Kimota94's Place

R.I.P. Resistance From Insomniac Games

2012-01-27T10:39:00.003-05:00

Not shocking news, or even really news at all, but sad, nevertheless. Insomniac Games, creators of Resistance: Fall of Man, Resistance 2 and Resistance 3, will not be producing any new additions to that particular franchise.

Boneman and I, among many other fans, will be wearing virtual black armbands for the foreseeable future...

The Perils Of Rotating Agile Leadership

2012-01-27T09:38:00.004-05:00

For those readers who shared the "going Agile" experience with me back in 2006 through 2008, this blog post by Mike Cohn on why you shouldn't rotate the ScrumMaster role should bring back some memories. For me, a few of them are good memories, but most are either humourous or downright painful. Our early habit of rotating the "Feature Lead" role within some of our Agile teams resulted in pretty much all of the bad outcomes that Mike mentions, and more.

Oh, if only I'd known then what I know now! :-o

Almost Here

2012-01-26T08:53:00.002-05:00

Just over 3 months to go now...

State Of The Union

2012-01-24T22:45:00.003-05:00

If only we lived in a universe where simply making sense, as President Obama did tonight in his State of the Union address, was enough to effect change.

I think it's going to take an alien invasion, real or faked, to end the insanity that's gripped America ever since Bush "won" the 2000 election.

Why The American Middle Class Is Disappearing

2012-01-22T12:23:00.003-05:00

There are actually a lot of reasons why the middle class, especially in the U.S., is currently being squeezed out of existence. Some of them stem from a concerted effort by corporations and their lobbyists to put all of the money into the wealthiest citizens' hands (through changes to the tax structure and attempts to drive working class wages down by, for example, breaking unions). But this New York Times article provides a glimpse into another reason: the migration of most of the manufacturing industry to Asia and parts of Europe.

Reading that piece, I kept coming back to the thought that we've become so obsessed with getting what we want for as little money as possible that we're well on our way to destroying the middle class through our own spending patterns. Anyone who lives in Canada, enjoying all of the safety, infrastructure and social equality that we're lucky enough to have around us, but who then shops in the States because "everything's so much cheaper there," as one example, is missing the point. If enough of us do that, Canada will simply become the U.S. eventually: we'll have high poverty rates, no middle class, lots of crime, little or no safety nets for the disadvantaged, and an abundance of cheap goods in our stores. Is that what we want? By the same token, as those of us in North America snap up products that are built by cheap foreign labour who live in dormitories and work for hundreds of dollars per week, we'll eventually transform this continent's socio-economic landscape to be just like what exists overseas. It's really inevitable, I think, as we're always going to do whatever selfish action appears to benefit us the most in the short term. But it's still very disheartening to think that we'll piss away so much for so little.

Nice Recap Of Disney's 'Progress' With Marvelman

2012-01-22T11:46:00.006-05:00

For the select few out there interested in comic stuff, I recommend this recent blog post which does a nice job bringing together all of the 'news' out of Disney Comics regarding their progress to date on using the Marvelman set of characters (the rights to which they acquired, they say, in July of 2009).

It's amazing just how little progress has been made in 2.5 years, especially when you consider that the handful of reprints they've done of the quite-dreadful 50's/60's Marvelman material went over like lead balloons, both commercially and critically. Anyone who cares about the character is waiting impatiently for the Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman stories from the 80s and early 90s to be reprinted; most are hoping Gaiman will get a chance to finish his take on the character that was halted in 1994 when the American publisher, Eclipse Comics, went bankrupt; and some want Disney to then integrate the superhero into the Marvel Universe. I'm not optimistic about the quality or appeal of that last possibility, but the first two are quite thrilling. It's really too bad that Disney has done nothing but disappoint so far.

And if anyone wants to know more about the multi-decade, incredibly tangled publishing history of Miracleman/Marvelman, you can always check out my MM primer that I wrote up shortly after the 2009 announcement out of San Diego.

Insomnia Sucks!

2012-01-21T05:18:00.003-05:00

I woke up shortly after 4:00, thoroughly disgusted that I was wide awake at such an ungodly hour. After almost an hour of trying to get back to sleep, I finally gave up and came out here to the living room to see what was going on in the rest of the world. Answer: not much!

I really wish I had that superpower that most people seem to have: to be able to sleep whenever I want to!

Oh well, maybe I'll do some writing. Chapter 7 of the 2nd novel is complete, so I guess it's time to start Chapter 8. I can hardly wait to find out what happens in it...

Busy Couple Of Days

2012-01-18T08:08:00.003-05:00

Today, Vicki and I are visiting various family members of mine, all of whom live out of town, so that should keep us hopping from about noon until nearly bed time.

Then tomorrow is my second Agile 101 workshop for the local Project Management chapter, with Vicki alongside to help out, as usual. I've updated the presentation slightly since the previous session, removing a bit of material and adding in some more visuals, based on feedback we received after the last one. It should be interesting to see how those changes go over.

I'm working on Chapter 7 of the 2nd novel now, and am about halfway through it. This one's been the most fun to write of all of the chapters so far, and that's saying something. I look forward to seeing what kind of reaction it gets, all those many months from now when the book's finally been published and people have actually found the time to read it. That's probably the most frustrating part of this process: getting excited about something in this book or in Game Over but then having to wait so long before anyone beyond my little group of collaborators can provide any feedback. Oh well, that's just the nature of the beast, I suppose.

A Tale Of Two Football Contests

2012-01-15T11:04:00.002-05:00

It was the best of games, it was the worst of games...

Last night's two NFL Divisonal Playoff matches couldn't have been much more different. In the first one, New Orleans and San Fran went at it, tooth and nail, with 3 touchdowns in the final 2:11 of the game! The 49ers got 2 of those 3 TDs, the second of which came with 9 seconds left, to lift them to an unbelievable 36-32 victory! This was one of the most exciting finishes to a playoff game I've ever been lucky enough to watch.

Then, in the nightcap... we got a real snoozer. Phenom Tim Tebow, who less than a week earlier had played the game of his life in shocking the Pittsburgh Steelers, didn't have a whole lot left in the tank, apparently. New England ran roughshod over Tebow's Broncos, to a final score of 45-10. It was over early, to boot, as the Patriots were up 35-7 at halftime, I believe, and then put it into cruise control from there. The 4th quarter did have one highlight, though, as Patriots QB Tom Brady punted the ball off of a 3rd and 10 snap, prompting a little excitement when the Broncos took exception to it!

We had company over for the second game, however, which dulled the pain somewhat. Unfortunately, Julie was rooting for Tebow and didn't have a whole lot of fun watching him get smoked. Of course, considering that she's the chiropractor who told me I was forbidden from lying on the couch for two weeks (because of recurring back pain I'd been suffering from), her disappointment seems like karmic payback, if you ask me, given where she spent the evening:

And shortly after this photo was taken, she was completely horizontal on that damn couch! Some people just have no compassion for others at all....

A Followup Post On The 2nd Novel

2012-01-13T11:32:00.005-05:00

I posted the following on Facebook this morning, but figure I should add it here, too:

A bit more on the book-writing progress, since a few lovely family members have asked...

I haven't done a plot chart for the 2nd novel yet (as I did for "Game Over") because I don't think I'll need it. Therefore it's a little tough to predict exactly how many chapters this one's going to be. I'd guess it'll be somewhere in the area of 12 to 15, just based on how much is left to cover. I have the first 5 chapters "in the can" right now, and I know what happens in the last 2 or 3 (even though I haven't written them yet). So that's 7 or 8. That represents the first and third acts of the book. There's a whole bunch of stuff that has to happen in the middle act, which I have the least amount of detail for in my brain right now. I know some of it, but not nearly all of it. I'm guessing it'll be somewhere around 5 chapters' worth of material by the time I get it done.

Even though I started writing this book about a month and a half ago, it really wasn't until the last several days that it's all come together for me. I now know the whole story, minus some of the lower-level details. More importantly, I know how it ends. Before I knew that, it was harder to write because I never knew if I was pushing things in the right direction or not. I could even potentially paint myself into a corner without realizing it, which is kind of very bad. That sort of thing leads to massive rewriting or even just throwing away large portions of what you've already written. Very bad.

I could probably finish the first draft of this book in the next week, if I had to. OK, I probably shouldn't have said that, knowing that Amanda is listening!! What I mean is, if I had nothing else to do and wanted it done ASAP, I've now got everything I need to put it all down "on paper" (electronically, that is) and could do the physical writing part in about a week. Of course, I DO have other things and do, and I don't want to blow through it quite that quickly, as I really enjoy the writing process. I suspect I'll be done the first draft sometime in March, although it could conceivably be earlier, based on how well things are going currently. Then it's a couple months of getting feedback on it, making changes, and dealing with the tons of deails (cover design, for example) that have to happen before I can publish. Best case, maybe it's ready for general consumption in late May, or June.

As for details about the book, I'm not ready to let those cats out of the bag just yet. Even the title gives too much away at this point. I will say that, once the title and blurb for the book are revealed, several people around here are likely going to have a pretty strong reaction. That should be fun!

That Update On The 2nd Novel You've All Been Waiting For

2012-01-11T19:00:00.003-05:00

Well, Facebook friends of mine have been getting regular updates on it all along, but for the rest of you...

I've just finished the 4th chapter, with one more to go before the first part, or "act," of the story is complete. I've blocked it into three parts in my mind, and am quite excited about being nearly done the first of them. By the time Chapter 5 wraps up, all of the main characters will have been introduced, the central questions within the story will have all been presented, and the reader will hopefully be completely engaged and intrigued. That's the plan, anyway.

Julie's read through Chapter 3 so far, and has seemed to enjoy each new chapter more than the last. She emailed me the following after reading the 3rd installment:

"Love it, love it, love it!!!! Well done. Great writing. Can't wait for Chapter 4!!"

She's not usually one to gush, so either she was drunk when she typed that, or it's really growing on her.

My brother, Richard, has seen or heard all 4 chapters so far, and also seems quite enamored with it. But he's a pushover, so we can't read too much into that. :-)

Anyway, progress is continuing. I'm personally very happy with the results to date, much moreso than I was at this point in the creation of Game Over. Make of that what you will.

Doctors Don't Die Like The Rest Of Us

2012-01-09T22:49:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Neil Gaiman on Twitter, I saw this fascinating article about the difference between how doctors face end-of-life situations and how most other people do. It may surprise you. It's definitely worth a read.

Tebow Mania Lives!

