Old Postings

August 25, 2003

Things on the site should look a little different today. I'm going to switch to a little more easy to look at style.

On a different note, I shot Trap over the weekend. A heck of a lot of fun. The recoil on the 12 guage I was shooting was nowhere near what I expected.

I did finish the government mandated course, and passed, so I am now awaiting the governments decision.

August 12, 2003

Definitely enjoying the shooting thing. I'll finish the government mandated gun safety course tomorrow night, which means that barring unforeseen circumstances, I'll be all licensed up in a couple of months. I'll be doing a PPC course over this weekend, learning a bit more about gun safety and use. Should be a lot of fun.

August 2, 2003

Man, it's been a while since I updated this page. I got motivated by the recent comments by the Shrub, and the Pope concerning the rights of gays to have their long term relationships legally equivalent to that of heteros. My first reaction to the Pope's dumbass comments was to realize that I could never again vote for a Catholic in good conscience. Either the person running for office follows their faith, in which case I can't vote for them, or they are selectively following bits of their faith, and I won't vote for somebody who won't is that indecisive about their faith and/or morality. The Shrub's comments were about to be expected. Idiotic, and most probably designed to sidetrack people from the fact that he lied to the people of the United States of America about the reasons for going to war, and the fact that the American economy has gone into a tailspin now that they have a president trying to run the country rather than trying to get a little nookie.

In other news, my coworker David took us out to the gun range recently which resparked my interest in target shooting. As a result, I arranged for a group of us to take the Canadian Firearms Safety Course to get all licensed up. It's a real fun activity, kind of like a loud version of darts.

Locally, on a more personal issue, we've been following Citizen Canine's efforts to ensure that more parks are designated as off leash areas. City Hall's report can be found on the citys website under Commitee of the Whole Minutes. Councillor Denise Savoie's take : Savoie says she likes the adopt-a-park idea because it's not just about sharing space, but also about the quality of that space. While children are not disease vectors for dogs, "dogs are disease vectors for children," according to Savoie.Best quote of the meeting again goes to Savoie : "I think dogs are good, but dog shit--not good,"

Other than that, my life has been the usual mix of crazy work hours, and more crazy work hours. We briefly hired a fellow to try and help me out, but he turned out to be an idiot, so we let him go. Hopefully we'll find somebody who customers actually like, and has enough brains to be able to help the customers figure out what they like.

February 28, 2003

god- damn

On the bright side, they probably won't deport me to Northern Ireland when I go to Austin. I'm white after all.

February 27, 2003

Tried to set things up to use Blogger, but apparently Shaw won't allow ftp connections from outside their network. Now that's just pooey!

One month until I head off to Austin, TX for the AGS Conclave. I'm getting pretty excited about it. There's a lot of good courses. I'm kind of dissapointed that Lara isn't joining me. Last year was fun, and I'm not sure it'll be as fun by myself.

On a more global topic, I'm betting money now. The American invasion of Iraq will have started by March 15th. It's a foregone conclusion at this point that the war will start. They need this war for too many reasons. I honestly don't think it can be stopped. It's tragic.

February 20, 2003

Started work on my GAGTL course again. I'm getting psyched because I'm off on my first solo holiday in years. I'm off to Austin, Texas for the annual American Gem Society conclave. I want to be a Registered Jeweller by the time I go to the one in 2004. Should be fun.

Things have actually been pretty quiet around here, relatively speaking, so we've been focussing on our personal lives to a certain extent. Starting at the beginning of the year, I've started to diet. I realized that I had reached 245 pounds. Lara has been following the Atkins diet. As a vegetarian, that diet is pretty much impossible, but I've modified it a little but for myself. I've discovered that by cutting out carbohydrates and substituting a lot more soy and other bean proteins. I've also been eating a lot of Tofu dogs and veggie mushroom burgers, but the really cool thing is that I've been eating a lot more vegetables instead of huge bowls of pasta. Other little things I've changed in my diet are changing from sugar in my coffee to honey, no more sugary snacks, and using this weird Atkins chocolate syrup for my Mochas. I've now dropped twenty pounds, and yesterday I did something even more radical; I've joined a gym! I'll keep you updated.

I won't bore you too much about my current projects, but let's just say that at the moment, I'm splitting my time with three major fights. The first is a copyright case with a local jeweller who stole one of our designs, and then had the temerity to advertise it in one of the magazines we advertise in. THe second is the ongoing battle with the federal government over the punitive excise tax on jewellery in Canada. And last, but certainly not least, A fight with Canada Post over their employees STEALING from not just us, but the jewellery industry generally. Yes, some Canada Post employees are THEIVES!!!! Am I pissed off? Yes!.

January 24, 2003

Finally have some time to put something up here. There should be some new bookmarks up, but I'm not sure how many I lost when my iBook died AGAIN!

So in the last month we've been subjected to some of the best warmongering I've seen in my life. Shrub et al have been banging the drum to thump Iraq, and I honestly don't see it being avoided. Kind of makes me sick.

Speaking of being sick, The Supremes ruled against Eldred in the case I ranted about last year. I can's say that I'm surprised, but I am dissapointed. The closing of the commons is now taking place in the intellectual sphere.

Continuing this stream of consciousness, we've been redecorating our home. We did the living room over christmas, and now we're most of the way through the kitchen. I want the next thing to be our bedroom, but Lara wants to do the bathroom first. We'll see who wins that bet.

I'm going to try and keep this up a bit better this year, as I've realized how useful it is for me to look back at the archives. Ta Ta for now.