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<title>Geoduck Letters RSS</title><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/index.html</link><description>Geoduck RSS</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright Douglas aalseth</dc:rights><dc:date>2013-12-28T05:59:44-08:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
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<lastBuildDate>Wed, 2 Jan 2013 06:57:43 -0800</lastBuildDate><item><title>2013: A Wild Year</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-12-28T05:59:44-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/f6ddbb8d4f79c3163fd991cbfbb53ac9-156.html#unique-entry-id-156</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/f6ddbb8d4f79c3163fd991cbfbb53ac9-156.html#unique-entry-id-156</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In addition to reading with the kids, we both did some presentations for her class about fossils and&nbsp;rocks, which was a lot of fun. 

...This was done during the run of the radio play and I had to appear a couple of times with a black eye patch. ...  The surgery itself was simple but there were complications that resulted in delayed healing, several trips to Victoria to have it examined by another eye doctor, and delay to the cataract surgery for my left eye. 

...My dad had a saying he&rsquo;d use when faced with some unexpected setback or problem; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an ill wind that blows nobody good&rdquo;. 

...I&rsquo;ve installed, maintained, and worked with Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, 98, 95 and 3.11 plus MacOS from OS-X all the way back to 6.0.7, ProDOS, Commodore DOS, MS-DOS, Android, iOS, Solaris, SunOS, and others. ...  That it is the next thing Microsoft is pushing out and within a couple of years all of our systems would be running it, played no small factor in my decision to walk away from IT. I just don't want to deal with it any more. ...  That&rsquo;s how I felt about IT. I was just sick of being unable to make things work the way the user needed it to not because of my limitations but because the SYSTEM would not allow it. 

...To be honest there was a point when I wasn&rsquo;t sure I&rsquo;d make it to the new year. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Dark Sky&#x2c; Strange Humour</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-12-22T05:58:43-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/b25c3b009f11c5c8a06d457aed992e97-155.html#unique-entry-id-155</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/b25c3b009f11c5c8a06d457aed992e97-155.html#unique-entry-id-155</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Marsha&rsquo;s planning on taking a few days too, &nbsp;but I think she's going to drop a couple of e-mails to her boss on Christmas Day just to freak her out. 

...Early in the week a bunch of us were working on a robot who&rsquo;s drive train had failed. ...  The tooth profile for the brass bevel gear did not match the profile of the teeth on the stainless steel pinion gear that was driving it. 

...Then at one point there was a pause and I added &ldquo;So what you&rsquo;re saying is that the reason for the gear failure was a matter of a-pinion.&rdquo; 

...So then a couple of days later I went in to talk to one of the machinists.   Tim and Craig were in the manual machine shop (as opposed to the other room where we have several computer controlled CNC machines).   I wanted to talk to Craig but he was digging in the cabinet where they store drill bits, mills, taps and such. 

...I mean how can you not laugh when you grow up in a state with a town named Idiotville.&nbsp;
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Weird News of the Week</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-12-15T05:57:42-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/8334a80fa272a3abfede51fc71d42bdd-154.html#unique-entry-id-154</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/8334a80fa272a3abfede51fc71d42bdd-154.html#unique-entry-id-154</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It&rsquo;s been a slow week for us but fortunately there has been a lot of odd things in the news.   I guess it&rsquo;s because it&rsquo;s Christmas and the weather has been weird and, well, I guess people are getting a little stir crazy. 

...It&rsquo;s an odd tradition, but it does answer the question I&rsquo;ve had since I was a kid; why is Santa&rsquo;s nose red.&nbsp;


...Now it&rsquo;s only one particular kind of rare liver disease, and only the Norwegians have studied it but I know of more than a few people that will be quoting from this research.


...(For those that don&rsquo;t recall this is related to the allegations that Rupert Murdoch&rsquo;s News of the World engaged in an extensive hacking program of the telephones of celebrities, Royals, and people just unlucky enough to be in the news.   The revelations have cost a lot of people their careers, resulted in the shutting down of The News of the World, and put a number of people in the dock for various crimes.)   In any event it was revealed that police investigating the crimes were nibbling on bowls of nuts that had been left out for the Queen. ...  In reporting on this story though the BBC just used the headline &ldquo;Police Told to Leave Queen&rsquo;s Nuts.&rdquo;&nbsp;
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Name Debate</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-12-08T05:56:54-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/6b75b85f3a2de7387a68c57a2bf12290-153.html#unique-entry-id-153</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/6b75b85f3a2de7387a68c57a2bf12290-153.html#unique-entry-id-153</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This particular one though, is that we tend to name our cars, at least the ones we really like. 

...Not sure what set them off, we&rsquo;re working with a couple of projects with BC and Vancouver but we never talk about what we sell. ...  Not that it&rsquo;s top secret or anything, it&rsquo;s just that when&nbsp; we sell a robot to someone we let them talk about it. 

...No big thing, it&rsquo;s just that they are the more experienced people working with these robots so I stayed out of the shots to avoid doing something stupid.


...OK that&rsquo;s like 26F so I don&rsquo;t expect to get any sympathy from our friends in Minnesota, or Kansas City, or Albuquerque or Carson City, or just about anywhere else in North America.   It was so cold that they almost had to cancel a launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base because they weren&rsquo;t sure the rocket would work right. 

...Some days I&rsquo;ve even had to put on an extra flannel shirt under my winter coat, (which admittedly is also just a flannel shirt). 

...FWIW Marsha isn't in most of the pictures as she normally had the camera, (and she doesn't like getting her&nbsp;picture&nbsp;taken).
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Getting Used to the New Car</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-12-01T05:55:44-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/416295cf6607ca027b90a06317d86821-152.html#unique-entry-id-152</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/416295cf6607ca027b90a06317d86821-152.html#unique-entry-id-152</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Hit the power button, the car boots up (according to the salesman where our &rsquo;05 Prius has like 5 computers, this one has like 15 or 20. ...  Actually it&rsquo;s not so much of a button as a soft spot on one side of the handle marked with a couple of braille dots. ...  I mean to hit the button you have to be within three feet of the car and it&rsquo;s supposed to unlock whenever you&rsquo;re that close. 

...When you put it into reverse the screen on the dash switches to a wide angle view shot from just above the back bumper so you can see what&rsquo;s behind you. 

...I found a convenient driveway and pulled over, (EDIT: I suspect he really means, screamed like a little girl swerved across two lanes of traffic and stopped with wheels on the sidewalk. ...  Thinking about it later I probably should have checked to see if there was a web somewhere with the words &ldquo;Some Car&rdquo; in it. 

...For women it means &ldquo;I took everything that was dirty or even a bit dusty, put it in the sink, carefully scrubbed it all until it shined and then lovingly put it in the drainer. ...  Then I repeated the process for the vases, display china, glass christmas ornaments, and that crystal whatever in the heck it was that your mother gave us for Christmas in 1998, you know the one that marked the moment when she stopped hating me?&rdquo;&nbsp;
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Slow Week&#x2c; Short Letter</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-11-24T05:54:41-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/ec53f8ef2c4f0c4705c75423a8123eb2-151.html#unique-entry-id-151</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/ec53f8ef2c4f0c4705c75423a8123eb2-151.html#unique-entry-id-151</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[They had been planning this trip with Barbara for a few weeks but everyone kept it a secret just to they could surprise us. 

...It&rsquo;s easier to drive, more practical than the Civic for carrying remodelling supplies, plus we&rsquo;re planning on a trip to Minnesota next summer. 

...Most of the time it's mountain lion or bear but deer also tend to go about their business without a care for what we're doing. 

...Seems this week one of their planes was flying to the big airport in Wichita and inadvertently landed at the little General Aviation field a few miles away.   In the pilot&rsquo;s defence it was daytime, and the weather was clear, and the airports look nothing alike, and his GPS SAID he was several miles away from the actual airport. 

...Secondly, the rocket was very low cost because it was made of surplus parts from Minuteman missiles, spares from other rockets, and obsolete parts from the Constellation and Orion projects. 

...There was a discussion of this on the BBC World Service radio and I really liked near the end when the reporter said that his cancer was not a a war. 

...And for those Dr Who fans out there - here is a link to a video about the classic Doctors trying to be involved int he 50th anniversary special. &nbsp;]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>But It Was Perfectly Safe</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-11-17T05:25:55-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/c7d9c773b5cec40308209d182c8132c5-150.html#unique-entry-id-150</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/c7d9c773b5cec40308209d182c8132c5-150.html#unique-entry-id-150</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[We had to take the day off of work, line up for the ferry, and all that. ...  After all we weren&rsquo;t that familiar with Vancouver, and it was a workday so traffic might have been an issue.   As it turned out we found the place with no problem and because we were so early we had time to kill. 