2012-01-08T20:12:00.003-05:00

I would've bet money that the 8-8 Denver Broncos weren't going to beat the 12-4 Pittsburgh Steelers in tonight's final Wildcard playoff game... but I would've lost my cash, if I had. Despite blowing a 14-point lead in the second half, the Broncos pulled it out in overtime. The first play, following the kickoff, was a long pass for the winning touchdown, ensuring that Denver quarterback Tim Tebow's fame will grow, at least a little more.

All I really care about is that the hated Steelers are now out, meaning that - as Vicki said just moments ago - "now we can watch the rest of the football playoffs!" Yes, dear... yes we can!

Less Than 4 Months To Go

2012-01-06T11:12:00.004-05:00

May 4th cannot get here fast enough!

I really hope they keep Cap cowl-free, as he is in this great shot, for most of this movie! Joss Whedon's probably smart enough to realize that the good Captain's regular movie headgear just doesn't cut it in the live action world (even though it looks great in a comic book, and OK in an animated series).

This Thing Is Awesome

2012-01-05T15:10:00.002-05:00

It's no big secret around here that I love John Carpenter's The Thing, so how could I not enjoy this:

Winter Arrives!

2012-01-03T16:17:00.002-05:00

From yesterday's trek through the woods with Julie and Cooper:

It was actually a beautiful walk, and just the sort of thing that makes me appreciate winter more than I have since the days when I was kid tabogganing in it.

Twenty Twelve Or Two Thousand And Twelve?

2012-01-01T13:17:00.004-05:00

I've watched this debate over the past decade or so with mostly just mild amusement and disinterest: should we be pronouncing our years as starting with "twenty" or with "two thousand"? Since we clearly started with "year two thousand", and then followed that up with "two thousand and one" (a space odyssey), it seemed from the get-go that it should really be "two thousand". Sure, that's an extra syllable, or really two extra syllables once you start adding the "and" in, but c'mon: it just sounds so cool and futuristic!

However, this year that we're now in may change everything. There's quite an appeal, to me anyway, in saying "twenty twelve." Why? Because of the repetition of the "tw" sound! And if "twenty twelve" sounds great, just imagine what "twenty twenty" will do for us!

Anyway, I reserve the right to regress back to "two thousand and thirteen" next year, but for the just-born yearling we're in, I'm definitely going to try to refer to it as "twenty twelve!" Let's just see how that goes.

The Christmas Goodies, 2011 Edition

2011-12-31T12:35:00.004-05:00

I thought it might be fun to try to get our entire 'haul' into one photo this year, but it proved a bit of a challenge:

Technically, I think it's all there, but some of the smaller items are probably not visible as they're being obscured by other ones. Still, you can certainly get a good sense of just how much stuff we received!

Here's my best attempt at a rundown of this year's presents:

Vicki - a Natalie Maclean book, cheese grater, sewing box, 2 video games (Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, and Ico), gift certificates to a craft store and a cooking class, candy treats, Game Over t-shirt, special edition of Game Over, necklace & bracelet, puzzle calendar, chocolates, chocolate candle (but don't eat it, the girls tell me!), gardening hand lotion, a book set in Australia (I wonder why?), Lush hand cream, Cooper & Finley coffee mug, The Help (on DVD), leather traveling case filled with Fruits & Passion lotions & potions, gift certificate to a tea store

Matt - 3 superhero movies on Blu-Ray (Captain America: The First Avengers, Thor, X-Men: First Class) from someone who knows the way to my heart, Silver Age Thor comic book (ditto!), Superman watch (double ditto!), socks, candy treats, Peter Gabriel concert DVD (New Blood), several super-comfy t-shirts, How to Fix Everything for Dummies book, Spider-Man body wash, basement joke gifts (mop, latex gloves, stopper), The Story of Math (TV series on DVD), a sleep journal (to help me sleep better), Cooper coffee mug and Cooper photo calendar (from someone who knows my soft spot!), Life Ascending by Nick Lane (book), Moneyball by Michael Lewis (book), Spider-Man hot/cold pack specially ordered by my chiropractor who apparently thinks I'll use it more often just because it has a superhero on it (as if I'm that gullible!... although, on second thought, I mean, just look at it: it has Spider-Man on it!!!!!), Best Buy gift certificate for anything that I didn't already get!

both of us - chips & popcorn (for a Movie Night), Angela's Ashes and Thunderhead (both books), family photo calendar, movie DVDs (Half Nelson, Blue Valentine, Winter's Bone, Vampire Dairies Season One, The King's Speech, Human Planet), Beyond Good and Evil (video game)

Now, with that big a list, it's almost a given that I've missed something. But if so, it was entirely unintentional. We loved every single item we received! Thanks so much to all the friends and family members who made Christmas 2011 so utterly enjoyable, including Tammy who managed to 'gift us' from 16,400 kms away!!

Finally, a couple personal observations. You might notice that the photo is somewhat dominated by a t-shirt (one of a pair) that I had custom made for my brother, Richard, and I. It shows the two of us posing for a studio shot from a long, long time ago (I'm guessing I'm about 4 in which case he would be 13) along with the slogan "TOGETHER AGAIN". This was beyond a doubt one of my favourite gifts to give this year. I was glad to have thought of it, but more importantly I was happy that our lives have re-intertwined such that it was even a possibility.

I was also delighted to find out that the Game Over t-shirts I had made up, which several loved ones received from me, were something that Julie had planned to do, as well. She simply thought of it too late to pull it off in time, and so was going to get one for me for my birthday, instead. Knowing that someone else came up with the same idea validated my own wacky notion. And it was awfully sweet of Julie to have that brainstorm, too.

Family Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T12:03:00.005-05:00

Despite taking my camera along, I actually snapped very few pictures at yesterday's big family Christmas at my brother's house. Somehow I was just too distracted by the dozen kids around me who were all hopped up on sugar and Christmas anticipation! Fortunately, others were much more diligent about their photography chore than I was, so I imagine a wealth of photos will shortly show up on Facebook. In the meantime, at least I have one showing great-nephew Hunter playing Santa, with approximately 1/3 of the attendees visible. Richard is on the right, seated, with his back to me. The table on the left has a half dozen 'stacks' of presents, one for each of his grandchildren between the ages of 10 and 17. These older kids were tasked a couple of months ago with writing a short essay on what animal they would be if they could be any animal, and then their gifts were all selected to fit that theme. You might be able to spot the giraffe (Natasha) and monkey (Hunter) at the top of two of the piles; also present were eagle (Connor), otter (Hillary), platypus (Ty) and snake (Emma). My sister-in-law, Meena, did an incredible job coming up with about a dozen gifts each to fit her lucky older grandchildren's essays, while the younger ones received a similar number of unthemed gifts (being handed out by Hunter in the shot above).

Here's another part of the room around the same time, including lovely Vicki taking it all in. In the foreground of this one is 5-year-old Bruce, who spent most of the evening punching me, kicking me, jumping on me, and trying to convince me that he wasn't about to throw up on me due to over-excitement (as his mother, Peggy, kept assuring me he would). I might've also been punching, kicking, wrestling and otherwise bullying him, but there's no proof of that at all! Bruce is actually a total blast to play with, and every time we get together I end up spending way too much time with him... but I'm still waiting to make him vomit! He did tell me last night that if he came over to my house, he would definitely puke in my face. So I've still got that to look forward to!

Vicki and I had a great time, despite the overwhelming nature of the day (keeping in mind that Christmas has historically been Vicki, Tammy and I... and maybe a cat or two!). Richard and Meena really know how to throw a Christmas party, and we can hardly wait for next year's! (They'll both be cringing if they read that last bit!)

Bringing Back Memories, Big Time!

2011-12-29T18:48:00.001-05:00

John Buscema pencils for an Avengers pinup. Wow. Just... wow...

Why Grammar, Punctuation And Spelling Are Important

2011-12-29T13:21:00.002-05:00

Shining

2011-12-29T08:59:00.003-05:00

Can't wait to see this feel good movie of the year!

(so good I've posted it twice!)

Another Great Christmas Party

2011-12-28T16:54:00.009-05:00

Last night Vicki, Julie and I did our Christmas 2011 party, along with four-legged friends Cooper, Finley and (in theory, anyway) Lucy. The evening started off shortly after 6:00 when our visitors arrived, after which Julie, Cooper and I headed out for an hour long walk through our neighbourhood in an absolutely gorgeous snowfall. We both commented on just what a lovely scene we were being treated to, and how much better it was than what Christmas day itself had gotten. Then it was back to our house to towel Cooper off and sit down for a spaghetti dinner that Vicki had prepared for us.
Following dinner and our traditional chocolate cookie and whip cream dessert, it was time to open some presents! As you can see for yourself, both of my female companions were primed and ready for the gift exchange, and probably didn't even appreciate having to pause long enough to allow me to snap this shot!

Cooper had two presents, one from each of Vicki and I, and both had been carefully prepared in SuperCooper's favourite wrapping material: newsprint! He loves ripping that stuff to bits, and he proceeded to do that while the rest of us looked on in amusement. He got a new squeaky toy - which Julie, for some strange reason, decided to leave at our place so that it would be here for him when he comes for visits! - and a hard rubber chew toy which he spent much of the rest of the evening pulling pieces off of.

Finley, who has always loved Lucy's toy that features a fake mouse inside a circular frame that can be whirled around by a curious paw, got a similar setup from us. Cooper of course tried to play with it before Finley could even get close to it, but eventually that got sorted out and the animals were both happy and distracted. So much so, in fact, that neither of them was biting when Vicki tried to get their attention!

Then it was the humans' turn, and we had about 20 gifts between us to get through. I'd put little clues to each of Julie's gifts on cards taped to the bags, and that prompted all of us to take a little bit of time with each parcel trying to guess what it was before opening it. Julie didn't come close to figuring out this item from Vicki: a 'cinnamon tin' that you can store foods in if you want them to taste like cinnamon (or something like that... they tried to explain it but I wasn't really getting it). Once she saw what it was and sniffed it, though, she seemed to love it!

I got a big smile out of my favourite chiropractor when she saw that I'd bought her a Key Finder, just the sort of thing that's perfect for the woman who occasionally (often) misplaces (loses) her keys. She was quite impressed by the device, and we even tested it out moments later by having me hide her keys somewhere in the house... and she found them in seconds flat! This electronic gadget should completely revolutionize her life, I'd say!

