krishen's other blog

Anchorman -- The Legend of Ron Burgundy

2006-03-26T19:23:00.000-05:00

Ron Burgundy is San Diego's top rated newsman in the male dominated broadcasting of the 1970's, but that's all about to change when a new female employee with ambition to burn arrives in his office. - imdb Most of the time, though, "Anchorman" works, and a lot of the time it's very funny. - Roger Ebert Davin and I watched Anchorman last weekend. If plot is your thing, don't bother, but if you like the absurd, go rent it, you won't regret it. Will Ferrell really shines here. Jazz flute! --- Ron Burgundy: 1001, 1002, 1003. Veronica Corningstone: Uh, Mr. Burgundy? Helen said that you needed to see me. Ron Burgundy: Oh, Miss Corningstone. I wasn't expecting company. Just doing my workout. Tuesday's arms and back. Veronica Corningstone: Well, you asked me to come by, sir. Ron Burgundy: Oh, did I? Veronica Corningstone: Yes. Ron Burgundy: Ohh, it's the deep burn! Oh, it's so deep! Oh, I can barely lift my right arm 'cause I did so many. I don't know if you heard me counting. I did over a thousand. ---

Indian food

2006-03-22T09:07:00.000-05:00

Myakka Park

2006-03-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

Busch Gardens

2006-03-22T08:55:00.000-05:00

Johnny Carino's

2006-03-22T08:52:00.000-05:00

Lido Key

2006-03-22T08:34:00.000-05:00

Here comes Davin!

2006-03-18T01:24:00.000-05:00

In just a few hours I'm going to pick Davin up from the airport for his first visit down to Florida! I'm so excited... hope I can sleep. :) Update. I got some sleep after all. A picture of The Boys on top of Mt Doug in Victoria, Dec 2003: Off to the airport!

An open letter to Florida Power and Light Company

2006-03-16T12:16:00.000-05:00

Dear FPL: I really like your new Sunshine Energy program. By paying an additional $10/month on top of my energy bill, I ensure that 1000 kWh are injected into the grid that were produced using so-called "green" methods such as solar and wind-turbines, regardless of how much power I actually use. This money not only pays for that electricity, but also goes toward building environmentally-conscious energy-generating infrastructure. You know what else would help the environment? If you only sent the opt-in notices to people who weren't already subscribed to the plan. Granted, the number of people not subscribed probably still far outweighs those that are, but all it would take is a simple cross-reference with your customer database. In fact, give people the option to just receive their statement, and the FPL newsletter, "Energy News". Every month when I get my FPL bill, I throw out credit card offers, ads for SurgeShield (FPL's surge protection service), and other promotional goods. I love the Sunshine Energy program; not many utility companies provide such an option and it feels good to know I'm helping build a more sustainable society. Let's just take it one step further. Best regards, Krishen Greenwell Sarasota, FL

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

2006-03-14T22:54:00.000-05:00

According to the "Which Big Lebowski character are you?" quiz:

Why don't you check it out? Or we cut off your Johnson!

(via Kenzie)

Not dead yet

2006-03-13T00:40:00.000-05:00

No, I am alive. Might be hard to tell, based on how much I'm posting. I'll give you that. In the past couple weeks, life has been really busy. What's new, right? Well, Davin will be arriving this coming Saturday, so I'm really excited about that. In preparation I've now got a cell phone (I'll be sending out an email with the number -- if you don't get a message from me tomorrow, shoot me an note: krishen at alumni dot uvic dot ca and I'll send it along). I'm also looking up Miami area hotels, as it's likely we'll be there between Thur-Sat (Mar 23-26th) for the Winter Music Conference. Think: giant rock concert. There will actually be some rock bands there, which is interesting, given it's supposed to be an electronic music show. Then again, rock and electronic have been mingling for a while, a trend I think was given a serious kick in the rear by none other than electronic superstars The Crystal Method. Who I now notice are attending another (competing?) music show in Miami, the Miami Music Conference. And their dates overlap! What a mess. Oh well. Too many options is better than too few, right? :)

Gasparilla 15k

2006-03-03T16:54:00.000-05:00

A couple of years ago I took part in the Gasparilla 5k with my friend Amy. That was fun, but we weren't particularly out to set any land speed records, clocking in at 27 minutes. Well, not wanting to be inconsistent, and, you know, train, this past Saturday I ran the Gasparilla 15K. Without breakfast (I slept in). How was this possible? How about a beer stop every mile and a half? Heh. Yeah -- trust Ultimate players to come up with the most ridiculous stuff. We placed teams of beer wenches (of both genders) evenly along the route. They poured cold ones into those plastic keg cups and had sliced limes at the ready. The looks we got from the serious runners were pretty amusing. I'm sure that the fact that all 15 of us were wearing Hawaiian shirts helped a little. :) Moment of the day: when a couple in their 40s said, as we ran past them: "Oh, sh*t, it's the beer drinkers." Total elapsed: just over 2 hours. Afterwards we all met up at traditional Irish pub Four Green Fields and enjoyed, well, what else, hot food, cold beer and great company. Good times all around.

