The Trawna Diaries

Woke up this morning to a quip on CBC Radio One to effect that we're likely to break the local record monthly precipitation record for July. So, T-dot's wet n'soggy, with humid patches in between. OTOH, the temps have been decent, without too many days over 30˚C.


On the days that we've had rain, we've had _a lot_ of rain.
How are you holding out locally? Is your pup tent floating away?
Or are you digging down through the Sahara in search of water?

Am home finishing small house tasks tonight.
Finished applying a weather stripping kit to the balcony door.
Next; reconfiguring the DSL to phone line hook-ups to add dongles so that I can connect directly from the office (instead of having a long ethernet cable snake down the hall to the living room)

Priced out a good-looking but inexpensive kitchen counter, tile and new taps on the way home from work today. This is to finish polishing the kitchen (new paint on existing cupboards, new linoleum, new light fixtures and some additional outlets installed since I moved in seven years ago) before sale. I'm meeting with my handy person who's doing the installation on Friday and I need to have samples and a timeline ready.
Materials are going to run $300; then there's his labour.

I also priced out glazier's putty to re-caulk the balcony glass panels prior to painting; the building isn't going to do balcony work any time soon as an oil tank removal and parking lot repaving have been moved up the list. To the Board's credit, the decision was made after a second technical study deemed that the balconies were stable and safe; they have quite a list of work that needs doing over the next couple of years.

But I need to have a better looking balcony! Have to do a little reading to make sure that I'm going about this the right way.

Dr. Fly was up last week; it had been far too long since I last saw him. We went to the Fringe Theatre Festival; more to follow on that in a separate post.

Things are moving forward, must keep at it.

http://www.aninconvenientmusical.com/

(not much on the site yet... just some placeholder pages)

On the principal of you can laugh about just about anything.... should I go and see this and report back or not? :)

'Tis Fringe season in T-dot.

New telepresence technology:
http://www.humanproductivitylab.com/archive_blogs/2007/11/15/cisco_experimenting_with_an_on_1.php

Source of used stuff... and some pretty funny rants.
I think this is my current fave, right after last March's _Dear Winter_.

Another change.

I just posted an add for the Computer Pit's desk on Freecycle. The computer pit shall soon be no more.

The contents and goods have been moved into one of the bedrooms, which is being set up as a proper office until I move. The Computer Pit is being returned to it's original dining room function.

( The Ad )

as it returns to designed function, dining room.

Oooooh. Aaaaaah.

Out of curiousity, I quickly took a look at how much Craigslist and Kijiji.com are used in my former haunt of Lethbridge vs. the highly likely future haunt of Birmingham, AL.

Would you believe that little ol' Lethbridge (pop. 85,000) has a posting rate greater than the greater Birminham AL area (pop. 1,000,000)?

Either we Canucks are very thrifty or BIrmingham AL's used goods get flogged through other channels.

Stuff to rearrange. As usual, actual events are running a few days behind project timelines.

Am still moving office from the Treefort's dining area to the back bedroom (aka the master bedroom) to stage it as an office area. Which I may or may not need to do, as _another_ current owner in the building has contacted me, expressing interest in the unit.

Hmm. Have to think about all this.

Can I proclaim the joys and fascination with the local Craig's List and www.Kijiji.com websites? I'm looking for additional furnishings with which to fluff the place (IOW, finish the decorating I set out to do seven years ago) and man o' man, there is some awful stuff - and some absolutely great bargoons. Makes me wish I had a min-van, it does.
(Which I will have easier access to post-sale, as I intend to move in to the city where the Autoshare vehicles are handier).

Dr. Fly, you are duely warned.

The second recently-acquired-carpet has left for a new home. I can start moving the office into the back bedroom. Whoo hoo!

( Grokking the current state of the Canadian print industry )

I spent $3 for two lamp bases and $100 each for their new custom lampshades.
Results to be delivered in two weeks.

Those who know the Space Alien Lamp will be happy to know that it's losing it's beaten up chinese hat shade for a new linen drum.

The store staff and I had a lot of fun picking suitable fabrics to work with the paint and finish samples that I brought in, fussing over the exact dimensions and working out exactly what height of support posts needed to be added. They had so much fun that they are tossing in finishing accoutrements for me to paint and leaf as well.

Then, along the way, Mom and I stumble across the perfect 50's vintage sideboard/buffet at a garage sale to serve as a console table behind the sofa. Am making truck arrangements to go get it as we speak.

Sunday, May 25th is (among other things):

Towel Day, in honour of Douglas Adams. I'm going to carry mine - are you? I have a nice dark khaki green number, left over from my Canadian Armed Forces reserve days.

Nerd Pride Day. Although currently an underground Spanish observation, I say spread it far and wide. Sounds like fun. I can do art nerd.

