Archive for June, 2005

I’ve been spending most of my spare time these past few days packing things up for the move. Tonight, I went through some of my “creative stack” and saved these two drawings. They’re the plans I drew up before starting to work on my UFG toons.

As you can see, I put only the slightest forethought into these kinds of things. There’s a plan there, but it’s just a map to a potential destination. Often on the journey I get side-tracked and find other cool attractions to explore.

I know that news tends to travel fast, and I also suspect that I have a relatively small readership here on my blog. So, I doubt this is news to most of you. Never the less, this is why we’re packing…

I’ve been offered (and as of this morning, accepted) a web and graphic design job at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Thunder Bay. I start on July 11, so that means a quick move for Jenn and I. We’ve been letting God know that we’d like to be able to move and work in Thunder Bay for over a year. There have been a few big disappointments while we’ve been waiting. But, we’re very thankful now that this has come along.

So, that’s the news. To some of you, “See you later.” To others, “See you soon.”

Lasterday (yes, I just typed “lasterday&rdquo—don’t quite know why, probably a cross between last night and yesterday,) I watched Return of the Jedi with the commentary and subtitles on.

I was happily surprised with how much of Chewbacca’s dialogue was transcribed. There was also a lot of Ewokese. Most of the time, when the Ewoks were talking the subtitle said “[Speaking Ewokese]” but sometimes they spelled out things they said. Mostly it was “Yahoo,” ”Wa ha ha ha,&ldquo ”Eee-Too-Nee” and stuff like that.

The big news is that now I know what the Emperor says when he’s talking about the Endor moon. I’ve often had the debate about whether it was the “century moon” or the “sentry moon.” I know you’ll all agree with me that sentry makes more sense in the context of the film. Well, how about the sanctuary moon? Apparently that’s what it is.

A couple other thoughts. I find it easier to suspend my disbelief watching rod-puppet Sy Snootles than the CGI Snootles. I like the original song much better and can’t stand that new guy who sings along now. He looks like he should be in a Disney movie or something.

Which reminds me, Doug, while packing stuff up, I found my old JETTA TDI badges from the car. Now, I can make it say JEDI.

I just did a personality survey based upon the Myers-Briggs/Keirsey Personality Tests and the Lord of the Rings (book, not movies.) It was one of the more tough ones to do, but I’m happy to say I’m an Aragorn.

Aragorn (Stryder) Son of Arathorn
Aragorn’s decisions often seem against conventional wisdom, but he knows what to do and why it must be done, regardless of the cost.

You are good at making contingency plans and come up wiith efficient means to acheive clear-cut ends. You are highly independent, and continue on with your plans even in the face of data that might suggest to others that it’s no longer feasible. Time alone is important and solitary activities refresh you. You have a tendency to introspection. In your desire for clarity in life, you may have the tendency of being remote or even “heartless”. You try to schedule your life as much as possible. You tend to finish your work before resting.

As the foil to Aragorn, Sauron clearly embodies the evil side of this personality.

Traits: Pragmatic, autonomous, ingenious, resolute. On the dark side you could desire power and domination.

The link to the Personality survey is fixed.

Jenn made carrot cake for a party she’s having at work today. She also made an extra cake for me to take to work. Apparently is really frowned upon by some corporate identity standards people to put your company logo on food (or toilet seats, etc.) but I thought it would be fun. Ed, the boss, took this photo of me and the cake.

Remember last week when I dipped some jam on my keyboard? Well, it was a blessing in disguise. Of course, this morning, I didn’t think so. Yesterday something funny started happening on my computer, my numeric keypad stopped working. I noticed it while trying to do some calculations for a website I’m working on. Anyway, today the problem persisted but I noticed that as I tried to use the numeric keypad, my mouse pointer was moving!

I suppose it’s a cool feature, but seeing as a Mac keyboard and mouse often work in tandem, I was thinking that maybe my keyboard was really on the fritz. I tested a few thing and then decided I’d better get to the heart of the matter and take something apart. I started by snaping off the clear case on the top and then started popping out keys. Man alive, there were men alive in there. Not quite, but not too few bunnies of the dust variety were living in there. I had the alcohol and Q-tips out and was in a cleaning frenzy. I put the keys into a big pot steamer and washed them in the kitchen sink. Then, I put it all together.