All it took was the Olympics

2006-03-01T22:34:00.000-05:00

Washington expresses regret over 1884 lynching of Canadian teen

Budweiser uses Chemical Brothers - Galvanize

2006-02-26T09:39:00.000-05:00

Budweiser gets props from me for using the Chemical Brothers track, Galvanize, in their latest commercial, which I saw during the gold medal hockey finals this morning. Been thinking of picking up the album, Push the Button, for a while now. Cool to see it getting some attention.

RAM += 512MB;

2006-02-25T23:38:00.000-05:00

You'll want to skip this post if geeky stuff doesn't interest you (shut it Cam, I can see that smirk :) Added 512MB of RAM to my system bringing me to 1.2 GB (the first upgrade since I bought the machine), and the difference has been amazing. It's been particularly noticable in iPhoto: where before I'd be waiting about half a second for the back and forward buttons, they're now close to instant. Web browsing is also much faster. Switching between programs is quicker too. It really feels now as though I'm floating through my computing experience now. Everything is so snappy. I guess my 640MB really was limiting me. This seems ridiculous at first blush. The old Mac OS 9 ran fine on a fraction of that. But, then again, under OS X I typically have no fewer than 10 apps open simultaneously (right now: Safari, iPhoto, Mail, iTunes, Word, BitTorrent, Finder, Adobe Photoshop CS, TextWrangler and Address Book) and usually closer 15-20, which would be unheard of before. Time marches on, and so do my needs, I guess. Here's the complete stats: Power Mac G4 Quicksilver 2001. Upgraded: CPU (single 733MHz->dual 1.6 GHz, $405), memory (128MB->1.2 GB, $140), optical drive (8x CD-RW updated -> 16x DVD-RW, $52), hard drive (40GB IDE -> 250 GB SATA, $200 [includes SATA controller card and drive]), video card (32MB GeForce2 MX -> 128MB Radeon 9000 Pro, $149). 17" LCD (1280x1024) + 15" Sony CRT (1152x870) (donated), 802.11b wireless card, $70. Total: $1016. /Easily/ worth it.

Pontiac G6

2006-02-24T22:21:00.000-05:00

My mini review: The 2006 Pontiac G6 is a fun car to drive, compact enough to get into those small parking spots but with enough juice to test the head rests when you need to pass. It has some nice ergonomic touches including an armrest-trunk-pop, easily accessible status info, a readable dash and what I'll call direct-manipulation air vents. One fun aspect is the keyless remote. When you unlock the car, the reverse lights go on, freaking out anyone who's nearby. I had the car for a week and found the effect disconcerting right up until I returned it, i.e. "is that car going to reverse over me? better get the hell out of the way!" On the negative side, I think the cruise control, uh, controls, were built for elves: in order to set the speed I had to press this ridiculously small button. But other that small nitpick (ha), it's a good ride, and handles amazingly well on dirt :D

What the hell....

2006-02-23T19:44:00.000-05:00

What's the deal? Is life just cheap in Iraq? What is possibly worth this kind of thing? Iraq shrine bomb aftermath leaves 130 dead.

Memetastic

2006-02-21T09:35:00.000-05:00

I don't normally do these sorts of things, but I was tagged by Alison, so it's not like I had a choice. Four jobs I've had: 1. Busboy/Cashier 2. Lawn mower 3. I/T Consultant 4. Babysitter Four movies I can watch over and over: 1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) 2. Crimson Tide (1995) 3. The Game (1997) 4. The Princess Bride (1987) Four places I've lived: 1. Toronto - 1998, co-op workterm, roomies with two students studying naturopathy 2. Ottawa - 2000, co-op workterm, with roomies Greg and Tim 3. Redmond - 2001, another co-op workterm, this time working for The Man 4. Victoria - most of my life Four TV shows I love: 1. ~~Muffy~~ Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2. Firefly 3. Veronica Mars - dark, funny, pop-culture skewering 4. Uh... that's it Four places I've vacationed: 1. Trinidad - last there when I was 13 2. San Francisco 3. Calgary 4. Southampton Four of my favourite dishes: 1. Brown chicken curry by Mom 2. Spaghetti and thick tomato sauce with cubes of slightly melted, aged cheddar 3. Chicken red curry at Pad Thai in Sarasota 4. Jerk chicken fajitas Four sites I visit daily: 1. Whedonesque 2. Daring Fireball 3. CBC 4. Google News Four places I would rather be right now: 1. Hawaii 2. Blackcomb/Whistler 3. Maracas Beach 4. Leesville (tongue, as they say, firmly in cheek) Four bloggers I am tagging: 1. Cameron 2. Jim 3. Patrícia 4. Mavis

