Mostly harmless

Thursday, July 24

2008-07-25T03:11:30Z

"So... what have you been up to?"

Last day on the clients site... final report land.
Everything went swimmingly. :)

And speaking of swimming... there's been some rain.
Some "buckets and buckets" of rain.

planning
~ wake up and move around in the land of sleeping family getting ready for work.
~ downtown to client land to spend the day cleaning up the final versions of things
~ big presentation to client's boss
~ and then home.
~ the trip-relate-job-jar is bursting as we head into the last couple of days before the cottage
~ relaxing...
wishing
~ to once again thank whatilove for sharing her adorable photographs...
~ that fragbert wears shades to protect his eyes from the blasting pixels...
~ for her_whispers to be nice and careful in her new wheels... :)
~ to smile at gillian16...
~ and for something good to sneak up on snarky_angel... goodness knows she could use a break. :D

///
whoever is screwing with gizmodo's servers... please stop.
I mean... of all the places that shouldn't be slow...

//
Ok, so cue up 99 Red Balloons - Nena (I'm using the german ver but I don't think it matters) and then cue up Don't Stand So Close To Me - police (<-in case there's other versions I don't know of). Play the first 2 seconds of each...
Not to mention, white wing dove, eye of the tiger and bootylicious... play the first fricking minute...
:)
Ah empeethree... how thow hast changed me.

When, I wonder, will the record companies accept that the business model has to shift to keep up with the absolutely unstoppable change in the music landscape.
They can make laws until the cows come home but that's like giving General Motors a billion dollars... it only staves off the inevitable for a little while.
It's not us against them... it's not kids and computers... it's the entire social, economic, and political structure landscape of music that has changed...
And all the men and women merely players... They have their exits and their entrances.

/
:)
And I will wait.
There is no hour ... no day, that will pass and find my wait complete.
Save the moment of your return.
Always here ... forever removed.
And I will wait.

~ k... see ya. :)

Big Brother Weekly Update!!

2008-07-25T01:17:11Z

This Week In Big Brother 10: Back to Basics

Asta La Vista Baby

Where in... the true mania of Jessy’s mom bursts onto our television screens... along with his pulsing muscles. Libra, on the other hand, only has a pulsing vein in her forehead. We get a magic mustache, a giant yellow creamsicle and ... is that pickle?

Scoop
You can eat condiments when you’re on Slop. Pickles are considered condiments... that’s why you saw Libra eating a pickle. This does not, however, explain Memphis’s mustache.

Loser say what?
(aka "The week in as few words as possible")
It’s all about Jessy and his freak-show of a body this week... what with the pose’en and rolling his shorts up into things that looked like adult diapers and then drawing his finger across a ridge between two muscles on his flexed thigh. BARF!!!!!!!!! Er... ok, where was I? Oh yeah... Shrinks immediately goes into wtf mode setting his sights on Steve because Steve didn’t prance up to Jessy’s Ho! room and offer to suck his dick for a pass in nomination land. Jerry makes the girls cry (sob story about sticking by his wife) and Dan – the Catholic School Teacher (clue) – has his first Gay Encounter asking Steve all the cliché questions when you know he wanted to ask all about the mechanics. Keesha gets it in her head that it’s a good idea to talk about her dogs ability to come before her boyfriends (LOL), and ALL THIS before they even get to the food game. Slop goes to the team that spills the least wine... in a game that looked a like trying to catch red pee streams in a martini glass. Amos – with exceptional stupidity – is on record wondering if tasting the wine will cause him to become an alcoholic (dumb-ass). Contrary to my expectations, Renny didn’t win hands down. In fact, the "olds", along with Stripper, Libra and someone else are on slop. This is not going over well with Libra. Despite Dan’s visit to Shrink’s Ho!-Castle on his knees, making his Ohhhhh face... Shrinks still puts him on the block... along with Rodeo Steve. Meanwhile, Memphis is setting up his new alliance with Jessy, and Angie... then brings in Michelle (psst. 1987 called... it wants it’s hair back). Memphis also magically morphs between a guy with a big ass mustache and guy without... then back again... all over the course of two days. Libra goes batshit crazy when Jerry morphs into a pmsing duchebag and starts giving her shit for making like his being SEVENTY AND OLD AND SLOW AND WEAK AND DID I MENTION SEVENTY might affect his game play. LOLOLOL... Renny joins in the yelling for fun and excitement. Michelle wins the Veto and – despite a good last ditch effort to redirect to crazy-lady-libra... she does nothing with it and we head into eviction night. Julie, resplendent in her creamsicle orange pant suit, holding her morphine pump in one hand a camel-toe hiding papers in the other, begins by putting Libra on the spot again, this time about her calling Jerry Old and Slow. (last time it was "crappy mother abandons five month old twins"), and then it’s off to meet Jessy and Renny’s families. Reasonably, Renny’s family is supportive of their ex-tramp mom and critical of Jessy’s insanity. The only surprise was that Jessy’s mom seemed to think his muscles were going to make him become a governor. Julie wipes a little drool off her chin as she pumps away staring at Jessy... then remembers that were here for a vote. The house-mats had clearly made a plan and Steve gets fried 9-0... so we get to see him crying away in the loser lounge as the "goodbye messages" roll. The new Ho! game is a memory game about stuff removed from the house and they sell it by scaring the crap out of people with little Rosewellian Aliens lighting up in the one-way-mirrors. In the end? It’s Keesha for the head-Ho! Hopefully she’ll keep having Tara-Reid-moments with her low cut tops.
:)

Fav Quote
"My dog comes before my significant others."
Oh Keesha Keesha Keesha...

"You couldn’t even get all eighteen inches of that in your camera!!"
Seriously Jessy... You don’t really think you’re going to be governor do you?

"I like to conversate with Ollie."
Yes April... because you and Amos have so much to conversate about.

"I wondered... if I tasted the wine... would I become an alcoholic?"
As a ringing testament to the complete absence of reality in Ollie’s homelife...

Most Memorable Moment
Libra having a shit attack when Jerry tries to call her out on insults. Holy cow... DUDE! No wonder her husband was supportive of her going away for a few months.

Darwin’s Dessert
The only thing worse than a young punk going on a rage fueled aggression bender... is a 70 year old man acting like a bitchy little girl. Er... way to rise above the ridiculous there Jerry. I guess we now know why your voice is always sounding so raw.

Tactical
Now what we need is for Shrinks (jessy) to fall madly in love with Little Miss Truck Stop (Michelle). Perhaps if she sucked on those toes of his next time she debases herself by giving him a pedicure... Anyways... that will lay the foundation for a complete Jessy melt-down. :) (and no amount of suffering will be too much for this guy.)

The winner...
Dark horse time... Agnie. I think Memphis will get taken out by a bunch of weak players as soon as they have some control...

Wednesday, July 23

2008-07-24T01:17:54Z

No presenting today... so no tie. :)
An entire day of "threatening rain"... that is ending with... rain. go figure. :)
I've been totally od'ing on tv shows... loading up the Big Bang thing... Big Brother... Burn Notice... 30 Rock... In Plain Sight... ok... it's only five shows... but (other than Big Bro) they're all torrents of several episodes across a season. :D

AND... There is a frog in the forest behind my house who croaks with a noise that sounds like a 60 year old drunk pan handler trying to say "got change" but only making a slightly similar noise. Stupid frog... nobody's got any freaking change in the forest!!!
Amphibians... sheesh.
(thank you shebear)

planning
~ busy day!! :)
~ down to the client offices and have a handful of quick meetings to clean up reports
~ and plan tomorrows big-deal (presenting and talking to clients boss)
~ pick up big-ass "fish tool" (to get wires through walls and stuff) from my friend (hoping to get Cat5 to the kuro tv and see what I can do with that... :D)
~ watch BB later... and start the "This Week in BB" thing ...
~ get a better sleep (bed earlier) tonight than any of the last 15... sigh ... just staying up too late.
~ GAH... I'm soooo looking forward to going to the cottage getaway this weekend. Escapism... here I come!!!!
wishing
~ to tell mspish that it's money well spent. :)
~ for there to be a turn for the better in leggy land of wbahner...
~ that krizsa doesn't blow away...
*(this space should be occupied by some distributed love but it would feel dirty after getting reamed for not doing it... so it has to wait)
~ and that mz lucky-duck, jjnslat, keeps on posting pics.

