Over a month ago I contacted Ken Dryden’s riding office to arrange a meeting with my Member of Parliament.  I expected to see him within a week or two; I’d tell him of my concerns related to various issues of the day, and he’d take that into consideration when he returned to Ottawa.

But no.  It’s been over a month, and I don’t even have an appointment yet.  I was told his office had been flooded, and was currently being renovated.

If my office were flooded and needed to be renovated you can be sure I wouldn’t wait for the renovations to be completed before seeing my clients and assuring them I’m still on the job; that they can count on me to continue getting things done for them.  That it was business as usual.  I wouldn’t let a small matter like a bit of water get in the way of the important work I’m doing for them.

But hey, I’m not a politician. (more…)

Mom invited me over for dafina yesterday, and as my car was in the shop most of the day, I spent the afternoon with M&D.  I had Bender with me and, to pass the time, I uploaded a few episodes of Weeds I had on my hard drive, to a jump drive.  Then I played them on Mom’s Ubuntu computer.

I always enjoy watching TV and movies with my mom: she’s very emotional and expressive.  Without fail, she’s more entertaining than the show itself.  In fact, even though she was tired and had said she was going to have a nap, she watched six episodes back to back!  She was hooked! (more…)

They called it a “strategy building session”, but it sure felt like a pep rally to me.  Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing wrong with pep rallies.  Especially when they’re done right.  And this one was done very well.  From the hip and inspiring location, to the fresh snacks, to the articulate, well-informed, engaging speakers; it was a pleasure to participate in this event. (more…)

What cool people I work with!  Today at 12:30, we gathered in the boardroom with our lunches.  Buddy Richard hooked up his MacBook Pro (oh!  How I’m missing Bender.  And it’s only the first day…) to the projector, and regaled us with the first episode of Joss Whedon’s latest effort: a micro-miniseries (3 episodes, 15 minutes apiece) entitled Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

It’s high camp, to be sure, and artfully showcases Harris’ impeccable comedic timing, as well as Whedon’s mastery of the genre. (more…)

Shawn Chittle writes that he was there at the beginning of Tucows, when it was just one cow.  Before they had a barn, even.  I love these impromptu histories.  They remind me of my days as a young geek in my high school’s computer room.

Chad Hensler writes in his blog about Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, encouraging Google to challenge a ruling forcing them to turn private user logs over to Viacom.  In Dr. Cavoukian’s words:

…business should not, in my opinion, rely on the surveillance of consumers to protect their copyright interests. It is not acceptable to allow copyright enforcement to come at the expense of users’ privacy.

My new personal hero.

Read the whole letter here.  (Thanks, Richard, for the link.)

Back in the old days, when I taught a community college course on programming, I learned the difference between data and information.  Data is all around you.  It doesn’t really help most of the time.  Information, on the other hand, is the data distilled into a form you can actually use. (more…)

I can’t claim to be on the bleeding edge of pop culture.  But, hey!  Even the 26 yr olds I work with hadn’t heard of this.  And I was twigged onto this by my buddy Ray, who’s about my age.

So, check out Frisky Dingo, by the creators of Sealab 2021, Adam Reed and Matt Thompson.  Sadly, AdultSwim won’t play their videos to international visitors (like Canadians).

On the upside, another buddy just told me about this cool tool which lets you choose which country you want to appear to be coming from, and it hooks you up!  More info in an upcoming post.

In the meantime, feel free to ream the boneheads at AdultSwim by viddying the Frisky Dingo goodies at http://www.sidereel.com/Frisky_Dingo.