Another Daily Another Rant

Even allowing for the fact that Microsoft is a huge target it never ceases to amaze me as to just how stupid their programming can be.  Take today.  I refuse to allow Windows to automatically install updates and I get queasy when I see unexplained internet activity for which I cannot account.  Therefore when I received word today that there was a necessary update ready to be installed I was quizzical.  My suspicions were heightened when the update failed to install three times.  Turns out it was an update for Net Framework 1 and there was a very plausible reason for the failure—I didn’t have it installed on my computer.  In fact there was even a previous update called Service Pack 1 that needed to be installed before the update worked and Windows finally shut up about the update.  

 

On another topic entirely when did it become acceptable to invite a friend for lunch and spend most the meal talking on a cell phone to other people?  That’s the sight I witness today at a local pub I occasionally drop into for supper when I feel too exhausted to cook.  The pair in question were two men and as is my wont it occurred to me to wonder what my father would have thought of the situation.  As I expect I’ve already recorded somewhere in these ramblings the telephone did not enter my Father’s life until he was well into his fifties.  I have no memory of his ever using it to dial anyone up—if he absolutely had to use it my Mother probably dialled it for him and he would only have answered it if there was no one else available to take the call.  Somehow I don’t believe he truly trusted the technology; if he wanted to talk to someone he got into his truck and drove to see them in person.  Returning to the pair in the pub; what does it say about the importance accorded a relationship when you demonstrate that talking to other people during a meal together is more important than concentrating on the person in front of one?  Personally I find the practise rude as I do when a store manager abandons the transaction we are about to consummate to answer the phone and makes me stand there and wait interminably.  I just don’t understand this obsession with being constantly in touch in such an impersonal way especially when it interferes with face to face contact. 

 

                                                                                                       

Returning to the Stone Age

Winter has settled in to stay here in Southern Ontario.  After two years of mild winters including last year’s non-winter we’ve been spoiled but it would seem that long, dreamy, warm days full of sunshine and fall leaves are not to be ours this year—Indian Summer has passed us by this year.  The snow squalls that blew in on gale force gusts stripped the last of the brown leaves from our trees yesterday and mightily rattled my bedroom windows during my afternoon nap; even the oak outside my window has a distinctly skeletal look about it.  Bad news it may be but the silver lining, if there be one, is that snow on the ground should encourage Christmas Shopping and gladden the hearts of retailers everywhere. 

 

In the last couple days I’ve been rapidly returning to the Stone Age.  When I got home Monday my desktop computer refused to boot; the fan came on but I didn’t even get a bios DOS screen.  The good news is that I’d just done a complete backup of that computer and transferred many of the programmes including my E-mail to my new laptop.  Do you suppose the desktop was suffering from rejection?  Tired after a long day at the office that began at the ungodly hour of 4:00 AM I turned everything off and went up for my nap—I had neither the stamina nor fortitude to deal with the situation.  The CPU is still under warrantee but since I now have an alternative the matter can wait. 

 

When I got home yesterday, Tuesday, my Vista Phone’s warning light was glowing red and the screen was showing me the Check Phone Line Message.  Every phone in house was not just lacking dial tone but utterly dead.  By some unknown means my internet account which is attached to the same phone line was still functioning but at 3% of capacity.  Again I was too tired to cope at that point and since the preponderance of calls I receive are telemarketers I wasn’t overly concerned in the short term and went up for my nap again. 

 

This morning, early, (5:30 AM is early for most people), I called Ma Bell’s service department to report my problem.  I’d looked out my window yesterday and was aware that one of her minions had a tent erected over the local phone node and had seen them elsewhere on my way home so I had a distinct impression that Bell had disconnected my line in error but the agent I contacted aggressively attempted to sell me their phone insurance to protect against the $75.00 service charge that applies when the problem is caused by the customer’s own equipment.  She was not only persistent but obnoxious. 

 

I returned home today to find things status quo, the bell repairman was not scheduled to arrive until 5:00 PM at the earliest.  I was pleasantly rewarded with a working phone when I came down refreshed at 4:00 PM and called Ma Bell to report same.  Took the time to discuss my future plans with a business agent while I was on the phone.  Of course service is so fragmented these days that a land line agent cannot discuss Bell Mobility and knows nothing about Internet Service let alone WIFI.  Calls for the future or a visit to the Bell Phone Centre if it still exists. 

