I'm not dead. Not even really sick, although I do have yet another visit to the doctor's coming up Monday. Just been snowed under by THE PROJECT FROM ... well my best-paying client.
This doesn't signal a return to blogging. That's probably a month away. I've got things to say about the Argos, my baseball team, my former baseball team, hockey, books, the fall TV season, etc. Just not right now. What I DO have to say right now is all about fixing my latest stupid waste of time.
I thought I was updating one of my utilities earlier today and clicked on the wrong file name. That's wrong as in the WRONG file, and wrong as in, I got hammered for doing so. Something tried to squirm onto my system and succeeded partially. My defences stopped most of it. But not all of it. I had to uninstall one program and then I rebooted. And things went south from there.
Eventually, the solution was searching out two different files and renaming them. The first was wmiprvse.exe, which existed in five places in my C:\Windows folder. THREE of them were on the list of right-sized versions of the file. TWO weren't on the good list. And the key one was in C:\Windows\System32\WBEM. That one kept giving me error messages complaining that wmiprvse.exe couldn't reference memory. We're talking about an error dialog about every ten seconds, or so. I DID stop the program running. It's a service and it's on the Microsoft Trusted list. Hah!
I think I tried about a dozen reboots in all and kept getting this message, EVEN before logging in, during each reboot. I tried uninstalling this, deleting that. I was seriously thinking about dunkirking the drive and restoring an eight-day old copy of drive C:\. But I eventually renamed the wmiprvse.exe's in WBEM and C:\Windows\System32\DLLcache. On the next reboot, Windows copied GOOD versions to those locations from one of the three places where such files hid. And the error message went away!!!
Only to be replaced by annoyingly similar complaints about LogonUI.exe. It couldn't reference memory either! I turned the air blue for a bit and did the same search I'd done for it's predecessor on my hate list. Once again, I found a couple of correctly-sized versions and one oddly-sized one in System32. I renamed that one and rebooted. Twice. And NO MORE $#&@^)@#&$ programs complaining about not being able to reference memory.
So, I'm out four, almost five hours, of fixing something that came about purely for being sloppy at clicking away on links on websites (And yes, I alerted the website and the infected file is no longer available). Sure, I got spanked for that sloppiness. And yes, I could have restored the C:\ drive backup in about an hour, without losing much of anything (remember, I don't install or save anything TO C:). And I really couldn't afford the time. But all in all, not a horrible outcome.
And the reason I'm admitting to this screwup? I'll do it again sometime in the future. And I'll be able to come here for the solution.
See ya in 30. Or thereabouts.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
SPORTS: Here's One Heatley Idea I Haven't Heard
Sue the bum.
Just once, I would like a pro sports team to tell the star that screws them with words and deeds to see them in court. Wait, I mean twice. Because the ONE organization that has done this in the past is the self-same Ottawa Senators that are now being put through the wringer again by a player. Although I hesitate to call Dany Heatley a player. Players have hearts. He's missing one. Players have brains. His behaviour and expectations that this week's 'press conference' paints him in a team-oriented light obviously shows he has a deficiency there too. He deserves plenty bad to happen to him where ever he takes his ghost act to in the future. Might I suggest the KHL?
Ottawa once had a bonehead named Alexei Yashin. He took his money and figure-skated his way through games as if he hadn't a care in the world, save for what time Carol Alt was getting home. He was despicable too. And when he thought he could get his money and not even do the figure-skating part, a judge told him "Bad guess, bub."
Heatley has the ultimate legal enforcer this time around. He has a piece of paper signed by the team that says you can't waive me, trade me, or otherwise trouble me with silly team rules. And since you changed coaches on me (again) and this new twerp insists I play both ends of the ice, I'm going to force you to trade me. But I'm not telling you where, you have to guess. And if I don't like my would-be new coach and place to stow my gear, I'll just exercise my no-trade rights. Is this not one of the signs of the apocalypse? Trade me ... and I'll tell you where.
There is nothing honourable or praiseworthy about this cement-head. His actions, through word and mis-deed, have harmed the Senators. He's a monumental embarrassment to hockey and one can only hope that Steve Yzerman understands how destructive a personal prima donna like him would be to Canada's hopes of winning back hockey gold at the Olympics in Vancouver in February. I won't watch that exercise if it includes Heatley. I couldn't stand the shame of cheering for the guy.
All of this is just posturing of course. Nobody wants Heatley at the price and demands he comes with. Ottawa will have to retain and play him (although Eugene Melnyk could become a national hero by telling him to bide his time in his own personal hell, but that won't happen). Any Senator willing to blacken both of his eyes would be similarly blessed with hosannas and I'm sure there's an Edmonton Oiler or seven who might take up the fight... so to speak.
Until that happens ... and surely SOME good Canadian boy will make it happen, the dream remains. Sue the bum.
Just once, I would like a pro sports team to tell the star that screws them with words and deeds to see them in court. Wait, I mean twice. Because the ONE organization that has done this in the past is the self-same Ottawa Senators that are now being put through the wringer again by a player. Although I hesitate to call Dany Heatley a player. Players have hearts. He's missing one. Players have brains. His behaviour and expectations that this week's 'press conference' paints him in a team-oriented light obviously shows he has a deficiency there too. He deserves plenty bad to happen to him where ever he takes his ghost act to in the future. Might I suggest the KHL?
Ottawa once had a bonehead named Alexei Yashin. He took his money and figure-skated his way through games as if he hadn't a care in the world, save for what time Carol Alt was getting home. He was despicable too. And when he thought he could get his money and not even do the figure-skating part, a judge told him "Bad guess, bub."
Heatley has the ultimate legal enforcer this time around. He has a piece of paper signed by the team that says you can't waive me, trade me, or otherwise trouble me with silly team rules. And since you changed coaches on me (again) and this new twerp insists I play both ends of the ice, I'm going to force you to trade me. But I'm not telling you where, you have to guess. And if I don't like my would-be new coach and place to stow my gear, I'll just exercise my no-trade rights. Is this not one of the signs of the apocalypse? Trade me ... and I'll tell you where.
There is nothing honourable or praiseworthy about this cement-head. His actions, through word and mis-deed, have harmed the Senators. He's a monumental embarrassment to hockey and one can only hope that Steve Yzerman understands how destructive a personal prima donna like him would be to Canada's hopes of winning back hockey gold at the Olympics in Vancouver in February. I won't watch that exercise if it includes Heatley. I couldn't stand the shame of cheering for the guy.
All of this is just posturing of course. Nobody wants Heatley at the price and demands he comes with. Ottawa will have to retain and play him (although Eugene Melnyk could become a national hero by telling him to bide his time in his own personal hell, but that won't happen). Any Senator willing to blacken both of his eyes would be similarly blessed with hosannas and I'm sure there's an Edmonton Oiler or seven who might take up the fight... so to speak.
Until that happens ... and surely SOME good Canadian boy will make it happen, the dream remains. Sue the bum.
Friday, August 21, 2009
SPORTS: The Baseball Talent Entry System
The baseball draft has been broken for years. It rewards the Scott Boras's of the world and anybody who can manage to defect to a Caribbean nation and youngish old guys from Japan.
Bud Selig, clueless as he often seems to be, is probably going to make changing the draft his last stand before vacating the office of Commissioner of Major League Baseball. It's also going to lead to a strike. He wants massive changes and will get maybe half of the changes he wants, even after going through a strike. But at least there will be something new to complain about.
Since he won't get what he wants, let me tell you what SHOULD happen.
First of all, the draft changes names. The amateur draft hasn't been about real amateurs for years. Those full-ride college scholarships the baseball teams are competing against are worth thousands of dollars. Baseball players are semi-pro, when we are talking about high schoolers graduating to college. Soooo, we change the name of the draft to the Baseball Talent Entry System. That's step one.
Next, baseball talent can NOT sign a professional baseball contract with the major leagues and their minor affiliates UNLESS they have been through the Baseball Talent Entry System. If they go undrafted in their one and only one time in the draft, they are free agents to do as they will.
Thirdly (I think we are up to three 'rules'), the second requirement pertains to every player in the world. No exceptions for Japanese players. No exceptions for players escaping the brutal dictatorships around the world. No exceptions.
Japanese players, for example, can STILL participate with posting fees. It's just that the posting fee is stated up front and is open to all teams to accept as the price for drafting a player. If Daisuke Matsuzaka is going to cost some team $51M, then that's the price. But it's open to the San Diego Padres AND the Boston Red Sox. Posting fees from Korea and Taiwan follow the same process.
The draft is reduced to about 40 rounds, enough to refill a major league roster every year.
Based on the NBA renumeration system, there is a pre-determined payment system based on a three-year MINOR LEAGUE contract that is the only payment method available. Strictly cash, no other bonuses. Players won't need agents or 'advisors.' The money will be non-negotiable. The price for the top pick will be healthy, and will be adjusted as a portion of major league revenues on a yearly basis. Each succeeding pick through the first two rounds will get payments on a sliding scale. For rounds 3-10, there will be a flat fee that is respectable, say $250,000. Rounds 11-20 get $200,000, 21-30 $150,000 and rounds 31-40 $100,000. Draftees in the latter half of the draft (21-40) only get two-year contracts.
Will this system result in more kids staying in school? Yep. And I find nothing wrong with that. And no, declining an offer after being drafted as a high school senior, doesn't leave you with a free agent bonanza two years later. A draftee's rights stay with the drafting team for a period of four years. Each year, the signing cost escalates by a percentage for those drafted in the first three rounds, otherwise, by $50,000 a year (a stay-in-school bonus, so to speak). At the end of the four-year 'rights' window, the drafting team has another year, less a day, to sign the player before he becomes a free agent.
The same four years (plus 364 days) window applies to foreign players freshly added to the now-drafted group. That means 32 year old Japanese stars looking to try their hand in America and 16-year old Dominicans.
If you do NOT get drafted in the 40 rounds of your 'draft' year, you are a free agent to do as you will.
Eligibility to participate in the Talent Entry System follows, more or less, current baseball rules. You have to have graduated high school or be at least 18 years of age. This obviously affects the Latin players, where we are seeing signings of players as young as 16 (and scouting/touting of even younger kids). This is going to require baseball to spend some money along the lines of the old Kansas City Royals' Youth Academy. MLB will set up Youth Academies in each of the various countries that produce baseball talent. Besides ensuring good instruction, nutrition and the chance to play before assembled scouts, the schools will also teach English and general life skills for these kids. Anything we can do to stop the bonus-stealing and, let's be honest, flesh-peddling that goes on, has to be a step up. The laissez-faire attitude that some Caribbean nations have for performance enhancing drugs will be battled. And the academies will do a lot of the pre-screening for legitimate birth certificates that seems to be a game with some of the kids down there. By the time these kids make their trip north to The Show, they will be older, stronger and better prepared for cultural shock. And closer to being actually ready to help a major league team.
A LOT of the money MLB will be saving under my draft plan will have to go to these youth academies. But the return on investment will be immense. Like the high schoolers in the States and Canada, this system helps stem the tide of poorly-prepared teenagers from bypassing schooling opportunities to chase the dream. Won't stop it completely, but it will be a good start.
Baseball benefits greatly in that they won't be paying for the 'learning' years nearly as much as it currently does. No big fat bonuses for the kids who don't pan out. (well, not as big). The players they DO sign, will be either the super-talented, super-driven kids or the more mature men who come later on. By that time, they will have a better idea of whether signing the player at the assigned price is a good deal or not.
So, what do we do about draft pick compensation for signing free agents away from other teams. (There's no worry about sandwich picks for not signing this year's draftees, of course). Well, this is simple. Each team's 40-man roster (including new free agents signings) is ranked in value on opening day. Injured players are included. The value is assumed to be the cash payements with ALL bonuses assumed to be awarded. If your new free agent is the first player in value, you owe your first-round draft pick to the former team. If he's the 20th-ranked player, then the old team gets the 20th-round pick you own.
This system is straightforward. It doesn't prevent the situation like that, that happened to the Toronto Blue Jays this year. AJ Burnett signed a huge deal that would have given the Jays a first rounder and a first round sandwich pick ... if he signed with anybody but New York, basically. But because he was the third-ranked free agent on the Yanks this year, the Jays got a THIRD-rounder from New York and the sandwich pick, which hardly seems fair to some people. And my system is even worse. I think Burnett's seventh on the Yankee payroll this year. Soooo, under my rules, the compensation for Burnett comes down to a seventh-round pick. A flaw? Yes. But just about any compensation system is flawed when factoring in the Yankees and Red Sox. Would I like to see a payroll cap? Sure. Won't happen. But I'd like to see one. If not a cap, I'd like to see a punishing luxury tax that starts lower and doubles every 40 million or so. If the Yankees were really only spending in the $150M area and the Red Sox and other big spenders came down to the $120M, teams could definitely compete with them for nine figures total.
At any rate, that's a separate rant somewhere in the future.
A lot has been made of the Yankee's home-grown talent. That IT's the secret behind their success, as much as the high-priced free agents. But a LOT of that talent was acquired, in effect, as undrafted amateur free agents. Mariano Rivera? Undrafted. Bernie Williams? Undrafted (although he would be today). Alfonso Soriano? Undrafted. There are more, but those are first three that come to mind. Credit the Yankees for finding that talent, but they signed LOTS of Latin talent. Those are amongst the ones that panned out. Spreading lots of money around meant lots of opportunities to get lucky. And they did.
I say, take back the Yankee advantage to get lucky in Latin America and I believe the field gets leveled. And afterall, isn't that actually the reason behind a talent draft in any pro sport?
Bud Selig, clueless as he often seems to be, is probably going to make changing the draft his last stand before vacating the office of Commissioner of Major League Baseball. It's also going to lead to a strike. He wants massive changes and will get maybe half of the changes he wants, even after going through a strike. But at least there will be something new to complain about.
Since he won't get what he wants, let me tell you what SHOULD happen.
First of all, the draft changes names. The amateur draft hasn't been about real amateurs for years. Those full-ride college scholarships the baseball teams are competing against are worth thousands of dollars. Baseball players are semi-pro, when we are talking about high schoolers graduating to college. Soooo, we change the name of the draft to the Baseball Talent Entry System. That's step one.
Next, baseball talent can NOT sign a professional baseball contract with the major leagues and their minor affiliates UNLESS they have been through the Baseball Talent Entry System. If they go undrafted in their one and only one time in the draft, they are free agents to do as they will.
Thirdly (I think we are up to three 'rules'), the second requirement pertains to every player in the world. No exceptions for Japanese players. No exceptions for players escaping the brutal dictatorships around the world. No exceptions.
Japanese players, for example, can STILL participate with posting fees. It's just that the posting fee is stated up front and is open to all teams to accept as the price for drafting a player. If Daisuke Matsuzaka is going to cost some team $51M, then that's the price. But it's open to the San Diego Padres AND the Boston Red Sox. Posting fees from Korea and Taiwan follow the same process.
The draft is reduced to about 40 rounds, enough to refill a major league roster every year.
