spammers at bozzo.com.au

I get probably a half dozen unsolicited emails a week from bozzo.com.au or a variation of that name (usually with spaces i.e. "@ bozzo. com. au").

I notice they have an unsubscribe option at the foot of their page, but since they seem like untrustworthy asshats you can bet I am not entering a damned thing in that space.

Retarded Class Action Lawsuit of the Week....

And the winner goes to:

Poyner-Baxter, a North Vancouver law firm ... trying to certify class-action lawsuits against Sony and Toshiba over burn-in problems on big-screen TV sets.

Idiots.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Hope your day is creeeepy and candylicious!

For next year, I may try to makeScaredy Seamus O'Lantern (from Monster Crochet) or take my inspiration from Maggie Pererya and create some halloween themed plush characters.

[Actually, most of the plush toys on Whitewall are just amazing and inspirational in that I look at a lot of them and think, "I could make that." I have actually made plush toys in the past, it's fiddly but I quite enjoy the results. Now that I see people breaking out of the standards, I may add that to my ever-growing to-do list.... kiddo would, after all, love them.]

Hellboy and his companion.

Last night, hubby and I went out to a Halloween party -- an annual get-together hosted by friends of friends who take Halloween very seriously [How seriously? Fog machines, crime-scene tape, and movie-style props scattered throughout -- for example: the bathroom looked like something particularly horrible had taken place -- there was blood and bloody handprints all over the walls, floors, sink, etc. -- then I sat down and nearly jumped back up because there was a near-life-sized bloodied girl in the tub holding a dead baby! Eeep!]

Costumes for the party are mandatory and a number of people go over the top, but we were up for the challenge. Well, hubby was up for the challenge. For some reason, I couldn't quite get into it this year. So hubby went as Hellboy:



He had been working on aspects of the costume for over a year, but modified much of it this year to be more functional -- like the hand which he scaled down so that he could actually hold a beer.

I couldn't decide how to dress. I figured worst case I would just be undead again. Then I started looking at the vampires from Buffy... and I asked hubby if that was do-able (keep in mind this was about 4 hours before the party). He thought we could modify a forehead appliance he'd already made and I agreed. Alas, no one knew what I was (of course most of the people at the party didn't know who Hellboy was either... so that may not be saying much). Anyway, here's a shot of me as a vampire who looks a little like a Klingon in pancake makeup. I still enjoyed myself.



The "fun" part has been cleaning up all the red makeup all over the house. :)

Fat Fingers - Mash Any Key Now

Think you're finding everything on eBay with just a simple search? Not a chance. I used to use the title and description search option to find the listings with typos in the titles -- now Fat Fingers does the searching for me! You can select any eBay site and the search will pop up in a new window.

A good example, I typed in "princess" as in Disney Princess stuff, very hot right now. The search by Fat Fingers returned the following listings:

• DISNEY PRINCES SNOW WHITE 18"PORCELAIN BRASS KEY DOLL
  
• DISNEY "PINCESS" PIN-JASMINE, ARIEL & BELLE
  
• Disney Princesss - Dancing Cinderella - New
  
• DISNEY PRINESS ROUND LUNCHBOX/LUNCH BAG UNUSUAL STYLE
  

I would not likely have found those on my own. I am bookmarking the site for future reference -- and for amusement. [Want a laugh? Just search for "Disney" alone. I was astonished by some of the misspellings.]

Porn on the Pavement.

My morning commute requires a transfer of busses downtown. I have several options, so I usually hop on which ever bus arrives first. This morning I hopped off my first bus and figured I had missed the next ideal bus, so I wandered around the corner for the next bus. While there, I looked up and saw my ideal bus was actually late and stuck at the traffic light a block away. So, I turned around, walked back to the other stop. As I was walking, I glanced down at and stepped over a piece of paper -- a page torn from a magazine. It took me a few steps to register what had been on the page, and by then I had boarded the bus.

What I had seen, at about 7:20 a.m. was a full-page =ahem= spread featuring anal penetration. [Geez, that should get some interesting hits on the old blogspot, eh?].

