<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
    xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/"
    xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
    xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">
	<channel>
<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>2011-08-28T18:02:02-07:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
<sy:updateBase>2000-01-01T12:00+00:00</sy:updateBase>
<lastBuildDate>Sun, 1 Jan 2012 10:08:08 -0800</lastBuildDate><item><title>Losses and a Good Deed</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-08-28T18:02:02-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/551646a6cf45f0122748dcef176e7444-53.html#unique-entry-id-53</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/551646a6cf45f0122748dcef176e7444-53.html#unique-entry-id-53</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[He took the NDP from a group of small parties with no real national presence to the second largest party in government and seemed poised to be Canada&rsquo;s next Prime Minister.   The respect that all the parties up here had for Jack Layton is shown by the decision to have an official state funeral for him, something normally reserved for the Prime Minister or Governor General. 

...This was not a surprise, he&rsquo;s also been fighting cancer and though it seems to be in remission the battle left him very thin and weak. ...  I&rsquo;ll just say that without Jobs influence computers wouldn&rsquo;t be nearly as easy to use, as ubiquitous, and I would be working in a different business. 

...So even if you never touch a Macintosh computer, an iPhone, an iPod or iPad, what Apple has accomplished has really changed the world. ...  Most importantly Jobs took Apple Computer, a company that was by all estimates just months away from declaring bankruptcy and closing up, to the second (and on a good day the first) largest company in the world. ...  From a $3 billion dollar company with a moribund product line in 1996 (when we could have bought AppleStock at $12 a share) to a nearly $400 billion dollar company with a stock price just below $400 a share that leads many major markets (I calculated this week that if we&rsquo;d bought 100 shares of Apple in 1996 LIKE MARSHA WANTED TO BUT I SAID NO, it would be worth today somewhere above $300,000. 

...Apples are almost ready both in the yard where we're renting and at Barbara's place and there's two dwarf apple trees in the yard of the house we're buying. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Xmas 2010&#x2c; Final Notes</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-01-02T14:23:21-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/e5c7baea24ba5390a32b4875548f325a-52.html#unique-entry-id-52</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/e5c7baea24ba5390a32b4875548f325a-52.html#unique-entry-id-52</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Better yet if Xmas falls on a Thursday or Tuesday you stand a decent chance of getting two four day weekends in a row and the week between will be pretty dead. ...  The bad news is that 2011 is just the same with both Christmas and New Years Day on Sunday.&nbsp;


...Marsha did some research and found out that in cases like this you can remelt the caramel and cook it a bit more. ...  (We did overshoot though and ended up with something like a Heath Bar but that's all part of the learning process.)   Most interesting though was that during this process the half melted but not blended chunks took on the appearance of a pan of simmering intestines. 

...She lines them up along the back of the couch so they fall on you when you sit down. ...  Then we'd find them turned around so the picture faced the wall and the blank side of the pillow was out toward the room. ...  Then one day just before Christmas we got up and found the pillows turned toward the wall again. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Fireworks</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-01-09T14:21:16-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/53ef8017375f791f4e29c9077d1da874-51.html#unique-entry-id-51</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/53ef8017375f791f4e29c9077d1da874-51.html#unique-entry-id-51</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Well actually you don't have to think back too far as it's still raining, just not quite as hard as before. ...  They are up on a table so they won't get wet, but I have to stand in this water when I'm working on the systems.&nbsp;


So a few days later I slipped the new power supply in, checked all the connections, and turned the phone system back on. 

...This time to be safe I hit the power switch with a yardstick while standing on a 5 gallon bucket but there were no further surprises and the system is working again.


...Add to this the main board in our stove failing for the second time and I'm starting to think that maybe there's some kind of weird circuit board voodoo curse I'm sending out.&nbsp;


...This week Marsha said "My resolutions this year are to eat better and for us to spend more time together." 

...The other reason is that every party that I've been to celebrate one of these 'big' birthdays has degraded into a series of jokes about older guys 'plumbing problems'.   As when I turned forty (which must be what, twelve or thirteen years ago now), I can live without going through that.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Karma</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-01-16T14:19:53-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/2eae38171a09ef494f33cb6b251d51e0-50.html#unique-entry-id-50</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/2eae38171a09ef494f33cb6b251d51e0-50.html#unique-entry-id-50</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Our Nanaimo office was off line for the day and the crew from Telus spent the rest of the week underground replacing corroded cables, terminals, and shorted out electronics. 

...Marsha is going to work for H&R Block again this year and on Sunday while I was scraping the the driveway I said it was all her fault.   The last time she worked for H&R Block was a couple of years ago and we got lots of snow then too. 

...Colour: You could go for a freeze on the out turned side but that isn't what you got right here.   You'd want to go for an angle freeze on the shot rock by doing a rub off and roll from the fresh pebble between the fat side of the hog line to the top eight. 

...This week we heard that Target was going to buy Zellers, a big chain of stores here in Canada. ...  There is a well established Target chain up here and they aren't going to give up there name or logo. 

...I have 50 minutes per month which should be a great plenty, so you can see why I can't justify spending a lot on a phone. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Earthquakes</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-01-23T14:18:44-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/7c9ae3abd071b28ad893afaaef65ea1a-49.html#unique-entry-id-49</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/7c9ae3abd071b28ad893afaaef65ea1a-49.html#unique-entry-id-49</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Oh there have been, and there are more than, say, in Minnesota, but it's not like we sit around every evening waiting for the 5:00 shake to arrive. 

...I also was happy when we bought a house on a hill, above the reach of any Tsunami, and setting on bedrock, so it won't slide. 

...As I said though, while there are tiny (< 1) quakes reasonably often, the chances of us having a big earthquake are not that high.   They tend to be a few hundred kilometres off the west side of the island or well to the north of us near Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) It's not something we're actually that worried about. 

...On another note I'd like to thank those of you that let us know over the holidays that they like our weekly letters. 

...The result is that I now have five books done, the first completed in 1998, and three more in various stages of completion but exactly none of them have been published. 


...I think you gotta' be pushy and the one thing I'm not is pushy, (Ok honestly, there's a lot of things I'm not good at, but I digress.)   In any event, if anyone knows any publishers out there I'd appreciate it if you would give them a nudge in my direction. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Gung Haggis Fat Choy</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-01-30T14:17:53-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/7eb41d8e8f08caae2a2b39dcacd0f66d-48.html#unique-entry-id-48</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/7eb41d8e8f08caae2a2b39dcacd0f66d-48.html#unique-entry-id-48</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So a couple of weeks ago we had to get a new laptop for one of the managers at the Nanaimo Office. 

...Once the French version of Windows and the drivers, and applications are all installed you can't just flip a switch and change it back. ...  They had to return the laptop and get an English one shipped so we're still waiting, and she's still asking.


...Our Doctor for example, is a South African who says he was headed for Australia but got lost and washed up in Lantzville by mistake. 

...So it's not unusual to click by and encounter the Macedonian Hour, The Croatian Hour, Arabic programming, Japanese shows, Indian and Pakistani programming (though not, I should mention, on the same show), and others. ...  As you might expect there are a number of French stations including one for the Parliament where we get to see members giving speeches in English which we can't hear because they are dubbed in French which we don't understand with Chinese or Hindi subtitles that we can't read. 

...He wrote many well known things including the song Auld Lang Syne, which has been sung on New Years by generations of drunks who didn't know the words Auld Lang Syne are Gaelic for "I'm drunk and don't know what this song means". 


...But apparently it's a good match as they now celebrate Gung Haggis Fat Choy in both Scotland and China as well as Canada.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Munch Ado About Nothing</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-02-06T14:16:23-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/605cc306bc77a28b49bc8c0fb9c0b961-47.html#unique-entry-id-47</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/605cc306bc77a28b49bc8c0fb9c0b961-47.html#unique-entry-id-47</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Between Superstore, and getting things set up for H&R Block, and her volunteer activities she's been just going all the time. ...  It's been a lot of work but she even said that she's having a lot of fun with it, which is the important part.