Based on the NBA renumeration system, there is a pre-determined payment system based on a three-year MINOR LEAGUE contract that is the only payment method available. Strictly cash, no other bonuses. Players won't need agents or 'advisors.' The money will be non-negotiable. The price for the top pick will be healthy, and will be adjusted as a portion of major league revenues on a yearly basis. Each succeeding pick through the first two rounds will get payments on a sliding scale. For rounds 3-10, there will be a flat fee that is respectable, say $250,000. Rounds 11-20 get $200,000, 21-30 $150,000 and rounds 31-40 $100,000. Draftees in the latter half of the draft (21-40) only get two-year contracts.
Will this system result in more kids staying in school? Yep. And I find nothing wrong with that. And no, declining an offer after being drafted as a high school senior, doesn't leave you with a free agent bonanza two years later. A draftee's rights stay with the drafting team for a period of four years. Each year, the signing cost escalates by a percentage for those drafted in the first three rounds, otherwise, by $50,000 a year (a stay-in-school bonus, so to speak). At the end of the four-year 'rights' window, the drafting team has another year, less a day, to sign the player before he becomes a free agent.
The same four years (plus 364 days) window applies to foreign players freshly added to the now-drafted group. That means 32 year old Japanese stars looking to try their hand in America and 16-year old Dominicans.
If you do NOT get drafted in the 40 rounds of your 'draft' year, you are a free agent to do as you will.
Eligibility to participate in the Talent Entry System follows, more or less, current baseball rules. You have to have graduated high school or be at least 18 years of age. This obviously affects the Latin players, where we are seeing signings of players as young as 16 (and scouting/touting of even younger kids). This is going to require baseball to spend some money along the lines of the old Kansas City Royals' Youth Academy. MLB will set up Youth Academies in each of the various countries that produce baseball talent. Besides ensuring good instruction, nutrition and the chance to play before assembled scouts, the schools will also teach English and general life skills for these kids. Anything we can do to stop the bonus-stealing and, let's be honest, flesh-peddling that goes on, has to be a step up. The laissez-faire attitude that some Caribbean nations have for performance enhancing drugs will be battled. And the academies will do a lot of the pre-screening for legitimate birth certificates that seems to be a game with some of the kids down there. By the time these kids make their trip north to The Show, they will be older, stronger and better prepared for cultural shock. And closer to being actually ready to help a major league team.
A LOT of the money MLB will be saving under my draft plan will have to go to these youth academies. But the return on investment will be immense. Like the high schoolers in the States and Canada, this system helps stem the tide of poorly-prepared teenagers from bypassing schooling opportunities to chase the dream. Won't stop it completely, but it will be a good start.
Baseball benefits greatly in that they won't be paying for the 'learning' years nearly as much as it currently does. No big fat bonuses for the kids who don't pan out. (well, not as big). The players they DO sign, will be either the super-talented, super-driven kids or the more mature men who come later on. By that time, they will have a better idea of whether signing the player at the assigned price is a good deal or not.
So, what do we do about draft pick compensation for signing free agents away from other teams. (There's no worry about sandwich picks for not signing this year's draftees, of course). Well, this is simple. Each team's 40-man roster (including new free agents signings) is ranked in value on opening day. Injured players are included. The value is assumed to be the cash payements with ALL bonuses assumed to be awarded. If your new free agent is the first player in value, you owe your first-round draft pick to the former team. If he's the 20th-ranked player, then the old team gets the 20th-round pick you own.
This system is straightforward. It doesn't prevent the situation like that, that happened to the Toronto Blue Jays this year. AJ Burnett signed a huge deal that would have given the Jays a first rounder and a first round sandwich pick ... if he signed with anybody but New York, basically. But because he was the third-ranked free agent on the Yanks this year, the Jays got a THIRD-rounder from New York and the sandwich pick, which hardly seems fair to some people. And my system is even worse. I think Burnett's seventh on the Yankee payroll this year. Soooo, under my rules, the compensation for Burnett comes down to a seventh-round pick. A flaw? Yes. But just about any compensation system is flawed when factoring in the Yankees and Red Sox. Would I like to see a payroll cap? Sure. Won't happen. But I'd like to see one. If not a cap, I'd like to see a punishing luxury tax that starts lower and doubles every 40 million or so. If the Yankees were really only spending in the $150M area and the Red Sox and other big spenders came down to the $120M, teams could definitely compete with them for nine figures total.
At any rate, that's a separate rant somewhere in the future.
A lot has been made of the Yankee's home-grown talent. That IT's the secret behind their success, as much as the high-priced free agents. But a LOT of that talent was acquired, in effect, as undrafted amateur free agents. Mariano Rivera? Undrafted. Bernie Williams? Undrafted (although he would be today). Alfonso Soriano? Undrafted. There are more, but those are first three that come to mind. Credit the Yankees for finding that talent, but they signed LOTS of Latin talent. Those are amongst the ones that panned out. Spreading lots of money around meant lots of opportunities to get lucky. And they did.
I say, take back the Yankee advantage to get lucky in Latin America and I believe the field gets leveled. And afterall, isn't that actually the reason behind a talent draft in any pro sport?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
ART: A Tartan To Be Proud Of
My brother Ricky is the artist of the family. He's had a long string of artistic accomplishments and did the family proud by going back to school relatively late in life and becoming an architect. A damn good one. He's well thought-of within the profession.
But he still dabbles a bit in things that fall outside of his architect purview. For example, he designed a tartan for The International Festival of Authors. And now it's been recorded for all posterity. That's right, the high mucky-mucks of Tartan have recognized his concoction of purple, green and magenta (and some other colours). You can see it here!
And it will live long after he and the IFOA are but fond memories. The official Scottish Register of Tartans has been recording the unique patterns for sixty years, but is only the latest incarnation of a group that got started back in the 1200's! The Scots take this kind of stuff seriously.
At any rate, this just adds, literally, another colourful chapter to our family history. Well Done! Rick.
But he still dabbles a bit in things that fall outside of his architect purview. For example, he designed a tartan for The International Festival of Authors. And now it's been recorded for all posterity. That's right, the high mucky-mucks of Tartan have recognized his concoction of purple, green and magenta (and some other colours). You can see it here!
And it will live long after he and the IFOA are but fond memories. The official Scottish Register of Tartans has been recording the unique patterns for sixty years, but is only the latest incarnation of a group that got started back in the 1200's! The Scots take this kind of stuff seriously.
At any rate, this just adds, literally, another colourful chapter to our family history. Well Done! Rick.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
SOFTWARE: Cairo Calling ...
I am a fan of Crossloop, the little remote access and viewing software that solved my problem with helping Dad through his computer problems, even though he was 200 miles away and not all that computer literate. A zero configuration answer to a problem that had plagued for years.
But I still use Remote Desktop Connection, the internal Microsoft remote software for most of my pro work. Partially, that's out of habit. Partially it's due to the layers that have been added to Crossloop over the last year. There's a (voluntary) login, a survey at the end, and endless ZoneAlarm questions because I don't allow anything but a temporary allowing of the program to bypass the firewall. Nothing regarding remote control gets out of or into my computer without my acknowledging that it's doing it.
Still, it's awfully nice to have Crossloop around for the unanticipated situations. Such as the call I received from half-way round the world recently. I got the call and a familar voice growled into the phone, "I've got a problem." No formalities, just a statement of fact. It was my friend Doug. And he was calling from Cairo, Egypt.
I don't get many calls from Egypt. Can only recall one in the past, when I was running PR for the American Contract Bridge League and talked to an Egyptian journalist about the Epson World Pairs. But I digress. Getting a call from Cairo was a different kind of start to the day.
Doug used to employ me before he sold his company to American interests and retired to go gallivanting around the world. He's semi-computer literate, knowing enough to be dangerous with his laptop. I continue to provide computer support for the sheer entertainment value. He's incredibly creative when it comes to computer problems. I yell at him. A LOT. It's cathartic.
At any rate, we couldn't solve his initial problem because he couldn't access the internet in the middle of the afternoon Cairo time (which was seven hours ahead of Brampton time). We agreed to make a second try later in the day, nearer late evening there.
And Crossloop worked perfectly, if a little slowly. Probably the effects of the Egyptian secret service watching our every move. Or so I would like to believe. I fixed his issue in short order and told him to call me when he got back to Canada to report on whether the fix stuck. He did. It did. And that was that.
I was struck later by the whole matter-of-factness of the whole situation. It was no different than when he would call from his Toronto home with some problem or another. Ten, fifteen minutes later, thanks to the immediacy of being able to see what he saw, the problem would be fixed. Toronto, Cairo? No different in actual terms these days.
Good on you Crossloop. Oops, that's how I would say it to my Australian friends. Good FOR you Crossloop!
But I still use Remote Desktop Connection, the internal Microsoft remote software for most of my pro work. Partially, that's out of habit. Partially it's due to the layers that have been added to Crossloop over the last year. There's a (voluntary) login, a survey at the end, and endless ZoneAlarm questions because I don't allow anything but a temporary allowing of the program to bypass the firewall. Nothing regarding remote control gets out of or into my computer without my acknowledging that it's doing it.
Still, it's awfully nice to have Crossloop around for the unanticipated situations. Such as the call I received from half-way round the world recently. I got the call and a familar voice growled into the phone, "I've got a problem." No formalities, just a statement of fact. It was my friend Doug. And he was calling from Cairo, Egypt.
I don't get many calls from Egypt. Can only recall one in the past, when I was running PR for the American Contract Bridge League and talked to an Egyptian journalist about the Epson World Pairs. But I digress. Getting a call from Cairo was a different kind of start to the day.
Doug used to employ me before he sold his company to American interests and retired to go gallivanting around the world. He's semi-computer literate, knowing enough to be dangerous with his laptop. I continue to provide computer support for the sheer entertainment value. He's incredibly creative when it comes to computer problems. I yell at him. A LOT. It's cathartic.
At any rate, we couldn't solve his initial problem because he couldn't access the internet in the middle of the afternoon Cairo time (which was seven hours ahead of Brampton time). We agreed to make a second try later in the day, nearer late evening there.
And Crossloop worked perfectly, if a little slowly. Probably the effects of the Egyptian secret service watching our every move. Or so I would like to believe. I fixed his issue in short order and told him to call me when he got back to Canada to report on whether the fix stuck. He did. It did. And that was that.
I was struck later by the whole matter-of-factness of the whole situation. It was no different than when he would call from his Toronto home with some problem or another. Ten, fifteen minutes later, thanks to the immediacy of being able to see what he saw, the problem would be fixed. Toronto, Cairo? No different in actual terms these days.
Good on you Crossloop. Oops, that's how I would say it to my Australian friends. Good FOR you Crossloop!
Monday, August 17, 2009
SPORTS: Ukic Gone. Too Bad
If Roko Ukic had a rental lease somewhere in Toronto, I'm pretty sure he didn't renew it anytime after about, oh, June. By then, Bryan Colangelo, as close-lipped a GM as there is in sports, had let it be pretty well known he wasn't happy with the Toronto Raptors' backup point guard. You or I might quibble with his obvious unhappiness, but neither of us happens to have the power to move Ukic out of town. Apparently, that moving van's headed for Milwaukee.
Ukic and the sign-and-trade rights to Carlos Delfino, another fan fave, are going to be moved to Milwaukee for front-court plugger Amir Johnson and a player as yet named (methinks it will be Jodie Meeks, for salary reasons. But it might be Joe Alexander). Will not be official before Aug. 23 because Johnson was recently obtained by Milwaukee and can't be moved until then, but the transit papers are already in order.
I am a fan of Ukic, the son of a Croation rock star. Although he shoots the ball as if he's afraid of it, Ukic made me think he was on the same career path as starter Jose Calderon. Calderon's rookie problems were also shooting related. And Calederon improved dramatically with a lot of extra work. And Ukic is not afraid of hard work. I was hoping the 6-5 guard (I LOVE tall point guards) would mimic Calderon. And he might end up being a better defender than Calderon (who's not very good) by virtue of more dexterity and having more height. I just pictured Ukic as Calderon's more-or-less younger, bigger brother. But alas, the transformation of Ukic into a super sub won't happen here.
There's every chance it WILL happen in Milwaukee. Luke Ridnour's the starter for the Bucks and I'm not sure he's really any better than Ukic right now. Brandon Jennings was drafted to be the starter, maybe as early as this year, and Ramon Sessions might still return. And Sessions is likely to be the best bet for playing time this year, if that's the case. But it's more likely that Sessions ends with either the Clippers or the Knicks. Thus, Milwaukee traded for Ukic to be the third-stringer and back-up in training. I believe Jennings is the single most over-rated player drafted in July and Ukic will get playing time at his expense. And Ridnour's hurt about as often as Tim Horton's sells coffee. It's not hard at all to see Ukic playing good minutes ... assuming his shot doesn't resemble mine in accuracy.
Delfino's year away in Russia made him better in the minds of just about all Raptors' fans. He was Jordan in absentia as we watched wing problems plague last year's non-playoff team. The truth is, that he's always going to tantalize you with good games two of three nights, taking the third one off completely. I think he starts at the wing for Milwaukee, ahead of Hakim Warrick and Canuck Luc Richard Mbah A Moute. That and a bit more money than Toronto was offering on a one-year deal is probably what sealed Delfino's decision to abandon the wilds of Russia to become a Buck. Assuming Delfino is about the same player he was when we last saw him two years ago, you have to think Milwaukee did okay with the trade.
Did Toronto? I think so. It's a long season in the NBA and big men get banged up. Having a sixth big is a good idea and Johnson offers some rebounding, shot-blocking and a bullyish personality on the court to the Toronto mix. He's Reggie Evans, but younger and he has something approaching a mid-range game. He's also got an expiring contract. Joe Dumars has had some hits and misses in his drafting over the years and no longer wears the kind of halo reserved for Jerry West, but he has had faith in Johnson forever. Maybe the kick of being traded twice this summer does something to ignite Johnson. If so, Toronto traded a free agent who wasn't going to re-sign here and a third-string point guard for a contributor. That can't be bad.
Meeks is roster fodder, a shooting guard out of Kentucky who set the school one-game scoring record last year. A total wild-card with a slim chance to contribute. But the pedigree is good and he's 6-6, which is about the right size for a shooting guard. If, somehow, the guy coming back is Alexander, then the Raptors have a lottery ticket kid with spectacular hops and a single season of college success. But he was so spectacularly good with West Virginia two years ago that I wouldn't mind putting him on the developmental squad at all. He was rushed a bit in Milwaukee last year and failed. But again, a new coach might mean new results.
Whether Meeks or Alexander, we are talking long shots to contribute. But not hopeless players. Putting which one of them comes over, Patrick O'Bryant and fifth-string point guard Marcus Banks in civies most nights will be the best thing Toronto can do. It means they're dressing 12 legit NBA players that night.
Just too bad Ukic won't be one of them.
UPDATE: Apparently the soon-t0-be 15th Toronto Raptor will be guard Sonny Weems. I though he was trade-locked until Oct. 1, but guess I was wrong. I liked Weems coming out of Arkansas two summers ago, so I can't turn around and diss the acquisition completely. On the other hand, he didn't exactly light up the Denver sky with the Nuggets last year. My guess is he's going to look good wearing Cavelli on the bench beside O'Bryant and Banks.
