The Weatherman

Watched The Weatherman this evening. Fun, interesting, had Michael Cane and some other guy. I would not call it fantastic... but it was worth the rental. Cage's character reminded me of myself in some ways... kinda daydreamy, living in my head sometimes. At least I'm not a weatherman.

Chili

Made some Chili today for the first time ever. As it was raining, and my garden plans (see grand plans on the left) were quashed, I decided to try out a recipie that my old friend Jim sent. I'm sure he sent it to highlight the elegant prose... but I said to myself "anyone that can write that well must know how to make chili".

I am apparently uncivilized, in that I do not own an iron kettle. I made it work despite all.

Having a great and buring desire for hot and buring food, I added a jalapeño pepper. It didn't make things too hot, quite tasty in fact. However, in cutting and scraping out the seeds, despite washing my hands very well, they started to burn alot. It gave me great fear for the chili... for if just a touch on the hand caused such burning, surely the chili would be inedible. Such was not the case. I guess the seeds and insides (where most of the burning capsicum resides) were just really powerful. Anyways, the lesson... be careful when cutting your chilis. Harmless, but painful.

Hostel

Watched Hostel today. Predictable. Disturbing.

Tyranny, security, privacy

I was having a discussion the other day with a friend discussing security vs privacy. I'm not advocating tinfoil hats, but I do consider privacy a right. A fundamental right. Wired has published an interesting article that makes the argument much better than I did. It's about tyranny, not security vs privacy. An excerpt:

'Cardinal Richelieu understood the value of surveillance when he famously said, "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." Watch someone long enough, and you'll find something to arrest -- or just blackmail -- with. Privacy is important because without it, surveillance information will be abused: to peep, to sell to marketers and to spy on political enemies -- whoever they happen to be at the time.'

Case of the Humans

I'm not an avid environmentalist... but neither do I deny global warming, our unsustainable lifestyle, and the constant rape of our natural resources. Been fishing for cod recently? No. I thought not. I disuade my wife from eating tuna because it's full of heavy metals.

I this cartoon that compares humans to parasites on our planet: Case of the Humans.

Also. Al Gore's a big geek. But he seems to be making some awe inspiring arguments in pointing out An Inconvienient Truth. And no, he didn't invent the internet.

Cherry blossoms

Every year we've lived at our current location we have remarked on the beauty of the cherry blossoms this time of year. Yet we always manage to put off taking a photo until they're gone (a hard rain or wind will take them in a few days). This year, we got them. They're really pretty.

As it's raining pretty hard today, I figured I'd hurry up and take some shots before they're gone. I just happened to have the camera in my bag after work.

It was kind of a grey day, but still, the trees are beautiful. I'm hoping to get at the garden next weekend.

3D photo attempt

If you've done those "magic picture" things, perhaps you'd like to try my first experiment in 3D photography. Basically, get close to the screen, look crosseyed at these photos until you see a 3rd photo in the middle. Wait for it.... wait for it.... get it in focus.

Awesome. If successful, you'll see a 3D image of the cluttered surface of my desk, and a magnet with some paperclips, and some seed packets. Not super interesting subjects, but kinda nifty to do. I'll see if I can't find a better subject to try it on.

Post a comment if you get it to work. If you want to try some others, check out these and these. Both the sites require you use the same "crossing eyes" technique.

Tulips are up

The tulips are up... so I guess spring has really sprung. It's still quite cold in the nighttime, but we've been able to get the windows open during the day for some fresh air.

I was out about in the garden this afternoon, finally getting the leaves, dead branches and garbage out of the garden. It looks a lot nicer now. Perhaps we'll be able to start planing soon.

I can't find my pruners though... I'm sure I have at least two pairs around somewhere. Amazing how those things tend to walk off. I need them to prune back the grape fine out back.

I long for the day when I can have a private garden and not be watched by neighbours... I just can't enjoy it the same. I guess I'm just a private person.

Tammy's working on wedding thank you's today, and I believe she's making a banana bread. I also notices some filo dough and broccoli when I passed by, so I expect some kind of pastry/broccoli/chicken thing is under construction for supper. Sounds good.

I'm having some trouble with the video camera, or more precisely, with the computer. I don't think I can face trying to fix it today (hence the garden work).... it just will not reconize the camera in order to transfer the video. We didn't really take a lot of video during the trip, but we did take some.... and I'd like to get it darn it. Oh well, I'm sure it will be resolved.

In the meantime, we're still in post-vacation mode... just puttering around, and dreaming about where else we'd like to go.

In the meantime, we're just enjoying the flowers.


UPDATE: I was right about the banana bread. Tam made it with bananas, banana rum, and some nutmeg we puchased down south. I had some with some extra-old cheaddar cheese (is there any other kind). Yummy.

Stingray, Grand Cayman

Stingray, Grand Cayman
Originally uploaded by GANDALF_GREY.

This photo I recently posted to Flicker has gained some popularity. I like it too. Very clear water, and decent composition considering the singrays were not very coorporative with regard to posing. Thanks all.

There's a short slideshow of the photos from our cruise. It includes only the photos I've posted to Flickr (very few).

Flickr

Those interested in some higher quality versions of our cruise photos (a few choice selections only) can find them on my Flickr account. I usually host most of my photos on my webpage, but sometimes it's down, and it has the disadvantage of not being nearly as popular as Flickr.... plus Flickr has photo tagging and such.