What's up with this? I recently purchased a new "8 pack" of double A (AA) NiMH Eneloop rechargeable batteries, made by Sanyo. This new generation of batteries come with a pre-charge of about 90%, and are ready to use right out of the package. When fully charged, they will hold it for a year. Just for the hell of it, this time I read the "Instructions" that came with the batteries. On page two (2) I was shocked (pun aside, and aside from there being a "page 2" on a package of batteries!) to read that - (and I quote)... "Warning! Do not connect the (+) and the (-) ends with metal objects." ?!?!?? Now I don't know about you, but I buy batteries to power portable devices; and how I'm supposed to do that when I cannot connect the battery to the connections in the device is beyond me. Is there some new kind of device that does not have metal connections? Am I living in the dark ages? Did evolution pass me by? Please use the Guest book to leave me your comments. Hehehe. _____________ Success! (Late Update) WooHoo! Windows Home Server is finally working! It turns out that my problems were related to me being a lazy bugger. I had not bothered to go through all the myriad machinations to manually modify the many host file, router and port settings needed to correct the issue I was experiencing. The problem was easily corrected however, once I got out my cheque-book and purchased a router that was on the Microsoft approved list. WooHoo! MS Home Server Rocks. Seriously, I love it, and recommend either building your own if you're the adventurous type, or purchasing a ready made box, once they become available this fall. My Sweetie loves it too, as she can log into her home computer from work, just like she was sitting in front of it, and using the web-cam, see me sitting in my lazy-boy, drinking gin, watching the soaps, gossiping on the phone, while I'm getting a hummm... Er... Oh never mind. Apparently we're getting a divorce. Cheers! _________________ ____ _________________ Failure! X2 Prior to April 14, 2007, I had been using NetObjects Fusion on a computer running Windows XP to maintain this site, but reformatted that computer in order to beta-test Windows Home Server on it. That meant trying to get NetObjects to work with Vista Ultimate on my main computer. As of July 01, 2007, I have temporarily admitted defeat, and am now running NetObjects Fusion under XP again.
I'll play with the Vista/NetObjects combination again - once Vista service pack one is released, or the folks at NetObjects truly figure out how to make it work on a computer other than theirs. (I'm on my third version of NetObjects Fusion (over the past 5 years), and each release has been problematic, at least for a while.) __________ I am mightily impressed with Home Server, but the latest release in June broke the connectivity between the Home Server software and our networked computers. That in turn prompted an upgrade of my home router, in an attempt to get it functioning again. No joy. On a positive note, the new router has increased our connection speeds on the network and internet, and simplified our VOIP gateway setup. ______________________ And now, for a little work related humour... Two friends get into their balloon for an excursion. After a while, the wind unexpectedly picks up, and the balloon goes out of control.
The two balloonists, with great effort, manage to keep the balloon stable, upright, and away from power lines. But they are lost.
With more effort, they get the balloon near the ground. While floating over a country road, they see a man walking below. One of the balloonists calls down to him:
"We're lost! Can you tell us where we are?"
The man thinks for a while, looks down, looks up, looks down again, stares into space for a minute, and then cries out:
"You're in a balloon!"
The wind picks up, and the balloon floats off. After a moment, one balloonist says to the other:
"That man must be a manager."
"Why?"
"Three reasons. First, he took a long time to answer. Second, he was perfectly correct. Third, his answer was perfectly useless!" ________________________ Flash! Ed gets his five two & a half minutes! Local artist and icon Ed Gallie (Fast Eddie) does an interview with the local CBC TV station. Says he'll never dress up in women's clothes, or eat Poutine. Wishes he never learned how to ride a bike. Hear the lies! (11 megs) If your system doesn't play MP4 files, download the awesome VLC player-ripper-streamer here. _______________________ Took a trip to Wakefield Quebec a little while ago, and was astounded to hear Country and Western music on my cabbie's radio - sung in French! Not just one tune, but 45 minutes worth, for the length of the cab ride. The songs sure sounded mournfully familiar, but I couldn't imagine why they had been translated, as what could possibly be interesting to a Quebecker about Country and Western music - unless sung by Celine Dijon. Anyway, mustard lady notwithstanding... In conversation with # 1 son, who currently lives in La Baie Quebec, I learned that they probably weren't singing about the usual - "Ol lady dun left me, and the dog ran away from home" type stuff. He says it was more likely they were original Quebecois songs lamenting that "the Poutine was cold" or "I ain't had me no Poutine for over a week", and "the Ol' lady dun left me, an stole all my new Poutine" or, "Poutine, you dun do your daddy wrong"... And that oldie but goldie - "darn dog spilled my Pepsi, then ran off with my best friend Poutine"... Kinda brings a tear to your eye, now that you know the lyrics. Eh? See the passion here ____________________ Vista - Love it, leave it, or get a loan? I was a beta tester for Vista, and have been using it (on and off) for the past 14 months. Microsoft gave me a copy of the final version of Vista Ultimate, as a gift for submitting good bug reports and assessments. I installed it (the "Ultimate" version) on my main computer last November and will continue to use it on a daily basis, but not because there is a quantum leap (there isn't). I've done this so when people finally start to use it and have problems with it, I'll be better