Now I will never need to think about apostrophes again (for those of you who think that a-word is too long, this is it -> ' <-). Not that I have a problem with it, but many engineers I know do... So here you go: Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots poster.
I think it would look great in the clubs/common area (I'm sure the dean would love it!). I also think it should come with enrolment in ENGL 199: English for Engineers. Then the would never be unsure again.
In a small "city" like North Battleford, Saskatchewan, nothing much happens. I guess that's part of the reason the place attracts the kind of people it does: old people, farmers. Old farmers. Things around here are pretty laid back, and I guess the people here like it that way.
But imagine what this does to driving. This situation has happened to me every time I've been behind the wheel in the past week: I'm cruising along the highway, or a 'major' road to which other traffic has to yeild. But they don't. If I'm driving far enough away to not smash into them, they'll pull out in front of me. Not that this in itself is a bad thing, except these people have something wrong with them. They drive SSSSLLLLOOOOWWWW. And then I'm stuck behind them becasue in their stupidity (couldn't have been impatience, otherwise they'd be going faster, right?), they wouldn't wait for me to go past, and go happily on my way.
This is a real problem here! If it weren't a common occurrence, it wouldn't happen to me *EVERY DAY*. There should be some kind of law that prevents this from happening. Oh wait! There is! It's called right-of-way and these people don't seem to have a clue about it.
I also noted that the people here who don't drive slow, drive reeeeally reeeally fast. They tailgate. They ALSO ignore the Right-of-Way law, and continute to tailgate after a stop sign. Have I mentioned I hate tailgaters? Not that they're really breaking any laws, but I find that they make me really uneasy, and I tend to watch the rear-view mirror more than what's going on in front of me. So for all you tailgaters out there: TAILGATING DOESN'T GET YOU THERE SOONER!!!
I dolike to drive, I just don't like sharing the road with the multitude of idiots that seem to have taken over this place.
If there wasn't reason enough already to get a nice big new monitor, now i have an argument that might convince me to actually do it: the Desktop Sidebar.
This little puppy can do soooo much. It's been said "You don't have to wait for Longhorn to use sidebar. Try Desktop Sidebar!" So for all of you geeks out there who aren't geeky enough to be using only linux, check it out!
It has 16 different colour schemes, so you can make it blend in with your desktop theme. It's hany, and although it takes a little getting used to, i find that I'm enjoying having it around. If I ever find that I need my full screen, I can set it to auto hide. Now, at a glance, I can see who's online, check the temperature and forecast, monitor my computer's performance, check the latest headlines, control winamp, and type in a command or select a quick launch button. It's customizable and very pretty :)
I just finished reading The Fionavar Tapestries by Guy Gavriel Kay, and it was truly enjoyable. A 3-book series, I had them all in one volume, which made the reading so much easier. I can't see how the ending of the first book was an ending at all. I'm glad I read all three together without having to wait for the next book to come out!
I also just read the best short story *ever* called The Fourth Profession by Larry Niven. Everyone should read this story! Sam has the book with the story in it now, but if you want to borrow it when he's done, let me know. DO IT!!
I also spent a lot of time in used book stores yesterday. I found tons of Frank Herber books, except the three I really really want: the last three in the Dune series: God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune. Frank Herbert is one of my favorite authors, and Dune my favorite series. When I first read the series, I read quickly without pausing to think much about the implications of the tale Herbert was weaving for me. A large portion of what the story was trying to relay was lost on me, and I knew I'd have to reread the series. The most philosophical of these was God Emperor, and I can't wait until I read it again!
Other novels I picked up yesterday: The Eyes of Heisenberg and The White Plague by Frank Herbert, The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card (another author whose series I've been looking to complete), and The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven. All very good authors. Now I just have to find the time to read them all... *grin*
Now everyone can look at my wish list on Amazon.ca!
First of all, I'm not a Mac user. But I do know *something* about them, which is more than I can say about one user who received an email as to the WinBlast worm, telling students to bring in any laptops before connecting them to the University's network. This girl came in with her laptop and said "I got the email, can you check it out?" Okay, no problem right? Except that the laptop was an iBook. "What operating system is it running?" "Uh, windows 2000, I think." Right.
At this point there were several hilarious possible outcomes: turn it on, type for a bit, give it back and tell her "nope, it's fine." Or open it up, grab a magnifying glass and look through it thoroughly, poke around... and return it in the same way. Or even better, take out some rubber gloves, swab it, and tell her she'll find out in a week. *grin*
I was also privileged enough to take apart an iMac today. You know, just looking for viruses... ;)
Okay, those things are *not* meant to be taken apart. There is a "flap" so you can easily change the ram, but other than that, it's a big monitor, sitting on top of a motherboard. I was offered suggestions of reading the manual, or looking online for some instruction, but the engineer in me prevailed and lo and behold! I found the plastic part that comes off to reveal the rest of the screws. Not your standard PC screws either, so I had to be careful not to lose them. Which, of course, I proceeded to do fantastically. Down into the "monitor" part they tumbled. Luckily, I played with a guitar as a kid, and have a lot of experience shaking something with a small opening and a weird shape to remove a small foreign object. It worked! Once, only though. The other one is lost somewhere inside the great blue piece of plastic that is iMac.
First of all, I'm not a Mac user. But I do know *something* about them, which is more than I can say about one user who received an email as to the WinBlast worm, telling students to bring in any laptops before connecting them to the University's network. This girl came in with her laptop and said "I got the email, can you check it out?" Okay, no problem right? Except that the laptop was an iBook. "What operating system is it running?" "Uh, windows 2000, I think." Right.
At this point there were several hilarious possible outcomes: turn it on, type for a bit, give it back and tell her "nope, it's fine." Or open it up, grab a magnifying glass and look through it thoroughly, poke around... and return it in the same way. Or even better, take out some rubber gloves, swab it, and tell her she'll find out in a week. *grin*
I was also privileged enough to take apart an iMac today. You know, just looking for viruses... ;)
Okay, those things are *not* meant to be taken apart. There is a "flap" so you can easily change the ram, but other than that, it's a big monitor, sitting on top of a motherboard. I was offered suggestions of reading the manual, or looking online for some instruction, but the engineer in me prevailed and lo and behold! I found the plastic part that comes off to reveal the rest of the screws. Not your standard PC screws either, so I had to be careful not to lose them. Which, of course, I proceeded to do fantastically. Down into the "monitor" part they tumbled. Luckily, I played with a guitar as a kid, and have a lot of experience shaking something with a small opening and a weird shape to remove a small foreign object. It worked! Once, only though. The other one is lost somewhere inside the great blue piece of plastic that is iMac.
This past weekend was a celebration for Sam, Wade and Jesse's birthday! And it was GOOD.
Greg came into town (the country? the continent!), Brian and Wade showed up from Calgary, an a tonne of people from town showed up on the balcony of Blackdog Friday night. By the time Greg, Sam, Mike and I got there at about 8:30, *some people* had already thrown up in the bushes! With all the drunken shenanigans that went on Friday night, I don't know how any of us made it out for Saturday night. But by 5pm, the BBQ was going and there was something like 80 cans and bottles of beer on the lawn.
I've got a few pictures, and I think some were taken Friday night as well. I hope to see them up here soon.
In the mean time, Happy Birthday Jesse, Sam and Wade!