//
So just so I've said it...
This iPhone thing... is by far and away the coolest flipping galactic geek gadget I've ever had all to my self.
By far.
Far far far.
I think ... no, I'm positive that you'd have to be into the full on Jango Fett Personal Space Transport thing before I'd be giving up the top geek-tastica spot this phone is holding.

Oh... and I want to get a shuffle too. hahaha... (I want to skate with music but no way will I skate with this baby strapped on... :D)

/
I do my own laundry at home... so, know in advance, that this is not about life here in Casa de Corto...
Rather, this is in response to eight years of reading womens journals...
If you have hampers and people use them,
and if you put the clean hampers out for your family to fold...
Then "Laundry" is not a chore, so stop making like it's work to shove everything in a machine and push the button.

:)
mmmkay... i'm done. :)

Tuesday, July 22

2008-07-22T23:25:02Z

So the first app I buy for my iPhone... is a hose bag. ("GoSkyWatch")
It's the "other" astronomy app except it does stars outside the visible spectrum so I was keen for it.
I now know to read the vendors web site before shelling out. LOL.
They are promising a patch for their VERY BUGGY application.
My fingers are crossed. :)

yeah so a weird day. I woke up to get busy busy working away the morning hours... got the family up mid-late-morning and let them do their things... all the while eyeballing the gray clouds. It seemed to want to rain all day... and never decided to put out... that is, until I wanted to go skating.
Now? Of course, it's all lovely and sunset-pretty out. It's going to be a nice sunset tonight. :D :D

planning
~ well... I planned to work from my home office... and get all my client materials finished for my meetings tomorrow. And I did...
~ so score. :)
~ tried to go skating... but after spending the afternoon waiting to go... it started raining the moment we left. :(
~ pizza for dinner... delicious thin crust half hawaiian and half combo... perfection...
~ call "Sears" (aka the furniture demons) and negotiated a 500$ discount (about 15%) and re-ordered the furniture... sigh... November. (and before you say it... we invested so much time in finding the exact sectional we wanted and it's not something sold elsewhere... so I have no desire to start over on the hunt... )
~ fight off a headache for the rest of the night... :(
wishing
~ to point out that minarets really is a bit of a spaz...
~ to say a quiet prayer for honuhoney. I hope things turn for the better sugar...
~ to welcome jenlovefl2003 home... :D
~ and that the crazy times end soon for ladymeg1 and things get settled!

///
Ok... so enough with the instant memorial to another dead actor.
Big surprise a seven thousand year old actress is dead... and it's not that I'm unfeeling... it's just... now, all of a sudden, everybody was her biggest fan.
She was ok. But still... that was two dozen years ago.
It's like when Christopher Reeve was paralyzed... and then eventually died...
People would freaking drill into me for making fun of him.
Um... I despised him as an actor, and I certainly didn't know him as a person.
So no... I felt nothing for him... except that I do a pretty darn good imitation of him in his electric wheel chair thing.
And what's her name? Come on... she's had a great life and now she's dead.
Rest in pieces and all that. :)

//
Whedon... Stone...
It's all Joss to me.

/
Who me?
A little punchy today?
Yeah, well I got my reasons... !

~ see ya. :)

corto @ 2008-07-21T21:57:00

2008-07-22T01:57:42Z

iPhone Gang...

Recommend a game or something...
What have you shelled out for in "App Store" land?

Monday, July 21

2008-07-22T00:23:52Z

So today was all about giving a workshop to my client and her team.
If they all sit there, stone cold, and get polite at the end... I consider it a total failure.
If no one shows up after being interviewed by me like mad for the last three weeks... total failure.
If the room packs and it's one loooong interactive deal with a million questions and tons of amendments...
It's a homer.
So the show today?
out-of-the-park.
I'm happy about this. :D

Oh and it was supposed to rain again today... but it's been a perfectly beautiful day... some gray but lots of sunshine when I had time to look. :D

wearing
~ monkey suit this morning... all shiny shirt and tie boy for the day
~ but I'm all about shorts and the strong-bad-tee now (Hi Kim... <-- she (kim) sent me this awesome awesome tee)
planning
~ Up and at 'em nice and early...
~ smoothie for breakfast...
~ dress up in client-clothes and get downtown.
~ play nice with printers and staplers...
~ then give a three hour show that totally rocked...
~ have a nice lunch...
~ meet with sales guys from "galactic command" and smile. (Hoping to get follow-on work with this client).
~ come home and make an easy dinner... pork-chops in golden mushroom soup sauce with rice and broccoli... (we eat quite a bit of broccoli)
~ write in my journal.... :D
~ and totally laze out with tv shows, console games and playing with my iPhone for the rest of the night. :)
~ can you tell I'm in a good mood? :D
wishing
~ to open arms... insert gillian16, close arms... refuse to let go.
~ to make love-love noises at phenomenull because ... she deserves a bunch...
~ to send a little squeeze to teasdale... and I never need a reason to do that...
~ that allyn's head would grow in natural and be... blue. (I bet there's some mineral you can OD on that would make this happen... but then, you're whole bodie would likely turn blue too... so skip that part)
~ to point out that all decisions... are always part of the road-forward. eh markalope! :)
~ and that the sky would open up and drop a Wii Fit on nerdular :)

///
88 canadian soldiers home in boxes.
And exactly what has changed in Afghanistan?
And who exactly gives a rats ... patootie?
Oh wait... Allied forces shot up a squad of Afghani Police ... by mistake... with Air support!
Surely someone cares about that?
No?
Oh yeah... it's in afghanistan...
oh bother.
One Laser Guided Air To Ground Missile... arriving in the form of the cold hard cash it takes to buy one... would erase hunger in an average sized city for at least a month.
Just say'en....

//
blonnie shared something today that totally got me. :)
So I'm sharing it with you. It's the "Christian The Lion" story.. .[ :: you tube with music... check your volume :: ].
Get all "Snopes" about it... it's a true story.
You cannot help but feel the universal vibe of The Big Good when Christian has his paws up and is literally hugging them.
Do yourself a favour... go watch. :D

/
Don't let yourself be overwhelmed by kindness.
Be swept up and totally, blissfully "whelmed"...
And save the "over" part for heartache and hardship.

~ alrighty then... :D Time to go and be lazy. :)

corto @ 2008-07-20T23:23:00

2008-07-21T03:23:22Z

"we do the weird stuff..."
(sing-along-blog a3)

LOL...

Sunday, July 20

2008-07-21T02:16:29Z

Ok... I need to get back in the swing of morning posts... :)
The days... certainly the weekend days... pile up with non-stop life and next thing I know I get about 15 minutes of computer time in two days.
Not a preferred situation.

