Mumbling on

Yes, I'm still alive!

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:55:40 +0000

Yes, I am indeed still alive. I had my site hosted on Amazon Web Services EC2 for a while. Some sort of database problem kept grinding that server to a halt. I’ve since migrated my site elsewhere (not because of that) and sort of patched the issues in the process.

I’ve been seriously considering blowing away this website and making something completely new.. And probably not Wordpress-based.. (Wordpress is awesome, I just am ready for something else). In the mean time, I’ve received the odd request to resurrect my site from STP users. So, for now anyway, Dawning.ca is back!

World, meet STP 1.0 for Windows

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:16:33 +0000

Well, after a craptacular number of requests via email and youtube, I’ve finally finished tossing together a Windows version to help out all my anonymous totally random friends.

I should point out, THIS WORKS on Windows 7 (and quite probably Windows Vista). But I should confess the lame situation with the Text-to-Speech engine in Windows is the lack of voice profile options. Apparently there’s a way to install voice packs. I’ve written STP for Windows to take advantage of such options on systems they exist on. But… If anyone actually finds a voice profile pack that ‘clicks’, be sure to let me know and I’ll see about hooking that in to the installer.

The Air is on fire! Shaw Gigabit Fibre Internet FTW!

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 02:09:54 +0000

Exhibit A:

Exhibit 2: Damn, seriously.

Shaw Gigabit Fibre Internet doesn’t bother Transmitting Data, it TELEPORTS it!

Here I sit in my bed @ my parent’s place on Christmas Eve. I decided to test out their new internet connection & router by enjoying another kind of “Eve”, Eve Online.

The Air is on fire, but in the good way

About the same time as this new internet service was hooked up I randomly decided to upgrade my parents to use Wireless N (with a repeater rig, a la Airport Extreme & Airport Express).

¡Mi cumpleaños número 27, en México hermoso!

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 20:59:58 +0000

Check out some more photos here.

Ding, I just hit “level 27”.. Well, here we’ve yet another year past.

You know, when I was about 20, I decided that 25 would be an amazing year for me. I thought I’d be done school and would have torn in to some great work by then. As it turned out, 25 was a good year, but nothing like 26 has been.

Desktop Aquarium Project

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:14:56 +0000

This the little story a weekend project to add more of a soul to my computery-workspace at home. The result has really delighted me and I’m already well in to plotting out a similar project for my office. I’d suggest those who are considering such a project themselves should jump in to it!

The Story of the Desktop Aquarium

Lately I’ve been itching to setup a Terrarium of sorts. I found this website and it got me fairly excited on a few levels. I ordered a bunch of Bonsai seeds (mostly Japanese Maple variants), but my short-term drive to set up a little world of life remained.

Learn from Seymour & Get Smarter

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 10:20:40 +0000

Upon graduating recently, I found the Engineering group had a special treat - a copy of Seymour Schulich’s “Get Smarter” was given to each grad. In an atypical move, I decided to read this non-textbook source of information.

Worth Reading

I quite enjoyed it, Schulich has arranged the book in to a ton of tiny chapters. In each, he quickly and effectively conveys an opinion or experience of his. If you’re not interested in something, it’s easy to skip on (granted I never did) and the rest of the book will still make sense. Given Schulich’s history, this is a man with some neat concepts to convey. He discusses a vast range of topics from his opinions about assessing career options to finding meaning in life.

Kobo - Unboxed & Linux Friendly

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:41:46 +0000

I’ve recently acquired myself a Kobo eReader. Read on to learn of my initial experiences, thoughts and reactions..

For those who remain unaware of what an ereader is…

They are little device designed to replace physical books. The key to success of the major ereaders (of which the ipad is NOT included) is the use of a completely distinct display technology called E-Ink. The important detail about that is that things displayed on E-Ink look just as though they were printed on paper. Compare this to viewing a typical LCD screen (like that of your phone) in the bright sun. The LCD has to overcome the ambient light, which is really tough in the day. The sharp contrast in brightness is similarly tiring for eyes in good lighting. E-Ink is free of that burden.

8 Years, 2 Degrees, 1 Internship & 0 Regrets

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:15:36 +0000

Well, for those that know, it’s been a damned long time in coming, but I have finally fully graduated as of June 7th and 8th 2010.

The tale of my 8 year tenor at the University of Calgary is somewhat of a unique animal, there was a lot of pain and a great deal of fun. As I look back after just completing that journey I am delighted to be through it and I’m keen to move on in to new areas of life. But I also know that these years were great and I’ll happily reflect upon them as I drift away from this phase.

