Set the controls for the heart of the sun

Wow, was it warm yesterday.  After the rain stopped, I mowed the lawn in the early evening.  It was still in the mid 30s, with the humidity.  I was sweating like Michael Jackson standing before Saint Peter…

Too soon?

Quote of the day

From Overheard in New York.

"Why the fuck are people still building greenhouses if we have the greenhouse effect?"

MacGregor Point Provincial Park

We spent last weekend at MacGregor Point Provincial Park, near Port Elgin.  The threat of rain didn't keep too many campers away, and although it poured hard from about 2:00am to 10:00am, we still managed to squeeze in a couple of 10km bike rides on Saturday.  Sunday was sunny and warm, and the kids spent a couple of hours playing with some clay they found at the beach.

We saw deer, and deer tracks on the beach.  There were lots of friendly raccoons roaming from campsite to campsite in the late afternoon, and I almost drove over a pheasant on the way out of the park on Sunday afternoon.

We're starting to make MacGregor our annual first trip, since it's so close (1:45 on the way up, 1:35 on the way back) from the Waterloo area, and the biking trails are fantastic.

 

Technorati Tags: MacGregor Point Provincial Park,Camping

InstallShield help?

"For more information on creating a major upgrade using InstallShield, refer to this section of the InstallShield Help Library.”

In other words, for more information, re-read the section that just left you wanting.

Why can't we blow the years away?

In the news today, a 22-year-old Briton has turned Wikipedia into a book.

It's 5,000 pages long and 1ft 7ins thick.

This has inspired me to market a new product - it's made up of two sticks.  You rub them together really fast, and make fire!

I plan to follow this up with a round, rolling device that I'm developing under the code name "the wheel".

 

Technorati Tags: Humour

Cool water flowing all around

Today’s public service announcement:

Lessons learned this weekend…

• Lifejackets must be worn at all times
• Swimming lessons are a good thing
• If you are paddling upstream to rapids, get out and walk the canoe well before the point you think you have to
• If the canoe does swing out into the current, go with the flow, and get it spun around downstream as quickly as possible
• If all else fails, and the canoe snags on a big rock, be thankful it’s June, and the water is surprisingly warm

 

Technorati Tags: Canoe

Pile on many more layers, and I'll be joining you there

What a week.

Between a dead PC one morning (thank you Vista Repair installation!), a whack of issues that I can't test, a whack of issues that need to be fixed, and an Oracle install from hell, I've got absolutely nothing done this week. In fact, I'm in the hole.

Until 1:27pm today, that is. I triumphantly checked in 10 lines of code!

Remember, it's all about quality, not quantity.

Things they must teach in MBA school

Here's another thing they teach you in MBA school.

Communication is dangerous.

You really don't want your work units..., sorry - individual contributors - knowing what's going on, do you?

Let them wander around in puzzlement for a while.  It's good for them to be curious.

 

Technorati Tags: Management

Bike & Hike

Sunday morning we were all up early, willing the rain to stop in time for the Manulife Bike & Hike for Heart in Waterloo.  By the time the bikers were assembling at the starting line the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing.

It turned out to be perfect biking weather - a bit cool, but dry.  We had a quick 15km ride, and the girls headed straight for the face painting table.

Team SuperMegaCorp had the largest corporate team again this year, and our family managed to raise just over $600 for the event, which exceeded the $200,000 goal by at least $20,000.

Excellent work all around, from the fundraising to the organization at the event.

O defeat, thy taste is bitter

From Luminato 2009

Saturday afternoon I gathered with 1,600 of my closest friends in downtown Toronto, for the Guinness Book of Records attempt at having the most guitarist playing the same song at the same time.  The Great Canadian Tune was Neil Young's Helpless, a perfect choice for the event.

The weather was perfect - sunny and warm, with just enough of a breeze to stay comfortable.  The lineup to register was massive, but once it started moving it only took a few minutes to sign up and find a patch of ground on the square.  Everyone had their guitars out jamming for at least an hour before the band kicked in.  The band played the ten songs on the short list, then went into an extended version of Helpless, with 1,623 guitarists accompanying them.

The sight of 1,600 guitars held high was something else.  In the end, we fell short of the world record by about 180 people.  If they decide to run this again next year, count me in.  Next time, I'll bring my daughter too.

There are lots of photos at the Luminato site.

And the ones I took are here.

 

Technorati Tags: Music,Guitar,Luminato

IBM takes it up a notch

Hey, look – IBM is going to compete in the 2010 World Men’s Curling Championship.

Good luck, IBM.  I hear the Wal*Mart team is pretty tough…

20 years

Wow. 20 years flies by, doesn't it?

 

 

Technorati Tags: China

Vista SP2

I installed SP2 for Vista the other day.  Very little collateral damage, except I had to reinstall the Windows Live suite to get Messenger working again.  Windows Live Mail was a little buggered up too – came up ok once, then refused to start, complaining about my calendar (which I never use) being corrupt.

Anyway, now I’m feeling all secure and well patched.  No more running around with my pants around my ankles.

 

Technorati Tags: Vista SP2