a co-host tech related items ranging from wireless headphones to digital cameras and everything in between. We'll also discuss some interesting programs that may help you with your computer experience. I'll also have an interesting website reference for each show, and then answer a computer question from each person.

I don't know the dot com for the show yet, but I expect to have it up in the next day or two. I'm still mulling over .com names.

Birthday Cake.

2005-06-29T14:32:00.000-05:00

PDR_0171,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

Here's the awesome Birthday cake I got last week! Fitting for a geek no?

Love the car, but it's Up for Sale....

2005-06-13T21:21:00.000-05:00

1985.1 Porsche 944,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

Yeah... I love my car. I bought it on my Dad's birthday in 2001. It served me faithfully up to now. Sure I've had to put money and time into it, but heck who doen't put money and time into a relationship.

So, after almost 4 years of owning my Porsche, I've decided to sell it. When I was 5 I told my family that one day I would own a Porsche, and I did. In fact I Owned 2 road worthy ones at once. But I sold the other one during the winter. (It was the winter beater.)

Since I'm so fond of the car, why sell it? Well.. My co-worker has a friend that has been sitting on a 1973 911T for a few years and hasn't used it. The car has now become available. I'm hoping for it, but can't go for it until, at very least, I know there's interest in my car.

Let me know if you're interested.

Tuvalu small with Big Impact

2005-06-09T09:43:00.000-05:00

Tuvalu, what is it? Many of you may ask? Well, Tuvalu is a tiny country in the south pacific. How small? Well the country, which consists of several coral atolls, has an area of 26 Square Kilometers and an estimated 11,636 residents. The country has approx. $22.5 Million dollars in annual revenue, but aside from some phosphate mining and postage stamps, has no exports agriculture or minerals. So how do they make their money? Tourism you may think, but only approximately 1000 people visit Tuvalu annually.

So, how does this tiny country have the huge impact I am claiming it has? Well there’s 2 reasons.

1. tv! Not Television, but .tv. Tuvalu’s Top Level Domain on the Internet is .TV Tuvalu leased out it’s .TV TLD for $50 million in royalties for roughly another 10 years. This money was said to go toward development. So every time you go to a .tv website, you know that royalties went back to the little country of Tuvalu

2. Telecommunications. Tuvalu’s access number is a “900” number. By selling access to their “900” area codes, they can generate revenue.

It’s interesting how a little group of islands, among the most remote areas of our planet can impact our daily lives, in a way that we don’t even realize. So next time you register your Internet Domain consider a TV domain as it will help develop the islands.

Politics. Why I won't blog about it. (except this once....)

2005-06-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

I told myself on day one of this blog, that I wouldn't post anything political. This will be the closest I go into political discussions, and I will only offer my view of other people, not the politics that drive their views.

About a month ago, I signed up to BlogExplosion.com a system that allows a user to browse member blogs, and in turn gets people to visit my blog. My goal was to keep my blog away from the "Hi today I went fishing and mowed the lawn" format, and instead offer more factual wide interest content. (Okay my thumb blog doesn't fit with that vision, but come on, it was a nasty photo all should see!)

Surfing the BlogExplosion Blogosphere made me aware of something very unsettling. Political views of people. Not so much the views, but the extremity of these views. Unfortunately most of the extreme views were American political blogs rather than UK, Canadian or other nationalities. I found this very unsettling. Here's what I've learned reading some of these blogs.

Many political thinkers appear to believe in "Your with them or against them". The impression I get is that as a Republican, you must agree to Everything republican, and criticize everything Democratic, and Vice Versa.
News and facts that criticize your party or your line of thought are lies, and complete hogwash regardless of the evidence to the contrary
In some cases, these people will not associate as friends with people once they realize they're views lie with the other party
Businesses that appear Left wing, will be boycotted by right wingers and vice versa.

This is very unsettling to me. I find that the nature of the freedoms we have as human beings regardless of where we live, should allow us to understand the world and thusly question those things we are told. Do we no longer heed the warnings of don't believe everything you see on TV, don't believe everything you read, and don't believe everything you hear? When have we lost our curiousity and decided to become lemmings, following a leader regardless of where he/she leads us? In this black and White world so many live in, where has the color gone, and don't you miss it?

Fact is, that no matter where we look in our "Free Lives" we are being controlled, at very least it is attempted. Media will only show us what we are "allowed to see" to keep us in conformity. Whether a car salesmen, or a politician, we are only fed the crap they want us to hear, many times being complete fallacies. Why do we beg for more of this by not busting out and saying
"WHOAA... That's a load of horse manure and I want the truth... I don't buy your crap and I won't listen to the kaka-poo-poo your shovelin'"

Free will is dead and we don't even realize it. None of us are "free" Freedom? What's that like? I don't think any of us will ever know as long as we allow the crap to flow.

That's just my perspective......

Red Bull Racing - Monaco 2005

2005-05-28T02:50:00.000-05:00

Red Bull Racing - Monaco 2005,
originally uploaded by bigtallguy.

I didn't take this picture, but I just thought this was the coolest thing I've seen in a while. Obviously Episode III completely ruled the Universe last week, but when I saw it invade Formula One; I had been put in awe.

David Coulthard and Vitantonio Liuzzi had their cars repainted in Star Wars fashion, but that wasn't all, the pit crew were dressed as Storm Troopers and the Lollipop man was Darth Vader!

Chewie, R2 and Threepio made an appearance along with Mr. Lucas himself too. This was definitely one of the season's highlights so far. (aside from the exciting racing this year too!)

Check out more photos at the Formula ONe website Formula1.com

Canadian Grand Prix is in in 2 weeks!!!!!!

Do You REALLY Know What Your Kid's Doing Online?

2005-05-11T13:02:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago I saw a TV show on Internet Predators. The show talked about young kids that were role playing as well; a 12 year old girl claimed she was an adult and was having an online affair with an adult. This isn't the only senario. There's also cyber-bullying and other types of harrassment. This problem is now surpassing the Internet; they are spreading to Text/Picture/Video Messaging on mobile phones because they are so accessible. I am concentrating on the Internet in this post.

So you have a kid on the Internet; what can you do to protect yourself? Chances are that if your kid is in adolescent age, he/she will most likely want privacy at the pc. This isn't neccesarily a bad thing, but if the pc is is in another room, you can't watch what the kids are doing.