Erlenmeyer Flask of Drinking

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:42:06 +0000

I’ve long since loathed the wide range of drinking vessels that I know react with my water. I’m already seriously irritated about the mandatory fluoridation of my drinking water. So I hardly like that drinking from a metal container tends to make my water taste metallic. Then there’s my instinctual concerns about anything plastic.

This led me to glass. However, I remained unconvinced that typical glass products are plain nonreactive glass.. Thus, I decided upon chemistry glasswares. From there, I decided to run with an Erlenmeyer Flask as it’ll sit well on my desk and can defend against the attacks of cat tongues.

Watch The Guild

Sat, 29 May 2010 22:52:18 +0000

My copy of 'The Guild'

The Guild has been around for some time now and I’ve enjoyed watching it many times over. It’s about the woes of RL existence for a group of gamer geeks.

I first noticed the main drive behind The Guild, Felicia Day, from another similarly awesome project - Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog. Aside from that, I’m also a casual but frequent World of Warcraft player. Thus, when I encountered The Guild I was absolutely trilled as it does a great job of illustrating the tone of some of the weird social stuff that comes out of leading a dominant online life.

This Engineer has been called

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:29:50 +0000

Last Saturday was the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer, particularly in this case, my calling.

The day consisted of a workshops, some social gatherings, a formal ring ceremony and banquet.. It was an epically full day I’m sure to remember so long as my brain is in tact.

Suffice to say, I learned a lot more about the illusive Iron Ring. I discovered a lot more about what it stands for and I now have a lot more appreciation for this symbol and commitment. By the nature of the commitment, we’re not encouraged to rant about the details as it’s a commitment to ourselves and thus not intended to be a public thing. It’s a great concept & I think it could and should be expanded in some regard to apply to any and all professions, at least in some regard.

Ubuntu 9.10 remote mounts via sshfs

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:30:34 +0000

Hey just a fast post here.. I’ve been using sshfs on Ubuntu (meh, linux in general) for awhile as a means of securely remotely accessing my files. I’ve taken some steps to add a line to my /etc/fstab file to make this run smoothly…

Though today I ran in to a really weird situation. I found that despite having a uid=xxxx line, the appropriate user wasn’t getting ownership of the mount. In fact, when that user would look at the permissions for the mount, it returned something like “d???? ? ? ?”. Whisky Tango Foxtrot.

No More Chalkboard Spam

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:45:00 +0000

A Message to my fellow U of C Students….

'PL'-this BS-'O'

The other day I was sitting in class watching a prof write some notes on the chalkboard. As per usual, he navigated around a big section of the board that was boxed off with a note “PLO” (Please Leave On) written over it. The notes he wrote were compressed and distorted as he really needed a full board to express the idea.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-25

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:45:00 +0000

\t- Ugh, having some weird connectivity problems with #Shaw right now. #yyc. Established connections are holding, new ones will sometimes work #

\t- Being forced to work on my pf skills.. Can’t resume my Django fun until I solve this. Sigh. #

\t- Well, that was a good #django jam session. What? stayed up all night again? Huh.. #

\t- Okay, I fixed my GoDaddy problem.. I’m not happy that my DNS record randomly changed like that. WTF? #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-25

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:45:00 +0000

\t- Ugh, having some weird connectivity problems with #Shaw right now. #yyc. Established connections are holding, new ones will sometimes work #

\t- Being forced to work on my pf skills.. Can’t resume my Django fun until I solve this. Sigh. #

\t- Well, that was a good #django jam session. What? stayed up all night again? Huh.. #

\t- Okay, I fixed my GoDaddy problem.. I’m not happy that my DNS record randomly changed like that. WTF? #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-18

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:45:00 +0000

\t- When I become a tycoon, my bathroom tower room will look like: http://twitti.ms/Fsd5 #

\t- Well, I just refined my website redesign a ton. What you all think? https://dawning.ca) #

\t- Whoops, damn automated Tweet thingys - gotta remember where my spies are. ;) #

\t- Web Apps #

\t- Hardware #

\t- Software #

\t- Dawning.ca Spruced Up #

\t- Man, my quest to not eat chicken is a formidible task #

\t- Evidently Jeri Ryan is marginally larger than my hand! http://twitti.ms/4vWi #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-18

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:45:00 +0000

\t- When I become a tycoon, my bathroom tower room will look like: http://twitti.ms/Fsd5 #

\t- Well, I just refined my website redesign a ton. What you all think? https://dawning.ca) #

\t- Whoops, damn automated Tweet thingys - gotta remember where my spies are. ;) #

\t- Web Apps #

\t- Hardware #

\t- Software #

\t- Dawning.ca Spruced Up #

\t- Man, my quest to not eat chicken is a formidible task #

\t- Evidently Jeri Ryan is marginally larger than my hand! http://twitti.ms/4vWi #