...In fact it did, but they hadn&rsquo;t mentioned the ten minutes of prep time and another forty minutes for the glucose and tracer to be absorbed. 

...As a result cancer will show up as bright spots on the scan while regular things like muscles and organs that are just sitting there will be dark. ...  Oh but I should avoid being near pregnant women, or small children, or people with compromised immune systems for a day or so because I would be radioactive, but it&rsquo;s perfectly safe. 

...Now Docker&rsquo;s Khakis have never been my style but this seemed like a rather extreme way to remove all metal from the room, not to mention all the testosterone.


...She then told me that the table would move back and forth through the tube, to not move, and that it was perfectly safe. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Conversations</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-11-10T05:23:00-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/9506d00d6ec016c559c3fb8f90716325-149.html#unique-entry-id-149</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/9506d00d6ec016c559c3fb8f90716325-149.html#unique-entry-id-149</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Receptionist: They&rsquo;ve reserved the ballroom at the Grand Hotel, they&rsquo;ll have food, and all sorts of fun things, and speeches, a special room for the kids. 

...Clicking on that took me to the UPS tracking site where I was greeted by a message saying the tracking number was not in their system. 

...What was it doing for four days I don&rsquo;t know and then there was a note that said it had been tendered for shipment after the last pick up, which I found odd. 

...Thursday we saw a note that while on Wednesday it had been put on a plane in Mt. Hope Ontario, &nbsp;however the plane had mechanical trouble and was late leaving. &nbsp;  Later in the day we got a note saying that the package had gotten to Calgary and had been put on another plane, but that plane ALSO had mechanical trouble and was late. 

...I told Marsha that it may have been on the ferry but the way things had been going, I expected the boat to sink before it got here. 

...However where Tyrannosaurus Rex always struck me as a bit, what&rsquo;s the word, pompous perhaps, blunt, self aggrandizing maybe, not subtle in any way whatsoever, the same is not true of Lythronax arrestees. ...  Pick up a toddler and teach it to her with a smile and a cute voice &ldquo;Can you say Lyth-ro-nax arr-tes-tees, come on I know you can.&rdquo; &nbsp;]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Wildlife</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-11-03T05:21:16-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/b2c4c7b0f84824377e08eff4d2405657-148.html#unique-entry-id-148</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/b2c4c7b0f84824377e08eff4d2405657-148.html#unique-entry-id-148</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[For those of you who don&rsquo;t remember, James Bay is the little tag that hangs off of the lower right corner of Hudson&rsquo;s Bay.   If you don&rsquo;t remember where Hudson&rsquo;s Bay is, it is the big hole in the middle of Canada. 

...They found him this week, weak and thin but he&rsquo;d survived, rather remarkable when you think about the terrain, and that it&rsquo;s far enough north that they&rsquo;ve been getting freezing temps for weeks now.&nbsp;


...It&rsquo;s a beautiful area but not somewhere I&rsquo;d want to have to hike out of armed only with a Swiss Army Knife.


...The part of the story that I found most interesting was that when the bear didn&rsquo;t run off at the sound of gunfire, one of the locals had to challenge it with his car.&nbsp;


...No this was near Galiano Island on one of the short runs between the smaller Gulf Islands and the Tswassen Ferry Terminal, right off of Vancouver. 

...Wind, rain, it was really rough out there. the weather was so bad that The Spirit of Nanaimo, one of the BC Ferries Boats that service the smaller Gulf Islands was blown off course and smashed into a floating dock. 

...At Kool and Kid, the store where we get our Bob&rsquo;s and Lolo DVDs, we found this line of all wooden working models of medieval inventions They are really authentic, no nails, rather they use wooden pegs and glue to hold the parts together. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Windshields</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-10-27T09:32:09-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/bc13c674cceea03893cee199aa51af76-147.html#unique-entry-id-147</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/bc13c674cceea03893cee199aa51af76-147.html#unique-entry-id-147</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[You see, back when I was in college I, like a lot of guys at the time, had a Little Black Book. 

...The last few months have been rough but I&rsquo;ve come to really appreciate the messages of support, the e-mails, the FaceBook posts, (I'm not on FaceBook but Marsha lets me know who says what), and the actual paper letters that have arrived. 

...This year I&rsquo;ve been both but it&rsquo;s been a lot easier knowing people are out there pulling for us.


...This week I had yet another doctor appointment, this time in Victoria,which is a two hour trip down the Island on a good day. ...  But to be sure we each set an alarm to go off at 4:00; Marsha&rsquo;s on the iPad and me on my iPod.&nbsp;


...We actually got there early enough that we could hit one of our favourite bakeries before the appointment and stock up on great bread and cinnamon rolls.&nbsp;


...As a result of the trip to Victoria I have appointments each day this week culminating in a my first IV chemo session on Wednesday. ...  I can&rsquo;t help but think that if I feel this energetic and content when I&rsquo;m anaemic then when I&rsquo;m back to full strength I&rsquo;ll be bouncing off the walls like &!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Morgan Freeman&#x27;s Makeup</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-10-20T09:29:24-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/e8311df2503ecd5ca4f3fc7e2eb8f4b1-146.html#unique-entry-id-146</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/e8311df2503ecd5ca4f3fc7e2eb8f4b1-146.html#unique-entry-id-146</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Because it was early in the morning and I wasn&rsquo;t quite awake yet, for about half an hour I thought they&rsquo;d cast MORGAN Freeman as Bilbo. 

...It&rsquo;s smart, and fast, and has a great camera, and does all sorts of things like e-mail and &nbsp;web, and games, and writing, and documents, and it&rsquo;s Marsha&rsquo;s.   I understand you might be surprised that she got the new phone and I&rsquo;m stuck with a phone that displays calls in hieroglyphics.   The thing is she needed a new phone while I almost don&rsquo;t need a phone at all. ...  I, on the other hand, don&rsquo;t know my neighbours' names, Oh and Marsha has a new job where she works from home, so having a new phone is very helpful.


...We&rsquo;d settled all of the details and paperwork and such, the only thing left was to transfer her data to the new phone. ...  Then we took the phone home and I got to set it up on our network, download assorted software, and connect it to e-mail. 


...All of this IT work reminded me of why I&rsquo;m glad to be working with real stuff, real gears, and real grease on my hands again. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Monsters of Various Kinds</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-10-13T12:12:27-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/1b2317f4a053a88e40769e990f3b38a5-145.html#unique-entry-id-145</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/1b2317f4a053a88e40769e990f3b38a5-145.html#unique-entry-id-145</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[First I want to say thank you to everyone that wrote back with nice comments about Defiance, the piece that Marsha sent out. 

...I set up an account a year ago and nothing of interest to anyone anywhere in the world living or dead has happened since then. 

...I don&rsquo;t post anything, just use it to track theatre and film groups here in Nanaimo; Nanaimo Theatre Group, Nanaimo Film Group, Hub City Film Society, and such. 

...I like Tumblr because it&rsquo;s a hangout for artists, actors, musicians, and such so I&rsquo;m more comfortable there. ...  Be advised though, as you may have noticed in Defiance, the language on my Tumblr stuff is a bit rougher than what I use in my letters. 

...Only on Tuesday will we start to look at the rest of the robot, the crawler tracks, the camera, and the chassis that will have all the smaller bits mounted on it. ...  Of course, that&rsquo;s what you want if you&rsquo;re spending many thousands of dollars for a machine to go into a dangerous environment, or deep under water, or far underground, or into a nuclear reactor to inspect or sample or fix something. ...  (Unless of course it&rsquo;s been in a nuclear reactor when having it come back out isn&rsquo;t really desirable.)
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Small Town</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-10-06T12:11:13-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/1d5c807d5880a177f7957e96c718b1ff-144.html#unique-entry-id-144</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/1d5c807d5880a177f7957e96c718b1ff-144.html#unique-entry-id-144</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[At this point she launches into a long discussion of alternative cancer therapies and the benefits of aboriginal and alternative therapies while I nod and smile and wonder how the heck she knew all about my illness. ...  He&rsquo;s in Courtney and, as you might have picked up from his name, is a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. ...  Or one of the people I work with, but I haven&rsquo;t really told anyone in the office why I&rsquo;ve been out.


...We shopped, ate, visited half a dozen grocery stores in search of Penguin Cookies, ate, went to Cathedral Grove between rainstorms, ate, wandered around Coombs, ate, and when that was done we ate some more.   In between eating and visiting grocery stores we tried a good number of Vancouver Island craft beers, or Kraft beers, after a few...gallons......  After I&rsquo;m fully recovered I might have to keep sea food on my diet just so I can have fish tacos. 

