| Typing Test |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|18:06 ] |
After the fourth person came by behind me and commented on "how fast [I] am typing", I went online and took a random online typing test. My result:
55 wpm
with 1 error in the paragraph.
O.o
When did that happen?!?! |
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| I'm on board |
[Nov. 23rd, 2009|12:48 ] |
| [ | feelings |
| |  disgusted | ] |
I haven't seen the movie - and just knowing the theatre would be chock full of screaming/moaning teenage girls was enough to keep me away - but after reading this, I don't want to. Not even read the book.
Ick.
At link: an analysis as to why "Twilight" is the chronicles of an abuse story, not a love story. |
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| A very good day |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|14:20 ] |
Very good day so far. :)
I'm eating macaroni with red sauce, herbs, meat chunks & mushrooms in
it. Drinking Coke, and have chockit for dessert and chips for a snack.
I'm rather proud of the fact that I cooked up an entire box of macaroni
and a pound of meat to make this... it'll make hearty lunches for
several days. I tend to avoid cooking whenever I'm left to take care of
myself.
Also, yesterday I finally tackled several household chores I'd been
(unconsciously or otherwise) avoiding. I wrote about the motorcycle oil
change already, but I also did several other things including a load of
dishes. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ash57005 is away this week and so is S the
roommate, so I'm fending for myself... Remarkably, I called the work
quits at a somewhat reasonable hour, too, and allowed myself to take it
easy all evening... It was a great feeling. I think it helped set
today's mood, too.
Today's quarter guard, for which we've been practicing for two days,*
was a resounding success: the Chief of Defence was very impressed and
said so. He also personally chatted with each of us during inspection.
Yesterday we were the quarter guard for the posthumous dedication of a
city park in Blackstock, Ontario to a WWII veteran named Roy E. Carter.
The ambassador to Canada from the Netherlands was in attendance. We
were very well received there as well - in addition to appearing (I
heard today) on Global News, we were also filmed by a Netherlands news
team. W00t publicity!
Tomorrow, instead of standing around on parade for Remembrance Day, I
get to help represent the CF by playing in an exhibition hockey game
with some NHL players! It will be taped, and Don Cherry will also be
featuring some of the footage in an upcoming Coach's Corner.
Also, Applebee's restaurants are offering a FREE entree tomorrow to each
current or retired military. After hockey tomorrow, I'm gonna go collect
on a FREE STEAK dinner! (Hint: pass this on to your DND friends, it's a
national promotion. Details at Appleb
ee's website)
Amusing digression: Yesterday I gave a fellow quarter guard soldier a
lift home as she lives around the corner. She asked to go through
McDonald's drive-thru first and asked me if I wanted anything. I
resisted temptation and told her how awful it made my stomach feel the
last time I dared to have any. Well today she told me that even though
she's eaten McDonald's almost weekly in the past, yesterday's meal gave
her horrible cramps and diarrhea! The difference is that lately, she's
been eating nothing but fruits and veggies and smoothies for the last
month - I told her that her system had adjusted to healthy eating and
could no longer tolerate junky McD's trash "food".....
*(a quarter guard is like an "honor guard" but rather than
following the VIP around as an honor guard might, we stay where we're
put and our only function is to do a really snappy salute-with-rifles
called a Present Arms, on the arrival and departure of a dignitary.
Precision drill at its best... at least, as good as it gets for soldiers
whose day job is not completely ceremonial in nature)
posted via email |
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| The Motorcycle Saga Continues |
[Nov. 9th, 2009|18:07 ] |
If anyone ever needs an idea for a cheap (<$5) Christmas, birthday or whatever gift for me, I can always use "Fast Orange Hand Cleaner With Pumice." Don't know any other substance that'll take thick coats of oil, tar, or other petroleum-based skunge off one's hands... without water, even. And leave one's hands smelling citrussy-fresh and smooth.
( An oil change that took 3 months to complete )
So, now reassembled, the moment of truth: time to fire it up and see if it even actually runs. I had not dared to do so while there was visibly "bad" oil in it for fear of potentially damaging the engine. The bike also has no muffler - it looks like some kludgey home job had fallen/broken/torn off. Nevertheless, curiosity made me willing to sacrifice my ears and the neighbors' briefly.
I checked for the presence of gas in the gas tank - because I've heard that aids an engine in starting - picked up the kickstand, inserted the key, and turned it to "on." The dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree (which apparently is normal with Secas). I took a stab at which was the Kill switch's "run" position (the labels have long worn off), pulled in the clutch, and hit the Start button.
CLICK.
And all the dashboard lights went out. And stayed out no matter which way I turned the key.