Many more thoughtful and impressive gifts came out of all those sundry packages before we were done, but I should probably do another blog post later in the week summarizing all that Vicki and I were lucky enough to receive this year. Tammy did her usual great job providing us with interesting movies to watch, for example, so I really must get that list together here before the New Year. My favourite one that I gave was to Vicki and Julie both, and it was special copies of Game Over that I'd created and printed which contain the original three chapters that I wrote back in the summer of 2009. Both women were quite fascinated by the thing once they realized what their new editions actually were - Vicki's first comment was, "But we already received this book, honey!" - and looked eager to read the fifty or so pages that neither of them had ever seen before. That gift was every bit the hit that I'd hoped for!

Eventually the festivities settled down into our more-typical mode of conversation (after we'd picked up the mess made by Cooper as he shredded anything resembling paper). Vicki lasted until around 1:00 a.m., at which point she left the rest of us to carry on while she headed off to bed. Around 4:45 she returned, though, to tell us that the wind was howling outside and she thought that Julie should just stay the night rather than driving home in the blizzard that had developed while we talked. Julie and I went outside and quickly determined that it wasn't all that bad (considering Julie only lives a few kms away), and so our three guests took that opportunity to pack up and hit the snowy road.

This was the second annual Christmas party for the three of us as friends, and it was every bit as much fun as last year's. Julie puts just as much time, energy and careful consideration into her gifts for us as we do for hers, and that fact really makes the whole experience unforgettable. Here's to good friends!

For The Developers Out There

2011-12-26T13:47:00.002-05:00

Thanks to longtime buddy Nhan for bringing this to my attention.

Kiss The Cooks!

2011-12-25T17:39:00.003-05:00

Or cookie bakers, in this case, in their new matching Christmas aprons courtesy of Suzy:

Aren't they just cute as a couple of buttons?! The two of them baked up several dozen cookies after our Christmas lunch and gift exchange today, while I played Spider Solitaire and watched a little basketball on TV. And yes, Susan really does wear scarves around the house... It's a fashion thing, I'm told.

Just When You Thought There Were No Sacred Cows Left To Slaughter

2011-12-25T11:13:00.004-05:00

We get this, from the upcoming Watchmen 2 prequel project out of DC Comics, apparently:

[By way of Bleeding Cool, obviously.]

A Couple Of Very Detailed Looks At The Prometheus Trailer

2011-12-24T08:22:00.004-05:00

To say that Alien fans the world over are excited about the Prometheus trailer that arrived last week would be like saying that a dog that's been housebound for a week is excited about going for a walk! To see what I mean, check out this and this, each of which takes the trailer and breaks it down into its constituent parts. When you're talking about a mythology as rich and well-studied as the Alien series of films, books, comics and video games, it's hard to put into words just how much some of us are looking forward to Ridley Scott's second kick at this particular can. Less than five and a half months to go now!

The Basement Dilemma

2011-12-22T20:06:00.005-05:00

This blog post is mostly so that I have a record of my thoughts on this subject for posterity. Having said that, comments from people who know more about the topic than me are very welcome... and since that includes just about everybody on the planet, you should feel free to comment!

Yesterday we had both the basement/drainage people here and a technologist from the city (think City Engineer but not quite the same). The drainage company scoped out the drain line that backed up on Nov 29th and flooded our basement (for the first time in, we're guessing, 25 years or more). They had a long rigid hose with a camera and light at the end of it, and fed it down through the cleanout that's located a few feet from the drain that overflowed. We got to watch this, and what we saw was a fairly clean, unbroken pipe that ran about 75 feet and ended in a sewer at the street. There was one very small tree root visible at one point over that length, but it was obviously not affecting anything. We had expected to see a break of some sort, as a result of the destruction that the city did to our front yard over the summer, but there was really nothing to see.

At that point, Vicki called the city. She told them that the scope had revealed nothing that could explain the problem, and asked if that meant that the city sewers simply couldn't handle the volume on Nov 29th. And if so, were they going to do anything about it before it reoccurred? She also told him that the people who had done the investigation were now about to install a backflow preventer and sump pump. He explained that there was a municipal grant program in effect that would reimburse home owners for part of the cost of both those additions (75%, up to a dollar maximum that really meant it was more like 50% given the actual costs). This is available because it's cheaper for the city to do that than to spend the millions on re-engineering the sewers.

However, the catch with the sump pump installation is that, in order to get the grant money for it, you have to ensure that your weeping tiles are disconnected from the city sewers. In other words, the city is only willing to pay if you take your runoff ground water out of the common system and deal with it yourself (by spraying it onto your yard, as output from the sump pump). The person telling us this, when he learned that the work was being done right now, said that he'd be out within the hour as he wanted to talk to the contractors and also speak to us in person.

Sure enough, he showed up about an hour later, and was very helpful. He brought the application forms for the grants, as well as some other pamphlets related to it and copies of the diagrams that had been filed away when our house was built! These latter items showed where the drains in the house were, were everything attached to the weeping tiles, and so on. He explained to the workers that they'd have to disconnect the weeping tiles from the sewer line, which they weren't planning to do, and that they needed permits for the work they were about to do, which they didn't have. He also reminded them that an inspection would have to be done on the job when they were finished, meaning that an inspector had to be lined up. They then ran the scope through the line again, so that he could see it. By this point they'd jackhammered a huge hole in our basement floor over the cleanout, and had begun digging a hole in our backyard just outside the room that was going to house the sump pump. When he pointed out that they needed permits which they didn't have, all work stopped. Nothing has resumed since.

So now we're trying to figure out what we really need. The more I've learned about the sump pump addition, the less I've liked it. For one thing: our problem was caused by the drain backing up, which a backflow preventer (installed into the pipe where the cleanout is) should take care of. We've never had water get into the basement through the foundation, meaning that the weeping tiles have always done their job and drained the groundwater, during wet periods, into the pipe that runs to the sewer. By installing the sump pump and disconnecting that line, we run the risk that our new pump won't function as well as the tiles did. It can't possibly function any better, as the water was always taken away from the house that way. So we could spend thousands only to have worse results than we've had for the past 13 years. And then there's the fact that the tiles only rely on gravity to work, whereas a sump pump runs on electricity, has moving parts that can wear out, requires a working float (or equivalent) to detect when to come on, could blow fuses on us, etc., etc., etc. Therefore I'm thinking we don't want the sump pump, but of course if I'm wrong, we risk future water damage in the basement.

As for the backflow preventer, the catch there seems to be that, when it's 'engaged' (meaning the valve has closed to prevent water from coming into the house from the sewer) we may not be able to flush our toilets, have showers or run water in general in the house. That's bad enough, but we also have no way of knowing that it's engaged unless we go down into the basement, lift the device's cover up, and look to see what position the valve is in. What are the chances that we'd think to do that every time it rained? And how many times do you check during a period when it rains for several days? What happens if you don't check, and you fill the pipes with potentially dirty water that can't leave the house through that pipe? I suppose one way to look at it is that, without the backflow preventer, water would be running into the basement anyway, so we're no worse off. Also, since that's only happened once in 13 years, maybe the chances of it happening again in the future are very slim. But what if something changed making it more likely? Then what? I'm completely out of my element when it comes to house-related issues like this, and so everything about this worries me. I barely got any sleep last night, thanks to yesterday's events.

So that's where it stands now. I hope to talk to my brother Richard about this soon, as he's about a million times more knowledgeable about such things than I am. Not that that's hard to do, unfortunately.

Sweet Prometheus Trailer

2011-12-22T14:50:00.004-05:00

Watch it here.

There are way too many cool things to talk about there, but for starters, how about:

just how amazing everything in that trailer looks?
the title forming the same way Alien's did, over 30 years ago?
the briefly-glimpsed giant statue head
the grainy video toward the end, again suggestive of earlier Alien films
the scale of several of the shots
"You don't understand" / "It was so wrong" / "I'm so sorry" / "Please!"
Charlize Theron!
the throbbing sound effect, suggesting an alarm sounding as well as your heart pounding!

This is just about a perfect trailer, if you ask me. It's provocative without giving anything away, and it makes me want to see the movie... like, now! This is the way studios used to promote their flicks before somebody decided that it would be a good idea to tell the entire story over the course of the trailer.

Cannot wait!!

Hilarious Video

2011-12-21T19:47:00.001-05:00

Thanks to a friend on Twitter, we have the following video.

Note: watch until the very end... it's worth it!

At The Intersection Of Washington And DC

2011-12-21T08:59:00.002-05:00

I love these satirical looks at the current political situation in the U.S., using classic DC Comics characters and logos. Here's an example:

Just 359 Days To Go

2011-12-21T08:50:00.004-05:00

You know, the wait for the theatrical release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey wouldn't be so darned long if it weren't for that stupid leap day in February!! :-)

Anyway, here's the first trailer for it, due out on Tammy's 26th birthday. I especially like the... precious... way it ends.

[Update later that day: From Bleeding Cool once again, here's a nice dissection of some of the images from the trailer.]

The Age Of Not Knowing What The Hell You're Talking About

2011-12-19T15:37:00.004-05:00

Despite having more information at our fingertips (literally!) than ever before, we truly seem to be in the midst of a new Age of Unenlightenment. Check out this short-but-sweet blog post by Paul Krugman in which he calls out a Washington Post journalist for claiming that government debt is currently at a historically-unheard-of height. It's almost comical how uninformed some of the loudest voices are these days.

I always used to say, in situations like this, "Don't suspect a conspiracy when simple incompetence will explain it all away." But I'm starting to think that some of this ignorance may actually be anything but. It's beginning to seem pretty willful, at the very least.

Ho. Lee. Shit!

2011-12-19T14:12:00.002-05:00

Just watch it. And then join me in acknowledging that it's going to be a very long seven month wait for this one!

8 Months Later: I Finish Portal 2!

2011-12-17T22:32:00.004-05:00

I started playing Portal 2 a mere 8 months ago (almost to the day) and really, truly loved it... but I didn't finish either the Single Player or Co-op campaigns before the Autumn onslaught of new games began (Resistance 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, predominantly). I certainly could've finished at least the Single Player portion of P2 before then, except that Vicki enjoyed watching me play it so much that I could never get any game time in when she wasn't available. (Also, he admitted sheepishly, I often needed her help getting through some of the tougher test chambers!) The Co-op campaign is a different problem, as I need a second player for that and Vicki's rarely in the mood to play it (preferring to backseat drive -- I mean, assist me from her place on the couch slightly behind me).

Anyway, tonight I/we finished Chell's adventure against GladOS and Wheatley, bringing another thrilling Portal experience to a close. I still have some Co-op left to do, including some free downloadable content that I've had installed for months. I suspect Portal 2 will end up winning some Game of the Year awards over the next few weeks, and if so: it's well deserved! This game rocks! We got many dozens of hours of entertainment from it.