Now, it was too late for me to do anything about it -- I was already on the bus -- but I wondered, would I have stopped to pick it up? (Maybe, but then what? Throw it out? Find a recycle bin? Save it for later???) On second thought, would I even want to touch it? (Probably not.) I was also aware that about 30 minutes later my nephew and Mother-in-Law would have been changing busses at the same stop; I have to wonder if it was still there....

Knitting Rules

Kimberly Chapman is a very creative knitter (thanks to Sarcasmoscorner for the tip!) who offers patterns for a Sassy-like ball and a strand of DNA, among other things.

And how cute are these mini-stockings for the tree? Or Mr. Bean's Bear? Or Hello Kitty?

There are oooodles of knit toys out there... and if I had the time, I'd probably try my hands at most of them.

Retro Sucks

There are many days, especially looking around at "what the kids are wearing" these days, when I agree with the sentiments of this t-shirt.

Don't these people watch Mythbusters?

It seems the kids at MIT are a bit behind:

On Saturday, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Arizona set off for San Francisco bay to test if Archimedes' death ray could have been anything but a myth.

Jamie and Adam did that over a year ago:

Episode 16: : Ancient Death Ray, Skunk Cleaning, What Is Bulletproof?
In this episode, Jamie and Adam reflect on one of the world's oldest urban legends — did the Greek scientist Archimedes set fire to a Roman fleet of ships using only mirrors and sunlight?
First aired Sept. 29 2004

EDIT: I just read the whole article at the Guardian. Seems they're the one's behind the times. The MIT kids were working with Mythbusters; the report was filed this year for a show that aired last year. Memo to Guardian editor-in-chief: fire your science staff -- if they're reporting year-old science, they suck.

Death Makes a Holiday

David J. Skal, author and critic on all things creepy, is a vistiting Lansdowne Scholar at UVic this year. In addition to teaching a very cool course based on his book, The Monster Show, he's giving a couple of lectures -- tonight's was based on his book about the origins and evolution of Halloween, Death Makes a Holiday.

Hubby and I attended, along with a standing-room-only crowd, and were fairly well-entertained, if a bit skeptical of some of his facts. Part of the problem was that he has written from an American standpoint about a holiday that differs a fair bit on this side of the border (our celebrations embrace a number of British traditions including fireworks and Guy Fawkes tie-ins); on the other hand he had some interesting observations about post-9/11 Halloween celebrations state-side.

His next lecture, set for some time in November, is going to be about King Kong -- no doubt to tie in with the upcoming Peter Jackson remake (to be released Dec. 14th).

Gris Grimly : Wicked Illustrator

I just slapped up a review for Edgar Allen Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness illustrated by Gris Grimly which I borrowed from the library but will likely be purchasing after Christmas if it's not under the tree. In short it's fabulous. I just keep flipping through the pages again and again.

In writing the review, I tracked down Grimly's website: MadCreator.com, itself a fun feast for the eyes. His list of influences is varied and yet I found myself ticking them off one by one, "yes, yes, naturally, of course, yes, yes..." I was familiar with or a fan of the work of all his influences (aside from a few which I will now research!), hence it is no surprise I am now a Grimly fan.

Once I get the Poe book, I will start tracking down other books Grimly has written and illustrated.

***

On a slight tangent, I must get a copy of Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years two-disc set! This guy is an animation pioneer/super-hero and he's still around to host a retrospective!

productive day - phew!

Aside from finishing kiddo's costume, today was supposed to be a hang day for me while hubby worked on his costume. Unfortunately the storage area seems to have eaten most of version 1.0 of his costume (the work he did last year).

This prompted me to start flinging things out of the storage area with extreme prejudice. Then we piled about eight boxes plus a non-working portable air conditioner and other bulky items into the van and happily donated them to Value Village. Some of the things we turfed have been following us around for 7 or 8 years or more.... it felt good to turf.