Well, that was anticlimactic. I decided the battery may have drained, having sat since August. Motorcycle batteries aren't that big, and do suffer a lot of drainage.
I put a screwdriver together from my socket set and pulled both the Seca's and the Virago's batteries. Last week on a fine warm day, I put on my helmet and jacket and dragged the Virago down to the road, bound and determined to go for a ride. Except that the starter for the Virago - which I knew was on its last legs - was finally finished, and couldn't turn the engine over fast enough for it to "catch" and start. I drained the poor Virago's battery trying.
So, I'll put both batteries on my charger, one after another, and perhaps tomorrow, I'll give the Seca one more try.
If it still won't start, I will officially have a winter project. ash57005 was determined that the only motorcycle he would own would have to be a fully functioning, runs-without-user-coddling bike. Instead I found this screaming hot "deal"..... |
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| Movie night... |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|13:52 ] |
| [ | feelings |
| |  discontent | ] |
So yesterday was S the roommate's birthday. Ash and I didn't know this except that S left a cryptic message in German on the house whiteboard that loosely translated to "Today is my birthday in case anyone cares"
So we had a smalll discussion about what we could do for his birthday.
He wanted steak and wine, and Ash suggested we go out to a movie.
Ash had some red wine, and S still had a steak portion from the weekend (the steak I had bought for him proved to be enough for two servings)
We waited until 10:30 for the movie - to actually go out to a cinema that is. There isn't a lot of interesting stuff playing right now so S picked "Paranormal Activity." We all thought it was likely to be somewhat hokey and quite Hollywood-ified, and we were prepared to laugh at it.
As it turns out, the premise, if somewhat plain, seemed sound to start out with. A young couple, plagued for years by unexplained occurences, decides to set up a video camera to catch some of the mysterious goings-on.
Unfortunately, the director for this film chose to use a really crappy Blair-Witch-esque handheld camera for this.
And on a 40' tall movie screen, the effect was nothing but....nauseating.
I don't get motion sick. On dive boats in heavy seas I'm usually the one eating a sandwich and grinning while all my buddies are draped over the rail. Yet after an hour or so of this movie, even with closing my eyes to block out the visuals, I started feeling drastically queasy. So much so that it emphasized the shock to my system whenever a startling scene happened. So I had to get up and leave.
I went to the bathroom to settle myself. I didn't do any barfing, which is good, but it took me a while. It didn't help that my stomach wasn't very pleased with the popcorn I had eaten. (I usually "require" popcorn with my cinema movies, but lately I'm finding the popcorn itself hurts my stomach)
Eventually I decided not even to go back into the theatre. I found a bench outside the showing and sat on it. I hadn't waited long before other moviegoers started filing out of the show, so I went in to retrieve Ash and S. As I passed the other moviegoers, I overheard them dissing what a stupid and crappy ending the movie had had.
I won't spoil it for any of you, dear readers, but I must say that when Ash and S described to me the ending of the movie, I'd have to agree with general opinion. The momvie had great buildup, but the ending would have been a total letdown.
Therefore, in my opinion, the best part of this movie was the "Coming Soon" trailers at the beginning. |
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| Spotted on Craigslist |
[Oct. 27th, 2009|22:34 ] |
I nominated this one for Best Of.... even though it wasn't meant to be in jest.
Still, it makes me REALLY wonder about the backstory.....
Oh, and I'd pay to see it pulled off, too.
mover wanted
Mover wanted for Thursday, October 29 2009. Please have a very large truck because I don't want to make two trips. Furthermore, I have a very difficult super and a few rude tenants so tough guy/bodyguard types are immensely encouraged. I can pay 150.00. cash. If there is an occurence, I can pay more depending on the occurence. Please do not respond to this ad if you do not possess the qualities aformentioned. Thank you and God Bless.
Source: http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/lbg/1440628931.html
I nominated it for Best Of Craigslist anyway. Sometimes, Real Life is better than the most amusing sh!t people think they can write... |
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| HOCKEY!! :D |
[Oct. 27th, 2009|18:51 ] |
After 3 weeks of pleading, wheedling and cajoling, I finally got my Sergeant to free me to go join our FREE weekly shinny game. It helps that for the first time in 2 years, I can honestly say my desk is pretty much caught up *gasps in shock*
I haven't played hockey since.... well, 2001 or so. Other than once or twice a year, I can't honestly even say I've kept in practice with my skating.
Hehehehe
Well, silly me for assuming all my gear was still in my hockey bag, in various storage units over the last few years..... most of it was. Fortunately I was only missing one thing... unfortunately it was a kinda important one.
Kneepads.