Some New Year's Resolutions To Consider For 2012

2011-12-16T10:12:00.003-05:00

I know, I know: we haven't even gotten through Christmas 2011 yet, so why am I thinking about New Year's resolutions for 2012 already? Well, I just am. So get over it. It's never too early, after all!

Here are a few fairly-general ideas worth thinking about if you're the type who does the whole resolution thing around year-end:

Be more considerate of others - This sounds like a "motherhood and apple pie" type resolution, but I wish more people would actually spend some time on this one. For example: this morning, Vicki is crafting a very polite letter to circulate through our neighbourhood shortly about the person who honks his/her horn several times as they leave the house every weekday morning. This is around 8:00 a.m., when retired folks like us are likely to still be sleeping. Her letter kindly asks that whoever is doing it please just wave instead, since that's not likely to bother anyone. It boggles my mind that anyone would be that rude in the first place, but we have daily proof to the contrary. This is, I suppose, just a more extreme example of one of my biggest pet peeves: people who lock their vehicle by repeatedly pressing the lock button on their keyfob until the horn blares. Apparently they're too stupid to realize one press will work, or too lazy to care. Whatever the case, they basically don't give a shit who they bother, and that's behaviour that's definitely worth changing by way of a New Year's resolution.

Waste less water - About 15 or 20 years ago, I stopped running the tap while I was brushing my teeth. I'd turn on the water whenever I put the toothbrush under it or to wash stuff down the drain, but the rest of the time I'd just be brushing away and there'd be no need for water to be running. I'm so used to that mindset of water conservation now that it floors me whenever I see someone wasting the stuff. In a public restroom, for example, it's not uncommon even today to see some idiot running the faucet while he combs his hair or admires himself in the mirror. Vicki and I recently watched Blue Gold: World Water Wars on Netflix, one of several documentaries out there on the frightening topic of our depleting fresh water supply. Granted, one person conserving a few litres a day isn't going to save the world, but it's like anything: we can all lead by example. And if you need a little bit of mental help on this one, try imagining that water cost as much as gasoline, because someday soon it may (in some parts of the world, it already does).

Be sure to pay your way through life - In this age of online piracy, self-absorption and instant gratification, it's easier than ever to fall into a pattern of believing that "it's all about me," or more specifically, "it's all about me getting what I want." That's all well and good, but there are a whole lot of other people out there, too. So if you're the type of person who justifies downloading content because you think corporations are evil and you're "sticking it to the man," then find a way to send some cash directly to the sorts of artists whose work you're enjoying. It's never been easier to find ways to do so than it is right now, between Kickstarter-type projects, local/indie concerts and shows, self-published authors (hello!!), and "pay what you can" homegrown offerings. Anyone who uses the rationalization that "hardly any of my money goes to the artists anyway" to explain away their pirating lifestyle is a complete hypocrite if they're not funding the creators directly nowadays. I know of several people who are shining examples of what I'm advocating; I suspect I also know lots of people who aren't. If you're in that second camp, maybe 2012 is your chance to make a change for the better?

Those are just a handful of simple changes we all could stand to make. Or, I guess, we could all just resolve to go on a diet, eat more vegetables, or get to the gym more often... but those hardly ever seem to stick!

Happy 25th To Tammy!

2011-12-14T20:40:00.004-05:00

It's a bit of a screwy 25th birthday for her, seeing as she just this month relocated to Australia and so we're all still adjusting to that fact. She doesn't even have internet access at home yet, as far as I can tell, which prevented us from having a Skype call with her on this historic occasion. And the 16-hour time difference between here and there doesn't exactly help, either!

But none of that really matters. What's important is that our 'little girl' is now a quarter of a century old, and boy, has time ever flown for that to be true! Hopefully she had a great day (it's already well into the day after her birthday where she is) and I'm sure the fact that it was her first birthday in a strange land will guarantee that she'll always remember it.

Happy 25th birthday, Tamara Holly Driscoll!!

Yes, Please!

2011-12-14T19:30:00.004-05:00

Getting more and more excited about this film, the more I read about it. Love the tagline: "The search for our beginning could lead to our end." The Prometheus of legend stole fire from Zeus and gave it to us humans, and look at how well that worked out, after all!

Less than 6 months to go now!!

Christmas Shopping Almost Done

2011-12-13T18:45:00.004-05:00

I knocked three more gifts off my list today, and a fourth one shipped from its online destination. I think I now have just 2 more to deal with, plus we have to figure out how to give Tammy something for her 25th birthday (tomorrow, also known as "now" in Australia where she is) and for Christmas. In other words, the end is finally in sight!!

Expensive Flooding

2011-12-09T12:44:00.004-05:00

We had a representative from DryBasements by this morning, to survey the situation in our flood-damaged lower floor. He believes the only practical solution is to install a backflow preventer and sump pump, neither of which currently exist in this house (due to it being 50-ish years old). Price tag for all of that: approximately $4400!

As part of the process, they'll be scoping out with a camera the drain line that overflowed in order to determine why it did so. We're hoping that the cause is revealed to be something broken by the city workers who dug the immense hole in our front yard this summer as part of their water line maintenance. Weeping tile damage seems to be a popular refrain that we hear, so I'm crossing my fingers that it's that. All we know is that we had 13 years without a drop of moisure in that part of the basement, then after the city ripped the crap out of our yard with a giant backhoe, suddenly we got an inch or more of water during the first heavy rain. If it does turn out to be something they did, then it'll come down to: will they cover our costs for dealing with it? If not, we're out the $4400 in addition to the $500 deductible on our house insurance that's paying for the carpet and drywall to be replaced, the pool table to be disassembled, stored and reassembled, as well as any other surprises still to come.

We're really on some kind of lousy roll as far as house maintenance is concerned. It's been almost non-stop since not long after I retired, in fact. I guess the universe is trying to tell me something!

Crazy NHL Realignment

2011-12-06T12:23:00.006-05:00

Really? 4 conferences, that are essentially just big, crowded divisions? That's the solution? Huh.

[Update Jan 6/12: Or maybe not. The NHL Players Association appears to have blocked it, possibly delaying the realignment until the 2013/14 season.]

Eliminating The Blind Spot While Driving

2011-12-04T15:43:00.007-05:00

Thanks to a friend on Twitter, I saw this impressive article on how we should be adjusting our car mirrors to avoid having blind spots. As the article states, it's difficult for many to get used to this configuration, but I'm definitely going to try it as the benefits more than outweigh the cost of adaptation.

Lovely Matt Wagner JLA Artwork

2011-12-03T23:05:00.003-05:00

Here's a beautiful Justice League of America cover mock up that artist Matt Wagner did for an upcoming charity auction:

It naturally brought to mind the two Wagner pieces Vicki and I bid on and won in Chicago a few years ago, now proudly on display in our front foyer and shown below (left and centre):

Writing Update

2011-12-02T16:18:00.005-05:00

I'm tired of thinking about all the household issues we're dealing with right now (which Vicki is somehow managing to stay on top of), so here's an update on a happier topic.

I finished Chapter 1 of the 2nd novel last night, and sent it off to Julie for her consideration (no word back yet). My brother Richard got to hear an earlier version of it on Wednesday, and kindly helped me out quite a bit with one part of it. As of right now, only he, Julie, Vicki and I know what it's about, and I plan to keep it that way for awhile.

The fact that I'm already through one chapter, two weeks into the writing, is good news. However, I threw a bunch of balls up into the air in that first chapter, some of which I'm still not quite sure where they're going to land. Also, once Julie reads it and provides some feedback, it's possible I may be back to the drawing board. But for now, I'm feeling positive about it. Richard certainly seemed to enjoy it.

[P.S. This is my 3300th post on this blog. That's a lot of stuff!]

Our Soggy Lives

2011-12-01T21:44:00.006-05:00

Here's the scene we woke up to on Tuesday:

Since it was hard to get the extent of the water to show up in a still photo, I also took some video, as well as adding this 'action shot' of Vicki tapping her foot:

After the cleanup crew came yesterday to remove the ruined carpet down there, we finally got to see the culprit, just about exactly where Vicki had thought it would be:

Now we wait for someone to come who will snake the line out down that little bugger and determine where all the water came from. While it's tempting to say, "It came from all the rain we got," we'd had at least that much rain before without ever having a drop of it show up in that part of the basement. So something has changed, and we'd like to know what before we put any new carpet down.

My Wife, The Genius

2011-11-29T13:40:00.003-05:00

As we continue to deal with our flooding basement, we had initially been using a wet/dry Shopvac to suck up the water. However, this was a never-ending job, as the water we removed was being replaced by more of the same as fast as we could empty the Shopvac.

Then, after a couple of hours of that, Vicki said, "I've got an idea. What if we got the submergible pump that we used to use to drain water off the pool cover, and set it on top of the wettest part of the carpet? We could run the hose from it into the laundry room sink, and it would do the rest."

I was initially skeptical that the water level would be sufficient for this to work, but holy crap! She was absolutely right! For the past hour, it's been running down there, with a steady stream of water coming out of the hose end into the sink. Basically we're just transferring the water that's flooding in directly from the floor to the sink, but automatically with no intervention by us. Freaking genius, that woman of mine!!

Waterlogged

2011-11-29T12:19:00.003-05:00

After dealing with the crack in the foundation earlier this year (or was it last year?), we really hoped that we were done with water in the basement. However, this morning we woke to discover significantly more water down there than we've ever had before. It was immediately clear that this was not a repeat of the previous problem (different location) but that was hardly comforting. Lots of boxes that were on the floor down there were soaked, and we spent over an hour just clearing crap out of the affected area. Then we got the Shopvac out and started vacuuming it up, only to discover that it's coming in (through a drain in the floor, under the carpet, we suspect) as fast as we can suck it up.

Calls have gone out to the insurance company, a basement leak contractor, and the city. Our neighbourhood's water lines were cleaned this summer, necessitating (among other things) a huge and deep hole being dug in our front yard. Considering that we've been in the house for 13 years and never had a drop of moisture in this part of the basement, and then the first heavy rain after that work was done by the city results in hundreds of litres of water down there, I'd call that suspicious. So we'll have to see what comes of this once the carpet's been pulled up and the source of the problem uncovered.

I'd call this a crappy day, except that doesn't do it justice. And making it worse still, my niece Amanda is dealing with the same sort of problem at her house. Misery really doesn't love company, in this case!!

