A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

Sally, I'm answering your message via the blog. (I am doing this as I especially want you to look at the previous entry!) Daragh, the scoundrel, did visit here once. Yet we seldom are able to get him by email even though SF is not THAT far away.

He was thinking about investing in property in Vancouver, but he must've found something else to put his money in. That's a shame as he really should put his extra cash here. The 2010 Winter Olympics should raise the value of property ...

Labels: Dubai

Thanks Dennis. We still talk about you whenever we refer to leaders and people who were willing to take a risk. Hope you are well.

Norm


Dennis Hurd wrote:

> This message was submitted through the Dubai Men's College web site ...
>
> Addressee: norman.gray@hct.ac.ae
> Submitter: Dennis Hurd
> Subject: Heart-felt Congratulations!
>
> ** Please forward this information to Norm Gray.** It now seems seldom that I visit the DBM (DMC?) website. However, I did see the recent honor that you have attained. Naming the Engineering Bldg for you is a very suitable reward for your sustained efforts there.
>
> I shall always consider you one of the best 'bosses' that I will ever have the opportunity to work with.
>
> Best wishes always,
> Dennis Hurd

Labels: Dubai

Tim is here doing some video editing. He's making a tape for his mom and sister in MN. He is switching from a camcorder tape to VHS. It's pretty obvious that he wandered around Vancouver for hours. He actually strapped the camera to his body on a bike trip to work at UBC from the West End. What a documentary it will be!

Labels: camera, Tim

My computer seems the same -- only faster. (Intel Pentium 4 2.4 800 MHz FSB) I kept the same hard disks so there was no discomfort nor need for re-installation. Windows XP thought it was being stolen as it tried to wake up in the new system. Yet, I had no trouble calling MS for a new activation code. The system used voice recognition: "If you wish to continue say, "yes". YES.

Jay called to tell me that things were much the same. They've had a couple of doctors stop to provide his mom with the best care possible.

Labels: Hardware, Windows

Yikes! I'm writing this entry from the New Westminster Library at the moment, as I have no computer at home. On a whim, I called my computer shop to ask about an upgrade. My tired, 5-year-old box is now sitting on Kingsway waiting for new 'guts'. The machine served me well ... we'd spent a lot of quality time together.

The case will remain the same but a new power supply, CPU, motherboard, and RAM should keep me going for another five years. I remember a time when every 18 months one had to throw out the whole deal. I'm glad those were the days that I had plenty of unspent, oil-generated salary cheques from the Gulf. With perpetual upgrading, we'll always have an upgrade waiting.

This evening, I shall pick up the beast with a new soul.

Labels: Hardware

Tim, call me .. or hit REPLY to one of my many email messages!!!

Labels: Tim

Laurie, if your modem is quick enough you can see a video of the Vancouver Aquarium. The day after you left I got my missing card from them in the mail.

Labels: Laurie

Bret and Joel, I know you're keen on old railroad biking. The fires here in BC are now destroying historic trestle bridges in the Okanagan.

Labels: Bret, Joel, Okanagan, road trip

I have a little Olympus D-40 digital camera and took this photograph near Lillooet, BC. I'm working to make collections of scenery shots that I like. I've uploaded a number of them to a site called Webshots. As well as view, visitors to the site can see a slideshow or use a particular photo as an e-post card. (Of course as a guest to that site you can choose to view at 1024X768, right click on the photo, and set as background so my vista will be your new Windows wallpaper.) There are many examples of BC shots in this set.

Labels: Flickr, places

I just wanted to pick up a handful of things but knowing that the prices are cheaper there, I drove to Coquiltlam's "Great Canadian Superstore". Traffic jams began before 3 pm today. Why is that? Doesn't anyone work during the afternoons anymore? The five kilometre trip seemed like fifty. I sat and waited at the Braid Street traffic lights long enough to see that gas was 89.5 cents a litre.

At last, I parked in the twenty-acre parking lot, got an oversized cart, and pushed it around three acres of building. Sprinters could train for the Olympics just by running up the dog-food aisle. Old ladies get lost and have to ask for directions. There's enough toilet paper sitting on the shelves to hang on every bathroom wall between here and Saskatoon.

All items on list -- in cart: yes. Now, it was time to roll up to the check out. Why are there 24 registers when there are always only six cashiers on duty? I had 13 items and didn't feel as though I should bother the frantic-eyed customers in the 12-item, express lanes. A massive lady in front of me was obviously down from New Hazleton stocking up on a year's supply of food for the whole town. Oh, perhaps there was a more obvious reason why she was a massive lady. Eventually, I swiped Interac and said something nice to the frazzled, little girl at the register. Then it was back out on the road to New Westminster. At least I was going opposite the flow now.

I probably saved 63 cents over walking to the corner store.