...OK maybe slipping "1 8oz can bagnappes in mosutto sauce" onto the shopping list just to see if she was paying attention wasn't the nicest thing to do (there is no such thing in either English or French) . 


And then there was the time Marsha and I were talking about music that's lost it's identity. ...  Or Abblasen by Gottfried Reiche, a baroque piece that most people only know as the theme music for CBS Sunday Morning. 

...Marsha (after a bit of a pause): Um, I'm not sure I know which one you mean. 

...But likely the worst thing I did this week was to introduce Marsha to Angry Birds. ...  Now because I did this, rather than Marsha playing Solitaire, or watching TV, or doing stuff around the house or trying to squeeze in a much needed nap in the little free time she has right now, I'll see her playing Angry Birds. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Working At Home</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-02-20T14:15:18-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c1b3b51f04ef372854017c5e0f2e5d5d-46.html#unique-entry-id-46</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c1b3b51f04ef372854017c5e0f2e5d5d-46.html#unique-entry-id-46</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The best part though is I don't have to deal with management consultants, buzzwords, slogans, and all that in-office stuff. 

...I am working for the company and I have to concentrate on that and not things like laundry or Geiger wanting to jump in my lap just before I save a critical document, or other household emergencies. 

...Sick is relative and whereas someone else might call in sick if they aren't up to driving, if I can crawl to the kitchen I can make it to the office. 

...Of course Marsha wonders when I'm NOT working, but right now with her being full time at H&R Block plus the Superstore plus everything else, I'm beginning to wonder the same about her.


So I like working at home and being on my own most of the time.


...I'm guessing that to them I must sound like I'm about to produce a hairball the size of my Kleenex box, and there were times I suspected they were right.   Oh, and, speaking of Kleenex, it's also so much fun to discover in the morning that they think my wastebasket full of used Kleenex is actually a bin of new cat toys. 

...It's actually kinda sad to think that the only time I can sound like Barry White is when I'm too sick to make use of it, but such is my lot in life. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Computer User Games</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-02-13T14:11:25-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/04b05b6d5e6bbdaeb0346d2e9030ac4e-45.html#unique-entry-id-45</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/04b05b6d5e6bbdaeb0346d2e9030ac4e-45.html#unique-entry-id-45</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Why do my users keep the only copies of critical company documents on a six year old computer in their study next to the fish tank?(

...Now a lot of IT people would just say "Sorry but you're out of luck" and laugh maniacally, but I offered to take a look at it.   A few hours later the drive was back from the dead, at least temporarily, and I had a backup of all the critical data. 

...Now it was late in the day so rather than giving her a really secure password I just changed it to something simple and was going to tell her to reset it as soon as she got in, something she should do anyway. 

...Um," slightly surprised, "Well, I'll give you the password and then you can log in and change it to something better."


...At this point I figured she'd change the password to Brittany and then call us next week because she had forgotten her password again. 

...Early this week I got a call from one department head who could not log into one of the computers in her unit. 

...PIX: This week I was in an unoccupied unit at Pacific Shores working on the computer network when I got the feeling that I was being watched. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Cabin Feaver</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-02-27T14:10:07-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/1e8012de63821097200e9260a7e8c847-44.html#unique-entry-id-44</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/1e8012de63821097200e9260a7e8c847-44.html#unique-entry-id-44</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[We want to get out of the house, to walk on the beach in the sun without a heavy coat on, to start working in the yard, to just be able to go outside without anything dripping on us. ...  I was talking to Marsha about this yesterday and asked if it was too early to start the tomatoes. 

...You can sure tell the difference between cats that are kept indoors and brushed daily to keep the coat under control and one that lives outside and has kept his heavy fur. 

...Maybe it's because we are getting a bit of cabin fever, but I'm finding the oddest things funny. 

...He goes on and on about the decadence of capitalistic society, carries a copy of Marx and makes a big deal about reading it while drinking wine (french only) at outdoor cafe's whenever possible. 

...It's the primary ingredient in dishes like "Squab and Truffles with Caviar" which are served to rich people that don't mind paying a ridiculous price for a tiny meal. ...  That's right, if you get rich enough you can have rats-with-wings served to you with smelly-foot fungus and and bait.


...And lastly, speaking of crazy people, I'm sure you all have been following the events in Libya. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Party Down&#x21;&#x21;</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-03-06T13:59:28-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c55f22655d00e2ee1dff21d9f50f948c-43.html#unique-entry-id-43</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c55f22655d00e2ee1dff21d9f50f948c-43.html#unique-entry-id-43</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[To start with, I think we've mentioned before that the last letter of the alphabet, (Z pronounce zee) is pronounced zed up here.   Marsha is getting pretty good at it but I'm having trouble remembering, which is a sure sign to the natives that I'm an immigrant. ...  Then just this week we found that it IS available, but it's called Wheatlets and it's only sold in bulk. 

...I'm not quite sure what Ash Wednesday is, probably because we have a gas fireplace, but apparently it is significant to a large percentage of the people up here. 

...There it's known as Fat Tuesday, I guess because that's the day that all the fat guys party down shirtless. 

...With all the fasting for Lent people realized that they needed to use up their stocks of Eggs, Milk, Flour, Bacon, Sausage, and such. ...  In the Mediterranean areas and then Rio, Latin America, and New Orleans it evolved into Mardi Gras with dancing girls, and lots of skin, and music and drinking, and general debauchery. 

...In fact the champion at the Black Lake Saskatuwan races a few years ago was disqualified when the pancake was found to contain a performance enhancing substance&hellip;chocolate chips.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Disasters All Around&#x2c; But We&#x27;re OK</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-03-13T13:58:05-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/9c272a8301c6a5527ae3119691b3d829-42.html#unique-entry-id-42</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/9c272a8301c6a5527ae3119691b3d829-42.html#unique-entry-id-42</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Here in Nanaimo we got lots of rain but most of the town didn't get much more than that. 

...You see we have the line of mountains down the middle of the island sheltering us from whatever comes in from across the Pacific. 

...There is a lot of redundancy on this side so we don't tend to have many outages and those that do happen are normally short.   The smaller communities on the island though, especially those on the west side tend to be at the end of long lines from the eastern spine. ...  Even calls within Port Renfrew were dead because all traffic is routed through a switching centre on the other side of the break. ...  The one strange thing was that for years Port Renfrew had made due with a single line for telephone and data. 

...Further south along Oregon and California the coast is more directly north-south so it caught the surge more head on and it was much more destructive. 

...I picked up a fresh bottle of Saki for the occasion and decided to try a different one this time. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Not So Much Off The Top</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-03-20T13:56:04-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/25d806a2a18f139ccd9a6d5dbf9b5fec-41.html#unique-entry-id-41</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/25d806a2a18f139ccd9a6d5dbf9b5fec-41.html#unique-entry-id-41</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It turned out that it was run by an old guy that had been a barber for like forty years. 

...Then about this time last year I went in and noticed that only one of the old guys was still there. 

...When I finally asked her how it looked she paused and then replied "Oh&hellip;uh, yeah&hellip;it, um... looks fine&hellip;<cough>&hellip;oh I gotta go to the bathroom." and took off down the hall. 


Being a guy, I only heard the words "it looks fine" and figured the laughter coming from down the hall was because the cat had done something funny. ...  A week or so later I happened to look in the mirror and turn my head to the side and then I noticed what it really looked like. ...  It was then I realized that the people at the various offices I visit that grinned and said "Nice haircut there" might not have been sincere. ...  Of course the laughing should have been a giveaway but as I mentioned I'm a guy and we don't pick up on subtle things like that. 

...Someplace with an old guy, people waiting to get in, and a real lighted motorized barber pole out front. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Of Batteries and Cats</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-03-27T13:37:09-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c8cf271e882c1c2eddcc3114e76969c9-40.html#unique-entry-id-40</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c8cf271e882c1c2eddcc3114e76969c9-40.html#unique-entry-id-40</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[You can be sure that down the road somebody will need to change the battery in the middle of the night and frankly going from full dark to staring into a 75 watt bulb is a little hard on the old eyeballs. 