...I&rsquo;ll still be doing a bit of IT related stuff (more and more of our systems are computer controlled) but no more weekend calls because a server fried, no more all nighters fighting with a software upgrade, no more panicked calls because the whole company has lost a critical system and I&rsquo;m responsible for fixing it.   Nope, from now I&rsquo;m on regular hours with a job I can put down at the end of the day and go home.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>This Week at the Movies</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-09-29T12:10:25-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/25e6916623d3edf5df9c8cf13f8f8fc4-143.html#unique-entry-id-143</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/25e6916623d3edf5df9c8cf13f8f8fc4-143.html#unique-entry-id-143</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The last morning I was there the movie channel ran the classic The Night The World Exploded (Mining has exposed a material from the earth&rsquo;s core that explodes when exposed to air causing massive earthquakes. ...  Then this morning I caught part of Creature with the Atom Brain (Ex Nazi scientist makes atomic powered zombies and lets a gangster use them for revenge).   I wasn&rsquo;t quite sure if the atom brain was in the creature or a reference to the Nazi, but it was a bit of silly fun. 


...Also, it&rsquo;s premier week and Marsha is catching all the new episodes of her favourite murder and mayhem shows, Murdoch Mysteries, Bones, Castle, Psych, NCIS, CSI, Elementary, Hawaii Five-O, and a few others I think. ...  In any event all of this activity has made it a good week for me to pull out a few DVDs.


...For example, in the diner when Geoff and Melanie are trying to tell everyone about what&rsquo;s going on with the birds, nobody believes them. ...  Cinematically it makes for a great scene of birds smashing into the glass and the birds attacking the people trying to fight the fire, but running across the lot to the phone booth made no sense. 

...Or maybe I&rsquo;ll dig out a classic like Vincent Price in The Last Man On Earth (which was remade with Charlton Heston as Omega Man, and then with Will Smith as I Am Legend).
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A Quiet Week</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-09-22T12:08:25-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/c4fbbd849b238fd77019883b516a7119-142.html#unique-entry-id-142</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/c4fbbd849b238fd77019883b516a7119-142.html#unique-entry-id-142</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[When the biggest question of the day is if you&rsquo;ll nap in the morning or afternoon, or both, there&rsquo;s not a lot to talk about. 

...You pay to run your commercial during The Noon Movie, or The Classic Film, or Svenghoolie&rsquo;s Creature Feature but it&rsquo;s up to the channel to decide what film to run. 

...And then there was the report on the BBC World Service about the Northern Snakehead, a nasty, aggressive, invasive fish that has taken root in Maryland and elsewhere. ...  It&rsquo;s not a bad idea, people have been doing that with all sorts of things for centuries. ...  Each one of these fish that&rsquo;s eaten is one less in the wild, where they shouldn&rsquo;t be, which is good for the environment. 


...They talk about it at the time ,but as there was no recording equipment back then nobody really knows what it sounded like. 

...Imagine Stonewall Jackson telling his men &ldquo;All right boys, let&rsquo;s let &lsquo;em know we&rsquo;re here&rdquo;, at which point 50,000 grey clad Confederate soldiers all sound off with Curley Stooge&rsquo;s &ldquo;Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk&rdquo;. &nbsp;...  Let&rsquo;s never make that sound again&rdquo;, which is why nobody today actually knows what the rebel yell was. &nbsp;]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Fridge Saga</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-08-04T14:53:16-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/f3ad29fd05ca1df402f20e46c00e5939-141.html#unique-entry-id-141</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/f3ad29fd05ca1df402f20e46c00e5939-141.html#unique-entry-id-141</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Guys are supposed to know when something is not working right, even if it&rsquo;s only a slightly &lsquo;funny&rsquo; sound that the device might be making. ...  You see I know, because I&rsquo;m a guy, that refrigerators are supposed to be silent and every once in a while start up and go Hmmmmmmmmmm. 

...I noticed the change immediately, well not immediately actually, it took me several days to pick up on it, but when I did I had a strong feeling that our refrigerator was on its last legs. 

...I probed around and decided that it was stuck in place with adhesive of some kind, but try as I might I couldn&rsquo;t get it to let go. 

...I suggested that, because I&rsquo;m a guy and I know about these sort of things, that it might be a good idea to move all the frozen stuff from the old refrigerator to our big chest freezer. ...  After a while she even thought about running it, there was no cross traffic to speak of, but the light had a camera designed to catch red light runners so she had to stay put. 

...The bad news was that, because we live on an island we couldn&rsquo;t get it until the following Tuesday when they sent the weekly load over from the mainland. ...  While I, the guy in the house, had concluded that the old fridge had picked that exact time to expire, Marsha found out that if she adjusted the controls to correct for the change in load both the refrigerator and freezer would still hold the correct temperatures. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Observations About Hospital Life</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-09-15T14:48:39-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/248c51162a1cb6c70643eed0630d05a0-140.html#unique-entry-id-140</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/248c51162a1cb6c70643eed0630d05a0-140.html#unique-entry-id-140</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Don&rsquo;t get me wrong, Nanaimo Regional Hospital has first rate facilities but it&rsquo;s still a hospital, and life in a hospital is not like life on the outside. ...  There is an arcane sequence of rewards, for example it was the second day before I was given a fork to eat my jello. 

...Much like the 90% of all hard core biker tattoos that get washed off before work on Monday, my &lsquo;piercings&rsquo; were just a passing affectation.&nbsp;


...For some reason when the area in my lower abdomen that they worked on got irritated, I also felt pain in my shoulder. ...  I asked one of my nurses and she thought it was due to the gas they used in the laparoscopic surgery migrating to the highest point when I was sitting up. 

...For example, When we were checking in, the person asked me if I wanted to list a religious preference (presumably for diet restrictions or counselling or such). 

...On the way into the operating room the head nurse, a very senior, very serious, very experienced character, let me know that before they started, the doctor would stop the whole operation for a second.   He would then tell everyone what procedure they were there for, just to make sure everyone is in the same page before the first scalpel was picked up or CC of anesthetic administered. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Dr. Who &#x26; the Yogurt of Doom</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-09-08T14:47:01-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/8e62b854e44f039a173f06493b914192-139.html#unique-entry-id-139</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/8e62b854e44f039a173f06493b914192-139.html#unique-entry-id-139</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Now, I don&rsquo;t know about politics, well to be honest I don&rsquo;t know about sausage either, but I did find something the saying applies to. 

...Sometimes I&rsquo;d add Grape Nuts or blackberries, but as to how yogurt came to be, I&rsquo;d honestly never thought about it. ...  I knew it had something to do with a cow but beyond that I was a bit...shall we say...squeemish. ...  When we went by the animal barns while everyone else was oohing and aahing over the cows&rsquo; beautiful brown eyes or the coat on the horses or the fuzzy rabbits all I noticed was the manure and trying to not step in it. 

...I&rsquo;d call it scalding but apparently there&rsquo;s a particular temperature it gets heated to that only kills the &lsquo;bad bacteria&rsquo;, (like there&rsquo;s any other kind). ...  One visit would be with some white haired nurse that was so experienced the shot was over before you knew she&rsquo;d started. 

...I&rsquo;m sure the next Bond movie will have a climactic scene where the mad scientist is about to contaminate all of New York, not with a nuclear dirty bomb, but with one bottle of home made yogurt. 


...Maybe it was that we were taught to wash and dry everything and then put it in the dishwasher &ldquo;to make sure it&rsquo;s clean&rdquo;. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>We&#x27;ve Had Better Months</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-09-02T14:46:09-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/43721af6b2503d3538a20b3d3d78ac66-138.html#unique-entry-id-138</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/43721af6b2503d3538a20b3d3d78ac66-138.html#unique-entry-id-138</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The side of her head is swelling where it hit a merchandise rack, but it&rsquo;s under her hair so we don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s also going technicolor. 

...The best part of course is all the meetings to discuss and explain what&rsquo;s going on to my boss, the company&rsquo;s accounting person, random nurses, doctors, hospital scheduling staff, and so on. 

...I was reminded of an old song that went &nbsp;&ldquo;If it weren&rsquo;t for bad luck, I&rsquo;d have no luck at all&rdquo;. 

...That&rsquo;s right, the whole of the bloody Pacific Ocean to sail in and on a clear day just before noon the two ships ran into each other. 

...I mean we get a lot of rain, it is the Pacific Northwest after all, but not all at once. 

...All sorts of exotic theories were suggested, but in the end it turned out that one of the city workers was using a hand grinder to resharpen the blade on the cities road grader.   While this is a logical, if mundane, explanation, it&rsquo;s not stopping people from proposing all sorts of more interesting alternatives including a battle between a Spirit Bear and a Sasquatch and/or UFO. Here&rsquo;s an idea, next time how about not doing this kind of work first thing in the morning.