Home

2006-02-19T22:32:00.000-05:00

Yep, home again home again jiggedy jig. With running nose and headache in tow. Leesville wasn't nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. Sure, it was a small town, but there were restaurants, and it wasn't (entirely) made of dirt. Plus, there were hills and it's a special treat to see those, living in flatland as it were. Well, off to bed now. Will try to write more tomorrow.

Here's your sign

2006-02-15T22:51:00.000-05:00

Oh, I'm sure you could find it if you looked hard enough. Watch out for the needles Credit to Jeff for spotting both of these gems today in Leesville.

Update to the Update

2006-02-15T22:49:00.000-05:00

Okay, so my last post is probably no longer accurate -- it's now looking like I'll be coming back on a midafternoon flight on Friday. Should be wrapped up all the install/training tomorrow, but we'll leave Friday just in case.

Leesville Update

2006-02-15T06:41:00.000-05:00

Up at 5am yesterday, again today. Will probably be in Leesville until tomorrow night. Work is going.. well, we've had a number of challenges but I think it's finally coming together *crosses fingers*. :)

The pics

2006-02-13T22:56:00.000-05:00

Here's those pictures I tried to post last night. The first one is from the flight from Tampa to Memphis; the second is arrival at Alexandria International Airport (the first airport I've ever landed at where they do a U-turn in place and head the opposite direction on the same strip just landed on), and the rest are of my glorious hotel room. :)

Arrival in Leesville

2006-02-12T22:05:00.000-05:00

Well, the trip over was pretty uneventful. Took a small jet from Tampa to Memphis (where there was snow on the ground), and a turbo prop from Memphis to Alexandria. The turbo prop was pretty much as you'd expect: bumpy as f*ck. It was made more bearable by the fact that people on plane were joking about how small the plane was. And it was small. One seat on one side, two on the other. Heh. I think pretty much everyone who was on the plane was on it for work. But we made it through alive! From Alexandria we got a rental car, a Pontiac G6 (more later), and drove for about an hour over to Leesville, checked in, went for dinner, got a new fleece and windbreaker (it's a little chillier here than Sarasota), and now I'm enjoying the free low-speed wireless as provided by the Days Inn. Woot. :) Pics of my place: *half an hour of fighting with Blogger/this internet connection later* Ah, eff it. I'll try and get the pics up again tomorrow.

Leesville

2006-02-12T01:27:00.000-05:00

I think I spent more time tonight ironing clothes than I've ever spent, ironing clothes. Tomorrow (actually, today, I guess) I leave for Leesville, Louisiana for a week, for work. I've been told it's not a place you want to stay for too long, if you can help it. We'll see. If you'd like a postcard (doesn't matter where you are), just shoot me an email: krishen at alumni dot uvic dot ca. :)

Brrrrrr

2006-02-10T00:37:00.000-05:00

It was so cool out, almost no-one stayed around to watch our late game tonight. Which we won :D

Stripes

2006-02-09T13:05:00.000-05:00

Still busier than a paramedic on Black Friday.

See ya Cav, thanks for the memories

2006-02-07T23:21:00.000-05:00

Cam was in an accident today; thankfully no-one was seriously hurt. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about his car (a 2000 Cavalier), which was totalled. This makes me sad: I've got lots of good memories of that car. I went through my library tonight; as it turns out I've got 23 photos in which the Cav has made an appearance. Thought I'd pick out five of my favorites to share: Going up the Sunshine Skyway [May 14, 2005] Going to Savannah [May 29, 2004] On the way back from the beach [Oct 19, 2003] Girls in the back [Oct 16, 2004] Camping on the East Coast [Nov 14, 2004]

The Commentator

2006-02-05T12:24:00.000-05:00

What a great tool. Right now I think I need to turn the profanity level up... [via jluster.org.]

Sunday morning

2006-02-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

3G40GBiPod

2006-02-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

Taken back when my iPod was The Shiz, i.e. Sept 2004. Now, it looks so different than all the other 'pods out there, people ask me if it's new. Inspired by Jim's posts about his new nano.