Worst part is that Internet chatting is heavy into the Lingo and Leetz.

Lingo slang is used by online chatters. is different than Leetz as it's mostly abbreviations or acronyms. Did you know what these mean?

LOL - Laughing Out Loud
LMAO - Laughing My Ass Off
BRB - Be Right Back
NP - No Problem
TTFN - Ta ta for now
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion

Those were simple harmless ones.... but what about seeing ones that could be less innocent?

ASL - Age, Sex, Location. - can be innocent, but this is used by predators too.
NIFOC - Naked (Nude) in Front of Computer
POS - Parent over Shoulder
*K* - Kiss
IWSN - I Want Sex Now

Leetz means Elite speak. It's common amounst hackers and hacker wanna-bes. Just because a kid is using leetz, doesn't mean they're up to no good. but wouldn't it be nice to understand this so you know what your kids are saying? You may use leetz at the office with out knowing it. Leets is when you replace letters with other characters. For example, a guy I play online with on Xbox is named Spartan Elite but he spells it 5par7an 3L173. The 5 replaces the S, the 7's replace T's and the 1 replaced the I. Common is also replacing s with z, and replacing F with ph

Here are a couple example

D00d - Dude
kewl - cool
k1ck A$$ - Kick Ass

There's lots of good website out there for figuring out this stuff. Here are the ones I like.

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/kidtalk.mspx - Microsoft's Primer

http://www.netlingo.com/ - has an online dictionary

http://www.teenangels.org - They have a program called Teen Angels Chat translator

Blocking Spyware and other Parasites the simple way.

2005-05-11T12:29:00.000-05:00

We've all heard of these terms even if some of us may not know what they all mean.

Trojans
Spyware
Malware
HiJacks
BHO (Browser Help object)

Whether you know what all these terms or not isn't important. The important thing you know is that they're all BAD news. You've done your homework, I know you have. You've got a spyware cleaner, maybe even two; antivirus software is always watching your PC's health and you've got Ad-Aware "just incase.

This is all great news. But there's one common demoninator here. In all cases your "Protection" is really a "remedy". Much like a Flu shot, you've given your PCs Immune system a boost, but all these tools are designed to clean your PC after the evil buggers have arrived on your PC.

What if there was a way to prevent the crap from even hitting your computer in the first place? It may sound like Eutopia, but there is a very simple way you can limit your PCs exposure to these parasites on the internet.

Enter the HOSTS File.

The hosts file is a text file on every Windows® computer. This file has a mapping of host names to IP addresses. This overrides the DNS Server you normally use when connected to the Internet. Essentially Hosts Files are used if you want to connect to another computer with a name rather than a number. For example, you may have a home network and the other pc could be at 192.168.1.2 but you want to connect to it using the name "KidsPC" you can put this in the HOSTS file of your computer and then you can reference the Kids PC by the Name "KidsPC" rather than the number. Infact some viruses in the past have modified this file to prevent users from browsing to antivirus websites.

Okay. Now that you know what the HOSTS file is. What can you do to protect yourself? So. If you had a list of all the websites out there that propigate parasites you could override the ability for your PC to access these websites by adding fake IP addresses for each Hostname.

There's one very important IP address to know. Luckly it's also very easy to remember. 127.0.0.1 This IP address is "Home" or the local computer. Infact your computer will have 1 entry in the HOSTS file. this entry is:

127.0.0.1 localhost

This means that your computer is known as localhost. You can define any website as 127.0.0.1 in your hosts file and this will prevent browsing to that website. (parents, this is a simpleway to block your kids from going to certain sites too.)

So How Do I Know What Sites to Put in the HOSTS File?

Here's the easy part. Somebody's done this for you. All you need to do is download the hosts file from MVPs.org Website. Then either replace your hosts file with the one from MVPs.org or if you've tweaked your hosts file, add the mappings from their hosts file to yours.

Slice Cut hopefully regrow...

2005-05-08T20:01:00.000-05:00

Cut1,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

For Mothers Day The inlaws family and my family were to gather at the lake for a potluck. We were bringing Nachos and Nacho dip. The kind with Lettuce tomatoes and cheese. mmmmmmmmmm

Well. We ran a little behind, and rather than taking a shower first I decided to cut the lettuce before the shower. LIke that my fiancee could finish the dip while I get ready.

I hate dull knives. I hate super cheap knives too as they don't cut straight. So A few weeks ago I bought a chef's knife and a sharpener. I sharpen my knife regularly.

Chopping lettuce is fun as it goes smoothe and makes a cool sound. It's like a hot knife through butter..

CHOP CHOP CHOP. Now chop the length, turn the cut lettuce 90 degrees and CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP WHOAAAA>> What was that... Oh Yes I feel pain now.. OH.. my thumb end's missing!!!

Pain sets in. Believe it. Minor injury like this, and I even had symptoms of shock!

So what did I learn. Well nothing I didn't know before aside from how well I really do sharpen my knife. I didn't feel resistance in the knife with that last chop.

Moral of the story, Don't chop lettuce when in a rush.

Wrong Place at the Wrong Time?

2005-05-08T19:00:00.000-05:00

On Thursday night Kerri and I decided to go for a walk. Nothing major, just some fresh air and some movement. It was midnight and we just finished watching the timeshift broadcast of CSI. We walked up the street, and turned right down the next street. At first we were just planning a short walk around the block. But as we got to the end of the block we decided to continue onto the next next block and walk down Gateway Road to check out Barkman Concrete and window shop at the kitchen shop on the street too. Obviously everything was sealed tight, but there's no harm in looking through the windows.

On the back side of the loop we were walking we decided to walk down a Street called Budden , since there's a lot of nice houses on this street. We commented on the construction and compared notes on the types of houses we liked versus those we didn't. It was a beautiful evening.

We walked to the street that connects to our Crescent. As we walked along the street we heard Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and Bump bump bump etc. Seconds later a mid 90's red Acura Integra with a coffee can exhaust, burned out right taillight, and a stereo that pounds insane amounts of bass drove by. As they passed by us, they revved the motor. We chuckled amongst ourselves about how pathetic it was, not noticing where the car went after the stop sign at our street. (This is about to bite us in the ass)

When we got to our street, both of us were thinking the same thing. Nice evening quiet night and a dimly lit park with swings. Hmm. Perfect opportunity to swing and chat a little. After all we lived in a quiet neighbourhood. People are regularly out late at night around here also.

