HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

2 words

 

Fail blog

 

Google it, you'll soo enjoy the results.

...and it goes back

So it was fun while it lasted.

I played with Win7 for a bit o the computer, but I just didn't have the space on the hard drive to work it. Then I went and played with getting it on my laptop.  It took some real playing around to get it ghosted on.  Then there was problems with the touchpad, the vga driver etc... I got it worked out - so if you're trying to get se7en on a netbook, email me and I can help you.

I played around with it for a while, and it was working well.  Then against better judgement (I had read something on the forums against this) I installed messenger.  Hrmm... I tried to boot it into safe mode to uninstall it, but it wouldn't let me.  I couldn't boot into normal mode 'cuz it crashes with msn.

So here I am with XP again.  It works, I know it inside and out... I'll wait to get a hard drive for playing with seven on my desktop.

Lately I don't get along with electronics

So I've been putting a big push on lately to 'digitize' my work.  I've started to use OneNote to assemble items for projects and reports.  Google Docs for collaboration and sharing docs.  Access to track etc... I like to make things efficient.  If possible.

 

One way lately was that the phone I was given was pretty basic.  I'm used to my PDA... and I didn't want to fill up my palm with all work stuff AND my own.  It'd be too bloated.  I should find one just for work... and if it was a phone as well... I've never used a Treo, but I think I'd like to try.

 

So I do what most people like me do when they want something but are too cheap... they eBay.  I found a Treo700w.  And it wasn't a bad price so I get it home and play with it.  Not bad... since there was no Wifi on it, I try getting the BT part to work... no dice... well not easily.  And without a sync cable it's even harder.  Eventually I get it to workable condition.  I go to TBayTel to see if they'll switch the phone over.  Luckily they say they can't without a lock code and I'll need that to do it.  So I go home to find it and in my curiosity I decide to go and play around with the BT update... and as it turns out it bricks the phone.

 

Almost a full hour on the phone with Palm tech support leads me to believe that nobody at Palm understands what people ask.  Palm keeps saying that:

1. we won't replace it
   
2. we don't recommend that you do the upgrades we put on our site
   
3. we won't replace it
   
4. we don't fix phones either
   
5. headquarters doesn't have a 1-800 number
   
6. we won't replace it

After I've said to them that I didn't want it replaced they kept harping on the point that they wouldn't replace it... ugh.  What really gets me is that they said "we don't recommend you do the updates".  I mean... there was nothing on the site saying "don't do this IF"... in fact it was quite the opposite.

Oh, well... hopefully this guy in Ottawa can fix it.  I'd still like to try it out.  Windows Mobile does look kinda neat.

My next foray into something drastic is to try to find a way to get Windows 7 on my laptop.  I've tried it on the computer... and it's wicked... then I screwed something up and had to take it off... but I think I did it in the wrong way and now there's a folder on my one drive I can't get to...

Well digging on the eeePC forums I found a way to 'ghost' the files onto the laptop.  But this time I'm being smart.  I'm ghosting the image of the laptop as a backup... so I can 're-ghost' if I foul things up severely... hopefully.

25 minutes of backing up the old hard drive... 42 to go... so that means in roughly 2 hours I should have se7en on my eeePC.  i'm such a geek about it!

Wii life

I swear I had written this up already, but I guess not.

 

So we did get the Wii.  I was told by the Future Shop people that they would be in stock on the Friday an that they'd be open at 10am.  I asked if I would be allowed to reserve one they said "no, just show up".  So I had a breakfast appointment to make for 830 and I'd be able to make it no problem.

 

The breakfast appointment was for Churchill's co-op employer's appreciation.  Free meal!  And I got to mingle with some of the employers in town.  Not a bad deal.

I finished up around 915 or so.  So I had time to kill.  I went to Starbuck's and hung out on the free Wifi... seeing as I had time and there was no need to rush.  I didn't want to be "that guy" standing at the doors of the shop waiting for it to be open.

 

Finally I go to the shop and park the car in the lot.  There's a few cars around... and a few people in the little 'foyer' of the shop (it was bitterly cold).  I still held my ground.  I don't want to be one of the 'rushers'.  So I wait a bit longer as they still haven't opened the doors.  Then I start to see that they are handing bits of paper to the people in the lobby.  Hrmm...  I better investigate.