Ukic and the sign-and-trade rights to Carlos Delfino, another fan fave, are going to be moved to Milwaukee for front-court plugger Amir Johnson and a player as yet named (methinks it will be Jodie Meeks, for salary reasons. But it might be Joe Alexander). Will not be official before Aug. 23 because Johnson was recently obtained by Milwaukee and can't be moved until then, but the transit papers are already in order.
I am a fan of Ukic, the son of a Croation rock star. Although he shoots the ball as if he's afraid of it, Ukic made me think he was on the same career path as starter Jose Calderon. Calderon's rookie problems were also shooting related. And Calederon improved dramatically with a lot of extra work. And Ukic is not afraid of hard work. I was hoping the 6-5 guard (I LOVE tall point guards) would mimic Calderon. And he might end up being a better defender than Calderon (who's not very good) by virtue of more dexterity and having more height. I just pictured Ukic as Calderon's more-or-less younger, bigger brother. But alas, the transformation of Ukic into a super sub won't happen here.
There's every chance it WILL happen in Milwaukee. Luke Ridnour's the starter for the Bucks and I'm not sure he's really any better than Ukic right now. Brandon Jennings was drafted to be the starter, maybe as early as this year, and Ramon Sessions might still return. And Sessions is likely to be the best bet for playing time this year, if that's the case. But it's more likely that Sessions ends with either the Clippers or the Knicks. Thus, Milwaukee traded for Ukic to be the third-stringer and back-up in training. I believe Jennings is the single most over-rated player drafted in July and Ukic will get playing time at his expense. And Ridnour's hurt about as often as Tim Horton's sells coffee. It's not hard at all to see Ukic playing good minutes ... assuming his shot doesn't resemble mine in accuracy.
Delfino's year away in Russia made him better in the minds of just about all Raptors' fans. He was Jordan in absentia as we watched wing problems plague last year's non-playoff team. The truth is, that he's always going to tantalize you with good games two of three nights, taking the third one off completely. I think he starts at the wing for Milwaukee, ahead of Hakim Warrick and Canuck Luc Richard Mbah A Moute. That and a bit more money than Toronto was offering on a one-year deal is probably what sealed Delfino's decision to abandon the wilds of Russia to become a Buck. Assuming Delfino is about the same player he was when we last saw him two years ago, you have to think Milwaukee did okay with the trade.
Did Toronto? I think so. It's a long season in the NBA and big men get banged up. Having a sixth big is a good idea and Johnson offers some rebounding, shot-blocking and a bullyish personality on the court to the Toronto mix. He's Reggie Evans, but younger and he has something approaching a mid-range game. He's also got an expiring contract. Joe Dumars has had some hits and misses in his drafting over the years and no longer wears the kind of halo reserved for Jerry West, but he has had faith in Johnson forever. Maybe the kick of being traded twice this summer does something to ignite Johnson. If so, Toronto traded a free agent who wasn't going to re-sign here and a third-string point guard for a contributor. That can't be bad.
Meeks is roster fodder, a shooting guard out of Kentucky who set the school one-game scoring record last year. A total wild-card with a slim chance to contribute. But the pedigree is good and he's 6-6, which is about the right size for a shooting guard. If, somehow, the guy coming back is Alexander, then the Raptors have a lottery ticket kid with spectacular hops and a single season of college success. But he was so spectacularly good with West Virginia two years ago that I wouldn't mind putting him on the developmental squad at all. He was rushed a bit in Milwaukee last year and failed. But again, a new coach might mean new results.
Whether Meeks or Alexander, we are talking long shots to contribute. But not hopeless players. Putting which one of them comes over, Patrick O'Bryant and fifth-string point guard Marcus Banks in civies most nights will be the best thing Toronto can do. It means they're dressing 12 legit NBA players that night.
Just too bad Ukic won't be one of them.
UPDATE: Apparently the soon-t0-be 15th Toronto Raptor will be guard Sonny Weems. I though he was trade-locked until Oct. 1, but guess I was wrong. I liked Weems coming out of Arkansas two summers ago, so I can't turn around and diss the acquisition completely. On the other hand, he didn't exactly light up the Denver sky with the Nuggets last year. My guess is he's going to look good wearing Cavelli on the bench beside O'Bryant and Banks.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
SPORTS: Insane Usain Bolt Strikes Again
I shouldn't be writing this right now. In fact, I shouldn't have been watching the world track and field championships, which prompted this blog. But Boss, I couldn't help myself.
Usain Bolt did it again. A new world record in the men's 100 metres. A mere 9.58 seconds, start to finish. It took longer to write the sentence with his time, than it took to run the race for the Jamaican superman. And when it was all done, ho hum. The dancer and prancer from Beijing is all grown up and expecting the kind of stupefying performance he put on today in Berlin.
Let's put things in perspective. Tyson Gay of the U.S.A. ran the third-fastest time in the history of the race. Bolt beat him by .13, a full eighth of a second. He lowered his own world record by .11 seconds, more than a tenth of a second, in a race where the record used to get lowered by a hundredth here, a couple of hundredths there. If anybody had any right to start goofing around, playing the winning clown, it was Bolt.
Everybody who knows me, knows I detest the kind of premeditated narcissistic celebration routines that permeate sports, especially football. I hate them, hate them, hate them. Basically because they come in team sports and celebrate 'I' rather than team. But in the individual sports, like track, I have a whole lot less antipathy towards celebration. And I also point out, celebrating a meaningless touchdown in Hamilton in July is a WHOLE LOT DIFFERENT than a world record in anything. Let alone the demolition job Bolt did on records in Beijing. Actually, I found the youthful enthusiasm refreshing and honest, something I could never say about that idiot Arland Bruce or his goofball brothers-in-shoulder pads Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens.
Bolt was in Toronto earlier this year, winning a sub-10 second race in the rain. Any doubts I had about genuineness disappeared that day. He's a big teddy bear of a guy who loves running fast. He's personable and is not full of himself. He's the ideal ambassador for the sport, which still hasn't completely overcome the druggie champions of the past. And no, I don't think there's anything chemical going on in the Jamaican giant that isn't natural and legal. I've long thought some past champions escaped detection. I'm only sure of a few having run to glory completely cleanly (Donovan Bailey from down the road in Oakville is one of them). But add Bolt to the list. The man is a self-refined freak of nature.
What finally struck me most about that record today was the fact Bolt didn't act surprised. He ran through the whole race, something he didn't do in Beijing. That was a night when he ran 9.69, celebrating over the last 30 metres. What could he have run if he'd been intent on pushing the limits?
We know now. Something in the 9.5's. Incredible. And that's worth celebrating.
Usain Bolt did it again. A new world record in the men's 100 metres. A mere 9.58 seconds, start to finish. It took longer to write the sentence with his time, than it took to run the race for the Jamaican superman. And when it was all done, ho hum. The dancer and prancer from Beijing is all grown up and expecting the kind of stupefying performance he put on today in Berlin.
Let's put things in perspective. Tyson Gay of the U.S.A. ran the third-fastest time in the history of the race. Bolt beat him by .13, a full eighth of a second. He lowered his own world record by .11 seconds, more than a tenth of a second, in a race where the record used to get lowered by a hundredth here, a couple of hundredths there. If anybody had any right to start goofing around, playing the winning clown, it was Bolt.
Everybody who knows me, knows I detest the kind of premeditated narcissistic celebration routines that permeate sports, especially football. I hate them, hate them, hate them. Basically because they come in team sports and celebrate 'I' rather than team. But in the individual sports, like track, I have a whole lot less antipathy towards celebration. And I also point out, celebrating a meaningless touchdown in Hamilton in July is a WHOLE LOT DIFFERENT than a world record in anything. Let alone the demolition job Bolt did on records in Beijing. Actually, I found the youthful enthusiasm refreshing and honest, something I could never say about that idiot Arland Bruce or his goofball brothers-in-shoulder pads Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens.
Bolt was in Toronto earlier this year, winning a sub-10 second race in the rain. Any doubts I had about genuineness disappeared that day. He's a big teddy bear of a guy who loves running fast. He's personable and is not full of himself. He's the ideal ambassador for the sport, which still hasn't completely overcome the druggie champions of the past. And no, I don't think there's anything chemical going on in the Jamaican giant that isn't natural and legal. I've long thought some past champions escaped detection. I'm only sure of a few having run to glory completely cleanly (Donovan Bailey from down the road in Oakville is one of them). But add Bolt to the list. The man is a self-refined freak of nature.
What finally struck me most about that record today was the fact Bolt didn't act surprised. He ran through the whole race, something he didn't do in Beijing. That was a night when he ran 9.69, celebrating over the last 30 metres. What could he have run if he'd been intent on pushing the limits?
We know now. Something in the 9.5's. Incredible. And that's worth celebrating.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
SPORTS: Jury's Out on Rios Move
I might be in a minority, but I'm sure you can't be sure the waiving of Alex Rios isn't going to come back and bite the Toronto Blue Jays on the butt. Same goes for Kenny Williams latest trip out onto a limb, where few dare go.
I've wavered back and forth on the merits of just letting Rios' contract evaporate off the books of the club, as if he never existed. There are times when I can see the merits of freeing up the eight figures a year the Jays were going to hand the frequently unfocused right-fielder. Certainly, he wasn't turning in an all-star performance this year ... although he wasn't being paid like one. Yet. On the other hand, his play HAD picked up over the last month and it isn't too late for Rios to end the year hitting .290 and having banged out 25 home runs.
The good side of the waiver deal for the Jays is that they will have close to 10 million American pesos to spread around, come the off-season. Some have pointed out that that sum this year could have meant Bobby Abreu, Orlando Hudson and a couple of scrubs for the bench, with enough change for a dinner at McDonald's. Not one baseball man was smart enough to actually do that kind of signing, but the two teams in L.A. at least get some credit for spotting free agent value. Even if the money is used to keep certain free agents-to-be in Toronto (Scutaro and Barajas come to mind), it's good money to have. Also, the Jays might very well suspect that a contented Rios is a terrifying combination of talent and a lack of motivation to maximize that talent. We might very well have already seen the best of Rios. Certainly, a man who believes in personal responsibility, like Clarence Gaston, might not have the mind-set to beat a performance out of Rios. And Gaston's going to be here for awhile.
Not surprisingly, there's a consensus out there by baseball touts that trading Rios for a bag of baseballs was an outstanding move by the Toronto Blue Jays, even if it was the truth-challenged GM doing the deed. In fact, given the savings and acquisition of some prime pitching prospects in the Scott Rolen deal, you might even say J.P. Ricciardi is on a roll. And if this late-season willingness to take advantage of the largesse of other G.M.'s (Walt Jocketty and then Williams) lets him keep his job, then this will be very bad news for Toronto fans. (It also immediately hurts my Minnesota Twins' chances at winning the Central Division, which is bad news no matter what).
Bad news can also arrive in other ways. First, let's face it. Ozzie Guillen might just pull Rios' short hairs out through his esophagus if he doesn't put in enough effort in Chicago. Lacking only Concentration amongst the Three C's (Capability and Confidence), under Guillen, Rios could turn into the all-star centre-fielder the Pale Hose have been looking for. He'll shunt Scott Posednik to the sideline and play between Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye when the ChiSox have everybody healthy. And I think he might bat lead-off, which I had long bruited he should do to salvage this season in Toronto. He doesn't actually have to perform a heck of a lot better to earn eight figures.
Plus, the Blue Jays are now faced with the lure of pocketing the Rios Savings rather than trying to sign value for the money. Or they can let Ricciardi loose to spend the money. If his track record is any indication, that money will either go to fading stars who won't earn the money, or average major leaguers who will be a step down, a BIG step down, from Rios.
The consensus will be that this is a good deal for Toronto. Maybe. Maybe not. I think the jury's going to be out until next year. Maybe it's my distate for Ricciardi, but I've got the feeling this is going to look better for the White Sox than the Blue Jays down the road.
I've wavered back and forth on the merits of just letting Rios' contract evaporate off the books of the club, as if he never existed. There are times when I can see the merits of freeing up the eight figures a year the Jays were going to hand the frequently unfocused right-fielder. Certainly, he wasn't turning in an all-star performance this year ... although he wasn't being paid like one. Yet. On the other hand, his play HAD picked up over the last month and it isn't too late for Rios to end the year hitting .290 and having banged out 25 home runs.
The good side of the waiver deal for the Jays is that they will have close to 10 million American pesos to spread around, come the off-season. Some have pointed out that that sum this year could have meant Bobby Abreu, Orlando Hudson and a couple of scrubs for the bench, with enough change for a dinner at McDonald's. Not one baseball man was smart enough to actually do that kind of signing, but the two teams in L.A. at least get some credit for spotting free agent value. Even if the money is used to keep certain free agents-to-be in Toronto (Scutaro and Barajas come to mind), it's good money to have. Also, the Jays might very well suspect that a contented Rios is a terrifying combination of talent and a lack of motivation to maximize that talent. We might very well have already seen the best of Rios. Certainly, a man who believes in personal responsibility, like Clarence Gaston, might not have the mind-set to beat a performance out of Rios. And Gaston's going to be here for awhile.
Not surprisingly, there's a consensus out there by baseball touts that trading Rios for a bag of baseballs was an outstanding move by the Toronto Blue Jays, even if it was the truth-challenged GM doing the deed. In fact, given the savings and acquisition of some prime pitching prospects in the Scott Rolen deal, you might even say J.P. Ricciardi is on a roll. And if this late-season willingness to take advantage of the largesse of other G.M.'s (Walt Jocketty and then Williams) lets him keep his job, then this will be very bad news for Toronto fans. (It also immediately hurts my Minnesota Twins' chances at winning the Central Division, which is bad news no matter what).
Bad news can also arrive in other ways. First, let's face it. Ozzie Guillen might just pull Rios' short hairs out through his esophagus if he doesn't put in enough effort in Chicago. Lacking only Concentration amongst the Three C's (Capability and Confidence), under Guillen, Rios could turn into the all-star centre-fielder the Pale Hose have been looking for. He'll shunt Scott Posednik to the sideline and play between Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye when the ChiSox have everybody healthy. And I think he might bat lead-off, which I had long bruited he should do to salvage this season in Toronto. He doesn't actually have to perform a heck of a lot better to earn eight figures.
Plus, the Blue Jays are now faced with the lure of pocketing the Rios Savings rather than trying to sign value for the money. Or they can let Ricciardi loose to spend the money. If his track record is any indication, that money will either go to fading stars who won't earn the money, or average major leaguers who will be a step down, a BIG step down, from Rios.
The consensus will be that this is a good deal for Toronto. Maybe. Maybe not. I think the jury's going to be out until next year. Maybe it's my distate for Ricciardi, but I've got the feeling this is going to look better for the White Sox than the Blue Jays down the road.
Friday, August 07, 2009
SOFTWARE: Suction, Simple and It Just Works
Software that does one thing, and that one thing really well, is a dying breed. I've seen all kinds of one-trick ponies that do that trick really, really well. But the programmer can't stand the onslaught of feature requests and sooner or later, that one-note piece of software is a thundering herd of mish-mashed together ideas that ceases to be nearly as good as the software was originally. (Careful now, I think I mixed three different metaphors in that paragraph).
