w00t W00t! IT God status...

Achievement unlocked!

Found out what I will be working on today, and as usual I have 4 weeks to complete it... some things never change ;)

But I *have* successfully BMamputated my Mac using macports effectively getting Apache, PHP and MySQL running and playing nicely with each other thanks to this amazing tutorial - Thanks Jerry!

http://muddledramblings.com/rumblings-from-the-secret-labs/lamp-server-from-scratch-with-macports/

This feeling is sooooo weird

I feel like a dog shaking the water off... dust would be more appropriate, but I just rediscovered a couple commands for vim, a text editor I last used in University at least 8 years ago :p

Crows...

There we were... stuck in traffic, watching the crows fly haphazardly around the trees and other aerial obstacles like kids on bikes, when something about this comment struck a chord and made me laugh, shake my head and smile in agreement... 

 Crows, they're like the hooligans of the sky! Lookit them flying around like they own the place...  ~Little ninja

I don't think you understand the Gravity of the situation...

GRAVITY

"It's a movie with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
In space.
And something happens to them! 

Don't you want to know how it ends?!?" 
                                                                   ~Hooker

What's not to be excited about?!?  All in all, it was a pretty good movie I liked it, even if is all green-screened and they don't always obey the laws of physics. If nothing else it has some wicked awesome space footage that you should definitely see on the big screen!

Disclaimer: I also liked all kinds of horrible movies... so Adam, you probably don't want to see this one ;)

It goes both ways ;)

We overheard this on the radio the other morning on our way into school, and it made me laugh so hard...

"Try as we might, we can't seem to keep Canadian culture from invading ours... Tonight, the Ducks play the Kings in a preseason game in the Honda center!"

Bet you didn't know... that Canadians don't even stand like Americans!?!

Last week, when I was introduced as being Canadian to one of the teachers at the little ninja's school... She said that she had seen me and thought that I didn't look American, that maybe I was European!

I held back the inappropriate response of "only in the bathroom" ;)

See, the joke is this: "If you're Canadian when you go into the bathroom, and American when you come out... what are you while you're in there?"

...

Are you ready? *grins* ... "You're-a-pee'n!"

Buahahahahaha!

Upon further reflection though, she wasn't really that far off, I am part British and part Czech... but totally Canadian ;)

 

Wave west. No, not that kind of wave... the other one!

Note from the Captain:
I'm plugging north, pushing the boat a bit - it certainly pounds going to windward and I've done a lot of that. Currently 640 nm north of Hawaii, close hauled all the way.  Finally making a bit of easting but looking at the gribs it'll be a week or more before I can start the serious turn east.  Pushing hard so it's less than comfortable but this is serious sailing - winds have been solid 10 to 30 from the NE and seem to be moving a bit east.

Your time 14:00 16 Sept, please face due west, ideally with an unobstructed view and wave - I'll be passing LA at that time and I'll wave back!  Unfortunately the earth is round so we'll each be seriously below the horizon relative to each other.

The Captain's approx. location Sept 14th at 11am(ish)

...

Here I am Dad!  Can you see me?!? *smiles*

*wavies*

Sage advice

"Don't frown at your food. If you're done, just be done."

From the Captain

Never gout round to telling you about my pet fish.

It's about a 5 lb Tuna that has taken up residence under the boat and has been with me at least 10 days now.  Apparently this is not uncommon, but he scoots along by the keel, or especially in the evening, right at the surface at the transom, about half under the boat and half exposed, top fin and tail breaking surface.

Anyway, he managed to stay with the boat when I was doing 8+k, getting totally twisted around by wind shifts and motoring at 5 k.  Wonder where he gets the energy / food to keep this up?

Anyway - I do have company out here, and no, I can't get a picture of him, least not yet.

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I'm all thumbs

Damn you autocorrect, mocking my sleep and caffeine deprived thumbs...

The thought of peace is the seed

It's our job to nurture it and help it grow, so that those around us can see how beautiful it is.

Last night Mom and I attended a peaceful gathering, in order to remember what happened at Hiroshima... there was singing, and dancing and a couple of speeches. The main event of the night however was the highlight for me, and renewed my faith in our ability to work together... in small groups ;)

45+ individuals from the crowd... young and old alike, moving together carried 45 floating lanterns down to the lagoon and back.

I think for me that was even more incredible than how magical they looked.

I can't work today...

This was not what I had in mind for this morning, it was not even remotely part of my game plan for today... stupid wasp...

In the early morning pre-coffee confusion that seems to start every day, I looked up to see a wasp wandering across my monitor. I watched it with morbid fascination as my brain tried to dredge up the appropriate response, and concern... 

Everything snapped back to reality along with the gravity of the situation when the damn thing started flying *directly* towards me in a slow drunken hover...