In review...
~ wake up saturday morning and cajole the family into the car to take an hour long drive into the Gatineau Hills to find out way to Mont Cascades...
Another winter ski resort with a summer gig that gets the families up.
Last weekend it was zip lines...
This weekend it was a water park. :)

See that yellow and black thing in the background?
Yeah, well screaming-like-a-little-girl comes to mind. :)

We spent the day in the sun, scaring the crap out of ourselves and getting nicely burned on all the spots that didn't get proper sun block spray'age.
I have got to learn to be more complete with the sun block thing. :)

~ Saturday night was all about having friends over... which, of course, means a certain amount of allowable mania associated with cleaning up.
Unfortunately one of the two couples didn't make it... so we spent the evening playing cards, drinking (well, they were drinking... I was ... watching), eating and making merry. :)
After a week of rain... Saturday was perfect.
And today was supposed to be crap.

So I woke up today and got to cutting the lawn before the rain...
... and, of course, it never really rained.
But I did manage to get a hair cut. :) (after the picture above).

BBQ dinner and now... it's late and I'm relaxing before we settle down to watch BB... although BB may have to wait for tomorrow night.
We'll see.

Tomorrow is all about doing a workshop for my clients... so I'm marginally panicked. Only "marginally" though... I'm pretty confident in the outcome of this gig. :)

planning
~ grass cutting...
~ get fishing license renewed...
~ start some plans about leaving for the cottage next weekend. (rent a cottage at this circa 1960's cottage resort and go on a time warp). [ :: We went there last year :: ] This year? My parents are coming and renting a cottage beside us. I anticipate golf... :)
wishing
~ that the nerd...er... the nerdular gets through the evening... and enjoys the music. :D
~ for the frag... er... the fragbert to get his new toy...
~ that innerly enjoys her time at home... now that she's there again..
~ and for mylifeasamom to enjoy the land of the surprise tinkle... (soooo been there - and shush la... we're talking about babies :D).

Birthday moments...
Happy day-late birthday to acoolsecretary and andysocial.
Nadz... (acoolsecretary) I hope you are well and that you get to come back some day soon... You deserve a year of comfort... a year of peace. May this be the path you are on.
And Gary... (andysocial)... a very happy birthday to you too... where ever you may be. :D I hope the year ahead brings you surprises you enjoy and moments you'll treasure for ever. :)

//
So you take an old-skook golf ball and you cut it... cut an inch long crack through the shell.
If it's old enough... there's a ball of tightly wound elastic in there. (It's wrapped about a small rubber ball filled with some weird liquid...)
So yeah... you take a knife and you slice a few of the elastics...
Then you cut a few more.
Then ... some more.
Next thing you know... you start to hear elastics breaking... and you're not cutting.
Then the "breaking" noise gets more intense...
The elastics start to make a distinctive sound as they strain and break...
It's time to throw the golf ball.
Because in a few seconds the little rubber ball in the core is going to be ejected through the one-inch long slit you cut in the golf ball... propelled by a million little pieces of elastic.
Now... cool as this is to do...
The point of my little story is to say:
"Relationships can be a lot like turning an old-skool golf ball into a special effect".
When you hack away at an open wound,
well... pretty soon it's going to get away from you and take on a completely destructive life-of-it's-own.
Do not... ever... cut where the wound is already open.
Best to put the hacking off until you heal up the first issue...er cut.

/
It never rained... it's so fracking humid it's ... just stoooopid.
I'm closing up and turning on the AC. Screw it. :)
See ya.

Friday, July 18

2008-07-19T01:11:10Z

Unbelievable storms in the middle of the night... well, at 4:00 am actually. Stunners.
Power goes out a few times... lightening all over the place... storm totally above us...
Blasting thunder... stunning... SUSTAINED lightening. Just awesome in the extreem.
So, of course, we all slept in.
:)

More storms today and the power was out for a while this afternoon.
And I'm prayen for sunshine for tomorrow... because it's the "company water park day" thing...
Got the day planned.

things I'm liking...
~ well ... the iPhone, of course...
~ my anticipation of watching the first epi's of Burn Notice season two... just downloaded... :)
~ omg... TheBigBangTheory... LOL!
planning
~ finish my mail deliverables for my client... send her the material for Mondays workshop (training her team) and smiling.
~ play with iPhone... play with it... as often as I possibly can... THE GPS THING is a gas. hahaha...
~ time to go play with children... :)
wishing
~ to quietly recommend jersey_blogger. Always results in me grinning away while I scan Fps... :)
~ that tomorrow brings new or renewed focus to my friend wbahner.
~ and for becky_gardens to have a grand dinner tomorrow. :D

///
Um... Hey KID ROCK
Warren Zevon called... he'd like his fricking music back.

//
I know I've asked this before... but it was a full computer rebuild ago...
Can someone recommend a good video converter to output good iPod format video.
My goal is to convert the tv shows I download in bit torrent land. Typically hd divx stuff.
Those files wont "show up" in iTunes so I gather that means they wont play on the iPod stuff (er... iPhone. :D)
So... converter? There's lots of them out there... I'm looking something to try that has a proven track record with someone.

/
It's not that I'm so easily impressed.
It's just that I have an enormous capacity to appreciate people. :)
You're wonderful.

~ k... see ya.

ps. didn't someone send out a link to a way to get "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog" Act 1 for free until tomorrow? ... Beuler?

Big Brother 10 Update!!

2008-07-18T04:06:45Z

This week in Big Brother 10

Julie and the Morphine Pump

Where in... another season of BB kicks into gear, with Reality Show Hostess Barbie... the animatronic Julie Chen Bot... still cracking away with her morphine pump and thirteen whack-a-moles waiting for the Chen Bot to bonk ‘em on the head with her big stick. Sock puppets, giant boobies, and a champion from the gay rodeo circuit. (wtf?) So far no special theme other than Julie glad-handing a studio audience on Boot Night.

Loser say what?
(aka "The weekly wrap in 60 quick seconds... ")
So in a dress recently stolen from Shakira’s wardrobe trailer, the Chen Bot gets us up to speed on the season-ten gang of house mats. She told us all about all of them but after seeing that giant tittie girl is called April (the most popular stripper name in America, btw) and that this seasons trendy representative of gays-unlimited is a Rodeo Champ... a whole bunch of brain cells jumped out of my ears and I couldn’t hear. There’s a Portuguese girl but the first thing we hear her say is "I’m Portuguese so I’m crazy." Weeeee. With her morphine pump firmly connected to her hand... Julie runs through an instant win of HoH for the old guy and then sends them into the house. Jessy has more muscle mass than three grade 8 girls gym classes and the brain power of the boys gym class. So, of course, he picks on the middle age woman. Renny is the fifty-something with the porn star wigs and a long memory of zippers tearing the flesh from her chin... and a weird desire to be obnoxious (did you see her nailing down that wine in the HoH room? LOL). She wakes up Jessy – who looks like a giant George Shrinks... let’s call him Shrinks (which is prol’y appropriate) and he gets some kind of needle in his ass going off on her for not being his door mat. This gets him and her up on the block first, after Mr. Magoo (Jerry) gets his first and last manipulation from Brian. Shrinks wins the Veto – crawling through a pool of actual honey and ripping apart feather pillows – and when it looks like Memphis-the-Mixologist is going up next, Olli-the-black-guy gets his ass handed to him by the girls as they dissect the alliances and decide that they want to keep Mr. Mixer. Brian’s many alliances fall – with Olli leading the charge as his only-play to save his big-round-bottom. Dan tries to call Olli on this (Dan is the guy that looks like Joey from Friends, except all hooked on meth) but completely goes off into la la land with this seasons first "I’d rather give up 500,000 dollars than break my word." Leading me to wonder what-the-bloody-hell he’s doing on a backstabbing game show for 500,000 dollars. Brian gets booted off... but not before he gets to make fun of himself in a sock puppet show that has a black sock (for Amos) and a giant boobie sock for April... much fun was made of many. LOL. Oh and there was even this major girl-on-girl action thing when Stripper Name Girl decides everybody is as untrustworthy as she feels and gives Keesha (Hooters girl... ) a hard time for talking to the boys... (like she was angry about Kegels talking to the enemy and not staying in the kitchen with April and her boobs.). Julie (pump pump pump) uses the Boot Night show to put Libra on the spot about abandoning her twin 5 month old kids to come on the show, and to let Mr. Magoo tell us again why he didn’t wear any military gear when he was busy breaking his word to Brian. (The Ollie crew – eight house mats – came to Jerry and told him to put Brian up "or else"). In classic "Oh, a whole bunch must have happened that they didn’t show us" style, the votes go out and come back as a block decision to fry Brian and keep Wig Lady. So he’s gone and it’s HoH time again... and the pile of ridiculous just gets taller with Shrinks winning the damn game to "guess what the majority of people would say". He will be insufferable.