 

That problem resolved I decided to drive down to my local RPO and pick up the package for which I’d just received a DNC—delivery notice card.  While I was out decided to pick up a battery for my non-functioning underground garage clicker—the local drug store didn’t carry them.  A drive to Oakville Place was in order and I had success at Shoppers Drug.  After all that I’m happy to report the unit works.  Apparently I’m to return to the Twenty-first Century after all. 

Slandering Mulroney

Few Canadian Politicians can stimulate passion in the same manner as Brian Mulroney.  The following diatribe is inspired by an episode of Cross Country Checkup discussing Karl Hans Schrieber and the Airbus Fiasco. 

 

There is no question in my mind that the Jaw that walks like a man is guilty of every crime he is alleged to have committed.  That millions of our tax dollars were expended in recompense for the supposed slander done his reputation is a travesty that still gives indigestion.  That he was not charged or found guilty is testimony to the ineffectiveness of the RCMP and not to his innocence.  Lyin Brian is the scum who got elected on a promise that he would not implement a Goods and Services Tax and then proceeded to do just that mere weeks after he assumed office.  To me it’s still the Mulroney Tax and those quarterly stipends sent the poor are the GST Bribe Cheques. 

 

Someone should have the guts to call Schrieber’s bluff and send him back to Germany post haste—who would want to believe the word of one crook over that of another.  A biography of Mila Mulroney sold so badly even as a remaindered book that it was sent back to be pulped—in other words recycled.  The same should be done with Mulroney’s ill-gotten legacy.  His portrait in the halls of Parliament should be ripped from the wall and taken out to be thrown on a bonfire—more’s the pity Guy Fawkes day is past. 

Winter Arrives Early

Winter arrived mid-week amid the squealing of tires, the crunching of fenders, and a veritable demolition derby on our highways.  Bread and butter for tow-truck operators and auto-body shops; a nightmare for police services and commuters.  I went to work early Thursday expressly to avoid getting stuck behind someone with bald tires unable to make it up one of our hills.  My first act was to spread some salt on our walkways.  During the week there was much scurrying around to find winter clothing that had not been needed for at least the last year and a half due to the non-winter we enjoyed last season.  It has quickly become quite apparent that we are not to enjoy another sub-tropical winter.  We are not likely to find any hummingbirds during this year’s Christmas Bird Count. 

 

Finally made it to Future Shop to discuss the problems I’ve been having with Windows Vista and was given very little advice other than the standard wipe your disk and restore it to factory condition.  Apparently I didn’t go back far enough in attempting to restore my computer and the option no longer existed so I did end up reformatting my OS Drive and re-installing Vista.  Since Wednesday I’ve been spending my spare time at re-installing software.  The good news is that I have been successful in getting Streets and Trips to work.  I’m still attempting to get the New Yorker to run on Vista.  This morning I’ve been working at updating Windows, Office, and all the other support programmes needed to run other programmes and browse the web.  With all that software to install I haven’t even confronted the updates that will be required for my anti-virus programme; I find it wiser to do the other installs first to avoid conflicts.  It’s frightening just how many updates need to be installed on a brand new computer and the number of times it must be rebooted to accomplish this.  Of course it was expecting all these challenges that prompted me to buy my laptop almost a year before I’ll actually need it.  Now I have to hunt for all those software keys and unlock codes yet again. 

 

On Friday got invited to the home of one of our supervisors for a Lasagna Dinner.  You’d think when a group of supervisors got together they’d have better things to discuss than their fellow employees and in particular the worst behaved of their associates.  Except for the lack of a good dry wine to accompany dinner the food was excellent. 

 

Last evening I finally got around to screening Pan’s Labyrinth.  See my sister blog for a longer review but suffice it to say that declaring that this is not a fairy tale for children is an understatement. 

Contemplating the Future.doc

An old man was lying on his death bed, wishing for one more pleasure out of life. Suddenly, he smelled the scent of cookies coming from the kitchen. With all the strength left in him, he made his way to the kitchen, where his wife was busy baking. It took all he had to reach out for a cookie. Just when he got his hands on one, his wife slapped him on the wrist. "Leave those alone," she said. "They're for the funeral."