Labels: food, opinions

It's going to be another day with no rain. I guess this is the biggest drought in 50 years. We've scarcely had rain at all this summer. Wild fires have consumed homes in BC, but on the other side of the mountains. The reservoirs are only 40% full. Consequently the GVRD (Greater Vancouver Regional District) is on water restrictions. They can call some of us water hogs as residents often over-water their lawns and gardens. One advantage of high-rise living is my yard is watered and MOWED by the caretaker.

If I buy vegetables this morning, I can stop up at the library. What time do they open? New Westminster Public Library.

Labels: errands, weather

There are three or four companies which can help you set up a blog. I installed the new Google Bar and found the 'BlogThis!' button. So, this blog is modified at www.blogger.com. You might find it fun to go to their web site even if you don't want to set up a free blog. On the left-hand top of the screen there is a list of FRESH BLOGS. These are the ones published during that minute. Refresh the page and the list will change. It's interesting to see how different blogs can be, so here are some samples ---

Two sisters' dieting blog:
Ass Be Gone

A PoliSci instructor's required readings blog:
Ben Muse

A blog about the academics of blogging:
so this is mass communication?

So happy about going back to school blogs:
The young and the restless..
just another day in suburbia

One person's comments and news blog:
Virtual Feng Shui

Labels: blogging, Internet

At one point, we had intended to fly to Europe today for a long vacation. Those plans were put on hold when Jay returned to Sri Lanka to help take care of his dieing mother. I telephoned there this morning for an update and the woman's condition is slightly worse. She has no chance of recovery, but of course, they wish to keep her as comfortable as possible. His mother is not conscious but her heart keeps beating. It's good that Jay had the chance to go to help his dad, sisters, and brother.

Jay has scheduled his ticket to come back on September 15th. Of course the situation could change at any moment.

Labels: telephone

I am slipping. I remember explaining how to install 2400 bps modems. In the early 90's in the UAE, I ran a Major BBS/Worldgroup system with a couple of Galiticiboards (12-port serial boards) on an old 386. I've been playing with HTML documents for six or seven years. I've recently gotten around to formatting with MS FrontPage (example) rather than editing with NotePad!

I've got to admit, though, I've been slow on the uptake with the concept of blogs. Mine'll only be a simple e-journal for friends; however, I see the emergence of an extremely unique way of organizing data. Surely, there will be a lot of silly carping about why an adolescent feels life is horrific. Some people will rush to 'publish' their views on politics and these may remain, for the most part, universally unread. Love of God or guns will undoubtedly be topics consuming gigabytes of data. Yet beneath this explosion of words there is an empowerment of an individual to express ideas.

I teach technical-communication skills. If the printing press was important in the rise of literacy, then the impact of blogs will eventually be felt. Web Logs are undoubtedly important and I promise myself to try to stay more attuned to such things.

See all the blog directories:
Google Directory - Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Directories

Labels: BBS, Dubai

I do all my prints at a branch of a store that's like Fred Myer. I upload the digital files from my house and then pick 'em up from the local store. The prints are brilliant. They also do mugs and mouse pads.

www.ldphotostation.com/


I'm going to try to add stuff to my blog every day. If we ever get on the vacation, I can give a day-by-day account from any Internet cafe. (But it'll be too hard to do pictures unless I'm on my own computer.)

--Dennis


----- Original Message -----
From: b.wirta
To: DennisSylvesterHurd
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 4:04 PM
Subject: Sent Via the Blog


Cool site. How did you do the tee-shirt?

Labels: Bret

Running MS Messenger .. chatted with Candy (Winn) Fuller in VT. She said her class has 11 students this year! Teaching is better than in days when I went to school with 35 clasmates, huh? Candy's poor computer is a complete mess after a few virus attacks.

Labels: Hardware

Yup, digital cameras are the BEST ... the photo t-shirt (see first entry of the day) came out great. After getting it sweaty by wearing it for the photo, I sent it off at the post office.

Just completed a few changes at:

The Virtual Sunapee Reunion

Spent a bit of the morning helping set up a blog with a former colleague in Bahrain, DON RICHARDSON. Thankfully talking for two hours was free due to MS Messenger.

Labels: Bahrain, Don

Let's start the day with a photo:



My sister came to visit Aug. 20 to 27. It was the first time she'd been out to Vancouver (and I've been here seven years). It is always fun being a tourist in your own city again. This area rocks! (The average blogger is probably under 27 and I want to sound like that too.) The picture above is in Stanley Park and the obligatory shot in front of the totem poles. Actually, we're printing this up on a t-shirt to send to my father. Will it be done and mailed to NH before September 18th?

Labels: Stanley Park, Vancouver

Help. HELP. Could be addicting. Let's see.

Labels: blogging

Damn .. I might even start a diary.

Labels: blogging

This could be a very convenient way to letting friends know about things they might want to check. I could post news and add web sites that I like.

Labels: blogging

This deal was started on Labour Day 2003.

Labels: blogging