Saturday, January 28, 2006

New photos available

Have recently uploaded some new photos to the website:

Downtown Ottawa
- Parliment, war memorial, and down around town.
The Habs vs Sens game of January 26 that my father and I attended.
The Canadian War Museum... again, a visit with my dad this past week.

Enjoy.

Friday, January 27, 2006

The big game

Spent the evening with my father at the newly renamed "Scotiabank Place" (formerly the Corel Center) to watch the Sens and Habs. A good time was had by all, dispite the dissapointing shutout (3-0 for Ottawa).

As you can see in the panarama above, we arrived early so as to take advantage of the opportunity to explore the area, get a bite to eat (sausage dog), and to take it all in.

It always amazes me how big and small the building appears. The ice surface appears so close and much smaller than you imagine from television, juxtaposed with the immense size of the building and seating. Attendance was approximately 20,000 last night (easily 5X the population of my home town of Botwood, Newfoundland).

And then there's the spectacle of it all. Unlike television, it's truly a show when you're there in person. Not a moment is without the roar of the crowd, the booming music, the lights, events or action of some kind. It's truly entertainment of the finest kind. Not to mention the game itself. It's the sort of thing that anybody can enjoy, hockey fan or not. It's an experience.

Dad's dream of seeing a professional game of hockey was realized in fine fashion.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Brass Monkey

The next time someone tell's you it's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, you point them here. This is a brass monkey. Notice how it's holding the balls. If it were to be cold enough, the brass monkey would contract, and the cannon balls would fall off and go rolling around.

I think this monkey is actually made of iron... but you get the idea.

All of this is supposedly bunk of course... but the only other image I can think of when I hear that phrase is just too totally unreasonable to consider. Posted by Picasa

The Fruit Machine

Here's an interesting piece of equipment my father and I discovered during a recent trip to the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. According to the attached plaque: "Security officials used this device, the electropsychometer (or E-meter), in the 1950s and 1960s to help ascertain people's sexual orientation, assuming that homosexuality made individuals more susceptible to blackmail by enemy agents. Data from the so-called 'fruit machine' cost more than 100 civil servants their jobs..."

The new re-vamped war museum is quite excellent by the way. Quite a step up from its earlier, very cramped, home on Sussex drive. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

New Bedroom

The new bedroom furniture has arrived (after several days of waiting due to the recent snowstorm). It fits well (whew!) and looks quite nice. The repurposed lamps seem to fit well also.

The general consensus is that the curtains will have to go, and that we'll have to come up with a new television solution (Dad and Tammy are voting for a large flat screen. We'll see)... but other than that, all seems well. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, January 15, 2006

What a world

When I was a boy: you heated food in a saucepan on the stove; you actually dialed the phone; you had to watch a television program when it actually aired; you had to look up common facts in encyclopedias; home movies were taken, the film developed, and shown on large (often malfunctioning projectors) about once every 3 years. My mother would ask me if I thought she had a "shoe phone" whenever I'd ask to contact my father in a shopping center.

This evening, I've created some dvd's, emailed several friends, am copying my digital video to my computer to edit and make laser encoded digital copies the likes of which Spock on Star Trek could only have dreamed. My wife has been video conferencing with her sister in halifax and transmitting photos (taken today) of a new bedroom set we're considering purchasing.

I know that in my field of work I'm not supposed to be suprised at these things... but sometimes you just think of these things, and be amazed.

Perhaps the greatest change in the past five years is that these technologies are starting to actually work. Digital photography, broadband speeds, and the internet have really just started to become a common, and quite reliable part of our everyday lives.

Now, if only I could dial my cell phone without going through 5 sets of menus.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Manamana

Remember that Muppets song? You know, the Manamana song? Well... the google video will help you remember.

Ladka, if you're out there... I remember you when I hear this.

Thanks to Google Video of the Day.... recently improved with inline videos to avoid all that clicking back and forth stuff.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Photo fun with Plasma

Well, the digital camera is just a few days old... and I'm looking for likely subjects. My plasma ball seemed like it might be something interesting, so here it is. Click here for more photos. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Photos updated

All of our online photos have been updated, and are now in a better, more web-friendly format. They can be found at http://stephen.homeunix.org/Photos/.

These include the wedding photos, recent Christmas photos (including tubing), as well as old photos resized and nicely web-framed.

Given our recent acquisition of a digital camera, we felt it was time to get organized in the photo management department. Now, if only I could get a reliable web hosting service to provide better uptime for my website.

Enjoy.