...They have a really fantastic museum, the Royal Tyrell Museum, in Calgary with all sorts of exhibits about Dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/index.htm. &nbsp;]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Oddities</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-08-25T14:45:15-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/a3a4b4e3db7dc8d0f7f93b45f0ff344a-137.html#unique-entry-id-137</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/a3a4b4e3db7dc8d0f7f93b45f0ff344a-137.html#unique-entry-id-137</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This is a real conversation Marsha and I had on the way back from Victoria on Thursday. 

...So I went back and double checked the price, everything matched and so I took the label to Customer Service and received the item for free. &nbsp;

...The specialist, who reminded me of Tom Bodett, looked and said "Well, I see the problems the other doctor saw, but let's wait a bit. ...  I don't think we want to jump in trying to fix things that might not need fixing and in the process cause more damage if we don't have to." 

...http://www.pne.ca Interestingly there is also a CNE, The Canadian National Exhibition, a similar event going on right now in Toronto. http://theex.com and in Manitoba they are currently hosting The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba http://www.brandonfairs.com so maybe The Fair is only used south of the border.   There is also an event going on in Quebec called ExpoQuebec2013 and seems to be more about shows and corporate exhibits than livestock and fair rides. 

...Anyway at the PNE the big news was the horse that spooked and ran into a couple of people.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/08/22/bc-pne-horse-breaks-free.html and the brief power outage Saturday morning.   Other than that it's just been a normal fair with the highlight of deep fried things on a stickhttp://bc.ctvnews.ca/fair-food-favourites-the-pne-s-healthy-and-not-so-healthy-treats-1.1420902 and concerts by Melissa Etheridge, The Jacksons, and Corb Lund & the Hurtin' Albertans. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Choices</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-08-19T14:44:11-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/812f44c4634299104a2487488643643e-136.html#unique-entry-id-136</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/812f44c4634299104a2487488643643e-136.html#unique-entry-id-136</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I have thought about this a lot this week, because as you know from last week's letter I had cataract surgery done on my right eye. ...  I am left with the choice of going without glasses and just relying on the newly repaired eye, which does not focus closer than 3 feet. ...  My second choice is to wear my old glasses so my left eye works normally, but the right eye is completely blurry. &nbsp;...  I had not expected the image through the glasses to be significantly smaller than the image through the now repaired eye. &nbsp;  My first inkling of this was when I was looking at my hand through the left eye, it looked normal and through the right eye is looked huge. ...  Now this I could work around except most of the time I use both eyes and it means when I am watching TV, for example, I have to carefully line up the two images in order to see what is going on. &nbsp;  This is not the most relaxing thing in the world especially because the image going through the glasses lens moves the opposite direction to the image through the repaired eye. ...  I have no choice but to press ahead, heal up and do the other eye as soon as possible. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>False Advertizing</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-08-11T14:42:39-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/bcd6a64e5122b6d16144aac5e3089d8b-135.html#unique-entry-id-135</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/bcd6a64e5122b6d16144aac5e3089d8b-135.html#unique-entry-id-135</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[She began by saying &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to put three different eyedrops in and just so you know, two of them will sting a bit.&rdquo;   Then between asking me questions and checking things she put in the first drop, which stung a bit, then she put in the second, which stung a bit. 

...For those, like me, that didn&rsquo;t know, they remove the old opaque lens by liquifying it, with a device called an emulsifier, and sucking it out. ...  In this case they got to that step when the doctor picked up the emulsifier and said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have any flow&rdquo;. ...  Finally after something like 10 minutes, (well somewhere between 1 and 30 minutes, I was fairly stoned on anaesthetic at that point), they traced the problem to the foot treadle the doctor uses to control the flow. 

...I figured if Teresa didn&rsquo;t miss a beat in Memory of Water even after getting hit in the head with a jewelry box then I really should press on as well.   Interestingly many of the other actors have had cataract surgery and they all said the same thing: Yes, the doctors tell you it&rsquo;ll be fine in a couple of days but it takes at least a week. 


...Pix: The most Canadian tree in the world (red/green), a day on the water, and some plant Marsha seems exceedingly fond of though we have no idea what it is. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Beware of the Water</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-07-28T06:16:40-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/0c1b55c480aa99855a8e40eb6881bd7e-134.html#unique-entry-id-134</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/0c1b55c480aa99855a8e40eb6881bd7e-134.html#unique-entry-id-134</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[First there's the story of the family that was boating on the north end of Vancouver Island when they saw something swimming by.   At first their guide thought it was an otter but after a bit they realized it was a full grown mountain lion crossing the inlet, about 500 meters of ocean. ...  It shouldn&rsquo;t be a surprise though, this is how they got to Vancouver Island in the first place. 

...http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/07/25/bc-cougar-swim-youtube-video.html


...http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/07/24/bc-vancouver-building-buckles-demolition.html


...They pump high pressure steam into the oil bearing bed to liquify the petroleum, which is then pumped out through another well. ...  The speculation is that this spontaneous, ongoing, massive and apparently unstoppable oil leak springing up in the middle of a forest is what happens when the overlying beds fracture because the pressure from the steam. 


...What I find most amazing though is that if you live in Australia you can actually see that giant arrow in the night sky.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>This Is It</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-07-21T06:16:08-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/e5351aed71ac10981798d77b648eddb4-133.html#unique-entry-id-133</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/e5351aed71ac10981798d77b648eddb4-133.html#unique-entry-id-133</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[They seemed to have a good time and those of us in the cast got a lot of kind words of appreciation for our work. 

...You&rsquo;re lucky to get enough ad revenue to keep going, and yet you want to restrict your online access like you&rsquo;re the bloody New York Times? 

...In Fibber McGee I&rsquo;m Harlow Wilcox, the Announcer with a bit of an unhealthy fondness for Johnson&rsquo;s Wax (the sponsor). ...  Then I&rsquo;m The Old Codger, a funny old fellow who likes to tell stories and regularly forgets what he was talking about. ...  Even better I like Harlow Wilcox who has a chunk in the middle where he gets two paragraphs of the worst puns ever written. ...  to which I get to answer &ldquo;Yes I do Molly, but it&rsquo;s OK because I have a pillow in my pants.&rdquo; which makes a delicious double entendre.   That always gets a laugh though I suspect in 1947 when this was first broadcast my delivery might have gotten the show in trouble.


...Note, no set, or rather, as we're putting on a radio play so the mics, mixer table and sound effects corner ARE the set.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Marsha Returns</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-07-14T06:14:12-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/ff89c9cf497b048b03507cb50947d56d-132.html#unique-entry-id-132</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/ff89c9cf497b048b03507cb50947d56d-132.html#unique-entry-id-132</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[When it costs $120-$150 round trip just to get to the mainland, not a lot of people are going to hop over for a case or an iPod. 

...I was early, no big surprise there, but her flight was running late, no big surprise there either and it took her longer than expected to get her luggage The upshot was that we didn&rsquo;t make the 8:15 ferry. 

...The pilot has to slow the plane so that it goes from cruising speed to touchdown, reduce the altitude down to zero, and factor in gravity and wind all at the same time. ...  There&rsquo;s a lot of mental calculus, a lot of energy management, that has to happen to bring an aircraft from 5000 feet and 200-400 miles per hour to 0 feet and 60-100 miles per hour at the end of the runway. 

...In a severe case even if the pilot goes to full takeoff power it won&rsquo;t be enough, or more precisely it won&rsquo;t be enough SOON enough to save the plane. 

...He always would take a moment to check if the nails might poke through the other side, or if there was a wire or a pipe inside the wall, before he drove the first one. 

...I wonder if the disaster in Lac-Megantic would have happened if the engineer had asked himself what if the one idling engine that was keeping the air brakes on quit. ...  If the crew that put out the small fire on the engine had not followed procedure, but had instead double checked to be sure shutting the one idling engine down would not cause a problem. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Bits &#x27;o News &#x26; Puttering &#x27;Round the House</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-07-07T06:13:22-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/b3f3021bab9567e0d0e1e638e0980265-131.html#unique-entry-id-131</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/b3f3021bab9567e0d0e1e638e0980265-131.html#unique-entry-id-131</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Reports indicate that the cars came loose from the engine while it was parked for the night, rolled downhill and derailed and caught fire in the middle of town. ...  First the town is right near the border with Vermont and Maine and fire crews from the US came across to help fight the inferno. 

...A lady stopped at the McDonalds in Port Moody BC for lunch, and afterwards when she got back into her van their was a gas explosion. 

...They wanted to come by, shoot some footage, talk to our people, and such for a story on the improving job situation in BC. 