At any rate, cheers to those that want to do something really well. Say DrNathan, who offers us Suction. Suction collapses a series of sub-folders into its parent, moving all of the files into that parent folder. Simple. Works. Works better for me after the author responded to a query of mine with incredible speed and completeness. And that's all it does.
Why is that important to me? Well, when I archive files onto a DVD, I like to print a file-listing to include in the disk jacket. A heck of a lot easier when all the files are in the root. But accomplishing that is mousing-heavy, since I took great care to put them in separate folders in the first place. Suction does it in two clicks. And I don't run into PowerDesk/ExplorerPlus's nasty habit of running afoul of file-locking, forcing me to unlock the files through Unlocker. It's all quite civilized.
I'll bet most of you don't need Suction. But if you do, then Suction is worth its weight in gold. 'Cept it's free. A useful free utility.
At any rate, cheers to those that want to do something really well. Say DrNathan, who offers us Suction. Suction collapses a series of sub-folders into its parent, moving all of the files into that parent folder. Simple. Works. Works better for me after the author responded to a query of mine with incredible speed and completeness. And that's all it does.
Why is that important to me? Well, when I archive files onto a DVD, I like to print a file-listing to include in the disk jacket. A heck of a lot easier when all the files are in the root. But accomplishing that is mousing-heavy, since I took great care to put them in separate folders in the first place. Suction does it in two clicks. And I don't run into PowerDesk/ExplorerPlus's nasty habit of running afoul of file-locking, forcing me to unlock the files through Unlocker. It's all quite civilized.
I'll bet most of you don't need Suction. But if you do, then Suction is worth its weight in gold. 'Cept it's free. A useful free utility.
Friday, July 31, 2009
LIFE: "You're tags are expired."
The post below describes the joylessness of my experiences getting my car's licence sticker renewed. I point out that I'm more or less unenthused about getting pulled over driving with expired licence tags. That's because it happened to me once. As a passenger, but nonetheless, it wasn't fun.
Back in my more sociable days, I would occasionally do things because friends asked me to. Things I didn't want to do, and knew I SHOULDN'T do. I've put that niceness well behind me now, so I'm unlikely to fall into the trap again. Just so you should know.
It all started with the breaking up of a bridge partnership. I was playing, successfully, with a gent by the name of Wayne. Wayne had a small problem with alcohol, but sober, was one of the best young players in the country. I was slightly older and responsible for driving. Wayne had lost his licence. I found Wayne a dependable partner, except when he failed to show up or answer his door when being picked up. One last time, a club championship missed, and I told him the partnership was over. I didn't talk to him for the better part of a decade. (I'm legendary for holding grudges).
One of my other friends, the lady in a recently split-up relationship, eventually started seeing Wayne socially. She looked at me with those big sad eyes and pouty face and begged me to give Wayne another chance. Just for her. I KNEW it was wrong. But there was no saying no. I agreed to partner Wayne at the upcoming Canadian Nationals. The Good Friday Open Pairs. As an act of goodwill, Wayne volunteered to drive. He showed up the morning of the game driving his mother's car.
As it turns out, the magic that had been our partnership had disappeared. We turned in average sessions in the afternoon and then in the evening. It wasn't unpleasant, but the strained conversation was too much pressure to turn in a good performance. I wasn't at my best. And his rust showed. He wasn't anywhere near ready to play in a serious tournament. I tried. But I simply didn't enjoy the game. Ultimately, what was wrong was a reversal of playing postures. In the original partnership, I had been the aggressive player while Wayne had been the solid conservative one. In the intervening years, I had become the rock of most of my partnerships, letting my partners be the shooters. Two conservative players rarely succeed in tournament bridge.
Anxious to bring this experiment in taking one for a friend to an end (he had been inveigled into this as much as I was), we lit out right after the evening session and headed home. We just got off the highway south of Bramalea when flashing cherry lights in our rear window foretold of problems. The next 20 minutes were spent by Wayne weedling permission out of the policeman to allow him to drive me home and then go get the licence sticker for the car. The sticker was on top of the fridge at his mother's house. By the way, it had been on the fridge for FIVE MONTHS!!! Wayne was never anything other than personable in situations like this, even in his drinking days. The officer acquiesced.
Wayne apologized as he got into the car. I said nothing, seething. I was more mad at myself than anything else. The next three minutes were spent in silence, Wayne recognizing the opportunity to not foment any angry conversation. Three minutes? With my house ten minutes away? Yep. That's how long it took for ANOTHER POLICE UNIT to pull us over!! Took a half-hour this time for the latest member of the constabulary to check with the first one and verify the deal.
Once on our way, the silence was deafening. As we pulled into the driveway at my house, Wayne offered one word. Sorry. I nodded acceptance, got out of the car and haven't spoken to, or seen him, in 18 years.
Not that I'm counting.
Back in my more sociable days, I would occasionally do things because friends asked me to. Things I didn't want to do, and knew I SHOULDN'T do. I've put that niceness well behind me now, so I'm unlikely to fall into the trap again. Just so you should know.
It all started with the breaking up of a bridge partnership. I was playing, successfully, with a gent by the name of Wayne. Wayne had a small problem with alcohol, but sober, was one of the best young players in the country. I was slightly older and responsible for driving. Wayne had lost his licence. I found Wayne a dependable partner, except when he failed to show up or answer his door when being picked up. One last time, a club championship missed, and I told him the partnership was over. I didn't talk to him for the better part of a decade. (I'm legendary for holding grudges).
One of my other friends, the lady in a recently split-up relationship, eventually started seeing Wayne socially. She looked at me with those big sad eyes and pouty face and begged me to give Wayne another chance. Just for her. I KNEW it was wrong. But there was no saying no. I agreed to partner Wayne at the upcoming Canadian Nationals. The Good Friday Open Pairs. As an act of goodwill, Wayne volunteered to drive. He showed up the morning of the game driving his mother's car.
As it turns out, the magic that had been our partnership had disappeared. We turned in average sessions in the afternoon and then in the evening. It wasn't unpleasant, but the strained conversation was too much pressure to turn in a good performance. I wasn't at my best. And his rust showed. He wasn't anywhere near ready to play in a serious tournament. I tried. But I simply didn't enjoy the game. Ultimately, what was wrong was a reversal of playing postures. In the original partnership, I had been the aggressive player while Wayne had been the solid conservative one. In the intervening years, I had become the rock of most of my partnerships, letting my partners be the shooters. Two conservative players rarely succeed in tournament bridge.
Anxious to bring this experiment in taking one for a friend to an end (he had been inveigled into this as much as I was), we lit out right after the evening session and headed home. We just got off the highway south of Bramalea when flashing cherry lights in our rear window foretold of problems. The next 20 minutes were spent by Wayne weedling permission out of the policeman to allow him to drive me home and then go get the licence sticker for the car. The sticker was on top of the fridge at his mother's house. By the way, it had been on the fridge for FIVE MONTHS!!! Wayne was never anything other than personable in situations like this, even in his drinking days. The officer acquiesced.
Wayne apologized as he got into the car. I said nothing, seething. I was more mad at myself than anything else. The next three minutes were spent in silence, Wayne recognizing the opportunity to not foment any angry conversation. Three minutes? With my house ten minutes away? Yep. That's how long it took for ANOTHER POLICE UNIT to pull us over!! Took a half-hour this time for the latest member of the constabulary to check with the first one and verify the deal.
Once on our way, the silence was deafening. As we pulled into the driveway at my house, Wayne offered one word. Sorry. I nodded acceptance, got out of the car and haven't spoken to, or seen him, in 18 years.
Not that I'm counting.
LIFE: The DMV Was Met and Conquered
Over the years, I have had a hate-hate relationship with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
There was a time where my choices were to go to the provincial driver test centre at the corner of Steeles and Airport Road. T'was a zoo. So I drove 30-45 minutes north to Bolton where I could walk in and then out, ten minutes later. Better to sit in the car, burning gas, risking my life, than sit in the miasma of humanity at the testing centre.
Then, the DMV opened up a place on Steeles just around the corner from me. This should have been the start of something good. Right? No, not so much.
Let's just use the last four visits prior to this year as examples of why my trips to that nice little office in the strip plaza haven't worked out.
July 2003: I pull into the parking lot of the DMV and turn off the car. It rattles. It moans. And the air conditioning expires. Maybe not the DMV's fault, but little did I know how often this 'coincidence' would occur.
July 2005: I pull into the parking lot of the DMV and turn off the car. I try to take the key out of the ignition. This proves impossible. A relatively new acquisition (the old car of 2003 having expired), I find myself suddenly in need of a tow to my mechanic, who keeps the car for a week and then returns it with a new ignition block and some other stuff.
July 2007: I successfully park at the DMV AND leave the car seemingly in good order. However, I'm not in good working order, suffering in the throes of a bout of flu. Shouldn't have been anywhere near other humans, but it was the last day of the month and I had a disinclination to get pulled over for expired tags (another story to follow). So I bundled up and trundled to the place of my worst nightmares. I struggle up to the front when my number is called and complete the transaction. I then stumble out in front of the office, where my gold Saturn is parked. I apply the sticker to my rear licence plate and beep to unlock the driver-side door. It fails. I then notice, the gold Saturn I have applied the sticker to, is next to the gold Saturn I own. Side by side. I re-enter the DMV and go through the waiting process before finally getting the chance to tell my tale of woe. Costs me $100 bucks, $10 for each of two replacement stickers and $80 for the DMV to track down the owner of the other gold Saturn, who's new legal sticker I had 'replaced' with mine.
July 2008: I had used the one-year option the prior year, hoping to break my dismal double-year luck. Again, for the second time in a row, I successfully negotiated parking AND exiting the vehicle with it in one working piece. I go through the DMV line-up and proudly dump my paperwork in front of the bored clerk. She processes it and starts to give me my sticker, when she notices it was the extra copy of the 2007 paperwork I'd ended up with during my double-purchase of stickers. I must have looked like a crestfallen puppy. She took pity on me and sent me on my way. As it turns out, there MIGHT have been one piece of paper she didn't give back to me.
July 2009: I look high. I look low. I don't have my ownership slip to my car. It is SUPPOSED to be in the travel documents folder in the glove compartment box. It isn't. The insurance slip's there. I have the Licence renewal paperwork. But NO BLOODY PINK SLIP! It's now the last day of the month, not that this is unusual for my renewals. Technically due on my birthday, the fact is, giving the government money on time, let alone roughly on time, causes heart palpitations. And get this, the place I bought the car from no longer exists. It was a SATURN dealership. Thanks GM. Grrrrrrrrr! But Patrick does some research (he's been unusually calm and helpful lately) and discovers I can get a replacement pink slip for ten bucks and I can get it at the same time as I get the stickers.
And that's what happened. Waited in line, getting a seat almost immediately. Took 40 minutes start to finish, giving me time to read the first five chapters in Joe Haldeman's excellent The Accidental Time Machine. Lady who handled my business didn't even raise an eyebrow when I mentioned the need for both a pink slip and the sticker.
I'm no fool, although you couldn't prove it by this post. I know next year (it has to be next year, because I was prevented from re-upping for two years by the need next year of an emissions test) it'll be something else that will crop up. I'm already down to driving less than 3,000 kilometres a year and it won't take much to convince me to give up the car completely and taxi/rent from here on.
Say, like a trip to the DMV.
UPDATE: Yes, I know Pink slips are green (and the insurance slip is pink). But I'm old. I grew up in a time when car ownership papers were called pink slips. And now I'm too old to change habits. Punks!
There was a time where my choices were to go to the provincial driver test centre at the corner of Steeles and Airport Road. T'was a zoo. So I drove 30-45 minutes north to Bolton where I could walk in and then out, ten minutes later. Better to sit in the car, burning gas, risking my life, than sit in the miasma of humanity at the testing centre.
Then, the DMV opened up a place on Steeles just around the corner from me. This should have been the start of something good. Right? No, not so much.
Let's just use the last four visits prior to this year as examples of why my trips to that nice little office in the strip plaza haven't worked out.
July 2003: I pull into the parking lot of the DMV and turn off the car. It rattles. It moans. And the air conditioning expires. Maybe not the DMV's fault, but little did I know how often this 'coincidence' would occur.
July 2005: I pull into the parking lot of the DMV and turn off the car. I try to take the key out of the ignition. This proves impossible. A relatively new acquisition (the old car of 2003 having expired), I find myself suddenly in need of a tow to my mechanic, who keeps the car for a week and then returns it with a new ignition block and some other stuff.
July 2007: I successfully park at the DMV AND leave the car seemingly in good order. However, I'm not in good working order, suffering in the throes of a bout of flu. Shouldn't have been anywhere near other humans, but it was the last day of the month and I had a disinclination to get pulled over for expired tags (another story to follow). So I bundled up and trundled to the place of my worst nightmares. I struggle up to the front when my number is called and complete the transaction. I then stumble out in front of the office, where my gold Saturn is parked. I apply the sticker to my rear licence plate and beep to unlock the driver-side door. It fails. I then notice, the gold Saturn I have applied the sticker to, is next to the gold Saturn I own. Side by side. I re-enter the DMV and go through the waiting process before finally getting the chance to tell my tale of woe. Costs me $100 bucks, $10 for each of two replacement stickers and $80 for the DMV to track down the owner of the other gold Saturn, who's new legal sticker I had 'replaced' with mine.
July 2008: I had used the one-year option the prior year, hoping to break my dismal double-year luck. Again, for the second time in a row, I successfully negotiated parking AND exiting the vehicle with it in one working piece. I go through the DMV line-up and proudly dump my paperwork in front of the bored clerk. She processes it and starts to give me my sticker, when she notices it was the extra copy of the 2007 paperwork I'd ended up with during my double-purchase of stickers. I must have looked like a crestfallen puppy. She took pity on me and sent me on my way. As it turns out, there MIGHT have been one piece of paper she didn't give back to me.
July 2009: I look high. I look low. I don't have my ownership slip to my car. It is SUPPOSED to be in the travel documents folder in the glove compartment box. It isn't. The insurance slip's there. I have the Licence renewal paperwork. But NO BLOODY PINK SLIP! It's now the last day of the month, not that this is unusual for my renewals. Technically due on my birthday, the fact is, giving the government money on time, let alone roughly on time, causes heart palpitations. And get this, the place I bought the car from no longer exists. It was a SATURN dealership. Thanks GM. Grrrrrrrrr! But Patrick does some research (he's been unusually calm and helpful lately) and discovers I can get a replacement pink slip for ten bucks and I can get it at the same time as I get the stickers.
And that's what happened. Waited in line, getting a seat almost immediately. Took 40 minutes start to finish, giving me time to read the first five chapters in Joe Haldeman's excellent The Accidental Time Machine. Lady who handled my business didn't even raise an eyebrow when I mentioned the need for both a pink slip and the sticker.
I'm no fool, although you couldn't prove it by this post. I know next year (it has to be next year, because I was prevented from re-upping for two years by the need next year of an emissions test) it'll be something else that will crop up. I'm already down to driving less than 3,000 kilometres a year and it won't take much to convince me to give up the car completely and taxi/rent from here on.
Say, like a trip to the DMV.
