All Ready!

Phew... Presents are out and wrapped... Cookies and milk, out for Santa. Kids asleep.

Merry Christmas to all of you out there. May your Christmas be as magical as mine!

B.

BSG 4.5 Webisode 3 "The Face of the Enemy, Part 3"

BSG 4.5 Webisode 2 "The Face of the Enemy, Part 2"

Storm Day!

Yahoooooooooooo.... I have a storm day!!!!!!! No work today (but lots to do). I don't think this happened at all last year.

:-)

B.

New Battlestar Galactica Content! -- BSG 4.5 Webisode 001

Oh blessed day- this intially missed my attention but NEW Battelstar Galactica content has been released prior to the show's return in Januray.

Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 Webisode 001 - The Face of the Enemy

Decision Made

For the past few weeks, I've been trying to sort out a very difficult decision: whether or not to switch jobs. Yes, its the kind of decision people make every day. We make them and then we live with them.

Basically, I was faced with staying in my present position or moving back to a different job in our system, doing very different work. I had this job from January 2007-March 2008 (but was unable to get it permanently due to a really crappy, half-arsed interview I did- never assume you have a job "in the bag," kids).

The issues for me seemed to come down to the prospects of returning to a more glamorous job with slightly less pay as the bottom guy on the org chart. Or, I could continue where I am (and have been since 2001) given progressively more specialization, responsibility and leadership.

I'm staying put. I feel pretty good about this decision. After thinking about it until my head hurt and getting no where but a continuous set of flip flips back and forth, I had to go with my gut. I'm pushing forty and I need to continue on my path to be an expert in what I'm doing. I have a an utterly unique position in the province. No one else does exactly what I do and I'm doing new things all the time. I'm in a good spot to grow into a position of leadership in my team and my other option was to return to a place that had already rejected me. It was gratifying doing a decent interview this time- makes up for the humiliation I caused myself last time. But, I'm off (for now) to be an expert.

B.

Blogger's family confirms his arrest

Here's a broadly similar story from Iran...

Blogger's family confirms his arrest
The Globe and Mail Dec. 9, 2008

B.

Or this one...

Another flying car, even better than the first....

What I really want for Christmas

There's no way I've been this good , but:

"Get Your Own Vintage Flying Car for $3.5 Million" from Wired.com.

Unabahsed Cuba Bashing

At different points in my life I've been close to people who were prepared to excuse away Cuban repression because Cuba:

1) Has reasonably good health care and education systems,
2) Is anti-American,
3) Is an affordable place to have to sun-cation in (if you're from the True North Strong and Free, not the True South Stronger but not so free), or
4) Was co-founded by Comrade Che.

As much as I disagree with 45 years of the American embargo, lets remember that even post-Castro, Cuba is a still in a state of Stalinist repression. If people have no ability to criticize their government, they have no ability to be protected from it. If they have no ability to be protected from it, it can do anything it wants to them. That's wrong.

Here's a story to remind us all that Cuba is far from a free or open society.

Read this article from the Globe and Mail "Cuba says blogger ran afoul of the law".

B.

News stories

Here'a a couple of interesting ones:

"Firm makes one billionth mouse."

"Solar Taxi goes round the world"

What I'm Watching... (Dec. 1, 2008)

Here's what I'm watching lately:
1) How I Met Your Mother: Still one of the funniest things on TV.
2) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I know a few of you may think less of me for really liking this show, but this is one of the best dramas of the last few years. Its better than the three Terminator movies. Its a family drama about a family that's trying to stop the world from ending.
3) Season Two of Heroes: Yeah, I know- I'm waaaay behind and season two is not all that great, but I want to get caught up and watch season three.
4) House: It still rocks.
5) Bones: Its our new "watch it together" show. B.

New Car, Eight Months Later

New Car, Eight Months Later
Originally uploaded by Binky's Photos

So far, our Corolla has over 16,000 kms on it and no problems.

Its averaging 7.5 L/100 km or 37.66 miles to the gallon Imperial or 31.362 miles to the gallon U.S.

About 99.9% of the time I ecstatic that we bought a car and not the Mazda 5 "Microvan" that we also test drove. I'm always happy that we paid just a little bit extra and bought the LE trim with keyless entry, keyless ignition, wood trim, cruise control, and automatic climate control.

I think we'll get a brand new car every ten years, "whether we need it or not" :-)

B.