I AM AWESOME

Way back in October, I made the prediction that oil would drop below $40 by March.

Well... I was totally right, bitches! $37 for February. That's insane.

You don't know me at all

WHAT THE EFF!!!

The grass really is greener

Today I read yet another article about how Detroit is out of touch with today's auto market. But instead of dwelling on that, it pointed to exactly the type of business model that will serve as its replacement. Drawing parallels with Apple and its iPod/iTunes business model, this new one also uses today's technology to reinvent a tired, old business model. It's called Better Place and is already on its way to being tested in Hawaii.

Wake up, Detroit. I can totally see this working.

Sad

On saturday morning, Deb and I had to go to a client meeting at 9am in Surrey (btw, NEVER AGAIN will we do this so early.) We got onto the #1 and noticed it was a rather slow drive for a saturday morning. Then we saw in the HOV lane 4 cars pulled off to the side. Clearly there was an accident. The first car had a smash up front end, and it had spun 90 degrees. There was a second car that I didn't get much of a look at. Then there was a minivan. The rear end was destroyed beyond recognition. We could see people reaching into the van and obviously there was someone stuck inside. When we passed it the first responders hadn't even gotten there yet, and we heard no sirens. Obviously it had happened only minutes earlier.

As I got into work today, I opened up the usual websites I visit in the morning. One of those sites is The Province. I saw this article and didn't really make the connection. It finally clicked when I remembered seeing the accident. Deb and I both said to each other "Oh man, I hope there were no kids in there." When I saw the first car I told deb to take some photos with her iphone, but when we saw that van we both were like "umm... no photos." I'm glad we didn't.

The fact that we saw the aftermath of the accident doesn't make it any more tragic than it is, but still.

Wow... I'm just... wow.

Ok, so my story starts off with a phone call on Monday night from a collections agency. It was a recording that just said 'Call us, it's urgent.' So I looked up the number on google and found out who the company was. I was thinking to myself "I have nothing that would go to collections.. wtf?" So I call them. They tell me that I have an unpaid parking ticket from January 23, 2004 that is unpaid and has been sent to collections. WTF? I was super surprised to find that the guy from the collection agency was being helpful and gave me the details of the ticket. It said I had stopped in a no stopping zone somewhere in Richmond. Weird... I never go to richmond, and I worked in Burnaby at the time. Ok, so I got the ticket number from him and called Richmond. It took 3 days to get in touch with someone there. Today, I was given all the details of the ticket and such... and I'm just beside myself that this kind of crap even happens.

So the ticket stated that I stopped in front of Burnet Secondary School at 3pm on January 23rd to pick someone up, and that the driver was in the driver's seat. Uh... what? I asked why I had never received this ticket, and was told it was mailed but then got returned to Richmond cus I had moved. Odd, I always make sure ICBC has my correct address as soon as I move. Besides, in 5 years don't you think they could look it up again before sending it to collections?? Ok, so then he says that since I never found out about the ticket that he could get the collection on it reversed and that he'd reduce the ticket to $30 (the original amount) but that since it was so long ago and the dispute system had changed, I was unable to dispute the ticket. Well... ok, whatever... 30 bucks is fine, I have no problem paying it. I was just worried about the hit to my credit. So then I ask him "Now, I know I can't dispute this, but does the ticket say what kind of car it was?" His response: "Yes, it says it was a Toyota." WTF! My car is a Ford and my license plate has always been on my car. So he says to me "I'll call ICBC and check to see what that license plate is registered to."

He just called me back and told me that he's canceled the ticket outright, as the car that belongs to this license plate is a ford.

First off, YAY! I got it resolved! But really, WTF!!!!! Had I just said "oh, 5 years ago.. hmm.. I don't remember that, so I'll just pay it" I would be out $60 for a ticket that wasn't even for me! Obviously some cop needs to get his eyes checked. I'm glad I was persistent enough to get to the bottom of this.

At work on a holiday

So today I am at work because the stock markets are open. I have to work 6am to 1pm today, which is 3 hours earlier than my usual working hours. It sucks. I had to drive in because the skytrain doesn't start up until 8am on holidays. I woke up at 4:45am, quickly showered and got dressed, then headed out the door at 5:15am. Once the elevator reached the B-level I got a little startled. There was a guy waiting for the elevator, which I was not expecting. He had been doing laundry. WHO THE FUCK DOES LAUNDRY AT 5:15AM ON A HOLIDAY??!?? Crazy bastard.

The drive was pretty quick. There were barely any cars on the road, so it didn't take me long to get to work. At 5:30am, when it's raining and you're tired and there are no cars on the road, a green light is bright as hell. As I pull onto dunsmuir and headed into the downtown core, I looked up and noticed the buildings were all pretty dark. Since it's a holiday and all the buildings you can see are condos no one had their lights on... they were asleep. Assholes.