 

I get into the lobby at 10:05 and it's packed.  I ask somebody what the deal with the paper is and they say it's to reserve your Wii... CRAP CRAP CRAP.

 

So I see some official looking guy and ask if there's any left, as they start to open the doors and the flood of people go in.  He says there is but disappears.  Now people are lining up.  Now I'm a bit concerned... hrmm...  I start to look about and finally the dude gets me #41.  Yeehaw, now to go sit in line.

 

LOOONG LINE

 

Essentially it's people who, like me, had no realization that this would be as it was.  That it was going to be a limited supply or such a demand for it.  As I'm standing in line I'm explaining what I know about Wiis to other people who are just about willing to pay the extra $100 to have somebody install it (it's 3 wires... really!?) when I notice that off to the side there is a stack of like 100.  So I grab the dude who gave me #41 and ask him why I needed this piece of paper if there's obviously a large pallet over there.  He rushes an answer of "it guaranteed you one".  And then I see the light.  Not too bad a system.  Were there not any numbers, people would have mad dashed in and just scrambled over them.  Much like that Russian store that was selling cheap laptops.  This prevented it.  Good job FS.

 

So we have it now... and it's not too bad.  I've been playing Sports for a while and doing the fitness test.  When we first did it, I had like 60+ and that was weird.  I got it to like 50 or so.  Then dad comes over and scores like 46.  Pfft...  I think I'm 37 today according to it.  It really goes back and forth alot.  I've had as low as like 25 or something.  Just so long as I don't have to do boxing for my test.  I absolutely HATE boxing.  It makes no sense.  Stupid sensors.

 

So, I need some games to get.  We got the 2nd remote now... and I'm struggling with getting an actual game game, or just get these challenge type games.  If I were to get a GAME game, I'd probably just play it way too often.

Our newest purchase (to be)

So... we have a few gift certificates to burn up.  My hope was for one of those big USB drives... that way I can start to save space on my hard drives and install Windows 7 permanently.

But in pondering which one to buy I had a couple of other options swim through my head and in a silly move I decided to voice one of these options... ever since Mandy now punctuates her sentences with:

I love you... but I'd love you more if we had the Wii

So... I've had to do some searching for a console in town.  Well I say searching; what I mean is looking through the flyers to find the best deal in town on one and then see if Future Shop will meet it and if they have any in stock (btw - not until Friday).

We'll be Wii people... not sure exactly how I feel about it, but I do think it's cool.

So what should we get?  Mandy wants the Fit... we'll grab the Wii Play as it's essentially a cheap spare remote... Kelly has a bunch of suggestions; what's yours?

I never did finish up the entries for my trip

I found myself with a moment or so at work with nothing to do (which is insane as this week is nuts for meetings).  So I peruse my own blog (yes, I know I need more photos up soon) and noticed that I had blogged 2 days of my trip, but not the 3rd.  Well I"ll catch you up on that right now.

So the day started out a bit earlier than I liked as I stated earlier that there were hockey players at the hotel and if I wanted anything for breakfast (ahh, the continental breakfast) I would have to get up fairly early.  So I did.. got my hard boiled eggs and then I promptly went back to bed seeing as my appointment with HIEC wasn't until 930 and they were just down the road.

When it was time to get up and checkout of the hotel I got in my rental and drove just down the road to my appointment.  Which would be normally quite simple, however, the building they were in was a weird conglomeration of many businesses and I couldn't find their entrance.   So I circled a few more times before calling them up and asking.

As I said earlier, the guy I was to meet was sick so that cut out alot of what I was to meet with them about.  It was a good meeting had some good talks about what we do and some of the suggestions how to make it better.  All in all, a good session.  I opened my mouth and I think I might have volunteered myself for something more than I wanted... we'll see.  But really worthwhile trip.

When we were done I stole some internet and headed on out.  I was getting ready to head into Toronto when I glanced at my clock and it said it was only like noon.  My flight wasnt until 9pm so I wasn't going to wait that long.  Anybody I knew in TO was probably working so I couldn't do any visiting...