UPDATE: Yes, I know Pink slips are green (and the insurance slip is pink). But I'm old. I grew up in a time when car ownership papers were called pink slips. And now I'm too old to change habits. Punks!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
SPORTS: Bart Andrus ... Your ARE The MAN!
Bart Andrus is my newest hero.
Unlike just about every football man west of Bill Belichick, Andrus ain't taking any guff from fools like that buffoon Arland Bruce III. And today, the Toronto Argos can start figuring out which players will get to put a big hurt on Bruce when he returns for the Labour Day game with his new team, the Hamilton Tiger Cats. I say, why pick? Let's have a big pile-on every time the jerk touches the ball.
That I detest Bruce's antics is no big news. The Argos didn't have a single happy moment last year after Bruce pulled that self-aggrandizing Spiderman schtick after a touchdown against Hamilton. The twit seems to have caught OchoCinco disease here in T.O., what with the imminent arrival in T.O. by T.O his bad self. Good receivers all, lousy teammates and worse showmen. Self-deluded into thinking they are entertaining with their antics. And worse, they puff out their chests and claim privilege to act out. A pox on them all.
Football is the ultimate team game. There has NEVER been a Bruce touchdown that was completely and utterly his own work. The quarterback (Kerry Joseph, the one he tried to sideline last year in favour of Bruce best pal Mike Bishop) had to get him the ball. The quarterback needed some time to do so, so let's credit the faceless giants along the offensive line. And it occasionally requires an upfield block or two from Bruce's fellow receivers. AND I've seen a running back make a block on a blitzer a time or two in my life. No, Bruce doesn't get it. HE didn't score the touchdown, the TEAM did!
Joe Paterno once opined that a touchdown scorer should act like they'd done it before. That would look cool (in the parlance of the folks who use it that way). I believe in that. Acting like a crazed moron trying out for America's Got Talent ... comedic acting category ... has no place on the football field.
Now Bruce's a Ti-Cat. Let the hate flow. Feels good, doesn't it?
Unlike just about every football man west of Bill Belichick, Andrus ain't taking any guff from fools like that buffoon Arland Bruce III. And today, the Toronto Argos can start figuring out which players will get to put a big hurt on Bruce when he returns for the Labour Day game with his new team, the Hamilton Tiger Cats. I say, why pick? Let's have a big pile-on every time the jerk touches the ball.
That I detest Bruce's antics is no big news. The Argos didn't have a single happy moment last year after Bruce pulled that self-aggrandizing Spiderman schtick after a touchdown against Hamilton. The twit seems to have caught OchoCinco disease here in T.O., what with the imminent arrival in T.O. by T.O his bad self. Good receivers all, lousy teammates and worse showmen. Self-deluded into thinking they are entertaining with their antics. And worse, they puff out their chests and claim privilege to act out. A pox on them all.
Football is the ultimate team game. There has NEVER been a Bruce touchdown that was completely and utterly his own work. The quarterback (Kerry Joseph, the one he tried to sideline last year in favour of Bruce best pal Mike Bishop) had to get him the ball. The quarterback needed some time to do so, so let's credit the faceless giants along the offensive line. And it occasionally requires an upfield block or two from Bruce's fellow receivers. AND I've seen a running back make a block on a blitzer a time or two in my life. No, Bruce doesn't get it. HE didn't score the touchdown, the TEAM did!
Joe Paterno once opined that a touchdown scorer should act like they'd done it before. That would look cool (in the parlance of the folks who use it that way). I believe in that. Acting like a crazed moron trying out for America's Got Talent ... comedic acting category ... has no place on the football field.
Now Bruce's a Ti-Cat. Let the hate flow. Feels good, doesn't it?
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
SOFTWARE: Beware the Graugon
I've never heard of Graugon Software. Well, not until a few days ago. Now, I wish the company ill. Say, a venereal disease ill. Something long-lasting and painful. Not life threatening. Just a reminder that karma's a bitch.
I have had some issues with double-clicking on HTM and HTML files of late. Something else (not Graugon-related) got in there and mulched my file associations. Soooo, I found Extension Manager for download and decided to give it a whirl. Didn't mention the company behind it. But the purpose was very specific and I didn't think I could hurt anything too badly. PLUS I had backups. AND I had the full-blown Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite rocking the computer in extreme mode.
What could go wrong?
Initially, nothing. It fixed the associations I tried it with. Just what a little free utility is supposed to do. But I kept finding a Graugon page up and running, every time I ran Firefox. Now, I leave Firefox up and running for days at an end and don't restart all that often. So I didn't really notice Graugon had decided I needed a new start up page. But, I tried a bunch of new add-ins over the last 24 hours and that's when I found Graugon had snuck behind my back and made it my new start page. Without changing the start page listed in Firefox's options, which is sneaky at best, nasty at worst. Zone Alarm and NoScript DID prevent the page from running whatever scripts are on the page. Maybe it's a real malware site, maybe it's just a case of them wanting their pound of screen time for offering up the free program. And undoubtedly, I OK'd this pernicious misuse of my Firefox program somewhere deep within the bowels of their licensing agreement I tacitly agreed to, while pressing NEXT.
But, now that I knew that the slow start to Firefox was the result of this scumware, I got rid of it. I ran REVO Uninstaller, which got the program and most of the registry references. I needed to run Registery Workshop and clear out the last three references to this PITA. It bit back though. When I ran Firefox, it crashed into the debugger. Which is Delphi's debugger, meaning the whole programming environment I have, had to load, which took three minutes ... just to have me close it down immediately.
Eventually, I had to re-install Firefox 3.51 to get it to work again. Which it now does, free of the last contaminating bits of Graugon crapware. In addition to the Extension Manager utility, I understand Graugon also offers a anti-virus/firewall program. You couldn't pay me enough money to even look at the web-page for the 'security' suite. Once burnt, twice shy, I guess.
Now that I think about it, maybe a sexual disease would be too good for the #$(*U#@$ who futzed up my computer. I'll leave it to your imagination as to what I'd REALLY like to happen to the whole lot of them.
I have had some issues with double-clicking on HTM and HTML files of late. Something else (not Graugon-related) got in there and mulched my file associations. Soooo, I found Extension Manager for download and decided to give it a whirl. Didn't mention the company behind it. But the purpose was very specific and I didn't think I could hurt anything too badly. PLUS I had backups. AND I had the full-blown Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite rocking the computer in extreme mode.
What could go wrong?
Initially, nothing. It fixed the associations I tried it with. Just what a little free utility is supposed to do. But I kept finding a Graugon page up and running, every time I ran Firefox. Now, I leave Firefox up and running for days at an end and don't restart all that often. So I didn't really notice Graugon had decided I needed a new start up page. But, I tried a bunch of new add-ins over the last 24 hours and that's when I found Graugon had snuck behind my back and made it my new start page. Without changing the start page listed in Firefox's options, which is sneaky at best, nasty at worst. Zone Alarm and NoScript DID prevent the page from running whatever scripts are on the page. Maybe it's a real malware site, maybe it's just a case of them wanting their pound of screen time for offering up the free program. And undoubtedly, I OK'd this pernicious misuse of my Firefox program somewhere deep within the bowels of their licensing agreement I tacitly agreed to, while pressing NEXT.
But, now that I knew that the slow start to Firefox was the result of this scumware, I got rid of it. I ran REVO Uninstaller, which got the program and most of the registry references. I needed to run Registery Workshop and clear out the last three references to this PITA. It bit back though. When I ran Firefox, it crashed into the debugger. Which is Delphi's debugger, meaning the whole programming environment I have, had to load, which took three minutes ... just to have me close it down immediately.
Eventually, I had to re-install Firefox 3.51 to get it to work again. Which it now does, free of the last contaminating bits of Graugon crapware. In addition to the Extension Manager utility, I understand Graugon also offers a anti-virus/firewall program. You couldn't pay me enough money to even look at the web-page for the 'security' suite. Once burnt, twice shy, I guess.
Now that I think about it, maybe a sexual disease would be too good for the #$(*U#@$ who futzed up my computer. I'll leave it to your imagination as to what I'd REALLY like to happen to the whole lot of them.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
TV: ABC Family's 2 Newest Shows
ABC Family continues to confound me with what it puts on the air, having given up on both The Middleman and Kyle XY over the last 15 months or so. The latest hour the network is showing is 10 Things I Hate About You and Ruby and the Rockits. Neither's terrible. Neither makes me glad time was cleared to air them.
10 Things I Hate About You got off to the earlier start. The only holdover from the movie that birthed the concept is Larry Miller, who reprises his role as the overly-protective father of high schoolers Kat and Bianca. Kat (Kate from The Taming of the Shrew, in effect) is a feminist gone overboard, while Bianca is forbidden to date until Kat does, by fatherly dictate. Since Kat's never going to date, this puts the younger sister on the sideline until ... like, forever. Father's parting words upon leaving for school, "Don't get pregnant!"
Of course, in the movie, Kat (Julia Stiles) eventually crumbles before the sexiness that was Heath Ledger, allowing Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) to start dating, albeit dating the class geek played by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. Amongst other things, Oleynik and Gordon-Leavitt were basically the same size.
In the TV show, Kat's played by Lindsay Shaw. Shaw's not quite in Stiles' class as an actress, but she does well enough. Ethan Peck has to fill Ledger's shoes, and that ain't happenin'. He's trying hard, but Ledger's smile is what made him. So far, Peck's not smiling much. But the real problem is the pairing of the new Bianca (Meaghan Martin) with the twice-as-tall Nicholas Braun, who's Cameron isn't geeky so much as awkward. Doesn't work.
The first episode did end with the same song as the movie, which had Letters To Cleo covering Cheap Trick's I Want You to Want Me. Teeny-gal band KSM does the cover this time. Still prefer Letters to Cleo, who also covered Nick Lowe's Cruel To Be Kind in the movie. Wonder who'll end up doing it in the movie.
Not curious enough to continue watching the show, but still curious.
This week's Ruby and The Rockits debut was Cassidy overkill with a shot of My Two Dads deja vu. The Cassidys are all over this half-hour. Shaun's the producer while David and Patrick star as a former hit rock duo act called The Rockits. David Gallagher's still touring on 20-year old fame, while Patrick's a married father of two boys, who owns an auto dealership. The two are estranged until a cleaving force (cleave being the only word in the English language that is its own antonym. But I digress) appears.
David has a long-lost daughter, played by Alexa Vega of Spy Kids fame. But here's the deja vu part. They've made Vega into a visual clone of Staci Keanan, who played the young daughter of Greg Evigan and Paul Reiser in My Two Dads. Uncannily alike. I know, I saw the My Two Dads pilot about a month ago. And even some of the dialog seems to have made a transition between the two shows. Not a lot, but the fighting men and the young girls' response, dialog-wise, is eerily similar.
While the first episode only reunites the Rockit duo, it's going to be a family band before too long. Vega does have a solo singing career and David Cassidy is a long-time rocker. So singing won't be an issue. It might even be fun to see if anything hits the charts from this latter day Partridge Family progeny. But I don't think I'll spend much time waiting for good music.
ABC will probably cancel it if it's any good.
10 Things I Hate About You got off to the earlier start. The only holdover from the movie that birthed the concept is Larry Miller, who reprises his role as the overly-protective father of high schoolers Kat and Bianca. Kat (Kate from The Taming of the Shrew, in effect) is a feminist gone overboard, while Bianca is forbidden to date until Kat does, by fatherly dictate. Since Kat's never going to date, this puts the younger sister on the sideline until ... like, forever. Father's parting words upon leaving for school, "Don't get pregnant!"
Of course, in the movie, Kat (Julia Stiles) eventually crumbles before the sexiness that was Heath Ledger, allowing Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) to start dating, albeit dating the class geek played by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. Amongst other things, Oleynik and Gordon-Leavitt were basically the same size.
In the TV show, Kat's played by Lindsay Shaw. Shaw's not quite in Stiles' class as an actress, but she does well enough. Ethan Peck has to fill Ledger's shoes, and that ain't happenin'. He's trying hard, but Ledger's smile is what made him. So far, Peck's not smiling much. But the real problem is the pairing of the new Bianca (Meaghan Martin) with the twice-as-tall Nicholas Braun, who's Cameron isn't geeky so much as awkward. Doesn't work.
The first episode did end with the same song as the movie, which had Letters To Cleo covering Cheap Trick's I Want You to Want Me. Teeny-gal band KSM does the cover this time. Still prefer Letters to Cleo, who also covered Nick Lowe's Cruel To Be Kind in the movie. Wonder who'll end up doing it in the movie.
Not curious enough to continue watching the show, but still curious.
This week's Ruby and The Rockits debut was Cassidy overkill with a shot of My Two Dads deja vu. The Cassidys are all over this half-hour. Shaun's the producer while David and Patrick star as a former hit rock duo act called The Rockits. David Gallagher's still touring on 20-year old fame, while Patrick's a married father of two boys, who owns an auto dealership. The two are estranged until a cleaving force (cleave being the only word in the English language that is its own antonym. But I digress) appears.
David has a long-lost daughter, played by Alexa Vega of Spy Kids fame. But here's the deja vu part. They've made Vega into a visual clone of Staci Keanan, who played the young daughter of Greg Evigan and Paul Reiser in My Two Dads. Uncannily alike. I know, I saw the My Two Dads pilot about a month ago. And even some of the dialog seems to have made a transition between the two shows. Not a lot, but the fighting men and the young girls' response, dialog-wise, is eerily similar.
While the first episode only reunites the Rockit duo, it's going to be a family band before too long. Vega does have a solo singing career and David Cassidy is a long-time rocker. So singing won't be an issue. It might even be fun to see if anything hits the charts from this latter day Partridge Family progeny. But I don't think I'll spend much time waiting for good music.
ABC will probably cancel it if it's any good.
Friday, July 24, 2009
HARDWARE: Disk Media
I get asked every now and then by a friend or family member as to which brand of blank DVD's to buy. The answer is ... ask Patrick. I buy them in bulk from his supplier. Usually, they are TDK, Maxell or iMation. That's not top of the line, but when I burn off stuff, it's usually two copies. I burn at the 4x speed for DVD's and 24x speed for CD's, despite buying media rated for higher speeds and having the burners to burn at those higher speeds.
That combo seems to work for me. I rarely have had problems reading disks burnt at the slower speeds on the 'B' rated disks. So I think I get a decent price to performance ratio.
However, I think I'm going to abdicate Patrick's role for this question and start directing people to this site: http://www.best-dvd-burning-software-reviews.com/best-blank-dvd-media.asp.
Bluntly, it does a good job of pointing out the advantages of good media and the names that make the 'A' list. Bob Thompson, who's word on hardware matters, matters a lot to me, touts Taiyo as well. Don't know how much access to Taiyo we have up here in Canada, but it might pay to look. Afterall, if you make one and only one copy of your wedding stuff, it might be worth having the best possible disk holding those memories.
That combo seems to work for me. I rarely have had problems reading disks burnt at the slower speeds on the 'B' rated disks. So I think I get a decent price to performance ratio.
However, I think I'm going to abdicate Patrick's role for this question and start directing people to this site: http://www.best-dvd-burning-software-reviews.com/best-blank-dvd-media.asp.