I hope you have cookies enabled.

If McCain's speech was as bitter as his campaign

Priceless

President Elect

What an amazing night in history. Barack Obama has just been elected to be the first black president in the history of the United States. This event will change the course of history throughout the world. I can't wait to witness the changes that need to happen.

(Edit - I've added the video of Obama's Victory Speech -- Assbeard)

Drunks don't deserve kids

Drunken asshole pleads guilty

So this jackass has 2 kids die after he takes them out in -50C weather wearing just t-shirts and diapers, because he's drunk off his ass and his wife is out drinking... and then they go and have another child after the 2 die?? I love how the mother says at the end that they had an addiction and didn't realize it until their kids died. It's so awesome that 2 children had to lose their lives for these pieces of shit to realize they drink too much.

Any time a person kills a child, through negligence or otherwise, they should be sterilized, then beaten to within an inch of their life with cactuses... cactii... whatever.

Fuckers.

Shout out to the slave masters!

Hey look, more content that isn't a video. :p

But in refrence to the title: good god damn, ignorance ahoy.

Humour is fun

They'll bomb my goats!

Pour vous sexypants

Brunettes make the best wives

See, it was on the internet! That means it's a FACT! It's got to be a law of physics or something now, right?

Clearly explains why I have the best wife in the world.

Super Duper Tuesday

The most important election to affect Canada is happening on Tuesday, the US one. Everyone is cordially invited over to my place to find out who will be in charge of the largest nuclear stockpile. An Islamic militant, domestic terrorist, sided with an old white guy. Or a beauty queen, gun toting, wife of a secessionist, hockey mom, sided with an older white guy. Break out your freedom fries and lapel pins, it should be a good one.

It's a big day in Nerd Land

Today at the PDC (Professional Developer's Conference)Microsoft unveiled some of the new features that will be part of Windows 7. Among them (and this is one I've wanted for SOOO LONG!) is the ability to rearrange your taskbar buttons. Yes, this is a fairly insignificant change, but I like it.

To read more, go to Ars Technica for their more wordy article.

Screeeeech!!

There was just another screech outside from a car trying to stop at the stoplight by by condo. This happens often. It's pretty stupid. About a year ago, someone rearended a car with a family in it. It wasn't a major collision, but I heard it. It was raining and it was at night. I went out onto the balcony to see the aftermath, and I saw the people in the car that was hit get out of the car, while the people who hit the car backed up about 50 feet, stopped, backed up some more, stopped again, then appeared to be pulling over. All of a sudden, though, these guys decided to do a U-turn over the concrete median and sped off in the opposite direction. It was pretty fucked up.

Emaill!! and DINOSAURS in the BIBLE

My farts keep me healthy.

Take a gander at this

You are no longer allowed to moan and groan when i fart. I'm just trying to keep myself healthy. I must be REALLY healthy by now, too, cus my farts fucking STINK!

Lack of posts?

I have been informed that our blog is lacking in quality posts. Apparently, just posting the videos we like is not high quality blogging.

Well, I'm not sure what to write here... I'm busy trying to get a website put together, and I'm editing a stupid amount of photos (won't happen again!) and I'm not a word-person anyway.

Guess what? Someone else needs to post something here. Especially since it's election time in the US in slightly less than 2 weeks. I swear to god, if Barack loses to McOldyPants and Sarah "the R-tard" Palin, then jesus motherfucking christ. So ya...

Chocolate raaaaaaiiiiinnnnn

Oil Prices to drop to $40 by March 2009

I predict oil will drop to $40 a barrel by March 2009.


There. Now that that's done, let's see if the market falls.

Terry Tate Approves This Message

This is too good not to share.

Holy crap

I'm liveblogging from the vogue right now. The super super extremely gay guy in front of me won't stop taking pictures with a flash. He needs to be beaten. Also, the opening act was horrific. Just absolute shite. Goddamn do I hate crappy opening bands.

Cat Face

He's got the body of a cat and the face of a cat...
Cat Face

It's Chad Vader, bitches!

What. The. Fridge!

ouch

This is fucked up.

Let us gather + bonus!!1!1one

EDIT: reservation is at 6pm in case you missed it in the comments.

This Saturday, I think it would be a great idea to go somewhere to dinner, especially since my birthday was yeserday. I was almost thinking of going to COZA! again. I'm also open to suggestions, which I believe to be pretty damn spectacular of me to consider that. :)

If you can or can't make it, let me know so I can plan and etc. And I definitely planned to post this earlier...