Fav Quote
"I looked into the blacks of his eyes." So apparently Amos is possessed by the Debbil. (and I forget who said it but I think it was Brian)

In one of any number of totally pathetic moments for Shrinks: "What were the dinosaurs like when you were a kid?" or "What are you? A hundred and forty?" His references to Renny (who seems to be channeling Gladys, Samantha Stevens’s next door neighbor). Shrinks would need a flashing neon sign to make it more obvious that he’s twelve.

Most Memorable Moment
It’s a toss:
Either you can’t get the image of April sticking her seedless watermelons into Jerry’s seventy five year old face... and putting his hands on ‘em to somehow prove that they’re real... and of course, he has to stick his foot in it with "Oh they’re real..." Like... what? You’re vast experience with the modern fake v. real thing comes from what part of your 50 year marriage? Please don’t tell me you have daughters...
*or*
The seemingly slow motion video of Gladys slogging through the honey pond... and the simultaneous desire to say "What are you doing here?" to your television.

Tactical
Alright... we get it. Don’t try to win the game in the first week. Well... at least, we know Brian gets that. I can’t think of anyone watching this that wasn’t telling him he was going to go down in flames after his third sound byte about how he’s "running the house."
Oh, and if Gladys (Renny) doesn’t have some special skill... like cooking or something... her "I used to be hot now I’m just obnoxious" thing is not going to carry her very far.

Darwin's Dessert
K... you’d think I would want to go on and on about Brian – The Menza Warrior – and his gazillion alliance deals in the first three days – and how this completely burned his skinny white ass... but you’d be wrong... because that’s just tactics gone awry. No, this weeks Darwin award goes to Amos, as his black-history-month-cartoon-mug and sideways ball-cap was rendered speechless, pinching off a loaf of retarded to warm his pants, when Libra and April cornered him on his alliance with Dan and Brian. Oh my god did they ever nail his shrinking balls to his forehead or what?

The winner...
Did Brian nail it by saying Memphis will take the cake when the Chen Bot interviewed him on the loser-couch? Or will one of the girls (Angie or Keesha!) simply eat all the boys for breakfast and steal the show? We should know in a week or two. :)

Two things...
~ Jerry seems like a great guy... but he’s going to slip and fall and break a hip... mark my words.
~ If they would just dedicate an entire show following Angie around with a camera... I think I’d be good with that.

ps. are there any active BB 10 communities?

corto @ 2008-07-17T19:48:00

2008-07-17T23:48:02Z

iPhone Help

~ ok... so the Safari icon is gone.
No, it's not on the "swish" next page and the third page is blank.

um.... ?

~ okidoki... the interwebs were no help... but I did manage to find that if you enable "restrictions" you can make icons vanish. :)

Thursday, July 17

2008-07-17T17:36:54Z

iPhone day... big day in the land of moi. :)

Things I'm liking...
~ my NEW PHONE. :D :D
planning
~ theoretically supposed to be working... (actually, I've a ton of work to do, so I best be getting back to it...)
~ cost-co... must get milk and coffee...
~ phone sears and begin reaming...
~ no idea about dinner but I'm thinking spaghetti...
~ definitely write a "This week in Big Brother" update later...
wishing
~ I could blow off work and play with my phone!!!
~ for auntyadele to get... a little bit of what she really wants. :)

Birthday moments...
A big Happy Birthday to my friend, badaboom! I hope all is well oh mr. not-around-of-late. :) Have a great day and a grand year ahead. I hope we get to get together for a drink some day soon. :D

//
Bought board shorts and comfy shorts for suz for her birthday...
Huge risk buying her clothes... due in the main to failures to get sizing right in the past.
But this worked out GREAT. She's loving the shorts and the board shorts. :D
~ score.

/
What's today all about?

~ initial observation... same as the "observation" at the apple store in DC...
iPhones is Hot.
er... hot like heat. Thing heats up as you use it. Will be nice in winter. :D LOL.

Wednesday, July 16

2008-07-16T17:38:30Z

Ring Ring
Hello?
Good morning... Mr. Corto?
Yes.
This is Mr. Giant Loser Man, at Sears.
Yes...
Did someone reach you yesterday about your furniture order?
No.
Ah... well, it seems that we've...
Yes?
We've lost your order.
Pardonay-Moi?
Our trace came back as a complete blank.
So there is no quality control to check up on an order in your system for FOUR MONTHS (after taking all of our money) to verify order status and progress?
Huh?
Ohmyfuckinggodyouhavegotobefuckingkiddingme?
Yes... I understand that you are upset. This is very embarrassing for me.
And you're not a very good dresser.
Pardon?
Nothing. Look... what are my options?
Well... we could place the order again... but it will take four months.
I'm going to talk to my partner and we'll get back to you. Grrrrrrrr!

planning
~ working all day from my home office...
~ take the boys to the driving range at the end of the work day...
~ write about Big Brother...
~ to carry out a Jihad against the furniture department at Sears...
Things I'm enjoying
~ Big Bang Theory (downloading and watching from the beginning... Is fun. :D)
~ Wii Mario Kart Racing... my license number is: 5370-2064-0362
wishing
~ for the stars to continue conspiring to bring great happiness into the life and times of "The Notorious Kim" (nbbmom).
~ that sirenity tips the scales on the side of great happiness...
~ for sweet relief to find arlyn
~ that ninneviane gets a baseball cap with GEEK written across the front in gold letters...
~ and big congrats out to mrssuperbad on the birth of her little girl, Lainy. :D

Birthday moments...
Ack... I totally missed modernarchetype's birthday yesterday (15th). A very happy birthday to you sugar and I hope the year ahead keeps you and your family in good health and peels of laughter. :)
And for today... a very happy birthday to my own personal sugar... babyfatz - who no longer uses Lj or reads my journal so she's not going to see this - but she will see her birthday prezzies when she gets home from work today. :) May your personal goals become your personal triumphs.

//
"Alabama Attorney General Troy King"... the guy that got sex toys outlawed in Alabam... has been kicked out of his house by his wife after she caught him with a sex toy shoved up his Alabum. Worst thing for her? The sex toy was actual anatomy of a young man pressed up against Troy. HAHAHAHAHAHA...
(borrowed from sugar-kit)

/
I keep staring out the window towards the end of the laneway...
Like I can cause the delivery truck to show up...
~ I'm currently waiting for a) my iPhone (sigh) and b) a fifty foot Cat-5 cable. The 50' cable is to hook my pioneer tv up to the router. It's got a dhcp client inside and I do believe I'll be able to figure out how to make it show files stored on my pc... although I many need to use some kind of media server... we'll see.
tap tap tap tap... !!! :)

~ k... see ya. :D

Tuesday, July 15

2008-07-16T03:24:36Z

Well the days are just blasting by... busy as all get out and I've got nothing to complain about. :)
Great weather...
Works going well (knock on wood)... and despite a crazy busy day yesterday, I still managed to get some time in the sun at the end of the day today sweat'en in skate park.

