oCTOBER aRCHIVES

Wednesday 10.30.02 UPDATE I got an email from Paul tonite and I guess he has been working on his site a little more and said that was ok to post the URL. While I'm glad that he finally decided to to do some work on it, I'm not sure it is the direction that I would have gone. But hey! I'm not here to judge anyone!

You can visit him here. Be sure to email him and give him some feedback.

Wednesday 10.30.02 Today I finally came out from under my bed, put on a pair of pants and ventured out among the other humans. This was necessary as I was attending the Microsoft Technet security conference (there's an oxymoron if ever there was one!) down at the Fairmont. There were a ton of people there but I was a bit disappointed by it all. They were really trying to get you to drink their kool-aid and didn't get into too much detail about things. I'm not sure what I was expecting but this wasn't it;
it was just so glossy and fluffy.

I think I was turned off by the PR guy that spoke first and wasn't able to answer most of the questions thrown at him by the audience. Some of the other presenters were great but their matching outfits made me feel like I was being preached to by cultists (is cultists a word?). You know what I mean...

I did leave with a bag of swag that included an extra-large shirt, the obligatory pen and a handful of evaluation software. I noted with some interest that even the .NET Enterprise Server CD requires activation... Nice.         Top

Monday 10.28.02 I found this in my Inbox this evening...

Mark,

Thank you for your interest in Multiactive Software Inc. While you are a qualified candidate, at this time we have short listed candidates that more closely match our requirements. I would like to thank you for taking the time to meet with us and should an opportunity arise in the future that matches your skill set we will be pleased to contact you.

Good luck in your search for employment.

Kate
Manager, Human Resources
Multiactive Software Inc.

WTF? I interviewed there on September 10 and they are getting back to me now? Yeah, I was waiting by the phone... However, it is nice to be formally rejected.         Top

Sunday 10.27.02 Here is a snippit from a chat that I had with Paul today.... He doesn't scare me.

Mark - Canada Kicks Ass! says: why don't you update your site...
Mark - Canada Kicks Ass! says: if you don't do something with it soon, I'm gonna post the url shnewt - screw you all says: i haven't had time!!!!!!! Post the url and you'll soon find a picture of yourself having sex with men
Mark - Canada Kicks Ass! says: yeah, like you know photoshop
Mark - Canada Kicks Ass! says: your threats don't bother me!

I'm going to refrain from putting up the addy for a while but he had better get a move on. In his own defence, he does work and go to school but I know most of his free time is spent perusing old issues of Redbook and playing Ms PacMan.         Top

Saturday 10.26.02 I think my time at Safeway has or is, coming to an end. I was sure that I was scheduled to work last night but when I went in there, I wasn't on the schedule. So I left. I really could give a rats ass about them or their job. Maybe they expect a person to beg for a shift of something, but that isn't going to happen... they have served their purpose. It's too bad as I didn't really mind the work and the extra couple of bucks that came in every week was nice but I'm not about to grovel for it.

This did free me up to go out to Crush with a bunch of Infoslaves, both past and present. It was a get together to celebrate a couple of birthdays but I was just there to catch up with some friends. I know that I am lucky to have met such great people both as an Infoslave and at StockHouse and last night was no exception. A few people were missing but we did have a good time, plus I didn't get get too drunk and had fun, so what more could a person ask for? Even the cover was reasonable...

One of the greatest things about living in the West End is that you just run into people as you go about your daily business. I ran into Neal on my way to grab a few things at the drugstore and on the way home I ran into Warren. I haven't seen Warren in a long time but we were good buds at StockHouse back in the day. It was great to see him again though he has quit smoking so I guess the coffees will be of the indoor variety now!

Speaking of coffee, I still need to get a hold of Andrea and get together with her too. If you are reading this, I hope that your itch is better!         Top

Wednesday 10.23.02 If there are spelling errors in my blog today, you will need to work with me... the fog has been incredible around here the past few days and I am having trouble seeing my keyboard. I ran out and bought a new computer case today which is the first time I have ever done something like that. Brian's power supply died on his machine and it was cheaper to get a case with a power supply than to buy a power supply on it's own... go figure. Anyway, if I can get the new power supply into his machine, I'm gong to split it with him and if not, he's going to get a new case.

I talked to Uncle Bunky yesterday for the first time in a long time... Another ICQ contact that I lost touch with over the last year. Too bad as he is a great guy but the past year has been brutal for me and if you weren't in front of my face, you most likely didn't hear from me. I am hoping to improve on that during my little "break" but old habits are hard to shake.

Yesterday was Ardie's birthday, so I went over in the evening for a drink with them. Ultimately it ended up just Katrina, Neal and myself as Jan called about ten minutes after I got there and that pretty much removed Ardie from the equation.

