"Keep a Journal: How else are you going to get a good look at who you were?"

Saturday, May 25, 2002

Talked to KWY again today about borrowing his digicam to put my Laptops and parts up for sale on Ebay. He was, of course, playing EverQuest at the time, and apparently my call was ill-timed at a critical juncture...his character got killed off. He'll probably never forgive me..."two hours work shot!"...hey, buddy, you were SUPPOSED to be packing boxes. I may have to help him move just to make up for this little snafu...although I hadn't originally planned on doing so. Mebbe I'll pedal my hump over there next weekend. I need the exercise anyway. MUST Must must...get the latest 1/2 life builds and mods from him on CD so I can pick up where I left off at Fragapalooza. Was playing a little DOOM classic for practice today, but I wasn't really into it.

Saw that FOX special "Did we REALLY go to the Moon?" Gotta admit, they ask some intriguing questions. I have seen a lot of sites declaring the whole Lunar Landing program a hoax, and other sites that debunk the 'hoax' sites...who ya gonna believe???

...must admit, tho, if they faked the whole thing at Area 51 (Groom Lake, Nevada), it would explain why the US military is so touchy about civilians observing the base, even from the surrounding moutain peaks ten miles away!

I propose a method of PROOVING the lunar photos and movies taken during the Apollo missions are genuine:

First, build a working computer model of the solar system (already done, just ask the guys at JPL)

Second, build a working model of the Starfield Sphere as seen from earth (ditto).

Third, and this is the tricky part, modify the output of the Starfield simulacrum to display the various celestial formations and constellations AS VIEWED FROM THE LUNAR SURFACE. Roll the time index back to 1969 thru 1973.

Fourth, dig up all those NASA Apollo photos with the beautiful starry sky in the background...and run them thru the simulation...if the photos are genuine, with the constellations viewed therein FROM THE MOON, the simulation should be able to indicate WHERE on the moon that particular photo was taken, and when. If the photos are fake...well, the construct should be able to tell us where they were shot...but I have a funny feeling that if this is the case, the location will turn out to be in the Western US, in, say...Nevada?
Have put surplus worldly goods up for sale - but didn't tell my SO...Laurie got a call from a guy in town from the Island for the day about the door for sale...of COURSE she didn't know what the h*ll he was talking about. There goes 50 bucks I could've used for the Edmonton trip. No other calls so far. Have to wait and see what turns up when the ads get re-treaded online next week. I really hope I can sell the Kodiak to some Little Person in need of a high-end ATB with a 15" frame. An adult bike for adults with REAL short legs...I have decided to keep only half the proceeds from the sale of the windows and other surplus items from the reno. Sale of the bike proceeds are MINE, and will pay my airfare to and from Alberta. I still have to borrow KWY's digicam and put the laptops and parts on Ebay. Taras has been bugging me about getting on with the bike carrier project, I now know how I am going to build the little sucker, but I need to locate a source of free parts. I think a scrapyard or appliance repair shop may be my best bet for the wire rack I need. I have been pipelining cardboard boxes to KWY for his move, but my boss says enuff already! No more c-board for me...at least for a little while. Our dept. at work will probably meet its goal and score those 100k points on the company's new incentive program, thanks in part to a bit of Genius Management by my boss, Randy Squires, ALL HAIL THE BOSS MAN! He took a seemingly impossible situation and turned it into a rare opportunity to increase dept. and overall productivity for the DC. Of course, as he himself said, there could still be some fallout from this stunt...I don't care, I still think it was brilliant and it's why he SHOULD be paid the Big Bucks.

Saturday, May 18, 2002

Top Ten reason's why Arnold Schwarzenegger should play "Doctor Octopus" in the next Spider Man Movie:

10. He's got the accent.

9. ...and the menacing presence (remember the Terminator?).

8. ...and the 'big bad' guy muscles.

7. He's a nice guy, not difficult to work with, and he LOVES doing 'family' movies.

6, Arnie and destruction, and action-movie lovers favorite combo.

5. He's about the right age. (sorry Arnie, nobody's young forever!)

4. Some fans would enjoy watching big, bad, Ahnold beat the snot out of Toby McGuire.

3. Two words: bankable celebrity.

2. Doesn't mind wearing complicated (and ridiculous) costumes (remember Jingle All the Way?).

...and the number 1 reason Arnold Schwarzenegger should play "Dr. Octopus" in the next Spider Man Movie:

1. He really REALLY needs to make up for his performance as "Victor Freeze" in that dreadful Batman movie...

Friday, May 17, 2002

MAN! This weekly journal is turning into a monthly magazine...been busy.
News: got the kids their computer. Spent about 100$ fixing up the Playroom. Saw the Van for sale with the 'blown engine' - It popped a conrod cap and the piston and rod got sucked into the engine sump and jammed the crankshaft. Can I repair it? Can I persuade the Car Lot owner to let me try?...we'll see. Kwy is getting married. Most of us wonder what took him so long. He owns to having very high standards, but we just thought he was really picky. Continuing work on KWY's shindogo, and another project, a bicycle luggage rack, for TJ. Work is busy so far. Structural columns are up at the new DC, and roof trestles laid on. Walls will be erected soon.

The car broke its clutch cable - right in Mark's driveway! GREEAAAK...SNAP! Mark turns to me and says; "that didn't sound good..." No fooling...Mark's cousin got us to work only few minutes late. Got a cable next day and discovered two things: 1. Lordco sold me the wrong cable last time. 2. My attempts to make it fit and work were why it broke in the first place.
Current worries with the Junker have to do with a coolant hose (replaced in Feb.) that doesn't seem to be sealed properly.

Speaking of automotive woes: Donovan is having incredible probs with his Hyundai/Dodge/Mitsubishi/Excel/Colt/Whatever. He's tuned it up and re-tourqued the head, cleaned under the timing cover and replaced the belt. Car still runs crappy. I keep trying to persuade him that it might be the Fuel Pump, which is sort of an Achilles Heel with that particular engine, but he says she is running clean and dry. That leaves Ignition and/or Timing as the problem, and he is doggedly chasing down those possibilities. He plans to drive to Fragapalooza in July, hope his heap is ready to make the trip by then. Don was telling me that team Three Blind Mice has been joined by a fourth. Guess we'll have to change the name.

In addition to getting married, other friend KWY is moving...this means packing up his 500 title movie collection, and 2500 volume library. He's been single for a lonnnng time. He bought a house out in Clearbrook, and will be doing the long Hwy 1 run every morn into richmond from there. His work is picking up stakes and moving out there in about six months. I got him 45 boxes from work, he may ask me to get more.

Deep Link: www.downtowneastside.com - I don't usually go in for verse libre, but this guy has a way with words...at least (s)he can spell.

Computer woes: the system has been running REALLY crappy lately, unknown processes, slowdowns, Win2k begging for mercy (or a re-install). Went to symantec's site. Their 'security response' section has an ActiveX utility that is a fairly thorough virus scanner. It informed me that I had 101 INFECTED FILES...no wonder I couldn't install Norton! I got the current 'vaccine' and got the little buggers out of my system. Have installed and updated NAV, will be a good boy and not open stranger Emails from now on...

Read a funny Urban Legend type story that's been floating around the 'net lately: all about the importance of a horse's ass, and how a design feature on the most sophisticated transport system on the planet was determined 2000 years ago by just that: the width of a horse's butt.