Also removed from the storage area: one chair with loose dowelling (needed re-gluing); one box of two matching light fixtures (purchased last year to replace those in the upstairs hallway); one u.f.o. (unfinished object -- slipcovers for the ottomans in the living room). You'll be happy to know I glued the chair and finally installed the damn light fixtures. They look sweet.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


I hope to finish the slipcovers tomorrow -- they are not going back into the storage area and neither is my sewing machine until they're done!

Little Sally!

I was delighted when kiddo announced she wanted to dress up as Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas for Halloween so with yesterday's day off school and work, I went looking for the basics I would need to build her a costume. I was really happy to find a simple dark navy fleece pinafore dress for $0.99 and a plain white turtleneck long-sleeved shirt for $3.99 (but on sale for half price!) so for $2.97 plus tax I was ready to start. My fabric stash had everything but yellow fabric, so I used a beige in its place.

I spent about 4 1/2 hours (mostly last night, plus some finishing this morning) and viola! She happily tried on the costume (somewhat large this year, but maybe she can get two years out of the same costume) this morning and posed for me.

More photos of the progress (plus a full-length picture of kiddo as Sally) on my Flickr page. (In case you are curious, I wasn't working from a pattern, I just "wung" it from the doll.)

While I was madly sewing away, I watched The Terror and Night of the Living Dead; conveniently pacakged together on one DVD in all their B-level goodness.

'Mr. Floatie' Backs Out of Mayoral Race

Ahh, Victoria made the San Francisco News:

Mr. Floatie, a community activist who dresses up in a feces costume to decry the pumping of raw sewage into the waters off British Columbia's capital, has withdrawn his name as a candidate for mayor.

Now who am I going to vote for, dammit?

What is a Cake Walk?

I opened my email this morning and there was a weee comment from Zezette asking, "What is a cake walk?"

So I explained what a cake walk is today. It's a carnival/fun-fair favourite, especially in schools. Like musical chairs, participants walk around a circle of numbers and when the music stops, they stop on a number. The caller then pulls out a number from a hat or spins a wheel and the participant standing on that number wins a cake (usually donated by parents or volunteers).

Then, being a history geek, I did a websearch for cake + walk + history, and I saw some interesting/disturbing things.

I started to see a number of pages about the cake walk as a plantation dance event where slaves got to mock their masters in elaborate dances that poked fun at the upper classes.

Some of the better plantation owners would bake a cake on Sundays and invite the neighbors over and have a contest of the slaves, different prizes were given but originally it was a cake and whichever slave won, would get the cake... thus the term "That Takes The Cake!" (Plus others such as 'It's a Cakewalk' = very easy) and the name "Cakewalk" was now set.

The music used for the cakewalks eventually evolved into Ragtime but in it's minstrel show heyday, even Debussy got into the act with the insultingly-titled Golliwogg's cake walk. (Oh, Debussy, how could you?)

Now, I was sure this was a Commonwealth game (I'm sure I took part in a cake walk in the U.K.) but perhaps it is American. I have also had trouble finding how or if this cakewalk is connected to the carnival cake walk. Perhaps it isn't but I will continue researching; I suspect I will have to research carnival games... I'll keep you all informed.

Poor Alton!

OK, well this sucks. Last week, Alton Brown asked people to send him photos of the inside of their refrigerators which he said he could "read" like a palm, or more likely like a medicine cabinet.

This week, he has taken away the email address because, "although many of you sent in some really nice pics and insightful, fun emails some of you decided to send vulgar, nasty, frightening messages and images."

Now my guess is that the email address was not spam-altered (I don't remember exactly and he has removed the original post) and he got some scary pr0n and/or some anonymous trolls (we all know how un-friendly trolls can get).

I never did get to send in my photo of our fridge.

Chaos and Calm

CHAOS... For the last few days, our well-planned days have been going off the rails onto entirely different tracks at times... and we have been collectively pretty busy.

Last night we threw everything into chaos when hubby and I decided we actually did want to go to Cinecenta to see 2046. (Turns out that was a mistake.)