Ayako sent a funny email today... She was talking about how happy she was and then she includes this picture that is supposed to illustrate her joy. Unfortunately, she seemed more concerned with hiding her braces than flashing a big smile so it seemed funny given the text of her message

Well, that is all for now. I'm crawling back under my bed...          Top

Update Saturday 10.19.02I really need to check my mail more often. Karan sent this on Wednesday and I only saw it tonight. Thanks buddy! It is of the useless knowledge variety, which always appeals to me...

Saturday 10.19.02 I can't believe that I haven't blogged since Tuesday... I don't know where my time goes. I have been busy working on the site but nothing that would be noticed. I made the switch to Dreamweaver MX and it is a large step up from Homesite 5, which I had been using up until now. Lots of handy stuff but I kinda miss Homesite's simplicity. Still, I try to code everything by hand, so I'm not using all the wizards to get me going.

I also bought a book on Photoshop, thinking I should follow through on my desire to add some graphical elements to the pages. I now realize that I may need to buy a book that will explain the Photoshop book...

I really need to email some people... I have come to accept that I am an email leech; I just receive it,
I never send it. Maybe later...          Top

Tuesday 10.15.02 What a beautiful day today; it's hard to remember that it is mid October when the sun is out and it's almost 20 degrees.

So I decided to install ICQ on a box last night; we used it at StockHouse and I still have my account laying around, so I figured why not... Low and behold, I talked to Andrea for the first time in a long time. I think the last time I saw her was at the great StockHouse reunion of last year. She just got back from a trip to Korea which I was under the impression was going to be a lot longer than it actually was. Anyway, it turns out she lives two blocks from me so we decided that a get together would be in order. I'm looking forward to it; she's my definition of a grrrl.

Not too much going on with the site that would be outwardly apparent. I have some stuff that I am working on for the near future but mostly it has been some architectural restructuring that makes it easier to maintain things. I also found some dirt cheap web hosting that I am looking into. I am not sure that it would really be neccessary (actually, I know that it is not neccessary at all, but it's so cheap...) so I am going to have a closer look at it. If I get everything that I want it would be about $70 for the year which is good, but when you aren't working it seems silly to pay for it when I can get it for nothing as I do now. It would open me up to use CGI and ASP but I don't know if I'm ready for it yet. I do know it's would be handy in the future though... blah.

XXXXXXX Update So Paul finally fessed up that he was the one emailing me. In my own defence, I figured it was someone that I knew having some fun with me. I had given some consideration to Karan's suggestion to "Have some fun with him..." and looked at the originating IP addresses and noted with some interest that one came from ATT, which Infowave uses for wireless service and the second from a Vancouver Shaw server. Luckily for Paul, I am not a good hacker and also I helped him set up his router a couple of weeks ago because I spent the better part of an afternoon rattling on his 'door'. "You didn't need the WINNT directory, did you?"           Top

Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday 10.14.02 Well, I had a great long weekend, even though they don't mean much to me these days. Two turkey dinners and leftovers as well, so no complaints! I hope everyone else had, or is having a great one as well.

Went to Neal and Ardie's on Saturday and then to Paul and Rachel's on Sunday where I didn't show the restraint that I had the evening before. BBQ'ed turkey rocks! Ardie brought me leftovers this morning so I guess I'll be eating turkey for a while yet.     Top

Friday 10.11.02 Had a great golf game today. I was very consistent and would have to say it was my best to date. I guess I am coming to terms with my new wedge, so we'll say that it was part of the reason for my good form. Neal and I were very close the entire way but he beat me in the end. Of course he made a questionable shot on 18 that worked out very well in his favor, but whatever. To be fair he did grant me a stroke to help even things out!

We also saw a squirrel absolutely freaking out as we arrived to start a hole on the back 9. They were spraying pesticides around so that might have been the reason for the whacked out behaviour. Of course, being a downtown squirrel it's entirely likely that he was on the pipe...
you just never know.

I have to work today, so I guess there is a first time for everything.     Top

Thursday 10.10.02 Nice day today so I finally ventured out with the other humans. It was windy so I took in the show down at the beach but it wasn't as strong as I have seen it and the tide wasn't fully in either. I had some old peanuts around so I took them and fed the squirrels... they aren't particularly bright but it amused me for a while.

I saw this full page ad in the New York Times today. Another design for the WTC site but it is different on a couple of fronts. It is a pure memorial with two veiwing decks; one at the height of the orginal towers and another deck at the top which is 2200 feet above the ground!

I like it though at 2200 feet, it looks kinda odd against the skyline and the office and retail buildings appear to be after thoughts. One neat feature is a prisim located at the peak that the sun would pass through on September 11th every year and shine down on the names of all the victims. I was reading that NYC and the Port Authority have lowered the amount of square feet required to be rebuilt and have called for new designs, so I am sure that this is just the begining.

Of course, today is the start of the Canucks season (note that they update their version numbers even less than I do!) so I will jet in order to watch them play Calgary. I did go to their schedule page and found I could download their entire schedule into my Palm... no excuse for ever missing a game now.

