Category: Uncategorized

Like previous years, I’m going to try to see how long I can go without turning on the heat during the autumn and winter.

Last year was unseasonably cold for Vancouver and by November, it was getting uncomfortable being in my apartment even when I was wearing extra clothing. On several days in November and December, I was forced to turn on the heat, lest I freeze in my own home. It was just unavoidable from a practical standpoint.

I’m hoping for more milder temperatures this year. I’ve already had to close my windows down to a tiny sliver though as the temperature has dropped down to the high single digits in the last few days. Tonight the temperature was around 10 degrees Celsius, which isn’t even all that cold but I felt down right chilly in my apartment.

I need to be more hardy if I’m to tackle this year’s challenge.

My quest to build a new computer had been going quite smoothly all last week. I bought a new power supply and was prepping my old system to swap in the new motherboard. I told Windows 7 to expect some new hardware, backed up some files, and shut down my computer. I then opened up the computer case to remove the old motherboard. What I discovered was an archive of old dustbunnies and a layer fine dust over almost everything. This was expected though as computer cases are notorious for harbouring incredible amounts of dust. I disconnected the old motherboard and power supply and removed them from the case, the act of which covered my work area in dust. I tried not to think about how many thousands of tiny dust mites were in the dust.

I then grabbed my vacuum cleaner and using the hose, sucked up all the dust in the nooks and crannies of the computer case. I also did a pass over all the computer components, including the fans. I was then ready to mount the new motherboard into the case when I realized I had a problem. On the back of every PC is a cutout for all the connectors that are on the motherboard. This thing is called an I/O shield and it snaps into the case and comes with the motherboard when you buy it. The cutouts on the shield have to line up with the connectors the board. Since I picked up my new board from work sorta hobo style, I didn’t get the matching I/O shield. Unfortunately, the old shield doesn’t line up with the connectors with the new motherboard.

Technically, you can use a PC without this shield but it provides electromagnetic shielding and more importantly in my very dusty apartment, it acts a dust barrier. Because I want to build this right, I began looking to see where I could find the correct I/O shield that I needed. The Internet told me eBay was my best choice. I wound up buying a replacement shield for $16 from a place in the Netherlands. It’s a bit of a ripoff for a thin piece of punch aluminum but that was the best price I could find. Some of you might be wondering why can’t I just install it when it arrives in the mail. Unfortunately, this stupid shield goes in first and then you mount the motherboard. I could just assemble everything first and then take it apart again when the shield arrives but that’s a huge hassle.

It will take about a week for this five cent piece of metal to get to me. So my new computer sits half assembled in an open case. I’m writing this on a laptop, which is getting long in the tooth. So until the shield gets here, I’m putting the computer project on hold and moving onto other items on the funemployment agenda.

So I just realized this evening that my track record for choosing jobs after a long break (either through a layoff or self-imposed) is pretty terrible.

As you might remember, I had all summer 2013 off when I was laid-off from PopCap Vancouver. The job I took after that sucked so hard. Previous to that, I took a four-month break after my contract at Radical Entertainment ended. The job I chose after that was also bad (but not nearly as bad as the post-PopCap one).

I need to really be more careful about my next job because I want to break this cycle. When I’ve changed jobs, that is gotten a new job while still being employed, those have been usually the best jobs. I’m not sure what the difference is. Is my judgment clouded due to a perceived desperation in needing a new job? I’m not sure, it’s not like I was about to lose my home when I chose these terrible jobs.

My next job needs to be a good one.

Earlier this week, I was in my bathroom on the toilet, taking care of some business when I noticed some movement in my peripheral vision. I almost ignored it because I thought I had imagined the movement but I looked anyways. There on the bathroom tile was a rather large insect. I had no clue where it had come from only that it was an insect that I hadn’t seen much before.

I quickly finished up my business, wiping in the appropriate places, flushing, and then scrubbing down my hands. Luckily, the insect wasn’t moving around too much and it was in the general vicinity of where I first saw it. Upon closer inspection, I saw it had two really long antenna with a long body. I initially thought it was a cockroach which really worried me. Cockroach infestations are serious business and you never really just have one cockroach. How could this happen? While I ain’t the most fastidiously clean guy out there, I never leave food lying around and my organic garbage is always sealed underneath my kitchen sink.

I quickly decided I had to capture this thing so I took a glass I wasn’t really using anymore and made it into an insect prison. The thing jumped or at least it tried to jump a significant distance once I placed the glass over it. I then ran over to my computer to Google “cockroaches”. After looking at some cockroach images and then looking again at my visitor, it appeared that I didn’t have a cockroach in my bathroom. The back legs were all wrong. So what was this? Could this be a cricket? I then Googled “cricket” and sure enough all the photos looked a lot like my friend under the glass.

I was relieved at this point because crickets aren’t anything to worry about especially compared to cockroaches. How did he get in my bathroom though? Did he drop down from the ventilation grate in my bathroom ceiling? If so, how did he get in there in the first place? He or she could have entered in through my sliding doors at my balcony but how does a cricket get 28 floors up?

