It's been a rough week...
It started off slow... but I should have known that it was the calm before the storm. Silly me. I saw the signs. I should have acted sooner. Oh well.. I guess I will have to live with it.
Of course, half the team will be on vacation for the next two week. That leaves just 5 of us to do the work of 10. We are going to have so much FUN! Not....
We shall see what state of mind we will all be in after 2 weeks...
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of.... Packaging in Paradise!
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004
Yet another Monday. I suppose it's become a mantra for many of us when we come into the office on a Monday morning. Bleah.
At least I had a decent weekend. The parents were by on their little road trip through Canada (Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal). The weather co-operated so we had a nice time checking out Chinatown and the downtown area. We had dim sum for lunch which wasn't bad. Got me some new Merrells at MEC and the boys picked up some KK while we were there. Picked up a few steaks at the local butcher as well as a couple of brochettes to grill for dinner. All in all, we had a nice time.
The folks left early on Sunday. The rest of the day we vegged and worked on some small things. Dave did a clean install of OSX on the 12 inch iBook. Had some problems afterwards with it communicating with the Airport Base Station. I couldn't quite figure out why it just won't see it. It could see a neighboring wireless network but not ours. After some fiddling around and resetting the base station, I managed to get it (and my iBook) to see the base station again. Before the settings for the airport were set to "Automatic". Now they are set to specifically connect to our base station. I'm wondering if it's because the other network was using 10.0.1.1 as well? Hmmm... Well, whatever the problem was, everything is working again. :-) I'm wondering if that's why we occasionally lose contact with the base station....
So, after much dicking around with that, we needed to pick up a few things from the store as well as a new toner catridge for the printer. That done, Dave was back to reading up on CSS. I think I'll let him become the expert on that one. :-) After having looked for and downloaded all sorts of documentation on CSS, he finally remembered that he had bought a 2nd hand book on DHTML and CSS when we were in Boston (gotta love that Victor Hugo book store on Newbury street). So I guess he'll be reading that for a while. In the meantime, I should get my own ass in gear and read up on some stuff as well. The problem I'm having is finding the energy to even get started. I want to learn a bit about Perl programming. I'd like to have a look at CSS as well. Oh well...
We'll see how things work out with the O2 as a server. Will have to investigate a bit further about ISPs.....
At least I had a decent weekend. The parents were by on their little road trip through Canada (Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal). The weather co-operated so we had a nice time checking out Chinatown and the downtown area. We had dim sum for lunch which wasn't bad. Got me some new Merrells at MEC and the boys picked up some KK while we were there. Picked up a few steaks at the local butcher as well as a couple of brochettes to grill for dinner. All in all, we had a nice time.
The folks left early on Sunday. The rest of the day we vegged and worked on some small things. Dave did a clean install of OSX on the 12 inch iBook. Had some problems afterwards with it communicating with the Airport Base Station. I couldn't quite figure out why it just won't see it. It could see a neighboring wireless network but not ours. After some fiddling around and resetting the base station, I managed to get it (and my iBook) to see the base station again. Before the settings for the airport were set to "Automatic". Now they are set to specifically connect to our base station. I'm wondering if it's because the other network was using 10.0.1.1 as well? Hmmm... Well, whatever the problem was, everything is working again. :-) I'm wondering if that's why we occasionally lose contact with the base station....
So, after much dicking around with that, we needed to pick up a few things from the store as well as a new toner catridge for the printer. That done, Dave was back to reading up on CSS. I think I'll let him become the expert on that one. :-) After having looked for and downloaded all sorts of documentation on CSS, he finally remembered that he had bought a 2nd hand book on DHTML and CSS when we were in Boston (gotta love that Victor Hugo book store on Newbury street). So I guess he'll be reading that for a while. In the meantime, I should get my own ass in gear and read up on some stuff as well. The problem I'm having is finding the energy to even get started. I want to learn a bit about Perl programming. I'd like to have a look at CSS as well. Oh well...
We'll see how things work out with the O2 as a server. Will have to investigate a bit further about ISPs.....