15 steps into the park, I see him. Then I hear him jingle something in his pockets, both hands in the pockets, walking straight forward as if on a mission. He was about my height, dark in complexion, wearing a red hoodie (Funny thing, I was singing Adam Sandler's red Hooded Sweatshirt earlier in the walk). Not sure what to expect I started looking around a little but saw nothing. I began to think about what it was in his pockets.

"Hey Man. You got a smoke or What!?!" he said with intent, sounding high drunk or perhaps both. We changed our direction to the right a little passing him on our left.

"Sorry Man, I don't smoke." I replied almost robotically as I say this many times in a week since I work downtown right next to the Employment assistance office. Being begged for change or smokes is such a regular thing, I don't even flinch at it anymore.

Thinking this guy is kinda sketchy, I watched him out of the corner of my eye as we walked by him. Our walking slightly more to the right (away from home) and our pace slightly increased. He stopped, scanned where we were walking and the jingling in his pockets stopped. There was a few seconds of complete silence. I waited for something to happen, like the sound of rapid footsteps behind or something.

"Hey isn't your geocache around here?", Kerri asked me with a firm voice to bring my attention back, and probably to signify to the guy that what happened was behind us. Once out or earshot, Kerri mentioned that there was another guy in the darkness behind the guy that approached us. He blocked our way home, this is why we went right. We agreed to head to the backlane where there were more lights and then go back onto the street.

When we hit the sidewalk on the street again, we looked back completely freaked as to whether these guys had the potential to be dangerous to us. They started their car and came toward us. We weren't sure what to expect but it seemed they were after something. We decided to walk up the walk to a house an pretend it was ours. The timing was perfect we turned up the walk just as they came up to us. Their brake lights flashed but then continued out of sight when we got to the door.

We agreed, nothing but straight home. Neither of us had a cell phone, and the yawara stick keychain I have from Ju-Jitsu class was at home also. As we reached the end of the houses just before the park we heard it. Bump Bump Bump.. Loads of Bass.. We quickly tucked into the back lane and behind a house. If it was the same guys and they saw that we tricked them, they'd definitely be pissed! A grey Honda Civic drove by. We cut through the park and walked the last few strides home without incident.

Over the past days I've reflected about what happened that night. Some people are pounded to an inch of their life based on a request for a smoke. What happened to us? Was there divine intervention? Where we in the wrong place at the wrong time? Did Our street sense save our hides from a beating? Or was it nothing? Was it a kid wanting a smoke? Were him and his buddy just listening to music in the car and saw us coming hoping to get a cigarette? I don't know the answer, but I definitely think I'll be dedicating time to go back to my self defense classes. After 2 years of absence, although still confident in protecting myself, there's still a lot to learn an potentially protect against. What if in his pocket, he had a knife... Or Heaven forbid, a gun.... What could we have done?

Conclusion. Am I Stoopid, or is the Jewellery Industry Corrupt and Messed

2005-05-05T23:54:00.000-05:00

So.... Now I'm completely frustrated. I'm sure you are too after reading everything I've gone through. I sent the BBB this email, because they exist to help consumers right?

From: email address withheld from blog
To: bbbinquiries@bbbmanitoba.ca
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 1:13 AM
Subject: Question about Jewellery stores.

Hello,

Can you help me figure out how to protect myself from potential over inflated prices on
Jewelry? I recently got 2 quotes on custom wedding bands from 2 Jewelers in Winnipeg.
Vandenberg's and Roger Watson.

I used exact details down to karat weight, style, size, width and gold content weight. The
rings were quoted according to illustration I had supplied.

I was expecting similar quotes, but instead I received 2 quotes that were out by tremendous
numbers. one place quoted $1400 for a band the other only $850.

When I queried the more expensive place for the reasoning, they claimed that the cheaper
location uses lower grade gold. How is this possible when I specified 18K?

What can I do to protect myself against either overpayment or shoddy quality in an industry
that so few people understand? Are there laws that ensure that an item stamped 18K is in fact
18K? Are there particular laws or Code of Ethics these companies must comply with?

Please help,
Frustrated and confused Couple,

The reply I got was a little less than spectacular. The reply was:

From: "Better Business Bureau Inquiries" <bbbinquiries@mts.net>
Date: 2005/04/27 Wed AM 10:13:03 CDT
To: email address withheld from blog
Subject: Re: Question about Jewellery stores.

Unfortunately, a company can usually charge what they feel is fit for a product.

You may wish to contact the Jewellers Vigilance Can. Inc. for further information. They can
be reached at (800) 636-9536.

Thank you for your inquiry.

Sincerely,
BBB Manitoba

Okay.. That now totally took the wind out of the sails. Am I at the start of a wild goose chase? Ugggg..

So, I collect my thoughts and check out this Jewellers Vigilance Can. Inc. They have a website. http://www.jewellersvigilance.ca I went there and sent them the exact same email I sent the BBB.

No reply for several days.

So I decided to call them.... Voice Mail

No reply....

This Tuesday. Carla from the Vigilance finally called back and left a message for me.

I called back yesterday as I was on training classes. She told me some interesting facts. As I was writing this blog, some things she told me didn't sound right so I did a quick search online and have changed some things. I've corrected these here.

DID YOU KNOW???

There is a federal act known as the Precious Metal Markings Act. This is a Federal Law that is what protects consumers against Price Fixing and other such things. It states that it is unlawful for a dealer to incorrectly mark precious metals. therefore you can be assured that if the dealer is with in operating within federal law that your 14K necklace is 14K. If your jewellery was incorrectly marked, the jeweller can be fined no more than $500.00 however this only applied to the first year.

That a Jeweller may decide not to offer any warranty on custom work even though they offer warranty on non custom work. They do not need to inform you of this either. Even if they tell you there is a warranty, if it's not written down it's nothing more than hearsay.

There are 2 types of appraisals. There is what I was called an "Insurance Replacement Appraisal" and a "Today's Market" appraisal. I don't know if these are the actual names. The first one is valued higher. I don't know how they can appraise the value higher than it actually is, but it's done. The Insurance Replacement appraisal is used by businesses to sucker you into the store. Big signs flashy ads, get these earrings appraised at $900 for only $600.00. WOW! Great deal? ummmm.. maybe not. People base insurance riders on this appraisal value also, problem is, the insurance companies charge your premium accordingly, but won't payout to that value very often. The Today's market Appraisal takes into account what the precious metals are worth today. For more info on this read this warning from the Competition Bureau of Canada.

