Site overhaul on the way

I finally figured out how to kludge categories in a convincing, and effective way, so I am going to overhaul the crap out of this place once I finish working the kinks out in my dev region. I think you will observe little or no difference style wise but I will be adding categories to the right hand nav, and you will see posts with [something] in their titles. These [] will be their categories, and you will be able to use the left hand nav to view the current posts from those categories, or to view archives of a specific category. Here's hoping it all works out!

Geoff

Character Encoding in Java

Usually I wouldn't comment on work, but this is so generic, and so weird I had to. I have had a problem where a java byte array was converted to a String and then back to a byte array, and in the process changed. I thought this was strange, and it was causing a problem with my application, so I investigated. For those kids with computers at home you can follow along with this code sample.

import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;

public class TestBuffers {
public static void main(String[] args) {
byte[] bytes = new byte[256];

for (int i = 0; i < bytes.length; i++) {
bytes[i] = (byte) i;
}
try {
String s1 = new String(bytes, "IBM-037");
byte[] b1 = s1.getBytes();
byte[] b2 = s1.getBytes("IBM-037");

for (int i = 0; i < b2.length; i++) {
String temp =
i
+ " "
+ Integer.toHexString(bytes[i])
+ " "
+ Integer.toHexString(b2[i]);
System.out.print(temp);

if (bytes[i] != b2[i]) {
System.out.print(" different");
}
System.out.println("");
}
} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}


So if you run this what do you see? Well it is pretty normal except for IBM-037 0x25, which magially becomes IBM-037 0x15.

Essentailly the first conversion turns an EBCDIC LF to a Unicode LF, then the second coversion turns the Unicode LF into a EBCDIC NL, weird eh?

The Last Christmas

Those great guys over at PA have done it again, other then bringing in a wallop of toys and cash for kids at children's hospitals all over the States (http://www.childsplaycharity.org/). They have also crafted a timeless Christmas tale for a new generation. Beware, it includes Cthulhu. They have posted the first few pages, and the rest are forthcoming, presumably it will also be published in a physical format. I think this just proves me right, that terrifying and horrible things are great topics for children's books. I originally wanted these guys (in my imagination) to illustrate my stupid Spinal Fairy story, which still makes me chuckle (worry about my sanity, but chuckle.) I mean this is raw fairy tail material, dating right back to those crazy Brother Grim who fed Grandma to the wolf, and stuffed a bunch of fat Hungarian children into the oven. Over time these tales got toned down as kids got wussy, but at their heart they were bizarre and strange.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Don't Panic

I give you this friendly and helpful recommendation because it is pertinent, and topical. First of all this post is about the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,

In fact, it was probably the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor--of which no Earthman had ever heard of either.
Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, but it is a highly successful one--more popular than the Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty-Three More Things to Do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Colupbid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters, Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Great Mistakes, and Who Is This God Person Anyway?
In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it is inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.

and like the last post it is about a book that is being turned into a movie that is very different from the book. If you look here you can watch the trailer for the new movie, whose tagline is something along the lines of "Go on the greatest adventure in the universe, that starts after the world ends." Then if you dig around on that site some more, you can get all sorts of news about the movie, including that the screenplay was mostly written by that mostly harmless fellow Douglas Adams, premortem. Further more the story is supposed to be from a whole new angle, with new characters, new plot elements, and apparently Zaphod's second head is up his nose! So here is hoping its good, I know I'll go watch it.

Now the endearing and heart warming part of this story is that my younger brother Alex, who is one hip and groovy frood saw the trailer in the theater and cheered (alone.) Thus giving lie to his hip and groovy froodness and asserting his inner nerd. There is hope for him yet.

The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum

Wow, what a book, I haven't been grabbed so tightly and taken for such a ride by a book in a while, mostly because I am reading Ed Greenwood, and his work has really gone down the crapper, but enough about Ed. From my book slump I decided it was time to branch into something new and random, or buy a bunch of hard covers. My pocket book being empty I opted for something in the new, random, and cheap pile. So I went to the library (cheapest pile of all.) Well almost cheapest, I had almost $10.00 worth of fines on my account, but they were mostly from my brother, I digress.

Since my usual fare is Sci-fi and Fantasy, I thought a little bit of cloak and dagger would be a nice change. Little did I know that the cloak and dagger / spy genre was actually the SUPPPPPPPPPER THRILLLLLLLLER genre! I actually discovered this much later, (in fact after I finished reading the book, I read the 'about the author' section, and discovered that Robert Ludlum was a master of the super thriller genre.

To insure an easy first step into this world, I figured go with what you know. Having recently watch the movie of The Bourne Identity, and enjoyed it, I figured the original novel was a good candidate. So off to the library I went, paid some fines, and carried away the book, much like a k-9 follows a command obediently for promise of a treat.

Since then I have been quite enamored with the book, it is a well written, interesting, and exciting book (much more so then that bland review of it.) What amazed me was that in spite having seen the movie I pretty much only knew one secret that the book had to reveal, and that was the main characters name was Jason Bourne (sort of,) but I mean the cover gives half of that away anyways.

Like I know books often get lost in translation, and a good book often doesn't always equate to a good movie, but to have a good book, and a good movie based on it, and then realize that the two of them are about as different as night and day was startling.

So in conclusion, if you liked the movie, you should like the book, but if you have seen the movie, you haven't spoiled the book, so go read it!

"I'm Listening" and mostly to myself

I've always enjoyed the show Frasier for a long time, I've always had a sort of kinship with the main character, and I don't think I have ever realized why until last night / today. It all started with an episode, that I watched last night, where Frasier finally realizes why he is so unlucky in love. The rational is because subconsciously he compares every woman he has ever dated with the next one, and he pushes away those who would be good with him, or picks ones who he can find flaws in. The reason being that he makes sure it's easy to reject them before he gets rejected, stemming from all the women who have left him in the past, (three wives and his mother.) The root is that he over analyses everything as a defense mechanism.

