Surfergeeks

Okay, I just realized that many of you out there have probably been checking the site for my thoughts on the Big K. Well, let me tell you, it’s a tragedy. Tens of thousands homeless, thousands most likely dead. There’s not much you can say…

Ah hell, who am I trying to kid. COULDN’T THEY SEE THIS COMING A MILE AWAY?!?!?!? They’re FUCKING 10 FEET BELOW sea level for christ’s sake! Surely, somewhere, some thread of common sense must have been sparked and said, “Hey, is this really a good idea? Levees and all are all good, but what if they fail?” Then someone else probably passed him a drink and said “Shut the fuck up and grab your beads, here come some more topless teenagers!”

So, what’s left to do? Bulldoze the entire city a la SimCity and start from scratch? Or does a memo quietly go out to major map makers stating, “Oh, and that New Orleans place down in the south – yeah, strike that from next year’s maps. We’re not quite sure what to do with the swamp now…”

And here we thought that it would be Nevada or Arizona that saw ocean-front space before Kentucky…

Bet by the title you thought we had the kid! Nay. That expression of joy was for the fact that there are new pictures posted in the Gallery. Take a look under the ‘House’ album to see the finished kid’s room. Then head over to the misc. section for some pictures from Melinda’s farewell BBQ party and also a couple shots from karaoke. ***WARNING: Viewing the misc. picture will expose you to an almost naked Craig Mooney. Doing so MAY jeopardize your eyesight forever as you may have to poke out your eyes with a sharp, pointy object afterward.

[EDIT] Oh yeah, forgot to mention. I won a $1+$0.10 Sit ‘N’ Go tournament today. That paid me $5! Pretty sweet if I do say so myself!

Well, our swimming season has come to a premature end. Thanks to the work of one seemingly determined raccoon it is now necessary for us to drain the pool. Apparently it decided that it was thirsty or something so it tried to lean in and get a drink. Well, raccoon’s have sharp little claws. At least one of those claws punctured the air liner. How do I know it was a raccoon you ask? I saw it. We heard a noise out in the back yard and thought that perhaps a squirrel had attemped to perfect it’s high dive. We looked out, saw the air ring partially deflated. I went and got the flashlight and shone it outside. A few minutes after shining it outside I saw some movement around the pool and the little critter appeared and took another stab at seeing what was in the pool – sloshing more water out of it. Fortunately the pool walls didn’t collapse so I’m spending the better part of today draining the damn thing. Grr.

Wow, how many posts in how many days???

So, today’s rant comes to you courtesy of Toronto Hydro. A report in today’s London Free Press, clicky, states that 44% of my neighbours would happily snitch on me for “not conserving energy”.

Okay, let me state for the record, that would NEVER be a problem. I would be willing to bet that the only house on my block that uses less hydro than ours would be the one that has had their hydro cut off for non-payment. Maybe an empty house too – maybe.

For the sake of argument, let’s suppose I did like to run my 10 air conditioners 24 hours a day. Who gives my neighbours the right to think that they can judge me? Snitch on me? It’s not like I’m running a grow-op here. I pay my hydro bill on time every month. If I want to use 4378KWH in one month as opposed to the normal 380 or so that we normally use then as long as I pay for it no one can stop me.

Now, Toronto Hydro states they have no intention of setting up a “snitch line” they just did this study to gauge public reaction. If you believe that, send me an email, I’ve got some prime land to sell you in Florida and a couple bridges I’m looking to unload. Companies just don’t do studies for the “fun of it” or to “gauge public reaction” unless they’re thinking about doing it.

Please, please, please! Do not misunderstand me. I’m all for conserving energy. I’m cheap. I’m gonna conserve. But to think that hydro companies feel that they can FORCE conservation or COERCE conservation because THEY can’t produce enough power makes me angry.

Jason, Nic, & I were talking about power production last weekend. He and I seemed to *slightly* disagree (although I may have misinterpreted). I think it’s perfectly fine to encourage the province to conserve energy. There is nothing wrong with this. Far too many people are wasting outrageous amounts of hydro. But to even consider doing the above would be far overstepping the boundary of acceptability.

Mark my words: if London Hydro considers this (snitch line) I will be one of the first in line at public meetings (provided they actually have a public meeting. LH has this nasty habit of holding most meetings in camera) to protest – even though it would never apply to me.

Please, comment at will. Let me know what you think about the idea of a snitch line. Backup your thoughts with some reasons.