...When the smoke detector starts to chirp in the middle of the night, you take it down, pull the battery, and go back to bed. ...  It wasn't a battery powered smoke detector, it was on line power so I couldn't take it down or turn it off.


...How could they not know that that the instructions will be needed by some bleary eyed, half asleep guy standing in a bathrobe on a wobbly step stool, squinting over the glare in the middle of the night? 

...After a bit I figured out that this unit was a wired smoke detector but it also had a battery backup in case of power failure. 

...We don't use 9-volt cells for anything except the smoke detectors and as I mentioned before we had completely forgotten all about changing the batteries this spring. 

...Then I climbed down, put the ladder away, put the one remaining new 9 volt battery away, and tossed the dead cell on the bin of dead batteries to recycle. 

...With some difficulty I scooted two displeased cats out of the way and only then was I able to climb into bed to try to get back to sleep. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Frugality &#x26; Virtue</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-04-03T11:58:28-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/3cd7a66e1db4fdfae883df3da404a2b2-39.html#unique-entry-id-39</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/3cd7a66e1db4fdfae883df3da404a2b2-39.html#unique-entry-id-39</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Overall though I'd rather have had pop of some kind or if I was feeling dangerous a little bit of White Zinfandel. 


...It's a local brew that we first picked up because of the name but it turned out to be one of our favourites. 

...No, I had to measure out some soil in a bucket and then add water in small amounts while stirring it so the "moisture crystals" would soak up. 

...I had enough seeds to put several in each pot so I'm going back through and pulling out the weak and smaller ones so I'll end up with one or two strong plants in each pot that I can move outside in May. 


...I got both red and green and there were just enough seeds for one in each pot (Well ok a couple of them got two, but it wasn't the dozen or so each like the tomato pots got.) ...  Worst comes to worst, I'll get some bedding plants and put THEM out but I'd rather be able to say I grew them from seeds like the tomatoes. 

...We bought two phones for $75 each but we managed to catch a special where Future Shop gave us a $75 gift certificate for each one. ...  Future Shop was offering a $75 discount on a new iPod Touch if we traded in an old iPod. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Lemon Marangue Chicken</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-04-17T11:54:33-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/f51d1f6e80d257acb2fdd3d0986bf741-38.html#unique-entry-id-38</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/f51d1f6e80d257acb2fdd3d0986bf741-38.html#unique-entry-id-38</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It's a simple 2 minute job, unplug a few cables, pull the old unit, drop in the new one, hook up the cables, replace the access panel made out of lemon meringue&hellip;.


...Well, that is they move me back to sleep, but usually that's when she insists on telling me about them at 2:00 in the morning. 


...In other news I don't know if you noticed that April 12, last Tuesday, was the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight. ...  Lost in the news of that, and all the machinations about where should we go next in space was another anniversary. 150 years ago on April 12 the Confederates shelled Ft. ...  If you remember this year I also turned 50 years old so that makes three ancient historical events in one year.


...This is a parliamentary system so whenever Parliament passes a no confidence vote, basically saying 'We don't think you are doing it right", the government falls and there is a new election.   This can happen at any time so elections can happen more often in the US, however, the campaign is only five weeks long so it seems like a very fair trade.


...It was then pointed out that the debate was scheduled for the same time as Montreal's first round Stanley Cup game. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Photography</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-05-08T11:52:48-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/df722aa9de6b0cf6e7a76fe9bc845ff3-37.html#unique-entry-id-37</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/df722aa9de6b0cf6e7a76fe9bc845ff3-37.html#unique-entry-id-37</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In order to take pictures like those shots of the moon you need a camera that will metre on just the centre of the frame.   Not all cameras will do that, many take a light reading over the whole frame and average it out, leaving the moon as one put it &ldquo;looking like a light bulb&rdquo;. ...  Unfortunately it&rsquo;s just two of something like 13,896 options, most of which I don&rsquo;t know how to set.   The camera came with a manual, a large book I&rsquo;ve come to call The Encyclopedia Canonnica, but even with that it&rsquo;s been difficult. 


...There&rsquo;s no way I could hold the camera still enough for a shot at 20x let alone at 80x (20x optical zoom plus 4x digital)


Marsha has been making some wonderful meals and I&rsquo;ve started to use the camera&rsquo;s close up capability to record these masterpieces. 


...Marsha, on the other hand has been using the camera for art photography, which has been coming out quite good


...It's not a great camera but I found an App called Photosynth that lets you take multi frame panoramas and it automatically stitches them together into a single shot. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Mayday&#x2c; Mayday</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-05-01T11:52:03-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c04c2b130fe4f420e55cdd8ac1a217f6-36.html#unique-entry-id-36</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c04c2b130fe4f420e55cdd8ac1a217f6-36.html#unique-entry-id-36</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Less money, but also less stress, less snow, less worry, less crime, less commuting, and more time for what we want to do. ...  We went to lunch with Barbara on Saturday to celebrate our anniversary and then I worked in the yard prepping the planters for the peppers and tomatoes, digging up the bed where the potatoes will go, and otherwise prepping the yard for gardening. 

...So starting a decade or so ago when you go for a soak in the natural hot springs it&rsquo;s often city water from big gas water heaters. 

...The driver called for help and the RCMP got there in about an hour and he&rsquo;s doing OK. The reason it took so long was that they were 50 miles from town. ...  If you ARE going to stab the driver and then run away, do it where there&rsquo;s somewhere to run too. ...  They found the stabber a few hundred yards off the road hiding in the bushes wondering what the heck he was going to do.&nbsp;


...This is on full telephoto. the island is many miles south of Nanaimo and the Ferry looked like a white dot at the mouth of the harbour.


In the Nanaimo Daily News they have a column called Beefs & Bouquets where readers write in and either complain about something they encountered (bad driver, terrible service, etc) or to thank someone for something (good service, act of kindness, etc.) ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Petty Squabbles</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-04-24T11:50:11-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/3c644a61aa490928e9690e97f27ad5ff-35.html#unique-entry-id-35</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/3c644a61aa490928e9690e97f27ad5ff-35.html#unique-entry-id-35</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[They are an immigrant Russian/Israeli family and have been working very hard to fix up the place, which we found slightly surprising as they are renting. 

...They are HAM radio people and they've erected a mast in the back that looks to be at least 100 foot tall.   There's nothing wrong with it but it is a bit, oh I don't know, imposing if you happen to live in the shadow. 

...He talked to Dave, the person who actually owns the house, and got the OK to run trucks through the parking area to the back of his lot where the construction was going on. ...  This is the kind of petty neighbour squabbles that go on all the time but it was just one thing too many.   The neighbour went to the city of Lantzville and filed a complaint about all the derelict (in his eyes) equipment, and whatever else he could think of. 


...Mike meets with the Mayor on Tuesday (Mike has known him from the days when he was a struggling lawyer just out of school. 

...One thing I have learned from working on videos is that they take a hell of a lot of drive space on the computer. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Cat Psychology</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-04-10T11:44:21-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/ab2c1aba3fe2e2716b374a98e1b06cc1-34.html#unique-entry-id-34</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/ab2c1aba3fe2e2716b374a98e1b06cc1-34.html#unique-entry-id-34</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Part of the issue though, is that we don't see the world in the same way that cats do. ...  It's this different point of view that makes them do things that we don't understand. 


...So when we go into the bath Momiji especially will come tearing into the room, jump onto the seat and then up to the vanity and stand by the sink looking at us expectantly. 

...When she leapt up she saw the sweater and it was amazing to see how she adjusted where her paws landed so she wouldn't hit it. 

...As each one slides across the kitchen floor Geiger will just watch it go by and then saunter over and eat them. ...  However this means that she can't seem to come up with a vector for a speed of zero. ...  Now it's a little odd, but then I guess with the limited processor power of their brain they get really good at a few things but not others. 


...They need to be listened to LOUD Your system needs the biggest bloody base drivers you can find and for best effect an INSANE amount of wattage. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Of Scotch Eggs&#x2c; Glue&#x2c; and Other No-Bake Recipes</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-05-15T11:42:36-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/26c94a2a0019574d03609dc4e1a73f06-33.html#unique-entry-id-33</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/26c94a2a0019574d03609dc4e1a73f06-33.html#unique-entry-id-33</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I&rsquo;m not sure if Scotch Eggs are really from Scotland or if the Brits called them that as a joke. 