So How do I protect Myself?

Well unfortunately it's a true jungle out there. Buyer Beware in every sense of the word. But here's what I've learned..

Don't believe the Appraisal sheets the jewellery people drop in front of you.
Shop around at different stores to see how prices match.
The Jeweller doesn't care about you, he cares about his business and sales. He won't tell you unless you ask, and then he may beat around the bush too.
Know the Federal Competition Act and the Precious Metal Markings Act enough to put your fears at rest, but don't assume all are abiding by the laws as the punishments appear quite minor.
Always get everything in writing. Including a guarantee that if an independent appraiser believes you over paid they'll refund the difference.
If possible, especially when the jewellery is over $1000.00, have it appraised by an independent appraiser for the "Today Market" value not the Insurance replacement or value. Do not accept appraisal for consumer resale these are inflated.

I'm sure I missed an awful lot too. I feel better about what I've learned. I definitely don't feel stoopid anymore. Am I stoopid? Maybe.. but Considering the warnings from the government, and lack of concise information from the Jewellers and their watchdogs, I definitely conclude that the Jewellery industry is crooked and corrupt.

I hate jewellery. To any family of mine... if you're toying between jewellery or anything else for my birthday gift... don't pick the jewellery. You're just fattening the wallet of the jeweller who's most likely taking you for a ride... After my wedding band, I don't think I'd want any more jewellery.

-Pickle.

Third.

Am I Stoopid, or is the Jewellery Industry Corrupt and Messed Up? Part 2

2005-04-29T01:22:00.000-05:00

The Drive to Roger Watson's Jewellery shop was just a trip down Corydon. Roger himself was unable to help us as he was tied up on the phone, so John (his son, I believe) came and helped us. We stalled for a few moments looking at pocket watches hoping Roger would become available but this didn't happen.

We told John that we had wanted to have a quote on a matching set of wedding bands, and that the wedding bands should also compliment the engagement ring, which was custom made here. I explained to John that currently we are only looking for a quote as we hadn't fully decided what we would do for rings.

I explained to John that Kerri's ring was 18K gold and that we were looking for a ring for her approx. 6mm wide in a size 7.5. White gold, non-rhodium plated. Myself, I would like a 9mm ring also in 18K and in a Size 12. Both rings would compliment each other and would be white gold with yellow gold accent. Furthermore, I would like a 05ct. diamond on my ring set with a rough setting.

He wrote this down on a sheet of paper.

I then told him that we even know how we wanted the rings to look. I pulled out the drawings on the business card and showed it to him. We discussed the exact same points as at Vandenberg's, although without the benefit of a digital photo to manipulate. We discussed the more flat top on my ring with a gentle curve to allow the diamond to be offset in the corner a little more. We discussed how the yellow gold should be elevated off the white gold and then blend back in. He appeared to fully understand.

In the past Roger was able to quote me in person what the cost of custom making a ring was, but he wasn't helping us. Roger did walk by saw me, recognized me, but got the name wrong. "Hi Pat" the said as he walked past. A little disappointing, but realistically how many people does he see every day right?

In the meantime, John's writing down all the details on a quotation sheet. and reads back all the specs to me. They all sound good. He then goes to copy the drawing I had made as a reference. Curiosity was eating him away. I could see it. The way the played with the business card, I knew he was consumed with the desire to flip it over to see who his fierce competition was. The desire won and he flipped it over just long enough to recognize the Vandenberg's logo. He quickly flipped it back and handing me the card.

"Thanks" he proclaimed and told me that he would submit the quote to his Jeweller and get back to me in a few days. Side note: I think that John merely asked Roger for the quote. I'm quite sure they're related and I think Roger's working on slowly thinking of handing the shop over to the younger generation......

A few days later (Wednesday I think), I got a call at work. It was John. My quotes were in. Kerri's ring was going to cost $400.00 even and mine was quoted at $850.00 plus the diamond. a .05ct Si1 or .06ct I1 (both G color) diamond would cost $100.00 and a .07ct VS2 H color would run $150.

I thanked John and told him I would discuss this with Kerri.

Now remember. I did everything I could to compare apples to apples.
The Mathematical Break Down.

Vandenberg's

Kerri's Ring ---------- $668
Tobi's Ring ---------- $1400
Taxes (14%) ---------- $289.52
Grand Total ---------- $2357.52

Roger Watson

Kerri's Ring ---------- $400
Tobi's Ring ---------- $850
Taxes (14%) ---------- $175
Grand Total ---------- $1425.00

Difference $2357.52 -1425.00 = $$932.52

What the heck? Now I can imagine a difference in price. Compare a $1500 TV at two stores and yeah, you may see a difference, but I can guarantee you that difference won't be $900! Same which furniture, appliances. Looking at percentages, Roger was 40% cheaper, hell you don't see that with cars!

I called Vandenberg's. I knew he was way more money, but he DID spend a long time with us helping us create the custom ring. This is worth something too. Perhaps he'll come with another offer.

I got in touch with Peter. I told him that being a buyer beware world, due diligence told me to get a second opinion, and this opinion was way lower. (I gave the price differences). I then told him that because he was so kind to us and helped us out, I'd like him to consider revising his quote and lowering his price. His reply seemed positive.

Three hours later I got a call back from Peter, but he caught my voicemail as I was on lunch. I returned his call and played phone tag with him pretty much all afternoon. After 4 calls, I finally did reach him.

The conversation went pretty much 100% from what I expected. Peter asked me to review what I told the other shop and their quotes. His immediate response was "In 8 years in this trade this has never happened to me. This other Jeweller must be smelting old gold. We only use new gold, and well the price of gold is the price of gold and that's what you pay for is the gold." He then proceeded to knock the other jeweller. (not a wise thing in my opinion as he didn't know I dumped $4000 on Kerri's engagement ring there.)

Side note: Just as a side note. The whole "In 8 years this has never happened to me" spiel.. I really heard... "In 8 years blah blah blah blah blah blah... " 'Cause really hasn't every salesman told you this crap... Come on. Roger said a similar thing back when I was iffy about the engagement ring. Only he used it in a different context and used 20 years I believe...

Anyway... Vanderberg's claimed that the diamond Roger quoted $100 for he had listed at $65 (whoa.. what's the deal with the near 40% differences here.) and that once again, Roger must be doing shoddy work with less than grade materials.