“The Holy Catholic Church will be truly universal when a Black Pope is pregnant in the Vatican.”

 

 

 

 

Just a little humour and provocative philosophy to begin.

 

Outside my window the sun periodically makes a week attempt at breaking through the cloud cover; the thermometer sits barely on the plus side of freezing.  Got ambitious earlier today and walked down to the local RPO to pick up a parcel from Amazon.com that was being held for me there.  I had the forethought to take a backpack with me as it was quite bulky.  My get-up-and-go persisted and I now have a batch up Lemon Poppy-Seed Bread set up in my breadbaker; pork chops marinating in the fridge; and creamy scalloped potatoes simmering in the slow cooker.  Guess we know what I’ll be eating this week. 

 

Just finished doing data entry for my latest purchases.  When you own as many books, DVD’s and CD’s as I do the only way to keep track of them with an aging memory such as my own is to record them in a database of some kind.  I began by using a Works Suite Database but I now use Collectorz software to automate the task somewhat.  Unfortunately I haven’t taken time to convert the thousands of previous entries so I now have two sets of records. 

 

I continue to plan for a gypsy like existence after retirement and to prove I’m serious about an RV Lifestyle I’ve invested in RV Vacations for Dummies.  I’ve also ordered a copy of Woodall’s North American Campground Guide for 2008. 

 

Just another observation.  To judge by the number of pizza flyers that get dropped in my mailbox someone must be of the opinion that the world lives off pizza.  It is conceivably that this is true for some of the student residents in my building who lease from absentee owners but personally, if I eat pizza I make it myself. 

 

 

 

The Nimbus Days of November.doc

Well, at least we don’t have to shovel it…yet.  November has been dismal; cold, dank, dark, brooding.  Unfortunately we can’t stamp the weather “Return to Sender”; as much as we’d like to.  Sure we public servants got Monday off in observance of Remembrance Day but the pile of mail that assailed us in the remaining four days this week makes one wander if it was truly worth it.  I continue to work on special projects but I’m well aware of what goes on in the trenches. 

 

At home I finally got ambitious enough to go shopping and picked up a set of fleece bed sheets and even got them washed and on the bed later this week.  The feel is luxurious.  Also put together a beef stroganoff and pronounced it good.  I’m still reading John Jakes Crown Family series having just gotten Pauli to the home of his uncle in Chicago, the story has finally begun to pick up.  Finished the second season of Numb3rs and just started watching the BBC series Planet Earth on DVD.  See my movie blog for details. 

 

As I slowly work my way toward a planned odyssey across North America after I retire I have set up a web page to record my travels:

 

http://grmailman.tripod.com/

 

Not much there but plans to date but keep tuned.  I’ve been exploring places to spend next winter and have settled on Austin Texas as a pleasant location to while away a few weeks at least.  Reading the Austin City Chronicle has peaked my interest.  Otherwise I don’t have much knowledge of the place except to observe that their weather is an improvement on ours at this time of year.  The Lake Travis area looks interesting as a place to park an RV. 

 

Adjusting to Windows Vista continues to be a challenge.  My latest misadventure has been the discovery that my laptop refuses to run Microsoft Streets and Trips—a major problem that, for one who plans to use it to aid his travels.  Ironic as both Vista and Trips are Microsoft Products. 

Changing Times

Last evening I spent some time adjusting the time pieces in my home. Tomorrow morning I’ll have to see if I still remember how to change the clock in my car without getting out the owner’s manual and I have yet to change my VCR but otherwise I believe I’ve fallen back. When it comes to a striking clock that is rapidly approaching its third century the only practical option is to stop the pendulum and try to remember to restart it an hour later. Mind you, a glance to my right reminds me that I still have to finish changing my wall calendars to November.