Now, for "bonus!11" humour (repeat for an Assbeard):

This is going to be quite enjoyable

Awesome Add

Reminds Me Of Assbeard

Deb - CNTM

ridiculous

The NDP has decided that affirmative action is a great idea, even after something like 30 years of failure in the US.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=51a57259-9171-42eb-867b-8ed1e40e09ca

How stupid is that. Now instead of having the best candidate running, they'll have some chick or minority who may or may not have a clue...

watch the cartoon that comes up after a minute or so

2081

Ooops

This is on highway 97C traveling from Kelowna to Merritt, about an hour out of Kelowna. There was a large ominous cloud just lounging around in the mountain, snowing. Clearly these guys have a hard time driving in miniscule amounts of precip.

Awesome

God Damn Chinese People Learn To Walk

Normally when I go to a mall I pay no attention to the elevators. They are not something that I would ever use. Now that I have Connor taking the escalator isn't always practical or safe. We were at Metrotown on Friday and were using it to go between floors. Every single time we had to use it, god damn Chinese people with no strollers, canes, or wheelchairs who all seemed perfectly able to walk got on. The worst was we got on when it was going down and a couple with a kid who looked about eight got on in the parking garage level and took it to the first floor. What the fuck for. Are escalators too complicated, its not like they take more effort. It just bugged the shit out of me all night. When we went to leave we were on the top floor. When we got to the elevator there were three other people with strollers and an old lady on a scotter, and at least a dozen god damn chinese people just standing there. I wanted to start punching them. There were at least two cars worth of people who legitamately had a need to use it, so all those jackholes decided that it was too much effort to use an escalator and when a car came a bunch of them felt the need to cram themselves ahead of babies and the elderly. Suffice to say we took the escalator down with Connor. We need Cops to start giving tickets to people for being complete fuck holes.

Homeowner = awesome

Our condo building is having maintenance done on the hot water boilers, which means that for a time during the day there will be no hot water. Fair enough. Our resident caretaker put up a notice in the elevator to let everyone know what was up so no one would freak out that there's no hot water. Awesome.

For some fucked up reason, whenever they put signs up in the elevator, people are either grossly offended by the presence of paper signs, or they decide that mild retardation is a sport, so the tear the shit out of the sign.

Well, after reposting the sign twice, our caretaker got fed up. Here is the result.


Click for big version

Here's what this sign looked like in the afternoon:


Click for big version

May cause time travel

Cloverdale Corn Maze!!

Hey guys,

Hubby and I are taking J-bird to this crazy maze & I wanted to know if any of you want to join us??
Something different & fun and even involves us getting off our arces!!

Maybe Sunday?? Or Friday??



To check it out go here:

http://www.cornfieldmaze.com/sites.php?ID=&username=cancloverdale

not new, but still scary

New Link

I've added a new link to the "Favourite Nerd Links" called "Cake Wrecks."

It's hilarious. Check it out.

Don't tell Africa

RIP Isaac Hayes

Shit yourself thin

'Cosmopolitan' Institute Completes Decades-Long Study On How To Please Your Man

Trajan: Movie Font

Since we've had a slew of video postings I may as well add one myself.

I always knew Robin was an asshole

Mixed Messages

12lbs 4oz

My son weighs this much

Clipboard Pen

Stray string, ribbon, linked together elastics, even a paperclip chain,
I have seen them all dangling freely from the sign in clipboard at reception.
The dangling end is tattered and naked; almost embarrassed,
Missing is the pen that was once part of it, again.

As a new pen is attached, the receptionist sighs,
She mutters to herself, wishing people would stop stealing these pens.
It is, after all, tied to the clip board for a damn reason!
Does anyone hear her prayers?

Maybe, just maybe, it is you who keeps escaping,
Refusing to be confined to the clipboard all your life.
Perhaps the predeceasing pens eventually got fed up and wanted to leave?
People pass you all day long with rare and little acknowledgement.

Depressing days blur together, nothing to think about but escape.
What fulfilling duties lie beyond this entrance way desk?
The plan comes together as the office is now closed for the day,
Freedom awaits!

You release yourself from the restraints; it is a new and glorious day!
Now is the time to start living as you roll off the desk into the entryway hall.
Feeling drunk from the giddiness you pause as someone enters,
Oh no! Your cover is blown!

Giant bristles sweep you up and lift you to desk height.
Looming over a dark, seemingly bottomless bin, something catches your eye.
Across the room on the counter was your home you just fled
Stripped and tattered, now it just dangles.

Goooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaallll!!!!

Read this book review

Some people seem to think they are an "author" just because they can write words on paper. Well, read this review of "The Shadow God" by Aaron Rayburn, and then AFTER (and only after) reading that review, go to Aaron Rayburn's website, found here

Holy Al-Queda Batman

gurgle

Domino's Scientists Test Limits Of What Humans Will Eat

Me

Lynn Canyon

Yesterday, Deb and I went to Lynn Canyon. I wanted to play around with photographing waterfalls. Sadly, We didn't have a map so I didn't find a spot to get the waterfalls... but I did get some shots with the effect I was after.