In the world of work... there are several important opportunities that seem to be coming together at the same time, so my days swim with phone calls and plotting. Although, "plotting" sounds so sinister... more like um... .... no, "plotting" seems to fit. :D

planning
~ yesterday and today were all about getting in front of my client and reviewing progress and planning the workshop I'm giving her team this coming monday.
~ this afternoon ... I got to a skate park by 4:00 and filled my boots for a couple of hours.
~ "red sauce" pork chops for dinner (see below. :D)
~ and now? Mario Kart racing... George Lopez...
~ OH... and when the hell did Big Brother start? WTF???? Is tonight the first? Second? Third... the what'th? !!!!!
wishing
~ I really want to send some big lj love out to my little shoo shoo... (shoo)... just 'cuz...
~ to erect a big sign that says "I hope odyssey_road's kitty stops tinkling on her stuff" LOL... :D
~ and that all goes well for little miz busy... (indigobluejelly)

///
I absolutely do not care one bit about the details of the events that lead up to the fateful day that Omar Khadr was snatched by the US military and taken prisoner. Those details make no flippen difference. He was 15. That's all that matters. It's sickening the see the application of such a pathetic double standard between how the US Government treats an American child and how the US treats a foreign child. Oh, and he's CANADIAN.
If he was such a monster... then they should have put him down like a rabid dog when they had him in the desert.
But torturing a child for YEARS... any child (however, I am want to once again mention A CANADIAN CHILD...) is just sickening and pathetic.
The whole situation is shameful.

//
Look... can you see my toe tap tap tapping?
3 to 5 business days...
Tomorrow is 3.
Sigh.
(iPhone fever)

/

July 13

2008-07-13T18:02:04Z

Dinner at my SILs house for suz's b-day celebration, and for the b-day celeb of two nieces... :D
It was a nice dinner... and it's nice to see my nieces growing up into really interesting and wonderful young women.
They are all off the university this fall... (the first year for the youngest).
I can remember holding all but one of them within days of their birth.
Life is full of wonder.

It's a gray day... but a great day never-the-less. :)
I managed to get up at 8:30 and get a million things done ... including yoga, kitchen, mario kart racing, etc. etc. etc.... before anyone else woke up.
Oh... and I bought an iPhone. :)
Dig it...
it's on special at 199 for the 8 gig phone.
Ok... and somehow, I qualify for a 50$ discount... so it's a 149$.
Meanwhile... the 8 gig iPod Touch is still retailing at costco for over 250$ ...
Added the 6 gig per month data plan for 30$ and I'm golden. :)
It wont arrive for ... 3 - 5 business days... but I can wait.

wearing
~ new shorts and loving them...
~ black tee. :)
planning
~ pressure washing the new Rocks!!! :D
~ groceries...
~ and dinner for suz's b-day (Wed) at my folks house...
~ getting to bed early (lol) because I have a big big day tomorrow (work stuff).
wishing
~ that kitiara gets her bear!!!
~ to remind sunflowr that B&G are truly only fair weather friends... :)
~ that nontradstudent didn't hurt the bird lady... too badly...
~ and to say that kay and her "Kayotic" photograph... is just beautiful stuff!!

//
Yesterday we went to the Camp Fortune Aeriel Park. (Ski resort doing summer stuff).
We were limited by Eds height... but we were also limited in time.
So next time we go, when Ed is just a wee bit taller... we'll do even more!
But no matter how you slice it... TOTAL FREAK OUT OF COOL.
Clip on - Clip off
Climb high... walk across wires... don't look down...
Obstacles... and Zip Lines!!!!! Just so cool... so fun.
Some random pics...

~ my feet... a wire... and those leaves are the TOPS OF TREES... Just say'en...

/
K... time to go for groceries. :D

Friday, July 11

2008-07-11T19:28:37Z

NEVER A DULL MOMENT!!!
sigh.

So yesterday was all about "rocks" (See below). Sadly, the "track loader" (think bright yellow army tank with a scoop) that brought our rocks from the excavation next door... drove over the buried cable from "rogers"... this supports out Phone, our Internet and our television. SNAP! around mid afternoon.
Meanwhile, I was out having a huge amount of fun with the boys at the "big" skate park (versus the smaller one in our neck of the woods... so to go to the "big" on - at Centerpoint - we have to take a 30 minute drive. No big... and lots of fun.

Today... however, has been less fun. I started the day trying to get through to Rogers to buy an iPhone... two hour wait on my cell phone (thankfully a non-minute-consuming-call) got to be too much and I bailed. I'll try again tonight. Then we waited for the Rogers truck dude to come and repair the line... Then we waited for the Sears truck to deliver our "loaner sofa".

Now? It's 3 and all is well. We have phone, tv and net back... and a loaner sofa - with dueling recliners - in the family room. It's ugly... that fake beige leather that tends to look like Fat Bastard. Ug. But at least we can sit. :)

It's iPhone Day in Canada. The big providers are releasing their first wave of iPhones. Popular uprisings seem to have pushed Rogers into lowering their data package plans... all the way to the point where I think it's not a bad deal... (30$ per month for 6 gigs of data - basically "unlimited"). But I was on the fence about putting the cash out and signing on for three years.
"on the fence" that is... until I had this desperately lucid dream this morning. oh man... it was awesome. It felt totally real... and needless-to-say... it had to do with buying a phone. I woke up from the dream... had a shower and GOT ON THE PHONE to buy one. Sadly... so did a bazillion other people (I wonder if they had the same dream?) So sheer volume is keeping me from my iPhone. By the time I do get through... I suspect they'll be out-of-stock.
Sigh.

planning
~ lots of waiting... some productive... other... not so much.
~ to see a man about a horse...
wishing
~ I was at the skate park again... maybe later. :)
~ congrats out to zaxwrit on the "big step"... (new homeowners)
~ and that sodiumbisulfite enjoys the vaca when august 7 gets here. :)

Birthday moments...
From yesterday!!! A very happy birthday to my sweet-bloo... bloojanuary... that's like "blue"... not "blow". (laughs). I hope you had a great day yesterday and that they year ahead keeps you safe, happy and healthy.... and thank you for many years of friendship sugar... :D
A quick "Happy birthday" out to long lost dixiemine30... may your world be filled with good things...
And a happy happy birthday to sugar-moxie. (moxielass ). I hope you get your wish (Alex)... and that you enjoy a wonderful year of firsts... and seconds... and thirds... :) (ps. You are, indeed, superwoman! :D)

//
So you see this part of our front yard? (Down by the foot of the gazillion mile long laneway)

And do you see these rocks?

Well... after giving 30$ cash to the guy driving this track loader...

We now have this...
(had to use my phone-camera for these - proper camera is in suz's purse)

Note the upright stone... it's going to get a street address thing in iron bolted to it. :D)

And that's the end of my story. :)

/
Now I have to sort out why our phone will ring... but nobody can hear me talking. :(
More waiting in cues with Rogers...