Dawning.ca Spruced Up

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:12:36 +0000

Previous Dawning.ca Layout

I’ve just spent a few hours re-designing the layout of Dawning.ca. The old one served me very well and I really liked it. I had heavily modified the previous theme to work for me and work it did. I may tap it some time in the future as a backup… As you can see to the right, the new style is fairly different compared to the image. Although I kept the workflow as I think it was already pretty good.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-11

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Working on my Django based scheduling web application.. Nice to make some new inroads on it. :) #

\t- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-04 #

\t- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-28 #

\t- Damn, I was as prepared as is possible, tried for 1hr 50mins straight to submit and pay for my SparkFun Free Day order, but it didn’t work #

\t- Wah, I’ve been ready since last night and ready the moment it opened, but looks unlikely I’ll get to place my sparkfun free day order #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-11

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Working on my Django based scheduling web application.. Nice to make some new inroads on it. :) #

\t- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-04 #

\t- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-28 #

\t- Damn, I was as prepared as is possible, tried for 1hr 50mins straight to submit and pay for my SparkFun Free Day order, but it didn’t work #

\t- Wah, I’ve been ready since last night and ready the moment it opened, but looks unlikely I’ll get to place my sparkfun free day order #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-04

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:45:00 +0000

\t- yumification under way http://twitti.ms/tjlF #

\t- Gearin up for a round at Japanese Village http://twitti.ms/v3Xh #

\t- Finally saw Avatar, was pretty good. Great story. #

\t- Wow, it’s amazing how massively my world changed since #10yearsago. Here’s to a rad next 10! #

\t- Havin a leakin 55g aquarium while being 300km away would suck harder if we didn’t have a Paurip towin the line #

\t- Blah, the Rogers website is down.. #

\t- Eatting handmade chocolates http://twitti.ms/tf26 #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-28

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-21 #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-21

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- The Santa Party is up and running http://twitti.ms/c6v1 #

\t- I miss having a car.. Some jerk slashed my gf’s tires and she’s been borrowing my car ever since as she’s too busy. Lame #

\t- My late night round of Civ4 was stabbed in the spine by Windows Update. Meh Bed Time #

\t- Waah, the Sparkfun website appears down! #

\t- Arduino Soldering Workshop at #Protospace yesterday was a blast! Thanks gang! #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-21

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- The Santa Party is up and running http://twitti.ms/c6v1 #

\t- I miss having a car.. Some jerk slashed my gf’s tires and she’s been borrowing my car ever since as she’s too busy. Lame #

\t- My late night round of Civ4 was stabbed in the spine by Windows Update. Meh Bed Time #

\t- Waah, the Sparkfun website appears down! #

\t- Arduino Soldering Workshop at #Protospace yesterday was a blast! Thanks gang! #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-14

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Wow, VHS is really hanging on! #

\t- Wow, VHS is really hanging on http://twitti.ms/MQv6 #

\t- It’s difficult being a perfectionist & happy when I obsess over imperfectable endeavours #

\t- What a beautiful #Wordpress website, took some effort to confirm it’s origin. Great subject matter too: http://www.lilithfair.com/ #

\t- Trying to decide if this oscilloscope is working http://twitti.ms/vS3J #

\t- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-07 #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-14

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Wow, VHS is really hanging on! #

\t- Wow, VHS is really hanging on http://twitti.ms/MQv6 #

\t- It’s difficult being a perfectionist & happy when I obsess over imperfectable endeavours #

\t- What a beautiful #Wordpress website, took some effort to confirm it’s origin. Great subject matter too: http://www.lilithfair.com/ #

\t- Trying to decide if this oscilloscope is working http://twitti.ms/vS3J #

\t- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-07 #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-07

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Retro Lamp goes HypnoOrb - /2009/retro-lamp-goes-hypnoorb/ #

\t- -16 Degrees.. Seriously? WTF? #

\t- finished another HypnoOrb project… Will blog details later http://twitti.ms/cAY5 #

\t- Gearin up for another little HypnoOrb project http://twitti.ms/jykL #

\t- quirky hats in Mac Hall http://twitti.ms/YKmb #

\t- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29 #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-07

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Retro Lamp goes HypnoOrb - /2009/retro-lamp-goes-hypnoorb/ #

\t- -16 Degrees.. Seriously? WTF? #

\t- finished another HypnoOrb project… Will blog details later http://twitti.ms/cAY5 #

