Windows 7

I've been trying out the new version of windows for a number of weeks now at work as my prime os. It has been an enjoyable experience on the whole but some times I'm left pining for the good ol' days of xp. There have been only a couple minor compatability issues (not nearly as many as with vista) and the virtual xp machine in w7 has made those issues into non issues.

Has anyone else been tinkering? it's still just an os.

Tell me that's not a dude...

There's been a lot of talk about this around the 'water cooler' today... you make the call.

Getting sac'd

I'm getting pretty miffed about this 'green' trend to charge for plastic
bags. Seems nothing more than eliminating a few plastic bags while
lining the grocery stores pockets with nickels and opening up new
revenue streams for their "reusable bags"... We've gotten to a point,
because we use a lot of plastice bags for garbage (diapers etc), where
we have had to either pay for bags on purpose or go to a store that
doesn't charge so we could have some in stock.... either that or pay for
a box of bags.

It's annoying that it's turned from a courtesy provided for us into
another way to make money. Why not just not offer plastic bags if
they're really serious about eliminating them. Now it's just like a tax
for forgetful people.

Slurpee Conditions, Civic Style.

As is my civic duty, I will report tonight's slurpee conditions.
Location - Sarnia (London Rd)
Time - Shortly before Eva threw up in the car...
Report: Well, Dr Pepper Cherry and Pepsi did everything they possibly could to smooth over the fact that my daugter puked in the car (again) and the smell was putrid... Nonetheless, the slurpee was good, although enjoyed begrudgingly in spurts between cleaning up and packing up at Grandma's house. The slurpee did, however, compliment the Captain Kidd fireworks quite nicely, despite the screaming child behind me smelling of vomit.

I call it like I see/smell it.

Today's Slurpee Conditions (Wednesday Edition)

Location: Chatham, Ontario
Time: 9:00pm
Gatrorade g-force and coke were in good shape tonight, quite thick and potent. The only thing that subtracted from this particular experience was the baby vomit in the back of the van and the subsequent cleanup effort on hwy 40... At least it had stopped raining at that time....

Official Slurpee/Froster Conditions

Date: Friday, June 26, 2009 - 2:30pm
Location: 7-eleven in Woodstock
Report: Coke was at it's finest today, best enjoyed on the 401 with the sunroof open... booyah

Date: Saturday, June 27, 2009 - 7pm
Location: MACs at Strasburgh and Block Line - Kitchener
Report: Runny sprite and ok coke mixed up to make something much too syrupy and upset my stomach. The leftovers were preserved through cryogenics and enjoyed on sunday afternoon with a spoon.

Thanks.

Official Froster Report

Location: Mac's at Block Line and Strasburg, Kitchener
Date: May 24, 3:00pm

Coke was at it's absolute best, which is good due to the fact that all
others were runny... Very good mix of syrup to frostery goodness today,
straight to the last drop. 1.18 L never tasted so good...

Motel Sicks

so, on the way up to Cochrane, we've decided to stay overnight about half way the last number of times. We decided to try to cut costs and stay at Motel 6 in Huntsville. Right off the bat, I should have walked out, because they didn't have a crib, but I was being cheap and optimistic. We got settled into the room and I get ready for bed. It was small, but modern enough. After about 10 mins of laying down, trying to convince Silas to fall asleep, I noticed my breathing getting very constricted. More than normal. Since the kids weren't enjoying the sleeping arrangements, and I couldn't breathe, we packed everything back in the car and checked out to try another hotel in North Bay with a crib and less poison rooms.

I went to the front desk to explain the situation and get my money back when they person working informed me that she could only give me half the money back for a 1 hour stay. I argued a bit, and asked to speak to a manager. At this point it was 11:30pm and neither manager answered their phones or cell phones, but one did call back... I overheard some parts of their conversation which included "they were in a pet room" and "he refuses to switch rooms". Luckilly, I needed no more argument and she refunded the whole price for me. I didn't even have to bring out he argument that people really shouldn't try to poison guests by not informing them that they were staying in a designated pet room.

Travelodge in North Bay was quite nice with a decent continental breakfast, a crib and we all had a good sleep.

THE END

Slurpee conditions

Time: 8pm
Location: king st, kitchener

pepsi and gatorade fruit punch are a formidable duo with great consistency and texture this evening... Worth the trip.

Slurpee conditions

As of 4pm on apr 23, conditions are favourable. gatorade fruit punch has potential, reminiscent of Tahiti Treat.

Official Slurpee Report: TO Edition

No, it's not the Terell Owens edition, I stopped in at the ol Sev Elev on tha way home from working in Toronto on Wednesday.  Conditions at the 7 eleven on Rutherford Rd in TO are as follows:

Pepsi: Excellent condition, thick enough to last until Guelph.

Gatorade G-Force: Tasted more like a powerade I've had before, was pink instead of orange... methinks it wasn't the Gatorade afer all. 

Washroom: I'm glad I only had to pee, cause that toilet gets an F

Thanks for tuning in... 

Official Slurpee Conditions Report

As of 9:30pm, March 29th, 2009 at Derry Rd Location, Mississauga, ON

Looked like dire straits at this particular 7-eleven until fully rounding the corner to find the second slurpee machine!  Coke was in it's element tonight, thick enough to pile to a nice cone at the top.  I give it 5/5, though none of the other flavours were operational or appetizing. 

Stopped by after visiting the meeting house oakville for The Attic... decent evening, though I still don't quite understand what 'emotionally disabled' means... reminds me of the chapel at EBC where the guy said we were committing 'spiritual incest'...  weird.