Today things generally went as planned, but that include kiddo's Fall Fun Fair at school (since she is in an independent school, she's not affected by the current BCTF dispute) which, if you've ever been to a kids' fun fair in a school you'll know, included plenty of chaos.

With some beginners' luck, kiddo won a cake in the cake walk -- first try! She also tried her hand at bowling, ring toss, pin the nose on the pumpkin, got her face painted, and took a turn in the "fashion forum" -- a big dress-up tent with a runway at the end.

Now she is sleeping peacefully (after chowing down a big hunk of the cake walk winnings) and I have been half-watching CSI, catching up on blogging, news, email, and enjoying a very big mug of decaf.


CALM... Tomorrow is a day off -- kiddo has a day off school too -- so the plan is a lazy morning followed by some Halloween costume shopping. Kiddo wants to be Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas! Can you believe it? Teee Heee! I haven't yet decided what I want to be. Hubby will be working on his costume this weekend.

Apparently, not much.

My blog may not be worth a lot of cash:

My blog is worth $8,468.10.
How much is your blog worth?

but it is worth something to me
... so I'm keeping it.

(Thanks for the tip, Sarcasmo)

Day of Protest in BC

On Friday, the BC Federation of Labour which represents 470,000 unionized workers through its affiliations, including my local. Barry O'Neill of CUPE BC followed the BCFed announcement with this, "I am announcing that on Monday, October 17th CUPE members on Vancouver Island will be participating in a political protest and will not be reporting for work."

This morning, general chaos ensued. Pickets went up around BC Transit garages which effectively left 90,000 people stranded and unable to easily get to work -- including me. However, since I knew there was going to be pickets around campus, I felt it was pointless to go out of my way trying to get to work (I could have walked in about 90 minutes or so if it were really neccessary).

Instead, I have been protesting digitally.

I spent a chunk of the morning listening to and emailing local talk-radio shows. I also emailed the Premier and several MLAs and Ministers. Now I am watching television coverage, inclduding Premier Campbell's news conference where he said, "I don't think it's hardline to say that every citizen should obey the law."

What??? This is the same man who, in 2003, was arrested for driving under the influence while on vacation in Maui. At the time of his arrest, his blood alcohol level was 0.149, nearly double the legal limit of 0.08.

Did he admit wrongdoing? Yep.

Did he step down as leader? Nope.

Did he obey the law? No fucking way.

As I type, there are thousands of British Columbians gathering on the lawns of the BC Legislature (pdf flyer for the event); a sea of umbreallas in the pouring rain, likely creating a mud-pit out of the carefully manicured Legislature lawn while listening to teachers, labour leaders and politicians talk about the way Bill 12 undermines not only teachers but also the entire labour movement in BC.

Will they get their point across? Maybe.

Will they piss off the Premier? Maybe.

Will he change his mind? No fucking way.

The Liberal government is refusing to repeal Bill 12. They say they will go back to the table after the teachers cease their action. Like kids in a sandbox, each side is kicking sand at the other, and a crowd is growing. Not one to be part of the crowd, I will instead blog and comment and email and complain as loud and as often as I can.

Local soap not so sudsy.

Ouch. I just watched the primiere episode of Mile Zero, a soap opera set and filmed in Victoria BC. (I did mention this a while ago in passing and pondered it's need for existence.)

You'll be glad to know I didn't stab myself in the eyes or ears, but that's not to say I wasn't tempted. I am all for having Canadian-produced television (yeah, I've ranted about that too) but this effort looks really amateur. Here's what I found most frustrating:

1. Victoria manages to put on some really good theatrical productions, so in theory, there should be a great group of actors to draw from. Of course maybe some stage actors can't act as well when they are on camera... or maybe they hired from the film star wannabe pool. A couple of the actors held their ground and delivered the lines as best they could; most though, were alarmingly wooden.

2. Considering the number of musicians in Victoria ranging from professionals to buskers, why oh why couldn't the producers find someone to add a few notes of incidental music on the soundtrack? They made a big deal out of finding a theme song so why not spring for some background music?

3. I realize that the crew is still finding its footing, but there were some serious errors in blocking and direction -- unless they were trying to be edgy, in which case, they failed.

