Enter Parenthood
Alex took a pregnancy test this morning. Positive. We’re in shock. Alex more than me. I’m so much in shock in even in a bit of denial. And I want another test. But not because I don’t want to be a father — I want to be …
2006th
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66 items
Day of Visitation
Alex slept better in a king-size hotel bed. Not so much for myself. I was tired. Grumpy. Irritable. That’s why I was particularly annoyed with the complete and utter disappearance of my deodorant (which I know I had with …
VIA Wi-Fi = No-Fi
So I’m taking VIA from London to Oakville, saving Alex from another four hours of driving on Ontario’s highways. I’m sitting here with my trusty laptop trying to do some work, using the “Wi-Fi” service …
In Merry Old London (Ontario)
We arrived last night, around 20:00 local time. A quick run through the airport, and we were tracking through the back country out to Janice’s place in Kintore. The house was cool (old farm houses tend to lack a lot of …
Christmas 2006
The saga of Alex’s grandfather’s passing continues. The funeral arrangements changed from when I booked my flight out and return. The funeral is now on the Friday (instead of the Thursday), which sadly doesn’t work for …
A solemn Christmas Day
After yesterday’s marathon church-o-rama, I wasn’t able to stay up watching A Christmas Story for long without falling asleep. But I was up shortly after 8:00 to make breakfast: pancakes and a ham, cheese, potato, and …
Activity on the day before Christmas
Christmas is almost here again, and I’m only now really getting into the groove. Until a couple of days ago, I was far too focused on work. In my defense, it’s not for a wanting to focus too much on work, it was purely …
Bonus from Hell
I’ve put in a lot of work this year. A tonne of it. Among a few things, I’ve been/done: Technology Director Gold BU (and all the various tasks that go along with the position) Intranet Tech lead / Consultant / Support …
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Decorating for Christmas
Ah, Christmas! That time of the year when the happy cries of children resound through the neighbourhood, gingerbread wafts in the air mingled with the scent of pine, and angry shoppers wield heavy weaponry to acquire the …
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The Critical Mass New York Extravaganza 2006
Wow. I’ve seen some pretty swanky parties, but this one definitely ranks high up there. And as more of a stunner, it was a Critical Mass party, too! Okay, clarification needed. Critical Mass’ parties tend to be like …
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Gone in a Flash
Yeah, I know — you’ve heard it before, and you’re gonna hear it again. I hate seeing good people leave. Can’t say I blame Scott Morgan, though. He did get a sweet deal. Especially for a Flash guy. It’s not every day that …
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Dishonesty in marketing
There is little that I hate more than dishonesty. Especially when it’s a veil for incompetence. Take the vendor we’ve been working with lately (please). We’ve been asking them for what I think is a fairly simple set of …
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Christmas shopping in Banff
Alex and I started off the morning with omelettes and The Vinyl Cafe on CBC Radio 2. We had decided to venture out to Banff for the day to do some Christmas shopping (well, mostly me — Alex is done and I simply haven’t …
I still got it...
For the last week or so, my computer hasn’t been cooperating completely. Internet Explorer would suddenly cause the hard drive to chew away as it tried to start a JavaScript method of some kind. Then it wouldn’t run at …
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Microsoft Vista is a failure
It seems a lot of people (especially those at Microsoft) are constantly extolling all the virtues of the next Microsoft operating system to-be, Windows Vista. Am I really the only person who sees it as a dinosaur? …
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Back to driving ... damn
I used to drive. Then I realized that I should switch to something more environmentally friendly, and I could use the exercise to tone my otherwise sedentary ass. So I started biking. Biking was great. Fifteen minutes to …
How to unclog a sink (and keep your pants)
One of the many joys of homeownership is the clogged kitchen sink. This is not my first clogged kitchen sink, having worked through such an experience with my father a number of years ago. I should point out that the …
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Cirque du Soliel's Delirium
Way back in August, Alex and I celebrated our paper anniversary, the first. We’d celebrated by going to Banff and spending the night at the Banff Springs hotel, having a wonderful dinner (note: chocolate fondue is …
Shrinking the world through video conferencing
I’ve used video conferencing before. It was a novelty. Nothing fancy. There, but didn’t think much of it. Until today. Critical Mass recently got a Polycom video conferencing unit in the Calgary office. (There are …
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Thanksgiving in Ruskin
I had a quick jaunt out to Ruskin (a section of Maple Ridge, BC) for the Thanksgiving weekend. It was a trip I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to take at first. Reason: Too much work, and too tight deadlines to allow …
Happy 40th Anniversary Star Trek
Space. The Final Frontier. Forty years ago today, a little under six years before I was born, Star Trek took to the air for it’s original three-year run before being cancelled. It would spawn off an animated series, …
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People need to learn why CSS is good
Sigh. Just when I thought this topic was in the past, to be revisited in the same manner as when historians look at how the Black Plague ravaged Europe. But no, it’s back. I’ve had to don my somewhat dusty Web Practice …
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A Tale of My Wedding
A year ago, I got married. Something that until a couple of years ago, I never thought I’d do. I’d been bitten hard, and I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t even imagine it. It takes the right person, and the right situation, to …
My Expectations of a Technology Team
I’m a tough person. I don’t settle for mediocrity in my own work, or in the work of those who work with me. There are the minimum height bars, and then there are the ones I set. Knee-capping height, some even high enough …
Review and reflection on my job
One of the things Critical Mass introduced years ago was performance management. I was glad to see it come. Radical Entertainment had it when I worked there, and I lamented the lack of such evaluation when I came to …
Game night with the Asian Brother Crew
Chris arrived on Sunday afternoon. The surprise went down on Sunday night. While over dinner, someone wondered if we were going to have a game night. Dummy me, I’d never thought of that. Years ago, when Chris and I used …
Calgary Transit Sucks
I was having a discussion with Doug down in the Bistro this morning, and I came to a rather interesting realization: Calgary Transit sucks. Let’s have a realistic view, here. Calgary is the third or fourth largest city …
Happy Birthday, IBM PC!