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
The mind is such a terrible thing to waste... So, don't use it!!!! ;-)
Yet another day. I don't know if Tuesdays are any better or worse than Mondays. OK, so we're one day closer to Friday on a Tuesday than if it were a Monday. However, Tuesday is still closer to the beginning of the work week than it is to the weekend. Tuesday is just one of those days. There must be a conspiracy behind Tuesdays. I find that programming on TV for Tuesdays are quite boring compared to other days of the week. Why is that? Something to think about on a Tuesday, I suppose. ;-)
Day has been relatively quite. Like yesterday, I've got stuff to do, but nothing that's too overwhelming (thank goodness!). Yet, I don't feel that I am as busy as I should or could be. Look at this! I'm blogging during my lunch hour! I guess it's probably better I wasn't working and eating my lunch at the same time. I read somewhere that this is not really healthy for you. I suppose one thing that could happen is that you get indigestion or heartburn if you're stressed over work while eating. Not a good thing, I guess...
Maybe I'll post more pictures later. :)
Yet another day. I don't know if Tuesdays are any better or worse than Mondays. OK, so we're one day closer to Friday on a Tuesday than if it were a Monday. However, Tuesday is still closer to the beginning of the work week than it is to the weekend. Tuesday is just one of those days. There must be a conspiracy behind Tuesdays. I find that programming on TV for Tuesdays are quite boring compared to other days of the week. Why is that? Something to think about on a Tuesday, I suppose. ;-)
Day has been relatively quite. Like yesterday, I've got stuff to do, but nothing that's too overwhelming (thank goodness!). Yet, I don't feel that I am as busy as I should or could be. Look at this! I'm blogging during my lunch hour! I guess it's probably better I wasn't working and eating my lunch at the same time. I read somewhere that this is not really healthy for you. I suppose one thing that could happen is that you get indigestion or heartburn if you're stressed over work while eating. Not a good thing, I guess...
Maybe I'll post more pictures later. :)
Monday, July 19, 2004
Why is it that on Mondays I really don't feel like doing a heck of a whole lot? Or maybe there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot happening today. :-p
Clouds have been coming in and out during the day. There was a sprinkle or two in the morning. If the weather remains stable, I might decide to ride into work tomorrow. We'll see...
I hate days where I just sit around waiting for the next crisis to pop up. I've managed to do what I need to have done today done already. There are plans to do some other stuff, but that's only for tomorrow.
bored, bored, bored..... maybe I shouldn't say that. I might jinx things.... :-o
Clouds have been coming in and out during the day. There was a sprinkle or two in the morning. If the weather remains stable, I might decide to ride into work tomorrow. We'll see...
I hate days where I just sit around waiting for the next crisis to pop up. I've managed to do what I need to have done today done already. There are plans to do some other stuff, but that's only for tomorrow.
bored, bored, bored..... maybe I shouldn't say that. I might jinx things.... :-o
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Quick Grill Idea
Marinate boneless, skinless chicken breast in some italian dressing for about an hour. Prepare as a side some veggies. Grill chicken breasts on the ol' bbq and VOILA! Dinner is ready!
Gotta love summer grilling. It's fast and easy. Another yummy idea: Chicken Satay. Follow the recipe on a jar of Thai Kitchen's Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce and you've got yourself some delicious chicken satay with some kick! :-)
It's Saturday. Do you know where your mind is? Somedays I wonder about that. I think it's there. But then, if I think, therefore I mind? Not that simple is it?
It's sunny. I'm listening to some Latin tunes courtesy of Putumayo. It's a change of pace from whatever is usually playing on the radio or the music video stations. Plus, my CD collection has been a bit stale lately. I haven't really been inspired by much these days in the music department. At work I usually tune into either Ministry of Sound or Trance Airwaves. Maybe it's because it's easy for me to push the music into the background while I work. I notice that when there is no background noise or music, it's a tad more difficult for me to concentrate on what I am doing. Strange, no?
The other half has gone off on a bike ride around the island. I think he needs to work off some of the stress he's been feeling at work as well. It's been rough since it's currently just he and his boss running the operation. Sometimes he has to pull some long hours. I'm just glad he doesn't have to go into work today. :-p
I suppose I should try to be a bit more productive today. Maybe I can try to finish Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It's been languishing on my nightstand for some months now. Hmm, better make that a year. I think I picked up the book not long after it was released. I have such a backlog of books to read. I recently ordered two books by Anthony Bourdain (A Cook's Tour on FoodTV) from Amazon.ca. I almost wanted to get some computer books at Chapter's recently, but then remembered that there was a library at work. Saved quite a few bucks right there!