\t- Gearin up for another little HypnoOrb project http://twitti.ms/jykL #

\t- quirky hats in Mac Hall http://twitti.ms/YKmb #

\t- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29 #

Retro Lamp goes HypnoOrb

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:40:17 +0000

Candice saved this hideous old lamp from a bulldozer (literally) and for the last year and a bit we’ve had it hanging up in our basement for extra ambient lighting. The light was setup only to be turned off/on by pulling/placing the plug and that part’s so sketch that we rarely use the thing. So when it came time to replace a bulb, I decided to use a HypnoOrb instead of a more typical bulb. ** **

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:45:00 +0000

\t- Grill bling! Whoa, now anyone can be \‘cool\’ http://twitti.ms/jl3u #

\t- Watching/Listening to a Sarah Mclachlan concert, Mirrorball I believe. Man, do I ever <3 Sarah Mclachlan’s tunes! #

\t- Dang, why would I lend my car out when I have a #protospace meeting.. Hmm.. Maybe I’ll take the train.. Gonna be late, crappy #

\t- My silly little web app to dump YouTube videos to my fileserver. Also provides links to mp4 versions of submitted vids: http://bit.ly/6VdItI #

YouTube Grabber App

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:06:27 +0000

I’ve whipped up this little YouTube video grabber for myself and I’ve opened it up for the moment. If I see it getting spammed or abused in some way, I’ll probably password protect it, nevertheless, you can check it out here.

What it does

This little app takes a YouTube video link and then adds the reference in a database. A seperate script then polls that database and looks for new URLs. It then uses another script (that I did not write), called yt-download, to fetch each video and dump it to my fileserver.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-23

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Screwin around making something with Django, listenin to CBC Radio 2, chillin out in the tub. #

\t- Gonna hit RL level 26 in about 18 mins. Ahh birthdays. :D #

\t- Man, my energy is so vamped today… #

\t- Basys2 FPGA dev and RT232R boards I used for ENEL453 Lab 3 http://twitti.ms/7TKk #

\t- Basys2 FPGA dev and RT232R boards I used for ENEL453 Lab 3 http://twitti.ms/ARYV #

\t- Basys2 FPGA dev and RT232R boards I used for ENEL453 Lab 3 http://twitti.ms/Sjwz #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-23

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Screwin around making something with Django, listenin to CBC Radio 2, chillin out in the tub. #

\t- Gonna hit RL level 26 in about 18 mins. Ahh birthdays. :D #

\t- Man, my energy is so vamped today… #

\t- Basys2 FPGA dev and RT232R boards I used for ENEL453 Lab 3 http://twitti.ms/7TKk #

\t- Basys2 FPGA dev and RT232R boards I used for ENEL453 Lab 3 http://twitti.ms/ARYV #

\t- Basys2 FPGA dev and RT232R boards I used for ENEL453 Lab 3 http://twitti.ms/Sjwz #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-16

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Finished another FPGA lab, from my aquatic desk! http://twitti.ms/Kz5H #

\t- Listening to CBC Radio 2, great workin tunes: http://bit.ly/4q1YBF #

\t- Fixing up my Subversion server, though wondering if I should be looking closer in to git. Any thoughts world? #

\t- Have I mentioned that IE is a horrible piece of garbage? If you’re still using it, stop & use something standardized: http://bit.ly/a2k87 #

\t- Are you aware we’ve already crossed the event horizon of this cognitive black hole? Stop comparing TCP and Coax in terms of ‘speed’. #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-09

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- Willow the kitty http://twitti.ms/Wqip #

\t- Printing a whistle, going rather well: http://bit.ly/127uhb #Makerbot #

\t- Whoa, first time I actually had caps blow on me http://twitti.ms/Utr7 #

\t- About time, I’m just printed a box with my #MakerBot.. I’m doing another, check it out: http://bit.ly/127uhb #

\t- MakerBot #155 printing a box, this time, it’s looking like it’s gonna make it! (Broadcasting live at http://ustre.am/7tH7) #

\t- Jasper home from tooth surgery… Very high on drugs, lots of purring http://twitti.ms/6dvh #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-02

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- procrastinating via experimenting with distcc - very cool tool, though doing cross-platform builds seems sort of complicated. #

\t- Ubuntu 9.10 is here. Check out my pseudo review here: http://bit.ly/1rl7RW #

\t- Successfully printing a box on my MakerBot, check it out! (Broadcasting live at http://ustre.am/7tH7) #

\t- MakerBot #155 is back online! Now back to where I was, getting my head around printing.. #

\t- After some helpful input from Zach, king of #Makerbots, I’m proceeding to alter my Plastruder, hopefully back to a functional state #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-02

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:45:00 +0000

\t- procrastinating via experimenting with distcc - very cool tool, though doing cross-platform builds seems sort of complicated. #