In a way I think this is my problem with a lot of things, mostly likely my contentment, I am generally not all that content a person, I in fact have an inexplicable power to discontent myself with anything and everything, and I think it is because my mind works at about a mile a minute, and that's on a slow day. It's strange, but when I am disappointed (at anything) I can focus my mind in such a way as to turn all possible causes on myself, and further my melancholy. I can really over emphasize any emotion by just thinking myself into it, but it seems easier with the broody-moody ones. The quandary of it all is that stress is both the cause and the cure. When times are stressful it gets worse, but when times are REALLY REALLY stressful, when there is hardly time to breath, let alone think, I am fine. When my focus is at its strongest on a problem that needs solving I am on my game, but when the pressure eases back, and fatigue sets in, BOOM I'm right back in it. I just wish there was a less stressful ways to filter and focus the old noggin, because it has a nasty habit of spoiling things for me, not the least of which is my mood.

So really what I am saying is the some days, I really piss me off, and I'm not even schizophrenic.

Darkness

Darkness shrouds the city; rain dusts the streets and muffles the sounds of morning. Orange beacons of light are quenched by the gloom, and here I am, awake, waiting. The rain slicks off my trench coat, rivulets of water form between the folds in the cloth. The wide brim of my fedora catches most of what rain was headed for my face, but still water beads across my lens, giving what light remains a twinkling appearance. Cold in my hand is my revolver, the steel bites at my hand sucking out the warmth, as if draining the very life from me. The gun gleams, proclaiming to the world, I shall take a life tonight.

As a rule, I don't like to kill, but my quarry has made it clear he has no such qualms with that particular deed. The cold icy rain is juxtaposition to the hot life the poured out of my partner's chest. I liked that dame, and there wasn't a damn thing she did to deserve those to slugs, and I was going to make sure they got back to their owner.

I was as taut as the cables on the Golden Gate Bridge, and I felt like I was carrying just as much weight. I felt the slightest move and I might shatter into a million pieces. Every out of place sound seemed to rake on my nerves, until all I noticed were the little things, and not the big black car that drove past. Unfortunately, the car noticed me. With squealing tires, the car came about.

I had found my man; the problem was he had found me first. Like a jack rabbit, I leapt out of the way, and rolled through a deep puddle. Standing up, I bolted as the driver once more skidded around to bear down on me. I ran, behind me the demon eyes of his black Cadillac. With a spryness not seen since my youth I fled, up the sidewalk. Risking a glance over my shoulder, I cocked my revolver and let fly hot lead. The recoil shook my soul, hammering home the choice I made; it was my life, or his.

The bullet did not find its mark, but left one in his grill, in my head I counted 'one.' Realizing the limit of my chances; the size of a man's head behind the wheel of a monstrous car; and the unsteadiness of my hand I had come too the only rational conclusion I could: get him out of the car.

In the distance, my solution, a parked dump truck whose brute like girth stoically waiting in the dark of night. With keen incite I cultivated my plan, timing would have to be perfect, and time I was running out of. Quickly I redirected my path towards the rear of the truck, and with reckless abandon opened fire on my pursuer.

'two,'
'three,'
'four,'
'five,'

The cacophony of death, muted by gloom that held the city in its thrall, rang from my hand. Each bullet ripped through the air with unlikely precision, as if my hand guided by Athena, and my enemy's heel exposed. Each one found its mark, and that mark was the radiator of my foe's chariot.

Banshees of steam erupted from beneath the hood, screaming with a fury that could curdle your blood. With his vision blocked my hunter lost control of his car. He quickly discovered that he was now holding his sword by the blade. His fate sealed I dived out of the way as his car careened into the waiting truck. Steel on Steel they tested each others mettle, but his car was no David, and so Goliath won.

From the smoking wreckage, I heard a noise, it was almost a whimper, almost a moan, but it meant he was alive, at least for now. I moved quickly to his window and made to shatter it with the butt of my gun, but the crash has already done that job for me.

With one hand holding, a now steady, aim on his head, the other reached into his pocket and removed the small, unassuming, statue that had cause such carnage. His body seemed to relax as it the falcon statue had weighed greatly on him. His ease lasted only moments as I cocked my revolver. His eyes widened, his pupils dilated, he stammered out,
"You got what you came for. Now go!"

I paused, not to consider my next action, but to let him suffer in the moment. Dangling hope and mercy that he would never have given me, and then I let him know as much.
"Oh, the falcon bought your life, but now you have to pay for hers."
'six'

Once more into the cold I set out, this time the revolver was warm in my hand, contented to not leach away my life, as it was sated with the one it had ended. Dawn was coming, the dawn after the storm, it would still be gray, it's always gray, but it would be lighter, and so would the burden I carry.

Next Post

The next post I am about to make is a story I wrote a few weeks back, but never finished. It doesn't come from any darker part of me, so people who might be worried don't be, I just wrote something that would let me do a few things. The first was let be abuse the English language, I wield some literary devices around like a neural surgeon with a baseball bat. The second was to amuse myself, I always have had a quirky thing for cliche's and detective stories, so I thought something in that genre might be fun. The third was because the morning I started it was raining, the city was muted, and my glasses were all speckled with water, so I was inspired.
I write a lot of things like this, that is randomly inspired oddments, and most of them end up getting deleted, but I tripped over it at lunch and figured it only required a little bit of work to be serviceable. So I serviced it and now here it is.

Soooo cold

cold, originally uploaded by gcpeart.