I've been a big Doug Adams fan, ever since I heard tapes of the Beeb broadcast while in Britain on a highschool student exchange. Marked for life, Branded. Frooped. "Don't Panic" has been an excellent life motto, as has "always know where your towel is".

Preparing to put a residence up for sale is more work than one expects.

( Details, details, probably more than you want to hear )

I hate the idea of moving. I hate the idea of not being a property owner. I'm sliding off the bottom rung of the ladder and I don't like it one little bit.

OTOH, the place is going to look fabulous, once it's fluffed.

You don't get to 'leaf the lamp bases when the size has dried up in the can. Bike trip to Woolfitt's (the art supply store on Queen W.) tomorrow....

I have a whole mess of PDF format reference material that I need to make more portable for ongoing study. (a small collection, starting with the O'Reilly library and continuing on through pdf versions of a lot of graphic arts magazines)

If one was to go shopping for something portable for pdf viewing/reading, would the new electronic book readers be appropriate or should I simply look for a cheap used laptop?

So, I've spent most of the week attempting to hack up a lung (or two).

Monday's cough continued until sometime last night, despite repeated administration of inhalers and heavy duty doses of antihistamines. It alarmed the cat, co-workers and the LDR. You should be buying Cascades Paper stock - I bought enough paper towel to keep blowing my nose. And the itchy eyes? Well, I _just_ resisted clawing them out.

Tree sex does that to me - and the trees were in a hurry after a late start to spring, compressing a couple of weeks into, like, one.

But it quieted down to a dull roar this morning. My nose is almost dry, I'm content to leave my eyes in my head and my lungs are back to only feeling mildy soggy. If I'm brave, I'll ride tomorrow. If I'm wise, I'll take the bus.

I can't remember which species are my bete noir, but which ever, they had it in for me this year.

In other news, there are lots and lots of spring bulbs blooming and they all look very nice. I'm lusting after garden land, I am. If only I had the requisite cash to buy or rent the required house!

_Look Me in the Eye - my life with Asperger's_ by John Elder Robison.

( Velo's opinion fwiw )

Last weekend, we had a transit strike. After the union turned down a tentative agreement, the union leadership called for a strike without notice. Good move to pull on at 11 pm on a Friday night.

It lasted less than 48 hours because the Provincial legislature held an emergency session Sunday and passed back to work legislation. The public was really peeved, the mayor was pretty angry and the current union boss ended up looking like a serious dickhead.

( This clip is the best summary of the whole stinking mess that I've seen yet. )

Sib emailed this morning.

"Wanna go swimming?" she asked.

I thought about it a bit and then emailed back to say yes. Six hours and several years worth of filing later, I hopped on my bike and pedalled over to the Swansea Pool* to do some laps.

She did her tri training, i puttered and did about 800m in the same time and then we hopped back on our bikes and rode to our respective homes.

Four hours and a couple of phone conversations later and my body is attempting to hack up a lung and leave it bleeding on the carpet. Have taken a couple of shots of the higher powered lung stuff but it's not kicking in yet.

Damn allergies. I accomplished a fair amount today, but this body rebellion business is making me grumpy.
I love the spring but my body hates tree pollen.

*Swansea, in this case, being a Toronto neighbourhood

Finishing the second required reading software manual for new-to-me applications.
Still have to do some co-ordination crap in the morning before going to work.

Read a couple of forwarded articles regarding client expectations regarding estimating and pricing.
The pace of change in the printing world continues to rocket.

In a moment of disjointed reality yesterday morning, I watched a beaver waddle out from between apartment buildings to investigate our road's roadbed, currently being prepared for new pavement*.

At first glance, I thought it was a racoon. "Gosh, he's out late" I thought, "it's daylight, he should be packing it in". Our valley's nocturnal racoons raid the next door building's dumpster regularly, it being open with no lid. But he didn't have a bush tail, he had a flat one and he was a little darker in colour.

Yep. Urban beaver.

My guess is that he's a two-year-old, recently kicked out of the family group, out to stake his own territory. They wander a fair distance this time in the spring.

The city park crews won't be happy if he attempts to dam the rivelet down by the yacht** club. Nor will the yacht club if they suddenly have pond behind the docks.

* After a winter of on and off excavation and pipe installation, our section of the road is done. We're hooked up to shiny new gas mains, water mains and sewage lines. Next - pavement and new curbs. The road's also being widened 3 ft. to allow for parking on both sides of the road as well as better clearance down the centre.

**"Yacht Club" sounds more impressive than it is. It's a clubhouse and a narrow upriver marina suitable only for motor launches and motorized yachts. Shallow clearance restricts it to smaller boats. There are a few year round boat inhabitants, but not as many as in other marinas around the city. $50/year gets you a canoe storage berth.

The local animal wars have been raised a notch - Canadian Tire now sells specifically racoon-proof garbage bins. 'S'bout time! Zee urban racoon, zee is multiplying!

