The Squamidian Report – Nov. 1 / 14
Issue #649
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Don't worry, I'll get to the good stuff further down... Any of you who
are running Mac computer products probably know that Mac just came out
with a major O/S update called Yosemite, ver 10.10. Any of you running
PC products probably couldn't care less and should go have a coffee or
something instead of reading this section. One of the things Mac does
well is that if you are using a Mac computer or other device, and Mac
comes out with a totally new O/S, it is free. Just let it download and
install. Windows would want to vacuum out your wallet, but, I
digress... Yosemite came out about a week or so ago and I permitted it
to install on this computer.
Anyway, there are several features that are quite nice if they
are features you use, if you don't need them, don't use them. Most
stuff is aimed at tablets and iPhones etc but are intended for the
laptops and desktops as well. One thing that really threw me for a loop
was the way it wants to synchronize all the devices that share your
Apple account. Suddenly, all my Internet bookmarks were on the other
computer and all of hers were on mine, along side my own bookmarks.
Because I hadn't clued in to the synchronizing thing, I figured that
the new version of the web browser had simply dug up all the bookmarks
it could find in various backup files. NOT. I was merrily deleting the
unwanted bookmarks on my computer before we realized that they were
disappearing from her computer. Opps. We were able to reconstruct most
of her bookmarks by digging in to the History menu which meant a little
less time in the dog house for me. Turns out there are several programs
that become synchronized unless you turn off that feature, a feature I
hadn't know about and therefore didn't know could be turned off. Its a
good thing for things like Calendar and Contacts, not web browsers and
email.
And speaking of Email, thats where the only big problem surfaced, but
the problem was not Apple's fault, it was my Internet service
provider's fault. Shaw Internet has never played nice with Apple Email,
I had run into problems setting these computers up when we switched to
Mac and had spent an hour per computer on the phone with Shaw tech
support. After upgrading, my Email became flaky, had trouble sending
and receiving, could not find the server, or get on line and so on.
Very frustrating. I found a web page on Shaw's web site dealing with
Apple Mail problems and there was a section for 'fixing' your mail
account' (on their site, the issue is with 'your' mail account, not
their server settings) if upgrading had caused issues. I ran through
the steps of inputting and changing settings and info. All that did was
trash my mailboxes, deleting any and all saved Emails, and made the
Mail program unable to go on-line at all. Bummer. At that point I
phoned Shaw tech support and put my name on the call-back list. No
point in sitting on hold for an hour or so. No point in just waiting
for the tech support call-back, might as well keep trying to get the
email to work. Nothing to loose. So, I tried setting up a new version
of my Email account. That sort of worked, for a few minutes, and then
could no longer send mail, it could receive but not send. Again,
nothing to loose so I totally deleted the old and new accounts. My Shaw
account would still exist, just no on this computer. I followed the
steps to set up a new account (as if you were setting up a new
computer). There are a couple of sections were the Shaw instructions
don't quite jive with the on-screen dialog boxes so I had to make some
guesses as to what was meant. After everything was done and saved, it
worked. I ran several tests of sending to myself and others, and it
worked. Its still working but once in a while has trouble
authenticating server certificates, so, I guess its mostly fixed. Would
have saved a lot of stress and frustration if the information on the
Shaw web site fit what is on the user's computer screen. Oh well. Just
as I finished testing the system, the Shaw tech support person phoned.
It was with great relief that I realized I did not need their help, not
so much because I had fixed it myself, but because the tech person's
accent was so heavy I could have never followed their instructions, no
matter how long or hard I would have tried.
Ok all you PC users, you can come back now...
Well, I've probably had my last motorcycle ride of the season,
although, Saturday is looking promising at this point. The Pacific
storms have been pounding in for the last couple of weeks and with the
exception of a few tiny little windows, there is currently no end in
sight. When these kind of west coast weather patterns set up, they can
go on for quite a while. Lately, if we were to set a 5-gallon pail on
the back lawn, within about 3 or 4 days it would be over-flowing.
However, on Monday I had a chance to do a little toot out the highway.
By the time I got home it was getting wet again but that ride gave me a
chance to top up the tank and mix some fuel stabilizer into the gas. If
I don't get out for any more rides this fall, at least the bike will be
ok. My insurance runs out on the 9th so there is always a chance for
another short toot but no point in not being prepared. As it is, this
has been one of my lowest milage seasons in years. All I've managed
this season was just over 12,500 kilometers. Thats really sad. Next
year will be better, thats a promise from me, to me.
**
And this is cool, really cool, our proverbial
15-minutes of fame so to speak. Some of you have already had a sneak
preview but I'll go through it again anyway. A while ago we got an
Email from the Sea to Sky Gondola informing us that we are on their
'frequent flyer list', an exclusive list of visitors who have been up
there the most often. The Email went on to encourage us to continue
visiting the gondola as often as we would like. We had actually been
concerned that we were riding up so often that we might be abusing our
passes. Turns out thats not the case, they encourage pass holders to
use those passes as often as they can. It costs then nothing to have us
ride up, and once up there we are good ambassadors and often purchase a
coffee or lunch or whatever. A while later we got another Email from
them wanting to know if we would mind being mentioned in their Blog and
if we'd answer a few questions and supply some information about
ourselves. Then, after that, we were sent a preview of the Blog they
wanted to post on their web site. I've already sent that link to some
of you, the rest can follow the links from here if you want, and have
not already seen it on Facebook. Yes, there are two links, one focussed
on me, and one one 'The Wife'.