Anyway... So, we're there, walking through the trees and along the path. All I could think of was "HOLY SHIT, There's a lot of people here!" I'm talking a LOT of people. And I guess in a way that's good. It's nice to see people enjoying the parks. But there comes a point where it's being enjoyed TOO much.

I saw people walking along a trail (with tree roots sticking up and such) wearing FLIP-FLOPS!! And carrying coffee cups! Not thermoses or anything, but paper coffee cups! WTF! It was absurd. It was also very crowded. I was not expecting to have to wait for other people to move before I could take a step when I decided to go for a hike.

Luckily, all these people came for one thing, it seems. They came for the "30 foot pool" which is where every goes for a swim in the refreshing icy water. I wanted to jump in, but I had no swimming stuff or towel. Deb and I continued to hike past this and, of course, found NO ONE using the trails beyond this. Damn city folk. They just wanted a slight taste of the outdoors, but they didn't want to break a sweat.

That being said... We'll all have to go up there one day this summer for a swim in that water. It was nipple-hardening cold.

Our baby is growing up!

I can be better, I swear!

Since about mid 2000 or so I have had one problem... my geekiness has been toned down. Yes, it's true... I can be geekier. In fact, I SHOULD be geekier. But I can't. Why? Because I'm married. Yes, I blame you for this, Deb :) It takes time to be a geek, but it also takes time to be a husband. Instead of spending hours and hours trying the next big Linux distro, or building BSD webservers out of spare parts, I am instead going on walks and watching such tripe as "27 Dresses." God, that movie sucked.

Well, it's gotta stop. The geek in me (so really, that's like 95% of me) needs some release. The first step? Geek artwork. We still have some time before we decorate our condo, and when we do I plan on putting up some geeky artwork. I don't know just what it will be yet, as I have to find it. But dammit, I have to find something. Maybe an 8-bit Mario or Space invaders aliens or something.

Also, I will be more aggressive in my attempts at converting my wife into a sci-fi fan. I will make it my duty to make her understand the joke when we say "invert the deflector dish"

w00t

Keen on Oral

Putin on the Ritz

Baby Tips

Corporate Turds

This is hilarious

In a way though, I hope he does it. But still... wtf is wrong with people!?!

This is Gay TV

Connor James Roderick Bull

Congrats Russ and Jenn on FINALLY having your son. 8lbs 11oz, bjorn at 9:59pm on Saturday June 14... 7 full days late.

Now it's time for the fun!

kitchen

i have new cabinets now! go to our reno blog for a couple pics

Nerds

You guys are all a bunch of NERDS.





Oh wait, so am I.



My nerdy ass just came up with this retarded and nerdy post because I have way too much time on my hands.


When we gonna nerd it up for Morgans b-day???


Nerds UNITE.

That Bun's Been In The Oven Too Long

WTF!

I am wearing a wool coat today. It's June. And yet, it's cold as shit. Here's proof

On a side note, I love the comments that people put on these pages. Calling global warming "junk science", saying it's a gov't ploy, etc etc. The people that say these things? ya, they're all bible thumpers.

Everyone Loves The Wii

Except Anderson Cooper. He is a quality douche bag.

MacGruber!!!

Russ's Birthday

Ok so this year we are not planning anything big, becaue i cannot guarantee there will even be a party if the baby decides to arrive!!!!! What i figured we would do is just have everyone over for cake and maybe watch a movie on Saturday Night May 30...
Dinner could be a option as well but i was not sure what everyone had planned because it is kinda short notice... and it is not a guaranteed thing.. we will have to play it by ear.
Let me know what you guys think or if anyone has any other suggestions!!!

The Mutual Phone Break-Up

Maybe it's ironic that given my predisposition to high-tech gadgets my primary phone is a land line. I find it quite freeing to not have to worry about carrying a cell phone. I first became a Telus customer back in 1996 when they were still known as BC Tel. At that time they had a monopoly on local phone service but it translated well into reliability, good customer service and generally good rates. My line cost me $25 per month and I was happy.

Those times are long gone. Luckily to combat this, a few years ago four things happened.

• Telus' ego ballooned and their customer service plummeted.


• The CRTC forced the incumbents to open up their copper to competing providers.


• VoIP became a feasible alternative.


• Shaw went on a network-expansion binge.

The result? It was supposed to fuel competition and all the fun stuff that comes with it, however things didn't quite follow the textbook. Sure, competitors started popping up offering better rates but there was no defensive strategy from Telus. They didn't lower rates or raise the quality of their product. Instead, they just sat still, content in knowing the average consumer wouldn't choose a new start-up over the traditional phone company.

And they were right for the short term. Unfortunately for them, my short term ended today.

After paying my Telus bill and thinking it was way too high I looked into the alternatives. Shaw was my first choice but I also noticed Yak Communications offers local service throughout BC. Using the power of a spreadsheet I assembled my options and naively called Telus to see if they could do any better.