The pilots are running on Shaw TV (local cable 11) locally and on KVOS, out of Bellingham later in November. Episode 2 airs next weekend and I'll be taping it so I can analyze it more accurately. Stay tuned, I guess.

New Review

Went to see Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit with the whole family this weekend. The review is at the MediaNook (link above).

Two word review: pleasant plasticine!

zero emission transportation

While on the topic of transportation... I've been eyeing one of these: GW-F Foldable Electric Bicycle. It'll go up to 20 Km/h for about 35 Km. Plus, it folds in half! How cool is that? The battery can be charged by plugging into a regular outlet and heck, if you can't charge it, you can still pedal -- that's the whole point.

Since the bike can't go over 30 Km/h, no license is currently required, and you can use bike lanes and follow cyclist rules of the road. Sure it isn't the prettiest cycle out there (if I wanted a pretty ride, I'd go after a Vespa or something similar), but at about CDN$1000 it would do what I needed -- i.e. get me to work and home again.

Cutest Cars EVER

Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum collection "is primarily focused on Microcars in the late 1940's- pre-1964 range with Engine sizes of 700cc or less (many are 250cc and 50cc) and 2 doors or less."

These are some of the cutest cars ever. They rival the Smart Car (currently selling by the boatload around here) and Robin Reliant (Reliant Robin?) which I spent more time than I'd like inside toodling around the British countryside. (Actually, in a model almost exactly like this blue 1973 Reliant Super Robin)

Lots more photos on Flickr [tagged as microcar] if you are interested (I found out about the Museum from spacegrrl)

Bad Boy.

Police raided the home of Boy George last week and allegedly recovered more than a dozen bags of cocaine. He could face up to 15 years in jail.

Might be better than another Broadway production with Rosie O'Donnell.

A Neo-Techie's Morning

I am not quite a neo-techie -- I hadn't heard of some of the technologies listed in this article from the Tyee -- but I certainly start my day with a big mug of coffee and a glance at my email (at the very least). I feel out of sorts if I don't... so yeah, I'm addicted. It could be worse, I guess; so far there are no USB shaped track marks...

Are Canadian Bloggers Pussies?

Don't look at me with that tone of voice. Maisonneuve posed the question, "Are Canadian Bloggers Pussies?" in reference to the fact that Canadian bloggers have yet to break a major political scandal.

Personally, I think it may be because most Canadians have no faith in their political leaders and therefore assume that they are all crooked liars. We aren't surprised by scandals -- especially at the federal level (which the article seems to emphasize) -- so why would we consider it blog-worthy?

Toooo much turkey.

Uuuuurgh. Sooo full!!

I will spare you the photo of the lovely turkey or the photo of the turkey carcass once stripped of all its meaty goodness (it's not because I don't think you'd like to see them, I just got so carried away with the Thanksgiving feasting that my camera stayed on the shelf. I did snap a photo of the table before everyone settled in to eat. If you look closely, you'll see the placecards kiddo wrote -- she's been writing and spelling up a storm!

The thing I am most thankful for? A hubby who can cook a HUGE holiday meal and does so willingly. Even making pecan pie for dessert. Mmmmmm.

Now I'm off to plow through more of American Gods.

And consider the fact that I have to go back to work tomorrow.
Sigh.

Blog renovation

OooOOh. I monkeyed with my template this afternoon and came up with the background you are now looking at. I decided (for now) not to change the overall layout, because I am a creature of habit and there's something to be said for things being in the same place you left them.

I spent the large part of the day looking through the many lovely background tiles at Citrusmoon before settling on the sedonia tile you see here.

vs. vs.

I was looking for something a touch more feminine without being overtly floral or pink (I was dangerously close to using one of the hot pink/orange tiles in her collection) and I think sedonia 1 is a nice compromise. I also changed the border colour by using the VisiBone Webmaster Color Lab (one of my most favourite web tools!).

So... now that I have accomplished so very little... it's time to clean kiddo's disaster zone before turkey dinner tomorrow.