Gotta love useless technology!     Top

Tuesday 10.08.02 Well, I had my exam at ClassInfo today and I sucked, big time! There were 17 questions that were to be answered in 90 minutes and to qualify I could only get one wrong. Oddly enough, VP's and sales people only needed to get 13 right! In any event, I didn't finish the exam. I wouldn't say they were very difficult, but it was a test of your comprehension and they were worded in such a way that you had to be very careful when you were reading them. Needless to say, I ran out of time so I guess I won't be interviewing there.

They said less than usually 20% passed but Angelo made did make it, so that was cool. I'm not too concerned by it really; driving to the burbs wouldn't be very fun, even against the flow of traffic. I'm more pissed that I screwed up something that I should have been able to handle without trouble.

My first indication that this was not to be my day was when I woke up with a Dr. Evil pillow crease on my face that I swear was still visible after I got out of the shower.     Top

Monday 10.07.02 Had a good weekend that had me getting together with some friends and doing a lot of work on my computers. Crystal gave me a call on Friday and I did a phone interview with them for a position they are looking to fill. I should hear back from them sometime this week. It's encouraging as I now have three irons in the fire and one on the back burner, so things are starting to look up on that front.

I also continued to delve into Linux as I installed Red Hat 8.0 on my Linux box. I have mixed feelings about it at this point. It looks better than 7.3 and was even easier to install but I miss some of the features that were in 7.3 and the new stuff in 8 is freely available off the web. I need to spend some more time before I decide anything, but I do know that I am making the move to Linux and away from Billyboy... that's a given.

Neal and Ardie were over on Saturday to watch the Snowbirds do their thing over English Bay and they put on a good show for us. Too bad it was so foggy but to see them strafing the West End was something to witness.

The rest of the weekend was spent doing backups on all three of my 'puters. It's time to make some changes, so I am preparing to do it though I haven't exactly decided on what the final outcome will be. All I do know is that the backups need to be done.

Got a drunken email from Ayako after her going away party. She is leaving for Male in a week and I think it will be better for her then. They force her to work like a slave and it's really not fair. I also had a nice dinner with Janice on Sunday night at a greek place on Denman. First time that I had been in there and it was a nice place.

I had to put this up... Their catalog was in my Globe and Mail this weekend and it is just crazy what people can be convinced that they need. The existence of a company like this may be an indication that as a society, all of our needs have been satisfied and now we can just fill our homes with a bunch of shit we don't need. $90 for a corkscrew? Give me a break.

I still have a lot of ideas for the site which I hope to be putting up soon so stay tuned. Yes Rachel, you are going to get your anchors!     Top

*UPDATE* Deleted so my ass doesn't get sued... */UPDATE*

Wednesday 10.02.02 Well, I finally called jaalaM today and I didn't get the job. No surprise there, really; I don't know how I ever made it as far as I did. I was told that I made the top three and the other guys had five to seven years of experience. Yikes! What the hell was I doing there? Still it was a great experience and I don't regret it. I was asked to keep in touch and I am at the top of the list when something else opens up, which could be in the not to distant future.

I think I'll work there one day as they really did like me and were impressed with my background.
I hope so... it's a pretty cool place and the software is unreal. In the mean time, I'll focus on the options that are in front of me.

ClassInfo gave me a call today and I am going in for an interview/assessment next Tuesday. It looks like a neat place but it is out in Burnaby not too far from the IW office, so that is one negative.

I have to write a 90 minute exam and if (when) I pass that, there is a 60 minute personality assessment. I figure that would be the logical point where it all goes to hell... After all that, if they still want to talk with me, I'll begin navigating through a four stage interview process. Sounds like fun... Actually, I'm kinda looking forward to it as it would be a good experience for me to go through.     Top

Tuesday 10.01.02 Still no word from jaalaM yet... I'm starting to get a bad feeling about it now, but I think that's normal; you always tend to focus on the negative in times like these. I had my second interview at QA Labs today as well. I take back what I said about their sofa; it's not ratty, it's actually very nice. The kitchen is still in the reception-less, reception area though...
I interviewed with a senior partner and was given a couple of tests to write and I think I did well enough under the circumstances to show them what I can do.

It is now about a position that would have me in Yaletown and not in Richmond, so that rocks. You hate to turn down a position but Richmond is too damn far away. Another bonus is that it is a six month contract with a possibility for renewal. Now we are getting somewhere. I'll find out what is going on Thursday and if I get it, I'll start some time next week. If I don't hear from jaalaM today, I'll give them a call tomorrow but I would think the writing would be on the wall at that point.     Top

On a Web site, a blog, a short form of Web log or web log, is a personal journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site and its purpose. Topics sometimes include brief philosophical musings, commentary on Internet and other social issues, and links to other sites the author favors. The essential characteristics of the blog are its journal form, typically a new entry each day, and its informal style.

The author of a blog is often referred to as a blogger. People who post new journal entries to their blog may often say they blogged today, they blogged it to their site, or that they still have to blog.

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