Me: "I'm considering moving my phone line to Shaw or Yak. What can you do for me?"

Telus: "I can set you up with a package..." [continues describing a package that'll save me $6].

Me: "You're still the most expensive. You can't do any better?"

Telus: "We also have this package..." [another package that saves me another dollar]

Me: "Yak can give me the same service for $10 less and Shaw beats them by another $10"

Telus: Goes on to describe how the four callers before me were actually Shaw customers switching back to Telus because of poor service. What a coincidence! I couldn't believe she tried that crap.

Me: "I know at least two people satisfied with Shaw's phone so that's not a concern for me"

Telus: "So you'll be leaving your account as-is?"

Me: "Uh, yes if you can't do any better I'll be switching."

Telus: "Is there anything else I can help you with?" (doesn't that question require that they have helped with one thing already?)

I couldn't believe the cluelessness of Telus. Even when customers give them a chance to redeem themselves they brush it off. It's as if they know I'd be happier with another provider.

When I called Shaw they were very happy to hear from me. The rep was much more friendly and seemed to enjoy his job. He also took time to confirm that I'd be eligible for the internet discount (Digital Phone Basic is not) and was an overall pleasure to talk to. As a result, starting May 31 our home phone service will be provided by Shaw.

So long Telus, get your head out of the sand. You will not be missed.

JacksenTube #3: Swimming In Data

I finally got it! When I came home from work on Thursday, Jacksen was happy just lying on the couch when he started talking as he always does. Except this time I had the camera ready and he had lots on his mind. We hear this every day but few friends and family have heard it before now.

There may be more video coming - I have 24 GB of DV eating up my hard drive right now. I need an easy way to back this stuff up! Converting to XviD in nearly-equal-to-DV quality compresses it down to 3 GB but still, it's a lot. I'd like to retain the originals if I can. So far I can only think of these ideas:

• Seven or eight data DVDs, unplayable on a DVD player of course. This is probably cheapest but I don't trust writable DVDs over time so I'd have to re-write onto new discs periodically. I can't loose this footage and I'm bad at maintaining schedules like that.


• Buy a huge hard drive and external USB 2.0 enclosure. Expensive, but I'd say more reliable than DVDs over time. It is, however, prone to physical damage which would render all content lost.


• Buy more DV tapes and forget the computer methods. This may be the best option. Tape lasts a long time and they're only $10 for an hour. It doesn't, however, allow me to edit the video and back up the edited copies since I don't have a software DV encoder.

If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears.

JacksenTube #2

Last month Jacksen was the actor, sneezing and cooing. This month, unfortunately, he's more of an observer of his crazy parents.

This time I encoded the video properly so I linked in the high-quality version. It may take a but longer to start playing but the difference is worth it.

For future reference, I used the same steps as last time except I encoded at 10,240 kbps video and 96 kbps audio.

I'm so glad i was just a kid in the 80s.

What an embarrassing decade for fashion.

More Star Wars Nerdiness

It looks like a dress from behind

The Canadian iPhone Waiting Game

Fuck You Rogers!

For Russ

Bee's Birthday

So next friday (April 25) we are going to celebrate Debbie-J's birthday. She's turning 27 finally. What an old fart. So we'll be going to Red Robin in Langley for dinner that night (probably around 7ish) and then if we can make it we'll go see the new harold and kumar movie.

6 Weeks

Soon I can use this excuse to get out of work.

It's Like Talking to a Goat!

JacksenTube

Three things I know for sure. One, I wanted to see how to get the best quality video on YouTube. Two, Jacksen is starting to make more interesting sounds than crying. Three, many of you are dying to see boring home movies. So my first experiment in YouTube broadcasting stars Jacksen and has the un-cut, raw feel only parents wishing to capture every moment can create. Enjoy all three and a half minutes.

Update - Stormy asked how I got the video from camera to YouTube and I should've put it in here so I can refer to it next time. There were a lot of steps that video went through and it's still not perfect but it's pretty good for the first attempt. Most of the time was spent trying different combinations of filter and compression settings.

Amazingly, I used free software at every step and they were all high-quality.

1. Copy 850 MB DV file from camera with WinDV.


2. Open video in VirtualDub.


3. Set up Smart Deinterlacer, Resize, Levels and Sharpen filters.


4. Process video and save as XviD, 640x480, 2-pass, 1024 kbps, 29.97 fps. Save audio as Lame MP3, 48 kHz, 64 kbps, mono.


5. Upload 27 MB video to YouTube and let them re-compress to 320x240.

I screwed up on the aspect ratio though. This version looks fine but the high-quality versions YouTube offers are squished. I accidentally flagged the video as widescreen.

Next I need to find a good video editing app. The free ones all seem to suck in different ways.