I Do My Best Thinking On My Feet

2011-11-28T23:21:00.004-05:00

I've typically used that expression in the context of presenting or leading a workshop, as I'd get asked tough questions and have to come up with reasonable answers very quickly. I always enjoyed that challenge, and it's one of the reasons I would agree to doing something so obviously out of my normal introvert's comfort zone.

Now, though, I'm finding that a lot of the plotting of my novels - Game Over earlier this year, the new book now - is happening while Julie and I are doing our walks with Cooper. Tonight, for example, I outlined several new ideas I've had recently for her consideration, and each one of them ended up better by the end of the walk than they'd been at the start. Oh, sure, you could point out that maybe it's actually Julie who's doing most of the thinking on her feet, but really, why split hairs?

Seriously, we made some good progress tonight and I now have lots more to think about. The book is currently 7 pages long but will undoubtedly grow considerably before I decide that it's ready for publication. 7 pages, however, is quite a bit better than nothing!

Mousepocalypse 2011

2011-11-27T19:32:00.004-05:00

When Julie's cat, Finley, was with us (along with Cooper) over the Halloween weekend, he managed to find and stun a mouse in our basement. I went looking for Finley at bedtime and found him with his prize laid out beside him and not moving very much. I set it free in the backyard but assumed it probably didn't survive long.

A couple weeks later, I went into the kitchen late at night, just in time to see a mouse scurry out of Lucy's food bowl and toward the gap under the dishwasher. Lucy, meanwhile, had been sitting high up on a chair overlooking the scene, apparently unconcerned that some of her food was being enjoyed by her supposed arch nemesis!!

Not long after that disturbing scene, Vicki started finding little bits of mouse turd around the house. And that, as they say, was the last straw. This meant war!

When our friend Susan was over on Monday last week, Vicki mentioned to her that we were having mouse problems, and Susan said, "Canadian Tire has the best mouse traps known to Man. Google it and you'll see what I mean."

The next day, Vicki and I were returning from an errand and she requested a quick stop at Canadian Tire. I'd forgotten Susan's advice, but Vicki hadn't. In fact, she had Google'd it, and was now a woman on a mission. She went into the store and was back within a few minutes with two of the aforementioned traps.

That night, I went out to cycling class and then to visit a former co-worker. When I came home, around 10:00, all of the lights in the kitchen were on and Vicki was standing in the middle of the room, looking anxious. I asked her what was going on, and she directed me to the door leading to the backyard. I looked where she was motioning, and saw a dead mouse lying on the steps leading down to the back deck.

"Wow! You've caught a mouse already! That's impressive."

"Look closer," she instructed me.

I did so, and saw that there were actually two dead mice there!

"Holy crap! You've gotten two of them in the little bit of time I've been gone! Amazing!"

"Go look in the trap by the dishwasher," she further instructed me.

I did so, and there was a third dead mouse, still caught in the sprung trap!!

Later that evening, we heard a loud SNAP! and our fourth invader met his early demise. The next night, at roughly 3:00 a.m., another SNAP! rang out. I didn't hear that one (Vicki did) but not long after both of us heard the sound of something being dragged across the hardwood floor of the kitchen. Fearing that Lucy (or "Useless", as I now refer to her) had caught a paw in the trap, we rushed to see. No, she'd simply grabbed the carcass of the fifth dead mouse and was dragging it, and the trap itself, off to the basement to play with it.

I've since disposed of the bodies, but before I did I gathered the following graphic evidence of both Susan's expertise on mousetraps and my wife's proficiency with same:

Among the local mouse population, Vicki's name is now uttered in hushed tones usually reserved for the likes of Stalin and Hitler.

Evolution Shouldn't Need Defending

2011-11-26T14:27:00.003-05:00

It's a crying shame that videos like this "Let's Talk About Evolution" piece even need to be produced, but they do. In it, female scientists and science journalists explain why understanding evolution is so important to Science, and why it should be taught in schools. How can these statements even be in doubt, a decade into the 21st century? I'd say it boils down to a combination of willful religious ignorance (among some, but certainly not all devout believers across many faiths) and stubborn human pride.

On that latter aspect, I can sympathize at least a little: the more I learn about evolution, the more humbling it really is. To go from believing that we're made in God's image and placed at the centre of the universe to understanding that we're the result of billions of years of chance (albeit advantageous) genetic mutations and exist as an almost infinitely small dot against the backdrop of a universe so vast as to boggle our imagination... I suspect that's simply too bitter a pill for some to swallow. The thing about the truth, though, is that it's true, whether you believe it or not.

AgileMan's Latest Real-Life Adventure

2011-11-24T22:13:00.004-05:00

Exactly one month ago today, I posted about an upcoming Agile 101 session that I was going to run for the local chapter of the Project Management Institute. That particular event happened today!

I'm happy to report that the session sold out, and that there's already a waiting list building for another one (currently slated for mid-January). Of the 24 attendees, I knew 3 of them from past work experiences. It was a good, enthusiastic group, and the day flew by (for me, at least!).

The results of the 1-page survey that I always ask them to fill out were:

Effectiveness of the presentation portion: 8.7 (out of 10)
Effectiveness of the hands on portion: 8.2 (out of 10)
Effectiveness of Product Manager role for the hands on: 8.9 (out of 10)

These are pretty typical results for this workshop, which always seems to go over well. I was actually surprised at the difference between the ratings for the hands on itself (8.2) versus the facilitation of it (8.9), but there was one person who gave the former a 4 and the latter a 9, perhaps explaining at least part of that. I think it's also a reflection of the high quality of assistance I got, as Vicki and the chapter's president acted as Product Managers along with me during the hands on.

Anyway, it was a great - albeit draining!! - day, and provided me with both some good experience as well as a bit of income. I'm likely to be doing more work for the PMI in the future.

In Happier News

2011-11-22T17:13:00.003-05:00

I sat down on Friday afternoon, last week, and just started writing the next novel. Julie and I've talked about it enough by this point that I definitely know how it starts, but not a whole lot more than that. So I thought I might as well see if I could put some of what we've discussed into written form, and before I knew it I had more than 2 pages written.

When Julie was over on Saturday night (for yet another stay-up-talking-until-nearly-dawn visit that she's known for in our household), I read the 2.5 pages to her and Vicki, just to gauge their reaction and also to hear the words myself. Both seemed to really like it, with Julie even giving me a high-five and a loud cheer when I finished. So that's good.

I'm actually kind of excited to be writing again.

Failure Apparently Is An Option

2011-11-22T16:59:00.003-05:00

There are still 3 days to go, but considering how busy the rest of my week looks it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that I won't have finished this year's Christmas shopping by Nov 25th, as is my goal every year.

I'll be most of the way there, as I've already got a pretty good stash built up in the basement. But there are at least 10 more still to go (even though I bought one today!!) and I don't expect to have any time to go out shopping again until next week. So I'm admitting failure right now, and beginning the self-flogging in the most public place I know of... right here.

Happy Birthday To Boneman

2011-11-22T16:55:00.001-05:00

All he got this year was a Stanley Cup (back in June) and a 9-game winning streak right now, both courtesy of his beloved Boston Bruins. Not too shabby, now that I think about it.

Free At Last

2011-11-19T14:38:00.005-05:00

This time last year, I briefly thought I'd freed myself from the annual cycle of paying for a mostly-unused Gold XBox Live membership thanks to my credit card getting a new expiry date and verification code. Then, to my horror, the transaction somehow still went through! I had planned to call Microsoft and push them to remove the automatic renewal from my account - since they don't let you do it online or on your 360! - but once I read all of the documentation that they require from you when you make that call, I knew I'd never get through it.

Instead, I waited until September of this year and then I called the card company to tell them that I wanted to ensure they wouldn't put through any outdated transactions like they did last year at this time. What I got for my troubles was a long song and dance about how it's all automated now, so the only option I had was to allow it to complete and then dispute it after the fact. I said, "Uh, no, there's another option... you can cancel my card and I'll take my business elsewhere!" Faced with that possibility, the service person said, "Well, how about if we just cancel your card, issue you a new one with a new number, and then you won't have to worry about any old transactions being auto-approved against it." It certainly wasn't what I'd have preferred, but I was also pretty sick of giving $60/year to Microsoft for a service I'd stopped using more than a year ago. So that's what we did.

And just last week I got a series of increasingly-urgent e-mails from XBox Live, imploring me to quickly update my credit card information so as not to suffer a disruption of service. I just checked a few minutes ago, and sure enough I don't seem to be able to get online to play games there anymore. So I think - I hope!! - that this may actually be the end of this saga. The bullshit approach to 'capturing' your business in this way has definitely made it very unlikely I'll ever again buy a game on the 360 if it's available on the PS3. So, y'know... way to go, Microsoft!

Whedon Talks Avengers

2011-11-19T08:48:00.004-05:00

I really loved this interview Joss Whedon gave to Yahoo! Movies, as it provides lots of nice bits of insight into how he's approached the project without actually giving anything away. It's exactly the sort of thing I enjoy reading before watching a movie I'm looking forward to, because it perfectly whets my appetite for the big event, spoiler-free. I can only imagine how cool some of the extra features are going to be on the DVD sometime next fall, when they can finally provide some juicy behind-the-scenes details.

Can't wait for May 4, 2012!!

I Love Science

2011-11-18T10:35:00.002-05:00

... especially when it's as amazing as this whole "neutrinos may travel faster than the speed of light" result that's now been reproduced under better test conditions. It's hard to even begin to comprehend how much this may upend some of what we thought we understood about the nature of the universe, if true.

I'm tempted to say that it's too bad Einstein's not around to see this, but considering how much he struggled against the emerging world of quantum physics throughout the second half of his life... maybe it's just as well.

Water On Europa? Possibly

2011-11-17T15:51:00.003-05:00

In an article in Nature, a University of Texas at Austin report employs some fascinating Science to support the theory that there are great lakes beneath the icy shell of the moon Europa, orbiting distant Jupiter. Now the question is, can we send a spacecraft there with adequate equipment to check it out?

Of course, there's also Arthur C. Clarke's warning from 2010: Odyssey Two to consider - "ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE." Hmmm.

Everyone Has Something To Say Except When I Ask Them To

2011-11-16T22:36:00.003-05:00

So about a week ago, I put the call out for ideas on how best to describe Game Over to the members of the blogosphere who've read it. This would, in a sense, be an example of crowdsourcing, I suppose.

So far, I've received... [counts on fingers]... zero responses! That's right: this motley collection of opinionators who usually won't pass up any opportunity to chime in with mocking commentary on the ups and downs of my life have absolutely nothing to say! That kind of blows my mind, actually. Or maybe I'm just coming down with a cold. Either way, I got nothing.