Bluntly, it does a good job of pointing out the advantages of good media and the names that make the 'A' list. Bob Thompson, who's word on hardware matters, matters a lot to me, touts Taiyo as well. Don't know how much access to Taiyo we have up here in Canada, but it might pay to look. Afterall, if you make one and only one copy of your wedding stuff, it might be worth having the best possible disk holding those memories.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
SOFTWARE: Anit-Virus Choices
I have used various anti-virus programs over the years. I was partial to Norton Anti-Virus at one point. But it was costly to stay current, a resource hog, and enforced upgrades proved to be the final straw. I also used McAfee during that time period and found the same flaws.
So, I moved to the 'free' camp, starting with AVG. Despite a couple of hiccups over the years, I stuck with AVG until version 8. That's when THAT program tried to outgrow its niche and became less a master of one trade, and more or less a semi-decent jack of several trades. It even required leaving a big fat portion of itself in memory for non-anti-virus purposes ... even if that's all you wanted to do with it. So, I switched to Avast! Other than a regular requirement to re-register, it has seemed to do the trick.
But I am not using it right now on my main machine.
About two weeks ago, I switched to ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, finding it on sale for half-off at the local Best Buy. The reason for the switch actually has nothing to do with Avast!. It has everything to do with the ZoneAlarm firewall.
One of the reasons I like ZoneAlarm, besides the relatively easy handling of the two-way firewall access, USED to be its ability to tell me what programs were currently accessing the internet. The latest free versions removed that capability, and I was left in the dark. Infuriatingly, my ZoneAlarm system tray applet was showing my computer was almost constantly accessing the net, even when I wasn't running that SHOULD have been accessing the internet. Maddening.
I tried several freeware solutions to detail this info. All failed. So, in order to solve THAT mystery, I bought the ZA Internet Security Suite, which came with a bunch of stuff, including anti-virus. So, I gave it a try. I liked that it updated every three hours, which was better than the every day updating of Avast! It seemed fairly straightforward in handling found virii, including giving me options to repair, quarantine, delete and ignore now/forever. It wasn't exactly a speed demon and it DID slow down copying/moving operations between my various computers. But all in all, I decided to keep it as the anti-virus on my main machine.
By the way, the constantly accessing situation was Network Magic.
Even though I have a three-machine license for ZA-ISS, I'm leaving Avast! running on the rest. At least until October. Why October? That's when a new version 5 of Avast! comes out. The story certainly intimates that the product might be trying to outgrow its britches. That's following the same path as AVG.
Now, it's possible the free version of Avast! will continue to be just an anti-virus. I hope so. For once, I'd like a company to be proud of what it does and do it better than everybody else, rather than do what everybody else does. IF that's the case, more the power to the folks at Avast!.
But it's a situation to watch.
So, I moved to the 'free' camp, starting with AVG. Despite a couple of hiccups over the years, I stuck with AVG until version 8. That's when THAT program tried to outgrow its niche and became less a master of one trade, and more or less a semi-decent jack of several trades. It even required leaving a big fat portion of itself in memory for non-anti-virus purposes ... even if that's all you wanted to do with it. So, I switched to Avast! Other than a regular requirement to re-register, it has seemed to do the trick.
But I am not using it right now on my main machine.
About two weeks ago, I switched to ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, finding it on sale for half-off at the local Best Buy. The reason for the switch actually has nothing to do with Avast!. It has everything to do with the ZoneAlarm firewall.
One of the reasons I like ZoneAlarm, besides the relatively easy handling of the two-way firewall access, USED to be its ability to tell me what programs were currently accessing the internet. The latest free versions removed that capability, and I was left in the dark. Infuriatingly, my ZoneAlarm system tray applet was showing my computer was almost constantly accessing the net, even when I wasn't running that SHOULD have been accessing the internet. Maddening.
I tried several freeware solutions to detail this info. All failed. So, in order to solve THAT mystery, I bought the ZA Internet Security Suite, which came with a bunch of stuff, including anti-virus. So, I gave it a try. I liked that it updated every three hours, which was better than the every day updating of Avast! It seemed fairly straightforward in handling found virii, including giving me options to repair, quarantine, delete and ignore now/forever. It wasn't exactly a speed demon and it DID slow down copying/moving operations between my various computers. But all in all, I decided to keep it as the anti-virus on my main machine.
By the way, the constantly accessing situation was Network Magic.
Even though I have a three-machine license for ZA-ISS, I'm leaving Avast! running on the rest. At least until October. Why October? That's when a new version 5 of Avast! comes out. The story certainly intimates that the product might be trying to outgrow its britches. That's following the same path as AVG.
Now, it's possible the free version of Avast! will continue to be just an anti-virus. I hope so. For once, I'd like a company to be proud of what it does and do it better than everybody else, rather than do what everybody else does. IF that's the case, more the power to the folks at Avast!.
But it's a situation to watch.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
SPORTS: A Letter to Clarence
Clarence Gaston is a creature of habit. To some, that means having faith in his players. To others, it shows a shocking lack of creativity. Me, I tend to lean towards the second point of view.
When the Toronto Blue Jays put Gaston in charge last summer, he was a breathe of fresh air, bringing along a hitting strategy that was proven successful in the past, replacing the dumb as dirt organizational point of view to wait for walks and three-run homers. (Put in place by you know who). Without the 'though shall not swing' strictures in place, the team's offense turned from moribund to bountiful. That bounty lasted through until a month and a half into this season.
Finally, teams got the idea Toronto batters weren't taking incessantly any more. Different pitching strategies resulted in less Toronto success at bat. More losses than wins. And now Roy Halladay knows playoff dreams are nothing up pipedreams in T.O. Exit strategies have been planned.
Now, some managers would figure a few things out. He's tired Marco Scutaro out by playing him in EVERY SINGLE GAME (until just recently). Scutaro could have really used about one day off in eight to ten. And certainly, Scutaro's astounding control at the bat and Hill's brilliant performance as a second-place hitter, have re-enforced Gaston's commitment to not changing something that's working.
But in the greater picture, it ain't working Clarence. For whatever reason, Alex Rios has been average and Wells has ranged from above-average on the road to the WORST HOME BATTER IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL! Lyle Overbay has hidden a below-average season behind one hot ten days when he was Player of the Week in the league. Gaston has bowed to the obvious by kicking Rios and Wells down the batting order. But all that's done is create the hole elsewhere. MORE creativity is needed if there is the slightest chance to kick the offence into higher gear.
So, here's my idea (not original, Jeff Blair's mentioned it at least once).
Make Alex Rios the lead-off batter.
Yeah, we know he's a homer-hitter on the best of days, which we haven't seen this year. He's also the club's main speed threat. Scutaro has been serving as the perfect second-hitter since that home run explosion in the first month. He takes pitches, gets walks and is hitting .280. Please define a more perfect guy to move Rios or give him time to steal. Hill's been a three-spot hitter all year long. It would have been nice to have more runners on base for his home runs. Adam Lind's been hitting for average and power, which more or less describes a clean-up hitter and Scott Rolen's not hitting the long ball, but as the final piece of the middle of the batting order, he's just about perfect. Vernon Wells has got to start hitting at home, but if he does, he could easily switch with Rolen when he gets hot (and he's been hot on the road). Then that leaves Lyle Overbay and Kevin Millar to share first base and the seventh spot in the order. Rod Barajas seems to be doing alright in the eighth slot, leaving the final place in the batting order to the left fielder/DH, whichever retread Gaston trots out there these days.
All of this presumes Rios gets enthusiastic and starts concentrating by becoming the spotlight player who leads off games. Baseball is all about the Three C's, Capability, Confidence and Concentration. Rios has never lacked for the first one, mostly never lacked the second and is so rarely concentrating that he's the most baffling player on the club. No Rios on a tear, no chance the Blue Jays make a belated run at relevance. I say it's time to stop doing the accepted, no more reading whatever book Gaston's been coaching out of for 30 years. Make Rios the lead-off guy. Maybe it works and Gaston looks like a genius. Maybe it fails and Toronto continues treading water.
Or worse.
Back to you Clarence.
When the Toronto Blue Jays put Gaston in charge last summer, he was a breathe of fresh air, bringing along a hitting strategy that was proven successful in the past, replacing the dumb as dirt organizational point of view to wait for walks and three-run homers. (Put in place by you know who). Without the 'though shall not swing' strictures in place, the team's offense turned from moribund to bountiful. That bounty lasted through until a month and a half into this season.
Finally, teams got the idea Toronto batters weren't taking incessantly any more. Different pitching strategies resulted in less Toronto success at bat. More losses than wins. And now Roy Halladay knows playoff dreams are nothing up pipedreams in T.O. Exit strategies have been planned.
Now, some managers would figure a few things out. He's tired Marco Scutaro out by playing him in EVERY SINGLE GAME (until just recently). Scutaro could have really used about one day off in eight to ten. And certainly, Scutaro's astounding control at the bat and Hill's brilliant performance as a second-place hitter, have re-enforced Gaston's commitment to not changing something that's working.
But in the greater picture, it ain't working Clarence. For whatever reason, Alex Rios has been average and Wells has ranged from above-average on the road to the WORST HOME BATTER IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL! Lyle Overbay has hidden a below-average season behind one hot ten days when he was Player of the Week in the league. Gaston has bowed to the obvious by kicking Rios and Wells down the batting order. But all that's done is create the hole elsewhere. MORE creativity is needed if there is the slightest chance to kick the offence into higher gear.
So, here's my idea (not original, Jeff Blair's mentioned it at least once).
Make Alex Rios the lead-off batter.
Yeah, we know he's a homer-hitter on the best of days, which we haven't seen this year. He's also the club's main speed threat. Scutaro has been serving as the perfect second-hitter since that home run explosion in the first month. He takes pitches, gets walks and is hitting .280. Please define a more perfect guy to move Rios or give him time to steal. Hill's been a three-spot hitter all year long. It would have been nice to have more runners on base for his home runs. Adam Lind's been hitting for average and power, which more or less describes a clean-up hitter and Scott Rolen's not hitting the long ball, but as the final piece of the middle of the batting order, he's just about perfect. Vernon Wells has got to start hitting at home, but if he does, he could easily switch with Rolen when he gets hot (and he's been hot on the road). Then that leaves Lyle Overbay and Kevin Millar to share first base and the seventh spot in the order. Rod Barajas seems to be doing alright in the eighth slot, leaving the final place in the batting order to the left fielder/DH, whichever retread Gaston trots out there these days.
All of this presumes Rios gets enthusiastic and starts concentrating by becoming the spotlight player who leads off games. Baseball is all about the Three C's, Capability, Confidence and Concentration. Rios has never lacked for the first one, mostly never lacked the second and is so rarely concentrating that he's the most baffling player on the club. No Rios on a tear, no chance the Blue Jays make a belated run at relevance. I say it's time to stop doing the accepted, no more reading whatever book Gaston's been coaching out of for 30 years. Make Rios the lead-off guy. Maybe it works and Gaston looks like a genius. Maybe it fails and Toronto continues treading water.
Or worse.
Back to you Clarence.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
BOOKS: Finger-Lickin' Fifteen
The one-word review of this book:
Crude.
If you need more words, read on. This blog, NOT this book fer gawdsakes!
It has become a rite of passage. On my birthday, the O'Neills take me to a fast food joint for dinner. We re-assemble back at the Castle of Confusion. They present me with some books, one of which is always the latest Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich. Books in hand, I kick them out of my house and then spend the rest of the night of my birthday laughing through the latest adventures of the bounty hunter and her crazy crowd from The Berg.
Holes in this plan started to reveal themselves last year. Book 14 in the series wasn't exactly a thigh-slapper and it was more work than fun to get through. That said, Fearless Fourteen did nothing to prepare me for the utter disaster that is Finger-Lickin' Fifteen. It gets a half star out of five because there are a few laughs in the book. But everything else between the two covers suggests somebody else wrote the book. Seriously, it's that bad.
First, there's the crude language and situations throughout the book. I dislike gutter language but have come to expect some of it in everything I read these days. Sometimes it adds spice to a book. In this book, the sheer volume is distracting. Fueled by a sub-plot regarding a flasher, this is one creative decision that Evanovich should regret by now. And then there's the 'mysteries' in the book. The main mystery is Ranger's problem with somebody foiling his security systems and stealing from his clients. Repeatedly. He asks Stephanie to basically solve this unsolvable case ... which would have been solved after the first robbery by ANY of the homeowners simply complaining how he got robbed AFTER TWO VISITS by Rangeman personnel earlier in the week! And the murderous Maniac and his gun-toting henchman were simply silly in trying to take out Lula after she witnessed a beheading.
And there's Evanovich's continuing obsession with men in dresses. That's long since ceased to be amusing, if it ever was. Lula's fat, and just realized it ... again. No new fun there. The usual car destruction took two-thirds of the book and then Stephanie went through three lickety-split quick. Only the use of an exploding Lula's Firebird landing on the car Ranger had loaned Stephanie 24 hours earlier and destroying it, showed some creativity.
There is absolutely nothing in this book to further the lust triangle between Stephanie, Ranger and Joe Morelli. Even Joyce Barnhardt plays really no bigger a role in the book than Vince the Bondsmen. There is that confusing scene where she steals food from Stephanie after spitting in it. Then she serves it up to Joe and his family, while indulging in it herself! All so we can chuckle at her and Joe having the runs.
Awful might be a better word than crude. But I really, really am disappointed by the book to the point where I wonder if I shouldn't wait for the reviews for the sixteenth book before committing to it as my birthday day-capper. You know, birthdays are SUPPOSED to be special.
And Finger-Lickin' Fifteen wasn't.
Crude.
If you need more words, read on. This blog, NOT this book fer gawdsakes!
It has become a rite of passage. On my birthday, the O'Neills take me to a fast food joint for dinner. We re-assemble back at the Castle of Confusion. They present me with some books, one of which is always the latest Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich. Books in hand, I kick them out of my house and then spend the rest of the night of my birthday laughing through the latest adventures of the bounty hunter and her crazy crowd from The Berg.
Holes in this plan started to reveal themselves last year. Book 14 in the series wasn't exactly a thigh-slapper and it was more work than fun to get through. That said, Fearless Fourteen did nothing to prepare me for the utter disaster that is Finger-Lickin' Fifteen. It gets a half star out of five because there are a few laughs in the book. But everything else between the two covers suggests somebody else wrote the book. Seriously, it's that bad.
First, there's the crude language and situations throughout the book. I dislike gutter language but have come to expect some of it in everything I read these days. Sometimes it adds spice to a book. In this book, the sheer volume is distracting. Fueled by a sub-plot regarding a flasher, this is one creative decision that Evanovich should regret by now. And then there's the 'mysteries' in the book. The main mystery is Ranger's problem with somebody foiling his security systems and stealing from his clients. Repeatedly. He asks Stephanie to basically solve this unsolvable case ... which would have been solved after the first robbery by ANY of the homeowners simply complaining how he got robbed AFTER TWO VISITS by Rangeman personnel earlier in the week! And the murderous Maniac and his gun-toting henchman were simply silly in trying to take out Lula after she witnessed a beheading.