I briefly thought about releasing the cricket onto my balcony but I was afraid he might find his way back into my apartment and then start chirping in the middle of the night. For better or worse, I sent him into a large garbage bag that I was about to take down to the garbage room later that afternoon.

I hope to not find any more interesting insect visitors in my apartment.

If you live in Canada, you might have seen some commercials on TV from Rogers, a massive communications and media company. The company recently won the Canadian broadcasting rights to nearly every single game in the NHL for the next twelve years, taking over from CBC, who for decades, had been the iconic TV brand for hockey in Canada.

To celebrate their multi-billion dollar investment, Rogers hired former NHL fringe player Mark Messier to do commercials on their behalf. Though he is somewhat seen as a legendary player in some hockey circles, he is considered one of the most infamous and hated players to have ever joined the Vancouver Canucks. Let it be clear, the hockey fans in Vancouver are the ones who despise Messier. He signed with the Canucks when his skills visibly declining. People in Vancouver were duped into believing Messier would be the saviour of the franchise, perhaps bringing the Stanley Cup to the city as he had done with Edmonton and New York. Nothing was farther from the truth. He ran several popular players out of town, including the deeply beloved Trevor Linden. Before he did that though, he unceremoniously took the captaincy from Trevor Linden. Linden only offered the “C” because most people would have expected Messier to not take it. He also took the number “11” while in Vancouver, even though that number had been unofficially retired by the Canucks after the death of Wayne Maki from brain cancer. Messier himself was a cancer in the dressing room, fracturing the team into two camps, those who supported Linden and those who fell under Messier’s false promises. Messier played three years in Vancouver and his great leadership led to three years of missing the playoffs. He essentially took the money, sent popular players packing, led the team nowhere, and ran back to New York as soon as his contract had expired. He then had the gall to use legal action to force the owners of the Canucks to give him more money years after he had been retired.

To say that Mark Messier is one of the most hated players in Vancouver would be an overwhelming understatement. He did nothing for the team and essentially stole money from the franchise owners. There’s a reason Messier has not made a public appearance in Vancouver since he left. He knows the people of Vancouver hate him.

So, this brings me to the screencap from one of his commercials above. In that commercial, he’s with a family of Vancouver Canucks fans. He’s telling everyone how the family can follow the Canucks wherever they go, using the Rogers Gamecenter package. I find it incredulous that an actual family of Canucks fans would be smiling with Mark Messier in their home. Social media in Vancouver have been discussing this commercial recently. First, people can’t stand to see Mark Messier at all on TV. Second, people are angry that both Rogers and Messier would have the guts to make a commercial like that featuring Canucks fans. It’s almost like rubbing it in our faces that he once played for the Canucks and made those three seasons a total disaster. I know of an actual Rogers cell phone store in the Vancouver area that refuses to put up any promotional material that has Messier in it.

In summary, that commercial is a farce and a slap in the face to Vancouver Canucks fans. We’re not sure how much more of Mark Messier we can stand and we hope he goes away real soon.

So I’ve started to assemble the parts which will constitute my new computer. This afternoon, I bought a new 750W power supply. The PSU in my current rig is getting old and though it is rated for 500W, I don’t think it outputs that any more. Many months ago, I had to disconnect my optical drive because the PSU couldn’t supply enough power to both the Blu-ray drive and my motherboard, so my computer wouldn’t boot up.

In the picture above, you’re seeing the power on test I did with the new motherboard I got for free from work, using the new power supply. All I needed to do was connect an old video card I had lying around, a USB keyboard, and three connections to the power supply. With just that, I was able to confirm that the motherboard was able to at least power on without any errors. Knowing this, I can now go ahead and take out my old motherboard and power supply from my existing computer and then put these two new pieces in. That shouldn’t take too long but I’ve never swapped out a motherboard and a power supply before.

According to at least one comparison, the new components will lead to performance increases of 200% in some situations, with an overall increase of about 50%. Think about how good the porn will be after this upgrade!

I had dinner with my parents tonight and it was there that I told them my contract job had ended last week. They seemed to take it quite well and didn’t really question why I had originally quit a regular, full-time gig for a contract job that had distinct end. I also informed them that my EI claim had already been processed and approved. I told them I was going to get the maximum amount of benefits for about 35 weeks. I think that made them feel better and you know, I’ve been laid off so many times that they’ve gotten used to having their son not having a job. Each time, I manage to not lose my home, am able to feed myself, and eventually find a new job.

On the funemployment front, I’ve now gone to bed close to 6am on at least two occasions, the most recent being last night. I’m not sure why I decided it was a good idea to start playing a new video game at 3am. Never in my life have I started playing a new video game and then was able to stop playing it only a few minutes in. I need to stop going to sleep past 6am. I’ve done that thing before and it puts my schedule into a weird place. You can’t meet people for lunch anymore and I’ve raced to get up and get to a store before it closes.