Even referees wear kneepads. I know this because I used to be a referee, and of course that explained where my kneepads were. In my referee bag, still at home.
The good thing is that I can fake kneepads. :D
I taped a pair of rolled socks to each leg, then pulled my "hockey socks" (kind of like knitted leg warmers, in team colors) overtop. Good. Just lumpy enough that people wouldn't suspect I was missing any protective gear.
And I quickly discovered that 3 or 4 years of skating on outdoor arenas will leave skates VERY dull.
But that's okay. This particular shinny game is completely unregulated and not in the least bit serious. Nobody expects anyone else to be any good, and we're all generally kind of mediocre. I landed on my tush a few times, my knees a number of times (the sock rolls held up quite well; I never felt a thing) and even one full-on frontal slide. Wheeeee! If my skates had been even half-decently sharp I could have staggered back to my feet while still sliding but alas, I had to wait to spin to a stop before I could get up, each time.
Regardless,
IT WAS AN ABSOLUTE BLAST.
It was 5 on 4 for much of the game, basically 3 on 3 with one man in the box for each team (they had a goalie and we didn't) until someone had to leave - then it became straight 3 on 3. Man, that's a lot of skating. My lungs BURNED (still do, a bit) and my muscles turned to jelly. When I started tripping over the lines painted on the ice, and watching the puck bounce idly off my skates before I could bring the stick down near it, I knew I'd had the workout of workouts this afternoon.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
And I plan to, again, next Tuesday, as long as I can sneak away from my Sergeant. It helps that her boss, a Captain, is big into intramural sports and likes to encourage others' participation.
A few weeks of this and I'll start shedding the pounds like no tomorrow, I bet.
Oh, and on Thursday next week, it's the annual Officers vs NCMs Hockey game (for United Way) I managed to weasel my way onto the NCMs' team..... wish me luck and lots of Gatorade. I'm gonna need it :) |
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| Weird dreams. |
[Oct. 24th, 2009|18:35 ] |
Last night I had a multi-part dream:
It began with me at a country home, alongside a county road (you know the ones: paved, one lane going each way, yellow line down the middle) visiting the young lady who lived there. She had one or two horses. She had trouble with one horse which she referred to as "obstinate" and I got the impression she really didn't have time for him. She had him all saddled up to go for a ride but I gathered that she had other things she'd rather go do so I offered to take him out. She flounced away.
The first thing I did was tighten up the saddle's girth - either the lady had neglected to do so or had done so sloppily and it had since loosened. I mounted up on the horse and gathered the reins. The horse was nothing but cooperative and in fact seemed eager to be off.
We headed out along the county road first at a walk, then a canter, and finally an all-out gallop. The horse and I seemed to be communicating (actually, in the dream, I think I did speak directly to him, and he to me). I didn't need the reins at all, as I could just let him know what I wanted and he'd do it.
Next part of the dream was that I was driving - in my current pickup truck - out to a farm in the "boonies." However, the truck kept breaking down - I kept having to stop to fix things. The battery cable kept coming off the battery, and other parts kept needing adjustment. Eventually a kind gentleman stopped and loaned me his tools - a set of well-worn but not rusty screwdrivers, among other things. With his help I got the truck to run quite nicely and as he turned away to leave, he started fading out...which is when I realized he was actually a ghost.
This was sort of a continuation of the last dream. My destination was a farm at the end of a county road (as described above). This particular farm was a horse farm - large and successful, with white metal-clad buildings etc. The main sire stallion was stricken with a zombie-like leprotic disease, yet he thought he was fine. (Yes I could understand horse thoughts/speech in this dream too)
The men at the ranch had been intending to put him down but he refused, cutting up a huge fuss whenever he thought they were about to do so.
One of the ranch hands saddled up the stallion to take him for a ride. They set off at a gallop. As they went, the horse's flesh started coming off in gray flakes and sometimes chunks. As they galloped along a sandy seashore, at one point the horse expelled great amounts of blood and internal chunks - yet still he ran (though he slowed somewhat). The end of the saga was when one of his hind legs fell off and he tumbled to the sand. That was quite a look in his eyes, being forced to realize that everyone else was right, that he was indeed dying (or already dead), and too proud to admit it...
These dreams, although it's quite unusual for me, are the type with messages or meanings. Usually for me, I have "movie" dreams which don't need "interpreting," but this time, te sense I get is that these dreams are definitely metaphors. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 5th, 2009|06:29 ] |
Rotten stupid insomnia. Woke up about 5,000 times last night for no particular reason, so am not particularly refreshed this morning.