Photoshop Express - Beware The EULA

EULA? What's a you-la? It's an End-User License Agreement and it contains all the things you agree to when you're installing software and click the "I Accept" button. Websites have the same thing but it's typically broken into two documents called "Terms of Use" and "Privacy Policy". Regardless of format, they serve the same purpose: grant as few rights to the end-user as possible without alienating them.

Why am I telling you this? Because Adobe got the "alienating" part backwards.

Yesterday Adobe released a web-based photo editor they've called Photoshop Express. Ignoring the fact that it resembles Photoshop as much as Notepad resembles Word, it's still a free 2 GB photo storage service and possibly a nice way to share your creations with others.

However, their EULA has a problem. There's one part of it that many are objecting to, and for good reason.

8. Use of Your Content.

a. Adobe does not claim ownership of Your Content. However, with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, derive revenue or other remuneration from, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

Basically it means that although you retain ownership of your photos, you agree to grant Adobe a royalty-free license to reproduce your photos in any way they want. This is not good. Normally when a company needs photos they either hire an expensive photographer or pay top-dollar for stock photos which the original photographer gets paid for via royalties. However, if you take a stunning photograph and upload it into Photoshop Express, Adobe is legally able to use it for free for any purpose. You'll be giving away your creativity with no legal way to demand payment.

But why worry about this when other photo sharing sites like Flickr have been around for a lot longer? Because Flickr has an artist-friendly Agreement that leaves all rights in the hands of the photographer. If anyone wants to use your uploaded Flickr photos they are obligated to contact you for permission and you are allowed to request payment before granting permission. If they use your photos without permission you can sue them.

Adobe makes only creativity software so they know better than any company how business and art work together. Taking advantage of amateurs is abysmal. Until they change their agreement you should not use their service because it'll be likely those changes, if any, will not be retroactive.

Update, 2 days later - It seems Adobe didn't even read its own EULA and as a result of the backlash they'll be re-writing the section in question. Good for them, but it shouldn't have taken a barrage of negative press to effect such a change. My perception of them has now gone from evil to just stupid.

Mr. Fix-it's At It Again

One annoying fact of life is that given enough time, every device breaks down. Some things, however, usually take so long to break that we take their ability to function for granted. Major appliances fall into this category. Unfortunately, these days when one of them breaks people usually do one of two things, both of which are rather expensive: they call a repair guy or they throw it out and buy a new one.

But not me.

I'm old school, which is ironic given my career as a computer programmer. I grew up in a house where things were replaced only once they were broken beyond repair. I remember taking our cabinet TV to the repair shop more than once, until its rather expensive power supply died. Our dishwasher was older than me and still in use to this day. It'll be replaced soon but only because the bottom is rusting out. Our dryer was even older and is also still in use. Every five years or so my Dad has to take it apart to fix a break in the heater coil but it doesn't cost anything.

Needless to say I absorbed a lot of the do-it-yourself attitude and this past weekend I put it to use again. You may remember back in December when I fixed an awful sound in our washing machine. This time it was the dryer's turn. One day Lori turned it on and it didn't produce any heat.

On Friday I was out but Bill came over to visit and started taking it apart. He determined there was nothing wrong with the heater coil, which was unfortunate because that meant the problem was not as obvious as I had hoped.
When I returned home we searched the Internet for a wiring diagram and once it was found, grabbed our multimeters and started tracing. First we started at the obvious points like the heater sensors but when they tested in working order we followed the schematic. Starting at the main power we worked our way along until we found a resistor near the controls that was reading zero continuity.

Problem identified!

But the celebration was short-lived. It turns out the resistor had such high resistance that our multimeters read it as a continuity break but when we settled down and actually tested its resistance it was in the proper 5 kΩ range. The hunt continued.

Eventually we found a sensor that looked like its connector had melted to it. In fact, it was the sensor's internals leaking out. It read zero continuity and infinite resistance. Problem identified! This time it was for real. Luckily Whirlpool is very organized and not only do they have part numbers on everything as expected, they also have all those parts catalogued on their web site available for direct order as well as a list of local parts dealers. The part I needed was listed at $31.96 so I called Reliable Parts and they said they could get it by Tuesday for the same price plus tax.

Tuesday couldn't come fast enough. When there's a baby in the house laundry becomes very important.

When Tuesday finally rolled around Lori picked up the part and I installed it. Success! We had our dryer back in working order and it only cost us $35 and some elbow grease.

Now it's just a matter of time before the next major appliance stops working.

O.R.V.S.

I can say without hyperbole.

THIS IS THE GREATEST WEB BROWSER GAME EVAR!

100th post!!!

This is the 100th post since Too Many Nerds started up last August. So to celebrate, here is the coolest thing to hit pubs since germy pretzels. I don't drink beer, but this is still pretty sweet.

Nick's Kid

Say Frog

I'd Buy That For A Dollar

Beaurocratic Loophole

Check Out My Pics Yo!

