Slowly getting used to it

I am starting to get used to my new macbook. The biggest issue I have so far other than finally getting wireless working (hint: the wrong wep key was saved in the key chain and was not being overridden when I typed it in) is figuring out the keyboard shortcuts. I use shortcuts. A lot. So discovering when I use ctrl, when to use the weird apple key, and when OS X still keeps it secrets from me is frustrating. I'll figure it out eventually.

Ahhggrrhh!!!

Crappy. I just broke my headphones while at work... my ear buds are at home. I tried to tape them together, but no luck. Then I stabbed myself in the neck with the broken plastic. Ouch.

It's definably shopping night tonight.

Macbook come to meeeee!!!

The other day I finally ordered a macbook. Got some memory upgrades and a slightly larger hard disk. Currently FedEx says that it's in Anchorage, AK. I'm very excited about not using slow hardware. Now I just have to figure out what to do with my old "waffle iron" laptop.

In case anyone is wondering what 'ol waffly is, it's a Toshiba Satellite something-or-other from like 2002. It had a smallish hd then (20G), smallish memory (256M) for the time it was bought. I've been using this constantly for everything. Often the cpu is near maxing out, the hd is thrashing because there is no space left and there is no free memory. Needless to say, it runs hot most of the time.

After all the load I've put it under, the battery still holds power for close to 3 hours, I have not had a major failure (knock on wood), and it's still kicking along. Now that I am thinking about it, I'm actually really impressed. It's not pretty, light, fast or cool, but it's worked pretty consistently for 5 years without wiping the disk. I hope that my new macbook will do as well.

It's the warm cream

I've been playing around with different types of coffee, different brewing ways (drip, french press, "pod", store bought) and I've found that there is only one thing that really "makes" a coffee for me: using cream and not milk. 1% milk just doesn't cut it.

In restaurants out east they had 18% cream. Wow, did those coffees taste good. I bought coffee cream the other day from loblaws and it's only 10% and it was much better than using milk, but still not super. Here 18% is whipping cream. Mmmm...

Will I keep cream in the fridge just for making coffee? Sure. I think that my happiness is worth that. ;-)

The Great Purge '07

One of the things that has been on my TODO list for a long time (3 years?) is to get rid of all the old clothes that I don't wear anymore. Get rid of all of the things that I have been keeping as "I'll use this some day..." things.

Now, for most people I think that this is a lot easier than for me. It just feels wrong to throw things out if they can be used some time later. Wrong if someone else could use them soon. However, I think that I have stepped over the line of ridiculous for the size of our small apartment. :-/

So, today I'll be working on making a bag for good-will and a rag bag. I'm not allowed to ask anyone if they need a bag (or 2) or rags and it's killing me. So I'm not asking. I'm just blogging about it. *cough*

I'm also extending this purge to my computer. While I bide my time until I get a new one, and before I wipe the whole computer, I'm trying it out with uninstalling everything that I can. No development tools, no databases, no Norton (the worse offender for memory!)...

Let it begin.

Shopping for a new phone / provider

Our cell phone is getting old (for a cell phone) and it's getting difficult to charge it. I'm starting to look around for a new provider / phones for both of us. I know that this isn't the best time of year to shop for a phone, so that part sucks.

Currently we're doing pre-paid with Bell, but I am open to any suggestions.

Anyone have any phone / plan / prepaid option that they like to use?

I went so far east in Canada people were speaking with Irish accents

There are quiet a few things that I learned traveling this summer that would be useful to know.

1) Newfoundland (NL) is not included in the "maritime provinces". I guess that it joined Canada too late to get in on that

2) In NL they don't have "lakes". Everything is a "pond" even if it is huge.

3) Eastern Canada is really, really pretty. I had no idea. I didn't know that NL had fjords... It's like BC but with a LOT less people.

4) Moose are pretty laid back. They won't run off like deer will, they're chill while they eat and walk past you.

5) The song I's the b'y that builds the boat... is about NL, with mentions of towns like Fogo (Island) where they speak with Irish accents. Really.

6) In Nova Scotia they call scenic views "lookoffs" where in Ontario I'm used to calling them "lookouts"

7) In NL: the roads are as bad as they say (or worse) and the people are as friendly as they say (or better).

8) In every prov east of Ontario, provincial pride seems huge. People fly their prov flag and identify with being from "Nova Scotia" or "Newfoundland" or "Quebec". In Ontario, I only see the Canadian flag, never the prov.

9) I never want to travel again without a Lonely Planet travel book. We ended up buying one from a used book store about 3/4 through our trip.

10) Icebergs are full of bubbles. They make a fizzing sound as they melt if you get close enough to the small ones. The big ones are dangerous since a large piece and break off and swamp your boat. It's also really hard (compressed) ice. Great for keeping your drink cold. ;-)