...In this production I have to change from Mr. Announcer with the Authoritative Voice, to Phipps a whiney, weasely ghost writer, to a Joe Friday Police Inspector, Back to Mr. Announcer, then to a crazy Old Codger, then to Charlie, a not too bright Piano Mover from Brooklyn and finally back to Mr. Announcer, all in the space of 90 minutes.   It&rsquo;s a challenge to do the right voice with the right intonation and then be ready to go with the next one a few seconds later. 

...She gets in about 6:00 so I'm going to take the early ferry over, do the Bellingham run, then come back and pick her up at the airport and head back to the ferry. ...  When Marsha left I made a list of projects I wanted to get done by the time she got back. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Batchelor Letter</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-06-30T06:10:41-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/add428f662550640cd8a5f97995eb9a5-130.html#unique-entry-id-130</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/add428f662550640cd8a5f97995eb9a5-130.html#unique-entry-id-130</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Marsha&rsquo;s been in Minnesota a week already, and what a week it was. ...  For a period when I was hoping to laze around, play video games and watch TV, it&rsquo;s been surprisingly busy. ...  The cats have adapted to not having anyone here during the day, though Geiger especially is needy when I do sit down.   The two week string of rainy days finally petered out and now we have sun. ...  I was walking down to the garden and noticed the wheelbarrow was nearly full of water.   This weekend though, and for the rest of the week at least it&rsquo;s going to be hot. ...  The raspberries are coming in fast, I&rsquo;ll have to start picking and freezing them soon. ...  It&rsquo;s producing enough for lunches 5 days a week now plus a little left over for dinner too. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Calgary</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-06-23T06:09:31-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/faa750d33e0d888357844647e062b71f-129.html#unique-entry-id-129</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/faa750d33e0d888357844647e062b71f-129.html#unique-entry-id-129</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This week I was planning to talk about odd things, how KXAN in Austin Texas cut away from the overtime of one of the Stanley Cup Finals games so they could run a promo for their morning news show and so missed the winning goal.&nbsp;http://mashable.com/2013/06/20/tv-station-facebook-stanley-cup-goal/?...  Or on the retirement of the 45 year old planetarium projector at the Vancouver Planetarium.&nbsp;http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/17/bc-harold-retires-projector-macmillan-space-centre.html&nbsp;Or even the appearance off the coast of an exceedingly rare Right Whale.&nbsp;http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/20/bc-right-whale-haida-gwaii.html&nbsp;And of course I was going to mention Jocelyn&rsquo;s visit and how Saturday morning both her and Marsha got on a plane to head back to Minnesota.&nbsp;


...That area has begun to return to normal but it will be some weeks before it&rsquo;s all cleaned up again.&nbsp;http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/21/bc-flooding-closures.html&nbsp;and&nbsp;http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/22/bc-floods-easing-elk-valley-sparwood-alert.html&nbsp;.&nbsp;


...In 2005 for example, but in that year they got this much water over 28 days so it built up. they had time to prepare. ...  I understand that it&rsquo;s a major event in the year and many businesses rely on it for a big part of their sales, but seriously, skip the party. 

...This morning they reported that power had been restored in Banff and Lake Louise, up the hill from Calgary.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/06/23/alberta-flooding-banff-lake-louise-transformer-power-returns.html&nbsp;Most of the evacuation orders have been lifted, though how many will find a habitable home to go back to is another question entirely.&nbsp;http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/23/calgary-water-receding-flood-cleanup-w.html&nbsp;The cleanup is beginning. ...  The surge is progressing downstream and Medicine Hat is the next town preparing for too much water.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/23/alberta-floods-sunday.html&nbsp;At least they&rsquo;ve had some warning.&nbsp;


...The thunderstorm we got a few days back, this was all we saw of the storm that nailed the mountains east of us and eventually Calgary. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Well&#x2c; THAT Escelated Quickly</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-06-09T05:59:15-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/2c177a8fd61c9116067ef2756a106008-128.html#unique-entry-id-128</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/2c177a8fd61c9116067ef2756a106008-128.html#unique-entry-id-128</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[He then took a close look at my eyes with his little hand scope flashlight thing, and made some notes in my chart.   Then he put in the dilation drops, had me sit in the waiting room for ten minutes or so and then took another closer look &nbsp;at my eyes and made some more notes. 


...And that is how In less than half an hour I went from needing new glasses to being scheduled for double cataract surgery. ...  The doctor did say that with my correction they can&rsquo;t promise I&rsquo;ll get back to 20/20, and I&rsquo;ll probably need reading glasses. 

...Then this Saturday we were at a garage sale and the lady running it noticed me pulling my glasses down to get a close up look at something. 

...I said I had but never done it and now I&rsquo;d just been scheduled for cataract surgery. 


...It&rsquo;s just a day procedure so I&rsquo;ll just need to skip two days of work, one for each eye. ...  Anyway though, I&rsquo;ll get one done then just have to wear an eye patch at night for a while. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Selected Shorts</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-06-16T05:54:19-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/19cbe03ad28a907e886d557af7585e6f-127.html#unique-entry-id-127</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/19cbe03ad28a907e886d557af7585e6f-127.html#unique-entry-id-127</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[But then I read the synopsis: &ldquo;Marsha, who is hopelessly addicted to reading murder mysteries, overhears her loving husband discussing her upcoming birthday surprise with an interior decorator. 

...It&rsquo;s the feeling you get when you go by them doing at least 40 better than they are and then just as you fly past you shift up another gear. 

...Friday at work I was walking down the hallway and noticed that the knob on one of the doors to the Engineering Department was broken. ...  I asked one of the Engineers about it and he said that a couple of them had looked at it, but couldn&rsquo;t get it to work. ...  After about 15 minutes I had disassembled it, figured out that the mechanism was broken, manually set it into a locked position so the office would be secure for the weekend, reassembled it, closed and latched the door, removed the inside knob so no one would try to use that door, put up a sign telling people to use a different exit, and notified Management so they would get the knob replaced on Monday.


...They started in 1998 and are almost done. http://www.rostapestry.com/the_panels.htm It looks to be really quite stunning so if you are ever in that part of the world be sure to stop by and see it. 


...If they did one like that about Porter, Minnesota (Marsha's hometown)it would be just four panels. 

...Thought for the day: From Lynn Johnston who did the For Better or For Worse comic strip: &nbsp;&ldquo;it's a fine instrument, but...never play an accordion in the nude!&rdquo; 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>O&#x27; Canada</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-06-02T19:00:59-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/45c4485e66ae60fec5a6fa80dd6c81c2-126.html#unique-entry-id-126</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/45c4485e66ae60fec5a6fa80dd6c81c2-126.html#unique-entry-id-126</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Maybe they do it at all schools, we don&rsquo;t know but she was a bit surprised.   Fortunately for Marsha, being this is a Grade One class, the teacher prompted everyone for each line so Marsha was able to stumble her way through O&rsquo; Canada without messing up too much.   (Though she did point out that she stayed at the back of the class where nobody was watching her and sang fairly quietly so nobody heard her either.) 

...Well, out here they do truck farming but, being it&rsquo;s BC it&rsquo;s a bit different. 


...When they interviewed the lady on CBC&rsquo;s On the Coast she said that it started when her husband asked her to &ldquo;do something with that damned old truck you have parked in the back&rdquo;. 

...Sure they have Oreos but up here they are Christie&rsquo;s Oreos not Nabisco. http://www.canadianfamily.ca/kids/baby/2010-food-awards/attachment/2010-food-awards_79793/ &nbsp;Remember Smarties, those little sugar disks that had faint colours and tangy flavours? 

...(By the way she would like to catch a Twins game when she&rsquo;s in Minnesota at the end of the month, if anyone is interested in going with her...hint...hint...). ...  We came across this story about how over a decade earlier in North Dakota the Bismarck &ldquo;Bismarck&rsquo;s&rdquo; were a fully integrated semi-pro baseball team. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Weird News Week</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-05-26T19:00:10-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/6279a3315e63dc8d460ebc31afa41325-125.html#unique-entry-id-125</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/6279a3315e63dc8d460ebc31afa41325-125.html#unique-entry-id-125</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[While wandering around we were accosted by a lady who was handing out flyers for an upcoming protest, a &ldquo;March Against Monsanto&rdquo; (which by coincidence was this Saturday). 

...First I noticed a car, I think with Alberta plates, stopped just in the driveway waiting for an older man who was wandering around in the middle of the road. ...  By the time he shuffled back to his car the line on the highway was at least a dozen cars long and the warm spring air was split with a cacophony of car horns. 