Well the mercury says it all, today is a cold one. Hell the car barely started, and took a while to warm up enough that it would drive. I hope it warms up soon, I would hate to spend a week commuting at these temperatures.

House n'Stuff

Well there are the weekly pictures of the house, and it is doing pretty good. We also had a chance to meet some of our neighbors down the street and like us they are a young couple, who could, but can't affoard to close early. I think their names were Andrea and Adam, but I could be wrong. In any case they seemed like nice people, and about our age, which will be cool.

In other news I am now a Sun Certified J2SE Programmer. I wrote the test on Friday, and have been studying for a quite a while. I'm glad I wrote it both to cement my knowledge, and to shore up my resume. Next up Sun Certified J2EE Business Component Developer!

This week ahead is looking kind of crazy, between work and Christmas shopping, it's going to be a busy one. At least it will end in vacation!

Until next time!

This is the upstairs hallway, it is actually the only picture from upstairs that actually worked out, on the right is the master bedroom, on the left is knee wall seperating the stairs, and in the middle is the bathroom (which also has a second entrance from the master bedroom that you can clearly see.)

The mystery crack, I am actually mildly woried about this and I am waiting on an email response form the builder. Hopefully it is nothing serious, and they will just fill it.

Natural gas water heater, I can just taste the cost savings of this over electric, mmmm savings.

And here is said monster that dwells in the basement, breathing fire! Actually it is a temporary gas heater to keep the place warm. It just looked cool.

The stairs down into the basement OooOooOOooO scary moster dwelling location.

Here is the bathroom as its getting finished, you can tell the different water proof dry wall is in here around the tub.

Here are the stairs up, everything is really put into perspective now with the walls nearing compleation, and it's a perspective I like.

Here is the drywall for the kitchen.

Here is the great room, I was having camera issues because of the light, but you can see the drywall is well way. They of course have some finishing to do on it, but all the walls are drywalled up nice.

Good morning everyone, here is our house this weekend, the siding is going in, I expect the exterior will be done by the end of the weekend. What you can't see is the garage door is actually in place, but its a nice one with windows, and multiple sections that are hinged.

Teaching Style

Trevor and I were discussing teaching style, and learning style the other day, and it made us reminisce about a particular teacher. He thought with a the shotgun of knowledge, each day blasting your head full of more stuff, until one day he blasts your head right off. I always considered him a fair teacher, in that he only tested what he taught, but dear god did he teach a lot!

On the other side you have the nambie pambie teachers who would girlie up lessons, and hold your hand to go to the bathroom, and you just didn't get anything out of those classes. For some reason I always found the courses taught by such teachers were also the courses with the easiest content, so I had wished for the shotgun of knowledge, or at least the shotgun of excitement.

Then you had the third tier of teachers, who regardless of their actual teaching style, had a testing style from hell. Enter the exam, your pumped, you know your shit, you sit down, open the book, look at the first page, second page, .... n-1 page, n page, then you go all the way back to the first page and check the course code and say "shit this is my test." They are the kind of teachers who don't actually teach what they test, only a micro subset of it, and then fail everyone, bell the grade, and leaving everyone feeling like and actual shotgun had punched a whole through their heads, or at least their egos. (I don't mean to say that super egos shouldn't be deflated, but everyone needs a little bit of self worth to get through the day, but these teachers ask you to check it at the door.)

Anyways, that's my university pigeonholing exercise for the day, I'm sure everyone has a story like this, why not post it in a comment. No names please.

G

Expecting fathers test (please note I am not an expecting father, this just amused me.)

Situation, your partner is pregnant and about to give birth. In a panic you drive her to the hospital, not in a totally logical frame of mind. As you approach, lets say the Trillium Hospital, you see a sign, which indicates level of urgency or important, a sign. On the sign are three arrows, with textual labels. One reads ?Emergency?, the next reads ?Main Entrance?, and the third reads ?Deliveries?. The question at hand is this, in your current state do you a) take your partner to the emergency room, b) check in at the main entrance, or c) Take your partner to deliveries to deliver her baby?

If unsure, the following question might help you decide.

Does UPS stand for United Pediatric Services?

If so, then your choice is clear.

What a day!

Phew, a day that should have been pretty routine, ended up going 13-14 hours, ZOWE! Thats all I can say, hopefully tommorrow is a little smoother, and a little more relaxed, then I can get back to my bloging.

Cheers.
g

Well I've run out of interesting things to say, so here is the house exterior in its most recent state. The only thing missing is the garage door and the siding. What is new is that the smal roof over the porch now has its pillars in place. What is great is that according to dave the house will be done in about 7 - 9 weeks. Within the next week the he said the furnace would be full installed and heat would be turned on in the house. I this will keep it warm for the workers, but it will also insure that nothing gets damaged by the weather. Well I'm really excited, but at a loss for more words.

Here is Erin measuring the post that seperates the kitchen from the great room, and let me tell you its a great room.

Okay I know what this is, this is the wiring on the wall of the master bedroom.

Hey everyone, as I mentioned, Erin and I went out to the house today. Dave, our builder, was really nice and gave us a good run down of everyroom. He let us know some stuff that I will save to the last post since everything gets scrolled off the page if I am not careful. So this picture is of the some wiring, but I actually can't tell what room.

Excuse me I appear to be drooling on my keyboard

look here

I will say no more

Classic Blunders

"You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The best known of course is, 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia!' But, only slightly less well known is this: 'Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!'" and only slightly less well known is this: 'Never bet on java class casting rules with a J2SE certified programmer when coffee is on the line.'

Ah The Princess Bride, so full of good things, did you know Mandy Patinkin who played Inigo Montoya has gone on to an awesome role on Dead Like Me.

Anyways free coffee here I come.