Less than grade materials? Well if it's stamped 18K doesn't that mean it must be 18K? How can gold, an Element in the periodic table be below grade when it's melted and poured into a mold? Doesn't the Karat designation give you the gold content of the metal alloy? I'm completely confused.

Okay.... Seeing how I get salesman talk I gotta be smart. I know that 9999 pure gold is sold by troy ounce (31.103 grams) I also know that Peter claimed that 26 grams of my rings total weight was representative weight of the pure gold mixed into the ring alloy (as this was his argument against Roger. I also knew based on the Royal Canadian Mint and CNN that a troy ounce of Gold sells for $440 US or $550CDN (Approx.)

So Based on Peter's Argument, I came up with this breakdown. Don't you love math?

Vandenberg's
Cost of Precious metals: ---------------------- $550/31.103* 26 = $460 approx
Cost of diamond .05c: ------------------------ approx $80
(Look at the fudge factor I gave he said $65 on the phone)
Cost of workmanship: ------------------------ $860
Total: ---------------------------------------- $1400

Roger Watson
Cost of Precious metals: ---------------------- $550/31.103* 26 = $460 approx
Cost of diamond .05ct: ----------------------- $100 (remember the diamond was extra in Roger's quote)
Cost of workmanship: ------------------------ $390
Total: ---------------------------------------- $950

I emailed the first part of that to Peter. Asking with these assumptions are correct, or even close. I also asked him to clarify the cost of the rings and give me a breakdown of costs. I didn't ask a shop rate as that is futile and uninteresting. I asked cost of Precious metals, cost of workmanship and other costs.

It's been 3 days and no reply. I've begun to wonder... Is the Jewellery Industry Corrupt and Messed up, or Am I just Stooopid?

Maybe the Better Business Bureau can help solve this.....

Continued in Part 3....

Part1. Am I Stoopid, or is the Jewellery Industry Corrupt and Messed Up?

2005-04-27T15:01:00.000-05:00

So, some of you know that I'm engaged, no news there. A couple months ago, we went to the Wonderful Wedding Show at the Convention Centre. One of the booths on displays was from Vandenberg's Fine Jewellery. They were offering to take photos of engagement rings for free consultations on custom wedding band design. Although we were quite pleased with the custom made engagement ring that I bought at Roger Watson Jewellers, we were planning on purchasing the wedding bands there. Nonetheless we figured lets see what Vandenberg's has to offer. We had the ring photographed.

About 5 weeks ago, Vandenberg's called us to set up an appointment for the consultation and we did. We went to Vandenberg's on April 16th. We spent about 90 minutes in their store working on the computer generating a design we liked for the wedding bands. Once all was said and done. I asked the big question; Cuánto Dinero? Wieviel? Or simply… How much?

Peter did a quick Alt+Tab to Excel. and an Uber complex spreadsheet opened.

Let’s see….
Her ring is 6mm wide, so about 18 gram weight gold in 18K.. that would be $668
My ring is 9mm wide, but bulkier, so about 25 gram weight gold in 18K, plus the .05ct diamond so $1400

…Silence...... I'm sure the hamsterwheel in my head could be heard across the room.... Her engagement ring, which was also 18K gold, was $550ish plus the ROCK; and it was wider than the wedding band was said to be... this is weird...

We asked Peter for a print out of the drawing he made, no go unless we place a $150.00 down payment (makes sense. He does the design and wants to get the business.)

I ask him to repeat the ring's specifics. I quickly jotted them down on the back of his business card. I looked at my fiancée and started mumbling to her. Peter then got up and told us he’d give us some space to discuss this. Once he left we commented on how we could have used a camera phone or my Palm pilot’s camera…. I then got another business card and hand drew the rings on the back.

I then told him I don’t like to make decisions like this without sleeping on it. We left and headed off to Roger Watson for another quote…..

Part two to come....

Frustration with the Buy and Sell

2005-04-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

It's Thursday afternoon, I just got home from a funeral, and The following message from the Buy and Sell Paper appeared on my answering machine. (I muted the volume for the name of the employee to protect her identity)

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Buy and Sell, the publication is owned by the Trader Company. The same company that owns the flashy Autotrader, Bike trader etc. The buy and Sell is a Free Ad publication, that for years has been offering people ads free of charge to sell their stuff. Businesses have to pay for advertisements. In the past businesses have been identified by their phone number.

I've had some crap cluttering my basement for a while now. So I've been faxing in ads to the buy and sell for several months. My ads have not changed, aside from Dollar value and this week an addition of a portable television.

Initially I noticed that my ad for the computer system with built in satellite receiver wasn't printing. I couldn't figure out why. Perhaps I missed a deadline? Ah well.. I'd keep faxing it in.

Weeks later... Roughly four weeks ago, the buy and sell called me saying that my satellite equipment ad may no longer run for free because they think I'm making money off them by running a free ad and selling large quantities. My reply was simply, "No, I've been relisting the same ad because I've had no calls." They politely told me that because of the problems with people making a private business out of "illegal" satellite sales, I may no longer run my ad. Okay I can accept that.

The following week I got a call that my computer ad was rejected as it offered an upgrading service, hence considered a business. My ad read that I wanted $250 for a PC for an extra $100 I'd add extra memory, better video card, and a DVB card (That's the satellite card that caused me grief in the satellite heading. But only a geek knows what a DVB card does.) I explained that I wasn't offing an upgrade, but rather that the PC was beefed up, and I know that the demand would be limited so I wanted to offer both configurations. I was asked to re-word the ad and fax it in and it would be ok.

One week later, the ad I reworded was scheduled to run. I got a call from the Buy and Sell. They told me that their computer indicated that I told them I buy and Sell computers as a part time business? Pardon me? Umm.. I told them the exact opposite. I can be fired due to conflict of interest for such things.. Duhh.. So after 20 minutes on the phone they agreed to let the ad run so long it isn't changed.

Last week, no problems! Sold a motorcycle part from one of my ads.

Today I get the message you hear above. My first reaction was Great! What ad will you heckle me about next?

I'm now waiting for the Manager at the Buy and Sell to call me back to explain their policy to me. Apparently 6 parts for a motorcycle is the maximum per annum. Because otherwise I'm "running a business or have a basement full of stuff." STOP..