...It turns out it appears to have been precipitated by a truck, from Alberta, clipping the structure. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/24/edmonton-skagit-bridge-trucker-spruce-grove.html . ...  Not a bit of damage on it so if it hit the structure (rather as is being speculated what the driver heard was the structure falling on his truck), it was such a glancing blow that it should have never caused the collapse. ...  In another odd coincidence though, the orange car you see in the water was being driven by a UBC student. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/24/bc-skagit-bridge-collapse-survivor.html . 

...The next morning as he walked out to his car he hit the remote unlock button which jumped a spark and his car blew up. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/22/bc-west-end-car-explosion.html . 

...Seems he either &ldquo;forgot&rdquo; his car or &ldquo;couldn&rsquo;t find it&rdquo;. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/23/bc-vancouver-porsche-ferry.html . ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A Busy Week</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-05-19T18:59:18-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/73fb2c67b52e5c677f89db5059a90cc6-124.html#unique-entry-id-124</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/73fb2c67b52e5c677f89db5059a90cc6-124.html#unique-entry-id-124</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[No more of the, blow your noise every two minutes until it&rsquo;s raw and feel like heck while you do all of your normal stuff kind. ...  I keep blaming pollen from the palm tree in front of the house and that&rsquo;s another reason why it has to be taken out. ...  It&rsquo;s too big and too close to the house, it rattles on the window when the wind blows, it&rsquo;s so tall it scrapes against the soffit, and it blocks our picture window so we can&rsquo;t see anything. 

...You could tell we had been off for three weeks since the regular run ended, and there were a couple of technical miscues because we were using unfamiliar equipment in a different theatre but overall it went well. 

...It'll be as if the audience is setting in the corner while we put out a live radio broadcast. 


...I understand that people in New York seldom take the time to visit the Statue of liberty or empire State Building. ...  OK bad example, but for the rest of us it&rsquo;s like a vacation is predicated on going somewhere else. 

...PIX: A spring day at the beach: Baby Geese, 2 pictures of Low Tide, New Wood and Old Wood, Mussels, Joel exploring, and Marsha's visitor.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Academia</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-05-12T18:58:03-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/0b4aa271a2bc2e03ce97ac2948219614-123.html#unique-entry-id-123</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/0b4aa271a2bc2e03ce97ac2948219614-123.html#unique-entry-id-123</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Last weekend Marsha and were talking about something, I forget what it was, then on Sunday morning I remembered the conversation and wanted to add a bit I&rsquo;d forgotten about the night before. ...  I&rsquo;ve concluded that either I&rsquo;m a lot smarter than everyone else and they assume I always am using the right word, or nobody listens to me because I&rsquo;m a dork.&nbsp;


...One of them, Vicky, said that as a kid she always loved words and would use big ones that were exactly right rather than a more common one that was approximately correct. 

...Kinds of rocks: Rocks from from fire (igneous), rocks from water (sedimentary), and rocks from change (metamorphic) and by how knowing how to read a rock it will tell you the story of everything that happened to it. 

...Marsha spent quite a bit of time trying to chase the two of them out of the bedroom and I ended up reassembling the bed when I got home as Marsha was worn out. 

...This means that in the winter he can&rsquo;t figure out why I&rsquo;m getting up in the middle of the night. ...  My attitude, because I&rsquo;m not really that fond of getting up in the cold and dark either, is boo hoo cat, deal with it. 

...Peas (accidentally got snow peas rather than english, but it&rsquo;s OK because we do a lot of stir fries), zucchini (yes I&rsquo;m trying them again), English cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and two beds of potatoes. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Garden Adventures and BookFest</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-05-05T09:24:12-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/a8fc6ba28912bece42b2253760e28ade-122.html#unique-entry-id-122</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/a8fc6ba28912bece42b2253760e28ade-122.html#unique-entry-id-122</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The same one that built a frame in the garden out of four inch poles, tied the joints together with ten inch bolts through the verticals into the centre of the horizontal beams,and then ALSO drove huge spikes through the horizontals and down into the centre of the verticals. 

...The first year I installed a vent port next to the house so when I shut the outside water off I could open up all the taps and the lines would drain. 

...A bit of digging (literally, like with a shovel) around the garden revealed that they had used PVC conduit for all the garden water pipes. 

...She said that sounded OK, and they immediately got back to her saying that the #1 person had in fact just gotten the plague while getting hit by lightening and holding a winning lottery ticket. 

...Though he&rsquo;s done many things, written many books, been both the Director of the Canada Council of the Arts and the National Librarian of Canada, he&rsquo;s best known up here for his children&rsquo;s book The Hockey Sweater. ...  All of the kids in the neighbourhood had a Canadians hockey sweater, like Richard, and taped their stick like Richard, and did their hair like Richard. ...  But she got (and the part of how she ordered the new one from Eaton is good too), a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater, not a Montreal Canadians one. 

...By his own admission he&rsquo;s &ldquo;the worst hockey player in Canada&rdquo;, but, unlike his friends who gave it up in their youth, he continued playing until he was in his 60s when he blew out a knee. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Weight For It</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-04-28T09:22:40-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/8c333872131e027ed256d62db52daf8d-121.html#unique-entry-id-121</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/8c333872131e027ed256d62db52daf8d-121.html#unique-entry-id-121</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Well, after the last show I stood on the scale for the first time in months and got a big surprise. ...  This week I pulled several sacks of baggy old clothes (that I really should have retired a while ago anyway), out of the closet, and went out and purchased six shirts and three pairs of pants.   My knee hasn&rsquo;t been bothering me, my blood pressure has dropped 10 points on both numbers, I actually jogged a fair distance back to the car and didn&rsquo;t feel like I&rsquo;d inhaled a swarm of bees. 

...I&rsquo;m really not sure why they were a bust last year so I want to give it another shot. ...  Peas did very well last year so we&rsquo;ll do them again, I&rsquo;ve grown green peppers twice now and both times they were a bit of a disappointment. ...  Last year we also only got a couple per plant too, so I&rsquo;m not sure if I&rsquo;ll try them again. &nbsp;

...Green Thumb nursery had brought over some plants so we got a couple azaleas and a few other gallon sized plants. 

...Here&rsquo;s a piece of advice to anyone in a relationship; &nbsp;if you are going to leave a note about something on the calendar, be careful what you omit. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Spring Project Time</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-04-21T09:20:14-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/7baecf0e342f8d72f7098915564e8a32-120.html#unique-entry-id-120</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/7baecf0e342f8d72f7098915564e8a32-120.html#unique-entry-id-120</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Marsha got his card, she&rsquo;s very good at that sort of thing, and when we decided it was time to clean up this place, she had it at the ready. 

...You probably don&rsquo;t remember but last year when we redid the garage I had them dump all of the broken concrete in the yard next to the driveway. ...  Well, because of the amount of fill needed, up to three feet in places, we&rsquo;ll need a retaining wall to keep it from slumping.   That&rsquo;s OK because it turns out that this was the guy that built the existing retaining walls in the lower yard, so the new one will match exactly. ...  Actually they have to move all of it because he needs to cut and remove the turf and put down geo-fabric so we don&rsquo;t have anything trying to grow through the new pavement. ...  So they are going to pick up all the broken concrete I was so proud of saving and haul it away like they could have done last year. 


...Next month we have one more performance at the Vancouver Island Festival, a big competition from all the theatres around here, but this is the end of the regular run.   It&rsquo;s been exhausting, I&rsquo;ve even lost a fair amount of weight because of all the work and long hours, not that that&rsquo;s a bad thing. &nbsp;]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Catcalls and Electric Spiders</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-04-14T09:18:42-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/8ec82669e6aed5ff89d21a393cbe0b54-119.html#unique-entry-id-119</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/8ec82669e6aed5ff89d21a393cbe0b54-119.html#unique-entry-id-119</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Years ago when I was going to see plays I thought that you saw the play and there it was, exactly as the writer and director intended. ...  Most nights have run more or less smoothly with just a couple of glitches, some on stage and others behind the scenes.


...I wore a bandage on it for the first week but as it had mostly healed up and the band aid was a distraction, I stopped for Saturday&rsquo;s show. ...  The thing was, I didn&rsquo;t notice and continued to unbutton the shirt, leaving a trail of fresh blood stains all down the front with concentrations at each buttonhole. 

...Then there was the night when I was sitting in a towel on the bed while the action was going on around me and suddenly I had to cough. ...  It was just fortunate though that I didn&rsquo;t have to say anything for a few minutes. 