~ k... see ya later. :)

Wednesday, July 9

2008-07-09T22:00:35Z

~ new shorts. :)

It's trying to be a nice day...
Pretty humid... even rained for a bit... but I'm wondering if the skate parks will dry out in the humidity... there's a wind.. hmmmm...
;)

Started Geo out on one of his new "jobs".
He's now the guy that cleans out his dads car every two weeks... Like an hour of whatever it needs.
He's in "anything to earn money" mode. :)

planning
~ up a little later than I planned... but it's a day off so, ... go figure. :)
~ despite being "off"... I gotta get up tomorrow and work on my reports... I'm ahead of sched... but I want it to rock...
~ open the oven and say "oooooooooooooooooo" (I used the "self cleaning" feature for the first time last night. I know... almost two years and ... oh well... It's beautiful now.
~ making "Corto's Amazatron ribs" tonight... (recipe below)
~ watching another (gah) will farell movie (the basketball one). Kids movie night in corto land.
wishing
~ that all stays on the good side for cynnerth's lil'Mike...
~ for mapomme_desang to find her happy place...
~ that my far away Nola (teaser) is feeling all kinds of better...
~ and that becky_gardens gets to her feeling better vibe. :)

///
"Never been nuth'en before."
a random lyric from Billi Idol.

Makes you think... I mean, lets say you're pretty much always a "something"... and you see a someone who's "never been"
Should you shake your head and mumble loser under your breath?
Or should you do something to build him up out of the "nuthen" rut?
Not your job... right?
Now reflect on all those neighbor interviews after Johnny X shoots up the school (or whatever).
"he was such a nice boy... not special... kinda quiet"
never been nuth'en before.
~ and now he's a somethin...
Maybe all he needed was to not be nuth'en for the last five years in school or ... wherever.

//
Ribs:
Next time they go on sale, snag a few "strips" of pork back ribs. Toss 'em in the freezer.
Night before... (d'uh) take out a strip and pop 'em in the fridge.
Ribs for Dinner?
Start at least three hours before dinner.
Put on a goodly ("goodly" - lol) pot on the stove 3/4 full of hot water, salt it (1/4 teaspon or shake it a bunch) and turn the heat on.
Cut the ribs into three pieces. (Feeding a family?) fine... use more. :D
~ in a bowl... crush three cloves of garlic ("crushing" is important... brings out more of the zippy flavour - the nicer you are to garlic, the more mild the zip - so in this case, like, insult it's mother and tell it that it looks dumb in those boots)
~ add a few tablespoons of honey...
~ add a few tablespoons of soya (light, dark, whatever)
~ optional - add a few tablespoons of oyster sauce - it's not made from oysters... it's just the name... check the chinese food section)
~ add a few tablespoons of ketchup
~ now add a few more tablespoons of ketchup...
~ add a half cup of orange juice... yes, orange juice
~ shake in chili powder if you like the spice
~ then... add a 1/2 cup of hot hot hot water (makes it easier to stir in the honey) and stir stir stir...
Meanwhile... the ribs are boiling away on the stove... let 'em boil FOR AN HOUR. ("a hour" / "an hour"??)
~ tick tick tick...
Ok, it's been an hour... pick the ribs out of the water, and leave the water to cool 'cuz you'll hurt yourself when you pour it into the sink all hot like that... put a squeeze of dish soap in the hot water so it'll be easy to clean later...
Arrange the ribs meat-side-down in a flat bottom pan (not too big) and pour the sauce over 'em. Lift each piece and make sure they get sauce under them. :)
~ cover with tin foil and in-the-oven-at-350-for-an-hour!! Maybe open 'er up after 30 mins and scoop the bubbling sauce around the ribs...
After an hour, take them out and let them sit on the counter for a while ... like 30 - 45 mins.
Put some wrapped-potatoes in the oven because it's an hour before dinner now. :)
~ turn on the bbq...
~ after the 45 mins of cooling time... bring the ribs to the BBQ and brush on or "dunk 'em in" the sauce from the pan.
They were totally cooked after the boiling water... so the oven was to bake in some flavour, and the BBQ is just to make 'em all sticky and wonderful.
Get the taters out of the oven and serve. :)
Bring lots of napkins. :D :D

/
Well the iPhone thing just got more complicated... or is that simplified? Decisions decisions...
[ :: read about new data rates from Rogers in the Globe and Mail :: ]

~ ok... time to go mediate as the kids argue about Mario Cart (Wii) ... they're playing against the "world" with the Wii Internet hook-up. :D (very cool)

Tuesday, July 8

2008-07-09T01:28:34Z

~ sleepily getting ready to head out... with my cereal er... serial killer smile...

Hit six... count'em... one, two, three, four, five, six!!!! snooze buttons
this morning. Oh baby... it felt good.

So remember we bought a sofa? We bought one at Colonial Furn... it blew...
so they replaced it... and the second one blew worse... so we ixn'ey'ed the
whole deal and started over. Yeah, so back in March we ordered a natuzzi
custom job from sears. We've had today down as "delivery date" for the
whole time. Oh, and we paid when we bought it... pay and wait. dig? We
even got the "automated confirmation call" the other night reminding us
of the impending delivery and the requirement to have an adult at home
to accept it.

Zee took today off work (she doesn't normally work Tuesdays... but still...)
AND IT DIDN'T ARRIVE. We got a call mid morning telling us they had NO
IDEA WHERE OUR SOFA WAS. Nothing... nadda.
OMG gahhhhhhhhh.
"Wait... so stop talking and get me your boss. No really... yes I'll wait..."
dum di dum...
"Are you kidding me? You've had my money for almost four months... and
you have no clue? Get that sorted out... AND GET A SOFA IN MY FAMILY
ROOM IMMEDIATELY."
"Yes, I'll wait."
"What do you mean you don't normally have loaners...?????? So for
ALL THE OTHER TIMES YOU LOOSE PEOPLES FURNITURE... ????? "
"Friday? That's three days... FINE. I'm very unhappy here. Find my furniture
and we'll talk."

grrrrrr.....

planning
~ Off to work for a very non-eventful day of working but having to get some work done in a "be seen" kinda vibe. I'm off (mostly) for the next few days... so today was a bit "key".
~ argue with a store manager... see above...
~ drive home, with visions of a skatepark in the sweltering heat... only to watch one seriously twitchy storm blow in and lay it down for 10 minutes. Enough to invalidate the parks for a few hours of drying time.
~ go with Zee to pick up her car (in again to have the seal around the windshield replaced)
~ go to this kick ass great super wonderful awesome store - right across from the car place. MCL is this restaurant supply company and they have a big ass store front ... Paderno coming out of their ears... A WALL OF SPATULAS (all diff sorts)... so many specialized pots, pans, trays, etc... it was breath-taking. :D :D :D (see WOK below).
~ home to make quick burgers for dinner...
~ then off to a neighbors house for a homeowners association meeting... still El'presidente, so yeah... I gotta go... :D
~ and now? It's now... I'm sitting here typing.
wishing
~ I could pay someone to visit gliterybuterfly at her office and open a trench coat naked, with wall to wall watches inside the coat and say "Wanna buy a watch?".
~ that lisabella gets all smart n'stuff and takes it easy (spaz!)...
~ and for the gods to sort things out in the life and fast times of ladymeg1.