March of the Penguin

so, I've been running a little file/print server in my basement on Ubuntu Linux for about a year or so now.  It's been quite stable and virus free, though recently it started becoming flaky and non functional for some of the basic purposes I wanted from it.  Part of it was hardware getting old and failing...  Anyways, I decided to upgrade my storage and rebuild the thing last week and I installed the latest release of Ubuntu, 100% pain free.  It found all the drivers, and didn't bother me, like a windows install does, periodically to click next.  

Then I try to get the file shares going, no problem... next, print sharing.  Trouble.  It wasn't as easy as I remember and I start mucking around with settings and editing config files... typical old school linux crap.  Not only could I not print, but my file shares stopped too...  Running out of usable time, I did what I thought I would never do...  I went back to good ol' windows.  

More painul install, trying to find current drivers, doing 4 or 5 batches of updates etc... I can now print and access my files with reasonable ease.  I think the main difference was that I switched from win 2000 server which was quite clunky and beligerent sometimes.  Now I've gone to XP pro, not exactly server class, but a little smoother.  Maybe Bill Gates likes mullets.

Just for me mom...

At the request of my mom, here's a pic with the mullet and a wifebeater.  Faith pulled out the flat iron and straightened my hair lat night... People at church thought it was quite something. 

I'm glad my hair isn't naturally straight.  This is pretty intense though.  

Obey the Mullet!

Here's some pics of the complete package... Mullet and handlebar...  I decided, after forgetting to decide on anything for lent, to give up my dignity and get a mullet.  Not the first run at this particular 'Euro' hairstyle.  The challenge to keep it til easter may be difficult... 

Last week at Swiss Chalet, while waiting for a table, I caught a girl staring, then telling a friend and pointing. All while I was looking right at her, so I gave her a kissy face and raised my eyebrow and she hid in fear and embarrassment.  People seem to stare wherever I go, but shockingly I've found more people who don't notice or say it suits me.  One woman at work said it's 'sexy'.  Thanks Anne.   Another woman at work said that when she sees me, she 'hears Randy Bachman songs in her head'.  It's been fun to see people's reactions, now to see if I can last til easter.

Zap!

We're back

Had some troubles connecting to internet over the last couple days abroad, so I update from home.  Thursday, we sent a few poeple to Chotebor to go Bowling with the gypsies.  That was good times had by all.  We did some ESL classes in the evening and wound up our hockey week by beating the Skulls 7-5. 

 

Friday featured a trip to Pardubice for some souvenir shopping, and then to the baby orphanage for the afternoon.  Lots of time to play with babies and pray for them.  We headed back to Dlouhy for the hockey dinner in the evening.  There were about 25 players and their wives at the dinner, which was great!  We had soft tacos and spent the evening hanging out and getting to know people better.  The evening also featured a draw for door prizes, where we had enough prizes for everyone to take one home!  Amanda broke out her wig collection for some great photo op's and a great time was had by all.

 

Saturday took us to Prague to enjoy our last day in style and Fly home Sunday.  What a beautiful city with so much history. 

 

The trip wound up quite well, with a lot of good things coming out of it.  Many relationships were furthered and a lot of people heard testimonies of God's work in our lives.  We've appreciated your prayers through this trip and will have some pics up soon.

Ciao

Dan

Wednesday

Aho, from CZ.  Things are rolling along here.  Today the English camp wound up with a worship service, some baking and ultimate frisbee and a floorball game.  Chris shared his testimony and it was great. Things were pretty emotional at the end. 

 

We played the Panthers tonight and lost 12-5.  I had another 2 goals, but the secondary scoring was lacking. 

 

After the game on one of the shuttle rides back to Dlouhy, the van hit a patch of ice and wound up in the ditch on it's side.  Thankfully, no one was hurt at all!  It looked like quite a gentle landing, considering.  There goes the security deposit.  Ah well.  We will have to go on without a van for the rest of the week... a bit of a bummer. 

 

Please pray for continued safety on the roads as it hasn't really stopped snowing since we got here.  About 1.5 ft of snow has fallen since Sunday.  Pray also for the team as we get run down a bit and people get sick.  Thanks again for your prayers.

Dan

Tuesday Update

Tuesday was a great day here in Dlouhy, CZ.  We had Ryan give a talk on drugs and alcohol addiction with the kids.  he shared about his experience as a worker at a treatment facility and a personal testimony on how God can fulfill better than drugs or alcohol.

 

We went skating with a group of kids and had a ball playing hockey with the orphan boys and just clowning around. 

 

In the afternoon, we headed to Pardubice, about 45min away and watched a Czech Professional Hockey Game.  It was fun to see a different style of hockey (far less aggressive, but fast) and hang out with the kids.  We also experienced a czech mall food court for supper after the game.  New foods.  I had a Tex Burger which was a pita with a deep fried piece of cheese( syr) and coleslaw... very yummy, probably not healthy. 

 

Thanks for your prayers.  I'm battling a bit of a cold, so any more prayers you can float my way would be appreciated.

Ciao

Dan

Update

Hey all, did church this morning.  Were all blown away by the Hlinsko Church youth group band... they really get it!  We put together a band an played a few songs.  Jerrauld from SOS US preached as he was here setting up his intern in town.  We had a great time at Church and everyone was blessed in a different way.

 

After church, all of us got to experience the Czech grocery store...  fun with conversion of money and trying new strange things. 

 

We went by bus to Skutec to play hockey.  By we, I mean the Hockey team, Chris and the van keys in my pocket.  Unfortunately the rest of the group was forced to stay back and get to know each other better. We lost the game 8-6, featuring a goal by myself.  Schmidtke shared his testimony and we gave the hockey players an invitation to dinner on friday and a Christian sports DVD. 

 

Things are going well, despite the little brain fart with the keys. Thankyou for your prayers

ciao

Dan