Although from what ash57005 tells me, I'm no the only one - he was awake at 3am texting several of his friends, who were also suffering from insomnia last night. |
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| Busy busy weekend |
[Oct. 4th, 2009|22:33 ] |
In brief:
Saturday: helped fozziecoyote and wife (and well-behaved elderly dog) move to their cute new HOUSE they just bought. Six blocks' distance from the old place, many many helpers (even those who could only stay for a limited time), a medium-sized U-Haul, KFC and Tim Hortons. And a decadent STEAK dinner with very acceptable wine afterwards as a thank-you (yum!)
Sunday: bought a chainsaw off Craigslist. Picked it up, then also bought a decent quality axe (2-1/2 pound head on an extra long shaped fiberglas handle) and a pair of safety glasses. I've never seen an electric chainsaw before but it works quite well. Teeny little 10" blade but it cuts quite acceptably. I can even do logs bigger than 10" by turning them when partway through.
We now have some firewood set aside for the winter. Our plan is to use the wood-burning fireplace in the living room as the main winter heat source, and the electric baseboards only as supplementary. Cost savings, etc. The house is an original 1917 cottage, so I'm pretty confident it was originally designed to be heated by the fireplace. (I don't imagine electric baseboard heaters were all that common in 1917)
The new wood pile is (so far) 4' wide by maybe 2-1/2' tall. We figure it's roughly a month's worth. A couple more piles like that and we should be set :) The good part is, I've barely made a dent in the branches/logs leaning against the back fence. And, they've been there for a number of years so they're well "cured" and ready to burn.
Also set up a new organics bin for the house. I've been threatening to get one since Spring. Oh well, better late than never.
( Move along, nothing to see here. )
I leave you with this picture of my firewood. More will be added to the stack once I have some time.
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| Classic lines #424987421 |
[Sep. 26th, 2009|15:17 ] |
Seen this morning on a motorcycle message board.
Someone posts a question about whether he can (legally) take his uninsured, unplated motorcycle onto private property such as a local parking lot, without getting ticketed by cops, in order to practice riding. (some of his posts make it sound like he's barely ridden before)
Then someone asks:
"Wait, now - you have over 1000 posts on this board, and you don't know how to ride a motorcycle?"
BWAHAHAHAHA!!
Another armchair poster, BUSTID!! :D |
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| A bike for ash57005 |
[Sep. 14th, 2009|00:50 ] |
As I stated an entry or so back, I picked up a motorbike for ash57005. It's a 1981 Yamaha Seca 750. We initially thought it was a 650, but it looks like the frame may have been replaced, as a second set of body panels have the plate "Seca 750" on them. The engine is simply stamped "Yamaha YICS 2500cm3" (don't get too excited, it's actually only 750cc, I don't know why it's mislabelled but Ash was able to confirm that others on the Internet have asked the same thing))
Meet the new bike:
It came to us in an unknown state, along with a hundred-pound box of cables and random bike parts, two tires complete with rims, and a whole handful of plastic red body panels.
The guy who sold it to me laughed about the fact he didn't know anything about bikes. Or their maintenance. At all. As far as he was concerned, it was a solid, reliable bike which would just go whenever he needed it to.
(Oy)
The bike battery he gave me had had most of its electrolyte boiled off. Last night I added water to top off the cells. (although the neighbors who came over to help with my carbs said "in the old days" you added beer - something about the beer's acidity aiding the electrolyte)
I went out and got a 9V battery for my digital multimeter, and today I tested it. 6.24V despite having sat for probably 2 years with inadequate liquid. I was fairly surprised. So I ran an extension cord outside so I could set it up on my battery charger outdoors, in case it decided to leak or explode or anything funny like that.
Completely uneventful. No signs of boiling. No leakage, no heat being produced.
In the next day or so I may try starting the bike. Its oil has turned gray so I certainly won't be running it for long - if it'll turn over at all - just long enough to warm the oil to better do the oil change. After that, we'll see :)
It's missing its mirrors and needs a muffler (the local shop says they almost certainly have a used muffler to fit) and I'll have to take it to get safetied to see what else it may need. I also need to repair the headlight housing, which has been cobbled together from 3 other housings, none of which quite want to be together *headdesk* I don't know if the safety inspection will make me change that, or whether they only care if the headlight works. |
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| Motorcycle weekend |
[Sep. 13th, 2009|23:19 ] |
So this weekend (starting with Friday) went kind of like this:
Friday: leave work, and drive to Oakville for the theory portion of the basic motorcycle safety course.