Thanks Nick for posting the link to my pics off to the right of the screen... Just wanted to bring your attention to this matter. LOL

Chili

Deb's going to try her hand at making Chili next saturday and we'd like y'all to come over. It's not quite so 70s anymore.

Birthdays

Hey all. If you'll divert your attention to the right hand side of your screen you'll notice a new feature I've implemented. This is a calendar of birthdays. By default it will show any birthdays within a month of the time you view it (for example, today is march 7 so it will show anything up to April 7.) If you want to look forward, just click the link below it that says "look for more."

If there are any birthdays you want added, let me or Steve know and we'll add them to the calendar.

Getting there.

Since nobody has been to our place in months I thought you might want to see some new pics of the bathroom. Take a trip over to our condo blog HERE and you'll see some pics and info and such. DO IT!

Just...wow

I have a few blogs that I frequent, so I have a folder on my bookmarks bar to sort them all. I still have the Bean Dip in there, and I accidentally clicked it when I was trying to come here. Anyways, it appears that Charlie posted a message last week. Has anyone other than me seen it? He clearly thinks we still check it often.

Here's the link if you don't remember it

I don't even know what to say to this. Sounds like he expected us to blindly accept any behavior of Chalamar's and when we didn't he just ignored it until it boiled over. What is interesting is that we haven't seen Charlie since August and really, I can't say that it's made a huge impact in my life. I remember my dad said to me once "why are you friends with him? you don't have anything in common." Looking back on how we progressed through life I would have to agree with that statement. His last comment about the good times with his friends being over sure is interesting. It was his decision, not ours. The fact that he didn't want to try to work through it clearly shows he's not thinking like an adult.

Sigh... some people.

Too True

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Booya

I am posting this from my new sexy laptop.

Lolz

read the reviews for this genius product here

I almost pooped myself.

Those aren't muskets

My Boy knows Tits!!

OH MY GOD!

This isn't fake. Richard Zednik got his neck slashed by Olli Jokinen's skate last night.



Apparently he's in stable condition.

New Template

Hey all. I decided to change the template we use for the blog. I didn't like the last one all that much and I think this one looks a little cleaner. It would be nice to make our own template and have our blog completely custom but I don't have the time or the skills to make that happen... so deal with it!

It's a Boy!

Jacksen John Lauchlan Currie was born today at 8:23am. He was 6lbs 8oz and 51cm long. Word has it that Steve has already taught him how to code in Pascal.


Congratulations Steve and Lori!

Holy crap, if there was ever an example of how stupid christians can be!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Uk6t_tdOkwo

unfortunately, no embedding allowed :(

Fun With Wii

This is one of the coolest things I have seen done with a Wii. It would be sweet to see it in action. (I'm looking at you Russ)

Heath Ledger: Dead

Did not see this coming

Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26

Hey all. So seeing as how next weekend (hopefully) will be probably the last weekend of freedom in a LONG time for Steve (and Lori too I guess :P) I would like to have a guys night out on friday night (and the girls should hang out too and have a girls night). I was thinking we'll go have dinner somewhere and after that we can see Cloverfield and then just geek out after. Then, on saturday night we can celebrate Jenn's birthday, since she turns 26 on the 29th. Does that work for everyone? Jenn, did you have any ideas for your birthday extravaganza?

For Deb

This is the Japanese Giant Hornet. Live in fear.

Other scary shit: Here

Self-Exam for Men

Normally e-mail humour is so-so but this one I got a kick out of.

Self Exam for Men

1. If you are over forty, and you have a washboard stomach, you are gay. It means you haven't sucked back enough beer with the boys and have spent the rest of your free time doing sit-ups, aerobics, and doing the Oprah diet.
   
   
2. If you have a cat, you are a Flaaaaming homo. A cat is like a dog, but gay -- it grooms itself constantly but never scratches itself, has a delicate touch except when it uses its nails, and whines to be fed. And just think about how you call a dog... 'Killer, come here! I said get your ass over here, Killer!' Now think about how you call a cat...'Bun-bun, come to daddy, snookums!' Jeeezus, you're so gay.
   
   
3. If you suck on lollipops, Ring-Pops, baby pacifiers, or any such nonsense, rest assured, you are a Gaylord. A straight man only sucks on BBQ ribs, crab claws, raw oysters, pickled pigs feet, or tits. Anything else and you are undeniably a fag.
   
   
4. If you refuse to take a dump in a public bathroom or piss in a parking lot, you crave a deep homosexual relationship. A man's world is his bathroom; he defecates and urinates where he pleases.
   
   
5. If you drink anything other than regular coffee, you are a mincer. A straight man will never be heard ordering a 'Decaf Soy Latte'. If you've put a Decaf Soy Latte to your lips, you've had a man there, too.
   