Gasparilla 2006

2006-02-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the lack of good updates lately. Let's just say work has gotten busy. So, updates, at least for the rest of this week, are going to be infrequent. The picture is from last weekend, in Mark's building, on the way down from breakfast and on the way to the Gasparilla Pirate Fest. Arr! :)

Word of the Day: thence

2006-02-01T12:25:00.000-05:00

Discovered while reading an email from Mom: adv. 1. From that place; from there: flew to Helsinki and thence to Moscow. 2. From that circumstance or source; therefrom. 3. Archaic. From that time; thenceforth. See Usage Note at whence.

Trogdor!!

2006-01-31T00:43:00.001-05:00

So... for the record: If you're having trouble burning CDs (and probably DVDs too) using your brand new Pioneer DVR-110D optical drive (aka "Superdrive"), and you're using Mac OS X 10.3.9, try upgrading to Mac OS X 10.4.0. It'll probably work with the latest and greatest (10.4.4 as of this writing), but I wanted to make sure everyone know it only took 10.4.0 to get there. That's it :) Now get out there and burninate.

Drive error

2006-01-30T12:40:00.000-05:00

Well.. yesterday I got my new optical drive installed. Everything was going swimmingly -- that is, I could read from burnt DVDs -- until today at lunch, when I put in a CD-R. I was greeted with an ejected CD-R, and this message:Strange. First, I hit OWC's tech support page. They listed several firmware updates, but none for my particular drive (the Pioneer DVR-110D). So I hit Pioneer's site -- there were firmware upgrades for this drive, but they were all Windows-only, and I don't have a Windows box available to me right now. So, I poked around the web a bit, and saw one tip that said this particular error, about the drive not being supported, was a bug in Mac OS X 10.4.1. Well, I'm running 10.3.9, so it might have existed before that? Another tip said that it was solvable by zapping the PRAM (though others said zapping the PRAM did nothing). I tried, to no avail, unfortunately. So now I'm going to upgrade my machine to Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4.) Welcome to the 90s eh? :) I have yet to contact OWC about it, but should this keep up I will be.

Focused

2006-01-29T23:15:00.000-05:00

The maintenance crew makes sure the court gets covered. :) I believe that's tennis player Maria Sharapova taking cover from the rain. Found in one of my "humour" folders while consolidating files from my two old hard drives :)

Jazz on St. Armand's Circle

2006-01-27T23:20:00.000-05:00

So, on the fourth Friday of every month, St. Armand's Circle hosts a free jazz performance. This time around it was 18-year-old José Valentino Ruiz and his band. Let me tell you, this guy can really play a flute! Not too bad on a sax, either. Patrícia has some photos, too.

HBC agrees to be acquired by US investor

2006-01-27T09:03:00.000-05:00

:( No joke. The Hudson's Bay Company is one of the oldest in Canada, incorporated in 1670. "Johnston said Zucker is sensitive to the unique role Hudson's Bay Co. has played in Canada. 'I really hope there is no national backlash on this,' he said." http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2006/01/26/bay-060126.html

Word of the day: Encyclical

2006-01-26T11:10:00.000-05:00

I learned a new word today: Encyclical. Apparently it's a letter from the Pope to the Catholic church, or the bishops, giving a personal treatment on some topic. Just thought I'd mention it, since I'd never heard of it, and the stories I read were taking it for granted that I knew what it meant. Apparently, the new Pope likes sex. Who'd thunk it? Update: Turns out it's in that Pope-y kind of way after all. Well, you can't win all the time.

In Columbus (again)

2006-01-24T20:11:00.000-05:00

(From Toothpaste for Dinner) So here I am in Ohio again! This time it's just for a day, so I didn't bring my camera with me. The trip is just too short -- don't think I'm going to get a chance to photograph anything. So how 'bout them election results eh? To be honest, after I got home from watching Mr. and Mrs Smith at Cam and Melissa's place (short review: fun, close to no plot, doesn't take itself seriously, tons of action, 7/10), I stayed up for another two hours reading about the election, so when I was driving to work this morning and flipped on the radio, I actually had a moment of shock when I didn't hear anyone talking about the election. Oh yeah, I'm in the States. That's not to say I haven't heard about this election in the States so far. The Daily Show mentioned it (before the final results, even!). I saw it on a headline on page two or three of local Sarasota daily today, the Herald Tribune (not sure this is the same article I saw in the physical paper). And the special CNN feed for airport televisions had a brief, 10 second mention of the result, saying "Canada is taking a turn to the right, electing the Conservative party in a minority parliamentary government." Suppose that's better than nothing, but barely a head in the airport lobby moved when the news was announced. Well, let me tell you. I am here in Columbus without a jacket. What a mistake! It's 37°F (27 with windchill), which, in metric, translates to effing freezing. At least, compared to the 83°F I was experiencing two days ago in Sarasota. Geez. The front desk woman at the hotel commented on my jacketless state, and when I mentioned I was from Florida, she's like "Oh, don't rub it in!". Then I said, "Don't worry, I'm from Canada, I know what you're going through." Except, I don't think it ever got this cold in Victoria. :) That's all for now! Going to dinner.

