The Squamidian Report – Mar. 13 / 04
For the ‘ON LINE’ version of this newsletter, go to:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/report.htm
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
My fence is falling down. Or to be a bit more precise, a section where my neighbour’s ivy hedge is hanging from my fence is being pulled down. There is so much ivy growing on and over and through the fence that you can’t even see the fence. It has started to lean toward his side at one spot so I cut back the ivy and found that the fence post has rotted off. Our moist climate and all that ivy make life as a fence post rather hard, and short.
Went over to Mountain Buildall and picked up a couple of pressure treated 4x4s. That’s when I realized it would be handy if the back door on the van would open. The internal latch or lock or both have either broken or seized up from lack of use. I was just starting to shove the 8-foot posts through a front door window when my neighbour (the one who owns the hedge) came through the store’s yard with his pickup. He was more than happy to truck them home for me. That problem solved. Now I just need to figure out how to open the rear door so I can get at the screws that hold the inside panel in place so I can fix the latch stuff.
I’ve replaced the worst of the two leaning posts, it’s a big job wrestling the fence panels back into place with ivy growing through every crack and opening. Time for a break.
Cousin Warren up the highways now has Internet access. They only have cell phone service where he lives, they even have to make their own hydro. He was able to get a special serial cellular signal modem through Telus that would connect him into their 1x system. The whole thing consists of a tiny cell antenna, similar to what’s on a cell phone and a data modem that connects into a computer’s serial port. The system is designed for service people out in the field using laptops and is tested for Win98 and higher but his computer is an old Win95 machine with no resources to spare. I was able to get his Win95 to connect to the modem using Hyper-terminal and a whole bunch of guessing. It also took 3 calls to tech support but it’s working fine. Speeds where he lives are similar to a V90, 56K dial-up system which isn’t too bad at all.
Setting up the Email side was a tad frustrating. In order to configure Email through Telus, you have to go to their web site and register using information that you can’t get until after you have registered. Then you go round in useless loops following where the web links want you to go. The only way we got through it was that we had the tech support person phone us every 20 minutes or so to help us past the stone walls we would run into. After about 3 hours we had the info we needed and things working fine. He is now fully connected to the world. This should keep him occupied for a while.
Had my current boss ticked at me one day this week. We were sent out to dig up a leaking water main valve so we went behind his back and called for a gas line locate. That led to a whole flurry of activity as the gas company called him to verify the location. He can’t seem to see the need for delaying a job long enough to do the necessary background work. He was mad, the gas company was mad because we hadn’t given them a couple of days notice. The boss seems to think that there is no reason to bother with any of that kind of thing when he has insurance. He seems to think that insurance covers stupidity. Anyway a gas locator came out and indicated that the 4-in main was about 10 feet over from where we needed to dig. We took it careful anyway and found the main right below us, nowhere near where it was supposed to be. That made the boss even wilder as to him it proved that locates are a total waste of time. Caught in the middle and can’t win. However, we didn’t blow up a whole subdivision or anything else. Oh well.
Sue has had a very stressful time of it this week. They were doing an audit at the main tower in down town Van. On Thursday afternoon as she was paying her parking fee in an underground parking lot someone managed to remove her laptop with it’s carry bag and all the accompanying documents and from her car trunk. There was no indication of the trunk being forced open so we have no idea how they got in although I would imagine there are lots of people around skilled at that kind of thing. I would also imagine this parking garage is watched all the time by a group of very polished thieves. Business professionals, all of whom have brief cases and computer bags full of valuable items, use it. The thieves are probably doing a daily harvest of anything they can get at.
Some of the papers and documents turned up beside a dumpster later on so hopefully they just wanted the hardware to sell for a quick buck rather than seeing what they could get from the paperwork.
It’s been a week of warm sunny weather; in fact, the tree pollen is in the air. Sneezing time again. Hopefully, it will be nice this coming week. Ryan and Emily are flying out on Monday to visit. Just for the week but it will be nice to have them here.