Gah! I leapt from my chair and performed evasive maneuvers... and hid behind my rolly chair :p

The wasp aborted and settled for examining my keyboard... See! I *can't* program today, there's a bug I'm not sure how to fix yet...

Until... he settled on my coffee cup... *evil grin* Hah! I'm not the only one who likes three scoops of sugar in this sweet sweet nectar ;)

And just like that, he was trapped between my cup and Ben's work orders... and we threw him outside by the seat of his britches, and ran away like little girls ;)

And all of this happened before I'd finished my first cup of coffee. Completely unacceptable!

Start at the beginning

Sometimes when you're programming... and what you're doing isn't working, and hypothetically it *should* be working... it's best to delete everything and start over.

I'm having one of those days, things are now working and looking up.

Driving me crazy to vindictive satisfaction in the blink of an eye

Booyah! I just hit a fly out of mid-air :)

#likeaninja

Should have brought the machete

Good story's begin with "Once upon a time..." but great adventures begin with...

Me: "Should I bring the machete?"
Mom: "Where's your sense of adventure?!?"

That *should* have tipped me off... I most certainly *should* have known better, and the ensuing 20-30 minute bushwhack should have come as no surprise what-so-ever... including the fleeting moments of being semi-lost. I say semi-lost because given two hours I can probably get to somewhere that I recognize, and then home having spent hours upon hours doing just that as a kid ;)

Buuuut if we hadn't been lost, we wouldn't have found these pretty flowers!!!

Goooood morning!

I created this panorama with the Photosynth app, I couldn't resist the gorgeous view of Kalmalka lake on the way in to work this morning!

Keep the good memories

We got the news that Granny wasn't doing well and had fallen in the middle of the night. She had then been taken to the hospital, and sedated so they could do a brain scan... during which they found a small brain bleed. The best course of action was to do an assessment once she awoke from sedation.

The first news we heard was good, she had woken up and recognized Aunt Marg. Then I talked to Uncle Joe the next day and my cousin Steph later, and the news was not so good. She hadn't recognized either Aunt Marg or Uncle Joe... she was hallucinating (although it could be the UTI causing that)... and she wasn't eating.

"If you're going to come up, I would do it sooner rather than later."

And an hour or so later and Mom and I were making plans and packing for a road-trip.

She was sleeping when we got there, but awoke when she heard our voices.  There was a palpable depth to 98-odd years of wisdom and a calm peacefulness about her. She was bright eyed and bushy-tailed having just woken up and her eyes held their characteristic impish sparkle...

When I knelt down beside Granny, she looked right into me and said "I *know* you" and smiling I said "Yes, yes you do" "Who *are* you?" and when I told her my name she nodded and said "Oh, that's right" like something clicked back into place and everything was as it should be...

It was amazingly incredible, and touched me so deeply I hope that I remember it forever.

I love her so much, just before we left she said something like she always remembers me, or that she could never forget me and I said "Of course not Granny, that's cause I'm your favorite!" ;) and she laughed and laughed and laughed it was an absolutely beautiful visit.

I am so glad that we dropped everything and just went :)

Into the burlap sack with you!

Dear Plastic Milk Jug Engineers,

Please go fraternize with the plastic pop bottle engineers, they figured out years ago how to make a container that holds its liquid contents... even when it falls over!! Like for instance in the front seat, foot area of my car... where I sometimes put my milk when it's just a quick dash-in grab milk and dash-out kind of trip.

You should try it sometime. You might be amazed.

Also, just a note, but if it's the wider mouth of the jug that is inhibiting your ability to make it water-tight? I really don't need that extra diameter. I'm not sure if you know this or not yet, buuuuut it's a liquid, it'll fit and come out as long as you don't let it curdle, and if it curdles you might as well leave it in there anyways.

Now I realize that this shape may be left over from the glass jar bottles, but glass and plastic (especially the way you're making it these days) do not have the same properties.

If the history of plastic milk jug shapes is any indication, I'm afraid you will probably be in the burlap sack for awhile. Think on that while you *ahem* I clean my floor mat.

Welcome to Canada ;)

Bear *snickers* in mind, that I was the very last one off our flight that landed just after midnight...

Canadian customs guy: "Are you bringing anything back with you?"

Me: "Just a couple of gifts..."

Him: "Like what?"

Me: "Ah... Superman underwear"

Him: "Sweet!"

Me: "Yeah!" :) "and um, I can't think of what else..."

Him: "That's okay, welcome home"

From the Commodore

We're still alive, how about you?

We're in Hamilton heading to the Coromandel Peninsula.  Hope you are all well.  I've not had time to do my diary so you'll just have to wait til I'm back and can tell you the highlights. 

Sam's note: Hmmmmmm possibly too much fun... I'm afraid this could be all we get for awhile :p