More on Mattamy Hawthorne Village

Here is a link to a article about Hawthorne Village

Mattamy Homes

I'm not sure if I have said this before, but I really respect my home builder, and so I am going to give them a little free PR to whomever reads this site.

First off my the builder of my home is Mattamy Homes. They have been around since about 1970, and if you want their canned history looked here. We got turned on to Mattamy by Erin's parents. The last two homes they have owned were both Mattamy's, and in both cases they have been extremely satisfied with the quality, and in the case of the latter house I strongly agree. I, of course, never saw the first, and Erin was too young to care or notice the finer details of home construction at that time. Suffice it to say that they were so satisfied it motivated a second purchase. So given our already high confidence in the builder they were the first place we looked. We did check out other builders, but were honestly frightened away by sketchiness which I will not enumerate here.

We started with Mattamy, and I am so glad we ended with Mattamy, but still they are not 100% rosy, so here is the negatives, and I am giving them first because they are few, and I want to get them out of the way. Really my only complaint was the 18 month timeline. Really its not the hugest complaint, it just says there are a whole lot of other people who agree with my belief that a Mattamy home is a good investment. So on the 18th of October, 2003 Erin an I put our stake in the ground, and our money on the table and put the down payment on the first big purchase of our relationship. We didn't do it alone I might add, being young an naive we brought our parents with us to get their approval. Sure I consider myself an adult, but I would consider myself a foolish adult if I did something as big as this without the support of people who have more experience in the matter then myself. We took care of the details, but it made us a whole lot more confident with the support of our families.

So young, excited, and with 18 seemingly endless months ahead of us, we tempered our enthusiasm and returned to our regularly scheduled lives. Since then I must say I have been taken by surprise. Where the sales pitch stopped the service began, and it has been phenomenal. We have received phone calls keeping us informed of the various things we needed to take care of like the design centre. The designed centre itself was a great experience, and the staff really helped us make good choices. They offered Mattamy University, which is a one evening program where you get introduced to all their support and building staff, as well as your neighbors. They take you through the details of the construction of your home, and answer any of your questions. Then through out the building processes they are completely open, you can schedule visits to your site (or covertly visit on the weekends.) They offer a guided inspection with your builder (he is the guy in charge of all the tradesmen who to the construction, he is usually an older skilled tradesman himself, with additional education. He oversees and inspects all the houses he is responsible for and assures that the highest quality is being maintained.) Our builder is Dave, and he was the one who called to book an appointment, if we wanted to come out and see the house with him, before the dry wall goes up. I thought GREAT! Now I can take my camera, and get an exact map of every wire and pipe in the house, in case I want to renovate later, I know where to find everything I am looking for. He will answer all our questions, and let us know how things are progressing, and where they go from here. At this point, he said, that our house is two months ahead of schedule. We actually can't afford it two months ahead, but we don't have to take it until our closing date, we are just happy to hear that it will be done on time! We have heard horror stories about other builders who are off by weeks, or even months, and with our wedding just around the corner from the house, we can't have those kind of delays.

So this is where we are now, and we still have a pre-delivery inspection, and a delivery inspection, and years of happy home ownership backed by Mattamy's warranty and quality. So I am very satisfied with Mattamy, and I recommend them to anyone looking at buying a new, or even used home! If anyone has any questions about my experience or details I would be happy to answer them.

Also you can look here and here for another recent Mattamy Purchaser from Hawthorne Village, and the Hawthorne Village forum respectively.

Geoff

Upcoming picture storm

This is a broadcast of the emergency blog warning system. This Friday marks the completion of the major structural and internal build on my house. This means I will be participating in a frame walk to become aquatinted with said internal structure, and for those things I forget, my camera will remember for me. As such, this Friday will see increase in house related posts. Do not be alarmed by long down load times as the throngs of interested people, that is those I force to, flock to this site to view this key milestone in house completion. After this post one can expect a different kind of picture post from the house, no longer will there be just studs and saw dust. Adding to this will be insulation, drywall, and fixtures, and dare I say it, cabinets! So consider thy selves warned, and enjoy! I know I will.

Running Man

Well I set a goal, as I saw it, it was an ambitious goal. 5km in less then 30 minutes. Sure I could have done it a few weeks ago in with more time, but the time limit was set by my gyms tread mill rules. So 5km, and 30 minutes, that's the goal.

As of last week I have been going to the gym about three times a week. I don't usually get any exercise on the weekend, and I usually see a set back first day back in the next week. Last week I peeked out at 4.25 km. Which was a new high. I guess those who have been following, or read the archive know I started this a few months back, and I was blogging in pretty religiously at first, but that just because tedious. I was off to a really slow start at first, I could barely run a half a kilometer, on a good day. Then I had some serious problems with my feet and legs, then inserts for my shoes, then problems with my inserts, then progress. Progress has been good.

Like I was saying, I peeked at about 4.25 km last week, and coming back this week I was certain Monday I wasn't going to get more then a 2 - 3 km warm up. So I started off slowly, then it looked like I was doing okay, so I started bringing up the speed, and then bringing it up some more, and then some more. Before I knew it my 30 minutes were up, and I had jogged 4.501km (I didn't think my time was going to make it, but I rolled past 4.5 milliseconds before the clock flashed that my time was up.)

Then today, I was cold and tired when I walked into that gym, but my first few strides felt good, so I set my starting speed to 10.1 km / h. Basically the speed I would need to maintain if I wanted to make the 5km. At the 10 minute mark I pushed the speed higher. Somewhere around 18 minutes I accidentally knocked the safety catch off resetting the speed to zero. To make up time (not that I really lost that much) I cranked the speed up some more. At about 23 minutes, at roughly 4.3 km, I had a stich in my side. So I rolled the speed down. With about 3 -4 minutes left, and some bad math I thought, hey I can still make it. So I rammed the speed back up high, and pushed on for the last few minutes. At about 29:20 I hit the 5 km mark I hit my goal and earned my rest, so I hit the cool down button, and relaxed my way though to 30 minutes, and then did my full minute of cool down after.