So, we’re at week two now and hope the fun continues!

About a year ago I purchased a cloud-enabled security camera. These cameras connect to the Internet directly, without needing a computer at all. This particular model also integrated with a smartphone app, so you can view the camera with your phone, theoretically anywhere you have access to the Internet. I purchased the camera for an additional layer of security. I was especially interested in the motion detection feature. I was under the impression the app would put a notification on my phone if the camera detected motion. During the camera setup, I configured it to upload a burst of images to my FTP server if it detected motion.

I placed the camera in my living room, facing my kitchen and the entry way. After setting it all up and turning on motion detection, I went to work. I came home and I thought that me opening the door would have triggered the motion detection. My phone, however, didn’t send me any notifications and I certainly had access to the Internet. The app worked though as a viewer because I could see a live stream from work. I didn’t really tinker with the motion detection much more and I just assumed that feature was broken.

Fast-forward to today. Having lots of time on my hands, I decided to revisit the motion detection feature in an attempt to see what was wrong. Just for fun, I connected to my FTP server and looked in the directory where any images would have been uploaded. To my surprise, there were over 60 thousand images in that directory. The motion detection feature was working actually working and it had been sending anywhere between three to five images anytime I crossed in front of the camera for a period of about a year. The only thing that was indeed broken was the notification feature. I never knew the camera was detecting motion and sending all these images to my server.

As I looked at the directory, it dawned on me how much the camera captured over the course of the year. The majority of the images were just me doing normal stuff, walking to my sofa, watching TV or a movie, or cooking food in the kitchen. Then I realized there was no doubt the camera captured some images of me naked. The reason for this is that I often put my freshly done laundry on my sofa because I’m too lazy to sort it and put it away immediately. So, I frequently come out of the shower into the living room naked, to pick up a fresh pair of underwear. I don’t know how many of those 60k images are of naked me, looking for my ginch but I knew there were in that directory.

I was so shocked at how much space these files were taking up that I immediately went ahead and started deleting the whole directory. In hindsight, it would have been interesting to see what those 60k images captured (other than naked me). My FTP program took over two hours to delete those files, which is crazy. I turned off the motion detection feature for now since I’m home all the time.

It’s amusing to think my security camera was documenting a whole year of my life in the living room and kitchen.

For many, many years now, I’ve followed a post-shower ritual that involved applying baby powder to my body after drying off with a towel. The baby powder would be applied to both my armpits, my butt crack, and a light dusting to my berries. I started doing this because I liked the fresh feeling of the baby powder on the clean skin. It also smelled great and would continue to smell great throughout the day. The powder also absorbed moisture on my skin, perhaps not as good as antiperspirant but it certainly helped in the warmer months.

As great as those things are, there was one very visible drawback. My bathroom would get covered in a white coating of residual baby powder right in the area in front of my bathtub where I applied it. The bathroom tile is where it would accumulate the most. Since I’m a lazy fat ass, I don’t clean my bathroom floors everyday so the accumulation would get fairly thick. When it actually does come time to clean the tile, it’s almost like shoveling a light dusting of snow or cocaine. It makes cleaning my bathroom that much more difficult.

In light of this, I’ve decided to conduct an experiment. I’m going to attempt to not apply baby powder to my body for the next several weeks. The goal is observe how much less messy the bathroom gets and to see if I can adjust to not having the powder on me post-shower. Tonight was shower one of the experiment. I made sure I dried myself off really well as I knew there would not be the powder to absorb any extra moisture that might be on my body. It felt sorta ok putting on my clothes back on after the shower. I am definitely going to continue the experiment for the next several weeks. Stay tuned for an update as the experiment progresses.

I woke up this morning after 11am and proceeded to peruse the Internet on my tablet while still in bed. At times I would put my tablet down and close my eyes, then begin Interneting after an unknown amount of time. I figured I should probably get up when the clock rolled over to 1pm. Once up, I answered a few e-mails and then checked on my EI application. I had submitted all my documents and now it’s up to the federal government to process my claim and make a decision. If my previous experiences with the Harper regime hold true, my application will be stuck in limbo and no one will tell me so.

It was at this point I got a bit lazy. I had planned on going out and getting a few household items but the Internet took over again. It wasn’t until 4pm that I dragged my butt outside to the store. I returned with my supplies and a slice of pizza which served as lunch. At 6pm, I decided to start the massive cleaning operation for my apartment. It was perhaps a few hours later than I had anticipated the start but at least it was happening. My bathroom is where I began the cleanse. After everything was sparkling clean in there I took a little break for dinner. I was tempted to end the cleaning for the evening but I trudged on. I took out the garbage and some recyclables and then started to clean my living room. I got halfway through that before deciding to call it a night.

Tomorrow I will undoubtedly get up after 12pm but when I do, the plan is tackle the rest of the living room and start cleaning the kitchen and my bedroom. Realistically, because I’m lazy, vacuuming and the Swiffering of all floors will happen on Thursday. Which means everything will be clean by Friday!