And there's Evanovich's continuing obsession with men in dresses. That's long since ceased to be amusing, if it ever was. Lula's fat, and just realized it ... again. No new fun there. The usual car destruction took two-thirds of the book and then Stephanie went through three lickety-split quick. Only the use of an exploding Lula's Firebird landing on the car Ranger had loaned Stephanie 24 hours earlier and destroying it, showed some creativity.
There is absolutely nothing in this book to further the lust triangle between Stephanie, Ranger and Joe Morelli. Even Joyce Barnhardt plays really no bigger a role in the book than Vince the Bondsmen. There is that confusing scene where she steals food from Stephanie after spitting in it. Then she serves it up to Joe and his family, while indulging in it herself! All so we can chuckle at her and Joe having the runs.
Awful might be a better word than crude. But I really, really am disappointed by the book to the point where I wonder if I shouldn't wait for the reviews for the sixteenth book before committing to it as my birthday day-capper. You know, birthdays are SUPPOSED to be special.
And Finger-Lickin' Fifteen wasn't.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
SOFTWARE: Time to Upgrade to Firefox 3.51
Okay, forget what I said a couple of days ago. Go ahead and upgrade to Firefox 3.51. The update includes a patch for the security bug that reduced Firefox 3.5x to the level of Internet Explorer. Not trustworthy. But the patch came on Thursday and seems to have done the trick.
What I did to upgrade: Backed up my WHOLE system Friday night. Backed up Firefox 3.0.11 via MozBackup 1.49, downloadable from Pavel Cvrcek's site. Then I backed up AGAIN, using FEBE, one of Chuck Baker's great add-ons. (You really should install CLEO, OPIE and FEBE, if you already haven't). Lastly, I installed Password Exporter and then exported my passwords to a file, JUST IN CASE things went south with the upgrade. I have heard reports that passwords can occasionally be lost during the upgrade process from 3.0x to 3.5x.
Now, I ran the 3.51 installer. Since I don't install to 'default' locations, I chose Custom at the appropriate place and then kept pressing next and finish until ... well I was finished. During the rebooting of Firefox, I had some add-ons that were listed as not yet ready for Firefox 3.5x. It was a scarily long list, but I continued. Ran the Check for Updates routine when asked and found a couple of upgrades available. In my case, they were Undo Closed Tab Button and Hide Unvisited. I did the upgrade and booted into Firefox 3.5 for the first time.
And right there was a notice from Hide Unvisited to reboot immediately and it would UNINSTALL itself!!!! It seems that the options Privacy|History setting obviates the need for Hide Unvisited. It set that setting to HISTORY and then went away. Gotta admit I liked the programming of that person!!
I had odd results with Tab Mix Plus during my testing of 3.51. I did try the beta of the version that is supposed to work with 3.5x, but it failed on two of my machines. On the other hand, All-in-One Sidebar, my tab manager of choice before TMP, DOES work with 3.51. And better yet, no TMP means bringing back Tabs Open Relative. The combo of AIOSB and TOR does what TMP does and I like the ability to have a toolbar running down the left side of my application, giving me easy in-place access to things like bookmarks and my add-ons. It collapses in two steps without fanfare and I feel like it's old home week having it back. Plus, I don't have to use tricks to get lots of tabs open in the order that I want them. If I have folder A, Bookmark 1, Bookmark 2, folder B and folder C, and I want to see 1,2,B,C,A open in that order, in TMP I have to middle-click A,C,B,1,2. Not completely mind-boggling, but not as much fun as middle-clicking on them IN THE ORDER I WANT THEM!
So, I uninstalled Tab Mix Plus, enabled Tabs Open Relative and installed All-In-One Sidebar. (all of these add-ins can be found by searching at them at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/. In some cases, you have to read through the page and find the home-page of the add-on and go there for a new/beta version. None of it is too difficult.
That process allowed me to get Automatic Save Folder working, but couldn't save either Line Marker nor Redirect Remover. So, I searched the add-ons page and found Highlighter and NoRedirect to replace them respectively.
After that, I updated User Agent Switcher and then enabled Java Quick Starter, which left two issues of MAJOR concern. NoSquint was vitally necessary while Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant was vitally necessary to dispense with. And wouldn't you know it, both needs were met. I had to go to the NoSquint site via the Add-Ons site at Mozilla. Seems the update version might even be MORE handy. And, while it's wild and wacky, I was able to get rid of the MS Framework crap too.
When you installed Firefox 3.51, it disabled the Framework add-on YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD. That's right. When you updated Windows a while back and installed the .NET Framework security upgrade, Microsoft installed this Add-on and made it virtually impossible to get rid of the thing. Somewhere, George Orwell's ghost is laughing. You could get rid of it by editing a half-dozen settings in various places, but the next Windows update would put it right back. Well, version 1.0 of the gift from hell wouldn't work in Firefox 3.51, thus was disabled. Still no getting rid of it, but you could ignore it if you wanted.
Not me. I wanted it gone. And here's how you get rid of it. UPGRADE to version 1.1 of Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant!?!?! Yep, upgrade the disabled version to the WORKING newer version!! And then uninstall it! THIS version of the add-on allows itself to be uninstalled. What do the say about two steps backwards, one step forward?
My last little change I had to make in my setup to feel comfortable working in the newest Firefox was to fine tune the toolbars a little (moving some of the icons to the All in One Sidebar vertical toolbar). I also went into the All in One Sidebar and told it not to show the download panel, since Download Statusbar was handling that chore for me these days.
I was done. Here are the list of extensions I currently have installed.
What I did to upgrade: Backed up my WHOLE system Friday night. Backed up Firefox 3.0.11 via MozBackup 1.49, downloadable from Pavel Cvrcek's site. Then I backed up AGAIN, using FEBE, one of Chuck Baker's great add-ons. (You really should install CLEO, OPIE and FEBE, if you already haven't). Lastly, I installed Password Exporter and then exported my passwords to a file, JUST IN CASE things went south with the upgrade. I have heard reports that passwords can occasionally be lost during the upgrade process from 3.0x to 3.5x.
Now, I ran the 3.51 installer. Since I don't install to 'default' locations, I chose Custom at the appropriate place and then kept pressing next and finish until ... well I was finished. During the rebooting of Firefox, I had some add-ons that were listed as not yet ready for Firefox 3.5x. It was a scarily long list, but I continued. Ran the Check for Updates routine when asked and found a couple of upgrades available. In my case, they were Undo Closed Tab Button and Hide Unvisited. I did the upgrade and booted into Firefox 3.5 for the first time.
And right there was a notice from Hide Unvisited to reboot immediately and it would UNINSTALL itself!!!! It seems that the options Privacy|History setting obviates the need for Hide Unvisited. It set that setting to HISTORY and then went away. Gotta admit I liked the programming of that person!!
I had odd results with Tab Mix Plus during my testing of 3.51. I did try the beta of the version that is supposed to work with 3.5x, but it failed on two of my machines. On the other hand, All-in-One Sidebar, my tab manager of choice before TMP, DOES work with 3.51. And better yet, no TMP means bringing back Tabs Open Relative. The combo of AIOSB and TOR does what TMP does and I like the ability to have a toolbar running down the left side of my application, giving me easy in-place access to things like bookmarks and my add-ons. It collapses in two steps without fanfare and I feel like it's old home week having it back. Plus, I don't have to use tricks to get lots of tabs open in the order that I want them. If I have folder A, Bookmark 1, Bookmark 2, folder B and folder C, and I want to see 1,2,B,C,A open in that order, in TMP I have to middle-click A,C,B,1,2. Not completely mind-boggling, but not as much fun as middle-clicking on them IN THE ORDER I WANT THEM!
So, I uninstalled Tab Mix Plus, enabled Tabs Open Relative and installed All-In-One Sidebar. (all of these add-ins can be found by searching at them at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/. In some cases, you have to read through the page and find the home-page of the add-on and go there for a new/beta version. None of it is too difficult.
That process allowed me to get Automatic Save Folder working, but couldn't save either Line Marker nor Redirect Remover. So, I searched the add-ons page and found Highlighter and NoRedirect to replace them respectively.
After that, I updated User Agent Switcher and then enabled Java Quick Starter, which left two issues of MAJOR concern. NoSquint was vitally necessary while Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant was vitally necessary to dispense with. And wouldn't you know it, both needs were met. I had to go to the NoSquint site via the Add-Ons site at Mozilla. Seems the update version might even be MORE handy. And, while it's wild and wacky, I was able to get rid of the MS Framework crap too.
When you installed Firefox 3.51, it disabled the Framework add-on YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD. That's right. When you updated Windows a while back and installed the .NET Framework security upgrade, Microsoft installed this Add-on and made it virtually impossible to get rid of the thing. Somewhere, George Orwell's ghost is laughing. You could get rid of it by editing a half-dozen settings in various places, but the next Windows update would put it right back. Well, version 1.0 of the gift from hell wouldn't work in Firefox 3.51, thus was disabled. Still no getting rid of it, but you could ignore it if you wanted.
Not me. I wanted it gone. And here's how you get rid of it. UPGRADE to version 1.1 of Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant!?!?! Yep, upgrade the disabled version to the WORKING newer version!! And then uninstall it! THIS version of the add-on allows itself to be uninstalled. What do the say about two steps backwards, one step forward?
My last little change I had to make in my setup to feel comfortable working in the newest Firefox was to fine tune the toolbars a little (moving some of the icons to the All in One Sidebar vertical toolbar). I also went into the All in One Sidebar and told it not to show the download panel, since Download Statusbar was handling that chore for me these days.
I was done. Here are the list of extensions I currently have installed.
Extensions (enabled: 55, disabled: 0):
- Adblock Plus 1.1
- Advertising Cookie Opt-out 1.1
- Aging Tabs 0.7.1
- All-in-One Sidebar 0.7.10
- Automatic Save Folder 0.9.3
- Back to Top 5.3.2
- Better Gmail 2 0.8.4
- CLEO 4.1
- Configuration Mania 1.10.2009061301
- Context Highlight 0.3.2
- Copy and Go 1.2
- deskCut 0.6.0.0
- DictionarySearch 3.5.1
- Download Statusbar 0.9.6.5
- DownThemAll! 1.1.4
- Extended Statusbar 1.5.4
- Favicon Picker 3 0.5
- FAYT 2.0.4
- FEBE 6.1
- Flagfox 3.3.14
- gui:config 0.4.4
- Highlighter 0.1.4
- IE Tab 1.5.20090525
- iMacros for Firefox 6.2.4.0
- Image Zoom 0.3.1
- InfoLister 0.10.1
- InFormEnter 0.5.5.5
- Java Console 5.0.16
- Java Console 6.0.07
- Java Console 6.0.14
- Java Quick Starter 1.0
- Locationbar² 1.0.3
- Neo Diggler 1.0.6
- NetVideoHunter 0.4.2
- NoRedirect 1.2.4
- NoScript 1.9.5
- NoSquint 2.0b6
- Nuke Anything Enhanced 0.68.2
- Open Addons 1.1.6.1
- OPIE 1.2.3
- Password Exporter 1.1
- PDF Download 2.2.0.2
- Print Preview 0.7.1.4
- Save Image in Folder 1.2.7
- Screengrab 0.96.1
- Show Go! 1.0.3
- Stop Autoplay 0.7.6
- Taboo 0.6.0
- Tabs Open Relative 0.4
- Tiny Menu 1.4.10
- Toolbar Buttons 0.6.0.5
- Undo Closed Tabs Button 3.5.1
- URL Link 2.03.1
- User Agent Switcher 0.7.2
- Xmarks 3.1.1
Friday, July 17, 2009
TV: The Top 25 from the last 365 Days Part 3
So here on the last day of my 52nd year on the planet, I present the top ten most entertaining programs of that year. I make no apologies to others who presume they know better quality amongst overlooked programs. These are the ones I most looked forward to seeing. (I'm also going to use links to prior postings for a majority of them, rather than rehash those reviews from earlier this year).
#10 - Eureka [#6 - LY]
There is almost no justification for the loss of ranking of Eureka this year, other than to note there were nine better shows. The show lost Ed Quinn which was a shame because he was spectacularly good right through to his sacrificial end. Hard to believe the smarmy red tape guy from the earlier seasons had as much heart as Quinn's Nathan Stark. His work overcame an otherwise dreary sub-plot involving Francis Fisher. That one ended well, though.
Otherwise, Eureka was what it has been from the beginning, an idea incubator with drama and humour thrown in, in equal measures. Whimsical, but thought-provoking. If you let your mind wander a bit.
I missed Matt Frewer, but others did step up. I thought Erica Cerra moved away from her one-note character into something approaching interesting ... and still pretty. Neil Grayston's Fargo sort of grew up, as did the petulant child, Jordan Hinson. Hinson's Zoe and her sheriff dad, played with usual charm and hidden strength by Colin Ferguson, are no longer outsiders and have made their intellectual mark. It's gone a long way at erasing the 'Mensa' snobbery of the other residents of Eureka.
Eureka is a show where anything is possible, but enjoyment is guaranteed.
#9 - How I Met Your Mother [Tied #9 - LY]
I reviewed this show back in this post. I am happy to report since that review that things HAVE moved forward in the quest for Bob Saget to reveal just how he met the mother of the two bored kids he's lecturing/telling tales to. We know Sarah Chalke isn't the mother and we know Ted traded in his tri-square and business cards with Architect written on them to become a teacher. That's progress, although THIS YEAR better be the year we find the better half to Ted's life.
That said, Neil Patrick Harris continues to be amongst the funniest guys on TV, a fact not missed by the awards shows. He's popping up everywhere. And good for him. Shows he's more than Barney, not that we can have enough Barney on prime-time TV.
#8 - Hustle (British)
Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone came back, and brought some new playmates with him. This was news back in February when I wrote this post. And apparently we'll be seeing more of Adrian Lester, Kelly Adams and the crew just after the new year. I really think Adams is a find and a match for Lester, which is as high a compliment as I can think of. If caper shows are in your interest spectrum, Hustle rates to entertain you a lot. After a year out of the top 10, it's good to see this British staple is back where it belongs.
#7 - Life
One of two of the top ten to get cancelled, I believe the NBC execs who ordered Life extinguished deserve a lifetime of watching Richard Hatch in his naked glory 24/7/52 until their eyes fall out and they scream themselves hoarse. Damian Lewis, Sarah Shahi, Donal Logue and Adam Arkin played great characters, each brought to life by an expressive actor. The puzzles were interesting. Given the pablum that DID make the Fall 2009 schedule, Life's cancellation was unfathomable. For my review, see this post.
#6 - Burn Notice [#5 - LY]
If you haven't seen Burn Notice and only now plan on now seeing the second season on DVD, jump the rest of this paragraph. SPOILER COMING: Tricia Helfer's character gets killed in the season finale and I couldn't be happier. Helfer, a fellow Canuck, seems destined to never play a character I like. And I DO like the occasional nasty villain type. It's just that she seems to play pretty faces who are supposed to be bad ... and just come off boring to me. I know I'm in the minority, maybe even a minority of one, but I dislike seeing her on the screen as much as I like seeing Paula Marshall or Kelly Rutherford. Soooo, Carla's dead and gone and the show's better off for it. END OF SPOILER.
The review from earlier this year was in this post.