So I decided to drive on down to Barrie... brutal roads on the way there.  Really dry and windy so it would  blow across the highway limiting visibility.  But I made it to Burnett's & Struth and looked about the shop.  Mandy wanted some tartan for a quilt... and they had $6 scrap bags... but I wanted MacAlpine - but at $80/meter it was't to be.  So I just bought another MacAlpine scarf (for $30) and headed back to TO.  I get to Pearson and find the drop off for the car; which is  cool system in itself.  Some guy just comes out, loks over the car, prints you off a receipt and you walk away.

The receipt for the rental was a bit ower than I expected and as I got my gear ready to get ito te airport I noticed it was barely 3... hmm 6 hours to kill.  So I call Kelly, just to say I did.  I knew she was working and wouldn't be able to come out and visit, and if I could have stayed, I woulda gone into town for like 5 o'clockish and then have to be back for like 7... so that woulda been impossible if I was to use public transit... and had I kept the rental it woulda been a bitch to find parking and etc... still woulda been a tough feat to make it.

To help pass the time I check in with the airline and and check my baggage.  Turns out that my suitbag wasn't the heaviest bit of my luggage.  That laptop of work's is HUGE... and the charger is big as well.  Maybe I'm just used to my eeePC, and maybe it was the combo of both laptops ... but that bag got heavy quick.

I missed lunch on the trip out to Barrie so I thought I'd get some at the airport.  There was a Swiss Chalet which wasn't too bad.  I hoped it would chew up 2 hours... but when it was not even 1 hour and I was almost done I got concerned.  But as luck would have it te waitress practically inored me for almost an hour and so by the time the bill was paid I had killed 2 hours there... only 4 more before the flight.  What next... well I walked around... alot.

I eventually found some bench where I sat and plugged i and remembered that I had brought some videos on my keys (I did watch UFC 93 in the hotel the previous night... AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME).  I watched almost all 4 hours of Kevin Smith's Threevening.  I coulda watched all of it, but I needed to get up and walk about.

Doing nothing is absolutely insanely boring and tiring I must say.

The flight home was pretty uneventful... thankfully Mandy had the foresight to talk to my dad about picking me up.  Something I had totally forgot about.  By the time I got home, unpacked it was like after 1pm... ugh.  I slept in the next day a little.

Funny post story - in my absolute sleep deprived brain I thought that I slept in for work and it was Monday... Monday was to be a busy day... how could I be sleeping in for it.  I got up and ran to get to work...  I was almost out the door before I realized it was just Friday...  I had all weekend to procrastinate getting rady for the next week.

Okay... when Mandy's off the computer, I'll post some of the pictures of Dean on my space.

L8R

Training Day - part 1

So the morning started around 6am... uh.  I hit snooze a few times, and in typical Ryan fashion I hit it a few more and somehow figured out how to turn it off... still woke up before 7 luckily so I could get a shower and breakfast in (WHAT... NO EGGS... argh... best part of continental breakfasts).  I check out and read some of the National Post - and this caught my eye.

Why do I always find myself living in the wrong city... ah well.

So I'm picked up and head to the city's Chamber of Commerce speaker meeting... not sure exactly what it was for, but their P2P guy was involved, so I shadowed.  Spent alot of time seeing if I could get on the wi-fi, and when I coudn't I updated contacts on my palm (still waiting for my treo... grr... stupid ebay).

At the office after we hung out and chatted a little until the other coordinator had a meeting to make, so I tagged along.  Very neat as it was a local guitar manufacturer (no website as of yet... but it's RED MAPLE GUITARS)... very cool.  Awesome guitar sound.  We met with somebody else, but it wasn't as fruitful.

The afternoon was pretty well near over and I headed back to their office and chatted a bit more before heading out.  Stopped off at Chapters for some books (found a sweet one for Dean... I''m growing to be a real softy lately about him) and then on to Future Shop (still haven't used up that card and it's burning a hole in my pocket).

The ride from London to Burlington was not cool... very sleety like snow... slippery and several cars in a ditch... not something to set me at ease.  the hotel was easy to find (thanks to the GPS) and it turns out they have a hockey team staying there so they're advising people to get breakfast early... CRAP.  And since the guy I'm to train with tomorrow is very sick, I'm just going to have less to do tomorrow so they said I can sleep in... early breakfast and then go bak to sleep?  totally a possibility for me.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.  I dread if I finish the day too soon tomorrow as I'll havea  huge gap before my flight home... ugh.