Bah.

One November Agile Gig Down, One To Go

2011-11-16T17:18:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I did my 8th (?) semi-annual guest lecture for the 2nd year Computer Science class at the local university. This time the daughter of a friend of ours was there, as she just happened to be taking that course. Of course, the last time I saw her she was about 13 or 14 years old, so it was great to catch up with her! The lecture started off slow and I was afraid I was losing some of the students at first, but then around the midway mark I seemed to get into a groove. I got the loudest and most enthusiastic applause at the end that I've ever gotten, so that assessment about pulling it out eventually wasn't just my imagination, either. No idea what went wrong and then right, though.

Next week it's the Agile 101 workshop for the local Project Management chapter, which is looking like it'll be about 20 or so people. I spent some time Monday and yesterday getting the slides ready for it, combining two sets from previous engagements ("Agile 101" and "PMs in an Agile World") into one hopefully cohesive presentation. Should be interesting, and if it goes well maybe I'll be asked to repeat it for other PM chapters around the area.

Such is my work life at the moment. Plus I need to start thinking about the next novel.

Elizabeth Warren's First Senate-Run Ad Is Out

2011-11-14T18:56:00.004-05:00

And it's a beauty!!

But is America already too far gone to elect someone to the U.S. Senate who is so obviously perfect for the job? Is there enough anger in Massachusetts toward the big banks having gotten rich on everyone else's losses to overcome the Conservative movement's momentum in dismantling the social gains of the last 80 years? Here's hoping.

The Modern Warfare 3 Update

2011-11-13T19:58:00.003-05:00

I came home with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 five days ago, and it's been a rollercoaster ride since then. I loved the little bit of Special Operations that I played on the first couple days, before venturing into the multiplayer arena and becoming... very frustrated.

Because of the popularity of the Call of Duty franchise, online play for each new release in the series tends to be particularly challenging. A lot of the best first person shooter players - period! - are currently spending their time in CoD:MW3's multiplayer games. They can level up quite quickly because they're playing a lot and are really good at it, which unlocks the better weapons and loadouts for them more quickly, making them... even better players. It's a vicious circle that can make jumping into one of those matches when you're not one of the best players pretty humbling, to say the least.

So after about 10 or 11 hours of online play, I was up to level 42 (not bad) but had a kill-to-death ratio below 1 (not good). I usually start off that way only to slowly improve, but this time I didn't seem to be getting any better. As recently as midway through play last night, I was still having my ass handed to me, game after game after game. I'd racked up 100 fewer kills than deaths, and was stuck around 0.86 on my KTD. I was at the point of thinking that I might as well switch to the campaign if I was never going to carry my own weight in multiplayer anyway.

Then, in desperation, I decided I'd completely alter my game play style to more of a "camping" approach. This isn't something I'm proud of, as generally campers are the objects of scorn, but I didn't know what else to try. I was constantly getting shot in the back, or from a distance so great that I couldn't even see the other player, and it just wasn't any fun at all. So I started crouching in corners and waiting for enemies to pass by, allowing me to shoot them in the back for a change! I began looking for the best locations on each map to stay hidden in that fashion, and pretty quickly saw my results dramatically. I had a 9-1 (9 kills, 1 death) game, followed by a 9-2, and 11-4, and a 10-5... all much better than I'd been doing previously.

I've never had to go this extreme in order to turn things around, but the calibre of play really does seem higher with this Call of Duty game than I've seen before. I'm trying to stick with it until at least level 53, as that's when you can finally equip yourself with Claymores, my favourite Call of Duty grenade type. After those great matches last night, I went to bed sitting at level 46 and with a KTD of 0.924. So I just need 7 more promotions to get Claymores, and then I'll see if I can be at least a little less of a camper without driving myself crazy.

As with previous games in this series, Modern Warfare 3 is proving to be quite the mixture of addictive appeal and teeth-grinding frustration. Well worth the $60...

Marvelman Creator Dead At 95

2011-11-11T10:30:00.003-05:00

Mick Anglo, the original creator of Marvelman, died on Halloween. As the preceding article mentions, the question of what this development means to the rights quagmire surrounding the character is up in the air at the moment. I don't know whether Disney Comics would see this as a positive or a negative, aside from the obvious "our prayers go out to his family" aspect (I mean, c'mon... the guy had a loooong life so there's really nothing sad about his passing).

How Would You Promote Game Over?

2011-11-08T09:24:00.003-05:00

As mentioned earlier, I'm trying to do more to promote Game Over. As part of putting it for sale on Smashwords, I need to post a catchy description of it on the forums there. I've been looking at what others do to drum up interest in their books, but I'm still stuck on how best to entice someone to try mine.

So... if you've read Game Over and think it was time well spent, can you please take a minute and provide some idea of how you'd go about interesting a stranger in it. This can be in the form of a comment on this post, or you can e-mail me if you'd prefer. Just don't put anything in a comment that would be considered too spoilerish for those who haven't read Game Over yet, obviously.

I can't believe there isn't a really great way to promote this novel... I just can't seem to find it!!

Resistance 3, You Don't Owe Me A Cent!

2011-11-07T18:05:00.003-05:00

I posted on Facebook at the start of the weekend that I needed to complete the single player campaign of Resistance 3 by the end of today since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 comes out tomorrow and will no doubt preoccupy me for some time to come. Well, I did it one better - I finished it twice!

I completed the campaign on Normal difficulty early last night, and then noticed that I'd accumulated some credits doing so. Those credits can be used for various things, such as new skins (for multiplayer), artwork and such, within the game. But they also can be traded for cheats for use during the campaign itself. I saw two that interested me in particular (two of the three most expensive ones): one for regenerating health by not taking fire (which is how Resistance: Fall of Man and most current First Person Shooters work) rather than having to rely on finding health capsules in the game; and Infinite Ammo. So I purchased them both, and then restarted the campaign at the next highest difficulty setting (Difficult).

It was so much fun playing through it again with the improved health situation and not having to scrounge for ammo that I just kept going. And this afternoon I finished it a second time, having levelled up all of my weapons in the process.

Between those two passes through the single player campaign and the 60 or 70 hours of multiplayer that I greatly enjoyed, I'd say I got my $60 worth several times over on this game. Yet another great release from Insomniac Games!

ePub Version Of Game Over Now On Smashwords

2011-11-06T18:16:00.003-05:00

I'm getting ready to try some promotional angles for Game Over, after procrastinating on that topic for a couple months now. Someone recently pointed me to MobileRead, a website where self-published authors can promote their work (presumably to other self-published authors). In reading over its FAQ, I came across several references to the eBook-selling site, Smashwords.

After several hours of reading and reformatting this afternoon, I've finally gotten Game Over on sale there, where you can purchase it for $2.99 in any one of 9 different eBook formats (including Kindle, ePub and PDF). I have more confidence in this ePub version than I do in the one on Lulu, but both are probably fine.

Today's felt a little like working on a nested problem, where each new place I went to look at led me to something else, and I'm now finally beginning to unwind the nesting. With this development of having the book on Smashwords, I can go back to looking at how to promote Game Over, starting with MobileRead.

3 Months To Die For In 2012

2011-11-04T19:40:00.003-04:00

Between May 4th and July 20th next year, I may actually become the latest victim of spontaneous combustion. Here's why:

May 4th - The Avengers movie debuts, which I've quite frankly been waiting nearly my entire life for. I started reading that comic series at the age of 8 or so, just as the legendary Kree-Skrull War storyline was ramping up. One of my favourite single issues of all-time would have to be The Avengers # 93, the double-sized, all new Roy Thomas / Neal Adams masterpiece that still amazes me today. Rumours continue to abound that Joss Whedon's 2012 film featuring Earth's Mightiest Heroes will in fact involve an invasion by those self-same shape-shifting Skrulls that I first became acquainted with back in my youth.

June 8th - Ridley Scott returns - maybe - to the Alien universe he introduced us to in 1979, with next year's Prometheus. Is it a prequel to that seminal film that ushered us out of the 70s (and me out of my childhood)? Or is it another take on the original? Little is known, and I try to avoid reading much about Prometheus anyway, as I'd prefer to be surprised. Scott's such a great director - Alien, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down - that this project seems like a slam dunk for Sci Fi Movie of the Year. I've been waiting since 1986 for a worthy Alien movie to follow the first two, and I'm actually hopeful that this may be it!

July 20th - The best superhero movie of all-time, and one of the most enjoyable films - period - was The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was obviously a huge reason for that, but director Christopher Nolan also had a lot to do with it. Batman Begins, which started Nolan's Bat-trilogy, was excellent in its own right. Therefore there's every reason to expect an incredible finale when Christian Bale reprises his Batman role one last time under Nolan's direction, for The Dark Knight Rises. I didn't think they'd be able to top Batman Begins, and then they blew it out of the water with The Dark Knight. Can they possibly improve upon TDK? I'm ready to believe that maybe they can, with TDKR!

I Love This Story

2011-11-03T18:26:00.002-04:00

Clearly the Occupy Wall Street movement has made a ton of mistakes and poor choices, but this example is one they could all learn from. This guy's so polite I can't believe he's not Canadian!

My favourite line is the cop's, to the banker: "If you don't like free speech you should move to another country."

Family Photos

2011-11-03T18:04:00.006-04:00

We had my brother Rich and his wife Meena over for a long-delayed dinner last Sunday. They'd already had us over to their place a couple of times, including for Thanksgiving dinner in October, but it took us from August until now to make it happen at our house.

Here are the happy couple, hanging out in our family room:

Like Tammy, I don't think these two ever take a bad photo! (I have the opposite trait, which is why I prefer to be the one behind the camera whenever I can.)

Vicki looks pretty fantastic, as well, in this shot that also features a certain four-legged member of our life:

Not content to be on the sidelines for long, camera-ham Cooper practically forced me out of the picture but I somehow managed to squeeze in for the one image that was years (decades?) in the making:

Dinner was spaghetti and garlic bread, followed by Vicki's delicious cherry cheesecake for dessert. It was a great evening of conversation and food. Better still, we all expressed the desire to make it a monthly tradition from now on.

This Looks Like A Job For...