If you’ve ever seen the Great Red Spot of Jupiter you’ve seen a hurricane that is more than three times the diameter of Earth. By Earth standards hurricane Noel is massive but by Jovian standards it’s a pin prick. If you’ve ever been to Niagara Falls you have a concept of the power of water; just over a century ago the Canadian Falls were beside the American Falls. Along the Nova Scotia coastline Noel will kick up waves over 30 feet high and the storm surge will raise high tide well above normal maximum levels. Receiving over 10 inches of rain in less than 24 hours can have a devastating effect on any drainage system and winds that gust to from 80 to 100 miles per hour wreak havoc on trees and power lines. No matter how prepared you are depending on candles and oil lamps for light, cooking on a camp stove or BBQ if it’s safe to go outside, drinking water from pails and jugs as well as using it to flush the toilet, boiling water to wash dishes or even your face, and wandering if the power will come on before the precious produce in your deep freeze melts; all these add to the stress even if you are well prepared and safe indoors. Worse is having no ability to establish contact with the outside world. My sister and brother-in-law live in an electrically heated home outside Halifax—I’m certain the wood stove in their rec room is well stoked.

This morning I set up my humidifier for another year’s service. I’ve owned it for over a decade so I suppose it doesn’t owe me anything but never-the-less I was still grateful to discover it still works. On the other hand the fan on my electronic air cleaner appears to have permanently seized.

From today’s news; well recent news anyway. St. Mary’s Health Center in Scotland issues appointment cards which feature an ad for an undertaker on the flip side. Think ethanol is eco-friendly; think again. Those government subsidized ethanol plants are buying up corn that would once have become fodder for cattle and diverted production from varieties grown for human consumption driving up the price of corn 60% in one year. The old argument about elitist education has reared its ugly head again, this time in Germany. Universal Education is geared to mediocrity, aiming for the least common denominator. All students except the profoundly mentally challenged are lumped together; for the truly gifted this makes classes an exercise in utter boredom. I know; for one week in grade 8 the four classes were split according to academic aptitude and the class I attended progressed further in one week than the classes we were dispersed to for the second week managed in the next month. Apparently recognizing academic excellence was politically incorrect—or our teachers resented the fact that they’d have to prepare two distinctly different classes on the same subjects. Ironically I still remember that week 45 years later.

Fall Type Weather.doc

[This post was composed over the weekend of October 27-28 and I didn’t get around to posting it.]

 

This past week has featured typical Fall type weather with the exception of near tropical heat Friday afternoon.  Unfortunately it also led to gale force winds and more rain later in the day.  Not that it mattered to me as I didn’t get out much. 

 

Last Sunday I went out and picked up a Hewlett Packard Pavilion Entertainment PC Notebook.  Not only am I now attempting to adjust to a Laptop keyboard but also Windows Vista which means finding new software to do the things my favourite programmes, that are incompatible with this new OS, used to do.  I’ll need a laptop if I plan to go traveling so now’s the time to start adjusting.  While my efforts were otherwise engaged I managed to allow 104 E-mail to build up in my inbox. 

 

Whereas Friday was tropical overnight Saturday it turned cold leaving me chilled in my bed but that was followed by heat that led me to switch on my A/C today, Sunday.  Until you’ve set up software on a new computer you have no idea how many installation files have to be found, install disks located, and registration codes retrieved.  Then if you’re anything like me and refuse to accept the default choices every programme needs configuring.  The process seems never-ending. 

 

Yes!  My mind is wondering and I’m a mite incoherent.  I’ve had my first misadventure with Windows Vista.  Used Disk Cleanup and discovered that if you clean up the Hibernate Files it removes the possibility of getting your computer to go into hibernation—it doesn’t just clean up the files, it destroys the folder completely.  Unlike past versions of Windows there is no way to access hibernation through power options.  After a serpentine search on the Microsoft Site I discovered that to restore hibernation it must be done as an administrator at the command line—in a DOS Prompt:

 

1.	Click Start, type command in the Start Search box, right-click Command Prompt in the Programs list, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password or click Continue.
2.	At the command prompt, type <powercfg /hibernate on>.

 

It’s that simple or difficult.  Click enter and then type exit and click enter again to close the box.

 

Using a laptop teaches one new skills.  Conservation being one; the speed at which the battery meter descends when a laptop is not plugged in is scary.  I haven’t actually timed mine but it’s rated at 2 hours.  Another challenge is working without a mouse—I find myself continually reaching for the mouse that isn’t there; remembering keyboard shortcuts certainly helps.  Confusion rains when I use my desktop and laptop side by side and find myself reaching for the desktop mouse to work the laptop.  When I used PC Pitstop to check out my laptop aside from discovering that the computer’s various security devices didn’t much like it I also discovered that the wifi connection I’ve been using is 2½times faster than my high-speed modem.