...Marsha watched the Twins game where people were in parkas and they had to shovel off the field before the first pitch. &nbsp;...  Here are a few pictures of what we&rsquo;ve been putting up with all week. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Opening Night</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-04-07T09:16:38-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/51b5a8ad397fbc9de21fb387719cfb50-118.html#unique-entry-id-118</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/51b5a8ad397fbc9de21fb387719cfb50-118.html#unique-entry-id-118</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The good news is that now I can say &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a Doctor but I played one on stage in a local production.&rdquo; 

...This just means that we need to know our part, and everyone else&rsquo;s part, and the play, so well that if someone misses a line we can adjust.   Sometimes it&rsquo;s a single word and we just let it go, Sometimes a line gets missed so we need to jump forward in the script ourselves to catch up.   Sometimes it&rsquo;s an important line so it means ad libbing a critical bit of information that was missed. 

...Actually I have to say all the actors I'm working with are amazing. 

...I may look like a mad axe murderer but actually I'm Mike, an upper crust doctor that's having an affair with Mary. 

...Catherine, who's a bit needy, and really doesn't get the idea of personal space, &nbsp;is chatting on about all sorts of things while smoking a joint, much to Mike's discomfort.&nbsp;


...He's just out of the shower, wearing only a towel and socks, and expecting to get dressed but to his surprise the bedroom is not empty. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Phase 2 Complete</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-03-31T09:53:15-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/146da3001800035178afb348a78a898a-117.html#unique-entry-id-117</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/146da3001800035178afb348a78a898a-117.html#unique-entry-id-117</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Here is a link to a video of the space.   The first part is from a video I did a year or so ago.   It shows the garage before the remodelling in all its, ahem, glory, complete with rubbish, bad lighting, green walls and water leaking on the floor.   The second part is as it is now, with paint, sheetrock, good floors and conspicuous dryness.   If a picture is worth a thousand words, this video should be worth a few million. 


...In case you can&rsquo;t see the video for some reason here are a few pictures from the new room. 


...And then here are a few pictures from a short excursion I made to a beach. ...  By the time I got back to the car I was ready to cough up a lung. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Noise</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-03-24T09:52:14-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/9727988f5e232f132653299718865344-116.html#unique-entry-id-116</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/9727988f5e232f132653299718865344-116.html#unique-entry-id-116</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Fortunately none of mine are overly quick, but a couple of the others have to literally leave the stage in one outfit and return two minutes later in another. 

...Any noise backstage will be heard by the audience so the rule is no noise, no chatter, not even whispering. ...  It was the last one so the empty box flipped off the table, landed on the floor and sounded like a drum. ...  The only big wooden clattery hanger I had and it missed everything on the floor, the shoes, the clothing, the box, and my feet, hitting the only clear spot of hard floor in the room. ...  Finally I decided that I would sit in a chair backstage and do absolutely NOTHING. That would make sure I would stay quiet. ...  After about five minutes I shifted a bit and my elbow hit, of all things a stack of aluminum ladders that I didn&rsquo;t even know was hiding behind a dark cloth next to me.&nbsp;


...The day the trailer arrived they closed the back parking lot so the truck would have space to manoeuvre in order to get the trailer into position. 

...Although we have had some strange weather, including one day full of rain, hail, sleet, snow and a little bit of sun included too.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Zombies Alive</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-03-17T09:51:29-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/747297118a5d543e5ee8d49ff62969f0-115.html#unique-entry-id-115</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/747297118a5d543e5ee8d49ff62969f0-115.html#unique-entry-id-115</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Between Marsha working odd hours at Block, my work, and three to five rehearsals a week we&rsquo;ve been pushing really hard and unwinding after the day has often been difficult. ...  On occasion I&rsquo;ve even resorted to Chamomile tea but usually such harsh measures are not needed. 

...It has no picture, just nature sounds, birds, waterfalls, rainstorms (which I admit are somewhat redundant for us on Vancouver Island), and such, occasionally accompanied by piano or harp or electronic sounds. 

...This last week I was asleep, presumably dreaming perfectly good dreams, I never remember my dreams so I can&rsquo;t say much about them. ...  Once again I don&rsquo;t remember them but I woke up feeling really creeped out. ...  I was so disturbed that even after I woke up I was sure I could hear them wandering around the room. ...  The room was empty, of course but I was sure I could still hear zombie sounds. ...  OK it was &lsquo;nature&rsquo; but it was also the creepiest sound my TV has ever made. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Musical Lost and Found</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-03-10T09:49:55-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/7dd8b653ff7020e39e956f0723699d12-114.html#unique-entry-id-114</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/7dd8b653ff7020e39e956f0723699d12-114.html#unique-entry-id-114</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Now, those of you in the US likely have never heard of Stompin&rsquo; Tom Conners. ...  But when they started the tributes this week I realized that he was like wallpaper.   He was always there, the texture behind so much of what I&rsquo;d seen and heard since we moved to Canada.   I&rsquo;d never paid attention but so much of the sound track that was behind everything Canadian was his music. 

...He was proud of his country and that came through in his music. 


...Their lyrics range from traditional songs like Barrett&rsquo;s Privateers (by Stan Rogers who I&rsquo;ve mentioned before) to their own aggressive, in-your face compositions. ...  Keep in mind though, they are a punk band, they don&rsquo;t shy away from profanity. 

...And finally, this week Canadian singer, Justin Bieber fainted during a concert in London and was given oxygen.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>When It Rains&#x2c; It Pours</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-03-03T09:47:31-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/b73d342fcb569aee46a72442cfa4e23c-113.html#unique-entry-id-113</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/b73d342fcb569aee46a72442cfa4e23c-113.html#unique-entry-id-113</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[They start out near Hawaii which is an amazingly fortunate coincidence, considering the name and gain strength as they travel across thousands of kilometres of warm Pacific water. 

...And speaking of massive amounts of water from unknown origin, from what we hear there has been a lot of angst south of the border. 

...If proven I think they should then check to see if they&rsquo;re watering it down with unfiltered Mississippi River water. 

...Also, where the clay also has lots of roots and sticks in it, the grey stuff is nearly pristine, with just a few round stones and no shells or plant parts or organics at all. 

...Unfortunately between rehearsals, and work and Block and tutoring and Catnap, and random bouts with colds we haven&rsquo;t been able to get over to help her. 

...They were having a silent auction for an assortment of decorator items in one display case so she put in a bid on one. ...  Anyway as I paid for it the clerk commented that we&rsquo;d gotten a great deal on it as &ldquo;Some of these go for as much as a thousand dollars&rdquo;. ...  Oh it&rsquo;s in good shape and all, no cracks or chips or anything, but it&rsquo;s just a crock. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>My Maladroit Elysium</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-02-24T08:09:13-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/490341f14dbed4dfc18652b5559b50c3-112.html#unique-entry-id-112</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/490341f14dbed4dfc18652b5559b50c3-112.html#unique-entry-id-112</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[You went up to them planning to say, &ldquo;Hi there brown eyes, I&rsquo;d like to get to know you.&rdquo; but what came out was &ldquo;Hi there no-eyes, I&rsquo;d like to get to brown you&rdquo;. 

...When you are acting on stage you know what you&rsquo;re going to say and you get to practice it a thousand times before you try it out for &lsquo;real&rsquo; with other actors.   Then when you get into rehearsal you get to try a line and if it doesn&rsquo;t work you can go back, run the scene again, and try it some other way. 

...From the script, we know he&rsquo;s married, is a doctor, hosts a TV medical program, and is having an affair with Mary, one of the other characters, but that&rsquo;s all. 

...Now that I&rsquo;ve been working on this play, I look at the best movie I&rsquo;ve seen in about seven years, Lincoln, (OK, I have to admit that it&rsquo;s the only film I&rsquo;ve gone to see in about seven years) and I think how cool it would be to be able to put on that costume and be Lincoln for a few weeks. ...  How cool it must be to put on a costume and be Gandalf fighting a Balrog in Moria (which I think was in the last film I saw before Lincoln).   I think of the plays I&rsquo;ve seen and think about how much simple fun it would be to be one of the Pirates of Penzance or The Man From La Mancha, or a character in Wicked or Into the Woods. ...  Trying to not only say the lines and stand in the right place but to get into the head of the character so you capture the essence of the story. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A Totally Smokin&#x27; Meal</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-02-17T05:51:31-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/435ff6e83de09d3b3349f635336459fe-111.html#unique-entry-id-111</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/435ff6e83de09d3b3349f635336459fe-111.html#unique-entry-id-111</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I almost couldn&rsquo;t see Marsha through the steam and smoke and had to strain to hear the waitress over the sizzling as she said, &ldquo;Be careful, it&rsquo;s hot.&rdquo; 

...When we moved to Canada we know there was a bit of concern about our safety (and sanity but that&rsquo;s another discussion for another time). ...  This came up in Parliament when the Minister for Foreign affairs was asked if Canada was working with the US to prepare.   He replied &ldquo;I want to assure this member and all Canadians that I am dead-icated to ensuring that this never happens,&rdquo; This came about from a report that the Public Security Department in Quebec is using a hypothetical Zombie Apocalypse as a training exercise. 