Saturday: get up at the butt crack of dawn, head to Oakville for the first day of practical (i.e. riding the Rider Training Institute's little 125cc bikes all day). For my one-hour lunch break I raced back to Long Branch to hit up the local bike shop for oil and filter for my Virago - although they had both in stock, my bank card still isn't working and I couldn't get through to the bank by phone, so no oil for me :( Then more riding til about 4pm. After that, I hit the local Wal-Mart which did have 20W50 motorcycle oil*, and headed home. I was/am so smitten with motorcycles and riding now, that I rolled up my sleeves and decided to get into cleaning and rebuilding the carburetors of my motorcycle, so that I could go out and start actually riding it.
( I like taking stuff apart. (with pics) )So tomorrow, I will have to see what I can do to it to get it to stay running.... then I plan to get in a few rides. This upcoming Saturday is the BBQ for the local chapter of the Southern Cruisers Riding Club, of which I'm a member, and I would LOVE to make my riding debut to the club. Up until now I've driven my truck to their events.
*Motorcycles cannot use car engine oil, even if the numbers match. Unlike in a car, a motorcycle's clutch and transmission are bathed in the SAME OIL as the engine - a car's engine oil would quickly break down under such punishment! |
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| Quick recap |
[Sep. 12th, 2009|07:03 ] |
Just past: OTR. It was great this year. ash57005 and I departed for the trip early enough, each way, that we could relax and enjoy the trip, and still arrive at our destination before we got tooo tired. This year we also had a screen gazebo, and parked our site in the shade of a treeline (putting up with angled ground for the privilege). My costume for the Doo Dah Parade was scandalous - many pictures were taken, but not by me. (I'll try to obtain some to post). Bought a few things at the auction, and a few things for ash57005 which have made him exceedingly happy. Our tent played host to a family of brown recluse spiders as well - they didn't bite us, and were discovered upon dismantling of the campsite on Labor Day Monday.
Both our bicycles were stolen just before OTR - in broad daylight, we figure, there one afternoon and not there in the evening when we decided to go for a ride. I was able to fairly quickly buy a replacement for ash57005, but haven't found one cheap enough to satisfy me yet - and the other day, on Craigslist, found an advertisement containing bikes that look suspiciously like ours! I'm amused/consternated, but Ash is fully in love with his replacement (brand-new, sized to fit him, dropped top tube, tricked out with new lights/fenders/lock/etc, and PURPLE!)
Work has been busy as hell lately. However, out of the dust of a MASSIVE effort to rewrite our pathetically out-of-date regulations, a newer, more streamlined process has emerged and I, often a stubborn resistor to sweeping changes, am fully on board with this one. Everything in it just "clicks" in a very happy way.
This weekend: Taking my Motorcycle Training Course with Rider Training Institute. It's a course geared at those whose butts have NEVER warmed the saddle of a motorcycle. Apparently they have a number of styles of bikes to try. I may try a sportbike although my heart is in cruisers.
And speaking of motorcycles, on Thursday evening I made a mystery late-night trip up to Malton and returned with a surprise for Ash. I hung a sign on his monitor for him to discover the next morning. It said, "Don't hate me. I love you. P.S. It's Purple :)" and had a pair of keys taped to it. Ash arose in the middle of the night with insomnia (I wasn't really asleep either) and went to investigate the source of the keys - and discovered that I had brought home a 1981 Yamaha Seca 650!! A "standard" or "naked" (because of lack of plastic fairings) bike, indeed in the same purple color as his newly acquired bicycle! He was beside himself with glee! (He has no idea how little I paid for it - the seller had moved out of his mom's house and simply needed it gone. I have a truck and a ramp...)
There are a few little things to do for it - an oil change, a battery charge and possibly a replacement (the seller had managed to boil off much of the electrolyte with an overcharge) and a few small parts which have become damaged or lost over time. But all in all it's a sturdy little bike that the seller rode for several years before tiring of it of letting it sit. It's not showroom condition - it's been very obviously dropped several times, and has a lot of cosmetic damage. But that doesn't stop Ash from loving it (although I was worried it might - he's far more concerned with form than function, which is more my domain)
Pictures to follow - it's been too dark this last few nights to get decent shots of it.
And sometime this week I still need to break down and clean my carburetors on my Virago and do an oil change. I have a riding club BBQ to go to next Saturday and it would be awesome if I could actually RIDE to it.... |
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| Another one. |
[Sep. 7th, 2009|22:34 ] |
You're right, morriganswitch et al, it's addictive.
Please click icon to check this out: (more clisks apparently help it hatch faster):
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| Take a look at this... |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|22:50 ] |
It's my baby dragon - or soon it will be, if enough people come to look at it.
Click it to take a peek......
(link guaranteed safe, work-safe, and PG.) |
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confused/amused
amused
intrigued
satisfied
patient and determined
pensive
headache
annoyed
content
happy
excited