So Yeah ME! I hit that goal, I really thought it was a January goal, and here I am mid-December. So I am going to focus the next few weeks on making 5km the norm, not an exceptional push. I have a week and a bit holiday at the cottage which I am sure will be a bit of a set back, but this is awesome. I just got to keep pushing myself, because every time I do, I find myself giving more. Damn now I sound like a self-help guru or something.

Anyways, in spite of my achievement I am now TIRED! I am going to get some healing rest, I just thought this was something good I could share.

Next goal, climb Everest, well maybe not!

Night all.

2003_0328_052429AA

2003_0328_052429AA
Originally uploaded by gcpeart.

I know this photo is in the page already, I just wanted to test flickr

David Usher Sign's with Maplemusic Recordings

Just a quick note here, David Usher has just signed for his forth solo album with Maplemusic Recordings. By 'just signed' I mean he signed about 2 months ago, but I don't keep up on these things. I really dig his tunes, they always hit the right level of angst with me. Arguably that is more of a Moist thing then a David Usher thing, but I really dig his work as well.
Its funny, I never really considered myself a fan of Canadian music specifically, but if you look in my CD binder, taking note of the original discs more then the burned ones, they are pretty much exclusivly Canadian: David Usher, Moist, Bare Naked Ladies, and the Arrogant Worms. The only other serious non-Canadian contender for room is Weird Al.

Oh well.

The Dark Lives of Spinal Pixies

Deep within the dark folds of your comforter, curled in the coils of your bed, live creatures of such a vile nature. They lurk in the battening of your pillow top, waiting. They are the Spinal Pixies, and today we shall look into their world, and understand their fiendish nature. Oh wait here come two now, lets have a listen:

"Oy! Chuck pass me the 'umber 2 drill."

"Ummm, okay boss." He replied with an orcish grunt. His voice having all the elocution of half wit who was down by a third. By far the slower, and dumpier of the two reached into a hole in the mattress and withdrew a six inch rusted drill bit, locked crooked in the clutch of a hand drill. As he dragged the mechanical monstrosity to Umbrelgroglshig, the other one, the grotesque creature stumbled on a fold of the top sheet and sprawled out across the bed.

"'Areful they ye nim wit, numskull, boobled-headed ninny!" Decried Umbrelgroglshig. "Give it 'ere, 'efore you wake this bloke up."

Chuck, with great huffing and heaving, passed the drill to Umbrelgroglshig. Umbrelgroglshig took up the drill in his two immense, spindly, warty hands, and placed the pitted drill be to the human's lower back. As the drill was pressed to the skin it passed through, seemingly out of phase with reality, no skin was broken, no blood drawn, just two objects intersecting in some inconceivable way. Chuck stood to the side; a look of lust mixed with incomprehension filled his face as he stared at their victim. Umbrelgroglshig tapped his foot with his impatiens, "You gonna just stand there, or are you gonna do 'our job!"

"Ummmmm, sorry boss." Chuck sputtered out, as he traversed his way to the head of the slumbering human. Flapping his ragged bat like wings, which seemed impossible small to actually lift the tubby beast, Chuck raised up to the nose of the unsuspecting sleeper. Placing his hairy armpit to the nose of the human, Chuck then gritted in deep concentration, and great waves of stink lurched forth from his underarm, seemingly repulsed by their own strength, and nearly visible in the still night air, the drove into the nasal cavities of this nights quarry. Swirling about the nightmarish odours filled the man with vivid dreams of dental work, whizzing drills, the smell of grinding tooth, and the stern disapproval of his flossing habits. Filled with unrest and horrors, the stage was now set for Umbrelgroglshig to begin his most sinister work.

Steel against steel the gears of the drill cried out in pain, as if they had never moved in the last 40 years. Like a terrifying shriek it pierced the stillness of the night, and then returned from the gloomy corners of the room like a haunted wail. The noise stirred a great feeling inside Umbrelgroglshig which spurred him on, enthusiastically he pressed on cranking the great drill. From the deep and rotted groves of the drill bit came the first chips of spine, fresh and white. The white gleamed in Umbrelgroglshig filling him with such joy, the same joy that the shining mane of a unicorn stirs in a maiden pure of heart.

Suddenly, the great human stirred, Chuck blurted out, "Ummmmm, he's coming around." Chuck flapped his silly wings as hard as he could and rose up of the human face. Shaken from his reviver, Umbregroglshig quickly withdrew the drill, it made and ethereal sucking pop as with came free of the humans back. He tossed the drill to Chuck who was hovering above their mattress cave entrance. Chuck grabbed the drill from midair and suddenly found his scrawny wings unable to support himself and the drill. With futile flapping he sunk into their cave like a fish swimmer off the mafia docks of New York.

With unexpected speed and agility Umbregroglshig collected the fragments of spine he had so carefully mined. Each one a precious gem, he tucked them safely into his ore pouch. Then as the flesh back came rolling down on him from above, he dove for the safety of his cave. The human sealed the dark entrance with his back, like the slamming of the cover of a book.

Both Umbregroglshig, and Chuck panted with exhaustion from the flurry of activity, then in the darkness they began to laugh, a laugh of evil, a laugh most foul. Opening the ore bag, Umbregroglshig peered inside and laughed louder yet. As these words came to his lips, the darkness gathered close to bear witness to their sinister promise. "A great 'aul we have had 'ere Chuck, a great 'aul indeed. Soon we shall have enough, enough to trade to our dark masters, enough to trade for dark powers..." Then once more he broke into an evil and maniacal cackle, to which joined in with the guffawing laugh of the minion.