Birthday moments...
Happy birthday sugar-daze... (suburbiadaze) I hope you were able to celebrate your day today and that you get the respect and good times you deserve this year. :)
A very happy birthday to dana7880 ... and may the juice be flowing... :D Have a great day sugar and I hope the year treats you well. :)

///
I've met Henry Morgentaler. I had lunch with him. Me, two associates
and Henry. It was quite some time ago... mid 80's.
We were the exec of the student's association at Algonquin College (Ottawa)
and we had booked him to speak at the college.
The man was... is... was... whatever... amazing.
He gave up so much... so completely... to pursue something he believed
in strongly enough to warrant the whole "giving up everything" thing...
Great wealth... family... possessions... a personal life... EVERYTHING...
Because he believe women should not be injured, killed or otherwise
damaged physically by having an abortion.
He invented and perfected the vacuum suction method and he laboured
to safe the lives of countless women... young and old.
He motivate healthy (and sometimes less-than-healthy) discourse on the
abortion debate and was a dramatically effective lobby for the legalization
of safe and effective abortions.
He saw the truth of any other possible situation... he lived it and millions of
others had as well....
In the absence of a legal and safe alternative... regardless of any religious
considerations... women will get unsafe abortions and DIE.
Pro-life issues are a lot like those abstinence contracts teen girls are signing...
a big posture position right up until they get to ride the tower of power. So... wtf?

Reading that now two canadian recipients of the Order of Canada have returned
their medallions in protest over Henry Morgentaler being awarded one... truly
makes me wonder how those recipients manage to walk around with those giant
sticks up their asses.

//
I have looked for YEARS for this...
And found it for like 16$ at this restaurant supply store today...
It's one of those... "Grease it, and bake it for four hours to cure it."
oI'm soooo happy to have this. :D :D

/
Time off work... with rain in the forecast... JUST PISSES ME OFF TO NO END.
:(

~ k... I gotta git . :D See ya soon.

Monday, July 7

2008-07-07T21:36:35Z

A beautiful day... which, of course, I have to spend in the hell-hole of a windowless government office.
I got it together and lit out of the house nice an early... only to see my trash can tipped over and dug-through by the evil little 'coons.
So that meant stop... return to garage... get shovel... and shovel it all back in again. :(
I guess I need a can with a better "locking lid".

One of my clients got back from vacay today so I had to get in here and get his interview done. (check!! :D)

Oh, and the morning was marked by a curious story...
I left the building to get some sunshine and air... and watched as this big beautiful (someone drooly looking) st. bernard mix came around the corner and shambled up this main road. I kept waiting for his owner to round the corner... but no one ever did. Big n'beautiful stopped long 'nuf to mark a bus shelter then proceeded to cross the road!!!! He almost got hit... so I started walking towards him... This young woman also was busy taking not of Big'n'beautiful's progress. We took him up the steps to a protected alcove of the building... some other guy went and got a bottle of water for him... and we sat there navigating his sudden head-shakes (flipping giant drool blobs all over the place) and checked him out. He had tags, so I called the local SPCA and gave them the tag numbers. Their game plan is to get your info and give it to the owner and let the owner call you. Tick tick tick... no call. Me and "Barb" stayed with B'n'B for about an hour and ultimately turned him over to an "animal control" officer.
Then!!!! I get a call from the SPCA saying the "previous owner had given the dog away and didn't know to whom..."
Oh this was a sad moment... because I was all about thinking Well great... we stopped doggies progress to help him and now it's likely we signed his death warrant.
I called up Barb (cell phone number exchange as we sorted out B'n'B's future) to let her know the sitch...
We were both so sad...
but but but but...!!!! My phone rang again, and it was the SPCA... I almost didn't answer for fear of what they were going to tell me. It turns out that they were calling to confirm the description of the dog because a "my dog is missing" report came in that matched "B'n'B's" description and they were going to hook up with Animal Control to put the owner and the doggie together. :)
So, happy ending. And lots of drool splats on my nice shirt. :)

~ this is "B'n'B" and Barb...

planning
~ work work work... I'm feeling pretty stellar about the output of this contract... (things are going really well. :D)
~ get myself home at a good time...
~ see if I get Geo to go skating... :D
~ spaghetti night...
~ and then we'll see what's what. :D
wishing
~ people would put their phone number on their dogs collar.
~ I had more upper body strength... I guess i gotta start doing some kind of weight-lifting regime...
~ that dinkydo widens the friend/relationship gene pool soon...
~ for pasticcio's tomorrow to be... a whole lot better.
~ and good luck to kristiseriously as she ... tries to find the path... :D

//
Does anyone know if ComCast is one of the ISP's that intentionally throttle down their Bit Torrent speeds?
I've a friend in La La land that is having wwwway slow performance on the whole Bit Torrent vibe, with proper open ports on her router, but still very slow.
Although, I must ask her if she's opened up the exception in MS Windows Firewall thing...

/
Driving to work this morning...
There's this very nice little silver honda zooooooming up behind me.
I can see little miss blond ponytail SLASH trendy sunglasses in my rear-view.
She looked quite pretty... but she was definitely in a rush.
Traffic conspired to keep her behind me ... despite several attempts to make sure she had a lane to pass in.
I wasn't keen on going slow (in point of fact... I pretty much always speed a-bit on the main roads unless the circumstances call for caution).
Any ways... by the time the lanes opened up and she found her chance... we were getting to this long straight stretch (Carling ave near the Nepean sailing club) that is NOTORIOUS for being a speed trap. I always always always set my cruise control on this stretch...
Sure 'nuf... Pony-Tail zooms by with a quick lane change and passes everyone on the right. I flashed my lights... in a pathetic attempt to get her head in the game.
And we all passed her two minutes later as the Officer was approaching her window to write her up the speeding ticket... easily a 150 - 250$ ticket.
Sucka....
:)

~ K... time to pack it up. :)

Sunday, July 6

2008-07-06T17:47:32Z

Having an advil day so far. :(

The weather continues to be wonderful... so that's something. :)

Oh, and we sat down for our final dose of The Doctor last night...
There's something about Davies directing four specials between now and 2010* and then a new director taking over to run through the next scheduled season. No spoilers here but man oh man was that a fun "season wrap". Catherine Tate is a much better talent than I had her pegged for when they introduced her.

planning
~ well, best intentions to wake up early... dashed by going to bed at 3:00.
~ now? I have an aggravating head ache, and I'm not sure why. :( (Waiting for advil to kick in).
~ watched "in plain sight" with my coffee... while the sleeping family snored away... The kids are totally turned around, staying up too late and unwakable in the morning. :( I'm going to have to work on that...
wishing
~ that indianasweetie finds her golden compass...
~ to thank jersey_blogger for being prolific...
~ to send a smile to gillian16
~ and to point out that dotcombabe ... has for many years been one of the best reads on my Fps...

Birthday moments...
Happy birthday long-lost Bri (laekia). I hope all is well with you and your little family and that you are pampered just a little today. :)
And happy birthday to Mr. Brown! (jeremyb). May this next year keep you in good health and great spirits... and if the year won't play fair, you just go ahead and TAKE the fun. :D
A very happy birthday to greenwavedave. I hope the threads of your life weave together something that will give you reasons to smile and memories worth sharing.
And finally, to little lost greyenigma.... I'm sure you're somewhere taking the world by storm and I hope you're having a great time doing it. :) Happy birthday sugar.

///
I saw a news item about some place where they're taking a womans kids away because she's a white supremacist. He kid came to school with a swastika on his arm... twice.
Meanwhile:
~ Christian kids come to school with all manner of crosses adorning their bodies...
~ Sikh kids come to school carrying Kirpas (sp?) - daggers...
~ black kids wear Black Power symbols CONSTANTLY...
And you can only imagine the uproar if any of these examples were told to stop doing their thing.
Does this make it sound like I support white supremacy?
Believe me... I think nazi concepts are among the worlds greatest steaming piles of bullshit... a bill of goods sold to a willing audience used to enslave them and empower their insane leaders... It (nazi'ism) had nothing to do with actual white-power.
No... my problem is that we call ourselves a free society and defenders of free speech... which, apparently, is total bull.