One year maternity leave replacement, a bit more than what I was making at my last major industry employer, but without benefits since I'm on contract.

When I am done here, I will have filled in the last of any remaining gaps in my graphic arts print education. I'm moving into packaging, doing pre-press and design work at an offset-sheet fed packaging plant. I will see and handle a lot of major NorAm brand and store label packaging. There is a good chance that my hands will electronically touch a box near you.

It's a family owned firm, they are nice people and i am one of the high-priced help. It helps to be able to come back and say, with all honesty, that they were one of three offers on the table.

I will continue to help out and train at the envelope outfit, I've registered my sole proprietorship and got my tax numbers. I am also developing a relationship that will be useful when it's time to start bidding and pricing on my own as one of the new owners is a print broker with twenty years experience in the biz and the other is wickedly smart printer. Velochic Design will take shape this next year.

April Wine and Rick Mercer are presented at events as a draw.

I mean, I liked April Wine in their day, but..... they're _old_!
Get over it already!

Rick Mercer, OTOH, can come over and vacuum my rug, any time he wants. Although, he has been going a bit mainstream of late.

U.S. House prices, plotted as a rollercoaster

I want one for Canada and other countries, just for comparison.

Project!

Sign-up here:

Toronto coverage

Signed up and ready to power down.

I've been sending out my self-imposed quota of resumes, either for graphic-design related gigs or for other. Five a day. With cover letters. Most have to be tailored a bit for the job, with some stuff in and different bits out. Takes a while, doing it that way.

Today's lot took six hours. Sent the last one at 3:30 pm.

1. Fastest freakin' reply to a reply _evah_!

Find job posting on www.workopolis.com. Send resume and cover email at 3:30 pm. Get call from personnel firm at 5:15 pm. Sit here filling out an online info form at 6 pm. Some portions of the form won't fill and the recruiter has gone home. Grrrrr. Interview with Big International Personnel firm tomorrow at 1:30 pm. Hmph.

It's for Big Canadian Corporate Bank, is in HeadOfficeLand and requires a suit.
I think I have one jacket that would pass for a suit. That isn't an antique. That may fit.

Is temp contract. Is less than I was making, but enough to survive on if I can sublet the apartment. Let's go through the motions.

2. Interview with Big New Engineering Start-up on Monday. Met with one of the printing industry's most connected, most quietly "in the right place" matchmakers Tuesday. Got the email this morning that one's a go. Have to put new sample work together over the weekend for both.

Was downtown at the Reference Library for a 'going back to school" seminar and rapid orientation. Things have changed a lot this past decade. While Canadian school application lead times are much longer than American (seven - nine months) they are recognizing www.wes.org evaluations. Which means that I _may_ be able to do an end run around the blessed degree requirement after all. We shall see..... Watch this spot for further details.

Rapid drive-by post, in between sending out job applications. (have to meet my quota)

The woodpeckers are back. There is a air of them working the oak tree outside my window at the Treefort.

The rule of thumb is that it takes one eighteen months to max out x, x being:

a) a server;
b) a computer system;
c) a relationship;
d) storage; or
e) a credit card.

I have found the limits of at least one in this timeframe.

Shirley

The Treasury department has started to move against foreign-based, foreign-hosted, foreign-targetted but registered with U.S. domain registrars who are doing things that they deem unacceptable.

This is why all my domains are registered through a Canadian registrar and that the one that contains personal information and business documents is hosted in on a Canadian server.

This is sort of thing is the biggest argument for _not_ going to Web 2.0 collaborative networks and remote server file storage for anything that is likely to be remotely sensitive.

All you tech heads out there know the game.
I came late the party.


And for a riff on an earlier earworm, try this one on for size. Make sure no bosses are within range and the kidlet's ears are covered. U.S. political, cheerfully rude.

Sent seven applications out for retail sales gigs for which I have relevant background; paint sales, a local women's plus size store and two art store gigs.

I had sent out ten industry apps yesterday. Google Analytics says that my site visits shot up this morning and it isn't all my SSM and LJ pals.

I have a backlog of fifteen industry gigs to apply for and another eighty-five "Velo-has-to-eat" type things where the pay is less than I have been getting, but more than a bunch of the lowballing Craig's List graphic design gigs. I have a diverse skill set, but am decidely short on paper qualifications.

Have to admit that I'm feeling panicked.

I think I'm done for now.

Just put a three day push in to finish the website update.

History: _Finally_ nailed down a clean page last weekend. I had been running into problems due to lack of developer knowledge (moi) regarding current browser handling re CSS. I scaled back my ambitions and hammered out a compromise. Bingo! - a clean, bug-free page that compliled with XHTML(strict) standards - more or less.