I don't know for sure if we are the top visitors but it certainly reads
that way, or perhaps we are top couple. Or just in the running, I guess
we will find out at some point. Anyway, every time we go there the lift
attendants greet us by name, and everyone has a big smile and “hi” for
us. Almost makes us feel special. So, click these links, they will take
you to the Sea to Sky Gondola web site pages that are about us.
Incidentally, at the bottom of 'my' page is a link to some of my
original music, just the songs that were inspired by being up there and
so on. I've already had people from all over including Africa listen to
and comment on my songs via Facebook, so, like I said, our 15 minutes
of fame.
http://www.seatoskygondola.com/blog/top-visitors-the-brubachers
http://www.seatoskygondola.com/blog/meet-brubachers-sue-brubacher
The gondola closes down on November 3rd for 3 weeks and re-opens on the
27th. The main reason is for a total inspection and maintenance of the
gondola itself. It also gives them a chance to catch their breath,
re-group and get ready for their winter season. Oh, one last cool
thing, we have both ridden the gondola enough times that the total
distance ridden would be like each of us riding from here to Kamloops.
doug
****
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
It’s that time of year when we’re looking for indoor entertainment to
pass the time or to fill an evening. A couple of weeks ago Carole was
tidying up the basement storage closet and found a stash of our old
33-rpm records. Waaaaay back when we were first married we bought our
first house on a street called Markwood Dr in Kitchener. We bought it
on the advice of a real estate friend of ours by the name of Ken
Pierce. We were married not quite a year when he found us a deal on a
semi-detached bungalow. We moved in and for nights on end we would lay
on the living room floor till the wee hours of the morning just
listening to music on our console stereo in total darkness. Our
favourite albums were Neil Diamond “Stones” and Paul McCartney “Band On
The Run”. Well, didn’t Carole happen upon the “Stones” album while
cleaning up. Two years ago I received a combination record
player/radio/CD player for Christmas. I hadn’t opened the box since new
but it was still sitting in our spare bedroom. When Carole found the
Neil Diamond album, she decided to open my “New” Stereo and give the
album a try! Well, it shocked us back into 1974 in the semi on Markwood
Dr. We listened to Neil every night after hitting the hay and of course
fell asleep listening to those great old tunes! About a week after
starting this habit all over again I happened to see Neil Diamond on
“Letterman” one evening plugging his newest album. He is 73 years old
now and still recording and also touring. He’s coming to Canada next
month and his first gig is in London Ontario. I said to Carole that
maybe we should get tickets and attend his show in London, just for old
time sake! Well, I checked the availability of tickets for the show and
found out that there were quite a few tickets left but the price was
horrendous! They started at $279.00 each and went all the way up to
over $1200.00. I was in shock at the cost of these tickets! I should
say, appalled at the cost of the tickets! This talented man who, thanks
to millions of fans has lived an incredibly rich and envious life has
the nerve to charge such exorbitant prices! Just who the Hell does he
think he’s selling these tickets to? The people that made his net worth
reach more than $275 million dollars to this point are the unfortunate
folks that he is now gouging the eyes out of for one more chance to see
and hear him in person before he heads for the “Pearly Gates”! What a
greedy SOB if you ask me! I’ve been listening to his old album with
fond memories but absolutely refuse to pay the asking price for tickets
to attend what could well be one of his last public appearances! You
would think that after living off the expenditures of his lifelong
fans, that he’d at least show some appreciation after all these years
and many millions of dollars and put on his “Later in Life” concerts
for them at a very reasonable price per ticket ie: $50.00 per
seat?
After fuming for the past couple of weeks about the Neil Diamond
situation and finally having resigned myself to forget about ever
attending one last concert of his, I saw an advertisement on TV the
other night for a Tony Bennet concert right here in Kitchener’s own
Centre In The Square. The one night concert was scheduled for October
31, Halloween Night. Since our son is no longer a child and we no
longer participate in Trick or Treating, I thought that it might be a
great way to spend Halloween Evening!
I commented to Carole that even though neither she nor I were much in
the way of Tony Bennet fans, it might be worthwhile attending what may
just be one of his last concerts in Canada as well as a chance for us
to see a true Superstar of more than 7 decades. After all, with most of
the other greats like Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Pavarotti to
name a few having gone to the big concert stage in the sky, Tony ranks
as the only Great Entertainer left from that era! So, Carole checked
into the cost of tickets for Tony! I figured they’d likely be just
under the $100.00 mark but what the heck, when will we ever get another
chance to see and hear such a “Big” named STAR?
Well, when she located the Centre In The Square box office on her iPad,
it was déjà vu all over again from the Neil Diamond fiasco! Tony’s
tickets were a shocking tad less than $300.00 per seat as well! All I
can say is, I sat in shock and hoped like Hell that Tony would play to
an empty house on Friday October 31st! Not to mention that Neil Diamond
might suffer the same fate in London come November! Of course there
will always be people that are sucker enough to pay the price so the
only consolation I have for either situation is the modicum of self
respect I’ve retained in knowing that Carole and I managed to save over
$1,000.00 by not attending either of these ridiculously over priced
events!
I guess I may be behind the times but I still wonder where the
appreciation and respect for their loyal fans has gone when it comes to
successful “Superstars”! Unfortunately that lifestyle seems to bring
out greed, greed and more greed with little respect for where the money
comes from!
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
|