Canada elects Conservative Minority Government

2006-01-24T09:13:00.000-05:00

And so last night Canada elected a Conservative minority government. Voter turnout was up over the 2004 election, but it would be hard not to (that election brought out just over 60% of the electorate and a dismal 25% of the 18-24 year-old market). CBC: Voter Turnout up. CBC: Election Quickfacts: Interesting facts and figures about the campaign Although the NDP didn't win in the riding I voted for them in (Saanich-Gulf Islands), they came in second, and, overall, the party has a lot to be proud of in British Columbia, gaining 5 new seats. What I find strange is, these seats were previously Conservative, or, in one case, unoccupied. That means the NDP must have somehow become appealing to Conservatives, but the entire NDP campaign was focused on the Liberals. Weird. Perhaps someone can shed some light on this? CBC: Three-way battles give NDP big gains in B.C. Anyway, I'm thankful the Conservatives only have a minority government. (Though, if you live in Alberta, don't bother having a different opinion: CBC: Tories sweep Alberta, tightening grip on Prairies). I'm having troubles figuring out what, exactly, the NDP and Conservatives are going to work together on. Mind you, to be precise, I suppose Layton said the NDP will be "looking for ways to co-operate", not "co-operating". We'll see though -- perhaps there are ways to work together I just haven't though of. I'm also quite amazed, given the amount of crap that's gone on in the election, with the amount of grace the now-former Liberal leader and Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin stepped down with. He gets my respect for that. CBC: Martin to quit as Liberal leader, describes 'privilege to serve'. It's going to be an interesting next few years in Canada. We'll see if Harper sticks to the more moderate image portrayed in the campaign, or if it was a front in order to avoid disturbing the electorate. The Tyee: Has Harper Really 'Evolved'?

Busy Weekend

2006-01-22T14:26:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a weekend it's been. Friday, I helped Patricia look for a car; we started at 8am and finished by 6pm. It was an exhausting process. She's detailed it out here (link poorly translated from Portuguese thanks to Google). The red one is hers. As a means to relax we were going to hit the beach Saturday morning, but on the way there, I realized the Famer's Market was going on downtown, so we decided to check that out instead: That was a lot of fun; it's neat to get out and see what the community is part of. While I was there I took a pamplet from the Sierra Club -- they go on hikes around the area, which I think would be fun to take part in. After the Farmer's Market, we stopped by Whole Foods and had a chance to take refuge from the sun, which was out in full force. Shortly after arriving back home at 1pm, Nkosi called; he was in town from St. Pete for a party in Sarasota that night and was curious if I'd be up for coming with him. Unfortunately I had a party in St. Pete to go to! Don't think our timing could have been any worse, but we made the best of it and watched Koyaanisqatsi (similar to, but predating Baraka, if you've seen that: a visual narrative on the earth) before heading our separate ways. Finally -- that party I went to in St. Pete? It was Eric and Sonia's housewarming. So much fun. I am really torn about living here in Sarasota. It's close to work, but there are so many more people I can identify with (read: young people) in St. Pete. But is it worth replacing my 8 minute commute with a 50 minute one? I'm not so sure.

Bought new DVD drive: Pioneer DVR-110D-BK and CPU upgrade: PowerLogix dual-G4 1.6 GHz 7447A

