Last week we had our air conditioning installed. Direct Heat was the company that did the work for us, and they installed a “ductless split” heat pump system from Fujitsu. It is 30 degrees celsius and 90% humidity outside, and about 20 degrees / 50% humidity inside. I’m pretty happy with the decision to install this system…
I didn’t write about this last weekend as Willow’s death kind of took the fun right out of me. But on July 17, I had the joy of having a big chunk of my family over at our house. Ron, Jessie, and the children; as well as Connie and Dennis were all in the lower mainland at the same time. I took the day off work and Irene and I invited folks over for a BBQ, and despite me being a bit out of sorts (my “day off work” turned out to be a “half day off work”) … I think things went pretty well.
Our cat Willow died today. Two hours ago, I was in Chilliwack visiting family, and Irene called me to tell me to come straight back and meet her at the emergency clinic. She had found Willow thrashing on the floor. Irene tells me that Willow was gone by the time she was at the clinic, less than fifteen minutes after she called me. There was nothing to be done.
A month or two ago, I was involved with clocks. Now I think it is safe to say I am becoming committed. What has changed? It is a matter of degree…
Folks following my twitters, which appear conveniently on the left side of my web page, will possibly have noted that I mentioned buying some “broken” clocks.
I’ve won two of the “broken clock” ebay auctions I’ve bid on: I may live to regret this…
I’ve actually won five out of five auctions, achieving my objective of establishing a collection of various abused antique timepieces. Why would any sane person want broken clocks? Your first mistake is use of the word “sane” in reference to me. But I’ll try my best to explain what is going on here, since there is some logic to what I’m doing.
We’ve had our composite deck for a little less than a year, and I’ve not done a lot to clean it. I’ve washed it with a mop and hosed it down a few times, but it has some “ground in” dirt that I’d like something more effective for. Of course, cleaning composite materials is different than cleaning simple wood, and I want to try to do it “right”, so I started doing some research.
There was a series of games I played many years ago. In these games, I was injected into a world where giant robotic machines cut lumbering, awe-inspiring paths of destruction through cities and each other. That was the universe of BattleTech and the MechWarrior game series, and it was good.
Unfortunately, the MechWarrior series came to an end some years ago- the last “real” MechWarrior game was MechWarrior 4, which came out in the 2002 timeframe. The good news: a new MechWarrior game is coming sometime in the next couple of years. And if the video (see below) is any indication, the makers of this “reboot” understand at least a little about what made MechWarrior fun.
Continue reading Old-style destruction- the return of MechWarrior
According to the lead Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Peter Hoekstra, the U.S. should launch an all out retaliation against North Korea for their role in the recent cyber attacks on American and South Korean internet targets. Unfortunately for the American people, Mr. Hoekstra is either an idiot, willfully ignorant, or intentionally twisting reality for his own political ends. The best experts in the industry agree that the attacks were launched by an attention-seeking amateur.
There has been a bit of a hullaballoo lately regarding overheating problems with the latest iPhone, the 3GS. Some users have complained about the phone getting hot enough to discolour the back of the case (most visible on white iPhones), and a few have even said it nearly burnt their skin. The funny thing is that this is far from a new phenomenon for iPhone users.
A few weeks ago I decided to start setting up a little place in the house where I can work on fiddling with clock mechanisms. I have discovered that there is some sort of strange and mysterious aura surrounding what I had originally thought was a humble and simple to acquire item: a suitable workbench.