...http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/13/canada-will-never-be-a-safe-haven-for-zombies-foreign-minister-john-baird-tells-house-of-commons/


Speaking of security, I came across this article from Wired magazine this week about the new robots used by Homeland Security in the US. ...  We actually make a number of robots, some with cameras, some with a water cannon, some that are designed to run under water, some that are designed to crawl through narrow pipes and then unfold when they get into a larger chamber. 

...For a hundred years Palaeontologists called it &ldquo;the cluster of four to ten spikes at the end of a dinosaur&rsquo;s especially Stegosaurid dinosaurs, tails&rdquo;. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Media of All Kinds</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-02-10T05:47:45-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/451a968c397d5f1da4dc24a343fdc76f-110.html#unique-entry-id-110</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/451a968c397d5f1da4dc24a343fdc76f-110.html#unique-entry-id-110</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This appearance included them performing a couple of songs and dealing with what we&rsquo;ve come to call &ldquo;that kid in the pink shirt&rdquo; who got a bit too into dancing to the music. ...  The next day Bobs and Lolo appeared on the CBC Radio Show, On The Coast which went much better. http://www.cbc.ca/onthecoast/past-episodes/ They even pronounced everyone&rsquo;s name correctly. 

...pin-up girl (?!?). &nbsp;http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/02/anne-of-green-gables-goes-blonde-in-unauthorized-new-edition.html A great deal of ink has been spilt both actual and on the internet over this &ldquo;abomination&rdquo; and &ldquo;affront to Canadian culture&rdquo;. 

...It seems the daughter had bumped the phone and accidentally dialled her mother while she was watching a horror movie. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/02/08/bc-pocket-dial-911.html Another good reason to have a full shell case for your phone.


...You know, I&rsquo;m not sure, but somehow I don't think I&rsquo;d WANT a hearing aid that has bells and whistles on it. 

...I was going to include a screen shot but it's so fast at converting my messy on-screen handwriting into a legible, typed equation that all I can get is a perfect typed formula.   If you have any interest in math, or even just fun apps (OK the fact I'm impressed and think this is fun makes me a total geek) give it a shot. 

...It's going to Sales for use in trade shows and we'll go back to what I wanted to look at, normal 10" tablets that DO have enough power.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Adventures of Dinoman and Fossilgirl</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-02-03T05:44:38-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/d62e84a88d1bb6c6bf81081e9e552441-109.html#unique-entry-id-109</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/d62e84a88d1bb6c6bf81081e9e552441-109.html#unique-entry-id-109</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[If seashells are found on top of mountains in Nevada, then the ocean must have been there at one time.   If we find coal in Antarctica then at one time there must have been jungles and swamps rather than all the ice. ...  I didn&rsquo;t want to burst her bubble so I told her that we weren&rsquo;t sure if dinosaurs existed until we found the bones.   So far we haven&rsquo;t found actual unicorn fossils but we have found all sorts of weird fossil horses including ones that had toes on their feet. ...  They were so into it that the teacher let us go on for around 45 minutes and even then the kids weren&rsquo;t getting distracted or antsy. 

...In other news, Best Buy, which is as most of you know a Minnesota company, is closing a number of their stores in Canada. 

...All this is true but it wasn&rsquo;t until this week when we had the colour up that Marsha and I realized at about the same time that by accident that we&rsquo;d painted the room maroon and gold. ...  I told Marsha that if we&rsquo;d realized it earlier I&rsquo;d have gone with a blonde parquet flooring with a picture of Goldie Gopher in the middle of the room. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Cold Enough For You?</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-01-27T05:43:26-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/85272df8651d3188085fe310a7c101a1-108.html#unique-entry-id-108</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/85272df8651d3188085fe310a7c101a1-108.html#unique-entry-id-108</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Of course that&rsquo;s in Celsius which works out to be 30 and 40 degrees on your thermometer, and the water line to the garden was an old plastic pipe not copper. 

...Between my play rehearsals, Marsha&rsquo;s classes for H&R Block and swimming, my work schedule, Marsha&rsquo;s teaching and CatNap, we just didn&rsquo;t see much of each other. 

...Add to that my trying to read the play at least once each day (my parts at least) means that I should know it. ...  For some reason though, when we are going through the scenes in rehearsal the only thing in my head is a grocery list.   A quick glance at the script, often just the first couple of words, and I&rsquo;m off and running, but I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m quite off-book yet. 


...I&rsquo;ve decided that painting finish white on primer white trim in a white room has to be one of the least rewarding jobs in the world. 


...They&rsquo;ve felled a large space in the middle, while leaving a nice buffer of trees between them and the neighbours, and they have staked out the corners of the foundation.   I figure they will keep cleaning out the space for a couple more weeks and maybe by the end of February will have the excavation done. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>As Free as a Part</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-01-20T08:40:23-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/a76a859c81ad00c03dd8ade07cdaad68-107.html#unique-entry-id-107</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/a76a859c81ad00c03dd8ade07cdaad68-107.html#unique-entry-id-107</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Then the case sat in the back room for a couple of months during which parts, drives memory, power supply etc. wandered off to be used in other systems.   Then last fall, I was placing an order for a bunch of parts and I added what I needed to bring the computer back online and now it was the system at my desk. 


...In the case of a part for a computer, why should it continue to be a stick of memory doing accounting when it might dream of something more interesting? 

...In the eyes of Accounting, if we make a substantial change to a system it becomes a new computer with a new ID. 

...If the changed part is not &ldquo;substantial&rdquo; that is if it costs less than a couple hundred dollars then it is only &ldquo;maintenance&rdquo; and the system does not need a new number.   As long as I keep the changes at any one time below this threshhold I don&rsquo;t have to pretend it&rsquo;s a new computer. ...  From the first Australopithecus that kept resharpening stone tools for everyone else, to the person that checked the spark plugs on the Spirit of Saint Louis, maintenance is what has kept the world going. 

...Nondescript, undefinable problems don&rsquo;t have a name and so it&rsquo;s more difficult to use them as an excuse. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Snowballs and Dricore</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-01-13T08:39:27-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/2c0a17eb068db922360e91615609beb0-106.html#unique-entry-id-106</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/2c0a17eb068db922360e91615609beb0-106.html#unique-entry-id-106</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Oh we had snow where I grew up in Oregon but it was few and far between and didn&rsquo;t stick around long.   In Minnesota I discovered there were dozens of kinds of snow, from blizzards, to large flakes, to sleet, to delicate single flakes that come out of a clear sky to set on a gloved hand like a tiny jewel until a puff of breath makes them dissolve into nothingness. 

...Not only that, the spaces between the ice were filled with water so each one was like getting hit with a wet snowball.   I was soaked before I made it across the lot to my car where I then had to push four or five inches of accumulated heavy wet snow off so I could try to drive home. ...  It clawed its way through the piles of snow, the spray, the splashes from other vehicles, and the compressed ice ridges on the road like a trooper. 

...We have the flooring ordered, it should be in Wednesday and yesterday we picked up the Dricore sub-flooring, another product I&rsquo;d never worked with before. 

...Oh well, I guess the cats, and the room, won&rsquo;t be seeing much of us for a few months.


...We actually have not been able to get any decent shots of the seals that have congregated near Lantzvile's beaches. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Harry Potter and the Goblet of Nothing</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2013-01-06T08:36:59-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/e9a5a47388ea5c4954601dae9ea22125-105.html#unique-entry-id-105</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog-7/files/e9a5a47388ea5c4954601dae9ea22125-105.html#unique-entry-id-105</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The sign on the door said they opened at 8:30 and it was nearly 11:00 but the place was dark and closed. 

...When I finished at work for the day I headed out and thought &ldquo;How about I pick up something Asian for dinner.&rdquo;   I almost stopped at Saigon Kitchen, our favourite place, and then remembered that they close between 2:00 and 4:30. 

...Finally, as it was after 4:30 we decided to go out and get something to eat. ...  As we passed them on the highway we saw the neon &ldquo;Open&rdquo; sign was on so things were finally looking up. ...  On the door, backlit by the &ldquo;Open&rdquo; sign glowing in the window on the other side of the dark dining room, was a little sign saying they would be closed for the holidays until January 14. 

...I couldn&rsquo;t help thinking of my dad who was fond of saying that &ldquo;you could starve to death flying around Oregon on the weekend&rdquo;.   Back then, all of the airport cafe&rsquo;s closed and unless you packed a collapsable bike in the baggage compartment you couldn&rsquo;t even get into town for a cup of coffee. ]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
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