Forbidden Planet

Received this in an e-mail from my sister today. One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and ...

Yesterday, we enjoyed Saint Jean Baptiste Day celebrations in Montreal (officially called Fete Nationale in Quebec). Seeing that Jason was sniffly, we went to the drug store to b some antihistamines for him. As we were approaching the door, an elderly gentleman was entering. He opened the right side door to allow himself in and then proceeded to slide through the gap. Jason, like all eager kids, ran to press the automatic door opener (associated with the left door). This resulted in the door opening and knocking the man back. Seeing this and that the man had let go of the right side door, so it began closing on him, which would result in his back being struck by it pushing him towards to opening left side door. The vision of him being pinned between two doors two doors - one opening and the other closing made me rush forward to catch the door and open it completely. However, this did not stop the man from falling back and bumping into me - thus getting knocked a second time. He muttere...

I am always looking for more ways to get more eggs into my kids. I consider eggs to be highly nutritious and good source of protein and nutrients for them. When Jason was younger, he used to eat 4 yolks no problem - sometimes more - but he detests the white, so it always had to be removed. I can mix them into a pancake - lot of egg, little flour. Or an omelette. Today I made French Toast: beat some eggs (3), soak some dry bread (2 slices), and fry. The only problem is that there is always left over liquid which I usually fry afterwards. Today I had another idea. As I laid the French Toast into the frying pan, I poured some of the left over batter over the top of the toast. Much to my surprise and delight, it soaked into the bread. I had been expecting a bit of an eggy crust - but, nope, it was fine. My tip for today: You can always squeeze more batter into that French Toast after you have laid it on the griddle. Jusging by what my kids ate, Jason got about 1 egg in him and Tania 1-1/2....

Last week my work computer got infected with a few unwanted programs. These were all related to improving your search and stuff. What they mostly did was cause annoying popups or redirections. How did this happen? While blog hopping on blogger using their "next blog" feature, I came across a blog that did these nasty things. Most of the infections I was able to clean up using Spybot Search & Destroy and Hijaack This , but there was one I couldn't. I suppose I should have called IT, but their general solution is to reformat, notwithstanding I would be at least a day without the computer - and, as a programmer, not having a computer puts a serious crimp in my productivity. I ran various antivirus and spyware programs, but they could not pick up the offending application. It was very well cloaked (the files did not show up on the hard disk, nor did the application show up in task manager). I downloaded PsTools which allowed me to see the running applications. I then do...

CHRISTIAN, n. One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.

As I left work yesterday evening (actually, shortly before I left), it started raining heavily - you know the sort, whether you walked or ran to the car, you were going to get soaked. When I got outside, I simply listened to the thunder. It was fantastic. It wasn't the Crack! Boom! type, it was a continuous rolling thunder which swirled around you in all its audiophonic glory. The lightening was also quite spectacular. There were plenty of beautiful jagged bolts coming down directly ahead of me as I drove home (no, not right in front of me, but far enough on the horizon that I didn't have to be dangerously looking for them instead of paying attention to the cars on the highway). Of course, to top it all off, there was a rainbow. Actually, two. One very bright one and another dimmer one. They were full and complete arcs. Given the position of the sun, almost behind me, there were some pretty specatular optical effects with water spray from the cars around me, making it seem at t...

Given that I am finding it really difficult to coherently organize my thoughts and put a couple of words together in any meaningful way - I'll take the easy way out and do a simple blog thing (I was hoping for a single question one, but the 5 questions did not strain me too much). You Are Sunrise You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be. What Time Of Day Are You?

Today, Tania is going to a birthday party (in a little more than 1 hour's time). However, yesterday we had the following conversation as I picked her up from school: Tania: You know Walid? Me: The boy who's party you are going to tomorrow? Tania: Yes. Well, yesterday, he swallowed a cat's eye [a type of marble - Richard] and today he wasn't in school. I hope he didn't die because then the party will be cancelled.

CBC Radio had a documentary on Singapore and its lack of risk taking yesterday (only just heard it this morning). Since I know there are 1 or 2 Singaporean readers of this blog, I am curious to know how accurate the documentary is. I find that people often have mistaken impressions about other cultures and people. You can hear it here .

In lieu of real content (and sneakily recycling part of an older blog entry) I am going domestic and present a snippet of some e-mail between Sofia (my significantly better other half) from 13-June-2006. We always start by asking if the other one is at work. Sofia: So, are you there yet?? Me: Where? At the final destination of my life's journey? Did you know that Ken Thompson died yesterday (or the day before)? He was 82. He was also Canada's richest man. Sofia: Yes, I heard it on the radio this morning. So, how are you husbandito? Me: Half my life is over and my wealth is nowhere near $1 Billion. sigh. Sofia: Well, you still have the other half of your life to make it happen. Me: > You mean the half of my life when my body and mind start slowing down, falling apart and begin acting as an impediment rather than something I can rely on? Sofia: > Whether your body acts that well or not it is entirely up to you. If you take good care of your body, you can still rely o...