2006-01-21T09:38:00.000-05:00

I think my computer's optical drive (the same one from when I got the compuer in 2001, a MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8571 Apple-certified "Combo" drive) finally bit the dust. As far as I know it still reads CDs okay, but has a hell of a time trying to read DVDs. It just sits there and spins, but the disc never seems to mount. It's been exhibiting some form of this behaviour for at least a year, but it wasn't until last night that I tried successive DVDs and they all didn't work. As I regularly do, I checked out Other World Computing's newsletter (if you're a Mac user and aren't subscribed to it, you really should -- they've got some great deals and they know their stuff) to see if they had any CD/DVD drives worth checking out. I've already watched their video on how to upgrade a CPU, and it was great, and I know they've got a similar one on how to upgrade your optical drive. About half a year ago I was pretty close to buying one, but at that time, drive prices were about $100 for something that could burn DVDs at 8x. So, you can probably understand how happy I was to see a drive that could burn a DVD at 16x, for $52. That's a big price drop; and it's also twice as fast as my current drive can burn CDs! So, I plunked down the cash. Now it's just a waiting game. *thumb twiddle* Oh yeah, I don't think I mentioned it here yet, since my blog was down at the time: in December, I upgraded my Power Mac's single processor PowerPC G4 733MHz to a Dual G4 1.6 GHz via the PowerLogix PowerForce G4 7447A CPU upgrade card (see reviews at the always-excellent xlr8yourmac.com) -- and I cannot put into words how happy I am. My machine boots faster, browses faster, rips music faster, boots my email program faster, shuts down quicker, sleeps faster, and is STABLE (not that it wasn't before). So excited about that. The only downside is that it's a little bit noiser due to now having an extra fan, but I'm making up for that by putting my machine to sleep at night (yes, it's within earshot of my bed). Anyway, that's all the tech-geekery from me for now :)

iTunes MiniStore: Apple does the right thing

2006-01-20T21:35:00.000-05:00

Hooray! Without getting into all the gory details (basically, Apple could have been spying on you via iTunes), it's good to hear they're doing the right thing. :) Related: My Operating System Shouldn’t Advertise to Me

Text message party and more

2006-01-20T18:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, all of those shots above are from Davin's "text message party" he had while I was in Victoria. By text message party, I mean, nearly everyone there (except Neil, Anand and I), he invited over by using text-messaging on his cell phone. Pretty crazy, considering I don't even have a cell phone. The shot below is of me driving down the oak-tree lined Shelbourne Street in Victoria, on the main route from my parent's place to downtown. A few leftover Photogroffee shots: Calvin, Amy and I at the Moca House in Victoria Smart cars were everywhere! Sean at the Sticky Wicket Pub & Restaurant

Metric - IOU

2006-01-19T00:36:00.000-05:00

Old world underground where are you now? Subtract my age from the mileage on my speeding heart, credit cards accelerate, accumulate looked for you downtown wound up in a movie with no story now it's late and you are nowhere to be found hesitation's always mine hesitate outside the times with all I don't say with all I don't do I'm sending you Invitations to hesitate too Every ten year-old enemy soldier Thinks falling bombs are shooting stars sometimes But she doesn't make wishes on them When she wishes, she wishes for less ways to wish for More ways to work toward it Ten year-old enemy soldier Our falling bombs are her shooting stars hesitation's always mine hesitate outside the times oh call me or drop me a line say you've been with me say you've been with me say you've been with me this whole time old world underground I never knew you But I've seen your face everywhere there was a farm before we tore the small town down multiply divide

Watch the video at iFilm
Download 192kbps VBR mp3 -- not sure how long I'll keep this up, so get it now..

Metric's Combat Baby, an iTunes free single-of-the-week, got my attention, but it was hearing IOU playing over the store stereo in A&B Sound in Victoria that got me hooked. I just love the key changes -- they're so original and interesting. And the mastering is perfect; everything is so tight. I love the hi-hats that come in to close the song. Then I found out the band was Canadian. Bonus. I encourage you to pick up their album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, which has this and a bunch of other great tracks on it. Two of my other favorites are Dead Disco and the epic Hustle Rose. As a side note, Metric also released a new album in November which is enjoying good word of mouth, but I'm savoring Old World for now. :)

A few more pictures of Victoria

2006-01-17T21:30:00.000-05:00

@$^#$@#$% Well, I was going to post more pictures from Victoria, but Blogger's hosting service appears to be kinda hosed: If you can't read that, it says: "We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are unable to process your request at this time. Our engineers have been notified of this problem and will work to resolve it." *Imagines little robot engineers getting wound up* "Well," says you, "why can't you just put the pictures up the same way you put up the screenshot of the error?" And the truth of it is, I could. But, I'm not in the mood. :) Update: And this is what I saw when I tried to post this entry last night (so it waited until this morning): "This server is currently experiencing a problem. An engineer has been notified and will investigate. Status code: 1-500-11. Please visit the Blogger status page or the Blogger Knowledge Base for further assistance." On the plus side, although waiting to post this ended up logging me out, Blogger was able to re-log me in and save the post anyway. Cool.

Word of the Day: Macguffin

2006-01-17T10:37:00.000-05:00

As defined by dictionary.com: Main Entry: McGuffin Part of Speech: noun Definition: in film, a plot device that has no specific meaning or purpose other than to advance the story; any situation that motivates the action of a film either artificially or substantively; also written MacGuffin Etymology: Alfred Hitchcock's term, based on a story where this device was used in a story set on a Scottish train (As seen in this Firefly-virgin's review of Serenity).