//
Fat people are fat.
Fat isn't like race, creed, religion or sexual orientation.
It's not bad or good or otherwise...
It's not a human rights issue...
It's not an epidemic either... the Flu, tuberculosis and the plaque are epidemics... being overweight is being overweight.
Nothing more and nothing less.
If you're not happy about being fat... work on not being fat.
If you're fine being fat... fill your boots.
CLUE: Nothing is sexier or more attractive than self-confidence and self-comfort.
Real life is not about worshiping icons to beauty.
That's the make believe world of fashion and media.
Real life is about connecting.

/
Dear Racoon:
Please stop feeding off my garbage.
Or I will feed you the white supremacists...

~ k... see ya. :D

corto @ 2008-07-05T20:00:00

2008-07-06T00:02:57Z

What's for dinner? :D

You see:
~ chicken that was sauteed (sp?) in a sauce fat with fresh grated parmesan and a fist full of garlic
~ you can see a soft little clove of garlic there beside one of the shrimps...
~ shrimp that was quick seared with bacon and yellow peppers
~ fresh cut shoe string potatoes cooked in a little bacon fat
~ yellow beans bought at the local farmers market this morning
~ crunchy broccoli
~ and off in the distance... thin strips of yer-basic-flour-torillia fried up in a little butter and salted...

corto @ 2008-07-05T19:46:00

2008-07-05T23:48:52Z

Dear UNITED KINGDOM...

Did Dr. Who air tonight? It hasn't shown up on my torrent sites yet... and I'm worried. :(

Friday, July 4

2008-07-04T17:23:01Z

So much sunshine...
So beautiful.
The "Ottawa Blues Fest" is this weekend... The folks that organize that must be out-of-their-collective-minds with happiness. :D

planning
~ again with the not-waking-up-at-6 thing and working from my home office. Lots to do... but still on track. (does a happy dance). Presentations are in two weeks. Two weeks from today!
~ Going to the bigger skate park later this'aft...
~ Thinking about renting a movie for tonight. I wish Iron Man would hurry up and become a rental. :D
~ Being reminded... as I type... that I need to take something out for dinner tonight.
wishing
~ that my many (many!!!) Amer'can friends here in La La land have a wonderful celebration of their independence day.

///
You know... that constitution that is at the heart and soul of today's celebration
in America makes it mighty clear that it is the duty of those that seek to uphold it
and live by the grace of it's virtue to replace leaders that threaten the integrity
of the union. So... can anyone explain why the guy in the oval is still there?
Seriously... get busy guys.
It's your duty.

//
On a ride, on Canada day, and my baseball cap blows off...
Geo's like "Oh man... you should see your hair."
So...

~ sharing time. :)

/
So some number of months ago, I decided that I wanted very much to teach
my face to accept a razor blade ... versus an electric shaver. This has gone well...
although it took some time to get my neck to stop freaking out with the little red
bumpies and stuff. Now, of course, I'm all agog at how freaking expensive decent
razor blades are and I'm starting to listen to people tell me that 'lectric shavers have
gone up a notch in design... but ... whatever. For now... I'm enjoying the
shave-in-the-shower zone. Of course, picking the right shave cream is also key.
Why am I mentioning this? Specifically because I so love the feeling when I wash
my face during one of those "I'm not a girl" moments (no makeup) and can just
decide to reach into the water and bring a refreshing soak'en to my face ... which
I do quite a lot actually... When I do that in the morning... my face feels soooo
smooth. :) er... this is only a big deal because... for like twenty years I simply
never had that. I could never get a decent shave from the time I started shaving
until I hit my 40's.
Sad but true.

corto @ 2008-07-03T21:12:00

2008-07-04T01:12:26Z

if I could be any more frustrated with the ebay.ca account management system...
I do believe I would have to become a supernova.

Thursday, July 3

2008-07-03T18:52:22Z

~ me and my "I still own an iPhone (or an iTouch) yet" toy.
The Nokia 770 that a kind and remarkable lj friend sent to me last year.
It's running the rss news reader, week-of-weather widget, net-radio,
clock and quick link to google searchs all on the "default desktop" of the
hacker-edition2007-OS.
The device should run the 2006-OS, as the hacker Edition was made for
programmers that were transitioning apps to the Nokia 880 - a vastly
superior device from what I can tell - but hacker is fun and more
functional - though less stable - than the 2006.
In a nut-shell, the 770 is a debian linux device the size of a canadian cig
pack - well thinner actually - with a touch screen (that is nowhere as good
as the apple implementation of "touch screen").
Fun bits on it lately have been the mame rom player (plays all the original
video games, nintendo games, etc... i.e. colleco-vision!!!! :D :D).
It's a fun device... but it desperately wants to be an iPhone.
I'm a bit resistant to the pricing plan from the lords-of-chaos (Rogers.com)...
it's going to be about twice what I pay per month now... but I think I need
to suck it up and just go with a little glory.
July 11 is the "release day" for the iPhone on the Canadian market and it's
the release day for the G3 version of the device.

planning
~ sleep the sleep of dreamers and angels ... desperate rain trying to soak the world like a song in the background of my early morning dreams.
~ wake up and tumble into my home-office and get busy with sorting out client material. This is going well... :) I like projects that stay on schedule.
~ field a call from boss-man ... who seems to take a kind of morbid pleasure out of telling me I have to take a contract I'm not at all interested in...
~ spend my lunch hour talking with Suz and a guy this "blinds" company ... we're putting hunter-douglas "pirouette" (sp??) blinds in our family room...
~ tonight? no plans... I haven't even started thinking about dinner yet.
wishing
~ that a calm vibe finds mommameow
~ that somebody ties up jjnslat and gives her an Awful Waffle... just 'cuz... :D
~ for quiet wishes that innerly makes... to all quietly come true...
~ and that kendokamel finds the bits she seems to have lost. :)

///
Very interesting situation arising with the court case between Viacom and Google over copywrite issues on YouTube.
Current issue is that it appears as though google will have to turn over the FULL LOG of YouTube connections, including "what you watched".
Oh and they (Viacom) also want records of what vids YouTube denied or took down.
WFT?
Think about it!

//
Have you heard Duffy singing "mercy"?
A quick youtube search will fill your boots.
but search on "covers" and... wow. A lot of folks (pro and total amatures) have covered this song.
That being said... check this [ :: cover of Duffy's Mercy :: ]. It's not great because it's all pro or because the girl is perfect... It's GREAT because she's playing the guitar and singing and doing a great job of bringing out her voice... and she looks like a kid! I like this. I bet you will too.
Oh, and go here for an original by [ :: Duffy (Mercy) :: ] that I totally dig

/
I went out to talk to the admiral last night...
it was quite late...
The night sky was clouded over and warm but a eady breeze was whispering about the rain that's coming.
My feet found their way across the back lawn...
down to the scary black wall of forest... full of breezy voices and twigs that seem to ... snap all by themselves.
I stepped in between some branches and out again into a clearing...
darkness... complete, with the dull gray of a starless, moonless night.
Then fireflies seemed to come out of... well, everywhere.
And I was transported...
The frozen, crunching squeak of snow boots and the swish ... swish... swish of snow pants,
and that little warm spot on the scarf that covers your mouth against winters bite.
This night... the warm air... the fireflies, shorts and a tee in a clearing... is the very moment of winters daydreams.
So I reached out and caught a few fireflies and enjoyed all the moments before I went back into the house.
Thank you July. :)

K... see you soon. :)