Alert Providers

I read today about how there was a lockdown on the UBC campus recently. The CBC article I read mentioned that UBC is building a text message alert system for students (and faculty I presume).

So far only 40% of the students have signed up so far.

My thought was why is UBC building this system? Their system can only contact the phones they know of. If that person is away on vacation, and the system is activated, they will get a message. Also, how fast can UBC’s system pump out the text messages?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to get the cell phone providers to do this? They could blanket a specific area and get every phone in that target area. I bet they even have a broadcast functionality already built in too. To me this would seem way more effective and useful. Telus, Rogers, and Bell. Easy, peasy.

via CBC Website

Carcassonne Experiment

One of my Christmas gifts from Sox was a game called Carcassonne. We’ve read the rules and played a few games, and so far we love the game. It is a great two player game which is what Sox was looking for (I think she was getting tired of backgammon).

Each player takes a turn grabbing and placing a tile. It must match up with the surrounding tiles. Once the tile is down the player can choose to play a follower, then the player scores any completed features (roads, cities, or cloisters). A follower can be played as a farmer too which affect the end of the game scoring.

So far we have had some very fun games as we learn and experiment. We’ve each had a turn getting totally obliterated by the other, and last nights game ended in a tie.

It is a thinking game, which isn’t very good when either of us is tired, but it is really fun. We have each pointed out moves that the other has missed which is helping us learn. If you are looking for a new board game for home, I highly recommend Carcassonne.

Appear Falling

I did end up taking Yoshi out for a walk today. As I opened our front door I could see a few snowflakes falling here and there. The walk itself was nice and crisp. Snow fell off and on the entire time and sometimes the sun would hide behind the clouds, and other times it would appear and take the chill off slightly.

To give an idea of how fast the weather was changing, just look at these two pictures. They were taken looking toward the cruise ship terminal about 8 minutes apart.

By the time I got home I think it had warmed slightly as a light rain was falling. It was good to get out for some fresh air and exercise.

Frozen Fern

Yoshi and I went for a walk at Thetis yesterday. Victoria has been cold here for a few days but I was still surprised to see the amount of ice on the lake. In fact, upper Thetis lake was completely frozen over. Yoshi didn’t really pay any attention to that fact, and certainly had a good romp.





At one point he needed a drink, and had to crunch through the ice to get to the water. He was a little confused by that. I can’t imagine how cold the water must have felt, but there he was standing in it drinking!



The overcast sky ensured that the forest was a surreal green. I found this one old tree that was covered in moss and ferns. Very cool. I was on a timetable though, so I didn’t hang around too long taking pictures. We had a birthday party to get to!







The walk wasn’t as long as Yoshi needed, but it did the trick. Today I hope to get him out again.

Account Busy

This post is an account of my day yesterday. At the time it didn’t really seem like I had done a lot, but when I tally all the chores and activities, holy smokes, I was busy.

  • I got up to feed the dog (I played Poker the night before)
  • discovered Sprout had what looked like Pink Eye so I took him to the clinic to get checked out (also meant we missed our first day of Sportball)
  • picked up sandwich platter for a baby shower at our house
  • dropped off Sprout’s prescription
  • walked Yoshi with Sprout
  • picked up drugs
  • went for lunch with Sprout
  • went on a photo shoot
  • made some dinner
  • got Sprout bathed after dinner then into bed
  • did some dishes
  • cleaned up Sprout’s toys

Productive day.  It was a good thing I had the energy to do this since now Sox has come down with a cold and has no energy for all this.  The Pink Eye also means Sprout is not in daycare today, and since Sox is sick, I  have been on duty for him today too.

Today (so far) we:

  • got up and had some breakfast
  • walked Yoshi at the park in the wagon
  • went to a coffee shop for snack time
  • had a nap while dad did some computer stuff

Sox had a conference call which is why we got out of the house for a bit.  Busy times, but the great thing about that is that it goes quickly, and I feel great when I reflect on how much I got done.

Chips Break


The poker gods were kind to me last night. I was short stack for such a long time. During the first half of the game I played poorly and paid for it. I just kept losing my chips.

I managed to hang on to fourth place for quote a while, and ended up being backed into a corner. I was at a point where either I had to go all in, or I would be forced to play a few weak hands to get enough to make a surge. I went all in at the right time, got lucky, and doubled up.

My odds were getting better, but I was still the short stack. I caught another break, and was dealt a JK. The flop was a nice 10QA. Ooooh, I just had to ensure I didn’t chase everyone away. Thankfully I caught one guy who had a pair of queens, and he went all in. I called, and won the hand. From there on out I was the chip leader, so I was able to play with a bit more comfort, and ended up knocking out the remaining two players.

Quite a fun night. I always need to remember to play smart, and to trust my gut. Most times when I try to convince myself to stay in the hand I end up losing. I also need to remember that it is never too late to fold, regardless of how much I have already put in the pot.

Package Sticks

The package that caused me concern when it ended up in Mississauga while on its way to Victoria from Richmond? Well, as I mentioned in a previous post it was RAM for the computer at home. I installed those sticks today bumping the system from 512MB to 2GB.

Nice and easy upgrade that is treating me right. Editing pictures now takes less time, Firefox runs better, and RSS Bandit is happier too. Now to install PaintShop Pro X2!

Leopard Collapse

The aquarium is complete. On the weekend I got 2 new fish, a couple of Leopard Danios. They are very neat fish to watch. A basic silver fish, with very large fins. What is cool about the way they swim is that while they coast through the water the fins collapse so the fish look very sleek. When they flick their fins to get moving the fins seem to grow. These fish are very interesting to watch.

My tank now consists of 1 Tequila Sunrise Guppy, 1 Neon Tetra, 3 Leopard Danios, 2 Orange Platys, and 1 Yellow Apple Snail. I also have a couple live plants in the water, and occasionally I give the animals some fresh food, usually Zucchini.