A bunch o' Victoria Pics

2006-01-17T00:09:00.000-05:00

For the latest idiotic thing Bush has done...

2006-01-16T11:49:00.000-05:00

...see here: apparently, you can go to jail if you post something "annoying" on the internet. Update: There's a followup article, with some Q&A, here.

Oh yeah!

2006-01-14T08:46:00.000-05:00

I just *love* when almost everything I need is on sale :)

Blowing the roof off

2006-01-11T22:38:00.000-05:00

AFK - Dreamcache (Formulate Doesn't Dream Mix). You've bought the single. Now watch it destroy Hush nightclub. MVI_6152.AVI [3 mins, 45 MB].

Spy Guy and Mavis and Davin!

2006-01-10T12:07:00.000-05:00

So, here's a few pictures from my trip back to Victoria. I got to hang out with Ben (aka Spy Guy)! It's been a long time since I've seen him; I think the first time we actually hung out was a rave back in 2001 called "Venus". Since then we've kept in touch online through instant messaging and occasionally (but not lately) IRC. We, together with Mavis and Davin, went to Azuma Sushi for dinner, and later to Vista 18 for drinks. Azuma looked nice inside -- clean, nice lighting -- but the service was terrible. We sat at our table for 12 minutes before someone came by to offer us tea. We almost left. The food was great though, once it did come. Vista 18 was cool; I'd never been there before. What it is, is a restaurant/bar on top of one of Victoria's tallest buildings. As the name implies, it's got a view :) The service was good, too. Think I'll be back next time I'm in town.

Back in Sarasota

2006-01-09T01:05:00.000-05:00

Wow. The trip back to Victoria for Christmas was great; a much needed reprieve from routine and a chance to reconnect with my family and old friends. I have a ton of photos to share with you. I'm not quite sure what the best way to go about that is at this juncture; my typical outlet (Gallery on Davin's computer) isn't available. Which reminds me, I guess I should say something on that: my blog will not be returning to davin.ws in the near future. Davin is out of the blog hosting biz. Let's just say it wasn't bringing in very much :) That's not to say I'll be staying here, but for the time being, feel free to update your bookmarks and blogrolls to point at this address, http://krishensotherblog.blogspot.com. I've been asked if Blogger can provide an RSS feed; I'm pretty sure it can but I don't know how yet. I'll look into that, but anyone know offhand? Update, one minute later: Err... of course, all I had to do was look through the menus. If there's anyone else out there in Blogger land who'd like to know what their feed URL is, select Settings->Site Feed. Your Site Feed URL will be displayed there. I guess technically it's not an RSS feed but an Atom feed. The details on how Atom feeds and RSS feeds differ are not known to me right now. As I understand it they're competing formats for basically the same information; my hope is that RSS readers out there will be able to interpret an Atom feed. In any case, here's the URL to try: http://krishensotherblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml I'm curious to know how it does in, say, NetNewswire (or whatever it's called now), NewsFire and Safari 2's RSS reader. Not having any of these programs on this machine I can't test it out very easily.

Pano from Mount Doug, Victoria, BC, Canada

2006-01-05T01:50:00.000-05:00

Hmm. I guess blogger won't let me host a 3000-pixel-wide image :) I'll see if I can't find another home for this one. Update, 12:49pm: Oh yeah. I think I found a place. :) If you're clever you can find the gigantic version! :D

Great Blonde Joke

2006-01-04T14:31:00.000-05:00

Wahahaha..... definitely one of best blonde jokes ever.

Photogroffee Dec 2005: Diptych

2005-12-31T17:45:00.000-05:00

I learned yesterday from Dan it's pronounced "dip-tick", not "dip-titch". In any case, a diptych is a pair of photos or paintings which complement each other in some way. That is, add something to each other. Diptychs were the theme of this year's Photogroffee, and to that end, after loading up on caffeine, we set out to Malahat to investigate the old cement factory in Bamberton. But, shortly after arriving we were told -- in not so few words -- to leave before charges were pressed. And so, we left, locationless. We found our way to Shawnigan Lake, and after enjoying some delicious soup at a local cafe, we discovered the perfect location was right under our collective nose. We just needed to look closer :) The actual diptyches (dipti?) I took can be found here. Here are some "metagroffee" shots :) Davin points at the Jim-superstang Gurton and Allison set up their white balance while Derek adjusts his caffeine level A closeup of Allison's new camera. Jealous! Jim gets crazy The Canadian Pacific Railway lays down the law. Derek and Allison walk down the Secret Staircase Davin just got soaked here Derek gets a shot of the river Davin (around the corner), Gurton, Allison, Jim Gurton takes a nap Bleach? Industrial product Art Turf wars Stairs Jim. It's blue, because the shot was white-balanced off the yellow of his jacket Derek, Allison, Davin