...She had a cooker and showed us how she put a cup of rice and some water in and then 45 minutes later it would be done. ...  Traditionally the Japanese would take a tree trunk, carve a large depression in one end and use hardwood poles to pound the rice into flour referred to as omochitsuki or the ritual of pounding.   As she A. did not have a handy tree trunk, B. did not have the time to pound the flour, and C. the neighbours would probably complain about the noise, she much preferred this automatic mochi cooker that crushed the grains and then steamed and mixed the sweet rice. 

...She mentioned that we should wash our hands and coat them with flour as it was &ldquo;a bit sticky&rdquo;. ...  The rice had no flavour of its own so the creation tasted exactly the way you&rsquo;d expect rice paste wrapped in seaweed cellophane would taste. ...  We are thinking of either A. rolling it out and making hushpuppies, B. rolling it thin and trying to make rice lefsa, or C. letting it age until September and using it as skeet. 

...So the stove is working again, for the moment and we&rsquo;re going to get things together to see if we can get the whole bloody thing replaced. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Relax&#x2c; Things Could Be Wrose</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-05-22T11:40:55-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/0cfc8021604486f33f0ae0e97093d01d-32.html#unique-entry-id-32</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/0cfc8021604486f33f0ae0e97093d01d-32.html#unique-entry-id-32</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Most of the farmers in those areas didn&rsquo;t get a crop in at all and there&rsquo;s some fear that the same may happen to Manitoba farmers this year.


...http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/05/20/bc-shaw-phone-crash.html


...I somehow get the feeling that he really really wishes his folks had either named him something else or let him join that band in high school like he wanted to, rather than going to work in the family business.


...It was injured, but has been cared for and is expected to survive, which as a stray wandering the streets alone it probably wouldn&rsquo;t have. 

...http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/05/16/bc-poodle-eagle.html


...Whatever the reason, I couldn&rsquo;t help feeling that some poor girl will be at her wedding and this song will be played for their First Dance. 


...&ldquo;Bart Centre, is enjoying a boost in business for Eternal Earth-bound Pets, which he set up to look after the pets of those who believe they will be raptured.   He has more than 250 clients who are paying up to $135 (&pound;83) to have their pets picked up and cared for after the rapture.&rdquo;
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>This Is Our Lufe&#x2c; Now With Extra STRESS&#x21;</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-05-29T19:56:12-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/4d5fb1949b1fb11d997962fcd2de5d67-30.html#unique-entry-id-30</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/4d5fb1949b1fb11d997962fcd2de5d67-30.html#unique-entry-id-30</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[And then it would be a calm glide down to summer with a quick visit with a couple of friends in June and then our vacation in July. 

...We get a day here or there but overall it&rsquo;s been lots of damp, lots of rain, and not much opportunity to relax on the beach. 


...He went on to tell us about how great small diesels, like the Volkswagen or Mercedes models were, clean, great mileage and very reliable. 

...Then she got on the phone with the head office and they haggled back and forth in code for a while.   (Ok it wasn&rsquo;t really in code but so many insurance abbreviations, acronyms, and shorthand were flying back and forth we had no idea what they were talking about.)


...Our premium was going down by over a third and because we&rsquo;d overpaid last year we&rsquo;d be getting a check for a third of last years insurance premium in the next couple of weeks. 

...The cats are nervous, both with the changes, and with our habit of grabbing them without warning and taking them on one or two hour road trips (they just don&rsquo;t understand showings). ...  The thing is, when they&rsquo;re stressed they shed so there&rsquo;s more for us to clean, which freaks them out even further. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Dominos</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-06-05T19:50:56-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/653dde50ae444eb1d7e8e32c7282aa2a-29.html#unique-entry-id-29</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/653dde50ae444eb1d7e8e32c7282aa2a-29.html#unique-entry-id-29</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[On Wednesday they called to confirm their reservations and found that their train had been cancelled because of the flooded tracks in North Dakota. ...  They had time for an all day side trip to Victoria and a trip to Coombs to see the goats on the roof.   They also learned that you can make voice calls on Skype for a lot cheaper than calling the US on a cell phone.   They also learned that Skype is not 100% reliable when everyone in the province is trying to watch the big game on the web at the same time.


...Locally, the Boston Pizza chain in BC has changed its name to Vancouver Pizza for the duration of the playoffs, though I&rsquo;m not sure if this is out of team spirit or self preservation.


http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/article/999633--boston-pizza-now-vancouver-pizza-until-the-end-of-the-playoffs?

...And the Indy 500 was almost won by a rookie who crashed on the last corner of the last lap and skidded his wrecked car across the line to end up in second place. 

...Actually I got it posted a couple of weeks ago but have been forgetting to put it in the letter. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A Good Couple of Weeks</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-06-12T19:49:09-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/631b9359c3d4137939a2deb46d1bb77f-28.html#unique-entry-id-28</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/631b9359c3d4137939a2deb46d1bb77f-28.html#unique-entry-id-28</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The people we&rsquo;re buying from have a contract to buy another house, contingent on selling the Harby Rd. house. ...  I suspect that any day now somebody in Montreal will buy a house and that will set off a chain reaction that will cause every person in Canada including us to move. 


...Now we just have to wait to see if we use it for this house or the new one.


...We&rsquo;re not planning a big celebration, just a quiet evening for the two of us, unless there&rsquo;s a game on in which case Marsha will be listening to the Twins and I&rsquo;ll be watching cartoons. 

...Unless that is, if you count on knowing on what the other is thinking in which case you&rsquo;ll be wildly wrong.


...She rolls her eyes and sighs but after all of these years I know what she&rsquo;s thinking and she&rsquo;s laughing on the inside.   For her part Marsha has fun pretending that the car is &lsquo;ours&rsquo; but whenever it needs repair or gas it&rsquo;s &lsquo;Doug's. 


...Probably though the biggest thingI&rsquo;ve learned over the last twenty-four years is that when she says &ldquo;Do you want to&hellip;.&rdquo; it&rsquo;s not actually a question. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Important Lessons</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-06-19T19:47:58-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/794c3ea6f0ed3a78f64932d7284c34a9-27.html#unique-entry-id-27</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/794c3ea6f0ed3a78f64932d7284c34a9-27.html#unique-entry-id-27</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[All that is left is for those that so assuredly predicted a Canucks win, first in a sweep, then &ldquo;this was just a stumble - they&rsquo;ll do it tonight&rdquo; and then &ldquo;sure at Boston but the Canucks never lose at home&rdquo; to explain to this reporter why they were in fact not wrong. ...  The Canucks organization looks forward to the coming season, but first looks at the last season to try to figure out why the wheels came off so badly. 


...You see when you grow up with teams that win, especially those that win all the time you get a warped sense of the real world. ...  He does not learn the importance of keeping several irons in the fire because you can&rsquo;t count on any one of them paying off. 

...You gotta keep playing right up to the last second because no matter how far ahead you may be, they could still pull it out.&rdquo;   Most losses are predicated on overconfidence and teams that win all the time give their fans a sense of overconfidence.


...That is why Marsha and I are making plans for what we&rsquo;ll do WHEN the house deal collapses and Barbara&rsquo;s on the street. 

...They are regretting this I&rsquo;m sure, If not now, then in about 20 years when they run for office or have kids and this video resurfaces.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>But Wait&#x2c; There&#x27;s More...</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-06-27T19:44:01-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/d9cb966945a24f626152f21ab39658d1-26.html#unique-entry-id-26</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/d9cb966945a24f626152f21ab39658d1-26.html#unique-entry-id-26</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Now, as I think the former is not likely to succeed in doing anything other than costing me a lot of blood we settled on the latter. 