So now you know good readers of the dark and dreadful realm of the Spinal Pixies. Should you awake one morning from frightful dreams and sore back, you may think to yourself what a terrible bed I must have. Or perhaps, just maybe, it is not the bed that is so terrible, but those who live inside it!

Geoffrey Peart
Copyright 2004.
All rights reserved.

Once more I braved the muck of the construction zone, to bring this picture of the house. Well really I snapped it from the van because I didn't want to repeat last weeks mud fest. I didn't get inside, so I don't know if there is any progress, but the front face is almost finished. Next weekend hopefully I can get inside.

Touching is good

If you read my brother Colin's blog (the link is some where on the right hand list,) you will see that he blames me for making him buy a Nintendo DS. Now I didn't make him do anything, I just suggested that it might be an advantageous time to take a Gameboy Advanced SP and some games into an EB and trade them for credit towards a DS. Since you can play Advanced games on a DS, I figure one could keep your favorites, and trade the rest before the market falls out on Gameboy Advance SP's. I just thought it was a passing conversation of no consequence. Then he did it, and blames me! Apparently I have vast hypnotic powers :) I'm not taking offence, I just am amused that he chose the word blame, why not credit me for the foresight and economic thoughtfulness? It doesn't matter, because I have me to blame for doing the exact same thing. Once I heard he had done it (and at the time I didn't know he had actually put cash in) I was determined to also go and get a 'free DS' it wasn't really free, but I didn't pay any money for it. Which is good, because I am trying not to spend any money until after the house and wedding. So I rounded up my Gameboy, my games, the cases, wires, and manuals, plus a few crap XBox mouldy oldies that no one was playing. A few calls, and I found one of the last Nintendo DS's in town, and I was off. I had just enough trade value to get the DS, and boy is it fun. Right now I only have the demo game for it, but its wicked.
Now if you don't know what the DS is, then there is a good chance you either haven't paid attention to gaming news, or TV. It is the new Dual Screen portable console from Nintendo. A system Nintendo is pushing at the young males, as based upon these almost sexual ads Ad 1 and Ad 2. I am enjoying the system, I'm not 100% sure on the ergonomics of it, but I can't wait for DS Wars (or Advance Wars DS.) Anyway, at Union, more on this later.
ps
TOUCH IT! You know you wanna!

The Woodlands

The Woodlands, official, The Woodlands Senior Public School, was my high school. It was an interesting time of my life, and I look back upon it mostly with fond memories. I am sure it didn't seem so at the time, but most of the bad has faded away, leaving only good memories of the fun times with Drama club, my friends, and my Teachers.
Unlike some, I actually liked many, if not most of my Teachers. This has actually been the case going back to grade school, where my academic career was saved by a kind hearted teacher. The truth is I was unable to read until the end of grade 2, and even then it was kind of sketchy. I don't blame my grade one teacher, it was her first year, and I have a little bit of a learning disability, she just didn't have the experience to recognize that, or if she did, she didn't have the experience to handle it. I don't begrudge her that, mostly because it turned out ok for me in the end, but in part I was in grade one, I was really young, and if she did try and handle it for the life of me I can't remember (I'm getting a little senile here in my twenties.) By the beginning of grade 2, I had moved schools and houses, so I was a little out of place, and a little behind, and so with the help of Mrs. Kowel, over a three year period, I took my poor English skills and forged them into the work you see now. English remained a struggle for me for much of my academic career, but it would have been a disaster if not for her. So to this day I am grateful, but I do feel guilty when I let grammar mistakes fly all willy nilly on my blog.
So as I was saying high school teachers, my high school experience was different from most, as I was in the enhanced learning class. I don't want to brag, but we had more fun. I think it helps being a nerd amongst nerds, then being the nerd amongst jocks, so just the proximity of so many like minded individuals really created an environment conducive to making learning fun. Add to that open ended expectations, and teachers who are happy to be in a class of people who want to learn, and you get something great. We would debate world issue, discuss tangents in great depth, and generally be intellectual about the whole education process. From that one forms actual relations with teachers. No longer to they dictate from on high, but they get right down into the discussion with you, challenging you to back up your views, and sometimes making you realize how infantile they are. Just being able to discuss things with your teachers make you able to talk to them like real people as well. By the time I reached OAC there were a number of teachers with whom I could just spend some time and talk. So when I left high school, or really any school, I would often return to visit my teachers. Just let them know how things are going, and talk about things. It always made them happy to have students who were successful. So last night, it was parent teacher interview night, and now that my younger brother goes to the same high school that myself, and all my older siblings went to, I decided to drop in too.
I had a nice long chat with a bunch of teachers, all of which are really excited for Erin and I, its rare these days that high school sweet hearts get together, even rarer if they go to different University's. We did, and I know why, Erin is just so wonderful I would be crazy crazy not to make it work, and she is all the more wonderful because she sees something in little old me. Okay I will stop making you all nauseous. The point here was that I went back to school, chatted up my teachers, and had a good time. Now what did strike me as hilarious, was how young people look, and if you ask "How young were they?" I would say that they all look five years younger then some one in that grade should. I know they are not, I just remember feeling mature and old at that age, but clearly not. Now that I am getting married, and buying a house, once more I feel mature and old, and yet just recently my dentist insisted that I'm still a kid. So I figure as long as there is always someone older then me, I can remain a kid until the day I die. Which is good because crammed in hear is this super youthful spirit, and I have no intention of crushing that ever.