MegaGreenwell

2005-12-27T13:12:00.000-05:00

So this past Monday was MegaGreenwell (a term which Davin coined meaning "annual family reunion on my Dad's side on Boxing Day" which I think I'll keep :) This time it was in Langley. We stopped by Auntie Adita and Uncle Harry's for lunch en route, which was great.. not only did we have a great meal and enjoy each other's company, we got to listen to some fabulously cheesy disco music Anand dug up in Auntie Adita's collection ("Streetlife!") :) Uncle Harry Dad Mom Me and my cousin Tara geeking out Neil Cousin Marisa Uncle Harry and Anand Tara, Mom and Me Neil Every year MegaGreenwell rotates to a different relative. This year it was at Janice and Darryl's. It was great to see all those familiar faces again. Everyone told me I had a tan, which was baffling because when I look in the mirror I don't see a tan at all -- but I think that's probably because I've forgotten what it looks like to not have a tan. :D . Uncle Bill Elizabeth and Anand compare shots. Digital cameras were everywhere this year. Elizabeth Auntie Carole Jadelyn, Cheyanne, Elizabeth and Davin Liz, Uncle Steve, Uncle Bill, and Dad Grandpa's right in the fray Uncle Bill can't get enough basketball A long but fun day :) Hopefully to be repeated next year :)

Off to Vancouver

2005-12-26T09:42:00.000-05:00

Off to Vancouver for the annual Boxing Day mega-Greenwell reunion :) Tons of pics to follow! :)

First look

2005-12-22T19:04:00.000-05:00

So... it's been a relaxing trip so far! The first night I got in around 9pm -- a little chit-chat and then right to bed. Going east to west always works out well for me, as it means I can go to bed at a reasonable hour and make an early start of the following day. Cam at the Atlanta Bread Company, shortly before dropping me at the Sarasota airport. Patrícia and me My flight was from Sarasota-Atlanta-Salt Lake City-Vancouver; this is somewhere between Salt Lake and Vancouver. That's clouds in the valley between the mountains; what an amazing thing to be so high above them. I took the ferry from Vancouver to Swartz Bay. On the ferry I ran into Trina, an old lab partner from my terrestrial plant ecology course at UVic. I also ran into Jane (center), a coworker from my UVic, and her friend/coworker Elena too. Neil, Dad, Mom and I went for a walk through Mount Doug and up the Galloping Goose Trail. We saw a lot of wildlife! No snow, but it was cold enough to keep a little frost around. Photo by Neil. Neil and Dad examine their photos. Mom enjoys her tea :)

2005-12-21T15:25:00.000-05:00

Okay... hopefully I've figured out how to make this thing post pictures... more to follow :)

20 mins to go...

2005-12-16T05:47:00.000-05:00

And I leave the house. Cam is picking me up, and Patrícia is coming along to see me off. So cool. Thank you both. :) We're going for breakfast at Atlanta Bread Company, then it's off to the Sarasota airport for my 8:15am flight! I'm so excited.. just 13 hours and I'll be back in Victoria :)

Sunrise from my room

2005-12-15T07:09:00.000-05:00

Nkosi Party

2005-12-14T23:58:00.000-05:00

So...

2005-12-14T14:47:00.000-05:00

After a long period of dormancy, Krishen's Other Blog awakes! More later.

em space meetup

2005-05-31T12:07:00.000-04:00

So I went to my first-ever meetup.com sponsored event -- graphic designers of Sarasota. Now, I don't fancy myself a graphic designer per se; I've used Illustrator maybe, twice, and I've never used Indesign. But Aimee (to the left of Anthony -- the guy wearing the yellow shirt -- above), who runs the group, saw that I'd listed that I was a Mac user in my meetup.com profile, and got me to come out. I'm glad I did, it was fun. Lots of Mac users in this town, if you know where to look :) Shouts to TBone, Elizabeth, Mikki of sptv.com, DillJen, Aimee, Anthony, Edwin, Amanda, We got our drizzink on at Mickey's (shown above): a little pricy, but the food was good (try their pizza). Then Liz, JenDill, Aimee, Anthony, Amanda and I headed over to the 5-O to continue the drinks and get our groove on. There was an 80s coverband playing -- Life on Mars -- and, apart from their terrible Billy Idol, they weren't bad. :) Anyhow, lots of fun, looking forward to the next meetup.