There are a number of injustices in this world. One of the greatest, I think, is that men can not bear children. I would love to have been able to bear a child or two or ten. I envied Sofia when she was pregnant. Aside from looking absolutely gorgeous - the "glow" as it is described (it is like being in a constant state of ovulation - women are so much prettier when they are ovulating), I loved to touch her belly, to feel its form, its tightness, to delight in sensing the odd kick. I wished I could feel the life growing inside me, moving in me, filling me. Men miss out on the closeness that exists between a mother and child. We can never know what it is like to bear life, to feel its joy within us. To nurture and nourish the child at our breast. Sure, we can hold our children, tenderly kiss and caress them, but there is a level of intimacy we can never know and for that I am jealous. Every woman I have mentioned this to thinks I am crazy - all they ever seem to comment on is ...

Several months back, Canadian Tire had a sale on multimeters. I bought 4 of them. This week, they are having a sale on cordless screwdrivers. I bought one on Saturday. I am considering buying at least 3 more. What possible excuse could a guy have for wanting to buy multiple tools of the same kind? (Aside for a pathetic attempt to compensate for his manhood?) Because I did not see a multimeter. I saw panel meters - something you could build into a project and use it as an instant display (without having to go through the bother of wiring up a display yourself). Granted, the scaling may be off, but that is easily taken care of with some minor circuitry. As well, when I held the cordless screwdriver in my hand (it is one of those pencil shaped ones, rather than gun shaped ones), I realized that this could be used as a reasonably high torque drive motor. And, to boot, it comes with its own battery - of course, I may have to disassemble it if I want to wire it up for continuous operation. ...

Found an interesting article in USA today. It certainly does not seem to correspond with popular notions, but ... at least for me, it seems to raise hope there are perhaps more men like me than I thought. Men are more likely than women to prefer marriage over lifelong singlehood and in many ways are as interested in serious family relationships as women, according to a study that provides the government's first comprehensive glimpse into the male psyche. The survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention involved more than 12,000 men and women ages 15 to 44. It asked a variety of questions about sex, living together, marriage, divorce and parenting. This the first time men have been included in the agency's study, which has been conducted periodically since 1973. The analysis, released Wednesday, focuses on their responses and offers some comparisons with women's attitudes. For example, to the statement "It is better to get married than go through life single...

It had rained last night and when I stepped walked out the door this morning, I breathed the rich ambrosia with its heavy sweetness and therapeutic essence which promises renewed life to those who drink from its cup. The still air is cool, but not cold; moist but not damp - fresh and cleansing. Of course, I also had a good start on the day, I was out the door by 06:00. For the curious, it was 13C (55F) this morning. Noble be man, Helpful and good! For that alone Sets hims apart From every other creature On earth. - Goethe, "The Divine" Image nabbed from here .

I am a procrastinator. It is hard for me to deny it. I procrastinate for many reasons, but they usually boil down to: 1) not in the mood 2) no sense of urgency 3) lack of information no sense of urgency: filing taxes on time, making a reservation, etc are all things I fail miserably at. The simple reason is that I just don't see the point. My world is not suddenly going to end if I delay it. I need to work on recognizing that the world has its own timetable that does not always coincide with mine. It also has arbitrary rules that, quite frankly, I see no point in - they exist solely for the point of existing (in my mind) and hence have no relevance to me. Need to be less arrogant and more in tune with the world around me - which is not a trivial thing for me to do. lack of information: this is simply another form of perfectionism, trying to make the perfect decision or doing a job perfectly, so I keep waiting until everything falls into place. It is pretty self defeating. I am ge...

Ever wanted to run away from home? I have. The last time was in late 1999, first half of 2000. I was really, really unhappy with my work environment. We had gotten a new engineering manager - the only nice thing about him that I can say is that he was very focussed on the end result. During that period, I felt like running away for two years or so. Go someplace green and warm just chill out. Needless to say, I wanted to be alone. The only other time I can recall wanting to run away was when I was a kid. Probably between the ages of 8 and 11 (or maybe 9 and 11 - definitely while still in elementary school). This had nothing to do with a miserable home life - I just wanted adventure. I wanted to run away and live in the forest. I had romantic visions of living inside the hollow of the trunk of some majestic tree. I dreamt of being stuck in my little oasis for days on end in the winter as the temperature dropped below -40C, with howling winds and blowing snow making any venture outside to...

This past Sunday, my church was celebrating couples who have been married a multiple of 5 years. Feeling optimistic, Sofia and I put our names down as celebrating 10 years in this coming September. There were 17 couples in total with anniversaries ranging form the lowly 10 years all the way up to 50 years. I was surprised to see two other mixed race couples (one were celebrating 30 years, the other 35 years) - since that seemed to be a more daring thing to do back then. In Quebec even marrying between English and French was pretty unusual – since the two cultures tend to remain separated. We renewed our wedding vows before Tania’s rapt attention (Jason was busy stacking hymnals so he could sit higher in the pew). Afterwards, we had a nice buffet lunch in the hall at the back of the church (this seems to be the only thing the kids were primary focussed on - constantly asking if the service was over so we could go eat). Sofia was a bit stressed (having the kids around was a bit of a dist...

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers fro...

If you are one of those who likes to peer into a mirror and see all your defects: crows feet, pores, sags, puffiness, pigmentation, etc (especially when compared to all those perfect people in magazines), perhaps your needs will be met with a little photo retouching. You can see examples here , here , and here . Undoubtedly you can find other examples. I just googled on photo retouching. Most hits were for Adobe Photoshop, but I am sure some creative searching can turn up many more examples. For something a little more artsy, you can check over here . Yeah, I am directing you away from this wonderful site. For some reason blogger still is refusing to accept image uploads from me.