Serenity review, as promised

I will attempt not to include any spoilers, but the most sensitive may want to skip this entry. OK? Need an emergency exit? Here's some pretty pictures to look at.

All settled then? Good.

We saw Serenity on Wednesday evening. From the opening scenes to the closing credits I was engaged -- even cursed my bladder as I had to leave the room for a few moments (I chose a battle sequence) -- and that doesn't happen often. Usually, it's easy for my brain to drift off and look at the little details like costume or set design, or consider the choreography of a fight sequence, or dissect the special effects. That did not happen with Serenity which instead provided me with a rollercoaster plot that travelled along unexpected routes that still felt deeply familiar.

It is that familiarity, ultimately, that makes Serenity (and Firefly before it) so much more than a sci-fi film. Yes, there are spaceships and pulse weapons and multiple planets, but the universe is populated by humans who fled Earth. There is sin and salvation; heartbreak and hope; passion, betrayal and commitment. In short, Serenity is full of emotion -- surprisingly so for a movie that is also filled with some pretty graphic violence and space battles.

And while I am on the topic of the violence and fighting, there is plenty; it's well choreographed, and supported by some good special effects. Yes, some of it looks a bit cheesy, but that's part of the charm; there's a little bit of an old-time serial feel to the series that is echoed in the film.

The film plot ties up loose ends from the series (in a lot of ways, I think it's Whedon's "thank you" to the fans) and while I don't think one would neccessarily need to see the series -- the movie could stand on its own -- most of the characters' backgrounds are glossed over in the film, so the aforementioned emotion might not be as pronounced to those who haven't seen it.

Firefly has a huge, dedicated fan base (called Browncoats, after the Independents who fought against the Alliance) who mobilized to try and save the show from cancellation and again to promote Serenity. It worked -- Serenity had a US$10M opening weekend. I'm not sure I am as zealous a fan of Firefly or of Joss Whedon (who has his own legions of fans, some of whom happen to be Browncoats), but I am certainly going to buy Serenity when it is available on DVD.

[And, when I see it a second time, I'm sure I will pay more attention to the effects, costumes, and choreography.]

If you are curious, hubby also wrote a review, over on the Medianook.

Better wear solid colours, I guess.

Woman booted off U.S. flight over T-shirt mocking Bush, Cheney and Rice [canada.com network]

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said several passengers complained about the shirt.

Heasley, 32, a lumber saleswoman, said passengers began complaining after she and her husband, Ron, moved to the front of the cabin in Reno.

She agreed to cover the words with a sweatshirt, but when the sweatshirt slipped while she was trying to sleep, she was ordered to wear her T-shirt inside-out or leave.

Unbefuckinglievable.

Are Liberals Really That Scary?

Author Katherine DeBrecht thought so; she penned Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed!, a story which aims "to teach kids about the value of hard work and the threat that taxes pose to the American Dream."

It's endorsed by Rush Limbaugh.

Yeah, I'm a little scared.

Gaiman and Whedon in one Evening.

Neil Gaiman stepped up to the podium, "Victoria had been hidden from me until the American Gods tour, " he said, "And when I saw it, I thought, 'What a lovely place. And such fresh sushi!'" he added, to audience applause.



The rest of the speech, reading, and Q&A were just as pleasant, funny and entertaining; there was much applause and laughter from the full (but not packed) house at the Alix Goolden Hall last night. When asked what other job he might do, if not writing, he considered perhaps a job that didn't exist, "Freelance Religion Designer," an answer which garnered some of the biggest laughs of the evening.

When Gaiman was done reading, and everyone lined up for the signing part of the evening, hubby and I looked at our watches and realized that since we had nothing we needed to be signed, we had enough time to zip across town to see the late showing of Serenity, so we did just that.

