This is how my family spent a chilly winter Thursday night.
Cozy, warm, toasty, relaxing. Definitely needed after a rather brutal work week.
Now I am off to bed early. Novel concept.
Toasty Concept
Error Documentation
I just logged on to my computer, and had this error message displayed on the screen. I am pretty savvy when it comes to web technologies, and I have a vague notion of what certificates are and how they are used. My problem is that I don’t know what application popped this up, nor why. I don’t know or understand what can or will happen with either the yes choice or the no choice. Does this mean a trusted website has been compromised? Whatever application opened this did a poor job with the UI. What will happen when I just close the dialog (top right X).
What are less techy people supposed to do with this dialog. I think that software developers around the world do a pretty poor job of writing to the lowest common denominator. This is just one example of pretty horrible user interfaces (UI) I have seen.
From a developers perspective I know it can be difficult to create a good UI that flows nicely, works, and makes sense. Sometimes it is easier to just make it work, and explain it in the documentation. For this example, what documents should I read?
It really is no wonder some people get so frustrated with computers and software.
Today Snow
This started today around noon. Snow. In Victoria. Cool.
Work Post
Hmmm, what’s wrong with this picture? I am at work, typing up a post. Anyone spot the problem here?
Misty Macaulay
Misty, foggy morning today. Yoshi didn’t mind at all on his walk though. Ran and ran and ran.
We stopped on the hill in Macaulay Point Park for a bit to let Yoshi play with some other dogs. All was fine until a ChuckIt was produced. Once Yoshi see’s that thing, no other dog (nor Sox and I) exist anymore. All that exists is the ball that will be released by the ChuckIt.
Peeling him from the ball we continued on our walk, and he forgot all about it. The rest of the afternoon he has spent at my side sleeping. Such a good dog.
Salmon Club
Yesterday was a pretty busy day. Sox and I headed up to Nanaimo to pick up our new car. Very cool. We did a little test on the way home. We both filled up before leaving Nanaimo, then filled up again in Victoria. The CRV used half the gas that the truck does. Holy crap what a difference. Nice car to drive too. Maybe Sox will let me drive her car some time. 😉 Just kidding babe.
After getting back to Victoria, eating dinner, we got ready to go to a Salmon Kings game. The game was very enjoyable. Definitely a step up from the Salsa, and I enjoyed every Salsa game I saw. Lots of action, some good goal scoring. With the game tied at the end of the third, I couldn’t wait. I headed for the washroom, hoping to be back before they hit the ice. In the can I heard them take the ice. 10 seconds later there was a large cheer as they scored the winning goal. All the guys in the can cursed their luck (myself included). I missed the winning goal, but still thought the game was great.
Pics are here.
After that we headed out to the Canoe club for drinks and food. Way cool time.
Chewer Deck
Today was my day to come home to walk Yoshi. Something about Yoshi that many people don’t know. He is a chewer. Like many pointers he chews when he is bored. Throughout the time we have had Yoshi, he has eaten or destroyed many household items. Plastic and wood are his favorite chew toys. Wooden mixing spoons, plastic cutting boards, wooden salad servers, wooden napkin holder, plastic buckets, 2 sink drain plugs (one he ate the rubber off of, the other just disappeared), and now a deck of cards have all fallen
To be honest, this one was my fault. Sox and I played a game of cribbage, and jokingly I tossed this deck on the ground. I claimed that I wasn’t going to pick it up, but my intetion was to throw the deck away (it was missing a card). Instead I totally forgot to do anything with them. Yoshi got a new chew toy today and it was my fault. Doh!
Beyond that slip up, we aren’t really sure what causes Yoshi to decide to snag something from the counter and go on a rampage. We know he does it when bored, but what makes a dog decide he is bored? We alway leave toys out for him. There is almost always bones or other chew toys for him. What is so appealing about a deck of cards over a nice smoky bone? Just what does run through that little pea brain of his?
Shredder Paperwork
Today Sox and I did a little spring cleaning in the fall. We have decided to perform a makeover on our filing system. To facilitate this we needed to purge the crap, to make room for the keepers.
This was the result of the purge. Who really needs bank statements from 2000? What about pay stubs from 1998? Sheehs. The biggest thing we have to decide is what to keep. Of course, in this day and age, it isn’t safe to just put all this stuff in the recycling. We purchased a shredder a while ago, and it got quite a workout today. Just look at all this paper! Yikes. We probably should have done this a lot sooner.
What sort of paperwork are you supposed to keep anyway?
Morning Escape
After several days of intense rain, something made me want to go mountain biking. On Friday I told a co-worker that I would definitely be in for a Sunday ride. This morning, seeing the wind and rain almost made me want to change my mind. Instead I perservered and went anyway. It turned out to be a great ride, and I am glad I went.
Taking Yoshi with me, I picked up Mike, met up with another friend of his, then the three of us, and the two dogs piled into my truck on our way to the dump. Yoshi was itching for a big run, and as we left the parking lot I wondered if the weather would hold. The route I took kept us to the lower trails. I chose this specifically so I could keep an eye on my dog to make sure he could handle the exercise. If something were to go wrong I knew I could easily get myself and Yoshi out quickly.
An escape route was never needed. As we rode through the trees, I looked up and saw blue. Turned into quite a nice day after all.
At the end of the ride I was pretty pooped. Yesterday’s yardwork, and today ride have left me quite wiped. It is a great feeling though.
Yoshi did great too. At the start he was running around all over the place, up on the hills, down in the puddles, alongside me, in front of me, and once in a while he lagged behind me. He was pretty slow by the end of the ride, which was nice to see. This afternoon you can hardly tell I have a dog. He has been curled up sleeping the entire day away. He is a little stiff when he gets up though. He might have overdone it a little.
After eating some lunch, and having a long hot shower, all I can think about is a nap. Not today though. I have too many other things I want to do.
Productive Waste
So, here is the scoop. I feel like I have been very negative here on the blog as of late. I am not sure why, but it seems like I have just been using this blog as a place to vent. I am going to try and curb that a little.
So let’s begin now.
Today was a fairly productive day around the house. While Sox was walking Yoshi, I got outside and started raking the leaves in the front yard. Wow. I had done the back yard already (not that you could tell by looking at it right now), so I thought the front would be a little easier. Wrong. Big time wrong. I was working hard for close to 3.5 hours. Raking in to piles, piling onto a tarp, taking the tarp to the truck, dumping it, and repeating.
Felt good to get it done, but I was sure beat by the time I was done. So far this year I have taken 4 full truck loads of leaves to the municipal yard. I am very glad that I have access to that resource. It is close to home, and free for Esquimalt residents. Sweet deal all around.
The municipal yard is well used too. Each time I have taken a load there, it is full of people dropping yard waste off. Way better than taking it out to Hartland.