2011-10-31T22:29:00.004-04:00

SuperCooper didn't get to greet as many trick-or-treaters as he would've liked, but that didn't bring him down too much, as you can see in the photo above. We had 15 callers tonight, down from our usual 18 or 19 that we've had each of the last 4 years. A bit of rain may've accounted for that, I suppose, as my brother reported a 'mere' 71, where usually they get over 100 and have gotten as many as 200 in the past. My great-niece Emma, manning her home while the parents and siblings were out collecting candy, apparently received zero trick-or-treaters! That's just crazy! The Dog of Steel at least got to greet about 5 or 6 groups, including a trio of teenage girls who couldn't leave him alone (the lucky pooch!).

If You're Feeling A Little Hemmed In Right Now...

2011-10-31T13:56:00.004-04:00

... it's because we just passed the 7 billion mark for the human population on this planet. This is, of course, an estimate, as no one really knows exactly how many people there on Earth. The population has more than doubled in my lifetime so far, as there were a few hundred million less than 3.5 billion occupants when I was added to the mix. My 85-year-old aunt, who's still among us, was born into a world that hadn't yet reached 2 billion at the time, so just imagine how much more crowded it must seem to her now!

Good Times

2011-10-31T13:47:00.003-04:00

This memory-inducing article goes out to all the work friends I had back in 2002/2003 when every Wednesday night was simply known as "Battlefield Night." I don't miss gaming on a PC, where each new game that came out might potentially mean that I'd have to upgrade my machine if I wanted to play it... but I definitely miss those Battlefield nights!

This Probably Won't Help Repair The U.S. Financial Industry's Image Much

2011-10-30T11:57:00.003-04:00

From BoingBoing (via Wil Wheaton on Google+): foreclosure mill employees dressed up as homeless people last year for Halloween. And people wonder where the Occupy Wall Street anger comes from. As Wheaton commented on the firm's lack of compassion, "WOW. What a bunch of shitbags."

Why I Don't (Very Often) Watch Rangers Games On TV

2011-10-29T19:16:00.004-04:00

For some strange reason (presumably something to do with Canadian content), the vast majority of the New York Rangers' first 9 games of the season have been televised across the relatively basic TV channels that we subscribe to. By my count, at least their games against Los Angeles and Anaheim (both from Stockholm), Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa have been on TSN, Sportsnet or CBC so far, along with (possibly) the one versus Winnipeg. That's 7 or 8 of 9 games... for an American team that's not even one of the premiere Cup contenders these days!

Today was pretty typical of what happens when I try to watch a Rangers game. I checked in during the 3rd period, to see the Blueshirts up 4-1 on the Senators. Just as I was digesting that fact, however, Ottawa scored to make it 4-2. Then several minutes later, 4-3. And of course they tied it up before the period ended, sending it to overtime and eventually to a shootout... where the Rangers would lose.

So for those who wonder why I don't watch more Rangers game? There's your answer.

This Year's Best Halloween Costume, Paws Down!

2011-10-29T14:18:00.004-04:00

Julie's visiting family in the States this weekend and won't be back until Tuesday. Therefore Vicki and I have Cooper and Finley for several days, prompting the following photo and e-mail comments from their mistress:

"Cooper insisted on his Halloween costume this year. Sometimes I think you have too much influence on my dog! He is looking forward to trick-or-treating with you!!"

A Classic World Series

2011-10-29T14:08:00.003-04:00

Before this past week, had there ever been a World Series in which a team twice came within a strike of winning it all, only to end up the eventual loser of that Fall Classic? I can't imagine there had been. But thanks to the Texas Rangers of 2011, we've now seen that happen. Somewhere, if there's any justice at all, George W Bush is still crying bitterly over that outcome.

I thoroughly enjoyed this year's World Series. Game 7 itself could have had a little more drama, but considering all that had come before it - especially the aforementioned rise and fall and rise and fall of the Rangers in Game 6 - that might simply be asking too much. This was truly a series for the ages.

And, for those of us who love our playoff baseball, the fact that there were 38 of a possible 41 games across the three rounds meant that we weren't shortchanged at all in this year's postseason. Yay for us!

Dan "The Man" Mangan Shines In Concert

2011-10-27T11:57:00.009-04:00

It was a family outing last night, as Vicki and I took great-niece Emma and great-nephew Hunter "out on the town" for an evening of dining and entertainment. We hit the Keg for dinner and then headed for a meet-up with a couple friends of ours who'd convinced us that Canadian singer/songwriter Dan Mangan was an act that we should see.

The husband of the couple, Tim, sometimes works with a local concert venue to bring performers there, and he was thrilled that Mangan was making yet another return appearance to that location. His wife, Cathie, met us before the doors of the venue opened and got us in a back way where, after showing our tickets and waiting through a sound check, we were able to grab six front row seats! Here are my three family members:

and then Vicki turned the camera around on us:

Mangan and his band were incredible, and it seemed like musician Hunter really appreciated some of what they were capable of. I found that I liked the music more and more as the set progressed, with the last several numbers being the most impressive. Dan's shown below, centre-left, with his right arm in the air:

When he came back out for the encore, Dan discovered that someone had left him a tin of homemade cookies on the stage. Picking one up, he looked out in the audience for a volunteer, and so I put my hands out, cupped, and he tossed it directly to me. I tried to give the cookie to Emma, but her painfully shy nature took over and she demured. So I assured Mr Mangan I was willing to be his food tester, and took a big bite out of a delicious chocolate chip cookie! I gave him the thumbs up signal, and the show then continued. I'd get a high five from Dan later in the encore, when he'd come down into the audience and walk by us front rowers, singing the whole time. What a great experience for all of us!

We got the kids home "a little late" (after midnight), but hopefully it was worth a bit of lost sleep for the experience. Vicki and I definitely had a great time, and thanks are owed to our friends Tim and Cathie for getting us out there and into such great seats!

One Of These Things Is A Lot Like The Other

2011-10-26T11:22:00.004-04:00

We ventured out to a theatre to see The Thing last night. For those who don't know, this is a prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing, which came out in 1982 and is in my Top 20 Favourite Movies of All Time list. This latest version does its best to tell the story of what happened at the Norwegian camp in Antarctica that's essentially the springboard for what happens in Carpenter's early-80s classic.

I'm a bit torn on this movie. On the one hand, it's a geek's dream come true, as it pays off many of the mysterious little bits from its 1982 sequel: the burned, two-faced corpse in the snow, the bloody-handled axe in the wall and the slit wrist on the radio man, among others. It also provides a few genuine surprises, especially in the final act, which I didn't see coming at all. For the most part, though, it follows the rhythm of Carpenter's version so faithfully that it's fairly maddening! I was predicting some of the beats quite successfully, despite this being my first viewing of it. And it also seemed to have a slightly different take on the creature's modus operandi, which I kept having trouble rationalizing with the original.

The other issue I have with 2011's The Thing is that it doesn't really present any sort of mystery, just lots of scares and gore. Julie didn't like Carpenter's The Thing, when we showed it to her in March of this year, because she didn't feel it played fair with the whole "Who do you trust?" angle of the story. While I didn't 100% agree with her, I had to concede her point that that aspect could've been done better. Here, however, there's virtually no attempt to provide clues as to who's the creature and who's not, and you're left feeling that it was all fairly arbitrary. This is the one area where they could've actually improved upon the other film, and instead they flubbed it completely.

Overall, though, it's an effective scary movie that both Vicki and I enjoyed. She spent a little of it hiding her eyes behind the hoodie that I'd given her for warmth (it was a very cold theatre!) and that's always a good sign.

A Brief Agile Update

2011-10-24T22:28:00.003-04:00

As I've mentioned before, I've been doing a series of Agile 101 workshops for one of the local employers throughout the year. I've done four of them so far, including one in Regina, SK midway through last month.

It now looks as if I'll likely be doing one for the local chapter of the Project Management Institute. This is a horse of a different colour, compared to the earlier ones, for two reasons: the attendees are likely to be mostly project managers as opposed to coming from a wide variety of roles, and they'll be from lots of different companies and industries. I'm not sure what impact the second point will have, but I'm planning to adapt the material slightly in recognition of the first one. Specifically, I'll need to address the always-thorny question of, "What does a PM do in an Agile shop?" more fully than I've done in the past.

If this happens, it looks like it'll be late next month. If you're interested in attending or know someone who is, let me know and I can put you in touch with the appropriate contact for it.

Fact-Based Beliefs Just Don't Work For Some, It Seems

2011-10-22T09:33:00.005-04:00

This latest development in the Climate Change 'debate' would be absolutely hilarious if it weren't so sad and frightening. An Earth Surface Temperature study that was partially funded by the ultra-conservative, Climate Change-denying Koch Foundation, and which was led by self-proclaimed Climate Change skeptic Richard Muller, has found that "the existing science was right all along - that the earth's surface is warming, at an accelerated rate."

So what do the rest of the deniers do with this knowledge, including the infamous Anthony Watts, who previously said, "I'm prepared to accept whatever results they produce, even if it proves my premise wrong"? They find ways to back pedal on any such acceptance, up to and including casting out their former ally Muller who has now adjusted his own beliefs based on the results! As for Watts, he's now falling back on claiming that since the study's results haven't yet been peer reviewed, he can't accept them. Which is kind of funny for a guy who previously discounted peer-reviewed studies from all across the scientific spectrum, prefering to rely on his gut. Huh... imagine that!

I have to think that the Koch brothers probably feel this was some of the worst money they've ever spent.

If Elizabeth Warren Doesn't Get Elected, What Hope Is There For America?

2011-10-21T07:50:00.004-04:00

Check out two minutes of typical Warren and then imagine how many special interest groups in the U.S. must be scrambling to keep her out of the Senate. It's hard to believe just how much crazier that country has gotten in the three years since Obama was elected, but maybe with the Occupy Wall Street movement underway and voices like Elizabeth Warren's and Paul Krugman's starting to be listened to, there's still a modicum of hope left?

It Came From... Science Fiction?!

2011-10-20T14:52:00.002-04:00

Check out this list of 10 well-known words or phrases in Science that actually debuted in the Science Fiction genre.

A Few Random Thoughts On The Baseball Playoffs

2011-10-18T22:20:00.003-04:00

1) The League Championship Series both ended rather poorly, in the sense that each concluded with a blowout (12-6 St. Louis over Milwaukee, and 15-5 Texas over Detroit).

2) On the other hand, both LCS went six games... meaning that all four teams were in it, no matter how lopsided the final games were.

3) Pitching seems to have gone south in the postseason. There were a ridiculous number of runs scored in the two LCS, to the point where a 4-2 result seemed like a pitching duel!

4) The East was well-represented in the four LDS series (New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Philadelphia Phillies) but not at all after that. The Central, on the other hand, sent three teams to the LDS and LCS, with St. Louis, Milwaukee and Detroit all advancing out of the first round.

