30.8.02 4:46 PM | the perils of being stupid ]

There is also a hidden danger in being a curious cat because you can easily get trapped in a closet and not get released until your owner comes home from work eight hours later and hears the pitiful little cries coming from behind the closed door.

4:40 PM | the perils of driving a car ]

There is a hidden danger in walking to work almost every day: on days when you actually drive to work, you can very easily forget this fact by the end of the day and halfway home realize that you drove and did not walk, and then you have to go back to work to retrieve your car, which is thankfully only a two minute walk which is why you walk most days in the first place.

TGIF

9:57 AM | PSA ]

A public service announcement to the dollar store across the street from my house:

It is still August. It is too early to start laying out the Christmas decorations and assorted garb. Please pack it back up and don't bring it out again until November-ish.

Thank You.

 

27.8.02 11:58 AM | talk 'n type ]

I love it when I get new toys to play with at work.

One of my projects is a voice-recognition dictation system, so of course, I just have to have the software installed on my computer so I can see how it all works right? Actually, I did need it installed somewhere and installing it on my computer made the most sense since I am the only one who will be documenting it right now anyway.

My coworker was beginning to wonder what I was doing talking to myself for fifteen minutes until she realized that I was training the program to recognize how I speak. It's actually really very cool how close the computer output is to what I say. Too bad I work in the medical field so I'm teaching it to say words like cardiomedistinal, osteophyte, coccyx, nasogastric and my favourite: atelectasis.

And those are the words I can pronounce.

 

24.8.02 3:16 AM | &*#@& ]

5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

Reboot.

Yup. Same old, same old. I had my suspicions last night (a mere twenty-four hours after getting my computer "fixed") but I couldn't be certain ... now I can.

2:23 AM | maybe ]

I've been frustrated with my writing lately, so since I had another night of not not being able to fall asleep, I thought I'd try a little "hint" from Finding Forrester: "The first key to writing is to write, not to think!" So, here's me just writing: maybe.

 

23.8.02 6:09 PM | i thought they would float ]

When angelfish die ... they sink.

And I only had it a little more than a week too. That's what you get for paying eight bucks for a fish.

4:22 PM | for a *writing* job!! ]

I just saw the funniest example of how not to write a resume.

Sadly, it was a real resume.

 

22.8.02 4:34 PM | they smell like cardboard ]

First there was the crepe paper ...

Now it's President's Choice Gourment Dog Treats ...

Strange ... very strange ...

 

21.8.02 5:51 PM | it's alive!! ]

Through some miracle, it only cost me fifty dollars in labour to get my computer up and running again. I guess the guy was feeling like a pessimist yesterday. Of course the real trick will be getting it to *stay* running.

10:14 AM | soon I will stop talking about my computer and cats ]

Question: What do you get when your computer chokes two seconds into the bootup process?

Answer: A tracy who hasn't been able to check her email (or blog) for the past little while.

My computer finally bit the dust so it seems. I took it in to be checked last night but the prognosis didn't look good. He said he would try to fix it but he had that pained look on his face that implied that I really should be saying my final goodbyes and delivering last rites. I suppose it has served me well so I should allow it to die a peaceful death. And I would, if only I actually had the money to replace it the way I want to. So now I have a dilemma: spend several hundred dollars to replace the parts that went kaput, or spend a few thousand to get a shiny new piece of machinery for my surfing and writing needs? Either one requires money I don't have.

But instead of making a decision about my computer, tonight I am going to go and buy more fish to amuse the cats, both of whom I managed to step on this morning in the short period of time between when I got up and when I left for work. Cats really should learn not to go under your feet so early in the morning before you are really awake.

 

15.8.02 3:07 PM | rise and shine ]

How very interesting.

But you just know that there are people out there who would try to eat it. You just know.

9:32 AM | ma bro ]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TIM!

*Not that you really read this site or anything, but the effort had to be made :)

 

12.8.02 8:08 PM | all goes to beans ]

Car or computer. Car or computer. Car ... or computer. Car ... computer ...

Car.

Shite.

Wouldn't you know it, the second I choose car the computer starts acting all weird again. One week of absolutely no problems and it all goes to beans in the space of a day. That's what you get for looking forward to something.