Exactly. I have a basement full of crap. I'm trying to clean up this crap, by listing ads. People may not need these parts today, but perhaps in 5 weeks when something breaks on them. So that's why I'm renewing my ads.

I renewed my FSFR.com account today (before the call from the Buy and Sell) and I will be listing my stuff there.

I'm fed up with the Buy and Sell. Completely pissed. As the editor of a Newsletter, I know where revenue comes from Distribution and Printing costs are easily made up by advertising (and the Buy and sell has may company ads). Furthermore they charge $4.00 for the printed mag. So why charge me $7 for an ad for a $20.00 part I have been listing for free for a long time without luck of selling. Regardless of if my item sold last week, isn't my content contributing to the size of the magazine which increases the value to the buyer of the printed mag? Doesn't this mean that continuing to run my ad is in their best interest?

I don't get it. I'm just frustrated..... Grrrrrr

Lance Armstrong To Retire after the Tour De France.

2005-04-19T00:11:00.000-05:00

Lance Armstrong has announced that this year's Tour de France (july 2nd - 24th) will be the end of his professional bicycle racing career. Although not a road racing fan myself, Lance was and will be an inspiration to many men for years to come. To many Americans he is what Terry Fox is to Canada.

In 1994 Lance was diagnosed with Brain, Lung and testicular cancer. He was given a 40% chance to live. In 1997 he was declared Cancer free and shortly there after; in 1999 he won his first Tour de France. Since then he's done this another 5 times. This year he's hoping for a record 7th win. (which would break his own record.) Lance was quoted,

"If I was to win it, I would be the oldest champion in modern history and my dream is to go out on top."

That being said, Lance has commited to walking away, win or lose. "I'll definitely have the itch to return but the decision is final - I'm 100% committed," he said in a recent interview.

People like Lance don't come around too often, but when they do the people of the world stop, listen, watch and dream once again.

Best of luck to you Lance!

Winnipeg Fun Rally Rules.

2005-04-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

Since I wrote about the Rally I wanted to touch on the rules.

1. Have fun
2. DO NOT speed or break any laws during this event.
3. You may call friends for help
4. You may use a Road Map
5. You MAY NOT use a GPS or other routing/ auto mapping device.
6. You need a vehicle with a functioning Odometer
7. You need a clip board and pen
8. Cell phones are recommended but not neccessary.
9. When directions are given on the sheets, they must be followed.
10. Have Fun
11. See Rule #1
12. See Rule #9

Hope to see you there!!!!!
-Pickle.

Amazing Winnipeg UnRace

2005-04-18T23:38:00.000-05:00

Spring is here, and I wanted to put on a car rally for the Car Club that was a little different than the one's we've had in the past. In the past we've always hosted TSD Rallies, and although fun, they usually don't draw the attention of many members. This time I decided to do a Fun Rally that was a cross between say The Amazing Race and a TSD Rally. The rally is partially clue based with stuff Like "Find the picnic table in Bunns Creek park with the following etched into the table Top. "E.H. + K.R." You will find your next set of directions there." That's why I've named it the Amazing Winnipeg UnRace. It can not be a race as we can't allow speeding so the emphasis isn't on speed it's on driving efficently. Complete this rally with the minimum amount of Kilometers driven! This will be tough as some things may be quicker to get to one way but WAY shorter to get to another way.

The Club's Past President, David Grant has been the rally master for a few years now. It's great that he's willing to orgainize the rallies all the time, because it is a lot of work. But we wanted him to have a chance to participate at the rally for once instead of always hosting the rally. After discussing this at one of our monthly Meetings at Grapes, I decided to take on this challenge. Since I don't want to steal the TSD Rally thunder from David, I wanted to do something different. David's rallies are a lot of fun, and I did learn some things from him also.

This will be my first attempt at hosting a rally of any kind. I'm a little nervous about it, but I think people will really love it.

You may be asking yourself, how do I get involved? Well it's simple. First Email the Red River Region PCA Editor at RRREditor@mts.net Members of the PCA get to participate for FREE. All others pay $5.00 per car to enter. (this helps pay for all the prizes.) Then simply show up on Saturday April 30th 2005 at Autohaus Porsche at 1PM. Sign your waiver, pay your $5.00 end enjoy the 2 hours of fun that await you. Since this event requires me to have remote clues stashed ahead of time it's critical that those attending do email me ahead of time. I can accommodate some walk ons, but not too many.

Depending on how many people show up, there will be a prize for everyone. I'm hoping for a big success. If not, then at very least I'm hoping to learn how to make a better rally in the future.

Hope to see you there.

Sign the Petition Asking U2 to Perform in Winnipeg

2005-04-13T09:37:00.000-05:00

Somebody has made a petition requesting that the U2 Management consider a tour stop in Winnipeg. Why do we even need to do this? What happened to the promises of Big Names arriving with the MTS Centre? Rod Stewart, Motley Crue, Randy Bachman, Bob Seger.. these are the people that performed at MTS Centre... are these the Big Bands we were promised? No offense to any fans of these people, heck I'm a fan of the Crue too, but come on... these bands are all fading. They're Glory Days were in the 80's... Who's next Whitesnake and Poison? Maybe the Bangles? If these stars were in the sky we'd call them White Dwarfs! This isn't what we meant with Big Names!

I guess some people would argue the same point with U2. They've been around for a few decades now, and a good chunck of their fans are aging with them. But those people are wrong! I don't see a Bob Seger iPod, or the MotleyCrue Mp3 Player! That alone says something about U2. People are still buying their recordings in masses.

Now that I've whined go sign the petition so we can get U2 back to the 'Peg! My signature was number 7751 We need WAY more than that to show the U2 management we mean business!

The slow Death of the Citizen's Band

2005-04-11T09:56:00.000-05:00

On Friday, I installed a CB Radio in my truck. It took about 20 minutes to do, and it seems to work fairly well when I tested it against a handheld unit I have. However, the radio was quite silent I was in the truck over the weekend. Maybe there's a need for a tweak, or maybe I'm just too old.

I remember being 16 years old. I bought my first car from my Uncle. It was a 1980 Plymouth Volare. I paid a $600.00 for the car. The very first thing I did with this car after I insured it was drive down to my buddy Bob's house, picked him up and then nailed the train tracks on his road at 100KM/h successfully bringing all four wheels off the ground for a few seconds.