\t- Ubuntu 9.10 is here. Check out my pseudo review here: http://bit.ly/1rl7RW #

\t- Successfully printing a box on my MakerBot, check it out! (Broadcasting live at http://ustre.am/7tH7) #

\t- MakerBot #155 is back online! Now back to where I was, getting my head around printing.. #

\t- After some helpful input from Zach, king of #Makerbots, I’m proceeding to alter my Plastruder, hopefully back to a functional state #

MakerBot Plastruder Crash

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:40:41 +0000

While trying to print something on my MakerBot last night, I had an awesome fail where the heater barrel of the plastruder was ripped out. Upon continued reflection, I think this was the product of how I had the heater barrel interfaced with the insulator barrel and I think I know how to fix it without replacing parts. Check out the video below:

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-27

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:10:00 +0000

\t- I feel like picard on the Stargazer. I’m using my old glasses as my main ones just bit it. Weird. #

\t- There, now this machine can do its job without offending ears http://twitti.ms/2spi #

\t- Like my P4 mod? It let me turn an acoustic nightmare into something beautiful http://twitti.ms/d2rq #

\t- Hard hackers unite, #Digilent has some awesome embedded systems for all #diy phreaks: http://bit.ly/45w2qM #

\t- I feel discriminated against.. #yyc http://twitti.ms/0oDp #

\t- Meh, that can be cured with old fashioned physical abuse, right? http://twitti.ms/tj16 #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-27

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:10:00 +0000

\t- I feel like picard on the Stargazer. I’m using my old glasses as my main ones just bit it. Weird. #

\t- There, now this machine can do its job without offending ears http://twitti.ms/2spi #

\t- Like my P4 mod? It let me turn an acoustic nightmare into something beautiful http://twitti.ms/d2rq #

\t- Hard hackers unite, #Digilent has some awesome embedded systems for all #diy phreaks: http://bit.ly/45w2qM #

\t- I feel discriminated against.. #yyc http://twitti.ms/0oDp #

\t- Meh, that can be cured with old fashioned physical abuse, right? http://twitti.ms/tj16 #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-20

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:10:00 +0000

\t- Slightly contradictory http://twitti.ms/A3CF #

\t- Before you go get vast amounts of plastic surgery, consider this freaky & true situation: http://bit.ly/ZCQJn #

\t- Our Koi aquarium has sprung an ygly leak, for now one of us has to manually keep the hole blocked http://twitti.ms/YH9K #

\t- I see the new #UofC school uniforms are out #yyc http://twitti.ms/5Q1e #

\t- Ugh, stayed up too late watching #Jerico - though it was reasonably awesome #

\t- 4Chan joke? Nice http://twitti.ms/BVWY #

\t- Being reminded of the awesomeness of transistors #yyc http://twitti.ms/HVOk #

Webserver replaced, again..

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:14:26 +0000

Howdy, so I’ve returned to hosting my site on a professional connection rather than over my lameo home setup. I’ve grown tired of n00bful downtime due to power outages, ISP outages, people tripping over cables or gnomes screwin around.

As such, dawning.ca is now hosted on a server I’ve got running down in Texas with the valuable help of Linode. That’s all for now folks.

Update

I ran in to some interesting configuration problems with this new server that was causing it to frequently run out of memory. I think I’ve resolved those matters with some real help of this article.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-13

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- Mmmm, massively discounted meat #yyc #safeway http://twitti.ms/LGan #

\t- I just heard a mother scold her kid for saying “hate” too often. Neat. #

\t- RT @NathanFillion: The best $1.49 I ever spent was on DO YOU WANT TO DATE MY AVATAR. Yet another… reason to worship @FeliciaDay. #

\t- I have secured MOSFETs for my biggie-sized #HypnoOrb I’m making http://twitti.ms/NZLf #

\t- The #Den at #UofC asked me to take my #IcedCapp outside, jerks #yyc http://twitti.ms/EPzS #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-13

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- Mmmm, massively discounted meat #yyc #safeway http://twitti.ms/LGan #

\t- I just heard a mother scold her kid for saying “hate” too often. Neat. #

\t- RT @NathanFillion: The best $1.49 I ever spent was on DO YOU WANT TO DATE MY AVATAR. Yet another… reason to worship @FeliciaDay. #

\t- I have secured MOSFETs for my biggie-sized #HypnoOrb I’m making http://twitti.ms/NZLf #

\t- The #Den at #UofC asked me to take my #IcedCapp outside, jerks #yyc http://twitti.ms/EPzS #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-07

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- Huh, there’s a 0.7V drop from the outlet to this bar http://twitti.ms/9OCr #