Also, because I decided to address the display window size, reducing it slightly, this turned into a fairly major revision instead of just a menu tweak as I originally envisioned. Starting on Sunday (and in between some pro bono organizing stuff) I started resizing images, building out the master CSS and recomposing the pages. Finished the first pass on Friday and then spent Saturday and today tracking down bugs and errors in code.

I think it's pretty clean now. Thus ended Phase I, except for any obvious bugs or display issues. I don't think there's many as I was pretty careful with this build.

Take a look, and if you see anything, send me a report, along with which platform, browser and version(s) you're using.

I'm not going to add much to the current portfolio samples; I think my next push should be on new content. I want to take down direct email contact on Phase II, putting in a contact window on the Contact page, along with a sign-up for email notification of new work. Also as part of Phase II, I want to add more humour and a sense of fun with subtle supporting elements - along with new content.

Elissa, when you're ready, contact me regarding your website redesign.

Toronto has developed a very interesting furniture scene over the past twenty years.

In addition to the downtown west junktique district at Queen and Roncy, there are other second-hand furniture store clusters on Queen East just before the Beaches and in the Junction.

We've grown up a home-grown design industry, furiously churning out a mix of high-end limited runs and mass merch offerings of sometimes questionable taste. (Sofas are expensive to transport from the Far East) Thank you Leon's. Thank you more for starting to go upmarket.

Our Craig's List is _very_ active and the garage sales are swarmed by pickers at 7 am.

You know you've arrived with Design Within Reach (of your pocketbook) arrives in town. They opened last week on Queen West. Either they're brilliant (Toronto's real estate market is still charging ahead; combination of Echo Boomers purchasing first condos, Toronto-as-safe-haven-for-foreign-money and Gen-Xers and tail-boomers (like me*) arriving late to the party.) or they're idiots and They Will Fail.

Why all this? Plethora of cool finds on Craig's List. But I'm not allowed to play until this work is done.

*The Canadian baby boom started later than the American one, was larger per capita and ran later. My birth year was the busiest. There's an awful lot of my cohort out there.

A truly nasty storm. Freezing rain, mixed with snow and for the second time this winter, thunder!

This year, in Canada, you volunteer for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games through www.workopolis.com.

Click, don't wait and listen to Terry O'Reilly's _Age of Persuasion_.

This is one of my favourite shows on radio today; witty, insightful, educational and cheerfully slicing and dicing the business in which I've earned my living for the past two decades.

This is it's second season. Terry cheerfully tells you what works and why, what he hates (he'll surprise you) when branding works and when it doesn't, and the problems of getting your message out in the current cluttered universe.

Just had to share!

Forgive me, for I am about to share a music enthusiasm.
( Kathleen Edward's new album, released today. )

Am listening to a CBC Radio One _Sunday Edition_ piece on airline pricing and air travel experiences (they're touching on the air traveller's rights movement in the States, pricing, air travel points, regulation, et al) while doing tax paperwork. As part of that, I learned that a lot of unclaimed baggage is sold off at www.unclaimedbaggage.com, based in Scottsboro, Alabama, east of Huntsville and northeast of Birmingham.

Sunday Edition live stream (I'm listening at 10 am est, The show repeats through three timezones west, for your listening pleasure)

http://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/index.html

Shirley

Squirrelish turf wars, frantic tail twitching and NASCAR racing up and down trees as courtship rituals begin.

I was wrong. It wasn't 22 Minutes, it was from Rick Mercer's show. My bad. But still the funny. :)

I'll doing the production and workflow management at the new Toronto Cyclist's Union magazine. Pro bono, but guaranteed glowing street cred and fancy title.

And, I'll be working downstream of one of the sharper ID shops in the city.

We're supposed to be getting another 10 -20 cm Sunday. The stuff keeps coming. We live in Canada. Why are we surprised?

Does it have anything to do with the fact that we've now had the snowiest February in 50 years? And that there's still two weeks left in the month?

A little link I wish to note for future use after a GDC discussion about how to prevent student plagarism and copying in photoshop classroom exercises.:

http://www.interpares.org/

Lorres</lj> and GenomeKelly</lj>, take note.

Tags: authenticity, authoring, copyright, digital information

The technical problem that caused my Monday night meltdown is obscure enough that the web geek bro-in-law sez that it's going to take him some time to figure out what's going on. I stumped an expert!

Anyone else up to the challenge of helping me figure out why a drop-down menu javascript generated in Fireworks isn't running correctly within a nested CSS coded page? And why my nicely rounded corners aren't showing properly?

The working copy. Passwords may be required as it's in an htaccess protected folder.
and I can e-mail screen captures of what I'm seeing in Dreamweaver.

If I can fix this, I can then proceed with the site polish.
I'm also open to more experienced developer/production people's suggestions as to cleaner construction techniques.

It takes carbon traders to trade carbon credits. It's now officially A Job(TM).