Wednesday, 16. April 2008, 17:04:22
weather, updates, rats
What's up? Not exactly a question, it's more of a statement in this case. I thought of being incredibly dumb and typing in "WASSUP!" but I just can't bring myself to do that.
Anyhow to say I've been running steadily these past couple of weeks is an understatement. Being a freelancer has it's positives and boy does it have its negatives. Every year it is the same thing, work off and on throughout the winter but as soon as Spring hits ...you simply don't stop.
Speaking of Spring ...its finally arrived in this part of the world. Amazing how much of a difference a day of sunshine can make to the piles of snow we had around here. I can walk through my yard again, I can see past the snow bank out the front door and best of all I don't need to wear big clunky boots and a heavy jacket to be outside.
Two weeks ago one of my ratties had a litter of babies. At the time they were nothing more than tiny pink things with no fur, no eyes and no ears; here it is 16 days later and the little beggars are fuzzy, running around, and just a real blast to play with. They still are very tiny, at most two inches long but they are so damn cute.
My desktop machine has been acting up lately. It starts up no problem loads everything it is supposed to then ...it's useless. If you are lucky and fast enough you can use a mouse to open up a program ...just don't expect to use it. I've been testing the RAM, hard drives, processors, motherboard and I can find no reason for any of this. It just weirds me out that it worked, then it didn't. Time to replace the beast anyhow.
The sun is shining, +15 outside, time to go for a walk.
Friday, 7. March 2008, 03:42:06
weather, Ottawa, snow
Just when the sun popped out, news came of yet another storm getting set to bury us over the weekend. Environment Canda issued a severe storm warning for Friday and Saturday that will leave behind anywhere from 30 to 50 cm's of snow. Not only will it be snowing but the wind will be gusting at up to 60 km's/h causing near white out conditions.
Storm totals may be near 30 centimetres along and east of a line from Long Point to the Golden Horseshoe then to Petawawa. There is potential for 30 to 50 centimetres of snow over the Niagara Peninsula and parts of eastern Ontario.
Oh joy!
Sure it all looks pretty enough. A fresh blanket of white covering the trees, cars, buses, anything that sits still for more than 5 minutes. One of the big problems with it all is the havoc that this much snow wreaks on transportation. Getting around the city is hard enough now. Snow clearing has been an on going event for the past month and despite their efforts ...its not easy. Take a close look at the
second photo. Notice all those buses sliding off the road, just try to imagine how many people were late getting home that night.
Another problem with all this snow is where to put it. With the amounts of snow that have been falling a number of streets have become congested to the point where emergency vehicles simply can't travel down them. Toss in a car parked on the road and only pedestrians are able to use the roadway.
As a result of yesterday's 29 cm snowfall and in anticipation of another significant winter storm system expected to arrive in the Ottawa area tomorrow, snow banks on downtown residential streets may restrict traffic flow. As a result, snow removal from downtown streets will begin immediately to ensure sufficient road access for emergency vehicles, public transit, garbage and recycling services, and general traffic.
To help crews clear snow easily and effectively, vehicles that remain parked on the street during this restriction will be towed, but at no expense to the owner.
Even more snow ...just what we all needed.
Thursday, 28. February 2008, 17:41:33
laundry, weather, taxes
Another week over and done with, it all started off terribly but it’s ended on a high. Today there is a series of presentations being made to an audience of over two thousand and I was part of getting this all to work and work properly. So far it is all running smoothly and everyone is happy; it gives me a strong sense of accomplishment.
This week saw the temperatures fluctuating wildly again; from +4 to -20 with no warning. Fortunately we also got to see the sun come out after what felt like forever. Today, its -20 outside with a windchill of -32, but the sun is shining and as long as you can stay out of the wind it all feels good on the face.
The dreaded laundry pile is growing again. I really don’t like washing clothes. Not that it is a hard thing to do, toss it in the machine and let it do its thing; it’s the time that it takes to get it done. For the better part of this weekend I’ll be inside cleaning up the place so I’ll have no excuse not to do laundry.
Its tax time once again. A chore I could seriously do without.
Next week for me; I’ve got a couple of training sessions at the start of the week. Monday and Tuesday I’m here then I’m off to Winnipeg to do it all again for another group. I don’t mind the travelling; I go, do my thing and come back. I’ve never been a tourist, nor had any desire to do so.
Today will be a quiet day for me …I’ve just decided laundry can wait.
Time to go sit in the sun.
Wednesday, 20. February 2008, 01:08:06
laundry, work, weather, plans
I haven't felt like doing a whole lot of anything lately. The days just seem to drag on and on, time almost stands still. The lack of sunshine is dragging me down and I can hardly wait for the next four weeks to end and Spring begin.
I've done so little today that there is absolutely no reason for feeling tired and yet ...
Tomorrow I'll be part of a video conference presenting commentary and observations to different government departments from across the country. I hope I don't start yawning and dozing off while others speak.
Thursday and Friday I'm off to teach government employees how to do their jobs. You know the job they got hired to do and don't have a clue how to actually do it. Over the years I've taught government "webmasters" basic html, government "comunications" people how to use Word and still the powers that be say they hire on the basis of qualifications and not languaage.
Laundry is piling up again and I truly hate washing clothes; I've said it before and I'll say it again ...clothes should be disposable. Why not, everything else is. Tomorrow is another day and regardless of how lazy I feel right now I do have to iron a shirt.
Tuesday, 19. February 2008, 01:47:32
software, Adobe CS3, rats, weather
...
Part deux ...that's the extent of my french for today.
Physical check up today and stress tests on the old ticker. I'm healthy as a horse and my heart is as strong as it can be. Everything is a green light ...health wise.
The weather has been odd, like usual back to a couple of days of rain. Roads were absolutely terrible, many many vehicles in the ditches and still people drove far too fast for the conditions.
All this rain of late did a number on the ice sculptures and as usual Winterlude is once again being called Waterlude. The canal is a giant puddles and unless it gets cold again there won't be anymore skating on it.
I finally got my CS3 software to work on my laptop. It only took a complete formatting of the drive to do it but it all works. In the end I also went from using Vista Business to Vista Ultimate ...I'm not sure if that made a difference, I just know it all works.
My ratties are doing great. My two oldest rats are back to eating again after the loss of their buddy. for a bit there it looked like I might have to force feed them but they came around. I got two new little ones to take care of. They are only three weeks old and are identical in markings.
I'm trying to remember my camera whenever I go out, but it always slips my mind. It must be old age.
WIDGETIZE