Just a public rant or vent of whatever strange things I want to ramble on about.

• 22Jun 12

  Long time . . ....

  Well I guess it's about a year since I did much more than pop by and read a few things here and there. I have really been enjoying 'retirement' - forced or not, and am not yet bored enough to find some other job. I have already had a few careers and am under no illusion that another career is in the cards (I am sooo over programming and IT) so a job will suffice when the time is right.

  Been doing lots around the house and yard - painting, garden related things. Still taking lots of photos. Enjoying the Canon SX40 I got for Christmas. Playing guitar. Gaming....... lots and lots of gaming. But much more on PC now than PS2. My poor PS2 only gets some love in winter when I have some friends over and we can enjoy running around and killing sh*t (Time Splitters, anyone?) or driving like maniacs (any and all Burnout games - the ONLY time drinking and driving go well together !). GOG is one of my fave sites, as well as Steam...... and yes, even Big Fish. Bottom line is - I really love PC gaming again. It's just too bad that PC games didn't/ don't ALL use controllers (at least the driving and action ones, anyways). That is one thing I love about the console games.

  It's almost summer vac for my wife and we are looking to get a new dog. 2 years is enough time to get over the loss of our Sadie. We will likely find a new dog at the Humane Society some time in July. I expect that might be blogworthy when it happens.

  Our back yard is a real haven for wildlife - every kind of bird and rodent imaginable and it is a hoot having various critters come and practically sit in your lap while waiting for peanuts. There's even a groundhog living under our shed and a few ducks that fly in morning and night to cull through the seed litter. That definitely makes for some good photo subject matter. One chipmunk is really cheeky and she will come right up to take the peanuts frome your hand. Her boldness can be a bit disconcerting. This morning she jumped right into the house while the door was open a crack for me to toss out a handful and I was pretty freaked out but not to worry - we have 3 cats and Buster swatted her back out to the deck and I then swatted him away from the door - problem solved. I really did NOT want a chipmunk running around in the house being chased by 3 cats (CATastrophe ! - averted, LOL).

  The heat wave is not appreciated - humidex in high 30s (95+), low 40s (110+) for last week. Still better than 6 feet of snow on the ground. We have no AC so the temp has been 85 - 90 in the house and that just kills me. Thankfully the basement is nice and cool so we can migrate down there so eat, sleep and watch TV.

  That's about it. Nothing earth-shattering.

  L8R . . ....

  • Posted Jun 22, 2012 5:34 am GMT
  • Category: General
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• 2Jul 11

  Freedom 45 . ......

  Well..... life is a funny thing. I have just been declared redundant, along with slightly over 10% of my fellow ex-employees... all in the name of our government's belt-tightening policies. And amazingly enough - I couldn't be happier. We have been going through reorg after reorg and the stress, uncertainty, and incompetence has been mounting almost daily for over five years. I have wanted to get out for some time, but 2 weeks severance doesn't cut the mustard. Now, with being laid off, my severance is over a year's pay - w00t ! So after 16 years devoted to IT - screw it - time for something completely different. I am very fortunate in that I have no need to work at all ever again, but I will find out what to do next just so I don't go completely mental until my wife retires. Since we have no debts and no dependants, we are totally OK. So I will actually enjoy some real time off for the first time in about 20 years. I have all the time I need to figure out what comes next. Maybe I will go back to school and get another degree. All I know for sure is that I loathe IT now and you literally couldn't pay me to go back to it.

  So here's to the future and whatever comes next.......

  I have been gaming quite a bit in the last while - nothing like having time on your hands. Got LOTR Extended cuts on blu - sweeeet.

  Happy summer all..... 8)

  • Posted Jul 2, 2011 6:01 pm GMT
  • Category: General
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• 20Mar 11

  Power out for 3.25 hours..... fear of flooding...

  But compared to the poor people in Japan whose lives have literally been swept away, it's nothing in comparison. But since spring thaw is occurring right now, I get absolutely paranoid every time we have a power outage during a time the sump-pump runs, especially since the flood 4 years ago which totalled our basement. The entire thing was a write-off and it took 6 months to redo it all. Now that it is really nice, I dread even imagining going through that again. Nothing compared to the suffering and anguish of those poor souls in Japan, but it's all relative. Thankfully we have basically a huge UPS for the sump-pump which could run it for 45 mins straight. So with it running 6 - 7 times per hr at about 7 seconds a pop, we should have been good for at least 36 hrs. Nonetheless, I worry.

  It's pretty crazy just how dependent we are on electricity. Thankfully I could throw a few logs on the fire and read a book while waiting for resumption of power. But - no cooking (except for BBQ), no computer, no TV, movies, or gaming..... if our power network is ever seriously compromised, we are really in huge trouble. Forget about back to the future... more like back to the stoneage.

  • Posted Mar 20, 2011 11:41 am GMT
  • Category: General
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