Hmm.. Maybe I should look into trying some of the recipes in Flavors of Aloha. It's a neat little cookbook I picked up when we were in Hawaii this past May. It's put together by the Japanese Women's Societ of Honolulu. It's got a nice mix of recipes from the different ethnic groups that populate Hawaii. Quite a few of the recipes are traditional with a Hawaiian twist to it. I should mention that while we were there we did not have any Spam. We did have some poke which is quite delicious and is a different spin on sashimi. :)
OK, all this food talk is starting to make me hungry. I think it's time for breakfast. ;-)
It's sunny. I'm listening to some Latin tunes courtesy of Putumayo. It's a change of pace from whatever is usually playing on the radio or the music video stations. Plus, my CD collection has been a bit stale lately. I haven't really been inspired by much these days in the music department. At work I usually tune into either Ministry of Sound or Trance Airwaves. Maybe it's because it's easy for me to push the music into the background while I work. I notice that when there is no background noise or music, it's a tad more difficult for me to concentrate on what I am doing. Strange, no?
The other half has gone off on a bike ride around the island. I think he needs to work off some of the stress he's been feeling at work as well. It's been rough since it's currently just he and his boss running the operation. Sometimes he has to pull some long hours. I'm just glad he doesn't have to go into work today. :-p
I suppose I should try to be a bit more productive today. Maybe I can try to finish Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It's been languishing on my nightstand for some months now. Hmm, better make that a year. I think I picked up the book not long after it was released. I have such a backlog of books to read. I recently ordered two books by Anthony Bourdain (A Cook's Tour on FoodTV) from Amazon.ca. I almost wanted to get some computer books at Chapter's recently, but then remembered that there was a library at work. Saved quite a few bucks right there!
Hmm.. Maybe I should look into trying some of the recipes in Flavors of Aloha. It's a neat little cookbook I picked up when we were in Hawaii this past May. It's put together by the Japanese Women's Societ of Honolulu. It's got a nice mix of recipes from the different ethnic groups that populate Hawaii. Quite a few of the recipes are traditional with a Hawaiian twist to it. I should mention that while we were there we did not have any Spam. We did have some poke which is quite delicious and is a different spin on sashimi. :)
OK, all this food talk is starting to make me hungry. I think it's time for breakfast. ;-)
Friday, July 16, 2004
C'est le weekend!
Finally. The end of the week is here. It just couldn't get here fast enough. I am just absolutely zapped! but the crazy thing is, sometimes, even after I've gotten home, work still seems to follow me. That kinda sucks. :-p
So, what to do this weekend? Well, we've got tickets to go see "Cutie Honey at the Fantasia film festival! That's on Sunday though. Other than that I just hope to unwind and relax a bit this weekend. I don't want to exert too much of my gray matter. Or, what's left of it anyway....
Finally. The end of the week is here. It just couldn't get here fast enough. I am just absolutely zapped! but the crazy thing is, sometimes, even after I've gotten home, work still seems to follow me. That kinda sucks. :-p
So, what to do this weekend? Well, we've got tickets to go see "Cutie Honey at the Fantasia film festival! That's on Sunday though. Other than that I just hope to unwind and relax a bit this weekend. I don't want to exert too much of my gray matter. Or, what's left of it anyway....
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Another day, another dollar.
Yet another rip, roaring day at the office today. The usual B.S. and craziness. Everyone making demands of all of us. It's amazing that no one has gone postal yet! %-]
But other than that, I think I managed to accomplish what I was hoping for today. Of course, some stuff had to be put on hold until an a proper solution is found. :-p A bit frustrating if you've already put in a lot of hours into it.
In the meantime, I am rather exhausted! I am just about ready to zonk out! But I figure I'd write a little bit.
I've also been trying to work on building up an itinerary for next year's Japan trip. If we take 4 weeks, then we could probably get to visit more places... It's been slow going... :-/
Anyway...
Yet another rip, roaring day at the office today. The usual B.S. and craziness. Everyone making demands of all of us. It's amazing that no one has gone postal yet! %-]
But other than that, I think I managed to accomplish what I was hoping for today. Of course, some stuff had to be put on hold until an a proper solution is found. :-p A bit frustrating if you've already put in a lot of hours into it.
In the meantime, I am rather exhausted! I am just about ready to zonk out! But I figure I'd write a little bit.
