Archive for November, 2004

In spite of being really busy these days, I’ve been paying attention to the George Bush visit to Ottawa today. It seemed pretty tame this morning. I saw the plane land on CBC Newsworld and then after going to the bank and grocery store over lunch I watched George and Paul answer some questions. Around 2:30ish I hopped on my bike (maybe for the last time this year) and rode up to Parliment Hill because I heard that the protesters were up there.

When I got to the Hill, the protesters were walking on. I’ve heard there were 5,000 people there. Judging from those figures, when I was there on Canada day a few years ago, there must have been 50,000. It wasn’t an impressive crowd. As the protesters headed a few blocks down the street to the conference centre, I toodled down Sparks St. to look in at the new CBC building, but there wasn’t anything interesting going on there. So, I rode past the Hill again and down to the conference centre where the crowd had gathered. I heard the bells chime three as I rode by.

At the conference centre there was a better crowd, but I couldn’t see anything and the crowd was made up mostly of scruffy, young, rabble rousers. The people up on the lamp post behind me were excited to be there because it was “ground zero” and if anything was to happen it would be there. After a few minutes of looking at the crowd someone said that there were four buses of riot police on there way to “surround us.” Things seemed pretty peaceful, but I didn’t want to chance not getting home in time to pick up Jenn after work.

I got home between quarter and twenty after and saw on the TV that the riot police had come out and the “scuffle” had started. It’s only half past now and the worst seems to be over already. Pretty uneventful and a little disapointing to find a crowd of protesters gathering just to pick a fight with police. Meh — kids.

I finished the first of my end-of-year projects today. I was quite engrossed in it for the last week and a half, spending all my “work” time of last week at it. It’s always satisfying to finish a job and to have finished it well. I’m pleased with the brochure more so than I have been the last couple of years. Last year was a neat experiment in colourful monochrome without any photos and it turned out well — but it was unusual and I imagine somewhat less accessable as others. This year uses colours that I really like personally and has a combination of photo work and “drawing” which I like to do. The cover especially is fun — I think some people will really like it — I do.

Now, I’m onto another project and this one is really different from anything I’ve done before. It’s a very non-standard website and it’s being drawn in a chunky, pseudo-3D, almost 8-bit style. I think the term for it is “isometric pixel art.” This is a little sample of it. I’m drawing a few blocks of downtown city-scape and that’s going to be tied into the navigation. Perhpaps it won’t be as standards compliant as some of my other work, but it’ll be a neat effect for the 99.7% of browsers that will be able to use it.

So, remember a couple weeks back I told you the story of how Big Life Blonde (a beer served at Moxie’s) was supposedly Pabst Blue Ribbon? Well, on a lark, I picked up some Pabst this afternoon to put it to the test. The first observation was pretty encouraging — it’s brewed in Guelph, ON. The second test provided mixed results. It tastes much like I remember Big Life tasting, but I didn’t have a lemon wedge for the full effect. It also tastes American — a little weak. So, my verdict is I think it’s probably the same stuff. Not a stellar beer, but good cold (better with a wedge of lemon) and for the price, I certainly didn’t get ripped-off. Never the less, I think I’ll stick with something dark and thick for the rest of the season — maybe a nice London Porter.

Like the true fan (and hell bound heretic) I am, I picked up the new Harry Potter DVD earlier this week. Good thing for me, Jenn is just as much a fan as I am. Of course, the movies differ from the book (as all movies do) but that’s okay. They both have their strong points. The books are just plain great reading and — depending on who you ask — great Christian literature. The movies are fun to look at (and listen too.) I find it really interesting to see how someone else visually interprets stories I like. Oh, and on another note, I’d better buy my Commodore 64 Joystick Game thing soon!

I heard about this on the radio this morning. A guy in Ottawa built this neural net to play 20 Questions online and there’s also a hand held version. Apparently the handheld isn’t a good as the online version. I stumped it a couple of times this morning already, but it’s neat and worth a couple minutes to check it out.