Runner's Log, X

Well, I have pretty much given up tracking this, not because I am not doing it, because I am doing it more frequently. Also I am doing it at the gym, not out of the street. Since the treadmill's have much better computers then the pedometer, I don't use it, but then I don't carry home the results with me. So I end up forgetting. I always roughly remember my last time out, just to compare against next time out. Right now, I am doing about a half an hour, with an average speed of about ~8.0 kph. My first goal is to get up to about ~10.0 kph. Well really I don't care how fast or slow I go, but the distance traveled. I would like to hit that magic 5 Km mark. My only problem is I am only allowed 30 minutes on the machines, so I have to do it in a half an hour. I feel this is a reasonable goal, and I expect (as long as Christmas holidays are not a massive set back) I should be there in January. I get out to the gym about twice a week, three times if I am lucky/doing good. So I am loosing some weight, and I can tell, but to reach my weight goals I think I need to make sure I go minimum three times a week. In either case, I am going to write about it fairly randomly, just because writing about it seems boring, unless I make some grand achievement. So you may not hear anything until I break 5 Km, we shall see.

7 Year Marketing Campaign, to Boldy Tottle Where No Tea Tottler has Tottled Before

I made an observation this week that the reason I drink the secondary caffeinated beverage I drink is because of a seven year subtle marketing campaign. I even describe it like he would "Tea, Earl Gray, Hot." Ah, Patrick Stewart, bard of the Avon, captain of the Enterprise, and dude with wicked cool mind powers, oh yeah and he played professor Exavier as well. I mean he was the most British French captain ever, but that never hurt his credibility, because lets face it, "THERE .... ARE .... FOUR .... LIGHTS!" So because of him, when I go for the tea, instead of the coffee, it is "Tea, Earl Gray, Hot." Besides, it is a damn good cup of tea!

Fender Scraper

I omitted this from my trip to Kinkardan blog a few weeks ago, and Erin felt I was glossing over an important detail. So to appease he, I will mention that I crashed her car. It wasn't a serious crash, no one was hurt except my pride. Basically I hit a pole while backing out of a parking spot. Most of the damage was confined to a narrow line on the bumper of scratched paint, the rest was just paint transfer from the wooden support post I smucked. In my defense I didn't see it, in the poles defense it was freaking huge and a blind tit mouse should have. So I meekly owe Erin some reparation, and bumper buffing, but I hope this self deprecation is a good start!

Cheers

Something

Corporate reorganization can be a dirty word, from the management who get to stay it is a word of excitement and vision, from those cut it is reviled and hated. Regardless of definition, reorg is all anyone can talk about at work these days. I am not revealing a corporate secret here, it is well known by the media, starting almost 2 months ago when our CEO brought in some fresh blood, and the began to draw some as well. It is just on everyone's mind as it cascades down through the ranks. I think I am safe, actually I am almost certain I am as I am so far down the food chain, yet still valuable, that I should surely be ignored. Still we worry, we all worry, nothing is certain in life, and sometimes doors open as others close, I just don't think I am ready to close this door, there are still things I have to do. Unless there are any J2EE managers out there who want a skilled, yet wise, code ninja, with leet skillz. Although I think that leet skillz might have just disqualified me. Oh well, you have got to live life, otherwise your dead...

I was disapointed by the picture from the window, so I braved the muck to produce this, I like that colour of brick, first of all its a little mixed, I dislike monotone brick, and its a nice earthy red, not too grey, not to peach. So its nice, I like it! I'mean lets fact it, the back of the house is not practially done, other then the soffit, and the brick above the window.

Then as I walked back into our house, realized that the stairs had the top knee wall to prevent plumetting, so I snapped a shot of it too.

At first when I arrived at the house I was a little disapointed, I was thinking, no bricks. I had really thought they would have started, it looked like on person on the end had their's, but that was it. Then I noticed from inside their was scaffolding at the back, so I thought they might be doing work. So I looked out the back, and there were bricks. I didn't want to brave the mud, so I took this shot from the neighbors upper floor looking across the back.

And the bath tub ooooooo, ahhhhh.

While we are on the theme, master bathroom sink here we are.

For the manly types, well not really, here is the main floor bathroom sink plumbing!

Went out to the house again this weekend, as I do basically every weekend, and the house was in fine form as always, the ground on the other hand was a little less nice. A thick layer of mud gloouped about everywhere, and at times my shoes were holding a couple inches of extra sole from just the muck attached to them. This picture is of particular interest to Erin, because this is the garage where she will park her car. So the garage has been poured, and the door mounted since last we visited. What is great is that there are 0 stairs from the door to the ground. We had been worried about loosing car room to multiple steps, but its great, its flush, I like it!