I've also been trying to work on building up an itinerary for next year's Japan trip. If we take 4 weeks, then we could probably get to visit more places... It's been slow going... :-/
Anyway...
Monday, July 12, 2004
Argh!!! I hate telemarketers... But thank goodness for caller ID. For some reason, I have been getting some unsolicited calls from chinese telemarketers. It just annoys the hell out of me! Just because I have a Chinese surname, they assume they can sell me something. These calls tend to be originating from the Toronto area and they all want to sell me long distance!!! :-p Needless to say, they almost always try to call during dinner time. :-p
Anyway, today was just one those days at work where things just keep coming at you one right after another. It was a relatively busy day but they were mainly issues about one thing or another. I kinda like dealing with issues as long as it's something that makes me think a bit.
Ho hum.....
Anyway, today was just one those days at work where things just keep coming at you one right after another. It was a relatively busy day but they were mainly issues about one thing or another. I kinda like dealing with issues as long as it's something that makes me think a bit.
Ho hum.....
Friday, July 09, 2004
OK.. not quite ready for bed... Neglected to mention that back in January, in the throes of wanting to spend some money, I got myself a 14-inch G4 iBook. Of course this was just some weeks before Apple announced the release of an even more updated version of the iBook. :-p Other than that, I'm quite satisfied with this little machine. At first, I really wasn't sure if I had wanted the 12-inch or the 14-inch. I had used the older 12-inch and I liked the compactness of it. But, I decided to go "big" and get the 14-inch. It took a little getting used to, but it's great. :-)
OK... Now I try to go to sleep... %-)
OK... Now I try to go to sleep... %-)
Finally, it's the end of the work week. However, I don't think my work is done. I've still got to go into work Saturday to finish up something I can't remotely from home. :-p Kinda sucks.
A bit stressful this week. Had to work on some stuff that the customer wanted today, but it was delivered to us somewhat incomplete. If they knew what they were testing, they would have caught this little oversight. As it was, I had to discover this little problem. Oh well, the customer, needless to say, did not get their patch today. We'll see if the escalation process yields any answers on Monday.
Got a hair appointment tomorrow as well. I think I'll go to my appointment before heading into the office. Dave has to go into work tomorrow too. Oh well, at least it's both of us.
Still trying to research some more stuff for next year's trip to Japan. I had printed out some stuff from the JNTO site for some placed in the Chubu area. Will try to print out some more stuff later.
Here's a link my brother just showed me. A cyclist he knows. Crazy things.
Speaking of crazy... Car started to start up a bit louder than usual as well as making some funny noises. Brought it to the garage Tuesday night, next day, he tells me that the exhaust pipe fell off as he was moving the car out and back into the garage. Funny it happens at the garage and not on the street! Strange luck!
Need to start planning the painting of the bathroom. Brought back a slew of color samples last week, but we haven't had a chance to go through them yet. Oh well....
*YAWN* Ok, that's it...
A bit stressful this week. Had to work on some stuff that the customer wanted today, but it was delivered to us somewhat incomplete. If they knew what they were testing, they would have caught this little oversight. As it was, I had to discover this little problem. Oh well, the customer, needless to say, did not get their patch today. We'll see if the escalation process yields any answers on Monday.
Got a hair appointment tomorrow as well. I think I'll go to my appointment before heading into the office. Dave has to go into work tomorrow too. Oh well, at least it's both of us.
Still trying to research some more stuff for next year's trip to Japan. I had printed out some stuff from the JNTO site for some placed in the Chubu area. Will try to print out some more stuff later.
Here's a link my brother just showed me. A cyclist he knows. Crazy things.
Speaking of crazy... Car started to start up a bit louder than usual as well as making some funny noises. Brought it to the garage Tuesday night, next day, he tells me that the exhaust pipe fell off as he was moving the car out and back into the garage. Funny it happens at the garage and not on the street! Strange luck!
Need to start planning the painting of the bathroom. Brought back a slew of color samples last week, but we haven't had a chance to go through them yet. Oh well....
*YAWN* Ok, that's it...
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Not much about anything...