It’s like a brand new keyboard. The tactile response has markedly improved. Oh, and the whole numeric keypad/mouse movement thing? Apparently if you tap control five times in quick succession, it turns the keypad into a mouse emulator.

This weekend was the Doors Open weekend here in Ottawa. Just like last year, Jenn and I took in a few of the buildings. This year we stayed around our place though.

On Saturday we went downtown to the old Ottawa Union Station, now the Conference Centre. It used to be the train station, but in 1966 they built a new station (in the suburbs) and shut this one down. Too bad, it’s a really nice building. It’s based on one of the Greek baths in Athens—the same one that Penn station was based on. Ottawa Union station is a three-quarters scale version while Penn was a one and a half times scale. So, even though Penn station was demolished, a half scale version of it is here in Ottawa, kinda cool.

The second place we went to was the new CBC building on Sparks Street, and it was cool. If you were listening to the live concerts on DNTO this week, maybe you could hear us. They had all sorts of stuff going on on the Sparks St. Mall (it’s an outdoor, pedestrian street) including the Grey Cup (which was just in the middle of the street, being “guarded” by a tent and a guy with a moustache—not even a velvet rope.) Of course, we did the big tour and I got to play around on the green screen they use for Canada Now and hang out in the Ontario Today studio. Then afterwards, they had a fake news desk and backdrop set up outside with a teleprompter and camera and I got to do a mini-new reading, complete with the Canada now graphics and everything. I got a tape of it when I was done too, very cool.

On Sunday, we rode our bikes down to the new Ottawa Train station. There were a few model railroad clubs with their trains running, which was kinda cool. We also found out that even though we couldn’t take VIA Rail to Thunder Bay, we could take it to Vermilion Bay (right where Jenn’s parent’s camp is!) But we probably won’t, it’s still too expensive.

Anyway, Doors Open was really cool. They do it all over the place, and if you’re not in Ottawa, you should check out when it’s happening where you are.

PS: I know I’ll be the envy of all my friends when I’m sporting my retro-logo CBC shirt this summer!

Carla knows, somehow, that I read her blog. Now, I’m obligated to answer the unanswerable questionaire…

Total books owned, ever: Yeah, like any of us could calculate this. I’m one of those people who catch books and release books back into the system. Sure, I’ve got a few hundred currently, but uncounted others have passed through on the way.

Last book I bought: The Gregg Reference Manual William A. Sabin

Last book I read: Track Planning for Realistic Operation John Armstrong

Five Books that mean a lot to me: Let’s not got for the five the mean the most to me, that’s too boring…
Perelandra: C.S. Lewis (the unrelenting concept of temptation)
The Planiverse: A. K. Dewdney (inspired so many programming projects)
Fromers Europe 2001 (got me around Europe—that and the Eurorail pass)
2001 Volkswagen Jetta Owners Manual (first new car)
Simply Indian: Tahera Rawji and Hamida Suleman (if you’re going to cook, cook well)

Nag 5 people to do this too: Sorry, so sorry… Jason & Jen, Andrew, Doug, Tony

In case any of you have missed it, Rich has an mp3 of his new song, Free Stanley online. He’s sent me ideas for a Flash based video for it, and I’ve just put up a little something as a test for an idea. Rock on, Rich!

Let me say that I’m sure most people can feel lightning… when it hits them. What I mean is, I can feel it at a distance. I noticed it for the first time yesterday, but it reminded me that I have always been able to feel it—when I pay attention. Hey, maybe you can too.

I was driving home from the office and a really feirce summer storm was happening over downtown Ottawa. I was returning to the downtown area from out in Kanata, driving down the 417, so I had a good view of it all. Anyway, off in the distance (probably in the 5km or more range) I was watching really big, thick forks of lightning strike every couple of minutes. And when they struck (and just after) I could feel it across the tops of my feet and lower legs.

Now, I don’t usually wear socks or shoes, unless there’s snow on the ground, and today was no exception. I had my sandals on and I think because there wasn’t a lot of pressure on my feet (from socks and shoes) I was more sensitive to the feeling. It felt like a little tingle or sort of like a mild electric shock. Next time you’re shoeless in a lightning storm, pay attention too your feet and maybe you will feel the lightning too!