[EDIT]Just thinking more about this. If the governement and hydro companies REALLY want us conserve energy then they will work together to offer tax cuts and rebates for the installation of so-called “green” energy generation products for the home such as solar panels and wind turbines. I would absolutely love to be able to put up a wind turbine and generate most of my own power – perhaps even provide some power into the grid!

Yup, it’s my birthday today. Another year older.

Oh and I figure if the baby is going to come early, it will be today. Otherwise, I figure he will be late. Well, we will see.

Okay, we bought the movie today and it pretty much kicks ass. I think this may be the ONLY movie that I’ve bought that I’ve never seen. Worth every penny let me tell you. That said, we were kinda disappointed in the DVD itself. You see, other than the movie, there really isn’t anything else on the disc. There’s a little “Behind the Scenes” featurette but that’s it. No deleted scenes, no director’s commentary, nothing.

I read online today that there will be a 2-disc set released close to Christmas. I’m not expecting anything else to be added to the movie itself but I’m hoping that they add a ton of features, including director’s commentary. This is one movie that I was actually planning on watching through with the commentary on.

Nikki’s sorta new to this poker thing so I’ll take a whack at explaining it further. (For now, we will just ignore the fact that she is doing better than me)

The tournament that she just placed in the top 50 in grants her an invitation to the TEC (Tournamenet Entry Chip) +$9 tournament this Sunday @ 1:15pm. Should she win that (actually I *think* it’s place in the top 10), she will win a TEC+$9. This will cover her entry to any $100+9 tournament. These tournaments could be for a variety of prizes, depending on their prize pool. It isn’t at any set time, she can use this TEC anytime she’d like. At this point there isn’t any type of travel involved (which her post seems to imply that there is). Granted, one of the tournaments that she could use her chip to enter would, if she won it, pay for her entrance in the Aruba Ultimatebet.com Classic on the World Poker Tour. I hope this clears it up.

Well, I did it. I made it to the “money” in a poker tournament! I came in 47th and just had to make it to top 50. Actually, I didn’t win any money, but I did qualify for another tournament. If I place top 10 in that tournament, I win entry into another tournament plus $9. Not sure what the next tournament wins, but I know there is the possibility of going to a real poker championship. Not that I will be able to go, with a baby coming and all, but very cool none the less, especially considering I’ve been playing a free table.

hehe. clicky

First, go read the article. The article describes the “victim” as a “textbook handyman”. Yep, he sure was. Textbook to the core…

Next, apparently The London Free Press is now defining ‘stupidity’ as ‘freak accident’. I mean, come on! First you decide to erect a flag pole close to power lines. Second, you warn your wife to watch out. THEN you go and get electrocuted by the same thing you just warned your wife about?!?!? Sure, it talks about a gust of wind. Go figure – wind. At 15-20 feet (however high the pole was). Who’da thunk it??? The most unfortunate part of the entire story is that this guy DOESN’T qualify for a Darwin Award as his wife is now left to raise 11-week old twins.

Well, I’m typing this entry from my brand new notebook computer. Earlier today I became the owner of a Hewlett-Packard zd8225ca Media Center notebook. Let me tell you – this thing ROCKS! First off, it’s got a 17″ widescreen display running @ 1440×900. Under the hood it’s a P4 3.2GHz CPU, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 100GB HDD, 8x DVD+/-R w/Lightscribe, and a 128MB ATI x600 Radeon Mobility graphics card! w00t! Oh, and the COOLEST part of it? It has a separate number pad built right into the laptop!

I was originally planning on getting a Dell Inspiron 9300 but when they would only give us 21.99% interest I passed. I was then going to buy it outright until I saw the HP. The specs were virtually identical with the following differences: the Dell was a 1920×1280 (or something like that) display. However, in the trade off for that, my HP comes with a USB dual-TV tuner card that will let me use it as a PVR since it has XP Media Center (instead of XP Home – what Dell ships with unless you upgrade).

So, one day in I’ve managed to pretty much get the computer setup the way that I want it. There’s still a few more things I need to do to fully get it setup but I’ve got lots of time for that. Needless to say, this machine will become my daily machine with only the periodic trip into the computer room to fire up Psyduck. Togepi2 will be getting most of the play!

Oh yeah – in other news – no baby yet. It’s probably going to be soon. Nikki’s convinced it’s going to happen Wednesday, on her birthday. (She’s old – 29) I don’t think it will. It probably won’t happen until after the due date. The kid seems hell bent on torturing me by not letting me feel him move so I don’t see why he wouldn’t torture her too…