Shortly thereafter I installed a CB radio in it also. An older Jana 40 channel that was given to me from a friend who's dad owned a trucking company. I used to hit channel 2 or 10 whenever I drove to Winnipeg for work. and it was always busy. 10 - 15 people chatting away about anything under the sun. Channel 19 was (and still is favored by truckers) and there were patches of other people on other channels. This was of Course all before the days of cheap cell phones and the Internet.

After I sold the Volare, I didn't use the cb for a few years. Only on occassion when I was driving down the highways with friends. It wasn't until I got my van in 1999 that I would start to use the CB again.

This was short lived. I think I only talked on the van CB once or twice. Casual evening radio buffs had probably moved to the Internet chat lines by now.

I gave the CB another chance in 2002 on a road trip to Pennsylvania. Surprisingly, I found the radio more useful than my Radar detector. The traffic on the radio kept me informed of upcoming speed traps weather and even directions when construction zones blocked major routes. I instantly became a CB Supporter again.

I bought another vehicle off my uncle. This time it was a 1987 Nissan King Cab truck. I wanted to install my CB from 2002 but when I tested to see if it still worked, I accidently burned it out wit reverse polarity. I felt like a major dolt for doing it too. My buddy Richard gave me his CB unit to install in the truck and well.. so far it's been very quite but only time will tell if the days of the CB are history.

Google Sat Maps! Photo of my parent's place

2005-04-05T10:52:00.000-05:00

Google Sat Maps! Photo of my parent's place,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

Google's done it again! Google maps now has a Satellite mapping option. These pictures are full color and appear to be fairly recent as Winnipeg's Riverfront Drive and the round-a-bouts are on the maps. The MTS Centre is on the map too. The details vary depending on where you zoom in. I guess the more remote areas are updated less frequently also.

This is a free service (so far) and most impressive, One day I bet GPS software will have these kinds of maps standard.

The only thing I noticed so far, is that I couldn't pin point according to Co-ordinates. That may have been user error, or maybe it'll be a possibility in the future. For now, Mapquest is history.

See if you can see your home. go to http://maps.google.com

The Pickle Tests Audio Blogger.

2005-04-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

After I signed up at Audioblogger.com All it took was a call into (661) 716-blog. You simply record yourself on the voicemail system, after you log in, and the message you leave is instantly saved as MP3 and posted into your blog. The blog has no title, and no write up, so logging into blogger to update the post is a good idea.

This would be a great way to get your thoughts onto your blog if you're on vacation. Just click on teh link above and you'll see how simple it can be. Best of all.....It's FREE!!!

Saskatchewan Mineral Spa Shoot-Out Part 2

2005-03-29T00:55:00.000-06:00

The Spa +39 degree water 0 degree Weather!,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

So, we did appreciate the mineral content of the water and won't dispute the minerals therapeutic benefits, but this weekend was about a get away and some her and I quiet time. When we returned to the hotel room we decided not to stay the second night if we could get in at the Temple Gardens. I called the Temple and they had a room for $110.00 a night. We figured that essentially we'd be paying close to the same but getting 4 1/2 star service. True our room now was $88.00 and the temple was $110, but puchasing 2 day passes to the spa was an extra 11.70 after tax and Manitou Springs expected a $2.00 towel rental for the mineral pools. We'd definitely need more than the towels available in our rooms if we were going to get the day pass!

The drive to Moose Jaw was only 1 hour 45 minutes, yet it placed us 2 hours closer to home for the drive because we'd head home on the Trans Canada instead ( and my chance of getting a photo of the inukshuk disappeared.) Another missed photo opp. came when we passed some interesting landscape and some old barns. But Spilled milk right?

We arrived in Moose Jaw at 2:15 pm, and headed straight to the hotel (located at N50 23.562 W105 32.020). The hotel staff saw the huge grins on our faces and commented on how happy we looked to be there and he was right! Our room wasn't ready but another one was, and we got it instead. The room was nicely decorated with modern lamps fancy chairs and a fresh smell. Television offered full cable, internet and video on demand. Unlimited Mineral Pool access was included, of course. New looking towels and bathrobes were in the room waiting for us. We headed to the pool and relaxed. The water here is perfectly clear and you sink like anywhere else. this spring water comes from a porous rock formation underground and is 40+ degrees so they sometimes cool it before using it in the pool. The pool is an inside/outside pool that offers the ability to totally relax. Although the mineral content isn't as rich as Manitou Springs, Temple Gardens is more of a relatation resort.

We caved and even ordered Room Service for the first time in our lives. Awesome! You gotta try this.

All in all we had a blast this weekend. For rest and relaxation, I recommend the Temple. For all around Therapeutic treatment, I recommend Temple Gardens also. However for a Mineral intense bath, I'd recommend Manitou Springs for one night only. Then go to Temple Gardens for the second!

Saskatchewan Mineral Spa Shoot-Out Part 1

2005-03-28T23:12:00.000-06:00

Kerri and I decided that a Weekend get away was WAY over due. So we decided to head to Saskatchewan for a weekend at the Mineral Spa. I need to stress that a few years ago, we did stay at Temple Gardens, and really enjoyed ourselves so this time we decided to try the Manitou Springs Hotel and Spa in Manitou Beach (near Watrous). Those were the best directions the hotel could give me!

The Drive from Winnipeg to Watrous is quite fun. Prairie driving may include mostly straight lines without hills, but being that the route to Watrous was along the Yellow Head Trail, so travellers of the trans Canada Highway will have the option of a change in scenery. When you go, have a camera ready. There were a couple spots I wish I stopped to take a shot. First one came about 50 kms into saskatchewan. A small road called Palestine Rd. I guess I thought it was an out of place road name for the area.

About 1/2 hour West of Yorkton we passed by a InukShuk on the side North of the Highway. I told myself, "we want to go to the Spa, we'll stop on the way back for a photo." (never say this just stop!) Missed photo opp #2

Next Missed photo opp was Kandahar Saskatchewan. Again. out of place city this time.

Using my trusty GPS I decided to disobey the directions on the highway and instead followed the GPS' "shortest route". Well 15KMs of wet, sloppy, muddy gravel road was my reward for wanting to be efficient.

We rolled into Manitou beach and found the hotel at (N51 43.244 W105 26.685) on a gravel road of all places. The outside looked weathered and a little worn, but this cuold have been because it was on the beachfront.
The lobby was as plain as a small town motel office, and the staff didn't acknowledge my arrival at first. No big deal we were there for the Mineral Water! and the place was only $88 per night.