I woke up this morning feeling quite exhausted. I don't know why. I can't say that I have been overworked, nor have I been physically pushing myself either. Maybe it's time for another vacation. Another? Yes, we just took 2 weeks in May to jet off to bee-yoo-tee-full Hawaii. The weather could have been better, but overall, it was really nice, albeit a bit expensive. My Mastercard bill is still reminding me how expensive it was. :-p
Highlights of the trip? Well, we got to visit three of the islands: Kauai, Maui and Hawaii (the Big Island). On Kauai, I would have to say it was the boat trip to the Napali Coast. At the same time, it was also sort of the low-light because I nearly tossed my cookies because of the rough waters. :-p But the sight was spectacular! On Mauai, I think the drive up Haleakala was really nice, especially the views of the cindercones from the top. Coincidentally, that was also the day we were suppose to do the mountain bike ride down from Haleakala. :-/ On Hawaii, it would have to be the lava flows. After trekking about a mile and a half out, we got to see real, red, flowing lava. Despite the heat and the exhaustion, it was a trek well worth the physical pain. Also got to see some petroglyphs on the way down to the end of the Chain of Craters Road.
Would we visit Hawaii again? Probably not any time soon. We found it a bit expensive despite the deals we got on our hotels, cars and flights. In general, food is not cheap. When we visited a supermarket on Maui, we were somewhat put-off by the price of some everyday items like orange juice. I suppose that since everything has to be shipped over from the mainland, a certain premium has to be paid for these items. So, as a result, everything else is also rather expensive. Real estate is also at a premium out there for obvious reasons. Amazingly, while we were there, gas prices had started to climb in the US and Hawaii did not have the highest gas prices. California did!
Well, planning has started for our next vacation. We're planning another trip to Japan in 2005. This time we want to go for 3 weeks. Also, Dave bought tickets for the World's Expo, so there's another reason for going. :-) We haven't come up with a firm itinerary yet. However, this time I'd like to try to make it down to Fukuoka and Beppu. We'll probably make Kyoto our homebase for visiting the Expo site in Aichi prefecture. We figure that it'd be nicer to stay in Kyoto versus Nagoya. And with the rail pass it would make commuting between Kyoto and Nagoya easier. Will have to investigate some possible destinations soon!
:-)
I woke up this morning feeling quite exhausted. I don't know why. I can't say that I have been overworked, nor have I been physically pushing myself either. Maybe it's time for another vacation. Another? Yes, we just took 2 weeks in May to jet off to bee-yoo-tee-full Hawaii. The weather could have been better, but overall, it was really nice, albeit a bit expensive. My Mastercard bill is still reminding me how expensive it was. :-p
Highlights of the trip? Well, we got to visit three of the islands: Kauai, Maui and Hawaii (the Big Island). On Kauai, I would have to say it was the boat trip to the Napali Coast. At the same time, it was also sort of the low-light because I nearly tossed my cookies because of the rough waters. :-p But the sight was spectacular! On Mauai, I think the drive up Haleakala was really nice, especially the views of the cindercones from the top. Coincidentally, that was also the day we were suppose to do the mountain bike ride down from Haleakala. :-/ On Hawaii, it would have to be the lava flows. After trekking about a mile and a half out, we got to see real, red, flowing lava. Despite the heat and the exhaustion, it was a trek well worth the physical pain. Also got to see some petroglyphs on the way down to the end of the Chain of Craters Road.
Would we visit Hawaii again? Probably not any time soon. We found it a bit expensive despite the deals we got on our hotels, cars and flights. In general, food is not cheap. When we visited a supermarket on Maui, we were somewhat put-off by the price of some everyday items like orange juice. I suppose that since everything has to be shipped over from the mainland, a certain premium has to be paid for these items. So, as a result, everything else is also rather expensive. Real estate is also at a premium out there for obvious reasons. Amazingly, while we were there, gas prices had started to climb in the US and Hawaii did not have the highest gas prices. California did!
Well, planning has started for our next vacation. We're planning another trip to Japan in 2005. This time we want to go for 3 weeks. Also, Dave bought tickets for the World's Expo, so there's another reason for going. :-) We haven't come up with a firm itinerary yet. However, this time I'd like to try to make it down to Fukuoka and Beppu. We'll probably make Kyoto our homebase for visiting the Expo site in Aichi prefecture. We figure that it'd be nicer to stay in Kyoto versus Nagoya. And with the rail pass it would make commuting between Kyoto and Nagoya easier. Will have to investigate some possible destinations soon!
:-)
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