...The agents for all four parties in this string of houses argued about moving closings around, closing on this house but renting it back from him for a month, all sorts of plans were floated. ...  We&rsquo;ve arranged to rent a place for a month, and then move into our new digs at the very end of August.   By a strange coincidence we&rsquo;ll be renting the suite in the first house, the one we bid on but did not get, with the suite that we had originally planned to rent to Barbara. 

...As I know Marsha doesn&rsquo;t mention this sort of thing unless it&rsquo;s REALLY bothering her I pressured her to call right then to see the dentist. 

...You know it&rsquo;s not going to be good news when the dentist takes one look and calls for backup.   One tooth that had been a root-canaled and capped years ago had gotten a cavity and the old canal was infected. 

...So, between the pain and the codeine Marsha hasn&rsquo;t been sleeping well all week, the cats have been starving all week, and most of the agents in Nanaimo have been arguing all week about who's the biggest idiot. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>I Am Not A Boyscout</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-07-03T19:40:55-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/98f000caf71e04258866b7c829c50cc4-25.html#unique-entry-id-25</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/98f000caf71e04258866b7c829c50cc4-25.html#unique-entry-id-25</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Sure it&rsquo;s not an F-250 but it holds enough so that between loading and unloading we&rsquo;re pretty beat by the time we get home. 

...What we're not taking now we're packing so when we get back the rest will be ready to go. 


...The thing is I know exactly three knots, a square knot, that funny knot we used to tie down airplanes at my folks shop, and a noose because I went to a REALLY tough junior high. ...  But for some reason Marsha is convinced that I know far more than she, who grew up on the farm, roping cattle, tying hay bales, securing tractor loads, and making fishing nets out of twine does. ...  Finally after fighting with the rope for a few trips we stopped by Canadian Tire and I got some webbing straps with ratchet things on the ends to tighten them up. 

...I took a tape but the agent that let us in had one of those super accurate digital devices that use a laser to measure the distance. 

...Rick, Jody and family - No, you are not allowed to have your new house blown away before we even get a chance to see it. 


...The Deck, I'll be able to leave my telescope set up all the time and just wheel it out to look at the stars. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Animals Are Winning</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-07-10T19:39:39-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/fce2b1e511c72039ea59c84ff919eee0-24.html#unique-entry-id-24</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/fce2b1e511c72039ea59c84ff919eee0-24.html#unique-entry-id-24</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Not really sure though if the little improvement we&rsquo;ve seen is because of the food's special benefits or because Geiger hasn&rsquo;t been eating. ...  The final straw came when the vet weighed Geiger and found he&rsquo;d lost a pound in the last two weeks. ...  So out with the bad food, and they are back on California Naturals Herring and Sweet Potato, the stuff Geiger&rsquo;s been eating since kittenhood. 


...There was the dog that escaped from a yard in Montreal last year that turned up in Kamloops BC this week.   They suspect she hopped a train. &nbsp;http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/07/06/bc-montreal-dog-kamloops-journey.html She's a nine year old dog so I figure it must have been a mid-life crisis thing. 


...It&rsquo;s still on the loose.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/07/05/bc-cougar-nanaimo.html. 

...Add to this the series of bear attacks that have happened in the Province this week and the town of Kimberly that is overrun by deer that are attacking people and one thought comes to mind


...We're on the road this week so updates might be a little hit and miss for a while. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Well&#x2c; We Made It To Minnesots</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-07-17T19:37:24-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/e396f5f98a0746c3b67d1a0602a9c96f-23.html#unique-entry-id-23</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/e396f5f98a0746c3b67d1a0602a9c96f-23.html#unique-entry-id-23</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[All of a sudden everything came to a screeching halt, literally, &nbsp;When the same bus tried to board the ferry took the ramp to the upper deck. 

...When we got back on the road Marsha looked in the mirror and discovered that the bus was immediately behind us. ...  So for the rest of the trip any time we saw a traffic jam we figured it was that bus striking again.


...Then just as we got close to the front of the line suddenly all the lanes closed. the guards stopped everyone, blocked the lanes with orange cones, and then they all ran to a lane about two over from the one we were in. ...  He was cuffed and marched off into the bowels of the building, then a guard drove his van away and the rest of the guards returned to their booths and the lanes reopened.   When we got to the front of the line Marsha handed the guard our passports and then said "looks like you had a bit of excitement". "yeah," said the guard, "do YOU have any fruit?" 

...The next day we pushed hard and got through Montana, &nbsp;Wyoming, and nearly all the way through South Dakota to end up at Chamberlin, about a 900 mile day. 

...We know that waiting for us when we get home is a house that needs to be moved and cats that will hold a grudge. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>It Was So Hot...</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-07-24T19:33:57-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/41d384a663fb0d9c8f9a0fa492315506-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/41d384a663fb0d9c8f9a0fa492315506-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It was so hot, the day we left for home I discovered a frog trying to stow away in the car in order to get out of the heat and humidity. 


...I never thought of Bismarck North Dakota as a tourist destination but it was packed and we ended up having to continue on to Mandan to find a fairly decent place. 

...It was between 80 and 85 degrees out and at the top of the freeway entrance ramp we ran into a wall of thick pea soup fog.   We needed the AC and defrost on and the wipers running as the steam (there really is no other appropriate term for it) tried to condense on both sides of the glass. ...  Mysteriously within a mile of the state line we drove out of the fog and were in sunny skies for the rest of the day. 


...Taking turns in three hour watches behind the wheel we crossed the state as mile after mile of high desert and desolate fields, and lonely cows and isolated ranches rolled by. ...  We pressed on to Ritzville Washington, a town that to us appeared to consist of one gas station, a couple of silos, a hundred yards of paved street, and one of the nicest Best Western Hotels we&rsquo;ve ever stayed in. ...  It was one of those things you always want to be able to say you did and now that it&rsquo;s done we never have to do it again.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Fairwell Rutherford House&#x2c; Hello Crackerbox</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-07-31T15:17:46-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/dd747657248b01138ce40c1afda6bc9c-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/dd747657248b01138ce40c1afda6bc9c-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Not that I&rsquo;ve ever thought of myself as a 30 something year old beautiful woman with a Phd in Anthropology, (not recently anyway. 

...It&rsquo;s about 4 foot tall and I knew that if I just strapped it in the back of the pickup truck it would get broken.   Marsha mentioned that we also needed to move one of our big leather and oak armchairs and pointed out that it would help break the wind. 


...Everyone seemed to be very impressed with a guy in a leather and oak armchair riding in the back of a pickup truck.   I on the other hand, assumed that all of this was due to everyone being so impressed with the Jade Tree and all the smiles and shouts were for my ingenuity in protecting this wonderful specimen. 

...It&rsquo;s been a good house and we&rsquo;ve left it in better shape than we found it, which is the least we could do. 

...The living area smaller than we&rsquo;re used to, around ~600 square foot, so the cats think they&rsquo;re in the catetentary again and can&rsquo;t figure out why we&rsquo;re in there with them, but we&rsquo;re settling in. ...  We&rsquo;ve only unpacked what we need to live for this month and many times a day we find ourselves starting to look for something only to realize it&rsquo;s in &rsquo;The Pile&rdquo; and won&rsquo;t be accessible until we unpack. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Allergies Like A Mile Of Bad Road</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-08-07T15:13:23-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/f846aa17b5d3d322291229300fd417cd-20.html#unique-entry-id-20</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/f846aa17b5d3d322291229300fd417cd-20.html#unique-entry-id-20</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Oh sure there are other roads, Peterson, Oar, Leland, and such that feed into it but to go anywhere in Lantzville or to leave Lantzville you have to travel on Lantzville Rd.&nbsp;


...This worked well because by breaking the crew into three groups the pavers aren't sitting around waiting for the manhole team to finish and the manhole team is not waiting for the trenching team to finish. 

...All of her pictures are crooked, a couple of jars fell off the ledge, the cats stayed away during the day, and at at one point this week her phone went out. 

...There is a haze over the whole town most of the time, except when the breeze comes off of the sea, and there hasn't been much of that this week. 

...The whole time I lived in the Rutherford House I don't think I had a single problem with pollen.   However now that we've moved into the rental they've come back and I don't know why.