There's only one entrance and the parkting was around the side of the building, no big deal... the Water... the Water will be great! The elevator was slower than molasses but alas we arrived at our room. We put the key(not card key. This place is old school) in the door and entered the room.

The television offered 3 channels of poor reception enjoyment, the brass light was old and wouldn't stand straight and finally there was no temperature control in the room. that's okay the Water will make up for it. Besides the place is $20 a night cheaper than the Temple Gardens and the were booked this weekend anyway.

Off to the pool
We grabbed our pool tickets, (one pass per day extra $5.00 per person for unlimited pool access) and headed poolside. Entering the pool was like going to a public pool a pay station and then changerooms to seperate men and women. (I guess this is for non hotel guests?) We came out of the change rooms and noticed two things One, the place was uber crowded and two, the water looked like Red River Water. This is apparently because of the high mineral content. The water has a gravity or 1.06 which makes it similar to the Dead Sea. This water is quite amazing as you become so buoyant you can not sink.

The pool is seperated into three areas; the 35 degree pool, which is the temperature of your average public pool and has the 9 feet deep end; the 37 degree outer pool which is only .9 metres deep and the 39 degree hot pool which is a semi enclosed area of the 37 degree pool. The water's mineral content can not be disputed. I hadn't shaved in 5 days but when my chin went under water I felt the tingling of the minerals in the areas I normally get razor burned. any scratch on my body was also extra sensitive.

The hotel didn't recommend water rations for people using the hot pools and we got thirsty quick. We couldn't leave unless we wanted to pay to re-enter and no water fountain was visible. This was poor planning on the mgmt. side. Also, the water being so rich in color must make it hard to clean. The water is not chloronated (I bet nothing survives in this water anyway) and sweeping the pool for dirt and foreign objects must be tough because you can't see anything. This might explain why I stepped on a band aid and saw a cotton ball floating in the water. definitely an "Ick" factor.

I can definitely see how this place attracts people from around the globe the water was simply amazing, but the hotel needs some TLC and focus toward giving guests some added umpff for their coin. Essentially, why stay at the shoddy hotel when the water comes from the lake and it can be used for free in the summer??

Continued on Part two.

Photo Radar Stealth Device

2005-03-28T23:10:00.000-06:00

Photo Radar Stealth Device,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

We took a drive through the Prairie land this weekend on a quest to rate two of the mineral Spas in Saskatchewan. On the drive between Manitou Springs Hotel and Spa and Temple Gardens, this truck pulled onto the road in front enough. He didn't cut us off, but I had to brake substantually. We had a good chuckle at what we believe this "farmer" may have done to make his truck "photo radar stealth".

More on the trip next blog.

Time really is relative and Bill Gates knows this.

2005-03-24T11:59:00.000-06:00

This morning Bruce was working on some stuff on our PVCS server here at work. While running a file compare on several files he checked out of PVCS he noticed that the Modified Time on those files he checked out onto the Windows XP were different from the exact same files checked out onto the Novell Network. The time difference was exactly one hour.

What we determined is that Windows will adjust the time in accordance to it's own time settings. If you change your time zone, your file modified timestamps will change. Therefore in Windows, Time is Relative. So can you even trust Date Related File Attributes? I don't think so.

I did a little experiement. I took a text file that's on my hard drive, and did the following. for sake of argument the file will be called index.html (modified Date: 05/14/2004 11:42am)

Changed Local windows setting from CST to CDT by advancing the month to April.
- File Time advanced 1 hour to 12:43pm
Moved index.html to the LAN where windows can't control the date paramenters.
Changed Local Windows time back to CST by setting month back to March
Moved index.html back to my hard drive.
- File Time stayed at 12:43pm
Changed Local windows setting from CST to CDT by advancing the month to April.
- File Time advanced 1 hour to 1:43pm
Moved index.html to the LAN where windows can't control the date paramenters.
Changed Local Windows time back to CST by setting month back to March
Moved index.html back to my hard drive.
- File Time stayed at 1:43pm
Changed local time to (GMT+2:00 Cairo)
- File Date/ Time ajusted to 05/19/2004 6:43AM
Moved index.html to the LAN where windows can't control the date paramenters.
Changed Local Windows time back to cst and Central Time
Moved index.html back to my hard drive.
- File Date/ Time stayed at 05/19/2004 6:43AM

I understand why this happens. If time's relative and I save this blog at 12:05PM it's really 1:05PM in Toronto. Also a File I changed in June of 2004 may have been changed at 11:30am but the fact that it's now Standard time I really did this at 10:30am in relation to the current time structure. To prevent people from doing needless math, Microsoft decides to "Fix" this for you. This can cause problems too.

In the past there have been many incidents regarding Daylight Savings Time changes. My issue isn't that Microsoft does this, (I haven't decided for sure yet.) my real issue is that Billy boy must think that EVERY computer out there is running Windows® and that all systems will accommodate this. This is either very optimistic, arrogant or merely an oversight. However, the excuse of, "Sorry Prof. My essay is late because my printer broke and my Internet was down, but the file date proves I was done on time." doesn't hold water anymore.

My puffer Fish.

2005-03-22T22:32:00.000-06:00

A month ago, I bought my fiancee a new aquarium for her birthday. She already had a 15 gallon tank, but wanted to move bigger. I gave her a 35 gallon tank and built her a stand. Unfortunately, most of the fish in the 15 galloner got infected with an internal parasite known as Camallanus. A.K.A. "Ass worms". Awe checked the Internet for treatments etc. Would you believe it. We called almost everywhere. No one had treatment for internal parasites in stock. we tried the old trick of adding salt and boosting the heat, but alas, the majority of the fish were goners.

We slowly built up the new tank. Now properly cycled, we went out and bought a couple fish on Friday. I picked out a figure 8 Puffer. I named him Elliot. How did I come up with that? Simple. Puffer fish = puff. Puff was the Magic Dragon. Pete's had a Dragon. Pete's Dragon was Elliot. So my puffer is named Elliot.
Here's a picture of the little guy!

You can see in the photo that he just ate. He's a little pig!

My first Blog.

2005-03-22T21:17:00.000-06:00

Just set up my blog. Hi All I'm the German Pickle. The story of the name to follow. This blog will be about everything under the sun. This blog will be the Pickle's Perspective.