5) Through the first two rounds, only three possible games didn't happen: there was no Game 5 between TB and Texas, and no Game 7s for either of the two LCS. In other words, 31 of 34 potential matches happened. That's a lot of baseball!

6) My brother Richard is a Tigers fan, and as such followed that team's fortunes very closely through the first two rounds. Now that Detroit's out, however, he's not sure if he'll watch any more of the games. Me, I'm a baseball fan first, so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens between the storied Cardinals and the upstart Rangers.

For Those Who Mock Or Don't Understand The "Occupy Wall Street" Thing

2011-10-16T11:44:00.003-04:00

Read this. (Thanks to PeterJ for linking to it via Twitter.)

The Downside Of Early Christmas Shopping

2011-10-13T20:44:00.002-04:00

This post will probably seem largely incomprehensible to those who routinely leave their Christmas shopping until the final few days (hours?), but there are actually some of us who try to get it done early. I've had November 25th as my goal for completing my list over the past several years, and I think I've almost always hit it. Hopefully I will again this year.

I started last week, and added a few more items this week. I've got a lot left to do, but I'm already running into the one thing I don't like about early shopping: you find the perfect gift and can't wait to see the recipient's reaction to it... except you've got over two months to wait! So that kind of sucks.

ePub Version Of Game Over Now On Lulu

2011-10-11T22:40:00.004-04:00

Apparently Lulu has created an ePub version of my novel for me. It looks like it's just a PDF file... possibly the same PDF that was produced when I put my Word document through Lulu's conversion tool. I have to admit that I don't understand how that works for eReaders... are the various devices set up to take PDF's in and re-format them appropriately for viewing?

Anyway, if you've been waiting for an ePub Game Over and didn't want to get it from me for whatever reason, now you can buy it on Lulu for $2.99.

The Avengers Trailer

2011-10-11T21:00:00.003-04:00

I am ridiculously excited about this. I have approximately seven months in which to work myself up to an even higher fever pitch of about-to-be-disappointedness. Or maybe not... maybe this will be the comic fans' dream to end all comic fans' dreams. We'll know one way or another on or around May 4th of next year.

Another Long Weekend Has Come And Gone

2011-10-10T21:45:00.006-04:00

Thanksgiving 2011's just wrapping up, as I type this. It's funny how, when you're not working, long weekend's are often more of a pain than anything else. I usually do some grocery shopping on Mondays, for example, but not when Monday's a holiday!

Despite that, this was actually a good Thanksgiving. Vicki and I were invited to my brother Rich's place for a traditional holiday dinner yesterday, the likes of which we rarely see anymore. I'm in the process of reconnecting with him after a lot of years of separation, and among other things it's fun to watch him and Vicki getting to know each other while my sister-in-law Meena and I go through the same process. Rich, by the way, holds the record for the fastest read of Game Over, I think. He started it on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago, while we were at Beatlefest, and - breaking only for meals - finished it later that same day!

Today Vicki and I tackled the chore of oiling our heavy-traffic hardwood floor areas (kitchen and entranceway), which you really have to do at a time when there's not much going on afterward, as the oil needs many hours to dry without being walked on. It's the sort of activity that I'd hate to have to do by myself, but since we always do it together, I never seem to mind it all that much.

Anyway, I hope everyone reading this had a great Thanksgiving weekend, and that you remember that there's no time like the present to start your Christmas shopping...

Three Great Game 5s Over Two Nights

2011-10-07T23:16:00.003-04:00

Between last night's Detroit win over the Yankees (3-2), tonight's Brewers win over the Diamondbacks (also by a 3-2 score) and the just-completed shocker, a 1-0 win by St. Louis over the heavily-favoured Phillies (Chris Carpenter just barely outpitching former Toronto teammate Roy Halladay), it's been a nail-biter's worst nightmare!

It's pretty amazing when four 5-game series go a total of 19 games, as this year's League Divisional Series did. Only Texas and Tampa Bay didn't go the distance, with the (other) Rangers taking their series in 4 games.

So now it's Brewers vs Cards in the NL, and Tigers up against Texas in the AL. I've got to think the absence of the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Phillies probably means ratings will be down for this year's LCS and World Series, but who cares? As long as the baseball's good, I'm in!

The Avengers Movie

2011-10-06T11:45:00.003-04:00

I'll admit it: I have a little geekgasm each and every time I see this picture of Thor and Captain America, from next spring's The Avengers film.

Oh, and my guess as to what the two heroes are looking up at? Skrull armada invading the Earth, of course!

An Idiot Debating A Genius

2011-10-06T11:32:00.002-04:00

Depending on your ideological leanings, you'll naturally draw your own conclusions as to who is the idiot and who is in the genius in this short exchange between Bill O'Reilly and Richard Dawkins. I'm pretty sure all readers of this blog are well aware of which side I come down on.

Better Late Than Never - Five Years!

2011-10-05T13:05:00.003-04:00

I guess I was distracted on Saturday on account of Julie coming over for our first Movie Night in more than six months, but that's still a pretty lame excuse for failing to post something to commemorate

this blog's fifth anniversary!!!

Sorry about that.

October 1st, 2006, was when it all started, and here we are five years later, still at it. It's been a fun ride, but also sometimes quite mentally exhausting, and so we'll just have to wait and see if I manage to make it through another five.

For The Gamers!

2011-10-05T12:52:00.001-04:00

On Chilling Out

2011-10-05T10:50:00.003-04:00

Over the past month or so, I've been noticing a slight change in my attitude that may or may not prove to be permanent. Since this blog is the closest thing I have to a diary, here seems like the logical place to reflect upon this development.

When Vicki and I joined a bunch of family members in Orillia last month for Beatlefest, it was - by our standards, anyway - a fairly loosely-organized event. I don't mean that in a bad way. It just wasn't what we're usually involved with, where the day is all planned out: be here at this time, then go do that for an hour, then be back here by such-and-such a time. Instead, it was almost entirely open-ended, with the only real commitments being the two sessions when great-nephew Hunter's band was playing. What I noticed, as the day progressed, was that Vicki was the one trying to introduce just a little order into the day. She wasn't doing it in a frantic or concerned manner - like I typically would - but just casually pointing out that we didn't really know where we were going or what we were going to do next. To which I replied, "That's OK. Today I'm just going with the flow." And it felt pretty good.

Since then, I've been trying to do more of that (stop laughing, Susan!!). To say that it doesn't come easily or naturally to me would be a huge understatement. But I'm still giving it a go. It definitely helps that many of the family members I've recently reunited with are wired that way. I think the real trick, though, lies in not caring as much (as I usually do) about things working out perfectly. I've always believed that if you plan carefully enough, you can pull almost anything off. And I still think that's true; but maybe I was applying it to too many aspects of my life. Catching a plane? Yep, that's still important enough to warrant careful consideration and organization. Going for a walk, or making a trip to the comic store, or getting together with someone for a coffee? Probably not worth sweating too much over, beyond the obvious point of not being rude by getting there super-late or standing them up. Even typing that, though, I have to admit, makes me wince a bit. So this is still very much a work in progress at the moment.

So, yeah. That's where I'm at.

Can't wait to hear from the peanut gallery on this particular post.....

Walking Goal: Week 17 Report - Final Edition!

2011-10-03T23:02:00.003-04:00

(If you've hated these updates all summer, then today is your lucky day! Or, rather - technically, I guess - every day after today is your lucky day!)

17 weeks ago today, I was on a walk through the woods with Julie and announced to her that I was going to try to walk at least 500 kms over the next four months (Jun through Sep). I estimated how far we walked that day, ordered a pedometer when I got home from that walk, and have been going ever since. Yesterday marked the end of that 17 week sojourn, although ironically Vicki and I were too busy and it was too rainy for me to add to my total at all! Anyway, here's where I finished up:

635 kms (127% of my 500 km goal)

Thanks to everyone who encouraged this latest of my life goals. It was a very positive experience and no doubt helped my health considerably.

Missed Radiohead In NYC Last Week?

2011-10-03T15:45:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I did, too. Good thing there's high quality video of it available on one of the main Radiohead fan sites. Awesome!

Resistance 3 'Mastery' Achieved

2011-10-02T21:52:00.003-04:00

Thanks to a Double XP Weekend handed out by Insomniac Games over the last two days, I was able to get the last several promotions I needed to max out at level 60 in Resistance 3 multiplayer today. That means it took me less than 4 weeks to do so, which exceeds even my own expectations by quite a bit. I think I've played a little shy of 30 hours over the 26 days since the game was released - a fairly crazy total, I must admit!

I'm now winning nearly half the Deathmatches I play, after a considerably slower start (prior to getting my beloved Turrets!). I think it's time to move back to the campaign, though, as I'm feeling somewhat burned out on TDMs and DMs.

That is all.

And Then There Were Five...

2011-09-30T20:35:00.004-04:00

(This is going to sound like I planned it this way, but I swear it's a total coincidence! Or possibly it's just my subconscious at work...)

Today, for no particular reason, I decided to dig back into the precious dill pickles supply that I originally posted about... exactly three years ago today!!! That's right, this just happens to be the third anniversary of that birthday-like day when we discovered the ultra-rare cache of 1.5 L Bicks Dill Pickles with Garlic! Over the three years since, we've had a close call or two, but have yet to find any more of them. Having cracked open a jar minutes ago, there are now just five left...

Dumbest Line In A Comic?

2011-09-29T17:51:00.005-04:00

OK, probably not the dumbest ever, but definitely in the running:

In Mister Terrific # 1 (one of the 52 relaunch titles from DC Comics), Michael Holt (aka Mr Terrific) tells a couple bystanders he just saved, "Some people call me the third smartest man in the world." But that's not the dumb part.

Then he gives the reader a bit of flashback-history about the love of his life, his wife, Paula. "I was supposed to meet her for dinner that night at our favorite restaurant. The moment I saw her overturned car I knew it was bad."

See? When you're the third smartest man in the world, you can make incredible leaps of logic like that: all it takes is the sight of your wife's car smashed and resting on its hood for you to instantly intuit what the rest of us would spend days trying to assess! (The first and second smartest men in the world, presumably, would've known better than to say anything nearly that ridiculous!)

Clearly Eric Wallace, the writer of this comic, isn't exactly sure how to write a guy who's supposed to be really, really smart.

Perspective, By Carl Sagan

2011-09-29T15:47:00.001-04:00

He says it all, and in less than four minutes, to boot.