...The whole time I lived in the Rutherford House I don't think I had a single problem with pollin.   However now that we've moved into the rental they've come back and I don't know why.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Cat With Wild Eyes</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-08-14T15:10:30-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/1f69c8be53447dce24366478b03fb8f8-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/1f69c8be53447dce24366478b03fb8f8-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Momiji has more street smarts so she knows how to fight and not to run outside because she has a good thing right here, but Geiger is better at figuring things out. ...  Marsha and I understand it&rsquo;s only for a couple more weeks, and Geiger is just happy as long as we put him on the leash and take him on a walk outside once a day, but Momiji is going a bit stir crazy in this little house. 

...This week we also had a couple of unfortunate events, more unfortunate than Momiji swatting at us that is. 

...As with most high security positions like mine they told me on Friday, I handed in my keys, computer, and phone, and they walked me to the door right then.   I still get paid through the end of the month plus my boss said to feel free to use him as a reference so there&rsquo;s no hard feelings. 

...As far as they were concerned everything was signed and all that was holding it up was the current people hadn&rsquo;t moved out yet. ...  Financially we still have the reserve we brought up with us when we moved to BC, actually it&rsquo;s a bit bigger than when we moved up here, plus we have some extra cash from the sale of the Rutherford House.   Between the two of these we could cover expenses for about a year and that&rsquo;s not counting Marsha&rsquo;s retirement that starts in February and is (approximately) the size of our house payment. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Seven Stages of Unemployment</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-08-21T15:07:55-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/258beeb2a9d69595a1a272704fe8d320-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/258beeb2a9d69595a1a272704fe8d320-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Not everyone goes through all of them, a few get their job back, but most of us pass from stage to stage until we land a new position. 


...In the latter case you&rsquo;re still in the same crummy job that you were just thinking of quitting last week, but this time with no pay.


...This means that you don&rsquo;t, or in my case can&rsquo;t, do any work, but you are still getting paid. ...  This is when you run out and refill all the prescriptions, get a dental cleaning, get new glasses, see if there&rsquo;s anything the Doctor wants to do right now. 

...You could do a better job than your old boss so why not apply for jobs a level or three above where you had been. ...  You figure that if you get a job at a higher level, in a couple of years when your old boss gets fired, he will be applying to YOU for a job.   Then you can either toss him out on the street like he did to you or, better yet hire him and make his life a living hell like he did to you. 

...That&rsquo;s fine but remember that you have to phrase your work experience in such a way that it looks like it has something to do with the new job in a totally different industry. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Ya Load 16 Tons...</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-09-05T15:05:44-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/4051f2022da8a326d840f6205bd10884-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/4051f2022da8a326d840f6205bd10884-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[After much thought I realized if I grabbed a couple of long boards from the pile in the back yard and put them on the bumper I could slide the pieces up without having to lift them. 

...I knew it was time to stop when I went to pick up a mattress and I couldn&rsquo;t grip it. ...  The thing is because I went out the next day and moved more stuff, and the next day, and the next, I never got stiff and sore. 

...The big bed has been reassembled, so for the first time in over a month we&rsquo;re not sleeping on the floor.   The garage is a pile of boxes and furniture, but as we get things organized it&rsquo;s clearing out.&nbsp;


...It&rsquo;s been a slow process, and she still spooks very easily, but slowly she&rsquo;s accepting this as her new world.


...The kitchen is fairly new but we didn&rsquo;t realize until we got here they went top end on everything: KitchenCraft cabinets, new GE and Maytag appliances, under cabinet lighting, the works. 

...As they were in the garden I'm assuming they're edible but I'd like to know what I'm putting on the plate.&nbsp;
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Shake&#x2c; Rattle&#x2c; and Roll. But not for us.</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-09-11T15:04:36-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/001d396a64468ce2d5c5fe6b8a4dab91-16.html#unique-entry-id-16</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/001d396a64468ce2d5c5fe6b8a4dab91-16.html#unique-entry-id-16</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The kind of earthquake that will shake the clock off the mantle, result in the breaking a lot of glassware, store aisles full of canned goods, and scaring the heck out of the cats, not to mention any friends or relatives that live elsewhere.   It was centred just off the West Coast of the island near Tofino and was felt on the island, buildings swayed in Vancouver, and reports came of people feeling it as far south as Seattle. 

...The funny thing is if you draw a line from where the earthquake happened to Vancouver, it will go right through Lantzville and Nanaimo. 

...You can hear the Thumpa Thumpa of the base but the screaming guitar is absorbed by the windows (which I consider to be a good thing actually).   In our case the high frequency shaking that&rsquo;s so hard on the glassware was absorbed by the mass of the island (also a good thing). 

...Because the earthquake was such a non-event for people around here they even went ahead and had Lantzville Minetown Days on Saturday. ...  You may not realize it but Lantzville was a big coal mining and shipping centre in the late 1800&rsquo;s. 

...By the way, now that we&rsquo;re in the, {final, permanent, I swear by all I hold dear I&rsquo;m never going to move again, they&rsquo;ll have to carry me out &nbsp;of here feet first, they&rsquo;ll pry the keys from my cold dead hands}, house, we probably should give you our new address. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>They Call It Second-Hand Holes...</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-09-18T14:59:43-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/d79f3ffd1a1be48c77d985e806c1ac5c-15.html#unique-entry-id-15</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/d79f3ffd1a1be48c77d985e806c1ac5c-15.html#unique-entry-id-15</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[On our to-do list is &ldquo;paint every room&rdquo;, which will include patching the previous owners picture hanger holes.   We figured there&rsquo;s no reason to poke more holes in the walls when we&rsquo;re going to pull everything down for painting anyway. ...  Even though the house is just 100 square feet larger than the Rutherford House it has a lot more wall space so it looks like we'll be able to get most everything up.


...Most of the rooms are various shades of green or tan, which is not bad but I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m particularly fond of the shades they chose. ...  There&rsquo;s a bunch of paint cans in the workshop, and likely any one of those colours will be brighter than what&rsquo;s on the walls now.   Even if it doesn&rsquo;t come out very pretty, it will be a good primer base for whatever colour we end up using in there.  


...Jupiter, Mars, Orion, the moon, various double stars, Sirius have all been spectacular and it&rsquo;s been very nice to visit with them again.   Then there was the evening I was out looking at the stars and noticed a really large cruise ship sailing up Georges Strait. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>An Evening With the Lantzville City Council</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-09-25T14:24:09-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/917c4714546a640d24628b26a66a8363-14.html#unique-entry-id-14</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/917c4714546a640d24628b26a66a8363-14.html#unique-entry-id-14</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I mean the suite is still there and nobody appeared to have any stomach for kicking an 86 year old grandmother and her cats to the curb. 

...Never mind they get a thousand times the radio exposure from the electrical wires in their house even if nothing is on. ...  Never mind that in double blind studies people that claim to be sensitive to radio exposure have never been able to reliably tell when they are being exposed. 

...I learned that soil treated with compost containing manure should not be use for food crops for sixteen months, thirty-two if root crops are to be grown. 

...Then Ursula got up and talked about how Barbara has lived in Lantzville since the late 1980s, how her family and friends are there to support her, and how Lantzville really needs to think about affordable housing, especially for seniors.   Somewhere in here it was mentioned that there were many many &ldquo;illegal suites&rdquo; in Lantzville and they really needed to formulate a plan for dealing with them.   I took this as a veiled way of saying that if the City cracked down and made half the households in town rip out their suites none of those present would get reelected. 

...Barbara&rsquo;s explanation was &ldquo;Well, I know you have to get up early for work so I didn&rsquo;t want to bother you.&rdquo; ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Call of the Wild (Workshop)</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-10-02T14:16:17-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/b7d09ea64761558f71602ffc5434f08b-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/b7d09ea64761558f71602ffc5434f08b-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The worst we had here was that a branch from one of the apple trees broke off so Marsha had to make a green apple pie.&nbsp;...  I went outside to check (which in hindsight might not have been the smartest move) and found the noise was really the rain and stuff blowing around in the neighbours aluminum fishing boat.


