need a job? come to toronto
i just got a call here @work on my cell from a guy who wants to offer me a job rolling code for $50k/year. contract at first he says, but permanent after 3months... it's in missasauga (ew) and i already really like my current job so i'm not likely to take it, but this is the second unsolicited call i've gotten in just a couple months and i stopped spamming people with my resume about 5months ago! i'll talk to the guy a bit more, 'cause i'm not an idiot, but this is just plain amazing. it's almost got that .com boom feel to it all...
so yeah, if you need work and you're a geek, toronto seems to be the place to be.
so yeah, if you need work and you're a geek, toronto seems to be the place to be.
a penguin named potato
i was looking at "linny" today, the penguin that noreen bought for me when she came out to visit and i thought: that name doesn't really fit. i mean, he's purple, like the mandrake penguin, so he should have a name related to that. but "mandrake the penguin"? no, that's just not right. then i thought about the term "mandrake"... what the hell is it anyway? the only reference to the word outside of the linux world i could recall was from harry potter's screaming mandrake root. and so, behold: "potato the penguin".
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p2p goodness
get soulseek. it's the shiz-nit. i was able to find all the music AND software i wanted... even the ones i couldn't find on kazaa. it's VERY cool.
happy beltane
if you don't know what beltane is, i'll just point you to the definition that i posted as a comment in angela's blog. the short version though is that it's an important pagan holiday for spring.
so what'd i do for beltane? pretty much nothing related to fire, food and sex. actually, i went out with pavel and met some of his friends for an anime party. we watched some ghost in the shell and some other really excellent examples of fansubbing. it's enough to convince me that i have go out and buy a shiny new hard drive just so i can start downloading these things. read this article about the whole concept of fansubbing. it's possibly one of the best examples of people retaking their culture that i can think of.
pavel's friends are pretty cool too. all the ones i met last night were geeks in their own right, a couple linux geeks, the only girl, a buffy & b5 fan (how cool is that?), and everyone there was an anime geek. it was a pleasure to hang out with the bunch of them and compare animation styles, while laughing at the sometimes questionable translations and odd japanese (and korean -- yay!) culture.
the leafs are playing like shit today. the game started @4pm eastern -- that's the earliest i've ever seen a game start... don't know why. they pulled belfour for what the commentators referred to as a "mercy pull". the leafs were (and still are) losing 6-1 (!!) and there was no support from the team. a very, very sad game if you're a toronto fan.
so what'd i do for beltane? pretty much nothing related to fire, food and sex. actually, i went out with pavel and met some of his friends for an anime party. we watched some ghost in the shell and some other really excellent examples of fansubbing. it's enough to convince me that i have go out and buy a shiny new hard drive just so i can start downloading these things. read this article about the whole concept of fansubbing. it's possibly one of the best examples of people retaking their culture that i can think of.
pavel's friends are pretty cool too. all the ones i met last night were geeks in their own right, a couple linux geeks, the only girl, a buffy & b5 fan (how cool is that?), and everyone there was an anime geek. it was a pleasure to hang out with the bunch of them and compare animation styles, while laughing at the sometimes questionable translations and odd japanese (and korean -- yay!) culture.
the leafs are playing like shit today. the game started @4pm eastern -- that's the earliest i've ever seen a game start... don't know why. they pulled belfour for what the commentators referred to as a "mercy pull". the leafs were (and still are) losing 6-1 (!!) and there was no support from the team. a very, very sad game if you're a toronto fan.
arnold schwarzenegger: environmentalist?
my grandmother sent me this article about the differences between how bc's campbell and california's schwarzenegger are handling the environment in their respective provinces. and who knew? republicans can be environmentalists...
earth day: everyday
a few days ago, the 23rd in fact, i was heading off to lunch with some coworkers when we stopped by a little booth in a mall run by two very nice girls. they were promoting earth day for an organisation called earth day Canada. they had trivia cards, and stuff for prizes. i answered right, (yay!) acquired a button and proceeded to ask one of the girls: "i'd like to get involved in this city in promoting green energy... who do i talk to about that? any suggestions?"
the girl stuttered at first, perhaps surprised at the fact that anyone would want more than a free button and then responded: 'you know, i have no idea. i just hand out the buttons ;-) but i'll give you this. (she hands me a card) you can call her and i'm sure she'll be able to help you".
the funny thing about business cards is that they have a tendency to bury themselves in your wallet and only see the light of day when you're "getting all the junk out of there", but this time was different. it reappeared as i was fishing for some cash to buy a box of doughnuts for the office, and so i called the lady today. i explained the deal -- that i wanted to get more wind turbines up there and wanted to talk to the right people about it. she took my name and email address and i received an interesting article in my mailbox not hours later complete with a name and number the guy on the earth day Canada board who handles this kinda thing... another day another number. here's hoping this turns out well. maybe he'll be able to help me get some of my ideas into the real world.
the girl stuttered at first, perhaps surprised at the fact that anyone would want more than a free button and then responded: 'you know, i have no idea. i just hand out the buttons ;-) but i'll give you this. (she hands me a card) you can call her and i'm sure she'll be able to help you".
the funny thing about business cards is that they have a tendency to bury themselves in your wallet and only see the light of day when you're "getting all the junk out of there", but this time was different. it reappeared as i was fishing for some cash to buy a box of doughnuts for the office, and so i called the lady today. i explained the deal -- that i wanted to get more wind turbines up there and wanted to talk to the right people about it. she took my name and email address and i received an interesting article in my mailbox not hours later complete with a name and number the guy on the earth day Canada board who handles this kinda thing... another day another number. here's hoping this turns out well. maybe he'll be able to help me get some of my ideas into the real world.
supersize me
courtesy of smyli, i have a new treat for all those who might be interested in another big documentary. super size me is a new movie coming out this may that chronicles the health hazards of mcdonald's food. and to prove his point, get this: he ONLY ate mcdonald's food for 30 days straight. "how bad could it be?" you might ask -- well he wondered the same thing and so, he made a movie about it. check out the trailer if you're interested.
handspring: resurrection
some of you may have heard, but there was recently a death in my home. not of a human being of course, but of something rather important to me. my handspring visor.
it had served me well for years on end, but just the other day, i tried to turn it on, and it refused to budge. replacing the batteries only worsend my pain however, as when my favourite toy bleeped back to life, i discovered that it had miraculously forgotten everything i had taught in in the past 4years. a tradgedy if there ever was one. i had thought that hope was lost, but just now, as i rebooted to windows to play some command & conquer, i found that i still had an old copy of the palm db on my hard drive. a couple clicks and a hotsync and my favourite toy has it's life back! o joy! o rapture! ...note to self. backup more often.
it had served me well for years on end, but just the other day, i tried to turn it on, and it refused to budge. replacing the batteries only worsend my pain however, as when my favourite toy bleeped back to life, i discovered that it had miraculously forgotten everything i had taught in in the past 4years. a tradgedy if there ever was one. i had thought that hope was lost, but just now, as i rebooted to windows to play some command & conquer, i found that i still had an old copy of the palm db on my hard drive. a couple clicks and a hotsync and my favourite toy has it's life back! o joy! o rapture! ...note to self. backup more often.