\t- Playin with my new multimeter in the car http://twitti.ms/5BcR #

\t- According to my new multimeter, Paulrip could get a job as a 770KOhm resistor #

\t- Whoa, gettin very windy by U of C #yyc #

\t- I just added this handy #ajax / #javascript code to a site I’m doing to get nice expand/collapse functionality: http://bit.ly/6cmU #

\t- Nice Ajax code for page folding: http://bit.ly/2lzAyN #

Snow Leopard Upgrade on a Triple Booting Macbook

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:41:13 +0000

Howdy World, so last friday was release day for Snow Leopard, woot! I went out and grabbed a copy and rushed home to upgrade my macbook… Here’s the tale of a bit of resistance I met and how I resolved it.

Yellow Triangle of Rejection

So the problem I quickly encountered was that my “Macintosh HD” partition had an ugly little yellow symbol over it rejecting me from updating my OS X install. I forget (unfortunately), the particular error message. Nevertheless the short version was that regardless of how I launched the installer or a number of other things I tried, it wouldn’t let me run the upgrade.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-30

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- Enjoyin marshmellows with family http://twitti.ms/cHJK #

\t- Look who just walked past me #insect http://twitti.ms/429E #

\t- Having a tough time installing Snow Leopard. I bet OS X is sad to also see Windows and Linux on my HDD #

\t- Nice kitty #yyc #osx http://twitti.ms/rVJD #

\t- Support IE6 Must Die, add a #twibbon to your avatar now! - http://twibbon.com/join/IE6-Must-Die #

\t- http://twitpic.com/fm780 - Some have called the use of HTML tables in to question, in fact, many have. I suppose yes, I could have rende … #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-30

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- Enjoyin marshmellows with family http://twitti.ms/cHJK #

\t- Look who just walked past me #insect http://twitti.ms/429E #

\t- Having a tough time installing Snow Leopard. I bet OS X is sad to also see Windows and Linux on my HDD #

\t- Nice kitty #yyc #osx http://twitti.ms/rVJD #

\t- Support IE6 Must Die, add a #twibbon to your avatar now! - http://twibbon.com/join/IE6-Must-Die #

\t- http://twitpic.com/fm780 - Some have called the use of HTML tables in to question, in fact, many have. I suppose yes, I could have rende … #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-23

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- RT @SarahKSilverman: Carrots are good for your eyes but only if you take them orally. #

\t- Still wet, greenified wall http://twitti.ms/nMhq #

\t- repaint our hang out room in the basement #yyc http://twitti.ms/sdzB #

\t- kinda cool, EB Games has used 360’s for $120 #yyc http://twitti.ms/9PI2 #

\t- This weekend we’re completely rearranging our basement. That’s a massive undertaking.. Cool, but ugh.. #

\t- RARELY I’ll get 10 hours in to a game like tonight. As usual, #Vista killed my game to force an update & reboot. #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-23

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- RT @SarahKSilverman: Carrots are good for your eyes but only if you take them orally. #

\t- Still wet, greenified wall http://twitti.ms/nMhq #

\t- repaint our hang out room in the basement #yyc http://twitti.ms/sdzB #

\t- kinda cool, EB Games has used 360’s for $120 #yyc http://twitti.ms/9PI2 #

\t- This weekend we’re completely rearranging our basement. That’s a massive undertaking.. Cool, but ugh.. #

\t- RARELY I’ll get 10 hours in to a game like tonight. As usual, #Vista killed my game to force an update & reboot. #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-16

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- Garage Band can make #iphone ringtones from your own files, despite #itunes stating you must buy each one #

\t- http://twitpic.com/e22ln - #Apple, stopping me from using my own recordings as #iphone ringtones makes me hate you. #

\t- I so want a remotely okay Multimeter: http://bit.ly/HLrKH #

\t- Another #google service I’ve just found, Google Checkout - I might use this over Paypal? https://checkout.google.com/ #

\t- Google Base looks to me almost like a rip on Craig’s List or something: http://bit.ly/11Zzpt #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-16

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- Garage Band can make #iphone ringtones from your own files, despite #itunes stating you must buy each one #

\t- http://twitpic.com/e22ln - #Apple, stopping me from using my own recordings as #iphone ringtones makes me hate you. #

\t- I so want a remotely okay Multimeter: http://bit.ly/HLrKH #

\t- Another #google service I’ve just found, Google Checkout - I might use this over Paypal? https://checkout.google.com/ #

\t- Google Base looks to me almost like a rip on Craig’s List or something: http://bit.ly/11Zzpt #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-16

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- Garage Band can make #iphone ringtones from your own files, despite #itunes stating you must buy each one #

