Gareth and Lincoln just got back from a week of doing training in Vancouver on Mac OS X Server at Apple's training centre. Course was excellent, and we had a great visit with family and such. Apologies to anyone who reads this and we weren't able to see -- it *was* a work trip after all.

Pictures to follow shortly. Stay tuned!

Courtesy of Slashdot, how about a stationary bike that's a PlayStation controller?

Here's an idea -- how about you just go out and ride a bike? The graphics quality will be waaay better...

I have six -- count 'em, six -- different email accounts, between work and home. I am inundated with spam on a regular basis. I have essentially given up hope of eliminating spam from my accounts, until I find an effective and non-restrictive server-side solution for our mail server at work. I used to submit spam to SpamCop on a regular basis, until I became a parent, and realized that the limited time I get to myself on the computer needed to spent actually reading the "real" email I get.

Now, I find more enjoyment in others' attempts to foil spammers' dastardly and despicable practices. A very humorous read is The Spam Letters, whose author picks specific spam mail and responds to it -- outrageously.

For those who have received as many offers as I have from Nigerian military leaders to make many millions, there are several hilarious stories of people who have corresponded with these scam artists, including The Mike Aba story, one person who actually got money out of a scammer, they guy who pretended to be David Lee Roth, and my favorite, the Doctor Solomon story, complete with pictures of the scammer.

Two DJs in Miami call Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, pretending to be Fidel Castro.

Hmm...reminds me of the classic "Arnold Calls Gateway." (Listener discretion advised)

Some people have too much time on their hands...and these appear to be such people. From Sneakery.net, you can find the trailer here. Silly, sexy, and somewhat sad at the same time. Rated PG-13.

Stupid lake trout.

Spent most of Saturday walking the space between two holes in the ice with a couple of short, cheap fishing rods in my hands, to no avail. I did have one 5-pounder on the line, until he got to the hole. I suspect that by this time next year, he'll have been a 10-pounder...

Grrr...... somebody didn't tell me to save, and now I have to do this thing AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Anyhow, as I was saying, the other adult member of the house, wanted me to write something "NOW", and as I could possibly be the slowest thinker ever (except of course when it comes to Trivia- then I rule), this probably won't be the most well thought out piece of literature that I write.

Christmas was good and low key. I worked but didn't work. I had the service on Sunday, which I finished before Christmas Eve, and spent some days at home with Gareth. We had lots of fun, for the most part, and ate lots of candy...ah my boy takes after me ;-) I was back to work today, and am gearing up for the crazy month of January - an administrative nightmare. February will probably be here before you can say "Put another entry in...."

Well, ta ta until next time :-)

Frances

That means, one of my owners told me I must write something in here "NOW"...
Where have you heard that before?!

Hello, I'm a nearly 2 year old (February 6th) Border Collie who likes to go for walks, hunt for cars, and LOVES to chase a Frisbee.

Today, I met a friend in the park, when "Mommy" let me off the leash, and we played and played and played, and I couldn't hear her, when she was "YELLING AT THE TOP OF HER VOICE" for me to come. She had to go and get the car, and
come back to get me....OOPS....

I've been good ever since, but the day is not over yet ;-)

Love

Indy

In a vain attempt to prove my position in the food chain, I'm off to go ice fishing on Saturday, with fellow employee Cory Westover. It's a bit absurd that I've lived in one of the premier fishing areas in North America, and have never been ice fishing before...

Allaying Frances's fears, Cory informed me that there's approximately 16" of ice on the lake (vehicles can safely traverse the ice with 12"). The only chance of going through would involve falling into a 8" round hole, which, judging from my waistline, won't be an issue.

The most humorous part of it all is the method that we are apparently going to use to fish. Cory calls it "ice trolling." It involves the following:

two ice fishing poles with appropriate lines, jigs, and bait

two holes in the ice approximately 100 ft. apart

walking back and forth between the two holes holding the two sticks, thereby making the bait bounce (slowly) up and down in 120 ft. of water

For New Year's Day 2003, the two male members spent the day revelling in the -15 C weather in Emo to partake of two firsts for Gareth: (a) skate on the outdoor rink, and (b) ride snowmobiles with Michael and daughter Emily Loney.
We lasted about half-an-hour on the ice, and twice that on the snowmobile. There's something disconcerting about your son bouncing his (helmeted) noggin off the handlebars of the snowmobile every once in a while, but he loved it.