it's 8:30am on a tuesday and not only am i awake, but i'm awake trying to fix a macintosh. i hate these damn things, and here i am trying to install osX.3 on one. what's wrong with it you ask? well how should i know? it doesn't tell you why it's not working, it just freezes the install at random stages. gotta love that apple obscurity.

anyway, an update on the trip out so far:

unfortunately, it would seem that far too many of my old friends still live with their parents in langley. most of them like it there so much that they don't intend to leave... ever. it's not like i begrudge their choices -- gods know that our generation pretty much got screwed when the bottom fell out of that whole "get through university and a people will throw jobs at you" myth. but what i just can't stand is langley. it's a oversized burb, a 40minute drive from vancouver, full of pasty white christians with not much to do outside of drinking and going to church (oh yes, and now it has a casino). the worst part has got to be the isolation though. it's a 40min drive if you have a car, but it's a long bus and the skytrain before you get to the city by transit. add to that the fact that you're hanging out with people who quite like langley and have no interest in going to the city and you a recipe for 3days in the burbs with nothing to do.

i did manage to get into vancouver once though. for a whole 4hours. chris dropped me at the langley bus loop, where i rode with all my luggage to surrey centre, then on the skytrain to new west minister and carried all my stuff up a retardedly steep hill to drop it off at my brother's place. i got to leave my big bag there while i took the little one for a trip around the city for the day. the only problem was that michelle, annie and i had dinner plans so by the time i got into downtown and finished lunch with margaret, it was about 1:30... not so much time left for sightseeing.

i wanted to go to ubc and take some pictures of some of the green building projects there. mec was also on the list since i needed some new shoes and last but not least i wanted to see if i could find a way to see the capilano suspension bridge... but given the time constraints i only had a chance to kill about 30minutes around ubc wandering aimlessly taking a couple pictures.

however while the dinner with annie and michelle cut my vancouver time short, i did have a wonderful time with the two of them. we met at boston pizza and talked for about 4hours. good thing they weren't busy. it was neat to catch up with the two of them and share our collective knowledge of the lives of others from our grad class. they're both doing very well in their own way and are even in happy relationships which made me a bit jealous, but i'm sure i'll get over it ;-)

michelle was super cool and drove me all the way back to new west so she could hang out with me 'till my brother go home. apparently, she missed him too and we spent most of the night talking about all sorts of things while i tried to fix this mac [expletive left unsaid to avoid angering it... it's at 23% right now].

i'm on the final leg of my trip home and i feel like hell. i've been dizzy since i got off the plane in edmonton and now on the flight to vancouver i'm forcing my eyes open as closing them make me queasy. for the first time in as far back as i can remember, i've actually readied the "barf bag" they leave for you the seat pocket just in case things get even worse than they already are.

i've been watching "spirited away" with the company laptop on this trip out west while compiling kde3.4 in the background and i have to say i'm quite impressed with the lifespan of the battery -- especially given the load. pavel isn't much of a fan of these acer laptops (travelmate 739tlv) but so far i've had little or no problem making it work with linux. even the touchpad worked easily.

the whole ugly business of moving is finally over. let me just say this now for those who have not yet had the pleasure. moving is a Very Bad Idea(tm). you sit there in your comfy apartment and look out onto the city and think: "you know, it might be nice to live somewhere else... somewhere where stuff is just better than it is here... besides, the bastards just raised my rent"

the problem with this line of thinking is that you (or maybe it's just "i") rarely think to factor in any of the following:

• the stress
• do i have enough boxes?
• insurance?
• who are these people picking up my stuff?
• are they evil?
• what about storage?
• is my stuff insured in storage?
• what about:
• hydro?
• internet
• first & last month's rent?
• the cost ($800!!)
• the manpower (packing up your bachelor suite is a MUCH bigger job than you think (thanks andrea!)

i hope my point is clear. moving is all too often easier said than done.

i'm now at pavel's place, "blogging" in vim on the company laptop, which the boss has been kind enough to lend me for the trip home. i'm compiling mplayer so i'll have something to watch on the plane and for some reason, pavel is cooking... and it's quarter to midnight. crazy guy.

anyway, i want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's helped me through this whole ugly mess. andrea's organisational skills were a big help with all the packing (and yes, she's organised. christine has been kind enough to hold on to some things that i left behind and pavel is going to pick up the rest on sunday. he and emily have also been super cool in allowing me to stay here tonight and for a day or two when i'm back in town. big thanks to all of you, i owe you lots and lots

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wired magazine has an article covering the potential uses of wind power around the world:

Wind power could generate enough electricity to support the world's energy needs several times over, according to a new map of global wind speeds that scientists say is the first of its kind.

The map, compiled by researchers at Stanford University, shows wind speeds at more than 8,000 sites around the world. The researchers found that at least 13 percent of those sites experience winds fast enough to power a modern wind turbine. If turbines were set up in all these regions, they would generate 72 terawatts of electricity, according to the researchers.

That's more than five times the world's energy needs, which was roughly 14 terawatts in 2002, according to the U.S. Department of Energy...

wired magazine, 02:00 AM May. 23, 2005 PT

big thanks to colin for the link.

courtesy of my buddy mike nicolaiff (from ottawa), i present to you store wars. turn your speakers on and enjoy.

...make me retardedly jealous. but i can't help but stare anyway.

i found this young actres's blog today and was really impressed with some of the photography. i'd really like to be this good, but somehow pretty much everything i shoot doesn't come out this good. maybe i should take a photography course?

in that i'm coming home for 2weeks and am now in possession of a dvd burner, anyone want me to bring some stuff with me? send me an email detailing what it is i have that i can burn for you, and send it soon. everything is getting packed this week.

i just found this clock this morning and thought i'd share

the creator is bob harris, a contributor to this modern world, a blog i read semi-regularly. i'll have to remember to buy one once my move is finished.

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it's possible that you've seen this before since there's so much content on the site that i have to believe that it's been around for some time. regardless, i was just mesmerised by it this afternoon when colin sent me a link. post secret is a blog maintained by a guy who receives anonymous homemade postcards of people's secrets which he then posts online. some of these confessions are scary, some are funny, many are depressing, but they're all beautiful. an excellent example of artistic use of the internet.

a small sampling:

• i don't know if it will last, but for now he makes me feel like i can do anything i ever dreamt
• sometimes i keep one eye open after i've supposedly gone to sleep. just in case my stuffed animals come to life.
• i donated $40 to the tsunami relief fund and now that i'm broke i regret it.
• i want to be an artist more than i care about making art.
• i'm still in love with her. i hope she reads this and recognises my handwriting -- this is also my last try.
• i still haven't told my father that i have the same disease that killed my mother.
• i had sex with strangers for money. and i liked it.
• i hate loving families... because i don't have one.
• i never told anyone... i believe god took my second child because i killed my first... it was a girl
• i deleted the pope's funeral unwatched off my tivo to make room for an episode of survivor.

i have nothing else to say. just read this.