I’ve been using PC-based computers for 25 years. A quarter-century. And things have come such a long distance since I first sat in front of that IBM in Mom’s office. This has all come to light as a result of an article I …
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Dragon Boats and Best Friends
Two major things happened this weekend. My friend Chris came to town for a visit! But more on that in a moment… Gary and I had grandiose plans about setting up a dragon boat team at the office. But the plans never …
A comment on stupidity
When did society become responsible for the stupidity of individuals? Over the last few years, there’s been a disturbing trend where corporations (and governments, through the courts) have had to start protecting the …
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Je quitte Paris!
The flight left Charles du Gaulle at 11:30. That meant, of course, that I had to be there in sufficient time to check in, get through security, find the flight, and so forth. Thankfully, I’d gone through the trouble last …
Je suis en Paris, Tourisme de Paris
Free day. I had some variety of grandiose plans for today. I was going to see so much of Paris that I’d be actually tired of it. That had been the plan. What I hadn’t planned on was how tired I was going to feel when I …
Je suis en Paris, Jour Cinq!
I ate at the hotel this morning. Not a bad little place, really. And it meant I could sleep in a wee bit. Four hours of sleep just isn’t enough. But I brought that on myself. I was a bit late arriving at Eurosites — …
Je suis en Paris, Jour Quatre!
It’s official, I am a shmuck. I’m a unilingual moron. But more on that later… I’ve been getting up at 7:30 to account for the lateness we’ve been having, but also to ensure I’ve got enough rest to not tire during …
Je suis en Paris, Jour Trois!
No crepes for me this morning. As I’m beginning to discover, the French don’t consider crepes a breakfast thing. At least at the shops near the hotel. But hunger knows no bounds and I was forced to hunt out an …
Je suis en Paris, Jour Deux!
Despite wating up at 4:30 thinking it was daylight (in reality, only the hotel’s light outside my window), I slept pretty well. That didn’t mean that I’d totally licked jet lag — I ended up needing a nap in the …
Je suis en Paris!