prepared to help. The full price (as of yesterday at Amazon.ca) for Vista Ultimate (not bundled with a computer) was $499 CDN. You can buy an "Upgrade" version for $299, but I (and others) do not recommend installing Vista on top of an existing OS. To get the full benefit of the Vista Aero interface, you need a half-decent video card ($200), a fast dual core processor ($300) and 2 Gigs of RAM ($300). More $$. What compelling reason or benefit is there to switch to Vista? Zip. Nada. Nothing. There is absolutely nothing in Vista that would compel me to upgrade my other computers, or my mothers' or sisters' computers, or anybody else's. As it stands, I like Vista, but it still isn't as polished as XP. I'm on my third motherboard purchased specifically to build a killer Vista box for myself, and I'm still not happy with it. In fact, I'm typing this on my standby computer as I have to reinstall Vista because of some quirks that appeared when using the last combination of hardware. (That said, I'm a slut for good hardware, and tend to push for bleeding edge performance via over-clocking.) When you add all of this up, my recommendation is to wait 'til the end of 2007 and reassess then. _____________________ Caution! Swear words follow. How do you spell "Apoplectic"? "SHAW Internet". The internet connection is down. Call Shaw. Ok, what's their number? Can't look it up online, internet is down. Find phone book white pages; figure out how to use it. Look up number in White pages, call and hear a recorded voice say "Please call during business hours". Shit! OK, that won't work. Look in the Yellow pages. Find phone number for technical support which claims to be 24/7/365. Strange, it appears to be the same number as the White pages?! Call it, and hear a recorded voice say "Please call during business hours". WHAT THE FLEK!!!! Call neighbor who has DSL, have them look up Shaw 24/7/365 support on the internet. Call number, go through a multitude of canned messages, and eventually get to talk to a support person. He asks what city I live in, and my address. Then says, "Equipment maintenance has been going on in your area since midnight, and we are expecting service to resume by 8 AM. Ok. Thank you. Suggest that they change their Yellow Pages listing 24/7/365 tech support number to their actual 24/7/365 tech support number. He says he'll pass that idea on to the sales department. Like they'll do anything about it. ARGH!!! Fleking Arsoles!!! Flash update!!! New picture of kinder gentler times found! Circa 1980 Biker dudes! Lookout Mom! Lookout Gramma! Hellions on wheels!
Well, some major updates have occurred here at PiffleCo.com. The site was getting pretty messy and stale so it's been completely revamped. You may have noticed that the blank spaces at the end of every paragraph now contain a period. Additionally, the end of some paragraphs actually had more than one blank space, and those have been removed. A few may have been missed, but will be plucked out as soon as the backspace key has been replaced. ___________ But now it's time to share a little unintentional self inflicted embarrassment.
A while back I attended two funerals.
I bused to the first funeral (for Gerry Henry of Universal Aero Engines), and walked the 20 or so blocks to the second (for Roscoe Marsh of Osborne Village). At the second funeral, I stopped outside for a ~~break with some of the other attendees (as I had at Gerry's funeral). I needed the ~~break as I'd been traveling - and attending funerals - for the better part of four hours at this point.
I looked quite spiffy in my polished shoes, brand new pants, crisp white shirt and sweater vest.
Or so I thought - until this gal walked up to me...
And ripped the large 3" X 5" black plastic stick-on size identifier - from the side of my new beige pant-leg. (Now everyone knows my instep and girth.)
The jokes flew and the laughter swelled - Dress him up, but can't take him out - Etc. Etc.
It added a little humour to an otherwise somber day.
Discovered the dumbest couple today. It's been pissing down for most of the spring, but now we've had a few days of sunshine and warm weather, this pigeon couple has to set up a nest... In the eve-trough. Geez! I thought I was having a bad day... They're having a bad life... When the next rain comes, their little oblongs of joy are going to be flushed. But not a total loss, I've got my Easter egg basket under the down-spout. :-)
Finally, some sunshine! 
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More Alberta weather! Our weather may be permanently crappy, but at least it doesn't scare the crap out of you. Like this stuff in Alberta... 
They say it rains a lot these days. I disagree. It only rained twice last week.
The first time for three days and the second for four. 
Pissing down rain again. (I expect that's redundant, what else would be pissing down?) Just in case you think we're always whining about the weather here at PiffleCo, this is what it looked like the other day. Now isn't that just awful to see in June! (Well, it may have been a "few" days ago... But we remember it like it was yesterday!) 
Dear StirFry has taken to using the carpet as a surrogate tongue...
'cause she's gotten too fat and lazy to lick her own butt. Now we call her The Streaker. You see dear, they're supposed to lick their butts to keep clean, you know, like toilet paper...
Got up this morning and found she'd been playing tic tac toe with butt streaks. Crap. I wasn't going to post a picture in order to spare your sensibilities, but what the hell, if I can take it, so can you. So... Here she is wiping her butt on my leg. As a center-note, notice how she's managed to push my left leg off the chair so as to be in optimal butt wiping position. Gross! 
I've finished building that computer for Hugh (Here's his old one). I still haven't cleaned the water cooler. Or installed the external SATA plug or new power supply with external Molex plug on my box. Or copied files to Darryl's hard drive. A person has to have something to look forward to.
Here's the view for most of this spring.
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