...I mean when you were sitting on it you were only a few inches off the floor so getting all the way up to a standing position was a lot of work. ...  They were just stacked up in the back yard and the owner was going to dispose of them along with a bunch of other &ldquo;junk&rdquo; so we got them for free, along with a bunch of good slate tiles that were just lying around under the weeds. ...  I cut some of the boards to length and then stacked a bunch of them up and tied them together with deck screws. ...  Once I got them upstairs I stapled denim from a couple of pairs of old jeans around them for looks and they were done. 

...I don&rsquo;t care which one, I&rsquo;m not really that interested in hockey or football but the room just calls for a sports sounds and a cold can of something or other while I de thatch the trellis or patch the mower valve or adjust the faucet timber or whatever men do in a workshop. ...  It needs something, like a calendar with a picture of dogs and guns or maybe a girl in a bikini on the hood of a car holding a shock absorber. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Of Elbows&#x2c; Icons&#x2c; and Little Blue Fish</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-10-09T14:13:05-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/66e0b5da63d1da12764f6219bf817127-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/66e0b5da63d1da12764f6219bf817127-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I mean the front yard alone is as big as all the grass at the Rutherford House. ...  There&rsquo;s a LOT of grass to cover and with a 13&rdquo; mover and that means a lot of walking back and fourth. 

...We aren&rsquo;t in trouble and we just want to keep it that way.   Well on Saturday we were at Home Depot to pick up a couple of things and Marsha came across a mower in the clearance section. ...  It was exactly what we&rsquo;d been looking for so despite my protests Marsha got someone over and we asked him about the price. ...  I went along with it mostly to humour Marsha because I thought even at $399 it was still something I didn&rsquo;t want to spend right now. ...  He said hadn&rsquo;t expected it to be marked down but he could give it to us for $249. 

...Then a couple of hours later there's a beautiful sunrise and in the afternoon it's been nice. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>No Vacancies&#x2c; Yourgage&#x2c; and Radioactive Floorboards</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-10-16T14:08:24-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/e149e379ff77c01ede365d0ee91d5593-11.html#unique-entry-id-11</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/e149e379ff77c01ede365d0ee91d5593-11.html#unique-entry-id-11</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In the US we hear about the British burning Washington, but not that this was in retaliation for American forces looting and burning the town of York, the capitol of what was then known as Upper Canada, (to differentiate it from Lower Canada which confusingly is to the east and is more mountainous.). ...  We don&rsquo;t here about Americas three or four attempts to invade Canada all of which were thrown back by a mix of Canadian, Native fighters under Chief Tecumseh, and British Regulars who not only drove the Americans back but captured Detroit and held it until the end of the war. 

...Now I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s a good or a bad product, but I do know that it&rsquo;s a terrible name. 

...It sounds like a euphemism for regurgitation, something that doesn&rsquo;t inspire confidence right now when so many mortgage products have puked all over the economy.


...In theory that&rsquo;s all well and good but we&rsquo;ve been here long enough to remember a bit of history. ...  You know somehow I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s a good idea at this point to push preservative free, after their history of causing such serious yourgage. 

...The first question I&rsquo;d have if I lived there would be WHY are there bottles of highly radioactive material under the floor of a house? 

...If I lived there I think it would be enough to cause major yourgage, but then maybe that&rsquo;s just me.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Sasquatch Prom Date</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-10-23T14:04:19-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/ae78085d0428f8ea74d35695a27dab32-10.html#unique-entry-id-10</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/ae78085d0428f8ea74d35695a27dab32-10.html#unique-entry-id-10</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Sunday we woke up to a song on the radio by the BC band Sasquatch Prom Date. http://www.myspace.com/sasquatchpromdate. 

...They&rsquo;re occupying the Diana Krall Plaza next to the library. http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/131957068.html I think it&rsquo;s great. ...  And of course they&rsquo;re protesting in front of the Public Library, it being the closest thing to a Financial Centre we have around here. ...  We&rsquo;re going for citizenship in a few months and, well, we just think we want to keep as low a profile as possible right now. 


...That&rsquo;s great news that will add around 4,000 jobs to the region directly and many times that when you figure in support services and other second and third tier jobs. 

...My guess is that they&rsquo;d be more upset if it were the WARSHIPS that were going to be built here. 

...Then it came out that the minister that predicted the end of the world last May checked his math and this week predicted the world would end Friday (really this time I mean it) . http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/10/19/f-family-radio-prediction-harold-camping.html As I wrote this on Saturday and you're reading it on Monday or later, he was wrong again. 

...On the Simpsons Marge would make a really ugly cake or pie for Homer to sneak in and eat thus protecting the hidden birthday cake or the pie for the church sale. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Bob Fosse Garage</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-10-30T14:02:32-07:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/9d037225a68bc9f3cc40c7d6743f313d-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/9d037225a68bc9f3cc40c7d6743f313d-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Also next to the door to get into the house from the carport, now garage, is a doorbell button and a motion sensor light. 

...One thing the garage does not have is a window so we can&rsquo;t see a bloody thing until the light comes on and it won&rsquo;t come on until it sees us moving. 


...Walking around in the dark would probably do it but with the junk on the floor it&rsquo;s dangerous Strangely enough, what we found works best though is ***Jazz Hands***. 

...As I mentioned, scattered around the floor is an assortment of boxes, exercise equipment, and junk so if we tried to walk back to the door in the dark we&rsquo;ll trip on a barbell, fall down, and die. 

...If we have to work in the garage for an extended period we go out, do ***Jazz Hands*** until the motion sensor light comes on, then go to the back door and turn on the main light. ...  The motion sensor light will go off after a minute or so but that&rsquo;s not a problem. ...  The switch by the back door is out of sight of the motion light sensor light so flailing around in the dark back there is not going to accomplish anything. ...  I mentioned previously that with all the boxes and things on the floor, if we tried to walk around the garage in the dark we&rsquo;d trip, fall down, and die. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>It&#x27;s a Weird World</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-11-06T13:55:54-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/cb9f63f1007f53f9d55d9019ca335cb2-8.html#unique-entry-id-8</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/cb9f63f1007f53f9d55d9019ca335cb2-8.html#unique-entry-id-8</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[We put it on the list and went in search of the classic blue cylindrical box of Morton&rsquo;s Salt, but try as we might we couldn&rsquo;t find any. ...  Not a big deal, I mean salt is salt after all, but I do wonder if they tried to sell Morton&rsquo;s up here and couldn't. 

...I&rsquo;ve noticed for a long time that when Marsha leaves, such as to go to work, he makes this sad meowing sound and mopes around the place.   This week Marsha noticed that when I left to run some errands he ran all over the house and was jumping off the tables and ricocheting off the couches. 

...What&rsquo;s more in another article I read that their largest creditor is arguing against the filing and wants the company to be shut down and liquidated immediately to pay off debts. 

...On a lighter note, &nbsp;there was the article I ran across on the BBC about a debate held in Philadelphia on whether the American Declaration of Independence was legal under International Law.&nbsp;


...You know, somehow at this point if it were put up to a vote I think most Americans would be fine with them leaving.&nbsp;


...When they&rsquo;re not racing, those involved with F-1 are known for lavish parties where the uniform of the day is diamonds and fur, even in Dubai where it&rsquo;s too hot for fur. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Good News Comes in Threes</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-11-13T13:53:53-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/8f29ae58b03d0d55a12de8053e6950be-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/8f29ae58b03d0d55a12de8053e6950be-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[We discovered that when we have a hard rain some of the water runs toward the house rather than away because they have the grade wrong in one area. ...  It seems more than a little nuts to us, especially when you realize that the gas furnace is in the basement located less than six feet away from the fireplace. 

...The garage has four circuits: one for the outlets on the right side, one for the outlets on the left side, one for the light, and one for the single outlet on the back wall we&rsquo;ve plugged the freezer into. &nbsp;

...Think of it as like a log cabin but the logs are milled with a tongue and groove interlock so it&rsquo;s insanely solid and much more weather tight than old fashioned log cabin construction. 