\t- http://twitpic.com/e22ln - #Apple, stopping me from using my own recordings as #iphone ringtones makes me hate you. #

\t- I so want a remotely okay Multimeter: http://bit.ly/HLrKH #

\t- Another #google service I’ve just found, Google Checkout - I might use this over Paypal? https://checkout.google.com/ #

\t- Google Base looks to me almost like a rip on Craig’s List or something: http://bit.ly/11Zzpt #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-09

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- I love coffee so friggin’ much! #

\t- Golden Boy Fish Sauce http://twitpic.com/d8oze #ftw #hilarious #

\t- Goram football games suck for those who live near stadiums #yyc #

\t- Wow, what a beautiful scene: http://tr.im/w25G #flickr #photography #earth #

\t- [URL Fixed!] PCB Etching Progress http://tinyurl.com/llg4la #diy #protospace #backyard-chemistry #

\t- PCB Etching Progress http://tinyurl.com/llg4la #

\t- #Apple - please change the home/end/page up/page down functionality of OS X. The case-by-case basis currently used is bafflingly hindering #

\t- RT @NoxDineen: Potential for awesome is off the charts! RT @zemote: Ice-T repairs a mac - ROFL http://bit.ly/yDU1w #wtf #apple #macbook #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-09

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:10:00 +0000

\t- I love coffee so friggin’ much! #

\t- Golden Boy Fish Sauce http://twitpic.com/d8oze #ftw #hilarious #

\t- Goram football games suck for those who live near stadiums #yyc #

\t- Wow, what a beautiful scene: http://tr.im/w25G #flickr #photography #earth #

\t- [URL Fixed!] PCB Etching Progress http://tinyurl.com/llg4la #diy #protospace #backyard-chemistry #

\t- PCB Etching Progress http://tinyurl.com/llg4la #

\t- #Apple - please change the home/end/page up/page down functionality of OS X. The case-by-case basis currently used is bafflingly hindering #

\t- RT @NoxDineen: Potential for awesome is off the charts! RT @zemote: Ice-T repairs a mac - ROFL http://bit.ly/yDU1w #wtf #apple #macbook #

PCB Etching Progress

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:43:15 +0000

HappyThawts

Transferred Toner

Well, a few of us Protospacers met up and worked out some more home-made cheap Printed Circuit Board progress.. Vast thanks to the help of my esteemed friend HappyThawts, we finally got out a board of usable quality! Woot! We used a single sided Arduino pattern I found (saved me some seri

ous time). And followed a fairly well documented process involving use of Ferric Chloride, Acetone, Clothing Irons, Cheap Magazine Paper, Water and patience.

Bluegrass Music Owns

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:36:19 +0000

I just got back from my latest installment of Bluegrass music at the Blueberry Bluegrass music festival in Stony Plain, Alberta. I’ve gone to 4 such festivals now and as much as it’s a little heavy on the “country music” side for my tastes there’s a few factors that keep bringing me back. As such, I’ve decided it’s about time that I give a little rant on what makes this stuff so awesome.. So here we go!

Firefox 3.5 is out, now go get it!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:11:10 +0000

Howdy all, if you some how haven’t heard yet, Firefox 3.5 is out. It boasts a pile of cool new features and performance improvements over previous versions. Now, go get it!

CISV Plunct Plact Zum Village Pre-Camp Video

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:10:07 +0000

In July of 2000 I met up with a bunch of people I only knew were follow members of CISV, but from a bunch of other countries. For about a month we hung out together at a camp in Rio De Janeiro. Most of the attendants were 11yr olds. I myself was there as a Junior Counsellor, and was 16. There were of course many other older leaders. Before the camp had actually started, the leaders that hosted the camp sent out a video. I’ve dug this video out of my archives, brushed it off slightly and posted it for all to enjoy! Also, check out my photo album from this event.

SCHS 2002 Graduation

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:33:47 +0000

Well, it may have been 7 years ago now, but I was cruising through my files and came across this old video.. I don’t really know who recorded the original footage, but I decided to clean it up a bit and put it out there, after all, there’s little point having this video if it’s not shared!

So, here it is.. I hope many good old SCHS friends check it out and that it brings back a few nice memories for them. I expect some time around 2012, we’ll have to get a reunion setup. Hope you’re all doing well! Cheers.

Epic WoW Fail

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:33:04 +0000

I was playing WoW the other day with a some friends.. I was playing it on Ubuntu linux (using WINE) and I guess some mystical memory leak decided to creep up and kick my butt. As such, from the WoW side of things I was disconnected while running in Stormwind City.

