21st Anniversary
I remember turning 21. Sort of. I was at university for a summer term, living in the Columbia Lake Townhouses with Roger, Ed, and Brian. It was a Friday, and I only know that thanks to the internet. All I really remember …
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A personal archive of writing, stories, and notes
The Observer's Log
Welcome!
This has been my humble (virtual) home for over 35 years, posting events and musings and more than a few rants. It’s gone through so many evolutions over that time that it’s perchance a bit messy, and you might find some dead links or even a few bits of old code that included pictures. I’m slowly revamping this site to clean all that out, so please bear with me while you look around.
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Happy 19th Birthday, Monkey!
I’m not going to lie, Monkey, and you already know – I actually forgot for a bit this morning that it was your birthday. In my lame-ass defence, I’m still recovering from yesterday’s return trip …
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Last day in Ruskin
Last year, I didn’t get to come to Ruskin. I’d been told that our division president was coming out to Calgary during the same week, so I stuck around. And was shafted by other politics at play. So I missed …
Poker is not a sport
I hate it when poker is showing on the TV when I’m in a restaurant. I’m not a fan of TVs in general when I’m in a restaurant, but apparently that’s a draw for some people? I want to see a real Gen …
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I Don't Use AI
I know what I said before. And I stand by it. But. I do need to state my specific position on using AI: I fully recognize that AIs were largely trained through theft. I don’t agree with the position at all. That means …
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When Words Collide, Day 2
The last time I went to a conference was over a decade ago: Drupalcon in May 2016. And no, I don’t count the the Calgary Expo. For me, conferences are about being exposed to new ideas and learning techniques (along …
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Ontario 2026 - Old friends, dishwashers, and home
More weird dreams than I care to think about (I’m sure some of them would make interesting manga, but as a novel they’d be unworkable) kept me from decent sleep. Today was our last day in Ontario and we …
Ontario 2026 - Touring St. Thomas
The bed was hard. The girls slept terribly on possibly the worst pull-out couch, ever. After failing to get the Krupp machine in our room to work, Monkey and let Alex and Choo Choo sleep a bit more and stole away to the …