11:57 AM | cuties ]

We've joked about it before, but after seeing several of these kittens with extra toes on the adoption page over the last few months, I'm beginning to wonder if it's not all in jest and if it really is something in the water. Makes me glad I drink filtered water at work. I can only hope that the Brita at home works just as well.

[Check out the one numbered 02080204P. I love that face! And no, I'm not considering getting another cat (not really anyway), someone at work has passed the url along to me a few times commenting on the extra-toe kitties.]

 

9.8.02 4:38 PM | entertaining for the whole family ]

Last night I bought a fish tank. Notice that this time, unlike the DVD/DVD player situation, I did things in the natural order: tank, then fish.

I figured since I spent so much time glancing at the tank at work, I would probably enjoy one in my own home. My cats seem to like it as well. We shall see their reactions once I get the fish in next week.

 

7.8.02 7:56 PM | ass-backwards ]

Yesterday I owned twenty-seven DVDs.

Today I own twenty-seven DVDs and a DVD player!

I'm just motoring right along ...

 

6.8.02 9:45 AM | still want a laptop though ]

Formatting a hard drive: Not so hard once you figure out how to actually *start* formatting (stupid %$*# help instructions that are anything but helpful).

Backing up six years of your life first: A little bit trickier. Especially when you only have 200MB to back it up to.

MP3s were lost, pictures must be retreived again, and a whole lotta sorting out must still be done. But my computer does seem to be running smoother now (knock on wood).

My soundcard still doesn't work though ...

 

4.8.02 8:05 PM | i theenk we have bad karma ]

This is my mother's car loaded onto a flatbed towtruck.

Our car on the flatbed.

This is not my mother's car in Tobermory, where we were intending on going hiking this afternoon. This is not my mother's car in Mississauga, where my mother calls home. No, this is in fact my mother's car in Owen Sound, about 100 km from Tobermory, 200 km from home, and where it decided to stop working with only about five minutes notice.

With all the garages closed on Sundays and considering the fact that they probably wouldn't be open tomorrow either with the holiday, we were given three choices: leave the car in Owen Sound and rent a car to get home, making the four hour round-trip back sometime later in the week to pick up the car; take an unexpected vacation in Owen Sound until tuesday when the car could (hopefully) be fixed; or tow the car the 200 km home to Mississauga. We chose towing since we both have cats that need to be fed and jobs that need to be attended and Owen Sound isn't exactly right around the corner for easy retrieval.

Thank God for CAA. And fathers who will pick you up and drive you home.

 

3.8.02 7:51 PM | wishful thinking ]

Andrew was right (did I just say that?!? ;)). When I got my new tv, I was going to put my old tiny tv in the bedroom, just because sometimes I want to see the end of a show, but I'm also tired and want to get ready for bed. When I lived out of one room this was easily accomplished, but now that I actually have a separate living room .. not so much. So, it initially made sense to put the tv in the bedroom. But Andrew suggested putting it in the computer room, so then I could watch tv and surf at the same time, a suggestion I thought unnecesary because I can't multi-task that well and can therefore only surf or watch tv. Not both. But for storage reasons it did end up in the computer room (really not a computer room but the dumping grounds for all things that don't belong) and now I'm beginning to see his reasoning. Especially with the random rebooting of the computer requiring me to wait while it starts up again.

The lack of a cable jack in either room is just a bit of a problem.

Of course, what I *really* want is a laptop that I can hook up to my current monitor. That would solve both the tv/surfing problem and the random rebooting problem!

12:08 AM | again ]

Primary master hard disk fail

Umm ... I'm going to go with the idea that it's probably a bad thing when your computer tells you this on startup and shortly thereafter freezes up completely.

Of course, it obviously didn't failfail since I am on now, but it did take two reboots (on top of the two reboots earlier in the night). And pretty much every day this past week has involved at least a couple of reboots. I thought I had a temporary solution to my crashing, but alas ... tis not to be. My final attempt is the good 'ole format this weekend.

I'll tell ya though, The Brick's "Don't pay 'til 2004" deal sure is looking sweet right now ...