What happened to me, you may well ask. I’d fully intended to make an entry in this blog last weekend but once again I got overtaken by my penchant for trying out new software and getting myself into cyber hot water.
With the increasing proliferation of threats on the World Wide Web I’d decided that now that I have sufficient computer resources to enable the use of a full-time firewall I’d try out Agnitum’s newly minted Outpost Firewall Suite. The problem with a new innovation such as this programme represents is the fact that no one can be on the Internet without previous anti-viral software and one is reluctant to take it on faith that a new innovation is going to provide comparable protection and furthermore one has probably paid good money for that protection. Therefore I discovered first hand that Agnitum and Norton do not play well together. After a month of difficulties gaining online access for my favourite software I finally had to make the decision that the hassles involved didn’t justify the outlay of funds Outlook Firewall would represent. The un-installation seemed to go well; I removed the folders left behind and the 87 remaining registry entries but it was then I started discovering the damage the two programmes had been doing each other. The next stage was the repairing of Norton Systemworks Pro—it must be removed, it can’t be repaired! For anyone who needs to uninstall Norton Products don’t attempt to do it via the Windows Control Panel—Norton’s built-in self-protection makes that attempt extremely messy. Norton supplies a small download called the Norton Removal Tool for that purpose. It does work. Next follows the re-installation process, approximately 100 MB of updates in 4 sessions each of which requires a reboot, the reconfiguration of each individual component, the obligatory complete system virus scan, resetting Norton Ghost and its back-up—somehow Norton retained its registration files and did not require reactivation. All this by way of explaining my silence. When will he ever learn? Probably never.
I just finished wading my way through the 401 pages that Leonard Cohen’s Stranger Music represents. (Review elsewhere on my books blog.) This compilation of selected poems and songs spans the arc of Cohen’s life from naïve neophyte to angst-ridden observer of the Holocaust to sexual libertarian to old-age-driven reconciliation with his maker. As I’ve previously opined, this is not a book for children.
The past year has seen more severe and unusual weather than has ever existed in a similar period in living memory. Asthma sufferers such as me feel the impact of the lack of ground frost to kill the fungus and mould in our soil. Northern communities miss safe passage over pack ice and the loss of free ice roads to transport heavy goods. Southern Ontario swelters under photochemical smog for longer and earlier periods—February?!! The hurricane season begins earlier and spans more super-storms; tornados reach severities that push the upper boundaries of 5 on the Fujita scale. This past week three inches of rain in one hour literally drowned Calgary Alberta where rivers in flood from the spring melt run-off were already swollen. Southern Ontario yesterday spent most of the late afternoon and evening under a severe thunderstorm and tornado watch. As the cold front came through the temperature dropped 25 degrees Fahrenheit. This morning’s cerulean blue skies belie the fact that I was awakened from my afternoon nap yesterday by crashing thunder, gusts that shook the trees outside my windows, a sky that was as black as night, and wind-driven rain that sluiced down my balcony windows.
Here I take a break to wind my centuries-old 8-day striking clock, make toast for breakfast, set the dishwasher, and prepare to start doing laundry.
The past week or so I’ve been working on updating RSMC Routes, making case plans, and checking out new growth. It’s frightening the speed at which Oakville is growing. It may be a town in name; but it has big city problems. Having had to rewrite bylaws to accommodate the building of a castle-like 50,000 square-foot home in East Oakville the town is now facing the spectre of a condo-tower/commercial Complex on the site of the former Holiday Inn on Iroquois Shore Rd that would punch up to three towers 30 stories into the sky overlooking the QEW and Ford of Canada. And we thought we had traffic problems before.
Not much has changed in my life. I’m still attempting to keep up with the podcasts I download in iTunes—at least I have 600 GB of disk space on which to store the overload. I’ve listened to music by Sir Malcolm Arnold, Sir Hamilton Harty, Howard Hanson, and Amy Beach. I’ve been acquiring new DVD’s faster than I can watch the ones I already own lately. I’ve reviewed a few of them on my Movie Blog. My reading has suffered lately but I’m still plugging away at short stories, poetry and Whyte’s The Eagle. I’m attempting to keep up with my electronic subscriptions to PC World, MacLean’s and Reader’s Digest in Zinio Reader. Ironically I’ve been reading the Austin City Chronicle in .PDF because of the difficulty of finding our local EYE and NOW. The world is on pause awaiting the July 21st release of the final Harry Potter; Amazon has pre-sold 1,255,901 copies at time of writing. Whatever else, this is quite a coup for Raincoast Books in Canada. I’ll go on the record again predicting that Harry dies in this version. Lately I’ve been doing my best to keep Amazon.ca viable with my shopping. Were I able to find the books I find there at Chapters, the movies at Blockbuster, or the music at HMV I would not be doing so much shopping online.
So here I’ve over-compensated for my past silence; however my inbox is empty of personal correspondence so I won’t be taxed by answering it.
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