Today’s post is just a mishmash of potpourri. First, the title — taken from a question asked at the beginning of today’s Roundup. I think that a brouhaha is bigger than a foofaraw. A Brouhaha is a definate event, like the nasty cousin of a Hullabaloo, but a foofaraw is a state that just one person could be in. I suppose that a certain foofaraw could spread to so many people that it out-sizes a brouhaha, but that would be the exception, not the rule.

Speaking of CBC radio… I can now listen to CBC Thunder Bay online! Woo-hoo! Oh, and for what it’s worth, I’m enjoying the Roundup much more now that Bill is gone. No love lost there.

Doug tells me that I should be telling all of you that Jenn and I have been activly persuing a new hobby. Visiting model homes on the weekend. We’ve been to at least one model home each weekend for the past six or seven weeks. Even when we were in London a weekend back, we went to an open house. It’s not that we’re looking to buy one — in fact, we never want to have a house built just like these suburban sprawl homes — but we are getting lots of ideas of what we like and what we dislike in homes. We’ve even drawn up some plans.

Next, I want to float my idea for a “Simpsons: Best Episode Ever” discussion. But before I try to engage you all in discussion, I want to set up a forum or something. Just so it can be done right. And for the record, Jerome the Giraffe wins CBC’s contest for The Greatest Canadian: Who Never Was.

Tom Rivers, known best to those of us around here as the man behind the Unfriendly Giant radio show passed away on Saturday, November 20, 2004. You can read more about Tom and his life at his website, Rivers Airforce. Craig at the Airforce contacted me this afternoon — he’s putting together an online memorial for Tom and asked if he could use my Unfriendly Giant cartoon as part of it. Of course, I sent it to him straight away. I’ve put my Unfriendly Giant webpage back online this afternoon with a little tribute of my own.

So, the Grey Cup was held in Ottawa this weekend and it was quite evident. Jenn and I were down in the Market yesterday and it was packed. We managed to stumble across a parade (even though there was no official Grey Cup parade this year.) We had a business meeting after church tonight (and then a potluck) and as we were walking home we could see the tv hellecopter flying around just across the canal from our place. We could hear the noise and see all the lights. I watched the end of the game (was rooting for BC — oh well) and then saw the firework go off. No kidding the game was live. It took less time to route the sound across the province (I imagine to Toronto and back) than it took for it to reach the house. We’re about a kilometre away from the stadium and we could hear the boom of the fireworks on the tv just a second before we heard the boom come through our window. Pretty neat.

A very good friend of mine was unjustly fired from his job — most of you probably know the details, but if you don’t… it was from a Christian summer camp. I’ve been donating my skills to the camp for the past four years, designing their summer brochures, thinking that it was a good thing to do for a worth while ministry that I enjoyed as a camper and on staff for over ten years.

I’m doing the brochure for them again this year, in spite of their treatment of my friend. They’ve offered to pay me a little for my services because they find them valuable. Because I’m 16 hours by car away from them and all our communication is through email, I feel disconnected from them.

However, I’m enjoying the project and maybe feeling a little guilty because of it. They’re allowing me to be creative, keep my skills in use and add to my portfolio. In fact, I’m quite happy with how the design is coming even in the early stages and want to show it off to my friends. I’m pretty sure that my friends have the same sort of “disinterest” in the camp that I now do and I don’t want to appear to be showing-off.

So, what’s the point of this post? I don’t know. Maybe it shows how broadly a community can be affected by a situation like this and the ripples that spread out from discord and (dare I say) sin. Maybe I’m just trying to justify my continued association with this camp.

Well, it’s been over two weeks of trying to get my host to fix my webspace and no results. In fact there’s been barely a response. I suppose I could blame discouragment on my lack of blogging, but it might not be true. There are really a few fun things that I’d like to be sharing with you in the last few days, but I haven’t. Anyway, I’m going to cancel my hosting and look for a new host, so be prepared for some rough www.shroomAzoom.com in the next few days — especially as I’ve got three freelance projects on the go right now. Cool, eh? And what’s even better is that two of them pay a little too!