Lemme tell ya, that late show was one of the most pleasant moviegoing experiences I've had in a long time. Here's why:

1. The movie itself was great (review will follow soon).
2. The theatre was virtually empty -- we were able to sit in the middle of the theatre with no one too close to us. By the time the lights went down, I'd guess there were fewer than 25 people in the audience.
3. The pre-show ads/trivia/soundtrack was not running (hubby thought that the show might be satellite-delivered from Ontario so, since it was after midnight there, no show was running on the west coast).
4. We used a 2-for-1 ticket so our cost was $9.95 (plus the overpriced coffees we purchased, at $3 each, but at least we didn't buy popcorn).

So, yes, my brain was well-exercised last night, I felt all literate and in-on-the-in-jokes by the time we got home (at which point, we turned on The Daily Show, just to keep the brain in motion a leeeetle longer).

***

By the way, if you missed the Time Magazine interview with Gaiman and Whedon, you should stop reading my silly blog and go read it instead.

Wanted: Mugshot

If I were ever to commit some awful crime, and police were looking for me, it might be helpful to know what a police sketch might look like. For many years, police have been using products like the Identi-Kit (a mix-and-match jigsaw puzzle kit of standad features) or sketch artists to help witnesses identify suspects. Identi-Kit now offers a software version of the kit and is one of several such programs available.

Naturally, these police tools are not available for you and me to use, but Ultimate Flash Face v0.42b (UFF.42) will give you the experience you crave. Unfortunately, UFF does not allow the user to move eyes closer together or further apart and there aren't too many choices for some features (glasses, especially were wildly out of style, with only one small-frame pair to select). Still, here's what I came up with (compared to me, on the right):

Which is not that great (the eyebrows are really wrong and the spacing of my features is off just enough to be creepy rather than accurate) but, if it was on a wanted poster, you might be able to identify me. Feel free to play around with UFF, and if you get a better wanted shot of me, please *don't* save it to their server, but do send me a copy or post it in the comments.

Largely a Lovely Day

This morning, hubby gave me my gift (Labyrinth on DVD and a bar of Denman Island Espresso Chunk Chocolate). I, on the other hand, get the Idiot Award® for losing part of hubby's gift. It'll show up eventually... meantime... I had to give him what I could find (sigh) -- sculpting supplies (since the 8th anniversary is pottery) and an art card that depicts the restaurant where we had our first date.

After that, hubby went out to workout, but the van had other ideas. He came back half an hour later and a few dollars lighter for a litre of oil and several (eep!) litres of water. I also added engine coolant later. Needless to say, the van is running hot and needs some serious TLC. I hope it's not too costly; we're taking it in first thing tomorrow morning.

We decided to still go out for lunch after dropping kiddo at school, and settled on Pagliacci's. I hadn't been in ages, but it hadn't changed any -- still elbow to elbow with the other tables, and the bread is still the best in Victoria. (The food is pretty good too!)

After lunch we wandered around town for a while, including a brief wander through the Empress where I found something NEW (well, not exactly new, but something I didn't know existed) -- the "Empress Archives." Really, it's just a little alcove in the basement level with some framed postcards and menus plus display cases with hotel and Canadian Pacific memorabilia. Still, pretty cool [pictured below is an old Guest Book].

We also tried some gelato (green tea for him, strawberry cheesecake for me) from Oh!Gelato on Government (yummy, but the portions are waaay too large).

A bit more wandering (hardware store for home reno fact-finding; and the mall) and then we picked up kiddo and headed home for a huge sushi feast care of (you guessed it) hubby. I sure do love him. :)

Happy Anniversary

Resistance is futile.

Happy Eighth
Anniversary!

Yahoo! Can Scan Books Too

Keeping up with Google must be tough, but Yahoo! is doing its best, joining with a number of other companies and institutions to form the Open Content Alliance.

The founding members of the OCA include Yahoo, Adobe, the Internet Archive, the European Archive, Prelinger Archives, H-P Labs, the U.K.'s National Archives, O'Reilly Media Inc, the University of California and the University of Toronto.