Blog Attack

Well it has been a while since I have put any real content here. I have been pretty busy. First off I'm sure I missed a "runner log" in there. I'm sure I did something exhausting, and sweat worthy.
Now that we are past the mundane, I will talk about what is happening. First off, video games, Halo 2 fell off my list of games of interest for a couple reason. First off, I can't afford it. I could probably squeeze the money out somewhere, but I would rather put that money towards my house. The other reasons were that Halo 2 is getting its best reviews in the multiplayer aspects, and I don't really use my XBox Live to play, and the final reason is that I don't think it has lived up to the hype. As Fable, and millions of other games before have not lived up to the hype that they generated, I wasn't particularly surprised. When I saw Halo 2, I was just disappointed with it. Besides, Trevor has it so I can borrow it when he is done.
On the topic of Trevor, I was able to use my powers of evil, augmented by the game I will talk about in a moment, to convince him to upgrade his computer so he can play. It took some doing, he has been stalwart in his denial of the need to upgrade his old PIII 1.0, but I figured it just needed the right game to spur him on. That game was the monstrous 2.6gb beta for World of Warcraft. Now that is a game, just the sheer meat of the install alone makes one stop and ponder. I've been playing like I was a 17 year old since I downloaded the beta last week. So far I have done the Druid, and Dwarven Paladin thing, both of which have there pro's and con's. In general WoW brings to the genre a new story and a flashy new interface, but the concepts laid down in DAOC and EQ are basically the same. The notable change in the combat system, which I think I prefer, is that instead of Warriors burning stamina to perform moves, they use rage, rage generates while you are in combat, not while you resting. This actually gives a bonus to the warrior who keeps fighting, not the nambie pambie wussie warrior who has a good long sit between battles. Nambi Pambie spell casters must still sit mind you. On the topic of WoW and sitting, apparently the designers felt it was rude to stand and eat, so you must sit down if you want to eat a meal, or have a swig of something, go figure.
This weekend just past, Erin, Trevor, Ellie and myself all piled into the car to drive up to Kincardine. First off, Kincardine is a pretty long drive from Guelph, and it is also a long drive from Owen Sound, so when going from Guelph to Kincardine, don't drive through Owen Sound, its not on the way, trust me. So why were we in Kincardine? Well, its started, the first of my friends is now married. Rod Gramham and Sara Doyle tied the knot this weekend. Rod has been a good friend since about 3rd year University, I knew him pretty well in second year, but unlike Trevor I'm slow to adapt, so while we were friends in second year, adding that good modifier took a bit longer. I'm really happy for him. On the topic of weddings, I guess I'm next, this I view as a good thing, I can't imagine what could be nicer then marrying the woman I love. So, I think it is about six months give or take a week or two.
Finally the house, Erin and I popped in on the way home from Kincardine, but we didn't have the digital. So the pictures are on the film camera, and I will post them sometime, the truth is they will probably be horribly out of sequence when I do, but I have been collecting the pictures for a secret purpose. The state of the house was good, we have stairs, shingles, doors, windows, and the sump pump in the basement. Actually this is the first time I have been down in the basement since they built the walls. The whole place is looking good. The bricks were not there yet, nor have they made significant bricking progress next door, so I wonder if there was a delay, or if they just got ahead of themselves. I guess I will find out this Saturday. Well I think that's the whole update.

Later.

Running Log, November 11, 2004

3.5 km
0:30:00 h:mm:ss

There was also about a 30 minute period of me chasing after, and not catching a squash ball. I think my racquet is broken as well.

Running Log: November 8, 2004

Treadmill
3.354 km
0:30:00 h:mm:ss

Stairclimber
88 floors
0:30:00 h:mm:ss

Peak HR 27
Mean HR 24

The whole house. Look at it grow. Actually there were guys working there today. The vent guy was starting to install the vents. I expect by next week (based upon the next block of houses over) that we will have bricks and our roof. This in my humble opinion, is awesome! I like our house, and before long I can move in with my bride to be (well move in when she is my wife), but the key is move in + being married. It is all great!

Here is the whole roof in all its glory.

Hole in the insulation, I wonder if this is functional, or will be fixed?

Top of the porch, you can see them getting ready to shingle.

Here is the big of the roof with a cute little mini roof. Serves no function, but I like it.

Here is a series of the inside of the main roof of the house. This has me pretty excited, now that the roof is on, it looks a lot more like a house should.

More pictures this week, it was a lot less mucky this week, not muck free, but muck lite. This is our porch, now with insulation and roof.

More blurry bacteria.

Little blurry , but its the only good shot of the other bacteria

Just for the uninformed, this pumpkin was labelled. It stopped about 50% of the questions about these pumpkins. That being the question of "What are those?" It didn't prevent the other 50% of questions which were "I don't get it?"

Looks like someone is here to drop off its viral rna payload!

No, no say it ain't so, are those flagela????? Now now, don't be cilia.

Here is bacteria, and viruses the lesser known ghouls of All Hallows Eve. Such monsters like bacillus subtilis, and cockeye. Lest we not forget Influenza the burninator.

TROGDOOOOOOOR!!!!!!! BURNINATION!!!!!!
TROGDOR the Burninator!

This was my pumpkin, I only had time to do about 50% before I had to run, so Eri fixed it up right for me, and she added the flames which were not in the original. You can get the pattern at www.homestarrunner.com.

Gargoyle in the light of day, lot less haunting. You can see how Erin peeled the skin back to create the glowing muscles

More Pumpkins, this one was wicked, Erin used her leet ninja carving skills to do this Gargoyle. The extra special technique was used to make the glowing musculerature was new this year, and promises many new pumpkin possibilities in the future.

The garage and pantry, oooooo. Well I think that pretty much wraps up the tour. I hope you all enjoyed it, I know I did. I'm just super excited for the house. Till later g.

One muddy, muddy car, for one muddy, muddy day. Lets just say that the inside and outside of the car need to be cleaned because of all the mud we tracked around.

Upstairs bathroom, and closet, all in one shot, I suspect this will be a less effective camera angle once I have dry wall.

Eri's office, she I suspect will get a lot more work done in her's, then I will.

My office

The master bed room ooooo aaaaah :) To get up here we had to be sneaky sneaky. Our construction stairs are not in place yet, so we had to climb up our neighbors construction stairs, and then walk across through the framing. Fortunetly, the framers have left temporary spaces for themselves to walk so it wasn't a squeeze.

Here is our backyard, the back wall of the house is the most finished, with all the insulation and all. it was very very muddy out back.

More basement, weeee. This one picked up the light a little different, so its all scary, and potentially monster filled. As all basements should be.

This one is our basement, I actually can't get down in there, but I was curious, so I hung the camera into the hole near the stairs and snapped. Walls are framed, but the floor isn't poured. I guess thats for drainage?