I’m beginning to understand why people hate business trips. You can’t pack what you want (you have to pack for meetings with clients) and you don’t travel necessarily when you want. But at least the locations can be …
Deck Disassembly, Part 3 (ish)
Whoever said it is easier to destroy than create has obviously never tried to disassemble a deck. This wretched piece of junk in our backyard has been the bane of my existence the last month or so. At first, it was …
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Surprise birthday weekend in Revelstoke
This weekend, it was my turn to be surprised. And surprises came in droves. Sunday was my 34th birthday. I find it a little hard to believe that I’m actually that old. I always figured when I was in my 30s, I’d be more …
Surprise weekend at Bow Lake
Surprise weekends are a good thing. Especially if you have a good place to go. We have no standing rule that says we have to go anywhere, though. Although the “rules” (such as they are) suggest that staying …
I've been blogging on the railroad
[This entry written by Geoff Sowrey, ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Text used with permission of CBC. The opinions expressed within do not necessarily reflect those of the CBC, employees, affiliates, or …
All work and no play make Geoff something something
I know, I know — where are the journals, Geoff? Pardon me if I’ve been busy. I’ll dispense with the specifics of my job. First, you don’t want to hear them. Many of them are things that would only make sense to someone …
More gardening work
Another home, another batch of gardening. Our home is a nice, wonderful little place. It does have a few quirks, notably the shoddy construction on the addition in the rear (I’m gonna need to spend some time under there …
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Layered Interfaces - Getting Technical
The previous article introduced the idea of creating layers when building a website. It’s not a new concept — similar ideas have existed in computer science for decades. Even in terms of web development, the ideas are …
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Meeting my niece for the first time
I spent most of last week in Critical Mass’ Toronto office. I was there primarily to support our technical team, which hasn’t had the level of support from me that it’s been needing. So I went out to try and reestablish …
Layered Interfaces - Setting the Stage
Websites are a hugely powerful information medium — they can entertain, endorse, educate, even drive a sale. But only if they engage. These are basic elements for anyone in the interactive marketing. Without them, …
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Touring Montreal
We woke late. Had it not been for Allen returning from the office to prepare for Sunday service, I would might have slept entirely though my only chance to actually see him in action. It wasn’t the service that interests …
Earth Day in Montreal
We were a little slow waking up this morning. Might have been due to the change in time, or possibly due to the fact that we’re beginning to relax on this vacation, or because we simply didn’t get out of bed. All the …
Going through Montreal
Under normal beginning-of-vacation circumstances, I would have risen without too much a care about work and prepared for my imminent departure to wherever it is that I’m going. However, things being what they are, I had …
Stuart McLean and Vinyl Cafe come to Banff
Not long after I met Alex, I was introduced to The Vinyl Cafe. This is a weekly show on CBC Radio, featuring the short stories of author and host Stuart McLean. It’s a wonderful show, and I try to listen to it as much as …
The Great Critical Mass Shuffle
Not quite five and a half years ago, Critical Mass moved into our current building. It was a monumental exercise that required a lot of forethought, planning, and organization. When we moved into the then-new building, …
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Dennis has left the building
I remember a young whipper-snapper starting at Critical Mass nigh-six years ago. Another newbie, Angie, had mentioned that she’d brought his stuff out from Winnepeg. Not that I was far off from being a newbie myself — it …
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How do I know what I seem to know?
Ever find yourself providing information to someone as an “expert”, where the point of view flows from your lips as easily as drinking a glass of water, and then after you’ve finished wonder where you learned …
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Rudy's heading off for greener pastures
James on Monday. Rudy on Friday. I can’t make any “Rudy Tuesday” jokes on this one, I’m afraid. Rudy was only the second Web Developer that we hired after moving into our current building (I can’t say …
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Google at the CCAT Dinner
Google is the power in the internet right now. Issues with censorship aside (and their suddenly lacklustre results in the stock market — the revaluation is long overdue), Google still remains the top search engine and …
Jaemo's farewell
Another one bites the dust. I hate it when friends leave, even if it’s just to go to another company in the city. And with James’ departure, it hits a little more. Not just because I saw a lot of my older self in him, …
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Oscar Night - The 78th Academy Awards
You could almost have called last night’s telecast “The George Clooney Show”. That man attracts far too much attention for being only one person in Hollywood. That’s not to say that he doesn’t deserve …
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Enter the Kitten
There are a many things that I am grateful for: a loving family, a good job (even if it does stress me out a lot and keeps me insanely busy), good health, high speed internet connections, snow, sunshine, a warm bed, a …
Reform the US Patent Office!
The definition of “patent”, courtesy of the US Patent and Trademark Office: A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. …
The day after the CMMYs
Critical Mass works hard. We know that from all the various nervous ticks we’ve developed over the years from working too hard. So you can imagine that when we play, we make up for the difference. There are two annual …
Why no-one should care that Google censored itself in China
Today, 14 February 2006, is being touted as the day people are to “break-up” with Google (also here). They’re to sever their relationship, their ties, their love for what is still the most dominant search …
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On being a Know-it-all
I am a know-it-all. Both in the best and worst senses. I became one as a kid. When all of my friends were reading Hardy Boys or Lord of the Rings, I was reading through Time Life books, learning how the universe worked — …
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Starbucks discontinues Chantico?
I hate Starbucks. Not because the word “Starbucks” has come to mean anything so popular and prevalent as to find it on every street corner. Not because they’ve taken the idea of luxury coffee and turned it …
Back from the dead ... sorta
Wow. Long time no write, eh? It’s amazing how one’s life can change so dramatically in such a short period of time. Things that had once been hugely important become minor, and things you never imagined having a major …
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Enter the Conservative Canadian government ... exit social open-mindedness
Canadians are strange. I know — I’m one of them. In some places in the world, such as our oft-maligned (deservably or not) neighbour to the south, people vote for a person and the position/platform that they take in the …
2005, A Year in Review
Well, last year was a quiet one for information on me. Many reasons, none of which I’m going to bother to detail here. (One, you don’t need to know. Two, I really don’t feel like having to explain everything.) So, in as …
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