The universities will provide the initial content, while Yahoo will power the search engine, and along with Adobe and H-P Labs will provide technology. [from MarketWatch]

Ultra-disgusting PSAs

According to AshtrayMouth.com :: Kissing a Smoker is Just as Gross as not only the proverbial "licking an ashtray" but also kissing a creepy bobble-headed doll with a maggot-infested rat in its mouth (a tv-spot that ran at just before 6:30 pm, when my 4-YEAR OLD was in the room -- thanks asshats) or a similar bobble-headed doll with whatever the cat just barfed up shoved in its mouth (that spot ran about 2 hours later).

For the record, I've kissed a few smokers and it's NOT THAT BAD.

I understand the whole anti-smoking thing, and I know they are trying to get the attention of youth by using a faux-retro stop-animation style and big anime-eyed dolls. I don't understand the need for hysterical hyperbole.

I am absolutely disgusted by these PSAs and angry with KCPQ for running them so early. I have a strong stomach; I can appreciate gore for the sake of gore but its place is not in the middle of a Simpsons rerun.

Grrrrrr.

Real estate spammer

Another weasel!!! N. Jeanette Campa - , San Jose CA is using comment spammers to promote her site.

Shame on her!!!

Emergency Record Management 101

First, go read: The Rogue Scholar: Emergency Record Management 101.

Now, a few years ago, hubby and I considered starting a business of helping people create inventories for insurance purposes. The article gets a lot of things right though, and basically the author suggests using a flash drive for the most important items (we were using CD-Rs), and he tells you what those items should be.

In Victoria, we are always worrying about the Big One -- the earthquake that plunges a chunk of the city into the sea and brings devastation to the region. Other areas are worried about flooding, tornados, monsoons, whatever Ma Nature has to offer. But smaller than that are house fires, landslides, localized floods, or even something as random as a truck going off the road and into your living room. Crap happens all the time, and people who are prepared will have one less thing to worry about.

Excuse me now, while I go rotate our emergency supplies and update our inventory lists....

CanCon in the Coffeeshop

OK. I like Starbucks, same way I accept Microsoft. Let's just say the folks down in Seattle have me by the short and curlies that way.

Now, it appears I missed one of Starbucks' manouvers below the border: Hear Music -- Starbucks' entry into music retail and satellite radio. [This happened in 1999, and now I think about it, it does explain all the coffee-bar-CD sales... guess I was sleeping. Meh.] Anyway, now it appears they want to open a Hear Music outlet in Toronto [link to Newsday story].

Canada has set its culture police to the task of ensuring "adequate Canadian content." Really? We're still worried about CanCon in 2005? I mean, Hear Music includes music bars where patrons can pick and choose and burn custom CDs -- and they are worried about CanCon? Canadian artists are all over the Billboard charts. and they have been for years. Music is not the area Canada needs to worry about.

TV? Now there, we have an issue. Sure Canada puts out some quality shows (a few less right now since the CBC is still in negotiation deadlock), but most get buried beneath mountains of crappy sitcoms and weak dramas, to say nothing of "reality" TV. CTV is climbing all over itself to run so many US-imports this season that its primetime blocks are starting at 7 p.m.

I'm all for Canada having a distinct culture, but someone ought to tell the government how to pick their battles.

Early Anniversary Dinner

Hubby and I snuck out for a couple of hours tonight while my Mom watched kiddo. We went to the Queen Mother Waterside for dinner. This is the Victoria location for an established Toronto eatery with yummy south-east asian food -- some traditional dishes, some western meals with asian touches or influences. We started with Crispy thai rice balls (soft, mildly spicy, and coated in a crunchy-sesame crust). I had Almond crusted halibut with vegetable potstickers (mild yet flavourful and mouth-watering); hubby had Khao soy gai (by all accounts just as tasty).

Took a few photos along the way -- notably of some paragliders coming in for landings at Clover point -- beautiful windy night for it, too.

At the end of the drive, we stopped in to Moka House at Shoal Point for some coffee drinks to-go. We got home just in time to hear my Mom reading kiddo Dr. Seuss' ABC book; she fell asleep before Mom left and we got upstairs to check on her. For the rest of the evening, we'll be watching a few more Firefly episodes before SNL's season premiere.