****
THE
ONTERION REPORT
March 12, 2004
Hi
everyone! Hope you’re all doing well these days. March has been a funny month
so far weather wise. We’ve had everything from warm sunny days to freezing
bitter cold days that rivaled some January chillers. I guess that’s what we’ve
come to expect as a common occurrence in the month of March. It’s not only
something that’s been happening in recent years. Heck I can remember one Spring
day in May of 1976 when we were taking pictures of Carole’s Tulips covered in
snow. She was in her last few days of expecting our son Adam and we couldn’t
believe it when we woke up to 3” of the white stuff on the front lawn. I guess
Mother Nature is an extremely unpredictable lady. There’s no denying it, we’ll
likely have to wait another good 3 to 5 weeks before we can count on any
consistent “good” weather setting in.
What’s
this world coming to when we have to put up with having a hockey game break out
in the middle of a good Saturday night of “Fights on Ice”? I guess it’ll be the
wave of the future if the bosses at NHL have their way. In my opinion Tod
Burtuzzi committed a cowardly act when he attacked Moore from behind. I don’t
think that the NHL hockey players should be exempt from criminal prosecution
for such blatant acts of violence. I’ll be very disappointed if the Crown
doesn’t press assault charges against Burtuzzi. It’s one thing to say the poor
guy has been punished enough with a suspension and loss of $600,000.00 in cash
but what about the possiblilty of Moore’s career being ended before it has a
chance to really get started!
I think the courts should charge Burtuzzi and
dole out whatever punishment is required by law as well as award whatever cash
loss Burtuzzi has suffered x 10 to Mr Moore for his pain and suffering. At
least that way if his career is at a sudden end, he’ll have something to live
on for the rest of his life. It’s time the NHL made it a rule that anyone
guilty of such unwarranted violence be banned for life from the league.
Burtuzzi lives here in Kitchener and has just completed construction of an
8,500 sq ft home overlooking the Grand River 4 doors south of the former home
of our illustrious Editor in Chief. He certainly won’t be hurting financially
from this suspension, no matter what officials say he’s losing during his time
off. His new home can be seen from the bridge on Hwy #8 as it crosses the
Grand. It’s just as well that Doug and Sue moved out of that neighbourhood
anyway. Lately it’s been the scene of break-ins and muggings and will only go
downhill now that NHL riffraff has been allowed to move in! LOL!
Actually,
I shouldn’t make light of the situation. It’s unfortunate all around that this
incident happened. I’m sure that Burtuzzi is a decent guy and seems to very
sincerely regret what he did to Moore. Hopefully he’ll have learned his lesson
along with the entire NHL league and in the near future we’ll see more quality
hockey and less brutality on the ice. I’m not really a hockey fan but being
Canadian, I can’t help take an interest in something that involves our national
sport, even if it is gratuitous violence that is needed to pique my attention.
Hopefully Mr Moore will fully recover and get back to the game he loves. I’m
sure we’ll hear about this Burtuzzi thing for the next year. Let’s hope good
lessons are learned on both sides of the boards this time.
PS: I
must apologize to Vivian and Lorne for not mentioning this last week. Carole
and I thoroughly enjoyed our evening and meal at the Brubacher “homestead”.
Thanks so much for kind invitation and the opportunity to meet “The illusive
Sue”. She really does exist ! It was great to finally meet you Sue and we look
forward to seeing you again soon. Now that we know the other half of the
“Western” Brubacher clan we’ll feel more comfortable some day making plans for
a trip out to BC. We enjoyed our visit with you very much.
PPS: Something to Think About>
Gambling, a way of getting nothing for
something!
Thanks for tuning in everyone and I’ll talk
to you all again next week.
Sincerely…..Greg.
PPPS: Check out the picture of us with Sue
that I’ve attached. Thanks Doug!
That
picture can be seen at: http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/Greg/Greg.htm
or on the other doug site on the from the ‘Greg’ page. Look for the ‘Greg, Sue,
Carole’ link at the bottom.
****
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Have a good one..
the
doug
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