#5 - Demons (British)
Philip Glenister can just about do no wrong. He's been the real star of the mental time travel series Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. And he brought the same hurly-burly persona to Demons this spring. And the dopes at ITV decided the show was too expensive to bring back for a second series. Yes, this is the last of the cancelled shows in my Top 25. And next year will be all the poorer for that bad, penny-pinching decision.
Demons is the latest of many shows to try to replicate Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Playing the distaff Buffy was Christian Cooke. Cooke plays Luke, who just might be the Last Van Helsing (One of the working titles for the show). He's naturally reluctant, as would be any teenage boy who's told to buck up and start killing demons for a living, rather than being a layabout. Besides being reluctant, he's just a little incredulous. Glenister has the Anthony Head role as trainer/tutor/hectoring old guy. His Rupert is on his last legs, but is more he-man than most. The two of them are paired with two interesting ladies.
Holliday Grainger plays Ruby, Luke's more-than-friend, less-than-girlfriend. Shows more brains and just as much valour as her pal at times. A second season would certainly have brought about a union of a different kind. And Rupert's friend is Mina Harker. The Mina of legend. This time, a blind pianist. And a vampire. And many decades old. Probably older than Rupert, and not much older than Luke in appearance. Mina, played by Zoe Tapper, is probably the most interesting character on the show. And the cliff-hanger ending spotlighting her made me want a second series bad.
Oh well.
The reason Demons stands out from others of the genre, including another Brit show out around the same time, Being Human, was it's understanding that vampires don't sell shows by themselves anymore. The uniqueness of the vampire epic disappeared years ago. But combining vamps with other interesting monsters, Demons had a lot of room to grow. Sad to say, it won't get that chance.
#4 - NCIS
Like House last year, a good show suddenly jumped into prominence with an outstanding season out of the blue. There's been nothing wrong with NCIS over the years where its been a steady top 25 show under the radar. But this season, the show's ability to hide behind the flashier CSI shows disappeared. Almost no missteps in a consistently great year.
Mark Harmon's Gibbs is consistently fascinating to watch. I guess that's because I always admired David Janssen. Whether it was The Fugitive, O'Hara or Charlie O, the one trait Janssen's characters had was a kind of taciturness where words were used sparingly and emotions kept under wraps. I've wished for many things in life--being tall, being artistic, etc. But the one I've found myself most wanting of over the years is the ability to keep my mouth shut. I've actually tried it more than a few times. Can't pull it off. Eventually, the verbal diarrhea comes out. Harmon is this century's Jannsen. And good on him.
The rest of the cast were great too. Cote de Pablo has now been forgiven for replacing Sasha Alexander. And Rocky Carroll was already forgiven for replacing Lauren Holly, who might very well have been what was keeping the show down. She never appeared comfortable (or believable) as an agent turned bureaucrat.
Pauley Perrette, Sean Murray and David McCallum continued to be smart characters with personality. It's sometimes hard to equate coroner Ducky, played by McCallum, with Ilya Kuriakin, McCallum's introduction to North American TV audiences in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. back in the sixties.
But the guy who stepped up his game the most this year was Micheal Weatherly. Weatherly's Tony Dinozzo seemed genuinely changed by the bitter duplicity that cost him his relationship last year with Jeanne Benoit. His patter was more subdued and he was almost cute in trying to dance around his attraction to de Pablo's Ziva. There were times Dinozzo looked almost leader-like. Certainly, the show's creators were grooming him for the NCIS spinoff, NCIS Los Angeles, before deciding to go another way. That's all right for me. Sort of like the chatterbox yin to Gibbs' yang.
My guess is that the show won't be able to maintain this ranking. It's tough to be good to great for 20 plus episodes in any given year. But I wouldn't bet against it either.
#3 - Chuck [#3 - LY]
Look, Chuck's going to be a top ten show for as long as its on the air. Two words. Yvonne Strahovski. Two more. Jordana Brewster. And apparently the girls out there find Zach Levi cute too. And some think Adam Baldwin's sexy. I just think Baldwin and Levi are funny, but whatever floats your boat.
This spy spoof is what Reaper could have been for the monster biz, but wasn't. Same sort of home base for the heroes, an electronics big box store in Chuck's case. Same slacker worker turned super-dude by events beyond his control. Same kind of sidekicks, although Joshua Gomez is way less wearing than Tyler Labine. I would say the same kind of cute girlfriends, but Strahovski is in a league of her own.
The difference? Levi really grows into his role. You really get the idea that Chuck is growing up as he rallies the troops, literally, to stop Chevy Chase's attempt to take over the world. All while getting his sister married off to Captain Awesome and telling off the brass back at Buy More.
So even if you come to see pulchritude (Brewster probably won't be back), stay for the laughs and the antics and the thrills. Chuck's that good.
#2 - Leverage
The American Hustle is now into its second season and there's no reason to believe it won't keep up with its British forebearer. I've written two posts about the show, the latest being this one. And I'm happy to report that the second half of the first season was actually better than the first half. As a result, Leverage bounced ahead of a great Hustle season to finish second in my rankings of shows over the last 12 months.
#1 - The Big Bang Theory [Tied #9 - LY]
I predicted the show might be a contender for top spot here. And nothing knocked it off its perch since then. I laughed out loud a lot watching the show this year, and I'm notoriously hard to actually make laugh intentionally. I laugh a lot, but mostly at life's absurdities. This show made my tummy hurt at time. That's how hard I laughed.
The earlier post boasts Jim Parsons as the funniest man on TV. I'll stand by that. But I do want to mention again the growth in Kaley Cuocco's character, Penny. Penny started off purely as eye candy and an object of lust. Any pretty girl could have played the role. But Cuocco and the writers have turned Penny into something other than a bimbo walking dream. She's caught up to the tail end of the gang and has even fought Parson's Sheldon to a grudging stalemate at times. The predicted reversal of pining did happen at season's end, but it was handled fairly well.
A little bit romantic, a little bit geeky and a whole lot funny. The Big Bang Theory was the best show on TV in the last 12 months.
#10 - Eureka [#6 - LY]
There is almost no justification for the loss of ranking of Eureka this year, other than to note there were nine better shows. The show lost Ed Quinn which was a shame because he was spectacularly good right through to his sacrificial end. Hard to believe the smarmy red tape guy from the earlier seasons had as much heart as Quinn's Nathan Stark. His work overcame an otherwise dreary sub-plot involving Francis Fisher. That one ended well, though.
Otherwise, Eureka was what it has been from the beginning, an idea incubator with drama and humour thrown in, in equal measures. Whimsical, but thought-provoking. If you let your mind wander a bit.
I missed Matt Frewer, but others did step up. I thought Erica Cerra moved away from her one-note character into something approaching interesting ... and still pretty. Neil Grayston's Fargo sort of grew up, as did the petulant child, Jordan Hinson. Hinson's Zoe and her sheriff dad, played with usual charm and hidden strength by Colin Ferguson, are no longer outsiders and have made their intellectual mark. It's gone a long way at erasing the 'Mensa' snobbery of the other residents of Eureka.
Eureka is a show where anything is possible, but enjoyment is guaranteed.
#9 - How I Met Your Mother [Tied #9 - LY]
I reviewed this show back in this post. I am happy to report since that review that things HAVE moved forward in the quest for Bob Saget to reveal just how he met the mother of the two bored kids he's lecturing/telling tales to. We know Sarah Chalke isn't the mother and we know Ted traded in his tri-square and business cards with Architect written on them to become a teacher. That's progress, although THIS YEAR better be the year we find the better half to Ted's life.
That said, Neil Patrick Harris continues to be amongst the funniest guys on TV, a fact not missed by the awards shows. He's popping up everywhere. And good for him. Shows he's more than Barney, not that we can have enough Barney on prime-time TV.
#8 - Hustle (British)
Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone came back, and brought some new playmates with him. This was news back in February when I wrote this post. And apparently we'll be seeing more of Adrian Lester, Kelly Adams and the crew just after the new year. I really think Adams is a find and a match for Lester, which is as high a compliment as I can think of. If caper shows are in your interest spectrum, Hustle rates to entertain you a lot. After a year out of the top 10, it's good to see this British staple is back where it belongs.
#7 - Life
One of two of the top ten to get cancelled, I believe the NBC execs who ordered Life extinguished deserve a lifetime of watching Richard Hatch in his naked glory 24/7/52 until their eyes fall out and they scream themselves hoarse. Damian Lewis, Sarah Shahi, Donal Logue and Adam Arkin played great characters, each brought to life by an expressive actor. The puzzles were interesting. Given the pablum that DID make the Fall 2009 schedule, Life's cancellation was unfathomable. For my review, see this post.
#6 - Burn Notice [#5 - LY]
If you haven't seen Burn Notice and only now plan on now seeing the second season on DVD, jump the rest of this paragraph. SPOILER COMING: Tricia Helfer's character gets killed in the season finale and I couldn't be happier. Helfer, a fellow Canuck, seems destined to never play a character I like. And I DO like the occasional nasty villain type. It's just that she seems to play pretty faces who are supposed to be bad ... and just come off boring to me. I know I'm in the minority, maybe even a minority of one, but I dislike seeing her on the screen as much as I like seeing Paula Marshall or Kelly Rutherford. Soooo, Carla's dead and gone and the show's better off for it. END OF SPOILER.
The review from earlier this year was in this post.
#5 - Demons (British)
Philip Glenister can just about do no wrong. He's been the real star of the mental time travel series Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. And he brought the same hurly-burly persona to Demons this spring. And the dopes at ITV decided the show was too expensive to bring back for a second series. Yes, this is the last of the cancelled shows in my Top 25. And next year will be all the poorer for that bad, penny-pinching decision.
Demons is the latest of many shows to try to replicate Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Playing the distaff Buffy was Christian Cooke. Cooke plays Luke, who just might be the Last Van Helsing (One of the working titles for the show). He's naturally reluctant, as would be any teenage boy who's told to buck up and start killing demons for a living, rather than being a layabout. Besides being reluctant, he's just a little incredulous. Glenister has the Anthony Head role as trainer/tutor/hectoring old guy. His Rupert is on his last legs, but is more he-man than most. The two of them are paired with two interesting ladies.
Holliday Grainger plays Ruby, Luke's more-than-friend, less-than-girlfriend. Shows more brains and just as much valour as her pal at times. A second season would certainly have brought about a union of a different kind. And Rupert's friend is Mina Harker. The Mina of legend. This time, a blind pianist. And a vampire. And many decades old. Probably older than Rupert, and not much older than Luke in appearance. Mina, played by Zoe Tapper, is probably the most interesting character on the show. And the cliff-hanger ending spotlighting her made me want a second series bad.
Oh well.
The reason Demons stands out from others of the genre, including another Brit show out around the same time, Being Human, was it's understanding that vampires don't sell shows by themselves anymore. The uniqueness of the vampire epic disappeared years ago. But combining vamps with other interesting monsters, Demons had a lot of room to grow. Sad to say, it won't get that chance.
#4 - NCIS
Like House last year, a good show suddenly jumped into prominence with an outstanding season out of the blue. There's been nothing wrong with NCIS over the years where its been a steady top 25 show under the radar. But this season, the show's ability to hide behind the flashier CSI shows disappeared. Almost no missteps in a consistently great year.
Mark Harmon's Gibbs is consistently fascinating to watch. I guess that's because I always admired David Janssen. Whether it was The Fugitive, O'Hara or Charlie O, the one trait Janssen's characters had was a kind of taciturness where words were used sparingly and emotions kept under wraps. I've wished for many things in life--being tall, being artistic, etc. But the one I've found myself most wanting of over the years is the ability to keep my mouth shut. I've actually tried it more than a few times. Can't pull it off. Eventually, the verbal diarrhea comes out. Harmon is this century's Jannsen. And good on him.
The rest of the cast were great too. Cote de Pablo has now been forgiven for replacing Sasha Alexander. And Rocky Carroll was already forgiven for replacing Lauren Holly, who might very well have been what was keeping the show down. She never appeared comfortable (or believable) as an agent turned bureaucrat.
Pauley Perrette, Sean Murray and David McCallum continued to be smart characters with personality. It's sometimes hard to equate coroner Ducky, played by McCallum, with Ilya Kuriakin, McCallum's introduction to North American TV audiences in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. back in the sixties.
But the guy who stepped up his game the most this year was Micheal Weatherly. Weatherly's Tony Dinozzo seemed genuinely changed by the bitter duplicity that cost him his relationship last year with Jeanne Benoit. His patter was more subdued and he was almost cute in trying to dance around his attraction to de Pablo's Ziva. There were times Dinozzo looked almost leader-like. Certainly, the show's creators were grooming him for the NCIS spinoff, NCIS Los Angeles, before deciding to go another way. That's all right for me. Sort of like the chatterbox yin to Gibbs' yang.
My guess is that the show won't be able to maintain this ranking. It's tough to be good to great for 20 plus episodes in any given year. But I wouldn't bet against it either.
#3 - Chuck [#3 - LY]
Look, Chuck's going to be a top ten show for as long as its on the air. Two words. Yvonne Strahovski. Two more. Jordana Brewster. And apparently the girls out there find Zach Levi cute too. And some think Adam Baldwin's sexy. I just think Baldwin and Levi are funny, but whatever floats your boat.
This spy spoof is what Reaper could have been for the monster biz, but wasn't. Same sort of home base for the heroes, an electronics big box store in Chuck's case. Same slacker worker turned super-dude by events beyond his control. Same kind of sidekicks, although Joshua Gomez is way less wearing than Tyler Labine. I would say the same kind of cute girlfriends, but Strahovski is in a league of her own.
The difference? Levi really grows into his role. You really get the idea that Chuck is growing up as he rallies the troops, literally, to stop Chevy Chase's attempt to take over the world. All while getting his sister married off to Captain Awesome and telling off the brass back at Buy More.
So even if you come to see pulchritude (Brewster probably won't be back), stay for the laughs and the antics and the thrills. Chuck's that good.
#2 - Leverage
The American Hustle is now into its second season and there's no reason to believe it won't keep up with its British forebearer. I've written two posts about the show, the latest being this one. And I'm happy to report that the second half of the first season was actually better than the first half. As a result, Leverage bounced ahead of a great Hustle season to finish second in my rankings of shows over the last 12 months.
#1 - The Big Bang Theory [Tied #9 - LY]
I predicted the show might be a contender for top spot here. And nothing knocked it off its perch since then. I laughed out loud a lot watching the show this year, and I'm notoriously hard to actually make laugh intentionally. I laugh a lot, but mostly at life's absurdities. This show made my tummy hurt at time. That's how hard I laughed.
The earlier post boasts Jim Parsons as the funniest man on TV. I'll stand by that. But I do want to mention again the growth in Kaley Cuocco's character, Penny. Penny started off purely as eye candy and an object of lust. Any pretty girl could have played the role. But Cuocco and the writers have turned Penny into something other than a bimbo walking dream. She's caught up to the tail end of the gang and has even fought Parson's Sheldon to a grudging stalemate at times. The predicted reversal of pining did happen at season's end, but it was handled fairly well.
A little bit romantic, a little bit geeky and a whole lot funny. The Big Bang Theory was the best show on TV in the last 12 months.
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