About 33.53 seconds later, I had managed to login again, but I found myself dead. The afterlife was not what I expected. I had been teleported (via a game bug) to a far away land and lived in a perpetual state of free-fall. It was horrid and more importantly, I couldn’t see a way out. My group had already been waiting for me to run to where they where and this had to happen. Not to worry however, a trusty Game Master came to my rescue. After some BSG banter and laughs the GM used their super-toon powers and transported me to the city of Ironforge (as I was trying to get there in the first place).

Hit & Run on my car!

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:38:43 +0000

So the other day I was standing in Cami’s kitchen when we heard a loud scraping sound come from outside. We soon realized the sound was that of a car driving straight in to the side of my parked car. I ran outside just in time to clearly observe a man who had been a passenger essentially move over and sit on top of the woman who was behind the wheel. He then appeared to drive the car as it sped away from the scene.

Rogers Redeemed

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:24:51 +0000

The Myth I head somewhere in the past that if you get Rogers to redirect you to their retentions group, they’ll offer you better options than you’d get elsewhere. It just bothers me that it seems to be true that if you want those better options you first have to actually make some kind of case for them or threaten to leave. It shouldn’t be that way. But hey, it just makes room for someone else to come in and do a better job.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:14:16 +0000

How I love Joss Whedon! His revolution has launched as of today! Below is the teaser for his made for internet series “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”. The first episode was released today at DrHorrible.com.

\t \t \t \t Teaser from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

The Dr. Horrible website currently is having a really hard time keeping up for the traffic demands (which is a great thing - mostly). An alternative option is to buy it straight up on iTunes! It’ll be the first thing I do when I get home from work tonight!

Don't be snotty. Exhibit A:

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:24:38 +0000

Just cause it’s exam season

Randomness Pictures Posted

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:38:46 +0000

In accordance with my procrastination regiment, I have posted some of my more recent photos. Check it out.

Online Schedule Updated

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:09:22 +0000

For the armies of you trying to track me - I’ve just updated my schedule page to use my google calendar rather than a boring old JPG. Have fun stalking away.

Firefox on the iPhone?

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:10:31 +0000

Okay so a few days ago Apple said that they’ll allow third party development for the iPhone (cheers).. However given that any third party apps have to exist as a web application I’m wondering how I’m going to run Firefox on my iPhone!? Now, I’m curious about this whole new attempt to make Safari 3 rule the universe, but frankly, I can’t see how they can defeat Firefox with it’s awesome plugin architecture and highly active open community. Though I do welcome the attempt to make something even better. Anyway, so I’m thinking that what we need is someone to make a web UI for Firefox so I can run it in Safari. How awesome (sarcastic) would that be!? A browser within a browser. Wicked.

A coin & my existence

Mon, 28 May 2007 09:30:04 +0000

A great many years ago my great grandfather and his best friend decided to travel to western canada to find work. They first traveled to Winnipeg where they were told they could find a good job with the drop of a hat. Once they got there, they heard that there were even better opportunities if they went further west. So further west they ventured.

They reached Saskatoon and discovered that the jobs weren’t as fruitful as they expected. Then they heard that if they continued further west, they could find easy pay they sought. Onward they went.

What's going on out there?

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:01:23 +0000

After listening to the details behind the Virginia Tech shooting I’m left trying to make heads or tails of the whole situation. Clearly there has already been established a real pattern of this sort of thing. I can recall the first few times it happened I was immediately shocked and disturbed. This time, I totally didn’t care at first. It was just YET another shooting. After a short time I began to digest that and now am rather quite disturbed as this should most certainly never be the sort of thing to just write off. But then, isn’t this kind of thing happening ALL the time in other countries? Maybe not, but it certainly seems to me that we as a global socieity have this habit of mass killing eachother. But why? I can see some positive things that come out of it, given that tragedy unites and reminds us what’s important. But the cost is too high.

The Spartan versus the Samurai

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:34:15 +0000

Throughout the ages there have been multiple eras through which particular societies have totally dominated the world in a military regard. Reflecting upon some of the famous warriors throughout these times, I wonder who would emerge the ultimate victor.

Consider the case of a Spartan versus and Samurai.. The Samurai would be equipped with fairly light equipment and insanely sharp weapons whereas the Spartan would be beefed up with uber-armour, which would certainly weigh nearly a ton. The question I pose to you all is who do you think would win in the ultimate showdown?

Awesome weekend upcoming

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 13:37:20 +0000

As I sit here at work, waiting for this lame thing to update I find myself looking forward to the upcoming weekend. A pack of us are headed out to Sunshine for a little ski trip and it’s bound to be a glorious time. I can’t say I know this group all too well, but given that the night before we head out we’re having an intense poker battle, I figure some seriously awesome times are in store.