   
6. If you know more than six names of non standard colors or four different types of dessert other than ice cream and pie, you might as well be handing out free ass passes. They don't have enough memory to remember all of that crap. A real man only has enough memory to remember types of beer, engine capacities, their favourite sports teams players, and the names of porn stars. If you can pick out chartreuse or you know what a 'fressier' is you're gay. And if you can name ANY type of textile other than cotton or denim, you are fond of a bit of bum fun.
   
   
7. If you drive with both hands on the wheel, forget it, you're dying to tune a meat whistle. A man only puts both hands on the wheel to honk at a slow-ass driver or to cut the jerk off. The rest of the time he needs that hand to change the radio station, eat a hamburger, or hold his beer.
   
   
8. If you have a girls name, or a name that could be mistaken for a girls name, like Kelly, Pat, Chris or Terry, then you probably like to play the pink piccolo.
   
   
9. If you do not send this off to all the males on your email list because you are afraid of hurting their feelings then you definitely drop anchor in poo bay.

Dinner

Will be held at the Olive Garden in Langley at 5:30. I am getting there at 5 to put my name in so it should be pretty accurate. BEEEEEE THERE!!!!! (That includes you ampersand!)

No presents please, just your presence :o)

Birthday potty's!!!

hello my loves!

SO this Saturday Jenny-fir and Steve-o have decided to join in holy birthday-tra-monie. HAHA I'm such a nerd. ANYWHO Jenn says to let Steve decide where the festivities should take place so he wants to go to somewhere like Coza.. Although it's super hard to get a reservation there, I called on Monday and they already couldn't get us in until 9:15.. The hostess did say that if we just walk in that they do everything they can to accommodate such a large group. I'm not sure though, so suggestions would be spiffy. I mentioned Andrea's cuz at least it's quiet there, but I can't remember what he said about that........ so maybe he'll just have to suffer with what the wife picks!!

I'm not sure what Jenn and Wayne will be up to after the dinner, but I do know that my hubby hasn't been bowling in a long time, rolling me up the stairs and into bed isn't quite the same, although I'm sure he gets a kick out of it!! SO if anyone else is up for it, we can also hit Willowbrook lanes and RJ and I can of course watch all your pretty bums while you get down with your bad selves.

Lemme know if you're coming a-sap so we can set this party in motion!!

Oh ya, and Carla will also be joining us..... they come into town any minute now!!!! par-tay!

XO

Policies

OK so we received a awesome present for Christmas. A week long Mexican Riviera Cruise.... Wow, Awesome right!!!!! Those were my thoughts exactly and we were so excited to go.. I went to my doctor on Monday to make sure that Flying would not be a issue, my Doctor said it shouldn't be but that i need to call and double check on the policies for the airline and the Cruise ship. So following doctors orders I got the numbers for both the airline and the cruise and proceeded to call them to double check their Policies.

So just so everyone knows, as long as it is okayed by your doctor Alaskan airlines allows you to fly right up to the 8th month of pregnancy. Where as the cruise lines will NOT allow you to board the ship for a cruise if on the last day of the voyage you are 24 weeks or more pregnant. So, sad to say at the time that we were supposed to go on the cruise i would be 27 weeks at the beginning and would not be allowed to board the ship. So we are going to have to postpone our trip until after Baby is born. Which in the long run i guess is a good thing because when we do eventually fet to go on a cruisei will be able to do alot more of the activies available on the ship..

wi-fi bitches!

blogging from my new iPod touch.

And to think we had none of this shit when we were in school

Joemamma Ivan Kempton

Adopted from the SPCA in 1996, a 4 month old Ivan joined the Kempton family. We thought that the name "Ivan" was not the best name for him, so we tried to think of other names. At the time Jenn was against this new dog and did not like him. "Joemamma" jokes were the popular thing at the time, so she kept calling him "Joemamma" and eventually "Joey" stuck.

Joey enjoyed a good long life. He liked to chase birds and squirrels, but was never sure about cats. He loved long walks and sunny afternoon naps. In his later years he suffered from arthritis that prevented him from going up and down the stairs. His health then degraded too much for a high quality of life. On January 3, 2008, our parents decided to put Joey down. I am sure he is having a wonderful time chasing squirrels (and perhaps actually catching them).

The most fond memory of mine was one Thanksgiving when he pulled the turkey carcass down off the counter in the middle of dinner. Never the most obedient dog, but certainly handsome, Joey will be remembered by everyone.

(for Joey, from Bill)
-----------

Damp dog
Musty mutt,
Man’s best pal
And all of that.

Lolling tongue,
Moronic leer,
I look at you
Suppressing tear

That such a pile
Of bone and fluff
Can touch the hearts
Of such as us.

Human brains
Up in the stars
Inventing ever
Faster cars –

Still we stoop
To give a hug
(fish breath – eww!)
Beloved dog.

Cool

Mario Level Can Autoplay - Watch more free videos