...If you&rsquo;ve seen these little tracked robots that the bomb squad uses or that search and rescue teams use in disasters, or more commonly that are used by oil and gas companies or sewer companies to inspect pipelines, that&rsquo;s what Inuktun makes. 

...Lastly the third bit of news is something we&rsquo;re all very excited about,... but I can&rsquo;t tell you what it is. ...  They want whatever it might be to develop a bit further, or not, so when they&rsquo;re ready to say something about it, or not, that is if there is something to say anything about, or not, they can, or not.   So for now just understand that it&rsquo;s wonderful but I can&rsquo;t tell you WHAT is wonderful, that is if there is actually anything. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Overall a fun week</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-11-20T13:51:08-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/46c824090cbd66cfa857d6d2903f90f4-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/46c824090cbd66cfa857d6d2903f90f4-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So when I got up on Friday I found that Marsha had left me a note that said &ldquo;Throw Bad Meat&rdquo;. ...  Those of you that know me will understand though, that my mind tends to make unexpected connections and this was the case with the bad meat. 

...The idea is to centralize the files, put all the Accounting people next to each other, and incidentally to free up some space by shrinking some overly wide hallways to give me an office next to the server room. 

...Also because it&rsquo;ll be our newer car, it&rsquo;s the one we&rsquo;ll want to take on long trips rather than the Prius so a bit more storage space would be handy. 

...It feels strange to get up, have breakfast and take off to work either before Marsha gets up or before she gets home from her job. ...  At the University we worked in the same office so we both commuted together and saw each other all the time.   Prior to that I worked for a company just off the U of MN campus so we commuted together and I walked over to her office and we had lunch together all the time. 

...Our only consolation is that, where most of you will be dealing with snow, winter driving, and the need to carry a winter survival kit and shovel until May or June, we should be back to clear roads by Tuesday and we&rsquo;ll be planning the garden in February. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Gryy Cup Party</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-11-27T13:49:16-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c59009f49eb00c0b12f97303ef921470-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/c59009f49eb00c0b12f97303ef921470-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I&rsquo;m with the company for barely two weeks and they have a party. ...  I tried to be supportive and told her that I could wear my dress black tennis shoes but that didn&rsquo;t seem to help.


...We were very impressed with this actually because the winner wasn&rsquo;t one of the engineers or someone from sales or management. ...  They gave it to the person that handles payroll and accounts payable for &ldquo;keeping things running smoothly and making sure everyone got paid in time and without any hassles&rdquo;. ...  We were also impressed by how many people have been with the company for five, ten, fifteen or more years. 

...They then had the option of keeping what they picked or to trade (steal) with someone who got something they liked better. 

...Normally we&rsquo;d automatically be cheering for the Lions however we have a bit of a soft spot for Winnipeg. ...  We also found out that Bud Grant both played for and coached Winnipeg before becoming the coach for the Minnesota Vikings. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Business Practices 101</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-12-04T10:22:31-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/940584aabef9aee262eac1208df44d0b-4.html#unique-entry-id-4</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/940584aabef9aee262eac1208df44d0b-4.html#unique-entry-id-4</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[A company where quality and customer satisfaction is foremost and everyone pulls together and goes the extra mile because it&rsquo;s such a great place to work.


...They did this despite a history from previous years when they extended their hours and found that there isn&rsquo;t anyone shopping between midnight and six in the morning.   It also makes it difficult for the restocking crews who have to keep the aisles clear in case somebody has a craving for a cauliflower and a bottle of shampoo at two in the morning.   Even better, in order to keep from eating into profits they reduced everyone&rsquo;s hours to offset the cost off additional staff between 11:00pm and 6:00am. ...  Everything they put on the shelves sells as fast as they put it out and they cut the people that put stuff on the shelves and the people that run the registers during the day when there are customers so they can stay open extra hours when almost nobody is buying anything.   Even worse, this is a company that&rsquo;s had labour trouble in the past and now they are cutting their staff&rsquo;s hours just before Christmas or scheduling them in the middle of the night. 


...The staff is mad because for most of them their income dropped by a third to a half or more (Marsha went from three days a week to one). 

...Marsha on the other hand, was not working (and she was also battling a bad cold for seven days). ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>All I want For Christmas is a Front Wheel Drive</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-12-11T10:21:06-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/f9ada760b0eaf5253d889b18c6768d6d-3.html#unique-entry-id-3</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/f9ada760b0eaf5253d889b18c6768d6d-3.html#unique-entry-id-3</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Now that I&rsquo;m working regular hours in a real office the pickup just wasn&rsquo;t right for us any more. ...  It&rsquo;s still a really good car but we&rsquo;ve been thinking it was time to get something a bit newer for long road trips. 

...I&rsquo;m always going to be more at home in a Mini, or a Mustang, blasting up a mountain road than I&rsquo;m ever going to be in a truck with a load of mulch. 

...I sure as heck don&rsquo;t want to be stranded somewhere in the middle of the night because my CAR swallowed a virus and gave me a Blue Screen of Death. 

...Their advertising suggested they only made four door sedan versions of their cars but we figured maybe we could get a low milage used one that would do, or maybe the Fit wouldn&rsquo;t be as bad as I expected. ...  We looked at one and the first thing that hit us was that the car has similar lines as the CRX. I sat in one. 

...Checking a number of other sites I found a lot of comments from actual owners of this car saying that they get that or even better in the real world. ...  Several hours later after the sun had gone down, we&rsquo;d signed our name dozens of times and listened to a vast amount of verbiage that we immediately forgot, we drove off in a silver two door Honda CIVIC. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Baby&#x2c; It&#x27;s DARK Outside</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-12-18T10:18:36-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/2960f68ab218bb1ff4a4e4618bcb39df-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/2960f68ab218bb1ff4a4e4618bcb39df-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It&rsquo;s so dark that Marsha decorated the deck for Christmas and I didn&rsquo;t notice for two days, at least that&rsquo;s the excuse I&rsquo;m using.   It&rsquo;s so dark that we went to the store on Sunday and I saw what the inside of my car looks like for the very first time. 

...Vancouver is having a bunch of events this week. http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2011/12/15/winter-solstice-lantern-festival-december-21-2011/ I think the one I&rsquo;d like to see is the Lantern festival, where they make these labyrinths out of small candles in paper lanterns. http://www.secretlantern.org/index.html That sounds like it would be very pretty. ...  The week before Christmas I curl up in the dark under a blanket and play a video game on my iPad where I crawl around in a dungeon killing things.


...I was thinking about the dark this week when I found out that one of the people at work commutes by boat. ...  She keeps her own boat at the dock in Nanaimo and every night parks her car there and sails out to her house on one of the outlying small islands.   The other morning she was complaining about how it was stormy and dark on the bay and a log raft had drifted out of position so she had to detour around it. 

...A bunch of kings on camelback that came in without so much as a by your leave, (you know how kings are) and dropped off packages of stuff. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Silliness Abounds in a Silly Week</title><dc:creator>Douglas Aalseth</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home Page</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-12-25T10:17:17-08:00</dc:date><link>http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/a81e966ed12cfa442a6f3115de93ae1a-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://douglas.aalseth.net/blog-2/blog/files/a81e966ed12cfa442a6f3115de93ae1a-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This week as I was driving home from work the CBC was having a radio call-in show where people could send greetings to others and generally enthuse on how their holiday was going. 

...On Thursday I fixed the test box, then I got the card made, then I got the card customized for the model of robot they were building, all for the first time. ...  Then my boss came by and asked me to document the process to make the cards so it wouldn&rsquo;t be so difficult next time. 

...Well, he&rsquo;d mentioned to me earlier in the day that his wife was home with his two sons (aged 7 and 9) both of which had the flu. 

...It&rsquo;s dark all the time up there too so they left their snowmobiles running to keep the lights on. 

...http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/12/24/bc-surrey-fraser-cow-rescue.html


...The result of this was the Navy captain who almost ran into another ship AND failed to at least keep his submerged boat hidden from civilian eyes has been relieved of duty. 


...On Friday I had just started to go down the stairs when for some reason my feet decided to take the afternoon off for Christmas. ]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
</rss>